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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Book of the Bush
+       Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial
+       Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others
+       Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned
+
+Author: George Dunderdale
+
+Illustrator: J. Macfarlane
+
+Release Date: July 24, 2005 [EBook #16349]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Amy Zellmer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+BOOK OF THE BUSH
+
+CONTAINING
+
+MANY TRUTHFUL SKETCHES OF THE
+EARLY COLONIAL LIFE OF SQUATTERS, WHALERS,
+CONVICTS, DIGGERS, AND OTHERS
+WHO LEFT THEIR NATIVE LAND AND
+NEVER RETURNED.
+
+
+By GEORGE DUNDERDALE.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY J. MACFARLANE.
+
+
+LONDON:
+WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED,
+WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
+NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.
+
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 1]
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+_____________
+
+PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.
+
+FIRST SETTLERS.
+
+WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA" ON KING'S ISLAND.
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.
+
+WHALING.
+
+OUT WEST IN 1849.
+
+AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.
+
+A BUSH HERMIT.
+
+THE TWO SHEPHERDS.
+
+A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.
+
+WHITE SLAVERS.
+
+THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.
+
+ON THE NINETY-MILE.
+
+GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.
+
+THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.
+
+GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.
+
+WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.
+
+TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.
+
+HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.
+
+GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.
+
+UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.
+
+A NEW RUSH.
+
+GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.
+
+GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.
+
+SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.
+
+A HAPPY CONVICT.
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+ILLUSTRATION 1.
+"Joey's out."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 2.
+"I'll show you who is master aboard this ship."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 3.
+"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 4.
+"The biggest bully apropriated the belle of the ball."
+
+* * *
+
+
+"The best article in the March (1893) number of the 'Austral Light'
+is a pen picture by Mr. George Dunderdale of the famous Ninety-Mile
+Beach, the vast stretch of white and lonely sea-sands, which forms
+the sea-barrier of Gippsland."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1893.
+
+      *     *     *
+
+
+"The most interesting article in 'Austral Light' is one on Gippsland
+pioneers, by George Dunderdale."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1895.
+
+*     *     *
+
+"In 'Austral Light' for September Mr. George Dunderdale contributes,
+under the title of 'Gippsland under the Law,' one of those realistic
+sketches of early colonial life which only he can write."--'Review
+of Reviews', September, 1895.
+
+* * *
+
+
+THE BOOK OF THE BUSH.
+
+---------------------
+
+PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.
+
+While the world was young, nations could be founded peaceably.  There
+was plenty of unoccupied country, and when two neighbouring
+patriarchs found their flocks were becoming too numerous for the
+pasture, one said to the other:  "Let there be no quarrel, I pray,
+between thee and me; the whole earth is between us, and the land is
+watered as the garden of Paradise.  If thou wilt go to the east, I
+will go to the west; or if thou wilt go to the west, I will go to the
+east."  So they parted in peace.
+
+But when the human flood covered the whole earth, the surplus
+population was disposed of by war, famine, or pestilence.  Death is
+the effectual remedy for over-population.  Heroes arose who had no
+conscientious scruples.  They skinned their natives alive, or
+crucified them.  They were then adored as demi-gods, and placed among
+the stars.
+
+Pious Aeneas was the pattern of a good emigrant in the early times,
+but with all his piety he did some things that ought to have made his
+favouring deities blush, if possible.
+
+America, when discovered for the last of many times, was assigned by
+the Pope to the Spaniards and Portuguese.  The natives were not
+consulted; but they were not exterminated; their descendants occupy
+the land to the present day.
+
+England claimed a share in the new continent, and it was parcelled
+out to merchant adventurers by royal charter.  The adventures of
+these merchants were various, but they held on to the land.
+
+New England was given to the Puritans by no earthly potentate, their
+title came direct from heaven.  Increase Mather said:  "The Lord God
+has given us for a rightful possession the land of the Heathen People
+amongst whom we dwell;" and where are the Heathen People now?
+
+Australia was not given to us either by the Pope or by the Lord.  We
+took this land, as we have taken many other lands, for our own
+benefit, without asking leave of either heaven or earth.  A
+continent, with its adjacent islands, was practically vacant,
+inhabited only by that unearthly animal the kangaroo, and by black
+savages, who had not even invented the bow and arrow, never built a
+hut or cultivated a yard of land.  Such people could show no valid
+claim to land or life, so we confiscated both.  The British Islands
+were infested with criminals from the earliest times.  Our ancestors
+were all pirates, and we have inherited from them a lurking taint in
+our blood, which is continually impelling us to steal something or
+kill somebody.  How to get rid of this taint was a problem which our
+statesmen found it difficult to solve.  In times of war they
+mitigated the evil by filling the ranks of our armies from the gaols,
+and manning our navies by the help of the press-gang, but in times of
+peace the scum of society was always increasing.
+
+At last a great idea arose in the mind of England.  Little was known
+of New Holland, except that it was large enough to harbour all the
+criminals of Great Britain and the rest of the population if
+necessary.  Why not transport all convicts, separate the chaff from
+the wheat, and purge out the old leaven?  By expelling all the
+wicked, England would become the model of virtue to all nations.
+
+So the system was established.  Old ships were chartered and filled
+with the contents of the gaols.  If the ships were not quite
+seaworthy it did not matter much.  The voyage was sure to be a
+success; the passengers might never reach land, but in any case they
+would never return.  On the vessels conveying male convicts, some
+soldiers and officers were embarked to keep order and put down
+mutiny.  Order was kept with the lash, and mutiny was put down with
+the musket.  On the ships conveying women there were no soldiers, but
+an extra half-crew was engaged.  These men were called "Shilling-a-month"
+men, because they had agreed to work for one shilling a month for the
+privilege of being allowed to remain in Sydney.  If the voyage lasted
+twelve months they would thus have the sum of twelve shillings with
+which to commence making their fortunes in the Southern Hemisphere.
+But the "Shilling-a-month" man, as a matter of fact, was not worth
+one cent the day after he landed, and he had to begin life once more
+barefoot, like a new-born babe.
+
+The seamen's food on board these transports was bad and scanty,
+consisting of live biscuit, salt horse, Yankee pork, and Scotch
+coffee.  The Scotch coffee was made by steeping burnt biscuit in
+boiling water to make it strong.  The convicts' breakfast consisted
+of oatmeal porridge, and the hungry seamen used to crowd round the
+galley every morning to steal some of it.  It would be impossible for
+a nation ever to become virtuous and rich if its seamen and convicts
+were reared in luxury and encouraged in habits of extravagance.
+
+When the transport cast anchor in the beautiful harbour of Port
+Jackson, the ship's blacksmith was called out of his bunk at
+midnight.  It was his duty to rivet chains on the legs of the
+second-sentence men--the twice convicted.  They had been told on
+the voyage that they would have an island all to themselves, where
+they would not be annoyed by the contemptuous looks and bitter jibes
+of better men.  All night long the blacksmith plied his hammer and
+made the ship resound with the rattling chains and ringing manacles,
+as he fastened them well on the legs of the prisoners.  At dawn of
+day, chained together in pairs, they were landed on Goat Island;
+that was the bright little isle--their promised land.  Every
+morning they were taken over in boats to the town of Sydney, where
+they had to work as scavengers and road-makers until four o'clock in
+the afternoon.  They turned out their toes, and shuffled their feet
+along the ground, dragging their chains after them.  The police could
+always identify a man who had been a chain-gang prisoner during the
+rest of his life by the way he dragged his feet after him.
+
+In their leisure hours these convicts were allowed to make
+cabbage-tree hats.  They sold them for about a shilling each, and the
+shop-keepers resold them for a dollar. They were the best hats ever
+worn in the Sunny South, and were nearly indestructible; one hat
+would last a lifetime, but for that reason they were bad for trade,
+and became unfashionable.
+
+The rest of the transported were assigned as servants to those
+willing to give them food and clothing without wages.  The free men
+were thus enabled to grow rich by the labours of the bondmen--vice
+was punished and virtue rewarded.
+
+Until all the passengers had been disposed of, sentinels were posted
+on the deck of the transport with orders to shoot anyone who
+attempted to escape.  But when all the convicts were gone, Jack was
+sorely tempted to follow the shilling-a-month men.  He quietly
+slipped ashore, hurried off to Botany Bay, and lived in retirement
+until his ship had left Port Jackson.  He then returned to Sydney,
+penniless and barefoot, and began to look for a berth.  At the Rum
+Puncheon wharf he found a shilling-a-month man already installed as
+cook on a colonial schooner.  He was invited to breakfast, and was
+astonished and delighted with the luxuries lavished on the colonial
+seaman.  He had fresh beef, fresh bread, good biscuit, tea, coffee,
+and vegetables, and three pounds a month wages.  There was a vacancy
+on the schooner for an able seaman, and Jack filled it.  He then
+registered a solemn oath that he would "never go back to England no
+more," and kept it.
+
+Some kind of Government was necessary, and, as the first inhabitants
+were criminals, the colony was ruled like a gaol, the Governor being
+head gaoler.  His officers were mostly men who had been trained in
+the army and navy.  They were all poor and needy, for no gentleman of
+wealth and position would ever have taken office in such a community.
+They came to make a living, and when free immigrants arrived and
+trade began to flourish, it was found that the one really valuable
+commodity was rum, and by rum the officers grew rich.  In course of
+time the country was divided into districts, about thirty or
+thirty-five in number, over each of which an officer presided as
+police magistrate, with a clerk and staff of constables, one of whom
+was official flogger, always a convict promoted to the billet for
+merit and good behaviour.
+
+New Holland soon became an organised pandemonium, such as the world
+had never known since Sodom and Gomorrah disappeared in the Dead Sea,
+and the details of its history cannot be written.  To mitigate its
+horrors the worst of the criminals were transported to Norfolk
+Island.  The Governor there had not the power to inflict capital
+punishment, and the convicts began to murder one another in order to
+obtain a brief change of misery, and the pleasure of a sea voyage
+before they could be tried and hanged in Sydney.  A branch
+pandemonium was also established in Van Diemen's Land.  This system
+was upheld by England for about fifty years.
+
+The 'Britannia', a convict ship, the property of Messrs. Enderby &
+Sons, arrived at Sydney on October 14th, 1791, and reported that vast
+numbers of sperm whales were seen after doubling the south-west cape
+of Van Diemen's Land.  Whaling vessels were fitted out in Sydney, and
+it was found that money could be made by oil and whalebone as well as
+by rum.  Sealing was also pursued in small vessels, which were often
+lost, and sealers lie buried in all the islands of the southern seas,
+many of them having a story to tell, but no story-teller.
+
+Whalers, runaway seamen, shilling-a-month men, and escaped convicts
+were the earliest settlers in New Zealand, and were the first to make
+peaceful intercourse with the Maoris possible.  They built themselves
+houses with wooden frames, covered with reeds and rushes, learned to
+converse in the native language, and became family men.  They were
+most of them English and Americans, with a few Frenchmen.  They loved
+freedom, and preferred Maori customs, and the risk of being eaten, to
+the odious supervision of the English Government.  The individual
+white man in those days was always welcome, especially if he brought
+with him guns, ammunition, tomahawks, and hoes.  It was by these
+articles that he first won the respect and admiration of the native.
+If the visitor was a "pakeha tutua," a poor European, he might
+receive hospitality for a time, in the hope that some profit might be
+made out of him.  But the Maori was a poor man also, with a great
+appetite, and when it became evident that the guest was no better
+than a pauper, and could not otherwise pay for his board, the Maori
+sat on the ground, meditating and watching, until his teeth watered,
+and at last he attached the body and baked it.
+
+In 1814 the Church Missionary Society sent labourers to the distant
+vineyard to introduce Christianity, and to instruct the natives in
+the rights of property.  The first native protector of Christianity
+and letters was Hongi Hika, a great warrior of the Ngapuhi nation, in
+the North Island.  He was born in 1777, and voyaging to Sydney in
+1814, he became the guest of the Rev. Mr. Marsden.  In 1819 the rev.
+gentleman bought his settlement at Kerikeri from Hongi Hika, the
+price being forty-eight axes.  The area of the settlement was
+thirteen thousand acres.  The land was excellent, well watered, in a
+fine situation, and near a good harbour.  Hongi next went to England
+with the Rev. Mr. Kendall to see King George, who was at that time in
+matrimonial trouble.  Hongi was surprised to hear that the King had
+to ask permission of anyone to dispose of his wife Caroline.  He said
+he had five wives at home, and he could clear off the whole of them
+if he liked without troubling anybody.  He received valuable presents
+in London, which he brought back to Sydney, and sold for three
+hundred muskets and ammunition.  The year 1822 was the most glorious
+time of his life.  He raised an army of one thousand men, three
+hundred of whom had been taught the use of his muskets.  The
+neighbouring tribes had no guns.  He went up the Tamar, and at Totara
+slew five hundred men, and baked and ate three hundred of them.  On
+the Waipa he killed fourteen hundred warriors out of a garrison of
+four thousand, and then returned home with crowds of slaves.  The
+other tribes began to buy guns from the traders as fast as they were
+able to pay for them with flax; and in 1827, at Wangaroa, a bullet
+went through Hongi's lungs, leaving a hole in his back through which
+he used to whistle to entertain his friends; but he died of the wound
+fifteen months afterwards.
+
+Other men, both clerical and lay, followed the lead of the Rev. Mr.
+Marsden.  In 1821 Mr. Fairbairn bought four hundred acres for ten
+pounds worth of trade.  Baron de Thierry bought forty thousand acres
+on the Hokianga River for thirty-six axes.  From 1825 to 1829 one
+million acres were bought by settlers and merchants.  Twenty-five
+thousand acres were bought at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga in five
+years, seventeen thousand of which belonged to the missionaries.  In
+1835 the Rev. Henry Williams made a bold offer for the unsold
+country.  He forwarded a deed of trust to the governor of New South
+Wales, requesting that the missionaries should be appointed trustees
+for the natives for the remainder of their lands, "to preserve them
+from the intrigues of designing men."  Before the year 1839, twenty
+millions of acres had been purchased by the clergy and laity for a
+few guns, axes, and other trifles, and the Maoris were fast wasting
+their inheritance.  But the titles were often imperfect.  When a man
+had bought a few hundreds of acres for six axes and a gun, and had
+paid the price agreed on to the owner, another owner would come and
+claim the land because his grandfather had been killed on it.  He sat
+down before the settler's house and waited for payment, and whether
+he got any or not he came at regular intervals during the rest of his
+life and sat down before the door with his spear and mere* by his
+side waiting for more purchase money.
+
+[Footnote] *Axe made of greenstone.
+
+Some honest people in England heard of the good things to be had in
+New Zealand, formed a company, and landed near the mouth of the
+Hokianga River to form a settlement.  The natives happened to be at
+war, and were performing a war dance.  The new company looked on
+while the natives danced, and then all desire for land in New Zealand
+faded from their hearts.  They returned on board their ship and
+sailed away, having wasted twenty thousand pounds.  Such people
+should remain in their native country.  Your true rover, lay or
+clerical, comes for something or other, and stays to get it, or dies.
+
+After twenty years of labour, and an expenditure of two hundred
+thousand pounds, the missionaries claimed only two thousand converts,
+and these were Christians merely in name.  In 1825 the Rev. Henry
+Williams said the natives were as insensible to redemption as brutes,
+and in 1829 the Methodists in England contemplated withdrawing their
+establishment for want of success.
+
+The Catholic Bishop Pompallier, with two priests, landed at Hokianga
+on January 10th, 1838, and took up his residence at the house of an
+Irish Catholic named Poynton, who was engaged in the timber trade.
+Poynton was a truly religious man, who had been living for some time
+among the Maoris.  He was desirous of marrying the daughter of a
+chief, but he wished that she should be a Christian, and, as there
+was no Catholic priest nearer than Sydney, he sailed to that port
+with the chief and his daughter, called on Bishop Polding, and
+informed him of the object of his visit.  A course of instruction was
+given to the father and daughter, Poynton acting as interpreter; they
+were baptised, and the marriage took place.  After the lapse of sixty
+years their descendents were found to have retained the faith, and
+were living as good practical Catholics.
+
+Bishop Pompallier celebrated his first Mass on January 13th, 1838,
+and the news of his arrival was soon noised abroad and discussed.
+The Methodist missionaries considered the action of the bishop as an
+unwarrantable intrusion on their domain, and, being Protestants, they
+resolved to protest.  This they did through the medium of thirty
+native warriors, who appeared before Poynton's house early in the
+morning of January 22nd, when the bishop was preparing to say Mass.
+The chief made a speech.  He said the bishop and his priests were
+enemies to the Maoris.  They were not traders, for they had brought
+no guns, no axes.  They had been sent by a foreign chief (the Pope)
+to deprive the Maoris of their land, and make them change their old
+customs.  Therefore he and his warriors had come to break the
+crucifix, and the ornaments of the altar, and to take the bishop and
+his priests to the river.
+
+The bishop replied that, although he was not a trader, he had come as
+a friend, and did not wish to deprive them of their country or
+anything belonging to them.  He asked them to wait a while, and if
+they could find him doing the least injury to anyone they could take
+him to the river.  The warriors agreed to wait, and went away.
+
+Next day the bishop went further up the river to Wherinaki, where
+Laming, a pakeha Maori, resided.  Laming was an Irish-Protestant who
+had great influence with his tribe, which was numerous and warlike.
+He was admired by the natives for his strength and courage.  He was
+six feet three inches in height, as nimble and spry as a cat, and as
+long-winded as a coyote.  His father-in-law was a famous warrior
+named Lizard Skin.  His religion was that of the Church of England,
+and he persuaded his tribe to profess it.  He told them that the
+Protestant God was stronger than the Catholic God worshipped by his
+fellow countryman, Poynton.  In after years, when his converts made
+cartridges of their Bibles and rejected Christianity, he was forced
+to confess that their religion was of this world only.  They prayed
+that they might be brave in battle, and that their enemies might be
+filled with fear.
+
+Laming's Christian zeal did not induce him to forget the duties of
+hospitality.  He received the bishop as a friend, and the Europeans
+round Tatura and other places came regularly to Mass.  During the
+first six years of the mission, twenty thousand Maoris either had
+been baptised or were being prepared for baptism.
+
+Previous to the year 1828 some flax had been brought to Sydney from
+New Zealand, and manufactured into every species of cordage except
+cables, and it was found to be stronger than Baltic hemp.  On account
+of the ferocious character of the Maoris, the Sydney Government sent
+several vessels to open communication with the tribes before
+permitting private individuals to embark in the trade.  The ferocity
+attributed to the natives was not so much a part of their personal
+character as the result of their habits and beliefs.  They were
+remarkable for great energy of mind and body, foresight, and
+self-denial.  Their average height was about five feet six inches,
+but men from six feet to six feet six inches were not uncommon.
+Their point of honour was revenge, and a man who remained quiet while
+the manes of his friend or relation were unappeased by the blood of
+the enemy, would be dishonoured among his tribe.
+
+The Maoris were in reality loath to fight, and war was never begun
+until after long talk.  Their object was to exterminate or enslave
+their enemies, and they ate the slain.
+
+Before commencing hostilities, the warriors endeavoured to put fear
+into the hearts of their opponents by enumerating the names of the
+fathers, uncles, or brothers of those in the hostile tribe whom they
+had slain and eaten in former battles.  When a fight was progressing
+the women looked on from the rear.  They were naked to the waist, and
+wore skirts of matting made from flax.  As soon as a head was cut off
+they ran forward, and brought it away, leaving the body on the
+ground.  If many were slain it was sometimes difficult to discover to
+what body each head had belonged, whether it was that of a friend or
+a foe, and it was lawful to bake the bodies of enemies only.
+
+Notwithstanding their peculiar customs, one who knew the Maoris well
+described them as the most patient, equable, forgiving people in the
+world, but full of superstitious ideas, which foreigners could not
+understand.
+
+They believed that everything found on their coast was sent to them
+by the sea god, Taniwa, and they therefore endeavoured to take
+possession of the blessings conferred on them by seizing the first
+ships that anchored in their rivers and harbours.  This led to
+misunderstandings and fights with their officers and crews, who had
+no knowledge of the sea god, Taniwa.  It was found necessary to put
+netting all round the vessels as high as the tops to prevent
+surprise, and when trade began it was the rule to admit no more than
+five Maoris on board at once.
+
+The flax was found growing spontaneously in fields of inexhaustible
+extent along the more southerly shores of the islands.  The fibre was
+separated by the females, who held the top of the leaf between their
+toes, and drew a shell through the whole length of the leaf.  It took
+a good cleaner to scrape fifteen pounds weight of it in a day; the
+average was about ten pounds, for which the traders gave a fig of
+tobacco and a pipe, two sheets of cartridge paper, or one pound of
+lead.  The price at which the flax was sold in Sydney varied from 20
+pounds to 45 pounds per ton, according to quality, so there was a
+large margin of profit to the trader.  In 1828 sixty tons of flax
+valued at 2,600 pounds, were exported from Sydney to England.
+
+The results of trading with the foreigners were fatal to the natives.
+At first the trade was in axes, knives, and other edge-tools,
+beads, and ornaments, but in 1832 the Maoris would scarcely take
+anything but arms and ammunition, red woollen shirts, and tobacco.
+Every man in a native hapu had to procure a musket, or die.  If the
+warriors of the hapu had no guns they would soon be all killed by
+some tribe that had them.  The price of one gun, together with the
+requisite powder, was one ton of cleaned flax, prepared by the women
+and slaves in the sickly swamps.  In the meantime the food crops were
+neglected, hunger and hard labour killed many, some fell victims to
+diseases introduced by the white men, and the children nearly all
+died.
+
+And the Maoris are still dying out of the land, blighted by our
+civilization.  They were willing to learn and to be taught, and they
+began to work with the white men.  In 1853 I saw nearly one hundred
+of them, naked to the waist, sinking shafts for gold on Bendigo, and
+no Cousin Jacks worked harder.  We could not, of course, make them
+Englishmen--the true Briton is born, not made; but could we not
+have kept them alive if we had used reasonable means to do so?  Or is
+it true that in our inmost souls we wanted them to die, that we might
+possess their land in peace?
+
+Besides flax, it was found that New Zealand produced most excellent
+timber--the kauri pine.  The first visitors saw sea-going canoes
+beautifully carved by rude tools of stone, which had been hollowed
+out, each from a single tree, and so large that they were manned by
+one hundred warriors.  The gum trees of New Holland are extremely
+hard, and their wood is so heavy that it sinks in water like
+iron.  But the kauri, with a leaf like that of the gum tree, is the
+toughest of pines, though soft and easily worked--suitable for
+shipbuilding, and for masts and spars.  In 1830 twenty-eight vessels
+made fifty-six voyages from Sydney to New Zealand, chiefly for flax;
+but they also left parties of men to prosecute the whale and seal
+fisheries, and to cut kauri pine logs.  Two vessels were built by
+English mechanics, one of 140 tons, and the other of 370 tons burden,
+and the natives began to assist the new-comers in all their labours.
+
+At this time most of the villages had at least one European resident
+called a Pakeha Maori, under the protection of a chief of rank and
+influence, and married to a relative of his, either legally or by
+native custom.  It was through the resident that all the trading of
+the tribe was carried on.  He bought and paid for the flax, and
+employed men to cut the pine logs and float them down the rivers to
+the ships.
+
+Every whaling and trading vessel that returned to Sydney or Van
+Diemen's Land brought back accounts of the wonderful prospects which
+the islands afforded to men of enterprise, and New Zealand became the
+favourite refuge for criminals, runaway prisoners, and other lovers
+of freedom.  When, therefore the crew of the schooner 'Industry'
+threw Captain Blogg overboard, it was a great comfort to them to know
+that they were going to an island in which there was no Government.
+
+Captain Blogg had arrived from England with a bad character. He had
+been tried for murder.  He had been ordered to pay five hundred
+pounds as damages to his mate, whom he had imprisoned at sea in a
+hencoop, and left to pick up his food with the fowls.  He had been
+out-lawed, and forbidden to sail as officer in any British ship.
+These were facts made known to, and discussed by, all the whalers who
+entered the Tamar, when the whaling season was over in the year 1835.
+And yet the notorious Blogg found no difficulty in buying the
+schooner 'Industry', taking in a cargo, and obtaining a clearance for
+Hokianga, in New Zealand.  He had shipped a crew consisting of a
+mate, four seamen, and a cook.
+
+Black Ned Tomlins, Jim Parrish, and a few other friends interviewed
+the crew when the 'Industry' was getting ready for sea.  Black Ned
+was a half-breed native of Kangaroo Island, and was looked upon as
+the best whaler in the colonies, and the smartest man ever seen in a
+boat.  He was the principal speaker.  He put the case to the crew in
+a friendly way, and asked them if they did not feel themselves to be
+a set of fools, to think of going to sea with a murdering villain
+like Blogg?
+
+Dick Secker replied mildly but firmly.  He reckoned the crew were, in
+a general way, able to take care of themselves.  They could do their
+duty, whatever it was; and they were not afraid of sailing with any
+man that ever trod a deck.
+
+After a few days at sea they were able to form a correct estimate of
+their master mariner.  He never came on deck absolutely drunk, but he
+was saturated with rum to the very marrow of his bones.  A devil of
+cruelty, hate, and murder glared from his eyes, and his blasphemies
+could come from no other place but the lowest depths of the
+bottomless pit.  The mate was comparatively a gentle and inoffensive
+lamb.  He did not curse and swear more than was considered decent and
+proper on board ship, did his duty, and avoided quarrels.
+
+One day Blogg was rating the cook in his usual style when the latter
+made some reply, and the captain knocked him down.  He then called
+the mate, and with his help stripped the cook to the waist and triced
+him up to the mast on the weather side.  This gave the captain the
+advantage of a position in which he could deliver his blows downward
+with full effect.  Then he selected a rope's end and began to flog
+the cook.  At every blow he made a spring on his feet, swung the rope
+over his head, and brought it down on the bare back with the utmost
+force.  It was evident that he was no 'prentice hand at the business,
+but a good master flogger.  The cook writhed and screamed, as every
+stroke raised bloody ridges on his back; but Blogg enjoyed it.  He
+was in no hurry.  He was like a boy who had found a sweet morsel, and
+was turning it over in his mouth to enjoy it the longer.  After each
+blow he looked at the three seamen standing near, and at the man at
+the helm, and made little speeches at them.  "I'll show you who is
+master aboard this ship."  Whack!  "That's what every man Jack of you
+will get if you give me any of your jaw."  Whack!  "Maybe you'd like
+to mutiny, wouldn't you?"  Whack!  The blows came down with
+deliberate regularity; the cook's back was blue, black, and bleeding,
+but the captain showed no sign of any intention to stay his hand.
+The suffering victim's cries seemed to inflame his cruelty.  He was a
+wild beast in the semblance of a man.  At last, in his extreme agony,
+the cook made a piteous appeal to the seamen:
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 2]
+
+"Mates, are you men?  Are you going to stand there all day, and watch
+me being flogged to death for nothing?"
+
+Before the next stroke fell the three men had seized the captain; but
+he fought with so much strength and fury that they found it difficult
+to hold him.  The helmsman steadied the tiller with two turns of the
+rope and ran forward to assist them.  They laid Blogg flat on the
+deck, but he kept struggling, cursing, threatening, and calling on
+the mate to help him; but that officer took fright, ran to his cabin
+in the deckhouse, and began to barricade the door.
+
+Then a difficulty arose.  What was to be done with the prisoner?  He
+was like a raving maniac.  If they allowed him his liberty, he was
+sure to kill one or more of them.  If they bound him he would get
+loose in some way--probably through the mate--and after what had
+occurred, it would be safer to turn loose a Bengal tiger on deck then
+the infuriated captain.  There was but one way out of the trouble,
+and they all knew it.  They looked at one another; nothing was
+wanting but the word, and it soon came.  Secker had sailed from the
+Cove of Cork, and being an Irishman, he was by nature eloquent, first
+in speech, and first in action.  He reflected afterwards, when he had
+leisure to do so.
+
+"Short work is the best," he said, "over he goes; lift the devil."
+Each man seized an arm or leg, and Blogg was carried round
+the mast to the lee side.  The men worked together from training and
+habit. They swung the body athwart the deck like a pendulum, and with
+a "one!  two!  three!" it cleared the bulwark, and the devil went
+head foremost into the deep sea.  The cook, looking on from behind
+the mast, gave a deep sigh of relief.
+
+Thus it was that a great breach of the peace was committed on the
+Pacific Ocean; and it was done, too, on a beautiful summer's evening,
+when the sun was low, a gentle breeze barely filled the sails, and
+everybody should have been happy and comfortable.
+
+Captain Blogg rose to the surface directly and swam after his
+schooner.  The fury of his soul did not abate all at once.  He roared
+to the mate to bring the schooner to, but there was no responsive
+"Aye, aye, sir."  He was now outside of his jurisdiction, and his
+power was gone.  He swam with all his strength, and his bloated face
+still looked red as the foam passed by it. The helmsman had resumed
+his place, and steadied the tiller, keeping her full, while the other
+men looked over the stern.  Secker said:  "The old man will have a
+long swim."
+
+But the "old man" swam a losing race.  His vessel was gliding away
+from him:  his face grew pale, and in an agony of fear and despair,
+he called to the men for God's sake to take him on board and he would
+forgive everything.
+
+But his call came too late; he could find no sureties for his good
+behaviour in the future; he had never in his life shown any love for
+God or pity for man, and he found in his utmost need neither mercy
+nor pity now.  He strained his eyes in vain over the crests of the
+restless billows, calling for the help that did not come.  The
+receding sails never shivered; no land was near, no vessel in sight.
+The sun went down, and the hopeless sinner was left struggling alone
+on the black waste of waters.
+
+The men released the cook and held a consultation about a troublesome
+point of law.  Had they committed mutiny and murder, or only
+justifiable homicide?  They felt that the point was a very important
+one to them--a matter of life and death--and they stood in a
+group near the tiller to discuss the difficulty, speaking low, while
+the cook was shivering in the forecastle, trying to ease the pain.
+
+The conclusion of the seamen was, that they had done what was right,
+both in law and conscience.  They had thrown Blogg overboard to
+prevent him from murdering the cook, and also for their own safety.
+After they had done their duty by seizing him, he would have killed
+them if he could.  He was a drunken sweep.  He was an outlaw, and the
+law would not protect him.  Anybody could kill an outlaw without fear
+of consequences, so they had heard.  But still there was some doubt
+about it, and there was nobody there to put the case for the captain.
+The law was, at that time, a terrible thing, especially in Van
+Diemen's Land, under Colonel Arthur.  He governed by the gallows, to
+make everything orderly and peaceable, and men were peaceable enough
+after they were hanged.
+
+So Secker and his mates decided that, although they had done nothing
+but what was right in throwing Blogg over the side, it would be
+extremely imprudent to trust their innocence to the uncertainty of
+the law and to the impartiality of Colonel Arthur.
+
+Their first idea was to take the vessel to South America, but after
+some further discussion, they decided to continue the voyage to
+Hokianga, and to settle among the Maoris.  Nobody had actually seen
+them throw Blogg overboard except the cook, and him they looked upon
+as a friend, because they had saved him from being flogged to death.
+They had some doubts about the best course to take with the mate, but
+as he was the only man on board who was able to take the schooner to
+port, they were obliged to make use of his services for the present,
+and at the end of the voyage they could deal with him in any way
+prudence might require, and they did not mean to run any unnecessary
+risks.
+
+They went to the house on deck, and Secker called the mate, informing
+him that the captain had lost his balance, and had fallen overboard,
+and that it was his duty to take charge of the 'Industry', and
+navigate her to Hokianga.  But the mate had been thoroughly
+frightened, and was loth to leave his entrenchment.  He could not
+tell what might happen if he opened his cabin door:  he might find
+himself in the sea in another minute.  The men who had thrown the
+master overboard would not have much scruple about sending an
+inferior officer after him.  If the mate resolved to show fight, it
+would be necessary for him to kill every man on board, even the cook,
+before he could feel safe; and then he would be left alone in
+mid-ocean with nobody to help him to navigate the vessel--a master
+and crew under one hat, at the mercy of the winds and the waves, with
+six murdered men on his conscience; and he had a conscience, too, as
+was soon to be proved.
+
+The seamen swore most solemnly that they did not intend to do him the
+least harm, and at last the mate opened his door.  While in his
+cabin, he had been spending what he believed to be the last minutes
+of his life in preparing for death; he did his best to make peace
+with heaven, and tried to pray.  But his mouth was dry with fear, his
+tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, his memory of sacred things
+failed him, and he could not pray for want of practice.  He could
+remember only one short prayer, and he was unable to utter even that
+audibly.  And how could a prayer ever reach heaven in time to be of
+any use to him, when he could not make it heard outside the
+deck-house?  In his desperate straits he took a piece of chalk and
+began to write it; so when at last he opened the door of his cabin,
+the four seamen observed that he had nearly covered the boards with
+writing.  It looked like a litany, but it was a litany of only three
+words--"Lord, have mercy"--which were repeated in lines one above
+the other.
+
+That litany was never erased or touched by any man who subsequently
+sailed on board the 'Industry'.  She was the first vessel that was
+piloted up the channel to Port Albert in Gippsland, to take in a
+cargo of fat cattle, and when she arrived there on August 3rd, 1842,
+the litany of the mate was still distinctly legible.
+
+Nothing exalts a man so quickly in the estimation of his fellow
+creatures as killing them.  Emperors and kings court the alliance of
+the conquering hero returning from fields of slaughter. Ladies in
+Melbourne forgot for a time the demands of fashion in their struggles
+to obtain an ecstatic glimpse of our modern Bluebeard, Deeming; and
+no one was prouder than the belle of the ball when she danced down
+the middle with the man who shot Sandy M'Gee.
+
+And the reverence of the mate for his murdering crew was
+unfathomable.  Their lightest word was a law to him.  He wrote up the
+log in their presence, stating that Captain Blogg had been washed
+into the sea in a sudden squall on a dark night; vessel hove to, boat
+lowered, searched for captain all night, could see nothing of him;
+mate took charge, and bore away for Hokianga next morning.  When
+these untruthful particulars had been entered and read over to the
+four seamen, they were satisfied for the present.  They would settle
+among the Maoris, and lead a free and happy life.  They could do what
+they liked with the schooner and her cargo, having disposed of the
+master and owner; and as for the mate, they would dispose of him,
+too, if he made himself in any way troublesome.  What a wonderful
+piece of good luck it was that they were going to a new country in
+which there was no government!
+
+The 'Industry' arrived off the bar at Hokianga on November 30th,
+1835, and was boarded by a Captain Young, who had settled seven miles
+up the estuary, at One Tree Point, and acted as pilot of the nascent
+port.  He inquired how much water the schooner drew, noted the state
+of the tide, and said he would remain on board all night, and go over
+the bar next morning with the first flood.
+
+The mate had a secret and wanted to get rid of it.  While looking
+round at the shore, and apparently talking about indifferent
+subjects, he said to the pilot:  "Don't look at the men, and don't
+take any notice of them.  They threw Blogg, the master, overboard,
+when he was flogging the cook, and they would murder me, too, if they
+knew I told you; so you must pretend not to take any notice of them.
+What their plans may be, I don't know; but you may be sure they won't
+go back to the Tamar, if they can help it."
+
+If the pilot felt any surprise, he did not show it.  After a short
+pause he said:  "You go about your business, and don't speak to me
+again, except when the men can hear you.  I will think about what is
+best to be done."
+
+During the night Captain Young thought about it to some purpose.
+Being a master mariner himself he could imagine no circumstances
+which would justify a crew in throwing a master mariner overboard.
+It was the one crime which could not be pardoned either afloat or
+ashore.  Next day he took the vessel up the estuary, and anchored her
+within two hundred yards of the shore, opposite the residence of
+Captain McDonnell.
+
+It is true there was no government at that time at Hokianga, nor
+anywhere else in New Zealand; there were no judges, no magistrates,
+no courts, and no police.  But the British Angel of Annexation was
+already hovering over the land, although she had not as yet alighted
+on it.
+
+At this time the shores of New Zealand were infested with captains.
+There was a Captain Busby, who was called British Resident, and,
+unfortunately for our seamen, Captain McDonnell had been appointed
+Additional British Resident at Hokianga a few weeks previously.  So
+far he had been officially idle; there was no business to do, no
+chance of his displaying his zeal and patriotism.  Moreover, he had
+no pay, and apparently no power and no duties.  He was neither a
+Governor nor a Government, but a kind of forerunner of approaching
+empire--one of those harmless and far-reaching tentacles which the
+British octopus extends into the recesses of ocean, searching for
+prey to satisfy the demands of her imperial appetite.
+
+McDonnell was a naval lieutenant; had served under the East India
+Company; had smuggled opium to China; had explored the coasts of New
+Zealand; and on March 31st, 1831, had arrived at Hokianga from Sydney
+in the 'Sir George Murray', a vessel which he had purchased for 1,300
+pounds.  He brought with him his wife, two children, and a servant,
+but took them back on the return voyage.  He was now engaged in the
+flax and kauri pine trade.
+
+The 'Industry' had scarcely dropped her anchor before the Additional
+Resident boarded her.  The pilot spoke to him and in a few words
+informed him that Blogg, the master, had been pitched into the sea,
+and explained in what manner he proposed to arrest the four seamen.
+McDonnell understood, and agreed to the plan at once.  He called to
+the mate in a loud voice, and said:  "I am sorry to hear that you
+have lost the master of this vessel.  I live at that house you see on
+the rising ground, and I keep a list in a book of all vessels that
+come into the river, and the names of the crews.  It is a mere
+formality, and won't take more than five minutes.  So you will oblige
+me, mate, by coming ashore with your men at once, as I am in a hurry,
+and have other business to attend to."  He then went ashore in his
+boat.  The mate and seamen followed in the ship's boat, and waited in
+front of the Additional Resident's house.  He had a visitor that
+morning, the Pakeha Maori, Laming.
+
+The men had not to wait long, as it was not advisable to give them
+much time to think and grow suspicious.  McDonnell came to the front
+door and called the mate, who went inside, signed his name,
+re-appeared directly, called Secker, and entered the house with him.
+The Additional Resident was sitting at a table with the signature
+book before him.  He rose from the chair, told Secker to sit down,
+gave him a pen, and pointed out the place where his name was to be
+signed.  Laming was sitting near the table.  While Secker was signing
+his name McDonnell suddenly put a twisted handkerchief under his chin
+and tightened it round his neck.  Laming presented a horse-pistol and
+said he would blow his brains out if he uttered a word, and the mate
+slipped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.  He was then bundled out
+at the back door and put into a bullet-proof building at the rear.
+The other three seamen were then called in one after the other,
+garrotted, handcuffed, and imprisoned in the same way.  The little
+formality of signing names was finished in a few minutes, according
+to promise.
+
+If such things could be done in New Zealand, where there was neither
+law nor government, what might happen in Van Diemen's Land, where one
+man was both law and government, and that man was Colonel Arthur?
+The prisoners had plenty of time to make a forecast of their fate,
+while the mate engaged a fresh crew and took in a cargo of flax and
+timber.  When he was ready to sail, he reshipped his old crew in
+irons, returned with them to the Tamar, and delivered them to the
+police to be dealt with according to law.  For a long time the law
+was in a state of chaos.  Major Abbott was sent from England in 1814
+as the first judge.  The proceedings in his court were conducted in
+the style of a drum-head court martial, the accusation, sentences,
+and execution following one another with military precision and
+rapidity.
+
+He adjudicated in petty sessions as a magistrate, and dealt in a
+summary manner with capital offences, which were very numerous.  To
+imprison a man who was already a prisoner for life was no punishment;
+the major's powers were, therefore, limited to the cat and the
+gallows.  And as the first gallows had been built to carry only eight
+passengers, his daily death sentences were also limited to that
+number.  For twenty years torture was used to extort confession--
+even women were flogged if they refused to give evidence, and an
+order of the Governor was held to be equal to law.  Major Abbott died
+in 1832.
+
+In 1835 the court consisted of the judge-advocate and two of the
+inhabitants selected by the Governor, Colonel Arthur, who came out in
+the year 1824, and had been for eleven years a terror to evil-doers.
+His rule was as despotic as he could possibly make it.  If any
+officer appointed by the Home Government disagreed with his policy he
+suspended him from his office, and left him to seek redress from his
+friends in England--a tedious process, which lasted for years.
+Disagreeable common people he suspended also--by the neck.  If a
+farmer, squatter, or merchant was insubordinate, he stopped his
+supply of convict labour, and cruelly left him to do his own work.
+He brooked no discussion of his measures by any pestilent editor. He
+filled all places of profit with his friends, relatives, and
+dependents.  Everything was referred to his royal will and pleasure.
+His manners were stiff and formal, his tastes moral, his habits on
+Sundays religious, and his temper vindictive.  Next to the articles
+of war, the thirty-nine Articles claimed his obedience.  When his
+term of office was drawing to a close he went to church on a certain
+Sunday to receive the Lord's Supper.  While studying his prayer book
+he observed that it was his duty if his brother had anything against
+him to seek a reconciliation before offering his gift.  The
+ex-Attorney-General, Gellibrand, was present, a brother Christian who
+had had many things against him for many years.  He had other
+enemies, some living and some dead, but they were absent.  To be
+reconciled to all of them was an impossibility.  He could not ask the
+minister to suspend the service while he went round Hobart Town
+looking for his enemies, and shaking hands with them.  But he did
+what was possible.  He rose from his knees, marched over to
+Gellibrand, and held out his hand.  Gellibrand was puzzled; he looked
+at the hand and could see nothing in it.  By way of explanation
+Colonel Arthur pointed out the passage in the prayer-book which had
+troubled his sensitive conscience.  Gellibrand read it, and then
+shook hands.  With a soul washed whiter than snow, the colonel
+approached the table.
+
+Amongst the convicts every grade of society was represented, from
+King Jorgensen to the beggar.  One Governor had a convict private
+secretary.  Officers of the army and navy, merchants, doctors, and
+clergymen consorted with costermongers, poachers, and pickpockets.
+The law, it is sad to relate, had even sent out lawyers, who
+practised their profession under a cloud, and sometimes pleaded by
+permission of the court.  But their ancient pride had been trodden in
+the dust; the aureole which once encircled their wigs was gone, and
+they were often snubbed and silenced by ignorant justices.  The
+punishment for being found out is life-long and terrible.  Their
+clients paid the fees partly in small change and partly in rum.
+
+The defence of the seamen accused of murdering Captain Blogg was
+undertaken by Mr. Nicholas.  He had formerly been employed by the
+firm of eminent solicitors in London who conducted the defence of
+Queen Caroline, when the "first gentleman in Europe" tried to get rid
+of her, and he told me that his misfortunes (forgeries) had deprived
+him of the honour of sharing with Lord Brougham the credit of her
+acquittal.
+
+Many years had passed since that celebrated trial when I made the
+acquaintance of Nicholas.  He had by this time lost all social
+distinction.  He had grown old and very shabby, and was so mean that
+even his old friends, the convicts who had crossed the straits,
+looked down on him with contempt.  He came to me for an elector's
+right, as a vote in our electorate--the Four Counties--was
+sometimes worth as much as forty shillings, besides unlimited grog.
+We were Conservatives then, true patriots, and we imitated--feebly,
+it is true, but earnestly--the time-honoured customs of old England.
+
+Mr. Nicholas had been a man of many employments, and of many
+religions.  He was never troubled with scruples of conscience, but
+guided his conduct wholly by enlightened self-interest.  He was a
+Broad Churchman, very broad.  As tutor in various families, he had
+instructed his pupils in the tenets of the Church of England, of the
+Catholics, of the Presbyterians, and of the Baptists.  He always
+professed the religion of his employer for the time being, and he
+found that four religions were sufficient for his spiritual and
+temporal wants.  There were many other sects, but the labour of
+learning all their peculiar views would not pay, so he neglected
+them.  The Wesleyans were at one time all-powerful in our road
+district, and Nicholas, foreseeing a chance of filling an office of
+profit under the Board, threw away all his sins, and obtained grace
+and a billet as toll-collector or pikeman.  In England the pike-man
+was always a surly brute, who collected his fees with the help of a
+bludgeon and a bulldog, but Nicholas performed his duties in the
+disguise of a saint.  He waited for passengers in his little wooden
+office, sitting at a table, with a huge Bible before him, absorbed in
+spiritual reading.  He wore spectacles on his Roman nose, had a long
+grey beard, quoted Scripture to chance passengers, and was very
+earnest for their salvation.  He was atoning for the sins of his
+youth by leading the life of a hermit by praying and cheating.  He
+has had many followers. He made mistakes in his cash, which for a
+while were overlooked in so good a man, but they became at length so
+serious that he lost his billet.  He had for some time been spoken of
+by his friends and admirers as "Mr. Nicholas," but after his last
+mistakes had been discovered, he began to be known merely as "Old
+Nick the Lawyer," or "Old Nick the Liar," which some ignorant people
+look upon as convertible terms.  I think Lizard Skin, the cannibal,
+was a better Christian than old Nick the lawyer, as he was brave and
+honest, and scorned to tell a lie.
+
+The convict counsel for the four seamen defended them at a great
+expenditure of learning and lies.  He argued at great length:--
+"That there was no evidence that a master mariner named Blogg ever
+existed; that he was an outlaw, and, as such, every British subject
+had an inchoate right to kill him at sight, and, therefore, that the
+seamen, supposing for the sake of argument that they did kill him,
+acted strictly within their legal rights; that Blogg drowned himself
+in a fit of delirium tremens, after being drunk on rum three days and
+nights consecutively; that he fell overboard accidentally and was
+drowned; that the cook and mate threw him overboard, and then laid
+the blame on the innocent seamen; that Blogg swam ashore, and was now
+living on an unchartered island; that if he was murdered, his body
+had not been found:  there could be no murder without a corpse; and
+finally, he would respectfully submit to that honourable court, that
+the case bristled with ineradicable difficulties."
+
+The seamen would have been sent to the gallows in any case, but
+Nicholas' speech made their fate inevitable.  The court brushed aside
+the legal bristles, and hanged the four seamen on the evidence of the
+mate and the cook.
+
+The tragedy of the gallows was followed by a short afterpiece.  Jim
+Parrish, Ned Tomlins, and every whaler and foremast man in Hobart
+Town and on the Tamar, discussed the evidence both drunk and sober,
+and the opinion was universal that the cook ought to have sworn an
+oath strong enough to go through a three-inch slab of hardwood that
+he had seen Captain Blogg carried up to heaven by angels, instead of
+swearing away the lives of men who had taken his part when he was
+triced up to the mast.  The cook was in this manner tried by his
+peers and condemned to die, and he knew it.  He tried to escape by
+shipping on board a schooner bound to Portland Bay with whalers.  The
+captain took on board a keg of rum, holding fifteen gallons, usually
+called a "Big Pup," and invited the mate to share the liquor with
+him.  The result was that the two officers soon became incapable of
+rational navigation.  Off King's Island the schooner was hove to in a
+gale of wind, and for fourteen days stood off and on--five or six
+hours one way, and five or six hours the other--while the master
+and mate were down below, "nursing the Big Pup."  The seamen were all
+strangers to the coast, and did not know any cove into which they
+could run for refuge.  The cook was pitched overboard one dark night
+during that gale off King's Island, and his loss was a piece of
+ancient history by the time the master and mate had consumed the rum,
+and were able to enter up the log.
+
+Ex-Attorney-General Gellibrand sailed to Port Philip to look for
+country in Australia Felix, and he found it.  He was last seen on a
+rounded hill, gazing over the rich and beautiful land which borders
+Lake Colac; land which he was not fated to occupy, for he wandered
+away and was lost, and his bones lay unburied by the stream which now
+bears his name.
+
+When Colonel Arthur's term of office expired he departed with the
+utmost ceremony.  The 21st Fusiliers escorted him to the wharf.  As
+he entered his barge his friends cheered, and his enemies groaned, and
+then went home and illuminated the town, to testify their joy at
+getting rid of a tyrant.  He was the model Governor of a Crown
+colony, and the Crown rewarded him for his services.  He was made a
+baronet, appointed Governor of Canada and of Bombay, was a member of
+Her Majesty's Privy Council, a colonel of the Queen's Own regiment,
+and he died on September 19th, 1854, full of years and honours, and
+worth 70,000 pounds.
+
+Laming was left an orphan by the death of Lizard Skin.  The chief had
+grown old and sick, and he sat every day for two years on a fallen
+puriri near the white man's pah, but he never entered it.  His spear
+was always sticking up beside him.  He had a gun, but was never known
+to use it.  He was often humming some ditty about old times before
+the white man brought guns and powder, but he spoke to no one.  He
+was pondering over the future of his tribe, but the problem was too
+much for him.  The white men were strong and were overrunning his
+land.  His last injunction to his warriors was, that they should
+listen to the words of his Pakeha, and that they should be brave that
+they might live.
+
+When the British Government took possession of New Zealand without
+paying for it, they established a Land Court to investigate the
+titles to lands formerly bought from the natives, and it was decided
+in most cases that a few axes and hoes were an insufficient price to
+pay for the pick of the country; the purchases were swindles.  Laming
+had possession of three or four hundred acres, and to the surprise of
+the Court it was found that he had paid a fair price for them, and
+his title was allowed.  Moreover, his knowledge of the language and
+customs of the Maoris was found to be so useful that he was appointed
+a Judge of the Land Court.
+
+The men who laid the foundations of empire in the Great South Land
+were men of action.  They did not stand idle in the shade, waiting
+for someone to come and hire them.  They dug a vineyard and planted
+it.  The vines now bring forth fruit, the winepress is full, the must
+is fermenting.  When the wine has been drawn off from the lees, and
+time has matured it, of what kind will it be?  And will the Lord of
+the Vineyard commend it?
+
+
+
+FIRST SETTLERS.
+
+The first white settler in Victoria was the escaped convict Buckley;
+but he did not cultivate the country, nor civilise the natives.  The
+natives, on the contrary, uncivilised him.  When white men saw him
+again, he had forgotten even his mother tongue, and could give them
+little information.  For more than thirty years he had managed to
+live--to live like a savage; but for any good he had ever done he
+might as well have died with the other convicts who ran away with
+him.  He never gave any clear account of his companions, and many
+people were of opinion that he kept himself alive by eating them,
+until he was found and fed by the blacks, who thought he was one of
+their dead friends, and had "jumped up a white fellow."
+
+While Buckley was still living with the blacks about Corio Bay, in
+1827, Gellibrand and Batman applied for a grant of land at Western
+Port, where the whalers used to strip wattle bark when whales were
+out of season; but they did not get it.
+
+Englishmen have no business to live anywhere without being governed,
+and Colonel Arthur had no money to spend in governing a settlement at
+Western Port.  So Australia Felix was unsettled for eight years
+longer.
+
+Griffiths & Co., of Launceston, were trading with Sydney in 1833.
+Their cargo outward was principally wheat, the price of which varied
+very much; sometimes it was 2s. 6d. a bushel in Launceston, and 18s.
+in Sydney.  The return cargo from Port Jackson was principally coal,
+freestone, and cedar.
+
+Griffiths & Co. were engaged in whaling in Portland Bay.  They sent
+there two schooners, the 'Henry' and the 'Elizabeth', in June, 1834.
+They erected huts on shore for the whalers.  The 'Henry' was wrecked;
+but the whales were plentiful, and yielded more oil than the casks
+would hold, so the men dug clay pits on shore, and poured the oil
+into them.  The oil from forty-five whales was put into the pits, but
+the clay absorbed every spoonful of it, and nothing but bones was
+gained from so much slaughter.  Before the 'Elizabeth' left Portland
+Bay, the Hentys, the first permanent settlers in Victoria, arrived in
+the schooner 'Thistle', on November 4th, 1834.
+
+When the whalers of the 'Elizabeth' had been paid off, and had spent
+their money, they were engaged to strip wattle bark at Western Port,
+and were taken across in the schooner, with provisions, tools, six
+bullocks and a dray.  During that season they stripped three hundred
+tons of bark and chopped it ready for bagging.  John Toms went over
+to weigh and ship the bark, and brought it back, together with the
+men, in the barque 'Andrew Mack'.
+
+
+WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA," ON KING'S ISLAND.
+
+She sailed from Cork on January 8th, 1835, B. H. Peck, master; Dr.
+Stevenson, R.N., surgeon.  She had on board 150 female prisoners and
+thirty-three of their children, nine free women and their twenty-two
+children, and a crew of twenty-six.  Several ships had been wrecked
+on King's Island, and when a vessel approached it the mate of the
+watch warned his men to keep a bright look out.  He said, "King's
+Island is inhabited by anthropophagi, the bloodiest man eaters ever
+known; and, if you don't want to go to pot, you had better keep your
+eyes skinned."  So the look-out man did not go to sleep.
+
+Nevertheless, the 'Neva' went ashore on the Harbinger reef, on May
+13th unshipped her rudder and parted into four pieces.  Only nine men
+and thirteen women reached the island; they were nearly naked and had
+nothing to eat, and they wandered along the beach during the night,
+searching amongst the wreckage.  At last they found a puncheon of
+rum, upended it, stove in the head, and drank.  The thirteen women
+then lay down on the sand close together, and slept.  The night was
+very cold, and Robinson, an apprentice, covered the women as well as
+he could with some pieces of sail and blankets soaked with salt
+water.  The men walked about the beach all night to keep themselves
+warm, being afraid to go inland for fear of the cannibal
+blackfellows.  In the morning they went to rouse the women, and found
+that seven of the thirteen were dead.
+
+The surviving men were the master, B. H. Peck, Joseph Bennet, Thomas
+Sharp, John Watson, Edward Calthorp, Thomas Hines, Robert Ballard,
+John Robinson, and William Kinderey.  The women were Ellen Galvin,
+Mary Stating, Ann Cullen, Rosa Heland, Rose Dunn, and Margaret Drury.
+
+For three weeks these people lived almost entirely on shellfish.
+They threw up a barricade on the shore, above high water mark, to
+protect themselves against the cannibals.  The only chest that came
+ashore unbroken was that of Robinson the apprentice, and in it there
+was a canister of powder.  A flint musket was also found among the
+wreckage, and with the flint and steel they struck a light and made a
+fire.  When they went down to the beach in search of shellfish, one
+man kept guard at the barricade, and looked out for the blackfellows;
+his musket was loaded with powder and pebbles.
+
+Three weeks passed away before any of the natives appeared, but at
+last they were seen approaching along the shore from the south.  At
+the first alarm all the ship-wrecked people ran to the barricade for
+shelter, and the men armed themselves with anything in the shape of
+weapons they could find.  But their main hope of victory was the
+musket.  They could not expect to kill many cannibals with one shot,
+but the flash and report would be sure to strike them with terror,
+and put them to flight.
+
+By this time their diet of shellfish had left them all weak and
+emaciated, skeletons only just alive; the anthropophagi would have
+nothing but bones to pick; still, the little life left in them was
+precious, and they resolved to sell it as dear as they could.  They
+watched the savages approaching; at length they could count their
+number.  They were only eleven all told, and were advancing slowly.
+Now they saw that seven of the eleven were small, only picaninnies.
+When they came nearer three out of the other four were seen to be
+lubras, and the eleventh individual then resolved himself into a
+white savage, who roared out, "Mates ahoy!"
+
+The white man was Scott, the sealer, who had taken up is abode on the
+island with his harem, three Tasmanian gins and seven children.
+
+They were the only permanent inhabitants; the cannibal blacks had
+disappeared, and continued to exist only in the fancies of the
+mariners.  Scott's residence was opposite New Year's Island not far
+from the shore; there he had built a hut and planted a garden with
+potatoes and other vegetables.  Flesh meat he obtained from the
+kangaroos and seals.  Their skins he took to Launceston in his boat,
+and in it he brought back supplies of flour and groceries.  He had
+observed dead bodies of women and men, and pieces of a wrecked vessel
+cast up by the sea, and had travelled along the shore with his
+family, looking for anything useful or valuable which the wreck might
+yield.  After hearing the story, and seeing the miserable plight of
+the castaways, he invited them to his home.  On arriving at the hut
+Scott and his lubras prepared for their guests a beautiful meal of
+kangaroo and potatoes. This was their only food as long as they
+remained on King's Island, for Scott's only boat had got adrift, and
+his flour, tea, and sugar had been all consumed.  But kangaroo beef
+and potatoes seemed a most luxurious diet to the men and women who
+had been kept alive for three weeks on nothing but shellfish.
+
+Scott and his hounds hunted the kangaroo, and supplied the colony
+with meat.  The liver of the kangaroo when boiled and left to grow
+cold is a dry substance, which, with the help of hunger and a little
+imagination, is said to be as good as bread.
+
+In the month of July, 1835, heavy gales were blowing over King's
+Island.  For fourteen days the schooner 'Elizabeth', with whalers for
+Port Fairy, was hove to off the coast, standing off and on, six hours
+one way and six hours the other.  Akers, the captain, and his mate
+got drunk on rum and water daily.  The cook of the 'Industry' was on
+board the 'Elizabeth', the man whom Captain Blogg was flogging when
+his crew seized him and threw him overboard.  The cook also was now
+pitched overboard for having given evidence against the four men who
+had saved him from further flogging.
+
+At this time also Captain Friend, of the whaling cutter 'Sarah Ann',
+took shelter under the lee of New Year's Island, and he pulled ashore
+to visit Scott the sealer.  There he found the shipwrecked men and
+women whom he took on board his cutter, and conveyed to Launceston,
+except one woman and two men.  It was then too late in the season to
+take the whalers to Port Fairy.  Captain Friend was appointed chief
+District Constable at Launceston; all the constables under him were
+prisoners of the Crown, receiving half a dollar a day.  He was
+afterwards Collector of Customs at the Mersey.
+
+In November, 1835 the schooner 'Elizabeth' returned to Launceston
+with 270 tuns of oil.  The share of the crew of a whaling vessel was
+one-fiftieth of the value of the oil and bone.  The boat-steerer
+received one-thirtieth, and of the headmen some had one-twenty-fifth,
+others one-fifteenth.  In this same year, 1835, Batman went to Port
+Phillip with a few friends and seven Sydney blackfellows.  On June
+14th he returned to Van Diemen's Land, and by the 25th of the same
+month he had compiled a report of his expedition, which he sent to
+Governor Arthur, together with a copy of the grant of land executed
+by the black chiefs.  He had obtained three copies of the grant
+signed by three brothers Jagga-Jagga, by Bungaree, Yan-Yan, Moorwhip,
+and Marmarallar.  The area of the land bought by Batman was not
+surveyed with precision, but it was of great extent, like infinite
+space, whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere.  And in
+addition he took up a small patch of one hundred thousand acres
+between the bay and the Barwon, including the insignificant site of
+Geelong, a place of small account even to this day.  Batman was a
+long-limbed Sydney native, and he bestrode his real estate like a
+Colossus, but King William was a bigger Colossus than Batman--he
+claimed both the land and the blacks, and ignored the Crown grant.
+
+Next, John Fawkner and his friends chartered the schooner
+'Enterprise' for a voyage across the Straits to Australia Felix.  He
+afterwards claimed to be the founder of Melbourne.  He could write
+and talk everlastingly, but he had not the 'robur' and 'as triplex'
+suitable for a sea-robber.  Sea-sickness nearly killed him, so he
+stayed behind while the other adventurers went and laid the
+foundation.  They first examined the shores of Western Port, then
+went to Port Philip Bay and entered the River Yarra.  They
+disembarked on its banks, ploughed some land, sowed maize and wheat,
+and planted two thousand fruit trees.  They were not so grasping as
+Batman, and each man pegged out a farm of only one hundred acres.
+These farms were very valuable in the days of the late boom, and are
+called the city of Melbourne.  Batman wanted to oust the newcomers;
+he claimed the farms under his grant from the Jagga-Jaggas.  He
+squatted on Batman's Hill, and looked down with evil eyes on the
+rival immigrants.  He saw them clearing away the scrub along Flinders
+Street, and splitting posts and rails all over the city from Spencer
+Street to Spring Street, regardless of the fact that the ground under
+their feet would be, in the days of their grandchildren, worth 3,000
+pounds per foot.  Their bullock-drays were often bogged in Elizabeth
+Street, and they made a corduroy crossing over it with red gum logs.
+Some of these logs were dislodged quite sound fifty years afterwards
+by the Tramway Company's workmen.
+
+
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.
+
+"Know ye not that lovely river?
+Know ye not that smiling river?
+Whose gentle flood, by cliff and wood,
+With 'wildering sound goes winding ever."
+
+In January, 1836, Captain Smith, who was in charge of the whaling
+station at Port Fairy, went with two men, named Wilson and Gibbs, in
+a whale boat to the islands near Warrnambool, to look for seal.  They
+could find no seal, and then they went across the bay, and found the
+mouth of the river Hopkins.  In trying to land there, their boat
+capsized in the surf, and Smith was drowned.  The other two men
+succeeded in reaching the shore naked, and they travelled back along
+the coast to Port Fairy, carrying sticks on their shoulders to look
+like guns, in order to frighten away the natives, who were very
+numerous on that part of the coast.  On this journey they found the
+wreck of a vessel, supposed to be a Spanish one, which has since been
+covered by the drifting sand.  When Captain Mills was afterwards
+harbour master at Belfast, he took the bearings of it, and reported
+them to the Harbour Department in Melbourne.  Vain search was made
+for it many years afterwards in the hope that it was a Spanish
+galleon laden with doubloons.
+
+Davy was in the Sydney trade in the 'Elizabeth' until March, 1836; he
+then left her and joined the cutter 'Sarah Ann', under J. B. Mills,
+to go whaling at Port Fairy.  In the month of May, Captain Mills was
+short of boats, and went to the Hopkins to look for the boat lost by
+Smith.  He took with him two boats with all their whaling gear, in
+case he should see a whale.  David Fermaner was in one of the boats,
+which carried a supply of provisions for the two crews; in the other
+boat there was only what was styled a nosebag, or snack--a mouthful
+for each man.
+
+On arriving off the Hopkins, they found a nasty sea on, and Captain
+Mills said it would be dangerous to attempt to land; but his brother
+Charles said he would try, and in doing so his boat capsized in the
+breakers.  All the men clung to the boat, but the off-sea prevented
+them from getting on shore.  When Captain Mills saw what had
+happened, he at once pushed on his boat through the surf and
+succeeded in reaching the shore inside the point on the eastern side
+of the entrance.  He then walked round towards the other boat with a
+lance warp, waded out in the water as far as he could, and then threw
+the warp to the men, who hauled on it until their boat came ashore,
+and they were able to land.
+
+All the provisions were lost.  The water was baled out of the boat
+that had been capsized, and she was taken over to the west head.  All
+the food for twelve men was in the nosebag, and it was very little;
+each man had a mere nibble for supper.  In those days wombats were
+plentiful near the river, but the men could not catch or kill one of
+them.  Captain Mills had a gun in his boat which happened to be
+loaded, and he gave it to Davy to try if he could shoot anything for
+breakfast next morning.  There was only one charge, all the rest of
+the ammunition having been lost in the breakers.  Davy walked up the
+banks of the river early in the morning, and saw plenty of ducks, but
+they were so wild he could not get near them.  At last he was so
+fortunate as to shoot a musk duck, which he brought back to the camp,
+stuck up before the fire, and roasted.  He then divided it into
+twelve portions, and gave one portion to each of the twelve men for
+breakfast; but it was a mockery of a meal, as unsubstantial as an
+echo--smell, and nothing else.
+
+The two boats were launched, and an attempt was made to pass out to
+sea through the surf, but the wind was far down south, and the men
+had to return and beach the boats.  The sails were taken ashore and
+used as tents.  In the evening they again endeavoured to catch a
+wombat, but failed.
+
+On the next day they tried again to get out of the river, but the
+surf half filled the boats with water, and they were glad to reach
+the camp again.
+
+Captain Mills was a native of Australia, and a good bushman; he told
+the men that sow thistles were good to eat, so they went about
+looking for them, and having found a quantity ate them.  On the third
+day they tried once more to get out of the river, but without success.
+
+On the fourth day Mills decided to carry the boats and whaling gear
+overland to a bight in the bay to the west.  The gear was divided
+into lots among the men, and consisted of ten oars, two steer-oars,
+two tubs of whale line each 120 fathoms in length, two fifty-pound
+anchors, four harpoons, six lances, six lance warps, two tomahawks,
+two water kegs, two piggins for balers, two sheath knives, and two
+oil-stones for touching up the lances when they became dull.  These
+were carried for about a quarter of a mile, and then put down for a
+rest, and the men went back to the camp.  The boats were much lighter
+than the gear, being made of only half-inch plank.  One boat was
+capsized bottom up, and the men took it on their shoulders, six on
+each side, the tallest men being placed in the middle on account of
+the shear of the boat, and it was carried about half a mile past the
+gear.  They then returned for the other boat, and in this way brought
+everything to the bight close to the spot where the bathing house at
+Warrnambool has since been erected.  There they launched the boats,
+and got out to sea, pulling against a strong westerly breeze.
+
+The men were very weak, having had nothing to eat for four days but
+some sow thistles and a musk duck, and the pull to Port Fairy was
+hard and long.  They landed about four o'clock in the afternoon, and
+Captain Mills told them not to eat anything, saying he would give
+them something better.  At that time there was a liquor called "black
+strap," brought out in the convict ships for the use of the
+prisoners, and it was sold with the ships' surplus stores in Sydney
+and Hobarton.  Mills had some of it at Port Fairy.  He now put a
+kettle full of it on the fire, and when it was warmed gave each man a
+half a pint to begin with.  He then told them to go and get supper,
+and afterwards he gave each of them another half pint.
+
+Rum was in those days a very profitable article of commerce, and the
+trade in it was monopolised by the Government officers, civil and
+military.  Like flour in the back settlements of the United States,
+it was reckoned "ekal to cash," and was made to do the office of the
+pagoda tree in India, which rained dollars at every shake.
+
+The boat that was lost by Smith at the Hopkins was found in good
+condition, half filled with sand.  Joe Wilson went for it afterwards,
+and brought it back to Port Fairy.  He was a native of Sydney, and
+nephew of Raibey of Launceston, and was murdered not long afterwards
+at the White Hills.  He was sent by Raibey on horseback to Hobarton
+to buy the revenue cutter 'Charlotte', which had been advertised for
+sale.  He was shot by a man who was waiting for him behind a tree.
+He fell from his horse, and although he begged hard for his life, the
+man beat out his brains with the gun.  The murderer took all the
+money Wilson had, which was only one five-pound note, the number of
+which Raibey knew.  A woman tried to pass it in Launceston, and her
+statements led to the discovery and conviction of the murderer, who
+was hanged in chains at the White Hills, and the gibbet remained
+there for many years.
+
+
+
+WHALING.
+
+"I wish I were in Portland Bay,
+Oh, yes, Oh!
+Harpooning whales on a thirtieth lay,
+A hundred years ago."
+
+In the year 1837, J. B. Mills had charge of the Portland Fishery, and
+Davy went with him in the 'Thistle' schooner as mate and navigator,
+and they were over a month on the passage.  Charles Mills was second
+in command at the station at Portland, and Peter Coakley, an
+Irishman, was third; the remainder of the crew required for whaling
+was on board the 'Thistle'.  Among them was one named McCann, a
+Sydney native, a stonemason by trade, and father of the McCann who
+was afterwards member of Parliament for Geelong.  During a westerly
+gale the schooner ran to Western Port for shelter.  In sailing
+through the Rip, McCann, who was acting as steward, while going aft
+to the cabin, had to cross over a colonial sofa which was lashed on
+deck.  Instead of stepping over it gently, he made a jump, and the
+vessel lurching at the same time, he went clean overboard.  Davy, who
+was standing by the man at the helm, told him to put the helm down
+and let the vessel come to.  He then ran forward and got a steer-oar
+from underneath the boots, and threw it overboard.  McCann, being an
+expert swimmer, swam to the oar, a boat was launched, four men got
+into it, picked him up, and brought him aboard again none the worse.
+There was too much sea on to hoist in the boat, as there were no
+davits, and while she was being towed in she ran ahead of the vessel,
+which went over her and filled her with water.  On arriving in
+Western Port the boat was found to have been not much damaged.  There
+was on board the 'Thistle' an apprentice whom Davy had stolen in
+Sydney after he had served four years of his time to a boat-builder
+named Green.  This apprentice repaired the boat, which afterwards
+proved to be the fastest out of forty-one boats that went out whaling
+in Portland Bay every  morning.
+
+There were in 1837 eight parties of whalers in Portland Bay, and so
+many whales were killed that the business from that year declined and
+became unprofitable.  Mills' party in the 'Thistle' schooner, of
+which Davy was mate and navigator, or nurse to Mills, who was not a
+trained seaman, had their station at Single Corner; Kelly's party was
+stationed at the neck of land where the breakwater has been
+constructed.  Then there were Dutton's party, with the barque
+'African'; Nicholson's, with the barque 'Cheviot', from Hobarton;
+Chamberlain's, with the barque 'William the Fourth', of Hobarton; the
+'Hope' barque, and a brig, both from Sydney.  The Hentys also had a
+whaling station at Double Corner, and by offering to supply their men
+with fresh meat three times a week, obtained the pick of the whalers.
+Their head men were Johnny Brennan, John Moles, and Jim Long,
+natives of Sydney or Tasmania, and all three good whalers.
+
+When the 'Thistle' arrived at Portland Bay every other party had got
+nearly one hundred tuns of oil each, and Mills' party had none.  He
+started out next morning, choosing the boat which had picked up
+McCann at Western Port, and killed one whale, which turned out six
+tuns of oil.  He did not get any more for three weeks, being very
+unlucky.  After getting the schooner ready for cutting in, Davy went
+to steer the boat for Charles Mills, and always got in a mess among
+the whales, being either capsized or stove in among so many boats.
+At the end of three weeks Captain Mills got a whale off the second
+river, halfway round towards Port Fairy.  She was taken in tow with
+the three boats, and after two days' towing, she was anchored within
+half-a-mile of the schooner in Portland Bay, and the men went ashore.
+During the night a gale of wind came on from the south-west, and the
+whale, being a bit stale and high out of the water, drove ashore at
+the Bluff, a little way past Henty's house.
+
+In the morning Mills said he would go and see what he could get from
+her on the beach, and ordered his brother, Charles Mills, and Coakley
+to go out looking for whales.  All the boats used to go out before
+daylight, and dodge one another round the Bay for miles.  It was cold
+work sitting in the boats. The men stayed out until ten or eleven
+o'clock, and went ashore that day on the Convincing Ground, which was
+so-called because the whalers used to go down there to fight, and
+convince one another who was the best man.
+
+In the afternoon, about two o'clock, it was Davy's turn to go up a
+tree to look for whales.  In looking round the Bay towards the Bluff,
+he saw a boat with a whiff on.  He jumped down, and told Charles
+Mills, who said:  "Come on."  there was a great rush of all the
+boats, but Mills' boat kept well forward of the lot.  When they
+arrived off the Bluff they found Captain Mills had fastened to a
+whale, two other loose whales being near.  They pulled up alongside
+him, and he pointed out a loose whale, to which they fastened.
+Mansfield, of the Hobarton party, fastened to the third whale.  Davy
+came aft to the steer-oar, and Charles Mills went forward to kill his
+whale.  He had hardly got the lance in his hand when the whale threw
+herself right athwart the nose of the boat.  He then sent the lance
+right into her and killed her stone dead.  Mansfield, in hauling up
+his whale got on top of Captain Mills' whale, which stove in
+Mansfield's boat, and sent all his men flying in the air.  There was
+a rush then to pick up the men.  Charles Mills, finding his whale
+dead, struck a whiff in the lance-hole he had made when he killed
+her, cut the line that was fast to her, and bent it on to another
+spare iron.  Mansfield's whale then milled round and came right on to
+Charles Mills' boat, and he fastened to her.  This gave him a claim
+of one half of her, so that Mills and his men got two and a half out
+of the three whales.  The men were all picked up.  Mills' whales were
+anchored about half-a-mile from the schooner, and the boats went out
+next morning and took them in tow.
+
+The whales tow very easily when fresh killed, but if they are allowed
+to get stiff their fins stand out and hinder the towing.  When the
+two whales were brought alongside the schooner, the boats of Kelly's
+party were seen fast to a whale off Black Nose Point.  Charles Mills
+pulled over, and when he arrived he found a loose whale, Mansfield
+and Chase being fast to two other whales.  Mills fastened to the
+loose whale, and then the three whales fouled the three lines, and
+rolled them all together like a warp, which made it difficult to kill
+them.  After the men had pulled up on them for some time with the
+oars, two of them began spouting blood and sickened, and Chase's boat
+got on to them and capsized.  Then the whales took to running, and
+Mansfield cut his line to pick up Chase and his crew.  Mansfield's
+whale being sick, went in a flurry and died.  Mills' whale and
+Chase's worked together until Mills killed his whale; he then whiffed
+her and fastened to Chase's whale, which gave him a claim for half,
+and he killed her; so that his party got one and a-half out of the
+three whales.  Chase and his crew were all picked up.
+
+ From that day the luck of Mills and his party turned, and they could
+not try out fast enough.  In four months from the time the 'Thistle'
+left Launceston she had on board two hundred and forty tuns of oil.
+
+In the year 1836, the Hentys had a few cattle running behind the
+Bluff when Major Mitchell arrived overland from Sydney, and reported
+good country to the north.  They then brought over more cattle from
+Launceston, and stocked a station.
+
+The first beast killed by the Hentys for their whalers was a heifer,
+and the carcase, divided into two parts, was suspended from the
+flagstaff at their house.  It could be seen from afar by the men who
+were pulling across the bay in their boats, and they knew that
+Henty's men were going to feed on fresh meat, while all the rest were
+eating such awful stuff as Yankee pork and salt horse.  The very
+sight of the two sides of the heifer suspended at the flagstaff was
+an unendurable insult and mockery to the carnivorous whalers, and an
+incitement to larceny.  Davy Fermaner was steering one of the boats,
+and he exclaimed: "There, they are flashing the fresh meat to us.
+They would look foolish if they lost it to-night."
+
+There was feasting and revelry that night at Single Corner.  Hungry
+men were sharpening their sheath-knives with steel, and cutting up a
+side of beef.  A large fire was burning, and on the glowing coals,
+and in every frying-pan rich steaks were fizzing and hissing.  It was
+like a feast of heroes, and lasted long through the night.  They sang
+responsively, like gentle shepherds--shepherds of the ocean fields
+whose flocks were mighty whales:
+
+"Mother, the butcher's brought the meat,
+What shall I do with it?
+Fry the flesh, and broil the bones,
+And make a pudding of the su-et."
+
+Next morning the Hentys looked for the missing beef up the flagstaff,
+and along the shore of the ever-sounding ocean, but their search was
+vain.  They suspected that the men of Kelly's party were the thieves,
+but these all looked as stupid, ignorant, and innocent as the adverse
+circumstances would permit.  There was no evidence against them to be
+found; the beef was eaten and the bones were burned and buried.
+Mills' men were the beef lifters, and some of Kelly's men helped them
+to eat it.
+
+The whales killed at the Portland fishery were of two kinds, the
+right or black whale, and the sperm whale.  The right whale has an
+immense tongue, and lives by suction, the food being a kind of small
+shrimp.  When in a flurry--that is, when she has received her
+death-stroke with the lance--she goes round in a circle, working
+with her head and flukes.  The sperm whales feed on squid, which they
+bite, and when in a flurry they work with the head and flukes, and
+with the mouth open, and often crush the boats.
+
+After the crew of the 'Thistle' had spent their money, they were
+taken back to Port Fairy for the purpose of stripping bark, a large
+quantity of wattle trees having been found in the neighbouring
+country.  Sheep were also taken there in charge of Mr. J. Murphy, who
+intended to form a station.  John Griffiths also sent over his
+father, Jonathan, who had been a carpenter on board the first
+man-of-war that had arrived at Port Jackson, three old men who had
+been prisoners, four bullocks, a plough, and some seed potatoes.  A
+cargo of the previous season's bark was put into the 'Thistle', and
+on her return to Launceston, was transferred to the 'Rhoda' brig,
+Captain Rolls, bound for London.  More sheep and provisions were then
+taken in the 'Thistle', and after they were landed at Port Fairy,
+another cargo of bark was put on board.  For three days there was no
+wind, and a tremendous sea setting in from the south-east, the
+schooner could not leave the bay.  On the night of December 24th a
+gale of wind came on from the south-east; one chain parted, and after
+riding until three o'clock in the morning of Christmas Day, the other
+chain also parted.  The vessel drew eight feet, and was lying in
+between three and four fathoms of water.  As soon as the second chain
+broke, Davy went up on the fore-yard and cut the gaskets of the
+foresail.  The schooner grounded in the trough of sea, but when she
+rose the foresail was down, and she paid off before the wind.  The
+shore was about a mile, or a mile and a half distant, and she took
+the beach right abreast of a sheep yard, where her wreck now lies.
+The men got ashore in safety, but all the cargo was lost.
+
+A tent was pitched on shore near the wreck, but as there was no
+vessel in the bay by which they could return to Launceston, the four
+men, Captain Mills, D. Fermaner, Charles Ferris, and Richard
+Jennings, on December 31st, 1837, set sail in a whaleboat for Port
+Philip.  Davy had stolen Jennings from the 'Rhoda' brig at
+Launceston, when seamen were scarce.  He was afterwards a pilot at
+Port Philip, and was buried at Williamstown.
+
+The whaleboat reached Port Philip on January 3rd, 1838, having got
+through the Rip on the night of the 2nd. Ferris was the only man of
+the crew who had been in before, he having gone in with Batman, in
+the 'Rebecca' cutter, Captain Baldwin.  Baldwin was afterwards before
+the mast in the 'Elizabeth' schooner; he was a clever man, but fond
+of drink.
+
+The whaleboat anchored off Portsea, but the men did not land for fear
+of the blacks.
+
+At daylight Davy landed to look for water, but could not find any;
+and there were only three pints in the water-bag.  The wind being
+from the north, the boat was pulled over to Mud Island, and the men
+went ashore to make tea with the three pints of water.  Davy walked
+about the island, and found a rookery of small mackerel-gulls and a
+great quantity of their eggs in the sand.  He broke a number of them,
+and found that the light-coloured eggs were good, and that the dark
+ones had birds in them.  He took off his shirt, tied the sleeves
+together, bagged a lot of the eggs, and carried them back to the
+camp.  Mills broke the best of them into the great pot, and the eggs
+and water mixed together and boiled made about a quart for each man.
+
+After breakfast the wind shifted to the southward, and the 'Henry'
+brig, from Launceston, Captain Whiting, ran in, bound to Point Henry
+with sheep; but before Mills and his men could get away from Mud
+Island the brig had passed.  They pulled and sailed after her, but
+did not overtake her until she arrived off the point where Batman
+first settled, now called Port Arlington; at that time they called
+the place Indented Heads.
+
+When the whaleboat came near the brig to ask for water, two or three
+muskets were levelled at the men over the bulwarks, and they were
+told to keep off, or they would be shot.  At that time a boat's crew
+of prisoners had escaped from Melbourne in a whale boat, and the
+ship-wrecked men were suspected as the runaways.  But one of the crew
+of the 'Henry', named Jack Macdonald, looked over the side, and
+seeing Davy in the boat, asked him what they had done with the
+schooner 'Thistle', and they told him they had lost her at Port Fairy.
+
+Captain Whiting asked Macdonald if he knew them, and on being
+informed that they were the captain and crew of the schooner
+'Thistle', he invited them on board and supplied them with a good
+dinner.  They went on to Point Henry in the brig, and assisted in
+landing the sheep.
+
+Batman was at that time in Melbourne.  Davy had seen him before in
+Launceston.  After discharging the sheep the brig proceeded to
+Gellibrand's Point, and as Captain Whiting wanted to go up to
+Melbourne, the men pulled him up the Yarra in their whaleboat.
+Fawkner's Hotel at that time was above the site of the present
+customs House, and was built with broad paling.  Mills and Whiting
+stayed there that night, Davy and the other two men being invited to
+a small public-house kept by a man named Burke, a little way down
+Little Flinders Street, where they were made very comfortable.
+
+Next day they went back to the brig 'Henry', and started for Launceston.
+
+In May, 1838, Davy was made master of the schooner 'Elizabeth', and
+took in her a cargo of sheep, and landed them at Port Fairy.  The
+three old convicts whom Griffiths had sent there along with his
+father Jonathan, had planted four or five acres of potatoes at a
+place called Goose Lagoon, about two miles behind the township.  The
+crop was a very large one, from fifteen to twenty tons to the acre,
+and Davy had received orders to take in fifty tons of the potatoes,
+and to sell them in South Australia.  He did so, and after four days'
+passage went ashore at the port, offered the potatoes for sale, and
+sold twenty tons at 22 pounds 10 shillings per ton.  On going ashore
+again next morning, he was offered 20 pounds per ton for the
+remainder, and he sold them at that price.
+
+On the same day the 'Nelson' brig, from Hobarton, arrived with one
+hundred tons of potatoes, but she could not sell them, as Davy had
+fully stocked the market.  He was paid for the potatoes in gold by
+the two men who bought them.
+
+He went up to the new city of Adelaide.  All the buildings were of
+the earliest style of architecture, and were made of tea-tree and
+sods, or of reeds dabbed together with mud.  The hotels had no
+signboards, but it was easy to find them by the heaps of bottles
+outside.  Kangaroo flesh was 1s. 6d. a pound, but grog was cheap.
+Davy was looking for a shipmate named Richard Ralph, who was then the
+principal architect and builder in the city.  He found him erecting
+homes for the immigrants out of reeds and mud.  He was paid 10 pounds
+or 12 pounds for each building.  He was also hunting kangaroo and
+selling meat.  He was married to a lady immigrant, and on the whole
+appeared to be very comfortable and prosperous.  Davy gave the lady a
+five-shilling piece to go and fetch a bottle of gin, and was
+surprised when she came back bringing two bottles of gin and 3s.
+change.  In the settlement the necessaries of life were dear, but the
+luxuries were cheap.  If a man could not afford to buy kangaroo beef
+and potatoes, he could live sumptuously on gin.  Davy walked back to
+the port the same evening, and next day took in ballast, which was
+mud dug out among the mangroves.
+
+He arrived at Launceston in four days, and then went as coasting
+pilot of the barque 'Belinda', bound to Port Fairy to take in oil for
+London.  The barque took in 100 head of cattle, the first that were
+landed at Port Fairy.  He then went to Port Philip, and was employed
+in lightering cargo up the Yarra, and in ferrying between
+Williamstown and the beach now called Port Melbourne.  He took out
+the first boatman's licence issued, and has the brass badge, No. 1,
+still.  Vessels at that time had to be warped up the Yarra from below
+Humbug Reach, as no wind could get at the topsails, on account of the
+high tea-tree on the banks.
+
+
+
+OUT WEST IN 1849.
+
+I did not travel as a capitalist, far from it.  I went up the
+Mississippi as a deck passenger, sleeping at night sometimes on
+planks, at other times on bags of oats piled on the deck about six
+feet high.  The mate of a Mississippi boat is always a bully and
+every now and then he came along with a deck-hand carrying a lamp,
+and requested us to come down.  He said it was "agen the rules of the
+boat to sleep on oats"; but we kept on breaking the rules as much as
+possible.
+
+Above the mouth of the Ohio the river bank on the Missouri side is
+high, rocky, and picturesque. I longed to be the owner of a farm up
+there, and of a modest cottage overlooking the Father of Waters.  I
+said, "If there's peace and plenty to be had in this world, the heart
+that is humble might hope for it here," and then the very first
+village visible was called "Vide Poche."  It is now a suburb of St.
+Louis.
+
+I took a passage on another boat up the Illinois river.  There was a
+very lordly man on the lower deck who was frequently "trailing his
+coat."  He had, in fact, no coat at all, only a grey flannel shirt
+and nankeen trousers, but he was remarkably in want of a fight, and
+anxious to find a man willing to be licked.  He was a desperado of
+the great river.  We had heard and read of such men, of their
+reckless daring and deadly fights; but we were peaceful people; we
+had come out west to make a living, and therefore did not want to be
+killed.  When the desperado came near we looked the other way.
+
+There was a party of five immigrant Englishmen sitting on their
+luggage.  One of them was very strongly built, a likely match for the
+bully, and a deck-hand pointing to him said:
+
+"Jack, do you know what that Englishman says about you?"
+
+"No, what does he say?"
+
+"He says he don't think you are of much account with all your brag.
+Reckons he could lick you in a couple of minutes."
+
+Uttering imprecations, Jack approached the Englishman, and dancing
+about the deck, cleared the ring for the coming combat.
+
+"Come on, you green-horn, and take your gruel.  Here's the best man
+on the river for you.  You'll find him real grit."
+
+The stranger sat still, said he was not a fighting man, and did not
+want to quarrel with anybody.
+
+Jack grew more ferocious than ever, and aimed a blow at the peaceful
+man to persuade him to come on.  He came on suddenly.  The two men
+were soon writhing together on the guard deck, and I was pleased to
+observe the desperado was undermost.  The Englishman was full of
+fear, and was fighting for his life.  He was doing it with great
+earnestness.  He was grasping the throat of his enemy tightly with
+both hands, and pressing his thumbs on the wind-pipe.  We could see
+he was going to win in his own simple way, without any recourse to
+science, and he would have done so very soon had he not been
+interrupted.  But as Jack was growing black in the face, the other
+Englishmen began to pull at their mate, and tried to unlock his grip
+on Jack's throat.  It was not easy to do so.  He held on to his man
+to the very last, crying out:  "Leave me alone till I do for him.
+Man alive, don't you know the villain wants to murder me?"
+
+The desperado lay for a while gulping and gasping on his bed of
+glory, unable to rise.  I observed patches of bloody skin hanging
+loose on both sides of his neck when he staggered along the deck
+towards the starboard sponson.
+
+There was peace for a quarter of an hour.  Then Jack's voice was
+heard again.  He had lost prestige, and was coming to recover it with
+a bowie knife.  He said:
+
+"Where's that Britisher?  I am going to cut his liver out."
+
+The Englishman heard the threat, and said to him mates:
+
+"I told you so!  He means to murder me.  Why didn't you leave me
+alone when I had the fine holt of him?"
+
+He then hurried away and ran upstairs to the saloon.
+
+Jack followed to the foot of the ladder, and one wild-eyed young lady said:
+
+"Look at the Englishman [he was sitting on a chair a few feet
+distance].  Ain't he pale?  Oh! the coward!"
+
+She wanted to witness a real lively fight, and was disappointed.  The
+smell of blood seems grateful to the nostrils of both ladies and
+gentlemen in the States.  A butcher from St. Louis explained it thus:
+
+"It's in the liver.  Nine out of ten of the beasts I kill have liver
+complaint.  I am morally sartin I'd find the human livers just the
+same if I examined them in any considerable quantity."
+
+The captain came to the head of the stairs and descended to the deck.
+He was tall and lanky and mild of speech.  He said:
+
+"Now, Jack, what are you going to do with that knife?"
+
+"I am waiting to cut the liver out of that Englishman.  Send him
+down, Captain, till I finish the job."
+
+"Yes, I see.  He has been peeling your neck pretty bad, ain't he?
+Powerful claws, I reckon.  Jack, you'll be getting into trouble some
+day with your weepons."  He took a small knife out of his pocket.
+"Look here, Jack.  I've been going up and down the river more'n
+twenty years, and never carried a weepon bigg'n that, and never had a
+muss with nobody.  A man who draws his bowie sometimes gets shot.
+Let's look at your knife."
+
+He examined it closely, deciphered the brand, drew his thumb over the
+edge, and observed:
+
+"Why, blame me, if it ain't one of them British bowies--a
+Free-trade Brummagen. I reckon you can't carve anyone with a thing
+like this."  He made a dig at the hand-rail with the point, and it
+actually curled up like the ring in a hog's snout.  "You see, Jack, a
+knife like that is mean, unbecoming a gentleman, and a disgrace to a
+respectable boat."  He pitched the British article into the river and
+went up into the saloon.
+
+As Jack had not yet recovered his prestige, he went away, and
+returned with a dinner knife in one hand and a shingling hammer in
+the other.  He waited for his adversary until the sun was low and the
+deck passengers were preparing their evening meal.  Two of the
+Englishmen came along towards the stairs and ascended to the saloon.
+Presently they began to descend with their mate in the middle.  Jack
+looked at them, and for some reason or other he did not want any more
+prestige.  He sauntered away along the guard deck, and remained in
+retirement during the rest of the voyage.  He was not, after all, a
+very desperate desperado.
+
+During the next night our boat was racing with a rival craft, and one
+of her engines was damaged.  She had then to hop on one leg, as it
+were, as far as Peoria.  The Illinois river had here spread out into
+a broad lake; the bank was low, there were no buildings of any kind
+near the water; some of the passengers landed, and nobody came to
+offer them welcome.
+
+I stood near an English immigrant who had just brought his luggage
+ashore, and was sitting on it with his wife and three children.  They
+looked around at the low land and wide water, and became full of
+misery.  The wife said:
+
+"What are we boun' to do now, Samiul?  Wheer are me and the childer
+to go in this miserable lookin' place?"
+
+Samiul:  "I'm sure, Betsy, I don't know.  I've nobbut hafe a dollar
+left of o' my money.  They said Peoria was a good place for us to
+stop at, but I don't see any signs o' farmin' about here, and if I go
+away to look for a job, where am I to put thee and the childer, and
+the luggage and the bedding?"
+
+"Oh!" said Betsy, beginning to cry; "I'm sorry we ever left owd
+England.  But thou would come, Samiul, thou knows, and this is the
+end on it.  Here we are in this wild country without house or home,
+and wi' nothin' to eat.  I allus thowt tha wor a fool, Samiul, and
+now I'm sure and sartin on it."
+
+Samiul could not deny it. His spirit was completely broken; he hung
+down his head, and tears began to trickle down his eyes.  The three
+children--two sturdy little boys and a fair-haired little girl--
+seeing their dad and ma shedding tears, thought the whole world must
+be coming to an end, and they began howling out aloud without any
+reserve.  It was the best thing they could have done, as it called
+public attention to their misery, and drew a crowd around them.  A
+tall stranger came near looked at the group, and said:
+
+"My good man, what in thunder are you crying for?"
+
+"I was told Peoria was a good place for farmin'," Samuel said, "and
+now I don't know where to go, and I have got no money."
+
+"Well, you are a soft 'un,"  replied the stranger.  "Just dry up and
+wait here till I come back."
+
+He walked away with long strides.  Peoria was then a dreary-looking
+city, of which we could see nothing but the end of a broad road, a
+few frame buildings, two or three waggons, and some horses hitched to
+the posts of the piazzas.
+
+The stranger soon returned with a farmer in a waggon drawn by two
+fine upstanding horses, fit for a royal carriage.  The farmer at once
+hired the immigrant at ten dollars a month with board for himself and
+family.  He put the luggage into his waggon, patted the boys on the
+head and told them to be men; kissed the little girl as he lifted her
+into the waggon, and said:
+
+"Now, Sissy, you are a nice little lady, and you are to come along
+with me, and we'll be good friends."
+
+Never was sorrow so quickly turned into joy.  The man, his wife, and
+children, actually began smiling before the tears on their cheeks
+were dry.
+
+Men on every western prairie were preparing their waggons for the
+great rush to California; new hands were wanted on the lands, and the
+immigrants who were then arriving in thousands, took the place of the
+other thousands who went westward across the plains.  There was
+employment for everybody, and during my three years' residence on the
+prairies I only saw one beggar.  He was an Italian patriot, who said
+he had fought for Italy; he was now begging for it in English,
+badly-broken, so I said:
+
+"You are a strong, healthy man; why don't you go to work?  You could
+earn eight or ten dollars a month, with board, anywhere in these
+parts."
+
+But the Italian patriot was a high-class beggar; he was collecting
+funds, and had no idea of wasting his time in hard work.  He gave me
+to understand that I had insulted him.
+
+Besides this patriot, there were a few horse-thieves and hog duffers
+on the prairies, but these, when identified, were either stretched
+under a tree or sent to Texas.
+
+In those days the prairie farmers were all gentlemen, high-minded,
+truthful, honourable, and hospitable.  There were no poor houses, no
+asylums.  All orphans were adopted and treated as members of some
+family in the neighbourhood.
+
+I am informed that things are quite different now.  The march of
+empire has been rapid; many men have grown rich, to use a novel
+expression, beyond the dreams of avarice, and ten times as many have
+grown poor and discontented.
+
+The great question for statesmen now is, "What is to be done for the
+relief of the masses?" and the answer to it is as difficult to find
+as ever.
+
+But I have to proceed up the Illinois river.
+
+The steamboat stopped at Lasalle, the head of navigation, and we had
+then to travel on the Illinois and Michigan canal.  We went on board
+a narrow passenger boat towed by two horses, and followed by two
+freight barges.  We did not go at a breakneck pace, and had plenty of
+time for conversation, and to look at the scenery, which consisted of
+prairies, sloughs, woods, and rivers.  The picture lacked background,
+as there is nothing in Illinois deserving the name of hill.  But we
+passed an ancient monument, a tall pillar, rising out of the bed of
+the Illinois river.  It is called "Starved Rock."  Once a number of
+Indian warriors, pursued by white men, climbed up the almost
+perpendicular sides of the pillar.  They had no food, and though the
+stream was flowing beneath them, they could not obtain a drink of
+water without danger of death from rifle bullets.  The white men
+instituted a blockade of the pillar, and the red men all perished of
+starvation on the top of it.
+
+The conversation was conducted by the captain of the canal boat, as
+he walked on the deck to and fro.  He was full of information.  He
+said he was a native of Kentucky; had come down the Ohio river from
+Louisville; was taking freight to Chicago; reckoned he was bound to
+rake in the dollars on the canal; was no dog-gonned Abolitionist;
+niggers were made to work for white folks; they had no souls any more
+than a horse; he'd like to see the man who would argue the point.
+
+Mrs. Beecher Stowe was then writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," at too great
+a distance to hear the challenge, but a greenhorn ventured to argue
+the point.
+
+"What about the mulatto? Half black, half white.  His father being a
+white man had a whole soul; his mother being black had no soul.  Has
+the mulatto a whole soul, half a soul, or no soul at all?"
+
+The captain paused in his walk, with both hands in his pockets, gazed
+at the argumentative greenhorn, turned his quid, spat across the
+canal, went away whistling "Old Dan Tucker," and left the question of
+the mulatto's soul unsolved.
+
+When I arrived at Joliet there was a land boom at Chicago.  The canal
+company had cut up their alternate sections, and were offering them
+at the usual alarming sacrifice.  A land boom is a dream
+of celestial bliss.  While it lasts, the wisest men and the greatest
+fools walk with ecstatic steps through the golden streets of a New
+Jerusalem. I have been there three times.  It is dreadful to wake up
+and to find that all the gold in the street is nothing but moonshine.
+
+I proceeded to the Lake City to lay the foundation of my fortune by
+buying town lots.  I laid the foundation on a five-acre block in West
+Joliet, but had to borrow seven dollars from my nearest friend to pay
+the first deposit. Chicago was then a small but busy wooden town,
+with slushy streets, plank sidewalks, verandahs full of rats, and
+bedrooms humming with mosquitoes.  I left it penniless but proud, an
+owner of real estate.
+
+While returning to Joliet on the canal boat my nearest friend, from
+whom I had borrowed the seven dollars, kindly gave me his views on
+the subject of "greenhorns."  (The Australian equivalent of
+"greenhorn" is "new chum."  I had the advantage of serving my time in
+both capacities).  "No greenhorn," he observed, "ever begins to get
+along in the States until he has parted with his bottom dollar.  That
+puts a keen edge on his mind, and he grows smart in business.  A
+smart man don't strain his back with hard work for any considerable
+time.  He takes out a patent for something--a mowing machine, or
+one for sowing corn and pumpkins, a new churn or wash-tub, pills for
+the shakes, or, best of all, a new religion--anything, in fact,
+that will catch on and fetch the public."
+
+I had parted with my bottom dollar, was also in debt, and therefore
+in the best position for getting along; but I could not all at once
+think of anything to patent, and had to earn my daily bread some way
+or other.  I began to do it by hammering sheets of iron into the
+proper curves for an undershot water-wheel.  After I had worked two
+days my boss suggested that I should seek other employment--in a
+school, for instance; a new teacher was wanted in the common school
+of West Joliet.
+
+I said I should prefer something higher; a teacher was of no more
+earthly account than a tailor.
+
+The boss said:  "That might be so in benighted Britain, but in the
+Great United States our prominent citizens begin life as teachers in
+the common schools, and gradually rise to the highest positions in
+the Republic."
+
+I concluded to rise, but a certificate of competency was required,
+and I presented myself for examination to the proper official, the
+editor and proprietor of 'The True Democrat' whose office was across
+the bridge, nearly opposite Matheson's woollen factory. I found the
+editor and his compositor labouring over the next edition of the
+paper.
+
+The editor began the examination with the alphabet.  I said in
+England we used twenty-six letters, and I named all of them correctly
+except the last.  I called it "zed," but the editor said it was
+"zee," and I did not argue the point.
+
+He then asked me to pick out the vowels, the consonants, the flats,
+the sharps, the aspirates, the labials, the palatals, the dentals,
+and the mutes.  I was struck dumb; I could feel the very foundation
+of all learning sinking beneath me, and had to confess that I did not
+know my letters.
+
+Then he went on to spelling and writing.  My writing was barely
+passable, and my spelling was quite out of date.  I used superfluous
+letters which had been very properly abolished by Webster's
+dictionary.
+
+At last the editor remarked, with becoming modesty, that he was
+himself of no account at figures, but Mr. Sims would put me through
+the arithmetic.  Mr. Sims was the compositor, and an Englishman; he
+put me through tenderly.
+
+When the examination was finished, I felt like a convicted impostor,
+and was prepared to resume work on the undershot water-wheel, but the
+two professors took pity on me, and certified in writing that I was
+qualified to keep school.
+
+Then the editor remarked that the retiring teacher, Mr. Randal, had
+advertised in the 'True Democrat' his ability to teach the Latin
+language; but, unfortunately, Father Ingoldsby had offered himself as
+a first pupil; Mr. Randal never got another, and all his Latin oozed
+out.  On this timely hint I advertised my ability to teach the
+citizens of Joliet not only Latin, but Greek, French, Spanish, and
+Portuguese.  My advertisement will be found among the files of the
+'True Democrat' of the year 1849 by anyone taking the trouble to look
+for it.  I had carelessly omitted to mention the English language,
+but we sometimes get what we don't ask for, and no less than sixteen
+Germans came to night school to study our tongue.  They were all
+masons and quarrymen engaged in exporting steps and window sills to
+the rising city of Chicago.
+
+When Goldsmith tried to earn his bread by teaching English in
+Holland, he overlooked the fact that it was first necessary for him
+to learn Low Dutch.  I overlooked the same fact, but it gave me no
+trouble whatever.  There was no united Germany then, and my pupils
+disagreed continually about the pronunciation of their own language,
+which seemed, like that of Babel, intelligible to nobody.  I composed
+their quarrels by confining their minds to English solely, and
+harmony was restored each night by song.
+
+The school-house was a one-storey frame building on the second
+plateau in West Joliet, and was attended by about one hundred
+scholars.  In the rear was a shallow lagoon, fenced on one side by a
+wall of loose rocks, infested with snakes.  The track to the cemetery
+was near, and it soon began to be in very frequent use.  One day
+during recess the boys had a snake hunt, and they tied their game in
+one bunch by the heads with string, and suspended them by the
+wayside.  I counted them, and there were twenty-seven snakes in the
+bunch.
+
+The year '49 was the 'annus mirabilis' of the great rush for gold
+across the plains, and it was also an 'annus miserabilis' on account
+of the cholera.  In three weeks fourteen hundred waggons bound for
+California crossed one of the bridges over the canal.  I was desirous
+of joining the rush, but was, as usual, short of cash, and I had to
+stay at Joliet to earn my salary.  I met the editor of the 'True
+Democrat' nearly every day carrying home a bucket of water from the
+Aux Plaines river.  He did his own chores.  He sent two young men who
+wished to become teachers to my school to graduate.  One was named
+O'Reilly, lately from Ireland; I gave him his degree in a few weeks,
+and he kept school somewhere out on the prairie.  The other did not
+graduate before the cholera came.  He was a native of Vermont, and he
+played the clarionet in our church choir.  The instrumental music
+came from the clarionet, from a violin, and a flute.  The choir came
+from France and Germany, Old England and New England, Ireland,
+Alsace, and Belgium.  It was divided into two hostile camps, and the
+party which first took possession of the gallery took precedence in
+the music for that day only.  There was a want of harmony.  One
+morning when the priest was chanting the first words of the Gloria,
+the head of a little French bugler appeared at the top of the gallery
+stairs, and at once started a plaint chant, Gloria, we had never
+rehearsed or heard before.  He sang his solo to the end.  He was
+thirsting for glory, and he took a full draught.
+
+I don't think there was ever a choir like ours but one, and that was
+conducted by a butcher from Dolphinholm in the Anglican Church at
+Garstang.  One Sunday he started a hymn with a new tune.  Three times
+his men broke down, and three times they were heard by the whole
+congregation whispering ferociously at one another. At length the
+parson tried to proceed with the service, and said:  "Let us pray."
+But the bold butcher retorted:  "Pray be hanged.  Let us try again,
+lads; I know we can do it."  He then started the hymn for the fourth
+time, and they did it.  After the service the parson demanded
+satisfaction of the butcher, and got it in a neighbouring pasture.
+
+The cholera came, and we soon grew very serious.  The young man from
+Vermont walked with me after school hours, and we tried to be
+cheerful, but it was of no use. Our talk always reverted to the
+plague, and the best way to cure it or to avoid it.  The doctors
+disagreed.  Every theory was soon contradicted by facts; all kinds of
+people were attacked and died; the young and the old, the weak and
+the strong, the drunken and the sober.  Every man adopted a special
+diet or a favourite liquor--brandy, whiskey, bitters, cherry-bounce,
+sarsaparilla.  My own particular preventive was hot tea, sweetened
+with molasses and seasoned with cayenne pepper.  I survived, but that
+does not prove anything in particular.
+
+The two papers, the 'Joliet Signal' and the 'True Democrat', scarcely
+ever mentioned the cholera.  It would have been bad policy, tending
+to scare away the citizens and to injure trade.
+
+Many men suddenly found that they had urgent business to look after
+elsewhere, and sneaked away, leaving their wives and families behind
+them.
+
+On Sunday Father Ingoldsby advised his people to prepare their souls
+for the visit of the Angel of Death, who was every night knocking at
+their doors.  There were many, he said, whose faces he had never seen
+at the rails since he came to Joliet; and what answer would they give
+to the summons which called them to appear without delay before the
+judgment seat of God?  What doom could they expect but that of
+damnation and eternal death?
+
+The sermon needed no translation for the men of many nations who were
+present.  Irishmen and Englishmen, Highlanders and Belgians, French
+and Germans, Mexicans and Canadians, could interpret the meaning of
+the flashing eye which roamed to every corner of the church, singling
+out each miserable sinner; the fierce frown, the threatening gesture,
+the finger first pointing to the heaven above, and then down to the
+depths of hell.
+
+Some stayed to pray and to confess their sins; others hardened their
+hearts and went home unrepentant.  Michael Mangan went to Belz's
+grocery near the canal.  He said he felt pains in his interior, and
+drank a jigger of whisky.  Then he bought half-a-gallon of the same
+remedy to take home with him.  It was a cheap prescription, costing
+only twelve and a half cents, but it proved very effective.  Old Belz
+put the stuff into an earthenware bottle, which he corked with a
+corncob.  Michael started for home by the zigzag path which led up
+the steep limestone bluff, but his steps were slow and unsteady; he
+sat down on a rock, and took another dose out of his bottle.  He
+never went any further of his own motion, and we buried him next day.
+We were of different opinions about the cause of his death; some
+thought it was the cholera, others the pangs of conscience, some the
+whisky, and others a mixture of all three; at any rate, he died
+without speaking to the priest.
+
+Next day another neighbour died, Mr. Harrigan.  He had lost one arm,
+but with the other he wrote a good hand, and registered deeds in the
+County Court.  I called to see him.  He was in bed lying on his back,
+his one arm outside the coverlet, his heaving chest was bare, and his
+face was ghastly pale.  There were six men in the room, one of whom
+said:
+
+"Do you know me, Mr. Harrigan?"
+
+"Sure, divil a dog in Lockport but knows you, Barney," said the dying man.
+
+Barney lived in Lockport, and in an audible whisper said to us:  "Ain't
+he getting on finely?  He'll be all right again to-morrow, please
+God."
+
+"And didn't the doctor say I'd be dead before twelve this day?"
+asked Harrigan.
+
+I looked at the clock on the mantelshelf.  It was past ten.  He died
+an hour later.
+
+One day the young man from Vermont rose from his seat and looked at
+me across the schoolroom.  I thought he was going to say something.
+He took down his hat, went to the door, turned and looked at me
+again, but he did not speak or make any sign.  Next morning his place
+was vacant, and I asked one of the boys if he had seen the young man.
+The boy said:
+
+"He ain't a-coming to school no more, I calkilate.  He was buried
+this morning before school hours."
+
+That year, '49 was a dismal year in Joliet.
+
+Mr. Rogers, one of the school managers, came and sat on a bench near
+the door.  He was a New Englander, a carpenter, round-shouldered,
+tall and bony.  He said:
+
+"I called in to tell you that I can't vote for appinting you to this
+school next term.  Fact is the ladies are dead against you; don't see
+you at meeting on the Sabbath; say you go to the Catholic Church with
+the Irish and Dutch.  I a'n't a word to say agen you myself.  This is
+a free country; every man can go, for aught I care, whichever way he
+darn chooses--to heaven, or hell, or any other place.  But I want
+to be peaceable, and I can't get no peace about voting for you next
+term, so I thought I'd let you know, that you mightn't be
+disappointed."
+
+In that way Mr. Rogers washed his hands of me.  I said I was sorry I
+did not please the ladies, but I liked to hear a man who spoke his
+mind freely.
+
+Soon afterwards the Germans brought me word that the Yankees were
+calling a meeting about me.  I was aware by this time that when a
+special gathering of citizens takes place to discuss the demerits of
+any individual, it is advisable for that individual to be absent if
+possible; but curiosity was strong within me; hitherto I had never
+been honoured with any public notice whatever, and I attended the
+meeting uninvited.
+
+The Yankees are excellent orators; they are born without bashfulness;
+they are taught to speak pieces in school from their childhood; they
+pronounce each word distinctly; they use correctly the rising
+inflection and the falling inflection.   Moreover, they are always in
+deadly earnest; there is another miserable world awaiting their
+arrival.  Their humorists are the most unhappy of men.  You may smile
+when you read their jokes, but when you see the jokers you are more
+inclined to weep.  With pain and sorrow they grind, like Samson, at
+the jokers' mill all the days of their lives.
+
+The meeting was held in the new two-storey school-house.
+
+Deacon Beaumont took the chair--my chair--and Mr Curtis was
+appointed secretary.  I began to hate Deacon Beaumont, as also Mr.
+Curtis, who was the only other teacher present; it was evident they
+were going to put him in my place.
+
+Each speaker on rising put his left hand in the side pocket of his
+pants.  I was not mentioned by name, but nevertheless I was given
+clearly to understand that I had been reared in a land whose people
+are under the dominion of a tyrannical monarch and a bloated
+aristocracy; that therefore I had never breathed the pure air of
+freedom, and was unfitted to teach the children of the Great Republic.
+
+Mr. Tucker, an influential citizen, moved finally that the school
+managers be instructed to engage a Mr. Sellars, of Dresden, as
+teacher at the West Joliet School.  He said Mr. Sellars was a young
+man from New England who had been teaching for a term at Dresden, and
+had given great satisfaction.  He had the best testimony to the
+character and ability of the young man from his own daughter, Miss
+Priscilla Tucker, who had been school marm in the same school, and
+was now home on a visit.  She could give, from her own personal
+knowledge, any information the managers might require.
+
+Mr. Tucker's motion was seconded.  There was no amendment proposed,
+and all in favour of the motion were requested by Deacon Beaumont to
+stand up.  The Yankees all rose to their feet, the others sat still,
+all but old Gorges, a Prussian, who, with his two sons, had come to
+vote for me.  But the old man did not understand English.  His son
+John pulled him down, but Deacon Beaumont had counted his vote, and
+the motion was carried by a majority of one.  So I was, in fact, put
+out of the school by my best friend, old Gorges.
+
+I went away in a dudgeon and marked off a cellar on my real estate,
+30 feet by 18 feet, on the top of the bluff, near the edge of the
+western prairie.  The ground was a mixture of stiff clay and
+limestone rock, and I dug at it all through the month of September.
+Curious people came along and made various remarks; some said
+nothing, but went away whistling.  One day Mr. Jackson and Paul
+Duffendorff were passing by, and I wanted them to pass, but they
+stopped like the rest.  Mr. Jackson was reckoned one of the smartest
+men in Will county.  He had a large farm, well stocked, but he was
+never known to do any work except with his brains.  He was one of
+those men who increased the income of the State of Illinois by
+ability.  Duffendorf was a huge Dutchman, nearly seven feet in
+height.  He was a great friend of mine, great every way, but very
+stupid; he had no sense of refinement.  He said:
+
+"Ve gates, schoolmeister?  Py golly!  Here, Mr. Shackson, is our
+schoolmeister a vurkin mit spade and bick.  How vas you like dat
+kind of vurk, Mr. Shackson?"
+
+"Never could be such a darned fool; sooner steal," answered Jackson.
+
+Duffendorf laughed until he nearly fell into the cellar.  Now this
+talk was very offensive.  I knew Mr. Jackson was defendant in a case
+then pending.  He had been charged with conspiring to defraud; with
+having stolen three horses; with illegally detaining seventy-five
+dollars; and on other counts which I cannot remember just now.  The
+thing was originally very simple, even Duffendorff could understand
+it.
+
+Mr. Jackson was in want of some ready money, so he directed his hired
+man to steal three of his horses in the dead of night, take them to
+Chicago, sell them to the highest bidder, find out where the highest
+bidder lived, and then return with the cash to Joliet.  The hired man
+did his part of the business faithfully, returned and reported to his
+employer.  Then Mr. Jackson set out in search of his stolen horses,
+found them, and brought them home.  The man expected to receive half
+the profits of the enterprise.  The boss demurred, and only offered
+one-third, and said if that was not satisfactory he would bring a
+charge of horse-stealing.  The case went into court, and under the
+treatment of learned counsel grew very complicated.  It was
+remarkable as being the only one on record in Will county in which a
+man had made money by stealing his own horses.  It is, I fancy, still
+'sub judice'.
+
+Both the old school and the new school remained closed even after the
+cholera ceased to thin out the citizens, but I felt no further
+interest in the education of youth.  When winter came I tramped three
+miles into the forest, and began to fell trees and split rails in
+order to fence in my suburban estate.  For some time I carried a
+rifle, and besides various small game I shot two deer, but neither of
+them would wait for me to come up with them even after I had shot
+them; they took my two bullets away with them, and left me only a few
+drops of blood on the snow; then I left the rifle at home.  For about
+four months the ground was covered with snow, and the cold was
+intense, but I continued splitting until the snakes came out to bask
+in the sun and warm themselves.  I saw near a dead log eight coiled
+together, and I killed them all.  The juice of the sugar maples began
+to run.  I cut notches in the bark in the shape of a broad arrow,
+bored a hole at the point, inserted a short spout of bark, and on
+sunny mornings the juice flowed in a regular stream, clear and
+sparkling; on cloudy days it only dropped.
+
+One evening as I was plodding my weary way homeward, I looked up and
+saw in the distance a man inspecting my cellar.  I said, "Here's
+another disgusting fool who ain't seen it before."  It certainly was
+a peculiar cellar, but not worth looking at so much.  I hated the
+sight of it.  It had no building over it, never was roofed in, and
+was sometimes full of snow.
+
+The other fool proved to be Mr. Curtis, the teacher who had written
+the resolution of the meeting which voted me out of the school.  He
+held out his hand, and I took it, but reluctantly, and under secret
+protest.  I thought to myself, "This mine enemy has an axe to grind,
+or he would not be here.  I'll be on my guard."
+
+"I have been waiting for you some time," said Mr. Curtis.  "I was
+told you were splitting rails in the forest, and would be home about
+sundown.  I wanted to see you about opening school again.  Mr. Rogers
+won't have anything to say to it, but the other two managers, Mr.
+Strong and Mr. Demmond, want to engage you and me, one to teach in
+the upper storey of the school, the other down below, and I came up
+to ask you to see them about it."
+
+"How does it happen that Mr. Sellars has not come over from Dresden?"
+I said.
+
+"Joliet is about the last place on this earth that Mr. Sellars will
+come to.  Didn't you hear about him and Priscilla?"  asked Mr. Curtis.
+
+"No, I heard nothing since that meeting; only saw the school doors
+were closed every time I passed that way."
+
+"Well, I am surprised.  I thought everybody knew by this time, though
+we did not like to say much about it."
+
+I began to feel interested.  Mr. Curtis had something pleasant to
+tell me about the misfortunes of my enemies, so I listened
+attentively.
+
+It was a tale of western love, and its course was no smoother in
+Illinois than in any less enlightened country of old Europe.  Miss
+Priscilla reckoned she could hoe her own row.  She and Mr. Sellars
+conducted the Common School at Dresden with great success and
+harmony.  All went merry as a marriage bell, and the marriage was to
+come off by-and-by--so hoped Miss Priscilla.  During the recess she
+took the teacher's arm, and they walked to and fro lovingly.  All
+Dresden said it was to be a match, but at the end of the term Miss
+Priscilla returned to Joliet--the match was not yet made.
+
+It was at this time that the dissatisfaction with the new British
+teacher became extreme; Miss Priscilla fanned the flame of
+discontent.  She did not "let concealment like a worm i' th' bud feed
+on her damask cheek," but boldly proposed that Mr. Sellars--a
+true-born native of New England, a good young man, always seen at
+meetings on the Sabbath--should be requested to take charge of the
+West Joliet school.  So the meeting was held:  I was voted out, Mr.
+Sellars was voted in, and the daughters of the Puritans triumphed.
+
+Miss Priscilla wrote to Dresden, announcing to her beloved the
+success of her diplomacy, requesting him to come to Joliet without
+delay, and assume direction of the new school.  This letter fell into
+the hands of another lady who had just arrived at Dresden from New
+England in search of her husband, who happened to be Mr. Sellars.
+The letter which that other lady wrote to Miss Priscilla I did not
+see, but it was said to be a masterpiece of composition, and it
+emptied two schools.  Mr. Tucker went over to Dresden and looked
+around for Mr. Sellars, but that gentleman had gone out west, and was
+never heard of again.  The west was a very wide unfenced space,
+without railways.
+
+"The fact is," said Mr. Curtis, "we were all kinder shamed the way
+things turned out, and we just let 'em rip.  But people are now
+stirring about the school being closed so long, so Mr. Strong and Mr.
+Demmond have concluded to engage you and me to conduct the school."
+
+We were engaged that night, and I went rail-splitting no more.  But I
+fenced my estate; and while running the line on the western boundary
+I found the grave of Highland Mary.  It was in the middle of a grove
+of oak and hickory saplings, and was nearly hidden by hazel bushes.
+The tombstone was a slab about two feet high, roughly hewn.  Her
+epitaph was, "Mary Campbell, aged 7.  1827."  That was all.  Poor
+little Mary.
+
+The Common Schools of Illinois were maintained principally from the
+revenue derived from grants of land.  When the country was first
+surveyed, one section of 640 acres in each township of six miles
+square was reserved for school purposes.  There was a State law on
+education, but the management was entirely local, and was in the
+hands of a treasurer and three directors, elected biennally by the
+citizens of each school district.  The revenue derived from the
+school section was sometimes not sufficient to defray the salary of
+the teacher, and then the deficiency was supplied by the parents of
+the children who had attended at the school; those citizens whose
+children did not attend were not taxed by the State for the Common
+Schools; they did not pay for that which they did not receive.  In
+some instances only one school was maintained by the revenue of two
+school sections.  When the attendance in the school was numerous, a
+young lady, called the "school-marm," assisted in the teaching.
+Sometimes, as in the case of Miss Priscilla, she fell into trouble.
+
+The books were provided by the enterprise of private citizens, and an
+occasional change of "Readers" was agreeable both to teachers and
+scholars.  The best of old stories grow tiresome when repeated too
+often.  One day a traveller from Cincinnati brought me samples of a
+new series of "Readers," offering on my approval, to substitute next
+day a new volume for every old one produced.  I approved, and he
+presented each scholar with copies of the new series for nothing.
+
+The teaching was secular, but certain virtues were inculcated either
+directly or indirectly.  Truth and patriotism were recommended by the
+example of George Washington, who never told a lie, and who won with
+his sword the freedom of his country.  There were lessons on history,
+in which the tyranny of the English Government was denounced; Kings,
+Lords and Bishops, especially Bishop Laud, were held up to eternal
+abhorrence; as was also England's greed of gain, her intolerance,
+bigotry, taxation; her penal and navigation laws.  The glorious War
+of Independence was related at length.  The children of the Puritans,
+of the Irish and the Germans, did not in those days imbibe much
+prejudice in favour of England or her institutions, and the English
+teacher desirous of arriving at the truth, had the advantage of
+having heard both sides of many historical questions; of listening,
+as it were, to the scream of the American eagle, as well as to the
+roar of the British lion.
+
+Mr. Curtis was a good teacher, systematic, patient, persevering, and
+ingenious.  I ceased to hate him; Miss Priscilla's downfall cemented
+our friendship.  We kept order in the school by moral suasion, but
+the task was sometimes difficult.  My private feelings were in favour
+of the occasional use of the hickory stick, the American substitute
+for the rod of Solomon, and the birch of England.
+
+The geography we taught was principally that of the United States and
+her territories, spacious maps of which were suspended round the
+school, continually reminding the scholars of their glorious
+inheritance.  It was then full of vacant lots, over which roamed the
+Indian and the buffalo, species of animals now nearly extinct.  We
+did not pay much attention to the rest of the world.
+
+Elocution was inculcated assiduously, and at regular intervals each
+boy and girl had to come forth and "speak a piece" in the presence of
+the scholars, teachers, and visitors.
+
+Mental arithmetic and the use of fractions were taught daily.  The
+use of the decimal in the American coinage is of great advantage; it
+is easier and more intelligible to children than the clumsy old
+system of pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings.  It is a system
+which would no doubt have been long ago adopted by England, if it had
+not been humiliating to our national pride to take even a good thing
+from rebellious Yankees, and inferior Latin races.  We cling fondly
+to absurdities because they are our own.  In Australia wild rabbits
+are vermin, in England they are private property; and if one of the
+three millions of her miserable paupers is found with a rabbit in
+each of his coat pockets, he is fined 10s. or sent to gaol.  Pope
+Gregory XIII. demonstrated the error of the calendar then in use, and
+all Catholic nations adopted his correction.  But when the adoption
+of the calendar was proposed in Parliament, John Bull put his big
+foot down at once; he would receive no truth, not even a mathematical
+one, from the Pope of Rome, and it was only after the lapse of nearly
+200 years, when the memory of Gregory and his calendar had almost
+faded away from the sensitive mind of Protestantism, that an Act was
+passed, "equalising the style in Great Britain and Ireland with that
+used in other countries of Europe."
+
+A fugitive slave with his wife and daughter came to Joliet.  One day
+he was seized by three slave-hunters, who took him towards the canal.
+A number of abolitionists assembled to rescue the slave, but the
+three men drew their revolvers, and no abolitionist had the courage
+to fire the first shot.  The slave was put in a canal boat and went
+south; his wife remained in Joliet and earned her bread by weaving
+drugget; the daughter came to my school; she was of pure negro blood,
+but was taught with the white girls.
+
+The abolitionists were increasing in number, and during the war with
+the South the slaves were freed.  They are now like Israel in Egypt,
+they increase too rapidly.  If father Abraham had sent them back to
+Africa when they were only four millions, he would have earned the
+gratitude of his country.  Now they number more than eight millions;
+the Sunny South agrees with their constitution; they work as little
+and steal as much as possible.  In the days of their bondage they
+were addicted to petty larceny; now they have votes, and when they
+achieve place and power they are addicted to grand larceny, and they
+loot the public treasury as unblushingly as the white politicians.
+
+The nigger question has doubled in magnitude during the last thirty
+years, and there will have to be another abolition campaign of some
+kind.  The blacks are incapable of ruling the whites; no time was
+given to educate them for their new duties, if teaching them was
+possible; the Declaration of Independence was in their case a mockery
+from the beginning.  When all the old abolitionists and slave-holders
+are dead, another generation of men grown wiser by the failure of the
+policy of their forefathers may solve the black problem.
+
+Complaint is made that the American education of to-day is in a
+chaotic condition, due to the want of any definite idea of what
+education is aiming at.  There is evidence that the ancients of New
+England used to birch their boys, but after independence had been
+fought for and won, higher aims prevailed.  The Puritan then believed
+that his children were born to a destiny far grander than that of any
+other children on the face of the earth; the treatment accorded to
+them was therefore to be different.  The fundamental idea of American
+life was to be "Freedom," and the definition of "Freedom" by a
+learned American is, "The power which necessarily belongs to the
+self-conscious being of determining his actions in view of the
+highest, the universal good, and thereby of gradually realising in
+himself the eternal divine perfection."  The definition seems a
+little hazy, but the workings of great minds are often unintelligible
+to common people.  "The American citizen must be morally autonomous,
+regarding all institutions as servants, not as masters.  So far man
+has been for the most part a thrall.  The true American must worship
+the inner God recognised as his own deepest and eternal self, not an
+outer God regarded as something different from himself."
+
+Lucifer is said to have entertained a similar idea.  He would not be
+a thrall, and the result as described by the republican Milton was
+truly disastrous:
+
+"Him the Almighty Power
+Hurl'd headlong
+down
+to bottomless perdition
+Region of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
+And rest can never dwell."
+
+The manner in which the American citizen is to be made "morally
+autonomous, and placed beyond the control of current opinion," will
+require much money; his parents must therefore be rich; they must already
+have inherited wealth, or have obtained it by ability or labour.  The
+course of training to be given to youth includes travelling for six
+years in foreign countries under private tutors, studying human
+history, ethnic, social, political, industrial, æsthetic, religious;
+gems of poetry; the elements of geometry; mechanics; art, plastic,
+and graphic; reading Confucius, Sakya-muni, Themistocles, Socrates,
+Julius Caesar, Paul, Mahommed, Charlemagne, Alfred, Gregory VII., St.
+Bernard, St. Francis, Savonarola, Luther, Queen Elizabeth, Columbus,
+Washington, Lincoln, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Tennyson, and Lowell.
+
+The boys on the prairies had to earn their bread; they could not
+spend six years travelling around and studying all the writers above
+mentioned, making themselves morally autonomous, and worshipping
+their own deepest and eternal selves.  The best men America has
+produced were reared at home, and did chores out of school hours.
+
+When I was expelled from school by the Yankees, Mr. McEvoy, the
+leading Irish politician, called me aside and said:  "Whisper, you
+just hang round until next election, and we'll turn out the Yankee
+managers, and put you in the school again."  The Germans were slow in
+acquiring political knowledge as well as in learning the English
+language; but language, politics, and law itself are the birthright
+of the Irish.  By force of circumstances, and through the otherwise
+deplorable failure of Miss Priscilla, I resumed work in the school
+before the election, but Mr. McEvoy, true to his promise, organised
+the opposition--it is always the opposition--and ejected the
+Yankee managers, but in the fall of 1850 I resigned, and went a long
+way south.
+
+When I returned, Joliet was a city, and Mr. Rendel, one of my German
+night scholars, was city marshal.  I met him walking the streets, and
+carrying his staff of office with great dignity.  I took up my abode
+in an upper apartment of the gaol, then in charge of Sheriff
+Cunningham, who had a farm in West Joliet, near a plank road, leading
+on to the prairie.  I had known the Sheriff two years before, but did
+not see much of him at this time, though I was in daily communication
+with his son, Silas, the Deputy Sheriff.  It was under these
+favourable circumstancesthat I was enabled to witness a General Gaol
+Delivery of all the prisoners in Joliet.  One, charged with killing
+his third man, was out on bail.  I saw him in Matheson's
+boarding-house making love to one of the hired girls, and she seemed
+quite pleased with his polite attentions.  Matheson was elected
+Governor of the State of Illinois, and became a millionaire by
+dealing in railways.  He was a native of Missouri, and a man of
+ability; In '49 I saw him at work in a machine shop.
+
+The prisoners did not regain their freedom all at once, but in the
+space of three weeks they trickled out one by one.  The Deputy
+Sheriff, Silas, had been one of my pupils; he was now about seventeen
+years of age, and a model son of the prairies.  His features were
+exceedingly thin, his eyes keen, his speech and movements slow, his
+mind cool and calculating.  He never injured his constitution by any
+violent exertion; in fact, he seemed to have taken leave of active
+life and all its worries, and to have settled down to an existence of
+ease and contemplation.  If he had any anxiety about the safe custody
+of his prisoners he never showed it.  He had finished his education,
+so I did not attempt to control him by moral suasion, or by anything
+else, but by degrees I succeeded in eliciting from him all the
+particulars he could impart about the criminals under his care.
+There was no fence around the gaol, and Silas kept two of them always
+locked in.  He "calkilated they wer kinder unsafe."  They belonged to
+a society of horse thieves whose members were distributed at regular
+intervals along the prairies, and who forwarded their stolen animals
+by night to Chicago.  The two gentlemen in gaol were of an
+untrustworthy character, and would be likely to slip away.  About a
+week after my arrival I met Silas coming out of the gaol, and he said:
+
+"They're gone, be gosh."  Silas never wasted words.
+
+"Who is gone?" I inquired.
+
+"Why, them two horse thieves.  Just look here."
+
+We went round to the east side of the gaol, and there was a hole
+about two feet deep, and just wide enough to let a man through.  The
+ground underneath the wall was rocky, but the two prisoners had been
+industrious, had picked a hole under the wall and had gone through.
+
+"Where's the Sheriff?" I asked.  "Won't Mr. Cunningham go after the men?"
+
+"He's away at Bourbonnais' Grove, about suthin' or other, among the
+Bluenoses; can't say when he'll be back; it don't matter anyhow.  He
+might just as well try to go to hell backwards as catch them two
+horse thieves now."
+
+Silas had still two other prisoners under his care, and he let them
+go outside as usual to enjoy the fresh air.  They had both been
+committed for murder, but their crime was reckoned a respectable one
+compared to the mean one of horse stealing, so Silas gave them
+honourable treatment.
+
+One of the prisoners was a widow lady who had killed another lady
+with an axe, at a hut near the canal on the road to Lockport.  She
+seemed crazy, and when outside the gaol walked here and there in a
+helpless kind of way, muttering to herself; but sometimes an idea
+seemed to strike her that she had something to do Lockport way, and
+she started in that direction, forgetting very likely that she had
+done it already; but whenever Silas called her back, she returned
+without giving any trouble.  One day, however, when Silas was asleep
+she went clean out of sight, and I did not see her any more.  The
+Sheriff was still absent among the Bluenoses.
+
+The fourth prisoner was an Englishman named Wilkins who owned a farm
+on the prairie, in the direction of Bourbonnais' Grove.  A few weeks
+before, returning home from Joliet with his waggon and team of
+horses, he halted for a short time at a distillery, situated at the
+foot of the low bluff which bounded the bottom, through which ran the
+Aux Plaines River.  It was a place at which the farmers often called
+to discuss politics, the prices of produce, and other matters, and
+also, if so disposed, to take in a supply of liquor.  The corn whisky
+of Illinois was an article of commerce which found its way to many
+markets.  Although it was sold at a low price at home, it became much
+more valuable after it had been exported to England or France, and
+had undergone scientific treatment by men of ability.  The corn used
+in its manufacture was exceedingly cheap, as may be imagined when
+corn-fed pork was, in the winter of '49, offered for sale in Joliet
+at one cent per pound.  After the poison of the prairies had been
+exported to Europe, a new flavour was imparted to it, and it became
+Cognac, or the best Irish or Scotch whisky.
+
+Wilkins halted his team and went into the whisky-mill, where the
+owner, Robinson, was throwing charcoal into the furnace under his
+boiler with a long-handled shovel.  He was an enterprising Englishman
+who was wooing the smiles of fortune with better prospects of success
+than the slow, hard-working farmer.  I had seen him first
+in West Joliet in '49, when he was travelling around buying corn for
+his distillery.  He was a handsome man, about thirty years of age,
+five feet ten inches in height, had been well educated, was quite
+able to hold his own among the men of the West, and accommodated
+himself to their manners and habits.
+
+There were three other farmers present, and their talk drifted from
+one thing to another until it at last settled on the question of the
+relative advantages of life in England and the States.  Robinson took
+the part of England, Wilkins stuck to the States; he said:
+
+"A poor man has no chance at home; he is kept down by landlords, and
+can never get a farm of his own.  In Illinois I am a free man, and
+have no one to lord it over me.  If I had lived and slaved in England
+for a hundred years I should never have been any better off, and now
+I have a farm as good as any in Will County, and am just as good a
+man as e'er another in it."
+
+Now Wilkins was only a small man, shorter by four inches than
+Robinson, who towered above him, and at once resented the claim to
+equality.  He said:
+
+"You as good as any other man, are you?  Why there ain't a more
+miserable little skunk within twenty miles round Joliet."
+
+Robinson was forgetting the etiquette of the West.  No man--except,
+perhaps, in speaking to a nigger--ever assumed a tone of insolent
+superiority to any other man; if he did so, it was at the risk of
+sudden death; even a hired man was habitually treated with civility.
+The titles of colonel, judge, major, captain, and squire were in
+constant use both in public and private; there was plenty of humorous
+"chaff," but not insult.  Colonels, judges, majors, captains, and
+squires were civil, both to each other and to the rest of the
+citizens.  Robinson, in speaking to his fellow countryman, forgot for
+a moment that he was not in dear old England, where he could settle a
+little difference with his fists.  But little Wilkins did not forget,
+and he was not the kind of man to be pounded with impunity. He had in
+his pocket a hunting knife, with which he could kill a hog--or a
+man.  When Robinson called him a skunk he felt in his pocket for the
+knife, and put his thumb on the spring at the back of the buckhorn
+handle, playing with it gently.  It was not a British Brummagem
+article, made for the foreign or colonial market, but a genuine
+weapon that could be relied on at a pinch.
+
+"Oh, I dare say you were a great man at home, weren't you?" he said.
+"A lord maybe, or a landlord.  But we don't have sich great men here,
+and I am as good a man as you any day, skunk though I be."
+
+Robinson had just thrown another shovelful of charcoal into the
+furnace under his boiler, and he held up his shovel as if ready to
+strike Williams, but it was never known whether he really intended to
+strike or not.
+
+The three other men standing near were quite amused with the dispute
+of the two Englishmen, and were smiling pleasantly at their
+foolishness.  But little Wilkins did not smile, nor did he wait for
+the shovel to come down on his head; he darted under it with his open
+knife in the same manner as the Roman soldier went underneath the
+dense spears of the Pyrrhic phalanx, and set to work.  Robinson tried
+to parry the blows with the handle of the shovel, but he made only a
+poor fight; the knife was driven to the hilt into his body seven
+times, then he threw down his shovel, and tried to save himself
+behind the boiler, but it was too late; the dispute about England and
+the States was settled.
+
+Wilkins took his team home, then returned to Joliet and gave himself
+into the custody of the squire, Hoosier Smith.  At the inquest he was
+committed to take his trial for murder, and did not get bail.  His
+wife left the farm, and with her two little boys lived in an old log
+hut near the gaol.  She brought with her two cows, which Wilkins
+milked each morning as soon as Silas let him out of prison.  I could
+see him every day from the window of my room, and I often passed by
+the hut when he was doing chores, chopping wood, or fetching water,
+but I never spoke to him.  He did not look happy or sociable, and I
+could not think of anything pleasant to say by way of making his
+acquaintance.  After much observation and thought I came to the
+conclusion that Sheriff Cunningham wanted his prisoner to go away; he
+would not like to hang the man; the citizens would not take Wilkins
+off his hands; if two fools chose to get up a little difficulty and
+one was killed, it was their own look-out; and anyway they were only
+foreigners.  The fact was Wilkins was waiting for someone to purchase
+his farm.
+
+The court-house for Will County was within view of the gaol, at the
+other side of the street, and one day I went over to look at it.  The
+judge was hearing a civil case, and I sat down to listen to the
+proceedings.  A learned counsel was addressing the jury.  He talked
+at great length in a nasal tone, slowly and deliberately; he had one
+foot on a form, one hand in a pocket of his pants, and the other hand
+rested gracefully on a volume of the statutes of the State of
+Illinois.  He had much to say about various horses running on the
+prairie, and particularly about one animal which he called the
+"Skemelhorne horse."  I tried to follow his argument, but the
+"Skemelhorne horse" was so mixed up with the other horses that I
+could not spot him.
+
+Semicircular seats of unpainted pine for the accommodation of the
+public rose tier above tier, but most of them were empty.  There were
+present several gentlemen of the legal profession, but they kept
+silence, and never interrupted the counsel's address.  Nor did the
+judge utter a word; he sat at his desk sideways, with his boots
+resting on a chair.  He wore neither wig nor gown, and had not even
+put on his Sunday go-to-meeting clothes.  Neither had the lawyers.
+If there was a court crier or constable present he was indistinguishable
+from the rest of the audience.
+
+Near the judge's desk there was a bucket of water and three tumblers
+on a small table.  It was a hot day.  The counsel paused in his
+speech, went to the table, and took a drink; a juryman left the box
+and drank.  The judge also came down from his seat, dipped a tumbler
+in the bucket and quenched his thirst; one spectator after another
+went to the bucket.  There was equality and fraternity in the court
+of law; the speech about the Skemelhorne horse went on with the
+utmost gravity and decorum, until the nasal drawl of the learned
+counsel put me to sleep.
+
+On awakening, I went into another hall, in which dealings in real
+estate were registered.  Shelves fixed against the walls held huge
+volumes lettered on the back.  One of these volumes was on a table in
+the centre of the hall, and in it the registrar was copying a deed.
+Before him lay a pile of deeds with a lead weight on the top.  A
+farmer came in with a paper, on which the registrar endorsed a number
+and placed at the bottom of the pile.  There was no parchment used;
+each document was a half-sheet foolscap size, party printed and
+partly written.  Another farmer came in, took up the pile and
+examined the numbers to see how soon his deed was likely to be
+copied, and if it was in its proper place according to the number
+endorsed.  The registrar was not fenced off from the public by a wide
+counter; he was the servant of the citizens, and had to satisfy those
+who paid him for his labours.  His pay was a fixed number of cents
+per folio, not dollars, nor pounds.
+
+When I went back to gaol I found it deserted.  Wilkins had sold his
+farm and disappeared.  His wife remained in the hut.  Sheriff
+Cunningham was still away among the Bluenoses, and Silas was 'functus
+officio', having accomplished a general gaol delivery.  He did not
+pine away on account of the loss of his prisoners, nor grow any
+thinner--that was impossible.  I remained four days longer,
+expecting something would happen; but nothing did happen, then I left
+the gaol.
+
+I wrote out two notices informing the public that I was willing to
+sell my real estate; one of these I pasted up at the Post Office, the
+other on the bridge over the Aux Plaines River.  Next day a German
+from Chicago agreed to pay the price asked, and we called on Colonel
+Smith, the Squire.  The Colonel filled in a brief form of transfer,
+witnessed the payment of the money--which was in twenty-dollar gold
+pieces, and he charged one dollar as his fee.  The German would have
+to pay about 35 cents for its registration.  If the deed was lost or
+stolen, he would insert in a local journal a notice of his intention
+to apply for a copy, which would make the original of as little value
+to anybody as a Provincial and Suburban bank note.
+
+In Illinois, transfers of land were registered in each county town.
+To buy or sell a farm was as easy as horse-stealing, and safer.
+Usually, no legal help was necessary for either transaction.
+
+By this time California had a rival; gold had been found in
+Australia.  I was fond of gold; I jingled the twenty dollar gold
+pieces in my pocket, and resolved to look for more at the
+fountainhead, by way of my native land.  A railway from Chicago had
+just reached Joliet, and had been opened three days before.  It was
+an invitation to start, and I accepted it.
+
+Nobody ever loved his native land better than I do when I am away
+from it.  I can call to mind its innumerable beauties, and in fancy
+saunter once more through the summer woods, among the bracken, the
+bluebells, and the foxglove.  I can wander by the banks of the Brock,
+where the sullen trout hide in the clear depths of the pools.  I can
+walk along the path--the path to Paradise--still lined with the
+blue-eyed speedwell and red campion; I know where the copse is
+carpeted with the bluebell and ragged robin, where grow the alders,
+and the hazels rich with brown nuts, the beeches and the oaks; where
+the flower of the yellow broom blazes like gold in the noontide sun;
+where the stockdove coos overhead in the ivy; where the kingfisher
+darts past like a shaft of sapphire, and the water ouzel flies up
+stream; where the pheasant glides out from his home in the wood to
+feed on the headland of the wheat field; where the partridge broods
+in the dust with her young; where the green lane is bordered by the
+guelder-rose or wayfaring tree, the raspberry, strawberry, and
+cherry, the wild garlic of starlike flowers, the woodruff, fragrant
+as new-mown hay; the yellow pimpernel on the hedge side.  I see in
+the fields and meadows the bird's foot trefoil, the oxeye daisy, the
+lady smocks, sweet hemlock, butterbur, the stitchwort, and the
+orchis, the "long purpled" of Shakespeare.  By the margin of the pond
+the yellow iris hangs out its golden banners over which the dragon
+fly skims.  The hedgerows are gay with the full-blown dog-roses, the
+bells of the bilberries droop down along the wood-side, and the
+red-hipped bumble bees hum over them.  Out of the woodland and up
+Snaperake Lane I rise to the moorland, and then the sea coast comes
+in sight, and the longing to know what lies beyond it.
+
+I have been twice to see what lies beyond it, and when I return once
+more my own land does not know me.  There is another sea coast in
+sight now, and when I sail away from it I hope to land on some one of
+the Isles of the Blest.
+
+I called on my oldest living love; she looked, I thought, even
+younger than when we last parted.  She was sitting before the fire
+alone, pale and calm, but she gave me no greeting; she had forgotten
+me.  I took a chair, sat down beside her, and waited.  A strange lass
+with a fair face and strong bare arms came in and stared at me
+steadily for a minute or two, but went away without saying a word.  I
+looked around the old house room that I knew so well, with its floor
+of flags from Buckley Delph, scoured white with sandstone. There
+stood, large and solid, the mealark of black oak, with the date,
+1644, carved just below the heavy lid, more than 200 years old, and
+as sound as ever.  The sloping mirror over the chest of drawers was
+still supported by the four seasons, one at each corner.  Above it
+was Queen Caroline, with the crown on her head, and the sceptre in
+her hand, seated in a magnificent Roman chariot, drawn by the lion
+and the unicorn.  That team had tortured my young soul for years.  I
+could never understand why that savage lion had not long ago devoured
+both the Queen and the unicorn.
+
+My old love was looking at me, and at last she put one hand on my
+knee, and said:
+
+"It's George."
+
+"Yes," I said, "it's George."
+
+She gazed a while into the fire and said:
+
+"Alice is dead."
+
+"Yes, Alice is dead."
+
+"And Jenny is dead."
+
+"Yes, and Jenny.  They are at the bottom of the sea."
+
+In that way she counted a long list of the dead, which she closed
+by saying:
+
+"They are all gone but Joe."
+
+She had been a widow more than twenty-five years.  She was a young
+woman, tall and strong, before Bonaparte, Wellington, the United
+States, or Australia, had ever been heard of in Lancashire, and from
+the top of a stile she had counted every windmill and chimney in
+Preston before it was covered with the black pall of smoke from the
+cotton-mills.
+
+
+
+AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.
+
+I.
+
+I lost a summer in 1853, and had two winters instead, one in England,
+the other in Australia.
+
+It was cold in the month of May as we neared Bendigo.  We were a
+mixed party of English,  Irish, and Scotch, twelve in number, and
+accompanied by three horse-teams, carrying tubs, tents, and
+provisions.  We also had plenty of arms wherewith to fight the
+bush-rangers, but I did not carry any myself; I left the fighting
+department to my mate, Philip, and to the others who were fond of
+war.  Philip was by nature and training as gentle and amiable as a
+lamb, but he was a Young Irelander, and therefore a fighter on
+principle.  O'Connell had tried moral suasion on the English
+Government long enough, and to no purpose, so Philip and his fiery
+young friends were prepared to have recourse to arms.  The arms he
+was now carrying consisted of a gleaming bowie knife, and two pistols
+stuck in his belt.  The pistols were good ones; Philip had tried them
+on a friend in the Phoenix Park the morning after a ball at the
+Rotunda, and had pinked his man--shot him in the arm.  It is
+needless to say that there was a young lady in the case; I don't know
+what became of her, but during the rest of her life she could boast
+of having been the fair demoiselle on whose account the very last
+duel was fought in Ireland.  Then the age of chivalry went out.  The
+bowie knife was the British article bought in Liverpool.  It would
+neither kill a man nor cut a beef-steak, as was proved by experience.
+
+We met parties of men from Bendigo--unlucky diggers, who offered to
+sell their thirty-shilling licenses.  By this time my cash was low;
+my twenty-dollar gold pieces were all consumed.  While voyaging to
+the new Ophir, where gold was growing underfoot, I could not see any
+sound sense in being niggardly.  But when I saw a regular stream of
+disappointed men with empty pockets offering their monthly licenses
+for five shillings each within sight of the goldfield, I had
+misgivings, and I bought a license that had three weeks to run from
+William Matthews.  Ten other men bought licenses, but William
+Patterson, a canny Scotchman, said he would chance it.
+
+It was about midday when we halted near Bendigo Creek, opposite a
+refreshment tent.  Standing in front of it was a man who had passed
+us on the road, and lit his pipe at our fire.  When he stooped to
+pick up a firestick I saw the barrel of a revolver under his coat.
+He was accompanied by a lady on horseback, wearing a black riding
+habit.  Our teamsters called him Captain Sullivan.  He was even then
+a man well known to the convicts and the police, and was supposed to
+be doing a thriving business as keeper of a sly grog shop, but in
+course of time it was discovered that his main source of profit was
+murder and robbery.  He was afterwards known as "The New Zealand
+Murderer," who turned Queen's evidence, sent his mates to the
+gallows, but himself died unhanged.
+
+While we stood in the track, gazing hopelessly over the endless heaps
+of clay and gravel covering the flat, a little man came up and spoke
+to Philip, in whom he recognised a fellow countryman.  He said:
+
+"You want a place to camp on, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Philip, "we have only just come up from Melbourne."
+
+"Well, come along with me," said the stranger.
+
+He was a civil fellow, and said his name was Jack Moore.  We went
+with him in the direction of the first White Hill, but before
+reaching it we turned to the left up a low bluff, and halted in a
+gully where many men were at work puddling clay in tubs.
+
+After we had put up our tent, Philip went down the gully to study the
+art of gold digging.  He watched the men at work; some were digging
+holes, some were dissolving clay in tubs of water by stirring it
+rapidly with spades, and a few were stooping at the edge of
+water-holes, washing off the sand mixed with the gold in milk pans.
+
+Philip tried to enter into conversation with the diggers.  He stopped
+near one man, and said:
+
+"Good day, mate.  How are you getting along?"
+
+The man gazed at him steadily, and replied "Go you to hell," so
+Philip moved on.  The next man he addressed sent him in the same
+direction, adding a few blessings; the third man was panning off, and
+there was a little gold visible in his pan.  He was gray, grim, and
+hairy.  Philip said:
+
+"Not very lucky to-day, mate?"
+
+The hairy man stood up, straightened his back, and looked at Philip
+from head to foot.
+
+"Lucky be blowed.  I wish I'd never seen this blasted place.  Here
+have I been sinking holes and puddling for five months, and hav'n't
+made enough to pay my tucker and the Government license, thirty bob a
+month.  I am a mason, and I threw up twenty-eight bob a day to come
+to this miserable hole.  Wherever you come from, young man, I advise
+you to go back there again.  There's twenty thousand men on Bendigo,
+and I don't believe nineteen thousand of 'em are earning their grub."
+
+"I can't well go back fifteen thousand miles, even if I had money to
+take me back," answered Philip.
+
+"Well, you might walk as far as Melbourne," said the hairy man, "and
+then you could get fourteen bob a day as a hodman; or you might take
+a job at stone breaking; the Government are giving 7s. 6d. a yard for
+road metal.  Ain't you got any trade to work at?"
+
+"No, I never learned a trade, I am only a gentleman."  He felt mean
+enough to cry.
+
+"Well, that's bad.  If you are a scholar, you might keep school, but
+I don't believe there's half-a-dozen kids on the diggin's.  They'd be
+of no mortal use except to tumble down shafts.  Fact is, if you are
+really hard up, you can be a peeler.  Up at the camp they'll take on
+any useless loafer wot's able to carry a carbine, and they'll give
+you tucker, and you can keep your shirt clean.  But, mind, if you do
+join the Joeys, I hope you'll be shot.  I'd shoot the hull blessed
+lot of 'em if I had my way.  They are nothin' but a pack of robbers."
+The hairy man knew something of current history and statistics, but
+he had not a pleasant way of imparting his knowledge.
+
+Picaninny Gully ended in a flat, thinly timbered, where there were
+only a few diggers.  Turning to the left, Philip found two men near a
+waterhole hard at work puddling.  When he bade them good-day, they
+did not swear at him, which was some comfort.  They were brothers,
+and were willing to talk, but they did not stop work for a minute.
+They had a large pile of dirt, and were making hay while the sun
+shone--that is, washing their dirt as fast as they could while the
+water lasted.  During the preceding summer they had carted their
+wash-dirt from the gully until rain came and filled the waterhole.
+They said they had not found any rich ground, but they could now make
+at least a pound a day each by constant work.  Philip thought they
+were making more, as they seemed inclined to sing small; in those
+days to brag of your good luck might be the death of you.
+
+While Philip was away interviewing the diggers, Jack showed me where
+he had worked his first claim, and had made 400 pounds in a few days.
+"You might mark off a claim here and try it," he said.  "I think I
+took out the best gold, but there may be a little left still
+hereabout."  I pegged off two claims, one for Philip, and one for
+myself, and stuck a pick in the centre of each.  Then we sat down on
+a log.  Six men came up the gully carrying their swags, one of them
+was unusually tall.  Jack said:  "Do you see that big fellow there?
+His name is McKean.  He comes from my part of Ireland.  He is a
+lawyer; the last time I saw him he was in a court defending a
+prisoner, and now the whole six feet seven of him is nothing but a
+dirty digger."
+
+"What made you leave Ireland, Jack?" I asked.
+
+"I left it, I guess, same as you did, because I couldn't live in it.
+My father was a fisherman, and he was drowned.  Mother was left with
+eight children, and we were as poor as church mice.  I was the
+oldest, so I went to Belfast and got a billet on board ship as cabin
+boy.  I made three voyages from Liverpool to America, and was boxed
+about pretty badly, but I learned to handle the ropes.  My last port
+there was Boston, and I ran away and lived with a Yankee farmer named
+Small.  He was a nigger driver, he was, working the soul out of him
+early and late.  He had a boat, and I used to take farm produce in it
+across the bay to Boston, where the old man's eldest son kept a
+boarding-house.  There was a daughter at home, a regular high-flier.
+She used to talk to me as if I was a nigger.  One day when we were
+having dinner, she was asking me questions about Ireland, and about
+my mother, sisters, and brothers.  Then I got mad, thinking how poor
+they were, and I could not help them.  'Miss Small,' I said, 'my
+mother is forty years old, and she has eight children, and she looks
+younger than you do, and has not lost a tooth.'
+
+"Miss Small, although quite young, was nearly toothless, so she was
+mad enough to kill me; but her brother Jonathan was at table, and he
+took my part, saying, 'Sarves you right, Sue;' why can't you leave
+Jack alone?'
+
+"But Sue made things most unpleasant, and I told Jonathan I couldn't
+stay on the farm, and would rather go to sea again.  Jonathan said
+he, too, was tired of farming, and he would go with me.  He could
+manage a boat across Boston Harbour, but he had never been to sea.
+Next time there was farm stuff to go to Boston he went with me; we
+left the boat with his brother, and shipped in a whaler bound for the
+South Seas.  I used to show him how to handle the ropes, to knot and
+splice, and he soon became a pretty good hand, though he was not
+smart aloft when reefing.  His name was Small, but he was not a small
+man; he was six feet two, and the strongest man on board, and he
+didn't allow any man to thrash me, because I was little.  After
+eighteen months' whaling he persuaded me to run away from the ship at
+Hobarton; he said he was tired of the greasy old tub; so one night we
+bundled up our swags, dropped into a boat, and took the road to
+Launceston, where we expected to find a vessel going to Melbourne.
+When we were half-way across the island, we called just before
+sundown at a farmhouse to see if we could get something to eat, and
+lodging for the night.  We found two women cooking supper in the
+kitchen, and Jonathan said to the younger one, 'Is the old man at
+home?'  She replied quite pertly:
+
+"'Captain Massey is at home, if that's what you mean by 'old man.'
+
+"'Well, my dear,' said Jonathan, 'will you just tell him that we are
+two seamen on our way to Launceston, and we'd like to have a word
+with him.'
+
+"'I am not your dear,' she replied, tossing her head, and went out.
+After a while she returned, and said:  'Captain Massey wanted to
+speak to the little man first.'  That was me.
+
+"I went into the house, and was shown into the parlour, where the
+captain was standing behind a table.  There was a gun close to his
+hand in a corner, two horse pistols on a shelf, and a sword hanging
+over them.  He said:  'Who are you, where from, and whither bound?'
+to which I replied:
+
+"'My name is John Moore; me and my mate have left our ship, a whaler,
+at Hobarton, and we are bound for Launceston.'
+
+"'Oh, you are a runaway foremast hand are you?  Then you know
+something about work on board ship.'  He then put questions to me
+about the work of a seaman, making sail, and reefing, about masts,
+yards, and rigging, and finished by telling me to box a compass.  I
+passed my examination pretty well, and he told me to send in the
+other fellow.  He put Jonathan through his sea-catechism in the same
+way, and then said we could have supper and a shake-down for the
+night.
+
+"After supper the young lady sat near the kitchen fire sewing, and
+Jonathan took a chair near her and began a conversation.  He said:
+
+"I must beg pardon for having ventured to address you as 'my dear,'
+on so short an acquaintance, but I hope you will forgive my boldness.
+Fact is, I felt quite attached to you at first sight.'  And so on.
+If there was one thing that Jonathan could do better than another it
+was talking.  The lady was at first very prim and reserved; but she
+soon began to listen, smiled, and even tittered.  A little boy about
+two years old came in and stood near the fire.  Having nothing else
+to do, I took him on my knee, and set him prattling until we were
+very good friends.  Then an idea came into my head.  I said:
+
+"'I guess, Jonathan, this little kid is about the same age as your
+youngest boy in Boston, ain't he?'
+
+"Of course, Jonathan had no boy and was not married, but the sudden
+change that came over that young lady was remarkable.  She gave
+Jonathan a look of fury, jumped up from her seat, snatched up her
+sewing, and bounced out of the kitchen.  The old man came in, and
+told us to come along, and he would show us our bunks.  We thought he
+was a little queer, but he seemed uncommonly kind and anxious to make
+us comfortable for the night.  He took us to a hut very strongly
+built with heavy slabs, left us a lighted candle, and bade us
+good-night.  After he closed the door we heard him put a padlock on
+it; he was a kindly old chap, and did not want anybody to disturb us
+during the night, and we soon fell fast asleep.  Next morning he came
+early and called us to breakfast.  He stayed with us all the time,
+and when we had eaten, said:
+
+"'Well, have you had a good breakfast?'
+
+"Jonathan spoke:
+
+"'Yes, old man, we have.  You are a gentleman; you have done yourself
+proud, and we are thankful, ain't we, Jack?  You are the best and
+kindest old man we've met since we sailed from Boston.  And now I
+think it's time we made tracks for Launceston.  By-bye, Captain.
+Come along, Jack.'
+
+"'No you won't, my fine coves,' replied the captain.  'You'll go back
+to Hobarton, and join your ship if you have one, which I don't
+believe.  You can't humbug an old salt like me.  You are a pair of
+runaway convicts, and I'll give you in charge as sich.  Here,
+constables, put the darbies on 'em, and take 'em back to Hobarton.'
+
+"Two men who had been awaiting orders outside the door now entered,
+armed with carbines, produced each a pair of handcuffs, and came
+towards us.  But Jonathan drew back a step or two, clenched his big
+fists, and said:
+
+"'No, you don't.  If this is your little game, captain, all I have to
+say is, you are the darndest double-faced old cuss on this side of
+perdition.  You can shoot me if you like, but neither you nor the
+four best men in Van Diemen's Land can put them irons on me.  I am a
+free citizen of the Great United States, and a free man I'll be or
+die.  I'll walk back to Hobarton, if you like, with these men, for I
+guess that greasy old whaler has gone to sea again by this time, and
+we'll get another ship there as well as at Launceston.'
+
+"Captain Massey did not like to venture on shooting us off-hand, so
+at last he told the constables to put up their handcuffs and start
+with us for Hobarton.
+
+"After we had travelled awhile Jonathan cooled down and began to talk
+to the constables.  He asked them how they liked the island, how long
+they had been in it, if it was a good country for farming, how they
+were getting along, and what pay they got for being constables.  One
+of them said:  'The island is pretty good in parts, but it's too
+mountaynyus; we ain't getting along at all, and we won't have much
+chance to do any good until our time is out.'
+
+"'What on airth do you mean by saying "until you time is out?"  Ain't
+your time your own?' asked Jonathan.
+
+"'No, indeed.  I see you don't understand.  We are Government men,
+and we ain't done our time.  We were sent out from England.'
+
+"'Oh!  you were sent out, were you?  Now, I see, that means you are
+penitentiary men, and ought to be in gaol.  Jack, look here.  This
+kind of thing will never do.  You and me are two honest citizens of
+the United States, and here we are, piloted through Van Diemen's Land
+by two convicts, and Britishers at that.  This team has got to be
+changed right away.'
+
+"He seized both carbines and handed them to me; then he handcuffed
+the constables, who were so taken aback they never said a word.  Then
+Jonathan said, 'This is training day.  Now, march.'
+
+"The constables walked in front, me and Jonathan behind, shouldering
+the guns.  In this way we marched until we sighted Hobarton, but the
+two convicts were terribly afraid to enter the city as prisoners;
+they said they were sure to be punished, would most likely be sent
+into a chain gang, and would soon be strangled in the barracks at
+night for having been policemen.  We could see they were really
+afraid, so we took off the handcuffs and gave them back the carbines.
+
+"Before entering the city we found that the whaler had left the
+harbour, and felt sure we would not be detained long, as nothing
+could be proved against us.  When we were brought before the beak
+Jonathan told our story, and showed several letters he had received
+from Boston, so he was discharged.  But I had nothing to show; they
+knew I was an Irishman, and the police asked for a remand to prove
+that I was a runaway convict.  I was kept three weeks in gaol, and
+every time I was brought to court Jonathan was there.  He said he
+would not go away without me.  The police could find out nothing
+against me, so, at last, they let me go.  We went aboard the first
+vessel bound for Melbourne, and, when sail was made, I went up to the
+cross-trees and cursed Van Diemen's Land as long as I could see it.
+Jonathan took ship for the States, but I went shepherding, and grew
+so lazy that if my stick dropped to the ground I wouldn't bend my
+back to pick it up.  But when I heard of the diggings, I woke up,
+humped my swag, and ran away--I was always man enough for that--
+and I don't intend to shepherd again."
+
+When Philip returned from his excursion down the gully, he gave me a
+detailed report of the results and said, "Gold mining is remarkable
+for two things, one certain, the other uncertain.  The certain thing
+is labour, the uncertain thing is gold."  This information staggered
+me, so I replied, "Those two things will have to wait till morning.
+Let us boil the billy."  Our spirits were not very high when we began
+work next day.
+
+We slept under our small calico tent, and our cooking had to be done
+outside.  Sometimes it rained, and then we had to kindle a fire with
+stringy bark under an umbrella   The umbrella was mine--the only
+one I ever saw on the diggings.  Some men who thought they were witty
+made observations about it, but I stuck to it all the same.  No man
+could ever laugh me out of a valuable property.
+
+We lived principally on beef steak, tea, and damper.  Philip cut his
+bread and beef with his bowie knife as long as it lasted.  Every man
+passing by could see that we were formidable, and ready to defend our
+gold to the death--when we got it.  But the bowie was soon useless;
+it got a kink in the middle, and a curl at the point, and had no edge
+anywhere.  It was good for nothing but trade.
+
+A number of our shipmates had put up tents in the neighbourhood, and
+at night we all gathered round the camp fire to talk and smoke away
+our misery.  One, whose name I forget, was a journalist,
+correspondent for the 'Nonconformist'.  Scott was an artist, Harrison
+a mechanical engineer.  Doran a commercial traveller, Moran an
+ex-policeman, Beswick a tailor, Bernie a clogger.  The first lucky
+digger we saw, after Picaninny Jack, came among us one dark night; he
+came suddenly, head foremost, into our fire, and plunged his hands
+into the embers.  We pulled him out, and then two other men came up.
+They apologised for the abrupt entry of their mate.  They said he was
+a lucky digger, and they were his friends and fellow-countrymen.  A
+lucky digger could find friends anywhere, from any country, without
+looking for them, especially if he was drunk, as was this stranger.
+They said he had travelled from Melbourne with a pack horse, and,
+near Mount Alexander, he saw a woman picking up something or other on
+the side of a hill.  She might be gathering flowers, but he could not
+see any.  He stopped and watched her for a while and then went
+nearer.  She did not take any notice of him, so he thought the poor
+thing had been lost in the bush, and had gone cranky.  He pitied her,
+and said:
+
+"My good woman, have you lost anything?  Could I help you to look for it?"
+
+"I am not your good woman, and I have not lost anything; so I don't
+want anybody to help me to look for it."
+
+He was now quite sure she was cranky.  She stooped and picked up
+something, but he could not see what it was.  He began to look on the
+ground, and presently he found a bright little nugget of gold.  Then
+he knew what kind of flowers the woman was gathering.  Without a word
+he took his horse to the foot of the hill, hobbled it, and took off
+his swag.  He went up the hill again, filled his pan with earth, and
+washed it off at the nearest waterhole.  He had struck it rich; the
+hill-side was sprinkled with gold, either on the surface or just
+below it.  For two weeks there were only two parties at work on that
+hill, parties of one, but they did not form a partnership.  The woman
+came every day, picking and scratching like an old hen, and went away
+at sundown.
+
+When the man went away he took with him more than a hundredweight of
+gold.  He was worth looking at, so we put more wood on the fire, and
+made a good blaze.  Yes, he was a lucky digger, and he was enjoying
+his luck.  He was blazing drunk, was in evening dress, wore a black
+bell-topper, and kid gloves.  The gloves had saved his hands from
+being burned when he thrust them into the fire.  There could be no
+doubt that he was enjoying himself.  He came suddenly out of the
+black night, and staggered away into it again with his two friends.
+
+One forenoon, about ten o'clock, while we were busy, peacefully
+digging and puddling, we heard a sound like the rumbling of distant
+thunder from the direction of Bendigo flat.  The thunder grew louder
+until it became like the bellowing of ten thousand bulls.  It was the
+welcome accorded by the diggers to our "trusty and well-beloved"
+Government when it came forth on a digger hunt.  It was swelled by
+the roars, and cooeys, and curses of every man above ground and
+below, in the shafts and drives on the flats, and in the tunnels of
+the White Hills, from Golden Gully and Sheep's Head, to Job's Gully
+and Eaglehawk, until the warning that "Joey's out" had reached to the
+utmost bounds of the goldfield.
+
+There was a strong feeling amongst the diggers that the license fee
+of thirty shillings per month was excessive, and this feeling was
+intensified by the report that it was the intention of the Government
+to double the amount.  As a matter of fact, by far the larger number
+of claims yielded no gold at all, or not enough to pay the fee.  The
+hatred of the hunted diggers made it quite unsafe to send out a small
+number of police and soldiers, so there came forth at irregular
+intervals a formidable body of horse and foot, armed with carbines,
+swords, and pistols.
+
+This morning they marched rapidly along the track towards the White
+Hills, but wheeling to the left up the bluff they suddenly appeared
+at the head of Picaninny Gully.  Mounted men rode down each side of
+the gully as fast as the nature of the ground would permit, for it
+was then honeycombed with holes, and encumbered with the trunks and
+stumps of trees, especially on the eastern side.  They thus managed
+to hem us in like prisoners of war, and they also overtook some
+stragglers hurrying away to right and left.  Some of these had
+licenses in their pockets, and refused to stop or show them until
+they were actually arrested.  It was a ruse of war.  They ran away as
+far as possible among the holes and logs, in order to draw off the
+cavalry, make them break their ranks, and thus to give a chance to
+the unlicensed to escape or to hide themselves.  The police on foot,
+armed with carbines and accompanied by officers, next came down the
+centre of the gully, and every digger was asked to show his license.
+I showed that of William Matthews.
+
+It was not that the policy of William Patterson was tried and found
+wanting.  He was at work on his claim a little below mine, and
+knowing he had no license, I looked at him to see how he would behave
+in the face of the enemy.  He had stopped working, and was walking in
+the direction of his tent, with head bowed down as ifin search of
+something he had lost.  He disappeared in his tent, which was a large
+one, and had, near the opening, a chimney built up with ironstone
+boulders and clay.  But the police had seen him; he was followed,
+found hiding in the corner of his chimney, arrested, and placed among
+the prisoners who were then halted near my tub.  Immediately behind
+Patterson, and carrying a carbine on his shoulder, stood a well-known
+shipmate named Joynt, whom poverty had compelled to join the enemy.
+He would willingly have allowed his friend and prisoner to escape,
+but no chance of doing so occurred, and long after dark Patterson
+approached our camp fire, a free man, but hungry, tired, and full of
+bitterness.  He had been forced to march along the whole day like a
+convicted felon, with an ever-increasing crowd of prisoners, had been
+taken to the camp at nightfall and made to pay 6 pounds 10s.--viz.,
+a fine of 5 pounds and 1 pound 10s. for a license.
+
+The feelings of William Patterson, and of thousands of other diggers,
+were outraged, and they burned for revenge.  A roll-up was called,
+and three public meetings were held on three successive Saturday
+afternoons, on a slight eminence near the Government camp.  The
+speakers addressed the diggers from a wagon.  Some advocated armed
+resistance.  It was well known that many men, French, German, and
+even English, were on the diggings who had taken part in the
+revolutionary outbreak of '48, and that they were eager to have
+recourse to arms once more in the cause of liberty.  But the majority
+advocated the trial of a policy of peace, at least to begin with.  A
+final resolution was passed by acclamation that a fee of ten
+shillings a month should be offered, and if not accepted, no fee
+whatever was to be paid.
+
+It was argued that if the diggers stood firm, it would be impossible
+for the few hundreds of soldiers and police to arrest and keep in
+custody nearly twenty thousand men.  If an attempt was made to take
+us all to gaol, digger-hunting would have to be suspended, the
+revenue would dwindle to nothing, and Government would be starved
+out.  It was, in fact, no Government at all; it was a mere assemblage
+of armed men sent to rob us, not to protect us; each digger had to do
+that for himself.
+
+Next day, Sunday, I walked through the diggings, and observed the
+words "No License Here" pinned or pasted outside every tent, and
+during the next month only about three hundred licenses were taken
+out, instead of the fourteen or fifteen thousand previously issued,
+the digger-hunting was stopped, and a license-fee of forty shillings
+for three months was substituted for that of thirty shillings per
+month.
+
+II.
+
+As no man who had a good claim would be willing to run the risk of
+losing it, the number of licenses taken out after the last meeting
+would probably represent the number of really lucky diggers then at
+work on Bendigo, viz., three hundred more or less, and of the three
+hundred I don't think our gully could boast of one.  All were finding
+a little gold, but even the most fortunate were not making more than
+"tucker."  By puddling eight tubs of washdirt I found that we could
+obtain about one pound's worth of gold each per day; but this was
+hardly enough to keep hope alive.  The golden hours flew over us, but
+they did not send down any golden showers.  I put the little that
+fell to my share into a wooden match-box, which I carried in my
+pocket.  I knew it would hold twelve ounces--if I could get so much
+--and looked into it daily and shook the gold about to see if I were
+growing rich.
+
+It was impossible to feel jolly, and I could see that Philip was
+discontented.  He had never been accustomed to manual labour; he did
+not like being exposed to the cold winds, to the frost or rain, with
+no shelter except that afforded by our small tent.  While at work we
+were always dirty, and often wet; and after we had passed a miserable
+night, daylight found us shivering, until warmth came with hard work.
+One morning Philip lost his temper; his only hat was soaked with
+rain, and his trousers, shirt, and boots were stiff with clay.  He
+put a woollen comforter on his head in lieu of the hat.  The
+comforter was of gaudy colours, and soon attracted public attention.
+A man down the gully said:
+
+"I obsarved yesterday we had young Ireland puddling up here, and I
+persave this morning we have an Italian bandit or a Sallee rover at
+work among us."
+
+Every digger looked at Philip, and he fell into a sudden fury; you
+might have heard him at the first White Hill.
+
+"Yesterday I heard a donkey braying down the gully, and this morning
+he is braying again."
+
+"Oh! I see," replied the Donkey.  "We are in a bad temper this morning."
+
+Father Backhaus was often seen walking with long strides among the
+holes and hillocks on Bendigo Flat or up and down the gullies, on a
+visit to some dying digger, for Death would not wait until we had all
+made our pile.  His messengers were going around all the time;
+dysentery, scurvy, or fever; and the priest hurried after them.
+Sometimes he was too late; Death had entered the tent before him.
+
+He celebrated Mass every Sunday in a tent made of drugget, and
+covered with a calico fly.  His presbytery, sacristy, confessional,
+and school were all of similar materials, and of small dimensions.
+There was not room in the church for more than thirty or forty
+persons; there were no pews, benches, or chairs.  Part of the
+congregation consisted of soldiers from the camp, who had come up
+from Melbourne to shoot us if occasion required.  Six days of the
+week we hated them and called "Joey" after them, but on the seventh
+day we merely glared at them, and let them pass in silence.  They
+were sleek and clean, and we were gaunt as wolves, with scarcely a
+clean shirt among us.  Philip, especially hated them as enemies of
+his country, and the more so because they were his countrymen, all
+but one, who was a black man.
+
+The people in and around the church were not all Catholics.  I saw a
+man kneeling near me reading the Book of Common Prayer of the Church
+of England; there was also a strict Presbyterian, to whom I spoke
+after Mass.  He said the priest did not preach with as much energy as
+the ministers in Scotland.  And yet I thought Father Backhaus' sermon
+had that day been "powerful," as the Yankees would say.  He preached
+from the top of a packing case in front of the tent.  The audience
+was very numerous, standing in close order to the distance of
+twenty-five or thirty yards under a large gum tree.
+
+The preacher spoke with a German accent, but his meaning was plain.
+
+He said:
+
+"My dear brethren' 'Beatus ille qui post aurum non abiit'.  Blessed
+is the man who has not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money or
+treasures.  You will never earn that blessing, my dear brethren.  Why
+are you here?  You have come from every corner of the world to look
+for gold.  You think it is a blessing, but when you get it, it is
+often a curse.  You go what you call 'on the spree'; you find the
+'sly grog'; you get drunk and are robbed of your gold; sometimes you
+are murdered; or you fall into a hole and are killed, and you go to
+hell dead drunk.  Patrick Doyle was here at Mass last Sunday; he was
+then a poor digger.  Next day he found gold, 'struck it rich,' as you
+say; then he found the grog also and brought it to his tent.
+Yesterday he was found dead at the bottom of his golden shaft, and he
+was buried in the graveyard over there near the Government camp."
+
+My conscience was quite easy when the sermon was finished.  It would
+be time enough for me to take warning from the fate of Paddy Doyle
+when I had made my pile.  Let the lucky diggers beware!  I was not
+one of them.
+
+After we had been at work a few weeks, Father Backhaus, before
+stepping down from the packing-case, said:
+
+"I want someone to teach in a school; if there is anyone here willing
+to do so, I should like to see him after Mass."
+
+I was looking round for Philip among the crowd when he came up, eager
+and excited.
+
+"I am thinking of going in to speak to the priest about that school,"
+he said.  "Would you have any objection?  You know we are doing no
+good in the gully, but I won't leave itif you think I had better not."
+
+Philip was honourable; he would not dissolve our short partnership,
+and leave me alone unless I was quite willing to let him go.
+
+"Have you ever kept school before?"
+
+"No, never.  But I don't think the teaching will give me much
+trouble.  There can't be many children around here, and I can surely
+teach them A B C and the Catechism."
+
+Although I thought he had not given fortune a fair chance to bless
+us, he looked so wistful and anxious that I had not the heart to say
+no.  Philip went into the tent, spoke to the priest, and became a
+schoolmaster.  I was then a solitary "hatter."
+
+Next day a man came up the gully with a sack on his back with
+something in it which he had found in a shaft.  He thought the shaft
+had not been dug down to the bedrock, and he would bottom it.  He
+bottomed on a corpse.  The claim had been worked during the previous
+summer by two men.  One morning there was only one man on it; he said
+his mate had gone to Melbourne, but he had in fact killed him during
+the night, and dropped him down the hole.  The police never hunted
+out that murderer; they were too busy hunting us.
+
+I was not long alone.  A beggarly looking young man came a few days
+later, and said:
+
+"I hear you have lost your mate Philip, and my mates have all gone
+away and taken the tent with them; so I want to ask you to let me
+stay in your tent until I can look round a bit."
+
+This young man's name was David Beswick, but he was known simply as
+"Bez."  He was a harmonious tailor from Manchester; he played the
+violoncello, also the violin; had a good tenor voice, and a talent
+for the drama.  He, and a man named Santley from Liverpool, had taken
+leading parts in our plays and concerts on shipboard.  Scott, the
+artist, admired Bez; he said he had the head, the features, and the
+talent of a Shakespeare.  He had a sketch of Bez in his portfolio,
+which he was filling with crooked trees, common diggers, and ugly
+blackamoors.  I could see no Shakespeare in Bez; he was nothing but a
+dissipated tailor who had come out in the steerage, while I had
+voyaged in the house on deck.  I was, therefore, a superior person,
+and looked down on the young man, who was seated on a log near the
+fire, one leg crossed over the other, and slowly stroking his
+Elizabethan beard.  I said:
+
+"Yes, Philip has left me, but I don't want any partner.  I understand
+you are a tailor by trade, and I don't think much of a tailor."
+
+"Well," replied Bez, "I don't think much of him myself, so I have
+dropped the business.  I am now a sailor.  You know yourself I sailed
+from Liverpool to Melbourne, and, anyhow, there's only the difference
+of a letter between a tailor and a sailor."
+
+There was a flaw somewhere in the argument, but I only said, "'Valeat
+quantum valere potest.'"  Bez looked solemn; a little Latin goes a
+long way with some people.  He was an object of charity, and I made
+him feel it.
+
+"In the first place this tent is teetotal.  No grog is to come inside
+it.  There is to be no mining partnership.  You can keep all the gold
+you get, and I shall do the same.  You must keep all trade secrets,
+and never confess you are a tailor.  I could never hold up my head
+among the diggers if they should discover that my mate was only the
+ninth part of a man.  You must carry to the tent a quantity of clay
+and rocks sufficient to build a chimney, of which I shall be the
+architect.  You will also pay for your own tucker, chop wood, make
+the fire, fetch water, and boil the billy."  Bez promised solemnly to
+abide by these conditions, and then I allowed him to deposit his swag
+in the tent.
+
+The chimney was built in three days, and we could then defy the
+weather, and dispense with the umbrella.  Bez performed his part of
+the contract well.  He adopted a rolling gait and the frown of a
+pirate; he swore naval oaths strong enough to still a hurricane.
+Among his digging outfit was a huge pick; it was a two-man pick, and
+he carried it on his shoulder to suggest his enormous strength.  He
+threw tailordom to the winds; when a rent appeared in his trousers he
+closed it with pins, disdaining the use of the needle, until he
+became so ragged that I ordered him into dock for repairs.
+
+One day in passing Philip's school I peeped in at the flap of the
+tent.  He had already acquired the awe-inspiring look of the
+schoolmaster.  He was teaching a class of little boys, whose
+wandering eyes were soon fixed on my face, and then Philip saw me.
+He smiled and blushed, and came outside.  He said he was getting
+along capitally, and did not want to try digging any more.  He had
+obtained a small treatise called "The Twelve Virtues of a Good
+Master," and he was studying it daily in order to qualify himself for
+his new calling.  He had undertaken to demonstrate one of Euclid's
+propositions every night by way of exercising his reasoning
+faculties.  He was also making new acquaintances amongst men who were
+not diggers--doctors, storekeepers, and the useful blacksmiths who
+pointed our picks with steel.  He had also two or three friends at
+the Governmnt camp, and I felt inclined to look upon him as a traitor
+to the diggers' cause but although he had been a member of the party
+of Young Irelanders, he was the most innocent traitor and the poorest
+conspirator I ever heard of.  He could keep nothing from me.  If he
+had been a member of some secret society, he would have burst up the
+secret, or the secret would have burst him.
+
+He had some friends among the diggers.  The big gum tree in front of
+the church tent soon became a kind of trysting place on Sundays, at
+which men could meet with old acquaintances and shipmates, and
+convicts could find old pals.  Amongst the crowd one Sunday were five
+men belonging to a party of six from Nyalong; the sixth man was at
+home guarding the tent.  Four of the six were Irish Catholics, and
+they came regularly to Mass every Sunday; the other two were
+Englishmen, both convicts, of no particular religion, but they had
+married Catholic immigrants, and sometimes went to church, but more
+out of pastime than piety.  One of these men, known as John Barton--
+he had another name in the indents--stood under the gum tree, but
+not praying; I don't think he ever thought of praying except the need
+of it was extreme.  He was of medium height, had a broad face, snub
+nose, stood erect like a soldier, and was strongly built.  His small
+ferrety eyes were glancing quickly among the faces around him until
+they were arrested by another pair of eyes at a short distance.  The
+owner of the second pair of eyes nudged two other men standing by,
+and then three pairs of eyes were fixed on Barton.  He was not a
+coward, but something in the expression of the three men cowed him
+completely.  He turned his head and lowered it, and began to push his
+way among the crowd to hide himself.  After Mass, Philip found him in
+his tent, and suspecting that he was a thief put his hand on a
+medium-sized Colt's revolver, which he had exchanged for his duelling
+pistols, and said:
+
+"Well, my friend, and what are you doing here?"
+
+"For God's sake speak low," whispered Barton.  "I came in here to
+hide.  There are three men outside who want to kill me."
+
+"Three men who want to kill you, eh?  Do you expect me to believe
+that anybody among the crowd there would murder you in broad
+daylight?  My impression is, my friend, that you are a sneaking
+thief, and that you came here to look for gold.  I'll send a man to
+the police to come and fetch you, and if you stir a step I'll shoot
+you."
+
+"For goodness' sake, mate, keep quiet. I am not a burglar, not now at
+any rate.  I'll tell you the truth.  I was a Government flagellator,
+a flogger, you know, on the Sydney side, and I flogged those three
+men.  Couldn't help it, it was my business to do it.  I know they are
+looking for me, and they will follow me and take the first chance to
+murder me.  They are most desperate characters.  One of them was
+insubordinate when he was assigned servant to a squatter, and the
+squatter, who was on horseback, gave him a cut with his stockwhip.
+Then this man jumped at his master, pulled him off his horse, dragged
+him to the wood-heap, held his head on the block, seized the axe, and
+was just going to chop his master's head off, when another man
+stopped him.  That is what I had to flog him for, and then he was
+sent back to Sydney.  So you can just think what a man like that
+would do.  When my time was up I went as a trooper to the Nyalong
+district under Captain Foster, the Commissioner, and after a while I
+settled down and married an immigrant woman from Tipperary, a
+Catholic.  That's the way I happened to be here at Mass with my
+mates, who are Catholics; but I'll never do it again; it's as much as
+my life is worth.  I daresay there are lots of men about Bendigo whom
+I flogged while I was in the business, and every single man-jack of
+them would kill me if he got the chance.  And so for goodness' sake
+let me stay here till dark.  I suppose you are an honest man; you
+look like it anyway, and you would not want to see me murdered, now,
+would you?"
+
+Barton was, in fact, as great a liar and rogue as you would meet with
+anywhere, but in extreme cases he would tell the truth, and the
+present case was an extreme one.  Philip was merciful; he allowed
+Barton to remain in his tent all day, and gave him his dinner.  When
+darkness came he escorted him to the tent of the men from Nyalong,
+and was introduced to them by his new friend.  Their names were
+Gleeson, Poynton, Lyons, and two brothers McCarthy.  One of these men
+was brother-in-law to Barton, and had been a fellow-trooper with him
+under Captain Foster.  Barton had entered into family relations as an
+honest man; he could give himself any character he chose until he was
+found out.  He was too frightened to stay another night on Bendigo,
+and he began at once to bundle up his swag.  Gleeson and Poynton
+accompanied him for some distance beyond the pillar of white quartz
+on Specimen Hill, and then he left the track and struck into the
+bush.  Fear winged his feet' he arrived safely at Nyalong, and never
+went to another rush.  The other five then stayed on Bendigo for
+several weeks longer, and when they returned home their gold was
+sufficient for a dividend of 700 pounds for each man.  Four of them
+bought farms, one kept a store, and Barton rented some land.  Philip
+met them again when he was promoted to the school at Nyalong, and
+they were his firm friends as long as he lived there.
+
+I went to various rushes to improve my circumstances.  Once I was
+nearly shot.  A bullet whizzed past my head, and lodged in the trunk
+of a stringy bark a little further on.  That was the only time in my
+life I was under fire, and I got from under it as quickly as
+possible.  Once I went to a rush of Maoris, near Job's Gully, and
+Scott came along with his portfolio, a small pick, pan, and shovel.
+He did not dig any, but got the ugliest Maori he could find to sit on
+a pile of dirt while he took his portrait and sketched the tattoos.
+That spoiled the rush; every man, black and white, crowded around
+Scott while he was at work with his pencil, and then every single
+savage shook hands with him, and made signs to have his tattoos
+taken, they were so proud of their ugliness.  They were all naked to
+the waist.
+
+Near the head of Sheep's Head Gully, Jack Moore and I found the cap
+of a quartz reef with visible gold in it.  We broke up some of it,
+but could not make it pay, having no quartz-crushing machinery.
+Golden Gully was already nearly worked out, but I got a little gold
+in it which was flaky, and sticking on edge in the pipeclay bottom.
+I found some gold also in Sheep's Head, and then we heard of a rush
+on the Goulburn River.  Next day we offered our spare mining plant
+for sale on the roadside opposite Specimen Hill, placing the tubs,
+cradles, picks and spades all in a row.  Bez was the auctioneer.  He
+called out aloud, and soon gathered a crowd, which he fascinated by
+his eloquence.  The bidding was spirited, and every article was sold,
+even Bez's own two-man pick, which would break the heart of a Samson
+to wield it.
+
+When we left Bendigo, Bez, Birnie, Dan, Scott, and Moses were of the
+party, and a one-horse cart carried our baggage.  When we came to a
+swamp we carried the baggage over it on our backs, and then helped
+the horse to draw the empty cart along.  Our party increased in
+number by the way, especially after we met with a dray carrying kegs
+of rum.
+
+Before reaching the new rush, afterwards known as Waranga, we
+prospected some country about twenty miles from the Goulburn river.
+Here Scott left us.  Before starting he called me aside, and told me
+he was going to the Melbourne Hospital to undergo an operation.  He
+had a tumour on one leg above the knee, for which he had been treated
+in Dublin, and had been advised to come to Australia, in the hope
+that a change of climate and occupation might be of benefit, but he
+had already walked once from Bendigo to Melbourne, and now he was
+obliged to go again.  He did not like to start without letting
+someone know his reason for leaving us.  I felt full of pity for
+Scott, for I thought he was going to his death alone in the bush, and
+I asked him if he felt sure that he could find his way.  He showed me
+his pocket compass and a map, and said he could make a straight
+course for Melbourne.  He had always lived and worked alone, but
+whenever we moved he accompanied us not wishing to be quite lost
+amongst strangers.  He arrived at the hospital, but he never came out
+of it alive.
+
+Dan gave me his money to take care of while he and Bez were living on
+rum from the dray, and I gave out as little cash as possible in order
+to promote peace and sobriety.  One night Dan set fire to my tent in
+order to rouse his banker.  I dragged Bez outside the tent and
+extinguished the fire.  There was bloodshed afterwards--from Dan's
+nose--and his account was closed.  After a while some policemen in
+plain clothes came along and examined the dray.  They found fourteen
+kegs of rum in it, which they seized, together with four horses and
+the dray.
+
+I worked for seven months in various parts of the Ovens district
+until I had acquired the value in gold of my vanished twenty-dollar
+pieces; that was all my luck.  During this time some of us paid the
+£2 license fee for three months.  We were not hunted by the military.
+Four or five troopers and officials rode slowly about the diggings
+and the cry of "Joey" was never raised, while a single unarmed
+constable on foot went amongst the claims to inspect licenses.  He
+stayed with us awhile, talking about digging matters.  He said the
+police were not allowed to carry carbines now, because a digger had
+been accidentally shot.  He was a very civil fellow, and his price,
+if I remember rightly was half-a-crown.  Yet the digger hunting was
+continued at Ballarat until it ended in the massacre of December 3rd
+1854.
+
+At that time I was at Colac, and while Dr. Ignatius was absent, I had
+the charge of his household, which consisted of one old convict known
+as "Specs," who acted in the capacity of generally useless, received
+orders most respectfully, but forgot them as much as possible.  He
+was a man of education who had gone astray in London, and had fallen
+on evil days in Queensland and Sydney.  When alone in  the kitchen he
+consoled himself with curses.  I could hear his voice from the other
+side of the slabs.  He cursed me, he cursed the Doctor, he cursed the
+horses, the cat, the dog, and the whole world and everything in it.
+It was impossible to feel anything but pity for the man, for his life
+was ruined, and he had ruined it himself.  I had also under my care a
+vegetable garden, a paddock of Cape barley, two horses, some guinea
+fowls, and a potato patch.  One night the potatoes had been
+bandicooted.  To all the early settlers in the bush the bandicoot is
+well known.  It is a marsupial quadruped which lives on bulbs, and
+ravages potato patches.  It is about eighteen inches in length from
+the origin of its tail to the point of its nose.  It has the habits
+of a pickpocket.  It inserts its delicate fore paws under the stalks
+of the potato, and pulls out the tubers.  That morning I had
+endeavoured to dig some potatoes; the stalks were there, but the
+potatoes were gone.  I stopped to think, and examined the ground.  I
+soon discovered tracks of the bandicoot, but they had taken the shape
+of a small human foot.  We had no small human feet about our
+premises, but at the other side of the fence there was a bark hut
+full of them.  I turned toward the hut suspiciously, and saw the
+bandicoot sitting on a top-rail, watching me, and dangling her feet
+to and fro.  She wore towzled red hair, a short print frock, and a
+look of defiance.  I went nearer to inspect her bandicoot feet.  Then
+she openly defied me, and said:
+
+"You need not look so fierce, mister.  I have as much right to sit on
+this rail as you have."
+
+"Lilias," I replied, "you won't sit there long.  You bandicooted my
+potatoes last night, and you've left the marks of your dirty feet on
+the ground.  The police are coming to measure your feet, and then
+they will take you to the lock-up."
+
+I gazed across the barley paddock for the police, and Lilias looked
+as well.  There was a strange man approaching rapidly, and the
+bandicoot's courage collapsed.  She slid from the fence, took to
+flight, and disappeared among the tussocks near the creek.
+
+The stranger did not go to the garden gate, but stood looking over
+the fence.  He said:  "Is Dr. Ignatius at home?"
+
+"No, he is away somewhere about Fiery Creek, and I don't think he'll
+return until Saturday."
+
+The stranger hung down his head and was silent.  He was a young man
+of small frame, well dressed for those days, but he had o luggage.
+He looked so miserable that I pitied him.  He was like a hunted
+animal.  I said:
+
+"Are you a friend of Dr. Ignatius?"
+
+"Yes, he knows me well.  My name is Carr; I have come from Ballarat."
+
+"I knew various men had left Ballarat.  One had arrived in Geelong on
+December 4th, and had consulted Dr. Walshe about a bullet between his
+knuckles, another was hiding in a house at Chilwell.*  He had lost
+one arm, and the Government were offering 400 pounds for him, so he
+took outdoor exercise only by night, disguised in an Inverness cape.
+
+"There was a chance for me to hear exciting news from the lips of a
+warrior fresh from the field of battle, so I said:
+
+"If you would like to stay here until the doctor returns you will
+be welcome."
+
+*[Footnote]  Peter Lalor.
+
+He was my guest for four days.  He said that he went out with the
+military on the morning of December 3rd, and was the first surgeon
+who entered the Eureka Stockade after the fight was over.  He found
+twelve men dead in it, and twelve more mortally wounded.  This was
+about all the information he vouchsafed to give me.  I was anxious
+for particulars.  I wanted to know what arms he carried to the fray,
+whether he touched up his sword on the grind-stone before sallying
+forth, how many men or women he had called upon to stand in the name
+of her gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, how many skulls he had
+cloven, how many diggers he had "slewed," and how many peaceful
+prisoners he had brought back to the Government camp.  On all these
+points he was silent, and during his stay with me he spoke as little
+as possible,  neither reading, writing, nor walking about.  But there
+was something to be learned from the papers.  He had been a witness
+at the inquest on Scobie, killed by Bentley and two others, and
+principally on his evidence Bentley was discharged, but was
+afterwards re-arrested and condemned to three years' imprisonment.
+Dr. Carr was regarded as a "colluding associate" with Bentley and
+Dewes, the magistrate, and the official condemnation of Dewes
+confirmed the popular denunciation of them.  At a dinner given to Mr.
+Tarleton, the American Consul, Dr. Otway, the Chairman said:
+
+"While I and my fellow-colonists are thoroughly loyal to our
+Sovereign Lady, the Queen, we do not, and will not, respect her men
+servants, her maid servants, her oxen, or her asses."
+
+A Commission was coming to Ballarat to report on wrong doings there,
+and they were looking for witnesses.  On Friday, December 8th, the
+camp surgeon and Dr. Carr had a narrow escape from being shot.  While
+the former gentleman was entering the hospital he was fired at by one
+of the sentries.  The ball passed close to the shoulder of Dr. Carr,
+who was reading inside, went through the lid of the open medicine
+chest, and some splinters struck him on the side.  There were in the
+hospital at that time seven diggers seriously wounded and six
+soldiers, including the drummer boy.  Troubles were coming in crowds,
+and the bullet, the splinters, and the Commission put the little
+doctor to flight.  He left the seven diggers, the five soldiers, and
+the drummer boy in the hospital, and made straight for Colac.  Fear
+dogged his footsteps wherever he went, and the mere sight of him had
+sent the impudent thief Lilias to hide behind the tussocks.
+
+I always hate a man who won't talk to me and tell me things, and the
+doctor was so silent and unsociable, that, by way of revenge, I left
+him to the care and curses of old "Specs."
+
+After four days he departed, and he appeared again at Ballarat on
+January 15th, giving evidence at an inquest on one Hardy, killed by a
+gunshot wound.  In the meantime a total change had taken place among
+the occupants of the Government camp.  Commissioner Rede had retired,
+Dr. Williams, the coroner, and the district surgeons had received
+notice to quit in twenty-four hours, and they left behind them
+twenty-four patients in and around the camp hospital.
+
+Dr. Carr left the colony, and the next report about him was from
+Manchester, where he made a wild and incoherent speech to the crowd
+at the Exchange.  His last public appearance was in a police-court on
+a charge of lunacy.  He was taken away by his friends, and what
+became of him afterwards is not recorded.
+
+Doctors, when there is a dearth of patients, sometimes take to war,
+and thus succeed in creating a "practice."  Occasionally they meet
+with disaster, of which we can easily call to mind instances, both
+ancient and modern.
+
+
+III.
+
+Diggers do not often turn their eyes heavenwards; their treasure does
+not lie in that direction.  But one night I saw Bez star-gazing.
+
+"Do you know the names of any of the stars in this part of the roof?"
+I asked.
+
+"I can't make out many of the Manchester stars," he replied.  "I knew
+a few when I was a boy, but there was a good deal of fog and smoke,
+and latterly I have not looked up that way much; but I can spot a few
+of them yet, I think."
+
+Bez was a rather prosy poet, and his eye was not in a fine frenzy rolling.
+
+"Let me see," he said; "that's the north; Charles' Wain and the North
+Pole ought to be there, but they have gone down somewhere.  There are
+the Seven Stars--I never could make 'em seven; if there ever were
+that number one of 'em has dropped out.  And there's Orion; he has
+somehow slipped up to the north, and is standing on his head, heels
+uppermost.  There are the two stars in his heels, two on his
+shoulders, three in his belt, and three in his sword.  There is the
+Southern Cross; we could never see that in our part of England, nor
+those two silvery clouds, nor the two black holes.  They look
+curious, don't they?  I suppose the two clouds are the Gates of
+Heaven, and the two black spots the Gates of Hell, the doors of
+eternity.  Which way shall we go?  That's the question."
+
+The old adage is still quite true--'coelum non animum mutant qui
+trans mare currunt'.  When a young gentleman in England takes to
+idleness and grog, and disgraces his family, he is provided with a
+passage to Australia, in order that he may become a reformed
+prodigal; but the change of climate does not effect a reform; it
+requires something else.
+
+Dan in Glasgow and Bez in Manchester had both been given to drink too
+much.  They came to Victoria to acquire the virtue of temperance, and
+they were sober enough when they had no money.
+
+Dan told me that when he awoke after his first week at sea, he sat
+every day on the topgallant forecastle thinking over his past
+wickedness, watching the foam go by, and continually tempted to
+plunge into it.
+
+After the rum, the dray, and the four horses were seized by the
+police.  Dan and Bez grew sober, and went to Reid's Creek, passing me
+at work on Spring Creek.  They came back as separate items.  Dan
+called at my tent, and I gave him a meal of damper, tea, and jam.  He
+ate the whole of the jam, which cost me 2s. 6d. per pound.   He then
+humped his swag and started for Melbourne.  On his way through the
+township, since named Beechworth, he took a drink of liquor which
+disabled him, and he lay down by the roadside using an ant-hill for a
+pillow.  He awoke at daylight covered with ants, which were stinging
+and eating him alive.
+
+Some days later Bez came along, passed my tent for a mile, and then
+came back.  He said he was ashamed of himself.  I gave him also a
+feed of damper, tea, and jam limited.  Dan had made me cautious in
+the matter of lavish hospitality.  The Earl of Lonsdale lately spent
+fifty thousand pounds in entertaining the Emperor of Germany, but it
+was money thrown away.  The next time the Kaiser comes to
+Westmoreland he will have to pay for his board and buy his preserves.
+Bez made a start for Melbourne, met an old convict, and with him took
+a job at foot-rotting sheep on a station owned by a widow lady.  Here
+he passed as an engraver in reduced circumstances.  He told lies so
+well, that the convict was filled with admiration, and said, "I'm
+sure, mate, you're a flash covey wot's done his time in the island."
+
+The two chums foot-rotted until they had earned thirty shillings
+each, then they went away and got drunk at a roadside shanty; at
+least, Bez did, and when the convict picked his pockets, he kindly
+put back three shillings and sixpence, saying, "That will give him
+another start on the wallaby track."
+
+Bez at last arrived at Flagstaff Hill, which was then bare, with a
+sand-hole on one side of it.  He had had nothing to eat for
+twenty-four hours, and had only one shilling and sixpence in his
+pocket, which he was loath to spend for fear of arriving in Melbourne
+a complete beggar.  He lay down famishing and weary on the top of the
+hill near Flagstaff, and surveyed the city, the bay, and the
+shipping.  He had  hoped by this time to have been ready to take a
+passage in one of those ships to Liverpool, and to return home a
+lucky digger.  But he had only eighteen pence, so he said, "I am
+afraid, Bez, you will never see Manchester again."
+
+There was at that time a small frame building at the west end of
+Flinders Street, with a hill behind it, on which goats were browsing;
+the railway viaduct runs now over the exact spot.  Many parties of
+hopeful diggers from England and California had slept there on the
+floor the night before they started for Ballarat, Mount Alexander, or
+Bendigo.  We called it a house of refuge, and Bez now looked for
+refuge in it.  There he met Dan and Moran, who had both found
+employment in the city, and they fed the hungry Bez.  Dan was
+labouring at his trade in the building business, and he set Bez to
+work roofing houses with corrugated iron.  They soon earned more
+money than they had ever earned by digging for gold, but on Saturday
+nights and Sundays they took their pleasure in the old style, and so
+they went to the dogs.  I don't know how Dan's life ended (his real
+name was Donald Fraser), but Bez died suddenly in the bar of a
+public-house, and he was honoured with an inquest and a short
+paragraph in the papers.
+
+Moran had saved a hundred pounds by digging in Picaninny Gully, and
+he was soon afterwards admitted to serve Her Majesty again in the
+police department.  On the Sunday after Price was murdered by the
+convicts at Williamstown I met Moran after Mass in the middle of
+Lonsdale Street.  I reproached him for his baseness in deserting to
+the enemy--Her Majesty, no less--and in self-defence he nearly
+argued my head off.  At last I threatened to denounce him as a "Joey"
+--he was in plain clothes--and have him killed by the crowd in the
+street.  Nothing but death could silence Moran.  The rest of his
+history is engraved on a monument in the Melbourne Cemetery; he, his
+wife, and all his children died many years ago.--R.I.P.  He was
+really a good man, with only one defect--most of us have many--he
+was always trying to divide a hair 'twixt West and South-West side.
+
+I met Santley after thirty years, sitting on a bench in front of the
+"Travellers' Rest" at Alberton, in Gippsland.  He had a wrinkled old
+face, and did not recognise my beautiful countenance until he heard
+my name.  He had half-a-dozen little boys and girls around him--his
+grandchildren, I believe--and was as happy as a king teaching them
+to sing hymns.  I don't think Santley had grown rich, but he always
+carried a fortune about with him wherever he went, viz., a kind heart
+and a cheerful disposition.  Nobody could ever think of quarrelling
+with Santlay any more than with George Coppin, or with that
+benevolent bandmaster, Herr Plock.  He told me that he was now
+related to the highest family in the world, his daughter having
+married the Chinese giant, whose brothers and sisters were all of the
+race of Anak.
+
+My mate, Philip, was so successful with his little school in the tent
+that he was promoted to another at the Rocky Waterholes, and then he
+went to the township at Lake Nyalong.  Philip had never travelled as
+far as Lake Nyalong, but Picaninny Jack told him that he had once
+been there, and that it was a beautiful country.  He tried to find it
+at another time, but got bushed on the wrong side of the lake; now he
+believed there was a regular track that way if Philip could only find
+it.  The settlers and other inhabitants ought to be well off; if not,
+it was their own fault, for they had the best land in the whole of
+Australia.
+
+Philip felt sure that he would find at least one friend at Nyalong--
+viz., Mr. Barton, whom he had harboured in his tent at Bendigo, and
+had sheltered from the pursuit of the three bloodthirsty convicts.
+Some people might be too proud to look forward to the friendship of a
+flagellator, but in those days we could not pick and choose our
+chums; Barton might not be clubable, but he might be useful, and the
+social ladder requires a first step.
+
+Thanks to such men as Dan and Bez, in Melbourne, and to other
+enterprising builders in various places, habitable dwellings of wood,
+brick, and bluestone began to be used, instead of the handy but
+uncomfortable tent, and, at the Rocky Waterholes, Philip had for some
+time been lodging in a weatherboard house with the respectable Mrs.
+Martin.  Before going to look for Nyalong he introduced his successor
+to her, and also to the scholars.  Her name was Miss Edgeworth.
+
+The first virtue of a good master is gravity, and Philip had begun at
+the beginning.  He was now graver even than usual while he briefly
+addressed his youthful auditors.
+
+"My dear children," he said, "I am going away, and have to leave you
+in the care of this young lady, Miss Edgeworth.  I am sure you will
+find her to be a better teacher than myself, because she has been
+trained in the schools of the great city of Dublin, and I,
+unfortunately, had no training at all; she is highly educated, and
+will be, I doubt not, a perfect blessing to the rising generation of
+the Rocky Waterholes.  I hope you will be diligent, obedient, and
+respectful to her.  Good-bye, and God bless you all."
+
+These words were spoken in the tone of a judge passing sentence of
+death on a criminal, and Miss Edgeworth was in doubt whether it would
+be becoming under the circumstances to laugh or to cry, so she made
+no speech in reply.  She said afterwards to Mrs. Martin, "Mr. Philip
+must have been a most severe master; I can see sternness on his
+brow."  Moreover, she was secretly aware that she did not deserve his
+compliments, and that her learning was limited, especially in
+arithmetic; she had often to blame the figures for not adding up
+correctly.  For this reason she had a horror of examinations, and
+every time the inspector came round she was in a state of mortal
+fear.  His name was Bonwick.  He was a little man, but he was so
+learned that the teachers looked forward to his visits with awe.  A
+happy idea came into Miss Edgeworth's mind.  She was, it is true, not
+very learned, nor was she perfect in the practice of the twelve
+virtues, but she had some instinctive knowledge of the weakness of
+the male man.  Mr. Bonwick was an author, a learned author who had
+written books--among others a school treatise on geography.  Miss
+Edgeworth bought two copies of this work, and took care to place them
+on her table in the school every morning with the name of the author
+in full view.  On his next visit Mr. Bonwick's searching eyes soon
+detected the presence of his little treatise, and he took it up with
+a pleased smile.  This was Miss Edgeworth's opportunity; she said, in
+her opinion, the work was a must excellent one, and extremely well
+adapted for the use of schools.
+
+The inspector was more than satisfied; a young lady of so much
+judgment and discrimination was a peerless teacher, and Miss
+Edgeworth's work was henceforward beyond all question.
+
+There were no coaches running to Nyalong, and, as Philip's poverty
+did not permit him to purchase a horse, and he had scruples about
+stealing one, he packed up his swag and set out on foot.  It may be
+mentioned as bearing on nothing in particular that, after Philip had
+taken leave of Miss Edgeworth, she stood at a window, flattened her
+little nose against one of the panes, and watched him trudging away
+as long as he was in sight.  Then she said to Mrs. Martin:
+
+"Ain't it a pity that so respectable a young man should be tramping
+through the bush like a pedlar with a pack?"
+
+"No, indeed, miss, not a bit of it," replied Mrs. Martin; "nearly
+every man in the country has had to travel with his swag one time or
+another.  We are all used to it; and it ain't no use of your looking
+after him that way, for most likely you'll never see him again."  But
+she did.
+
+About two miles from the Waterholes Philip overtook another swagman,
+a man of middle age, who was going to Nyalong to look for work.  He
+had tried the diggings, and left them for want of luck, and Philip,
+having himself been an unlucky digger, had a fellow feeling for the
+stranger.  He was an old soldier named Summers.
+
+"I am three and fifty years old," he said, "and I 'listed when I was
+twenty.  I was in all the wars in India for nineteen years, and never
+was hit but once, and that was on the top of my head.  Look here," he
+took off his hat and pointed to a ridge made by the track of a
+bullet, "if I had been an inch taller I shouldn't be here now.  And
+maybe it would have been all the better.  I have been too long at the
+fighting to learn another trade now.  When I 'listed I was told my
+pay would be a shilling a day and everything found.  A shilling a day
+is seven shillings a week, and I thought I should live like a
+fighting cock, plenty to eat and a shilling a day for drink or sport.
+But I found out the difference when it was too late.  They kept a
+strict account against every man; it was full of what they called
+deductions, and we had to pay for so many things out of that shilling
+that sometimes for months together I hadn't the price of a pint o'
+threepenny with a trop o' porter through it."
+
+"What was the biggest battle you ever were in?" enquired Philip.
+
+"Well, I had some close shaves, but the worst was when we took a
+stockade from the Burmans.  My regiment was the 47th, and one company
+of ours, sixty-five, rank and file, and two companies from other
+regiments were ordered to attack it.  Our officers were all shot down
+before we reached the stockade, but we got in, and went at the
+Burmans with the bayonet.  But such a crowd came at us from the rear
+of the stockade that we had to go out again, and we ran down the
+hill.  Our ranks were broken, and we had no time to rally before a
+lot of horsemen were among us.  My bayonet was broken, and I had
+nothing but my empty musket to fight with.  I warded off the sabre
+cuts with it right and left, so, dodging among the horses, and I was
+not once wounded.  It was all over in a hot minute or two, but, when
+the supports came up, and we were afterwards mustered, only five men
+of our company answered the roll-call.  Of course I was one of them,
+and the barrel of my musket was notched like a saw by all the strokes
+I had parried with it."  The last time Philip saw Summers he was
+hammering bluestone by the roadside.  The pomp and circumstance of
+glorious war had left him in hisold age little better than a beggar.
+
+Philip found Nyalong without much trouble, and renewed the
+acquaintance begun at Bendigo with Mr. Barton and the other diggers.
+To all appearance his promotion was not worth much; he might as well
+have stayed at the Waterholes.  Mr. McCarthy acted as school director
+--an honorary office--and he showed Philip the school.  He said:
+
+"It is not of much account, I must acknowledge; we were short of
+funds, and had to put it up cheap.  Most of the wall, you see, is
+only half a brick thick, and, during the sudden gusts that come
+across the lake, the north side bulges inward a good deal; so, when
+you hear the wind coming you had better send the children outside
+until the gale is over.  That is what Mr. Foy, the last teacher did.
+And, I must tell you also this school has gone to the dogs; there are
+some very bad boys here--the Boyles and the Blakes.  When they saw
+Mr. Foy was going to use his cane on them they would dart out of the
+school, the master after them.  Then there was a regular steeplechase
+across the paddocks, and every boy and girl came outside to watch it,
+screaming and yelling.  It was great fun, but it was not
+school-teaching.  I am afraid you will never manage the Boyles and
+the Blakes.  Mr. McLaggan, the minister, once found six of them
+sitting at the foot of a gum tree, drinking a bottle of rum.  He
+spoke to them, told them that they were young reprobates, and were
+going straight to hell.  Hugh Boyle held out the bottle, and said,
+'Here, Mr. McLaggan, wouldn't you like a nip yourself?'  The minister
+was on horseback, and always carried a whip with a heavy lash, and it
+was a beautiful sight the way he laid the lash on those Boyles and
+Blakes.  I really think you had better turn them out of the school,
+Mr. Philip, or else they will turn you out."
+
+Mr. Philip's lips closed with a snap.  He said, "It is my duty to
+educate them; turning them out of school is not education.  We will
+see what can be done."
+
+As everyone knows, the twelve virtues of a good master are Gravity,
+Silence, Humility, Prudence, Wisdom, Patience, Discretion, Meekness,
+Zeal, Vigilance, Piety, and Generosity.  I don't suppose any teacher
+was ever quite perfect in the practice of them, but a sincere
+endeavour is often useful.  On reflection, Philip thought it best to
+add two other virtues to the catalogue--viz., Firmness, and a Strap
+of Sole-Leather.
+
+There was a full attendance of scholars the first morning, and when
+all the names had been entered on the roll, Philip observed that the
+Boyles and the Blakes were all there; they were expecting some new
+kind of fun with the new master.  In order that the fun might be
+inside the school and not all over the paddocks, Philip placed his
+chair near the door, and locked it.  Then education began; the
+scholars were all repeating their lessons, talking to one another
+aloud and quarrelling.
+
+"Please, sir, Josh Blake's a-pinching me."  "Please, sir, Hugh Boyle
+is a-scroodgin."  "Please, sir, Nancy Toomey is making faces at me."
+
+It was a pandemonium of little devils, to be changed, if possible,
+into little angels.  The master rose from the chair, put up one hand,
+and said:  "Silence!"
+
+Every eye was on him, every tongue was silent, and every ear was
+listening, "Joseph Blake and Hugh Boyle, come this way."  They did so.
+
+"No one here is to shout or talk, or read in a loud voice.  If any of
+you want to speak to me you must hold up your hand, so.  When I nod
+you can come to me.  If you don't do everything I tell you, you will
+be slapped on the hand, or somewhere else, with this strap."
+
+He held it up to view.  It was eighteen inches long, three inches
+broad, heavy, and pliant.  The sight of it made Tommy Traddles and
+many other little boys and girls good all at once; but Joseph and
+Hugh went back to their seats grinning at one another.  Mr. Foy had
+often talked that way, but it always came to nothing.
+
+Hugh was the hero of the school, or rather the leading villain.  In
+about two minutes he called out, "Please, sir, Josh Blake is
+a-shoving me with his elbow."
+
+"Hugh Boyle, come this way."  He came.
+
+"Now, Hugh, I told you that there must be no speaking or reading
+aloud.  Of course you forgot what I said; you should have put up your
+hand."
+
+In the course of the day Hugh received two slaps, then three, then
+four.  He began to fear the strap as well as to feel it.  That was
+the beginning of wisdom.
+
+Nancy Toomey was naughty, and was sent into a corner.  She was sulky
+and rebellious when told to return to her seat.  She said, in the
+hearing of Tommy Traddles, "The master is a carroty-headed crawler."
+
+It is as well to remark that Philip's hair was red; a man with red
+hair is apt to be of a hasty temper, and, as a matter of fact, I had
+seen Philip's fist fly out very rapidly on several occasions before
+he began to practise the twelve virtues.
+
+Tommy put up his hand, and, at a nod, went up to the master.
+
+"Well, Tommy, what is the matter?"
+
+"Please, sir, Nancy Toomey has been calling you a carroty-headed crawler."
+
+Tommy's eyebrows were raised, his eyes and mouth wide open.  Philip
+looked over his head at Nancy, whose face was on fire.  He slowly
+repeated:
+
+"Nancy Toomey has been calling me a carroty-headed crawler, has she?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  That's what she called you.  I heard her."
+
+"Well, Tommy, go to your seat like a good boy.  Nancy won't call
+names any more."
+
+In a little more than a week perfect discipline and good order
+prevailed in the school.
+
+
+A BUSH HERMIT.
+
+It is not good for man to be alone, but Philip became a hermit.  Half
+a mile from the school and the main road there was an empty slab hut
+roofed with shingles.  It was on the top of a long sloping hill,
+which afforded a beautiful view over the lake and the distant hills.
+Half an acre of garden ground was fenced in with the hut, and it was
+part of the farm of a man from Hampshire, England, who lived with his
+wife near the main road.  A man from  Hampshire is an Englishman, and
+should speak English; but, when Philip tried to make a bargain about
+the hut, he could not understand the Hampshire language, and the
+farmer's wife had to interpret.  And that farmer lived to the age of
+eighty years, and never learned to speak English.  He was not a fool
+by any means; knew all about farming; worked twelve or fourteen hours
+a day all the year round, having never heard of the eight hours
+system; but he talked, and prayed, and swore all his life in the
+Hampshire dialect.  Whenever he spoke to the neighbours a look of
+pain and misery came over them.  Sometimes he went to meetings, and
+made a speech, but he was told to go and fetch a Chinaman to
+interpret.
+
+Philip entered into possession of the hut.  It had two rooms, and the
+furniture did not cost much.  At Adams' store he bought a camp oven,
+an earthenware stew-pot, a milk pan, a billy, two pannikins, two
+spoons, a whittle, and a fork.  The extra pannikin and spoon were for
+the use of visitors, for Philip's idea was that a hermit, if not
+holy, should be at least hospitable.  With an axe and saw he made his
+own furniture--viz., two hardwood stools, one of which would seat
+two men; for a table he sawed off the butt end of a messmate, rolled
+it inside the hut, and nailed on the top of it a piece of a pine
+packing case.  His bedstead was a frame of saplings, with strong
+canvas nailed over it, and his mattress was a sheet of stringy bark,
+which soon curled up at the sides and fitted him like a coffin.  His
+pillow was a linen bag filled with spare shirts and socks, and under
+it he placed his revolver, in case he might want it for unwelcome
+visitors.
+
+Patrick Duggan's wife did the laundry work, and refused to take
+payment in cash.  But she made a curious bargain about it.  A priest
+visited Nyalong only once a month; he lived fifty miles away; when
+Mrs. Duggan was in her last sickness he might be unable to administer
+to her the rites of the church.  So her bargain was, that in case the
+priest should be absent, the schoolmaster, as next best man, was to
+read prayers over her grave.  Philip thought there was something
+strange, perhaps simoniacal, about the bargain.  Twice Mrs. Duggan,
+thinking she was on the point of death, sent a messenger to remind
+him of his duty; and when at last she did die, he was present at the
+funeral, and read the prayers for the dead over her grave.
+
+Avarice is a vice so base that I never heard of any man who would
+confess that he had ever been guilty of it.  Philip was my best
+friend, and I was always loath to think unkindly of him, but at this
+time I really think he began to be rather penurious--not
+avaricious, certainly not.  But he was not a hermit of the holiest
+kind.  He began to save money and acquire stock.  He had not been
+long on the hill before he owned a horse, two dogs, a cat, a native
+bear, a magpie, and a parrot, and he paid nothing for any of them
+except the horse.  One day he met Mr. McCarthy talking to Bob Atkins,
+a station hand, who had a horse to sell--a filly, rising three.
+McCarthy was a good judge of horses, and after inspecting the filly,
+he said:  "She will just suit you, Mr. Philip, you ought to buy her."
+So the bargain was made; the price was ten pounds, Bob giving in the
+saddle, bridle, a pair of hobbles, and a tether rope.  He was proud
+of his deal.
+
+Two years afterwards, when Philip was riding through the bush, Bob
+rode up alongside, and after a while said:
+
+"Well, Mister, how do you like that filly I sold you?"
+
+"Very well indeed.  She is a capital roadster and stockhorse."
+
+"Does she ever throw you?"
+
+"Never.  What makes you ask?"
+
+"Well, that's queer.  The fact is I sold her to you because I could
+not ride her.  Every time I mounted, she slung me a buster."
+
+"I see, Bob, you meant well, didn't you?  But she never yet slung me
+a buster; she is quieter than a lamb, and she will come to me
+whenever I whistle, and follow me like a dog."
+
+Philip's first dog was named Sam.  He was half collie and half bull
+dog, and was therefore both brave and full of sagacity.  He guarded
+the hut and the other domestics during school hours, and when he saw
+Philip coming up the hill, he ran to meet him, smiling and wagging
+his tail, and reported all well.  The other dog was only a small pup,
+a Skye terrier, like a bunch of tow, a present from Tommy Traddles.
+Pup's early days were made very miserable by Maggie, the magpie.
+That wicked bird used to strut around Philip while he was digging in
+the garden, and after filling her crop with worms and grubs, she
+flapped away on one wing and went round the hut looking for
+amusement.  She jumped on Pup's back, scratched him with her claws,
+pecked at his skull, and pulled locks of wool out of it, the poor
+innocent all the while yelping and howling for mercy.  Sam never
+helped Pup, or drove Maggie away; he was actually afraid of her, and
+believed she was a dangerous witch.  Sometimes she pecked at his
+tail, and he dared not say a word, but sneaked away, looking sideways
+at her, hanging down his ears, and afraid to say his tail was his
+own.  Joey, the parrot, watched all that was going on from his cage,
+which was hung on a hook outside the hut door.  Philip tried to teach
+Joey to whistle a tune:  "There is na luck aboot the hoose, There is
+na luck at a'," but the parrot had so many things to attend to that
+he never had time to finish the tune.  He was, indeed, very vain and
+flighty, sidling along his perch and saying:  "Sweet pretty Joey, who
+are you, who are you?  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!"  wanting everybody to take
+notice and admire him.  When Maggie first attacked poor Pup,
+scratched his back, pecked at his head, and tore locks of wool out
+of him, and Pup screamed pitifully to all the world for
+help, Joey poked his head between the wires of his cage, turned one
+eye downwards, listened to the language, and watched the new
+performance with silent ecstacy.  He had never heard or seen anything
+like it in the whole course of his life.  Philip used to drive Maggie
+away, take up poor Pup and stroke him, while Maggie, the villain,
+hopped around, flapping her wings and giving the greatest impudence.
+
+It really gave Philip a great deal of trouble to keep order among his
+domestics.  One day, while hoeing in the garden, he heard the Pup
+screaming miserably.  He said, "There's that villain, Maggie, at him
+again," and he ran up to the hut to drive her away.  But when he reached
+it there was neither Pup nor Maggie to be seen, only Joey in his cage,
+and he was bobbing his head up and down, yelping exactly like the
+Pup, and then he began laughing at Philip ready to burst, "Ha!  Ha!
+Ha!  Who are you?  Who are you?  There is no luck aboot the hoose,
+There is na luck at a'."
+
+The native bear resided in a packing case, nailed on the top of a
+stump nearly opposite the hut door.  He had a strap round his waist,
+and was fastened to the stump by a piece of clothes line.  The boys
+called him a monkey-bear, but though his face was like that of a bear
+he was neither a monkey nor a bear.  He was in fact a sloth; his legs
+were not made for walking, but for climbing, and although he had
+strong claws and a very muscular forearm, he was always slow in his
+movements.  He was very silent and unsociable, never joined in the
+amusements of the other domestics, and when Philip brought him a
+bunch of tender young gum-tree shoots for his breakfast in the
+morning, he did not even say "thanks" or smile, or show the least
+gratitude.  He never spoke except at dead of night, when he was
+exchanging compliments with some other bear up a gum tree in the
+forty-acre paddock.  And such compliments!  Their voices were
+frightful, something between a roar and a groan, and although Philip
+was a great linguist he was never quite sure what they were saying.
+But the bear was always scheming to get away; he was like the Boers,
+and could not abide British rule.  Philip would not have kept him at
+all, but as he had taken him into the family circle when a cub he did
+not like to be cruel and turn him out along in a heartless world.
+Twice Bruin managed to untie the clothes line and started for the
+forty-acre.  He crawled along very slowly, and when he saw Philip
+coming after him, he stopped, looked behind him, and said, "Hoo,"
+showing his disgust.  Then Philip took hold of the end of the clothes
+line and brought him back, scolding all the time.
+
+"You miserable Bruin, you don't know what's good for you; you can't
+tell a light-wood from a gum-tree, and you'll die of starvation, or
+else the boys will find you, and they will kill you, thinking you are
+a wild bush bear, for you don't show any signs of good education,
+after all the trouble I have taken to teach you manners.  I am afraid
+you will come to a bad end."
+
+And so he did.  The third time Bruin loosed the clothes line he had a
+six hours' start before he was missed, and sure enough he hid himself
+in a lightwood for want of sense, and that very night the boys saw
+him by the light of the moon, and Hugh Boyle climbed up the tree and
+knocked him down with a waddy.
+
+Pussy, Philip's sixth domestic, had attained her majority; she had
+never gone after snakes in her youth, and had always avoided bad
+company.  She did her duty in the house as a good mouser, and when
+mice grew scarce she went hunting for game; she had a hole under the
+eaves near the chimney, through which she could enter the hut at any
+time of the night or day.  While Philip was musing after tea on the
+"Pons Asinorum" by the light of a tallow candle, Pussy was out
+poaching for quail, and as soon as she caught one she brought it
+home, dropped it on the  floor, rubbed her side against Philip's
+boot, and said, "I have brought a little game for breakfast."  Then
+Philip stroked her along the back, after which she lay down before
+the fire, tucked in her paws and fell asleep, with a good conscience.
+
+But many bush cats come to an unhappy and untimely end by giving way
+to the vice of curiosity.  When Dinah, the vain kitten, takes her
+first walk abroad in spring time, she observes something smooth and
+shiny gliding gently along.  She pricks up her ears, and gazes at the
+interesting stranger; then she goes a little nearer, softly lifting
+first one paw and then another.
+
+The stranger is more intelligent than Dinah.  He says to himself, "I
+know her sort well, the silly thing.  Saw her ages ago in the Garden.
+She wants mice and frogs and such things--takes the bread out of my
+mouth.  Native industry must be protected."  so the stranger brings
+his head round under the grass and waits for Dinah, who is watching
+his tail.  The tail moves a little and then a little more.  Dinah
+says, "It will be gone if I don't mind," and she jumps for it.  At
+that instant the snake strikes her on the nose with his fangs.
+Dinah's fur rises on end with sudden fright, she shakes her head, and
+the snake drops off.  She turns away, and says, "This is frightful;
+what a deceitful world!  Life is not worth living."  Her head feels
+queer, and being sleepy she lies down, and is soon a dead cat.
+
+That summer was very hot at Nyalong, one hundred and ten degrees in
+the shade.  Philip began to find his bed of stringy bark very hard,
+and as it grew older it curled together so much that he could
+scarcely turn in it from one side to the other.  So he made a
+mattress which he stuffed with straw, and he found it much softer
+than the stringy bark.  But after a while the mattress grew flat, and
+the stuffing lumpy.  Sometimes on hot days he took out his bed, and
+after shaking it, he laid it down on the grass; his blankets he hung
+on the fence for many reasons which he wanted to get rid of.
+
+The water in the forty-acre to the south was all dried up.  An old
+black snake with a streak of orange along his ribs grew thirsty.  His
+last meal was a mouse, and he said, "That was a dry mouthful, and
+wants something to wash it down."  He knew his way to the water-hole
+at the end of the garden, but he had to pass the hut, which when he
+travelled that way the summer before was unoccupied.  After creeping
+under the bottom rail of the fence, he raised his head a little, and
+looked round.  He said, "I see there's another tenant here"--Bruin
+was then alive and was sitting on the top of his stump eating gum
+leaves--"I never saw that fellow so low down in the world before; I
+wonder what he is doing here; been lagged, I suppose for something or
+other.  He is a stupid, anyway, and won't take any notice even if he
+sees me."
+
+Sam and Puss were both blinking their eyes in the shade of the
+lightwood, and whisking the flies from their ears.  Maggie was
+walking about with beak open, showing her parched tongue; the heat
+made her low-spirited.
+
+The snake had crept as far as Philip's mattress, which was lying on
+the grass, when Maggie saw him.  She instantly gave the alarm, "A
+snake, a snake!" for she knew he was a bad character.  Sam and Puss
+jumped up and began to bark; Joey said, "There is na luck aboot the
+hoose."  Bruin was too stupid to say anything.  The snake said, "Here
+is a terrible row all at once, I must make for a hole."  He had a
+keen eye for a hole, and he soon saw one.  It was a small one, in
+Philip's mattress, almost hidden by the seam, and had been made most
+likely by a splinter or a nail.  The snake put his head in it,
+saying, "Any port in a storm," then drew in his whole length, and
+settled himself comfortably among the straw.
+
+Beasts and birds have instincts, and a certain amount of will and
+understanding, but no memory worth mentioning.  For that reason the
+domestics never told Philip about the snake in his mattress, they had
+forgotten all about it.  If Sam had buried a bone, he would have
+remembered it a week afterwards, if he was hungry; but as for snakes,
+it was, "out of sight, out of mind."
+
+Philip took in his mattress and blanket before sundown and made his
+bed.  The snake was still in the straw; he had been badly scared, and
+thought it would be best to keep quiet until he saw a chance to creep
+out, and continue his journey down the garden.  But it was awfully
+dark inside the mattress, and although he went round and round
+amongst the straw he could not find any way out of it, so at last he
+said:  "I must wait till morning," and went to sleep.
+
+When Philip went to bed the snake was disturbed, and woke up.  There
+was so heavy a weight on him that he could scarcely move, and he was
+almost suffocated.  He said:  "This is dreadful; I have been in many
+a tight place in my time, but never in one so tight as this.
+Whatever am I to do? I shall be squeezed to death if I don't get away
+from this horrid monster on top of me."
+
+Philip fell asleep as usual, and by-and-by the snake began to flatten
+his ribs, and draw himself from under the load, until at last he was
+clear of it; then, heaving a deep sigh of relief he lay quiet for
+awhile to recover his breath.  He knew there was a hole somewhere if
+he could only find it and he kept poking his nose here and there
+against the mattress.
+
+After sleeping an  hour or two, Philip turned on his other side, and
+the snake had to move out of the way in a hurry for fear of being
+squeezed to death.  There was a noise as of something rustling in the
+straw, and after listening awhile, Philip said:  "I suppose it's a
+mouse," and soon fell fast asleep again, because he was not afraid of
+mice even when they ran across his nose.
+
+In the morning he took his blankets out again, and hung them on the
+fence, shook up his mattress and pillow, and then spread the sheets
+over them, tucking them in all round, and then he got ready his
+breakfast.
+
+The whole of that day was spent by the snake in trying to find a way
+out.  The sheets being tucked in  he was still in the dark, and he
+kept going round and round, feeling for the hole with his nose until
+he went completely out of his mind, just as a man does when he is
+lost in the bush.  So the day wore on, night and bedtime came again,
+and Philip lay down to rest once more right over the imprisoned
+snake.  Then that snake went raving mad, lost all control of himself,
+and rolled about recklessly.  Philip sat up in bed, and a cold sweat
+began to trickle down his face, and his hair stood on end.  He
+whispered to himself as if afraid the snake might hear him.  "The
+Lord preserve us, that's no mouse; it's a snake right under me.  What
+shall I do?"
+
+The first thing to do was to strike a light; the matches and candle
+were on a box at his bedside, and he slowly put out his hand to reach
+them, expecting every moment to feel the fangs in his wrist.  But he
+found the match-box, struck a light, carefully examined the floor as
+far as he could see it, jumped out of bed at one bound, and took
+refuge in the other room.  There he looked in every corner, and along
+every rafter for the other snake, for he knew that at this season
+snakes are often found in pairs, but he could not see the mate of the
+one he had left in bed.
+
+There was no sleep for Philip that night, and, by the light of the
+candle, he sat waiting for the coming day, and planning dire
+vengeance.  At sunrise he examined closely every hole, and crevice,
+and corner, and crack in both rooms, floor and floor, slabs,
+rafters, and shingles.  He said, at last:  "I think there is only
+one snake, and he is in the bed."
+
+Then he went outside, and cut a stick about five feet long, one end
+of which he pointed with his knife.  Returning to the bedroom, he
+lifted up with the point of his stick the sheets, blankets, and
+pillows, took them outside, and hung them on the fence.  Next he
+turned over the mattress slowly, but there was nothing to be seen
+under it.  He poked the mattress with the blunt end of his stick here
+and there, and he soon saw that something was moving inside.  "Ah!"
+he said, "there you are, my friend."  The thought of having slept two
+nights on a live snake made him shudder a little, but he was bent on
+vengeance.  He took hold of one end of the mattress with one hand,
+and holding the stick in the other, he carried it outside and laid it
+on the grass.  Looking carefully at every side of the mattress he
+discovered the hole through which the snake had entered.  It was so
+small that he could scarcely believe that a snake had gone through
+it, but no other hole was anywhere visible.  Philip said, "If the
+beast comes out it shall be through fire," so he picked up a few
+pieces of bark which he placed over the hole, and set on fire.  The
+straw inside was soon in a blaze, and the snake was lively.  His
+situation was desperate, and his movements could be traced by the
+rising and falling of the ticking.  Philip said, "My friend, you are
+looking for a hole, but when you find it it will be a hot one."  The
+snake at last made a dash for life through the fire, and actually
+came out into the open air.  But he was dazed and blinded, and his
+skin was wet and shining with oil, or perspiration, or something.
+
+Philip gave him a finishing stroke with his stick, and tossed him
+back into the fire.  Of course a new mattress was necessary, and a
+keen eye for snakes ever afterwards.
+
+The teaching in the school went on with regularity and success.
+There was, however, an occasional interruption.  Once a furious
+squall came over the lake, and shook the frail building so much that
+Philip threw open the door and sent out all the children, the little
+ones and girls first, and then the boys, remaining himself to the
+last like the captain of a sinking ship; but he was not so much of a
+fool to stay inside and brave destruction; he went out to a safe
+distance until the squall was over.
+
+Sometimes a visitor interfered with the work of the school, and
+Philip for that reason hated visitors; but it was his duty to be
+civil and patient.  Two inspectors called on two different occasions
+to examine the scholars.  One of them was scarcely sober, and he
+behaved in a manner so eccentric that the master had a strong
+temptation to kick him out.  However, he at last succeeded in seeing
+the inspector outside the door peaceably, and soon afterwards the
+department dispensed with that gentleman's services.
+
+He had obtained his office by favour of a minister at home for
+services rendered at an election.  His salary was 900 pounds per
+annum.  The next inspector received the same salary.  He was brother
+or brother-in-law to a bishop, and had many ancestors and relatives
+of high degree.  Philip foolishly showed him a few nuggets which he
+had picked up in Picaninny Gully, and the inspector showed Philip the
+letter by which he had obtained his appointment and 900 pounds a
+year.  It was only a couple of lines written and signed by a certain
+lord in London, but it was equivalent to an order for a billet on the
+government of Victoria.  Then the inspector said he would feel
+extremely obliged to Philip if he would give him one of his little
+nuggets that he might send it to my lord as a present, and Philip at
+once handed over his biggest nugget.  Little amenities of this kind
+make life so pleasant.  My lord would be pleased to receive the
+nugget, the inspector was pleased to send it, and Philip said "it
+cannot be bribery and corruption, but this inspector being a
+gentleman will be friendly.  When he mentions me and my school in his
+report he cannot possibly forget the nugget."
+
+Barney, the boozer, one day visited the school.  He opened the door
+and stood on the threshold.  His eyes seemed close together, and
+there was a long red scar on his bare neck, where he had on a former
+occasion cut his throat.  All the scholars were afraid of Barney, and
+the girls climbed up on the benches and began to scream.
+
+Philip went up to the Boozer and said:
+
+"Well, my friend, what do you want here?"
+
+"The devil knows," replied Barney.
+
+"Very likely, but he is not here, he has gone down the road."
+
+Then taking Barney by the arm he turned him round and guided him to
+the road.  Barney went about twenty yards until he came to a pool of
+water.  He stepped on to the fence and sat on the top rail gazing
+into the pool.  At last he threw his hat into it, then his boots,
+coat, shirt, and trousers.  When he was quite naked, he stamped on
+his clothes until they were thoroughly soaked and buried in mud.
+Barney then resumed his search for the devil, swinging his arms to
+and fro in a free and defiant manner.
+
+The school was also visited by a bishop, a priest, a squatter, and a
+judge.  The dress and demeanour of the judge were very impressive at
+so great a distance from any centre of civilization, for he wore a
+tall beaver hat, a suit of black broadcloth, and a white necktie.
+Philip received him with reverence, thinking he could not be anything
+less than a lord spiritual, such is the power of broadcloth and fine
+linen.  Nosey, the shepherd, was then living at Nyalong, having
+murdered the other shepherd, Baldy, about six months before, and this
+judge sent Nosey to the gallows seventeen years afterwards; but
+neither Nosey nor the judge knew what was to happen after seventeen
+years.  This is the story of Nosey and Baldy.
+
+
+THE TWO SHEPHERDS.
+
+By the men on the run they were known as Nosey and Baldy, but in a
+former stage of their existence, in the days of the Emperor Augustus
+Cæsar, they were known as Naso and Balbus.  They were then rivals in
+love and song, and accused each other of doing things that were mean.
+And now, after undergoing for their sins various transmigrations into
+the forms of inferior animals, during two thousand years, as soon as
+shepherds are required in Australia Felix, they appear once more
+following their flocks and herds.  But they are entirely forgetful of
+all Greek and Roman civilization; their morals have not improved, and
+their quarrels are more bitter than ever.  In the old times they
+tootled on the tuneful reed, and sang in purest Latin the sweetest
+ditties ever heard, in praise of Galatea and Amyntas, Delia and
+Iolla.  But they never tootle now, and never sing, and when they
+speak, their tongue is that of the unmusical barbarians.  In their
+pagan days they stained their rustic altars with the blood of a kid,
+a sacrifice to Jupiter, and poured out libations of generous wine;
+but they offer up neither prayer nor sacrifice now, and they pour
+libations of gin down their throats.
+
+The Italian rustic is yet musical, and the Roman citizen has not lost
+the genius of his race.  He is still unrivalled in sculpture and
+architecture, in painting, in poetry, and philosophy; and in every
+handicraft his fingers are as deft as ever.  But empire has slipped
+from his grasp, and empire once lost, like time, never returns.  Who
+can rebuild Ninevah or Babylon, put new life into the mummies of the
+Pharoahs, and recrown them; raise armies from the dust of the
+warriors of Sesostris, and send them forth once more to victory and
+slaughter?  Julian the Apostate tried to rebuild the Holy City and
+Temple of Israel, to make prophecy void--apparently a small
+enterprise for a Roman Emperor--but all his labours were vain.
+Modern Julians have been trying to resuscitate old Rome, and to found
+for her a new empire, and have only made Italy another Ireland, with
+a starving people and a bankrupt government.  'Nos patriæ fines, nos
+dulcia linquimus arva'.  The Italians are emigrating year after year
+to avoid starvation in the Garden of Europe.  In every city of the
+great empire on which the sun never sets they wander through the
+streets, clad in faded garments of olive green--the toga long since
+discarded and forgotten--making sweet music from the harp and
+violin, their melancholy eyes wandering after the passing crowd,
+hoping for the pitiful penny that is so seldom given.
+
+The two shepherds were employed on a station north of Lake Nyalong.
+It is a country full of dead volcanoes, whose craters have been
+turned into salt lakes, and their rolling floods of lava have been
+stiffened into barriers of black rocks; where the ashes belched forth
+in fiery blasts from the deep furnaces of a burning world have
+covered the hills and plains with perennial fertility.
+
+Baldy had been entrusted with a fattening flock, and Nosey had in his
+care a lambing flock.  From time to time the sheep were counted, and
+it was found that the fattening flock was decreasing in numbers.  The
+squatter wanted to know what had become of his missing sheep, but
+Baldy could give no account of them.  His suspicions, however, soon
+fell on Nosey.  The latter was his nearest neighbour, and although he
+had only the same wages--viz., thirty pounds a year and rations--
+he seemed to be unaccountably prosperous, and was the owner of a wife
+and two horses.  He had been transported for larceny when he was only
+fifteen years of age, and at twenty-eight he was suspected of being
+still a thief.  Girls of the same age were sent from Great Britain to
+Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land for stealing one bit of finery,
+worth a shilling, and became the consorts of criminals of the deepest
+dye.  You may read their names in the Indents to this day, together
+with their height, age, complexion, birthplace, and other important
+particulars.
+
+Baldy went over to Nosey's hut one evening when the blue smoke was
+curling over the chimney, and the long shadows of the Wombat Hills
+were creeping over the Stoney Rises.  Julia was boiling the billy for
+tea, and her husband was chopping firewood outside.
+
+"Good evening, Julia," said Baldy; "fine evening."
+
+"Same to you, Baldy.  Any news to-day?" asked Julia.
+
+"Well, there is," said Baldy, "and it's bad news for me; there's ten
+more of my fatteners missing"  (Nosey stopped chopping and listened)
+"and the master says I'll have to hump my swag if I can't find out
+what has become of them.  I say, Nosey, you don't happen to have seen
+any dingoes or blacks about here lately?"
+
+"I ain't seen e'er a one, neither dingo nor blackfellow.  But, you
+know, if they were after mischief they'd take care not to make a
+show.  There might be stacks of them about and we never to see one of
+them."
+
+Nosey was proud of his cunning.
+
+"Well," said Baldy, "I can hear of nobody having seen any strangers
+about the Rises, nor dingoes, nor black fellows.  And the dingoes,
+anyhow, would have left some of the carcases behind; but the thieves,
+whoever they are, have not left me as much as a lock of the wool of
+my sheep.  I have been talking about 'em with old Sharp; he is the
+longest here of any shepherd in the country, and knows all the
+blacks, and he says it's his opinion the man who took the sheep is
+not far away from the flock now.  What do you think about it, Nosey?"
+
+"What the----should I know about your sheep?" said Nosey.  "Do you
+mean to insinivate that I took 'em?  I'll tell you what it is, Baldy;
+it'll be just as well for you to keep your blasted tongue quiet about
+your sheep, for if I hear any more about 'em, I'll see you for it; do
+you hear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I hear.  All right, Nosey, we'll see about it," said Baldy.
+
+There would have been a fight perhaps, but Baldy was a smaller man
+than the other and was growing old, while Nosey was in the prime of
+life.
+
+Baldy went to Nyalong next day.  His rations did not include gin, and
+he wanted some badly, the more so because he was in trouble about his
+lost sheep.  Gin, known then as "Old Tom," was his favourite remedy
+for all ailments, both of mind and body.  If he could not find out
+what had become of his sheep, his master might dismiss him without a
+character.  There was not much good character running to waste on the
+stations, but still no squatter would like to entrust a flock to a
+shepherd who was suspected of having stolen and sold his last
+master's sheep.
+
+Baldy walked to Nyalong along the banks of the lake.  The country was
+then all open, unfenced, except the paddocks at the home stations.
+The boundary between two of the runs was merely marked by a ploughed
+furrow, not very straight, which started near the lake, and went
+eastward along the plains.  In the Rises no plough could make a line
+through the rocks, and the boundaries there were imaginary.  Stray
+cattle were roaming over the country, eating the grass, and the main
+resource of the squatters was the Pounds Act.  Hay was then sold at
+80 pounds per ton at Bendigo; a draft of fat bullocks was worth a
+mine of gold at Ballarat, and, therefore, grass was everywhere
+precious.  No wonder if the hardy bullock-driver became a cattle
+lifter after his team had been impounded by the station stockman when
+found only four hundred yards from the bush track.  Money, in the
+shape of fat stock, was running loose, as it were, on every run, and
+why should not the sagacious Nosey do a little business when Baldy's
+fat sheep were tempting him, and a market for mutton could be found
+no farther away than the Nyalong butcher's shop.
+
+Baldy left the township happier than usual, carrying under his arm
+two bottles of Old Tom.  He was seen by a man who knew him entering
+the Rises, and going away in the direction of Nosey's hut, and then
+for fifteen years he was a lost shepherd.  In course of time it was
+ascertained that he had called at Nosey's hut on his way home.  He
+had the lost sheep on his mind, and he could not resist the impulse
+to have another word or two with Nosey about them.  He put down the
+two bottles of gin outside the door of the hut, near an axe whose
+handle leaned against the wall.  Nosey and his wife, Julia, were
+inside, and he bade them good evening.  Then he took a piece of
+tobacco out of his pocket, and began cutting it with his knife.  He
+always carried his knife tied to his belt by a string which went
+through a hole bored in the handle.  It was a generally useful knife,
+and with it he foot-rotted sheep, stirred the tea in his billy, and
+cut beef and damper, sticks, and tobacco.
+
+"I have been to Nyalong," he said, "and I heern something about my
+sheep; they went to the township all right, strayed away, you know,
+followed one another's tails, and never came back, the O. K. bullocks
+go just the same way.  Curious, isn't it?"
+
+Nosey listened with keen interest.  "Well, Baldy," he said, "and what
+did you hear?  Did you find out who took 'em?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Baldy; "I know pretty well all about 'em now, both
+sheep and bullocks.  Old Sharp was right about the sheep, anyway.
+The thief is not far from the flock, and it's not me."  Baldy was
+brewing mischief for himself, but he did not know how much.
+
+"Did you tell the police about 'em?" asked Nosey.
+
+"Oh, no, not to-day!" answered Baldy.  "Time enough yet. I ain't in
+no hurry to be an informer."
+
+Nosey eyed him with unusual savagery, and said:
+
+"Now didn't I tell you to say no more about your blasted sheep, or
+I'd see you for it?  and here you are again, and you can't leave 'em
+alone.  You are no better than a fool."
+
+"Maybe I am a fool, Nosey.  Just wait till I get a light, and I'll
+leave your hut and trouble you no more."
+
+He was standing in the middle of the floor cutting his tobacco, and
+rubbing it between the palms of his hands, shaking his head, and
+eyeing the floor with a look of great sagacity.
+
+Nosey went outside, and began walking to and fro, thinking and
+whispering to himself.  It was a habit he had acquired while slowly
+sauntering after his sheep.  He seemed to have another self, an
+invisible companion with whom he discussed whatever was uppermost in
+his mind.  If he had then consulted his other self, Julia, he might
+have saved himself a world of trouble; but he did not think of her.
+He said to himself:  "Now, Nosey, if you don't mind, you are going to
+be in a hole.  That old fool inside has found out something or other
+about the sheep, and the peelers will have you, if you don't look
+out, and they'll give you another seven years and maybe ten.  You've
+done your time once, Nosey, and how would you like to do it again?
+Why couldn't you leave the cursed sheep alone and keep out of
+mischief just when you were settling down in life comfortable, and
+might have a chance to do better.  Baldy will be telling the peelers
+to-morrow all he knows about the sheep you stole, and then they'll
+fetch you, sure.  There's only one thing to stop the old fool's jaw,
+and you are not game to do it, Nosey; you never done a man yet, and
+you are not game to do it now, and you'll be damned if you do it, and
+the devil will have you, and you'll be hanged first maybe.  And if
+you don't do him you'll be lagged again for the sheep, and in my
+opinion, Nosey, you are not game.  Yes, by the powers, you are,
+Nosey, damned if you ain't.  Who's afeered?  And you'll do it quick
+--do it quick.  Now or never's your time."
+
+While talking thus to himself, Nosey was pacing to and fro, and he
+glanced at the axe every time he passed the door.  The weapon was
+ready to his hand, and seemed to be inviting him to use it.
+
+"Baldy is going to light his pipe, and while he is stooping to get a
+firestick, I'll do him with the axe."
+
+When Baldy turned towards the fire, Nosey grasped the axe and held it
+behind him.  He waited a moment, and then entered the hut; but Baldy
+either heard his step, or had some suspicion of danger, for he looked
+around before takingup a firestick.  At that instant the blow,
+intended for the back of the head, struck him on the jaw, and he fell
+forward among the embers.  For one brief moment of horror he must
+have realised that he was being murdered, and then another blow
+behind the head left him senseless.
+
+Nosey dragged the body out of the fireplace into the middle of the
+floor, intending, while he was doing a man, to do him well.  He
+raised the axe to finish his work with a third blow, but Julia gave a
+scream so piercing that his attention was diverted to her.
+
+"Oh, Nosey," she said, "what are you doing to poor Baldy?  You are
+murdering him."
+
+Nosey turned to his wife with upraised axe.
+
+"Hold your jaw, woman, and keep quiet, or I'll do as much for you."
+
+She said no more.  She was tall and stout, had small, sharp, roving
+eyes; and Nosey was a thick-set man, with a thin, prominent nose,
+sunken eyes, and overhanging brows.  He never had a prepossessing
+appearance, and now his look and attitude were so ugly and fierce
+that the big woman was completely cowed.  The pair stood still for
+some time, watching the last convulsive movements of the murdered
+Baldy.
+
+Nosey could now pride himself on having been "game to do his man,"
+but he could not feel much glory in his work just yet.  He had done
+it without sufficient forethought, and his mind was soon full of
+trouble.
+
+Murder was worse than sheep stealing, and the consequences of his new
+venture in crime began to crowd on his mind with frightful rapidity.
+He had not even thought of any plan for hiding away the corpse.  He
+had no grave ready, and could not dig one anywhere in the
+neighbourhood.  The whole of the country round his hut was rocky--
+little hills of bare bluestone boulders, and grassy hollows covered
+with only a few inches of soil--rocks everywhere, above ground and
+below.  He could burn the body, but it would take a long time to do
+it well; somebody might come while he was at the work, and even the
+ashes might betray his secret.  There were shallow lakes and swamps,
+but he could not put the corpse into any of them with safety:  search
+would be made wherever there was water, on the supposition that Baldy
+had been drowned after drinking too freely of the gin he had brought
+from Nyalong, and if the body was found, the appearance of the skull
+would show that death had been caused, not by drowning, but by the
+blows of that cursed axe.  Nosey began to lay all the blame on the
+axe, and said, "If it had not stood up so handy near the door, I
+wouldn't have killed the man."
+
+It was the axe that tempted him.  Excuses of that sort are of a very
+ancient date.
+
+Luckily Nosey owned two horses, one of which was old and quiet.  He
+told Julia to fasten the door, and to open it on no account whatever,
+while he went for the horse, which was feeding in the Rises hobbled,
+and with a bell tied round his neck.  When he returned he saddled the
+animal, and Julia held the bridle while he went into the hut for the
+body.  He observed Baldy's pipe on the floor near the fire-place, and
+he replaced it in the pocket in which it had been usually kept, as it
+might not be safe to leave anything in the hut belonging to the
+murdered man.  There was a little blood on the floor, but he would
+scrape that off by daylight, and he would then also look at the axe
+and put away the two bottles of gin somewhere; he could do all that
+next morning before Baldy was missed.  But the corpse must be taken
+away at once, for he felt that every minute of delay might endanger
+his neck.  He dragged the body outside, and with Julia's help lifted
+it up and placed it across the saddle.  Then he tried to steady his
+load with his right hand, and to guide the horse by the bridle with
+his left, but he soon found that a dead man was a bad rider; Baldy
+kept slipping towards the near side or the off side with every stride
+of the horse, and soon fell to the ground.
+
+Nosey was in a furious hurry, he was anxious to get away; he cursed
+Baldy for giving him so much trouble; he could have killed him over
+again for being so awkward and stubborn, and he begun to feel that
+the old shepherd was more dangerous dead than alive.  At last he
+mounted his horse, and called to Julia to come and help him.
+
+"Here, Julia, lift him up till I catch hold of his collar, and I'll
+pull him up in front of me on the saddle, and hold him that way."
+
+Julia, with many stifled moans, raised the body from the ground,
+Nosey reached down and grasped the shirt collar, and thus the two
+managed to place the swag across the saddle.  Then Nosey made a
+second start, carefully balancing the body, and keeping it from
+falling with his right hand, while he held the bridle with his left.
+
+The funeral procession slowly wound its way in a westerly direction
+among the black rocks over the softest and smoothest ground to avoid
+making any noise.  There was no telling what stockman or
+cattle-stealer the devil might send at any moment to meet the
+murderer among the lonely Rises, and even in the darkness his
+horrible burden would betray him.  Nosey was disturbed by the very
+echo of his horse's steps; it seemed as if somebody was following him
+at a little distance; perhaps Julia, full of woman's curiosity; and
+he kept peering round and looking back into the darkness.  In this
+way he travelled about a mile and a half, and then dismounting,
+lowered the body to the ground, and began to look for some suitable
+hiding place.  He chose one among a confused heap of rocks, and by
+lifting some of them aside he made a shallow grave, to which he
+dragged the body, and covered it by piling boulders over and around
+it.  He struck several matches to enable him to examine his work
+carefully, and closed up every crevice through which his buried
+treasure might be visible.
+
+The next morning Nosey was astir early.  He had an important part to
+act, and he was anxious to do it well.  He first examined the axe and
+cleaned it well, carefully burning a few of Baldy's grey hairs which
+he found on it.  Then he searched the floor for drops of blood, which
+he carefully scraped with a knife, and washed until no red spot was
+visible.  Then he walked to Baldy's and pretended to himself that he
+was surprised to find it empty.  What had happened the previous night
+was only a dream, an ugly dream.  He met an acquaintance and told him
+that Baldy was neither in his hut nor with his sheep.
+
+The two men called at old Sharp's hut to make enquiries.  The latter
+said, "I seen Baldy's sheep yesterday going about in mobs, and nobody
+to look after them."  Then the three men went to the deserted hut.
+Everything in it seemed undisturbed.  The dog was watching at the
+door, and they told him to seek Baldy.  He pricked up his ears,
+wagged his tail, and looked wistfully in the direction of Nosey's
+hut, evidently expecting his master to come in sight that way.
+
+The men went to the nearest magistrate and informed him that the
+shepherd was missing.  A messenger went to the head station.
+Enquiries were made at the township, and it was found that Baldy had
+been to Nyalong the previous day, and had left in the evening
+carrying two bottles of gin.  This circumstance seemed to account for
+his absence; he had taken too much of the liquor, was lying asleep
+somewhere, and would reappear in the course of the day.  Men both on
+foot and on horseback roamed through the Rises, examining the hollows
+and the flats, the margins of the shallow lakes, and peering into
+every wombat hole as they passed.  They never thought of turning over
+any of the boulders; a drunken man would never make his bed and
+blanket of rocks; he would be found lying on the top if he had
+stumbled amongst them.  One by one as night approached the searchers
+returned to the hut.  They had discovered nothing, and the only
+conclusion they could come to was, that Baldy was taking a very long
+sleep somewhere--which was true enough.
+
+Next day every man from the neighbouring stations, and some from
+Nyalong, joined in the search.  The chief constable was there, and as
+became a professed detector of crime, he examined everything minutely
+inside and outside the two huts, but he could not find anything
+suspicious about either of them.  He entered into conversation with
+Julia, but the eye of her husband was on her, and she had little to
+say.  Nosey, on the contrary, was full of suggestions as to what
+might have happened to Baldy, and he helped to look for him eagerly
+and actively in every direction but the right one.
+
+For many days the Rises were peopled with prospectors, but one by one
+they dropped away.  The chief constable was loath to leave the riddle
+unsolved; he had the instinct of the sleuth-hound on the scent of
+blood.  He had been a pursuer of bad works amongst the convicts for a
+long time, both in Van Diemen's Land and in Victoria, and had helped
+to bring many men to the gallows or the chain-gang.  He had once been
+shot in the back by a horse thief who lay concealed behind the door
+of a shepherd's hut, but he secured the horse thief.  He was a man
+without nerves, of medium height, strongly built, had a broad face,
+massive ears, wide, firm mouth, and strong jaws.
+
+One night after the searchers had departed to their various homes,
+the chief remained alone in the Rises, and leaving his horse hobbled
+at a distance, cautiously approached Nosey's hut.  He placed his ear
+to the outside of the weatherboards, and listened for some time to
+the conversation of Nosey and his wife, expecting to obtain by chance
+some information about the disappearance of the other shepherd.
+Nosey was in a bad temper, swearing and finding fault with
+everything.  Julia was prudent and said little; it was best not to
+say too much to a man who was so handy with the family axe.  But at
+last she made use of one expression which seemed to mean something.
+She said, "Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be
+hanged."  There was a prophetic ring in these words which delighted
+the chief constable, and he glued his great ear to the weatherboards,
+eagerly listening for more; but the wrangling pair were very
+disappointing; they would not keep to the point.  At last he walked
+round the hut, suddenly opened the door, and entered.  Nosey was
+struck dumb at once.  His first thought was that his plan had been
+sprung, and that the murder was out.  The chief addressed Julia in a
+tone of authority, imitating the counsel for the crown when examining
+a prevaricating witness.
+
+"Now, missus, remember you will be put on your oath.  You said just
+now, 'Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be
+hanged.'  Those were your very words.  Now what did you mean?  On
+your oath, mind; out with it at once."
+
+But Julia was not to be caught so easily.  She replied:
+
+"Oh, bad luck to him, he is always angry.  I don't know what to do
+with him.  I did not mean anything."
+
+"You did not mean anything about Baldy, I suppose, did you, now?"
+queried the constable, shamefully leading the witness, and looking
+hard at Nosey.
+
+Julia parried the question by heaving a deep sigh, and saying:  "Hi,
+ho, Harry, if I were a maid, I never would marry;" and then she began
+singing a silly old song.
+
+The constable was disgusted, and said:
+
+"My good woman, you'll find there will be nothing to laugh at in this
+job, when I see you again."
+
+As he left the hut, he turned at the door and gave one more look at
+Nosey, who had stood all the time rivetted to the ground, expecting
+every moment that the constable would produce the handcuffs.  Soon
+afterwards Julia went outside, walked round the hut, and stayed
+awhile, listening and looking in every direction.  When she returned,
+Nosey said, in a hoarse whisper:
+
+"Is he gan yet?"
+
+"I think," replied Julia, "he won't be coming again to-night.  He has
+thrown away his trouble this time, anyhow; but ye must hould your
+tongue, Nosey, if ye want to save your neck; he means to have you if
+he can."
+
+Nosey stayed on the run some weeks longer, following his sheep.  It
+would not be advisable to go away suddenly, and, moreover, he
+recollected that what the eye could not see might some time be
+discovered by another of the senses.  So he waited patiently,
+standing guard as it were over the dead, until his curiosity induced
+him to pay a farewell visit by daylight to the place where Baldy was
+buried.
+
+There had been hot weather since the body had been deposited in the
+shallow grave, and the crevices among the piles of bluestones had
+been filled by the wind with the yellow stalks of decayed grass.
+Nosey walked round his own particular pile, and inspected it closely.
+He was pleased to find that it showed no signs of having been touched
+since he raised it.  It was just like any of the other heaps of rocks
+around it.  He had, at any rate, given Baldy as good a funeral as
+circumstances would permit, better than that of many a man who had
+perished of hunger, heat, and thirst, in the shelterless wastes of
+the Never-Never Land, "beyond Moneygrub's farthest run."  Nosey and
+the weather had done their work so well that for the next fifteen
+years no shepherd, stockman, or squatter ever gave a second look at
+that unknown grave.  The black snake coiled itself beneath the
+decaying skeleton, and spent the winter in secure repose.  The native
+cat tore away bits of Baldy's clothing, and with them and the yellow
+grass made, year after year, a nest for its young among the whitening
+bones.
+
+Everything, so far, had turned out quite as satisfactorily as any
+murderer could expect.  Nosey had been game to do his man, and he had
+done him well.  Julia was prudent enough to hold her tongue for her
+own sake; it was unlikely that any further search would be made for
+the lost shepherd; he had been safely put out of sight, and not even
+Julia knew where he was buried.
+
+Nosey began to have a better opinion of himself than ever.  Neither
+the police nor the law could touch him.  He would never be called to
+account for putting away his brother shepherd, in this world at any
+rate; and as for the next, why it was a long way off, and there was
+time enough to think about it.  The day of reckoning was distant, but
+it came at last, as it always does to every sinner of us all.
+
+Nosey resigned his billet, and went to Nyalong.  He lived in a hut in
+the eastern part of the township, not far from the lake, and near the
+corner of the road coming down from the Bald Hill.  Here had been
+laid the foundation of a great inland city by a bush publican, two
+storekeepers, a wheelwright, and a blacksmith.  Another city had been
+started at the western side of Wandong Creek, but its existence was
+ignored by the eastern pioneers.
+
+The shepherd soon began to forget or despise the advice of his wife,
+Julia; his tongue grew loose again, and at the bar of the inn of the
+crossroads his voice was often heard loud and abusive.  He felt that
+he had become a person of importance, as the possessor of a secret
+which nobody could discover.  What he said and what he did was
+discussed about the township, and the chief constable listened to
+every report, expecting that some valuable information would
+accidentally leak out.
+
+One day a man wearing a blue jumper and an old hat came down the
+road, stepped on to the verandah of the inn, and threw down his swag.
+Nosey was there, holding forth to Bill the Butcher, Dick Smalley,
+Frank Barton, Bob Atkins, Charley Goodall, and George Brown the Liar.
+A dispute occurred, in which the presumptuous stranger joined, and
+Nosey promptly knocked him off the verandah into the gutter.  A valid
+claim to satisfaction was thus established, and the swagman showed a
+disposition to enforce it.  He did not attempt to regain his position
+on the boards, but took his stand on the broad stone of honour in the
+middle of the road.  He threw up his hat into the air, and began
+walking rapidly to and fro, clenched his fists, stiffened his sinews,
+and at every turn in his walk said:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+This man's action promised real sport, and true Britons as we all
+were we were delighted to see him.  Nosey stood on the verandah for a
+minute or two, watching the motions of the swagman; he did not seem
+to recollect all at once what the code of honour required, until Bill
+the Butcher remarked, "He wants you, Nosey," then Nosey went.
+
+The two men met in the middle of the road, and put up their hands.
+They appeared well-matched in size and weight.  The swagman said:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+Nosey began the battle by striking out with his right and left, but
+his blows did not seem to reach home, or to have much effect.
+
+The swagman dodged and parried, and soon put in a swinging blow on
+the left temple.  Nosey fell to the ground, and the stranger resumed
+his walk as before, uttering his war cry:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+There were no seconds, but the rules of chivalry were strictly
+observed; the stranger was a true gentleman, and did not use his
+boots.
+
+In the second round Nosey showed more caution, but the result was the
+same, and it was brought about by another hard blow on the temple.
+The third round finished the fight.  Nosey lay on the ground so long
+that Bill, the Butcher, went over to look at him, and then he threw
+up the sponge--metaphorically--as there was no sponge, nor any
+need of one.
+
+The defeated Nosey staggered towards his hut, and his temper was
+afterwards so bad that Julia declined to stay with him any longer;
+she loosed the marriage bonds without recourse to law, and
+disappeared.  Her husband went away westward, but he did not stay
+long. He returned to Nyalong and lived awhile alone in his hut there,
+but he was restless and dissatisfied.  Everybody looked at him so
+curiously.  Even the women and children stood still as he passed by
+them, and began whispering to one another, and he guessed well enough
+why they were looking at him and what they were saying--"That's
+Nosey the murderer; he killed Baldy and hid him away somewhere; his
+wife said he ought to be hanged, and she has run away and left him."
+
+When the hungry hawk comes circling over the grove of crookedy gum in
+which two magpies are feeding their callow young, the bush is soon
+filled with cries of alarm.  The plump quail hides himself in the
+depths of a thick tussock; the bronze-winged pigeon dives into the
+shelter of the nearest scrub, while all the noisiest scolds of the
+air gather round the intruder.  Every magpie, minah, and wattle-bird
+within a mile joins in the clamour.  They dart at the hawk as he
+flies from tree to tree.  When he alights on a limb they give him no
+peace; they flap their wings in his face, and call him the worst of
+names.  Even the Derwent Jackass, the hypocrite with the shining
+black coat and piercing whistle, joins in the public outcry, and his
+character is worse than that of the hawk himself, for he has been
+caught in the act of kidnapping and devouring the unfledged young of
+his nearest neighbour.  The distracted hawk has at length to retreat
+dinnerless to the swampy margin of the river where the tallest
+tea-trees wave their feathery tops in the wind.
+
+In like manner the human hawk was driven from the township.  He
+descended in the scale of crime, stole a horse, and departed by night.
+
+Bill, the butcher, said next day:  "Nosey has gone for good this
+time.  He will ride that horse to death and then steal another."
+
+At this time I rode through the Rises and called at the two huts; I
+found them occupied by two shepherds not unlike the former tenants,
+who knew little and cared less what had become of their predecessors.
+Time empties thrones and huts impartially, and the king feels no
+pride in his monument of marble, nor the shepherd any shame beneath
+the shapeless cairn which hides his bones.
+
+At this time the old races both of men and animals were dying out
+around Lake Nyalong, and others were taking their places.  The last
+black child ever seen in the township was brought by its mother to
+the hut of a white woman.  It was naked and very dirty, and she laid
+it down on the clay floor.  The white woman's heart was moved with
+pity at the sight of the miserable little bairn.  She took it up,
+washed it with warm water and soap, wrapped it in flannel, and gave
+it back to the mother.  But the lubra was loath to receive it.  She
+said, "Black picaninny all die.  No good; white picaninny live."
+
+The kangaroo, wombat, and dingo were fast dying out, as well a the
+blackfellow.  We could all see well enough how the change was brought
+about.  Millions of years ago, new species may have been evolved out
+of the old species, but nothing of the kind happens now.  The white
+men of Australia were not evolved out of the black men.  There are no
+family ties, and never will be, between the kangaroo, the wombat and
+wallaby, and their successors, the cattle, the sheep, and the goats.
+We can kill species, but we can't create any.
+
+The rabbit, destined to bring Nosey to the gallows, was a favoured
+animal on Austin's station at the Barwon.  It was a privilege to
+shoot him--in small quantities--he was so precious.  But he soon
+became, as the grammar says, a noun of multitude.  He swarmed on the
+plains, hopped over the hills, burrowed among the rocks in the Rises,
+and nursed his multitudinous progeny in every hollow log of the
+forest.  Neither mountain, lake, or river ever barred his passage.
+He ate up all the grass and starved the pedigree cattle, the
+well-born dukes and duchesses, and on tens of thousands of fertile
+acres left no food to keep the nibbling sheep alive.  Every hole and
+crevice of the rocks was full of him.  An uninvited guest, he dropped
+down the funnel-shaped entrance to the den of the wombat, and made
+himself at home with the wild cat and snake.  He clothed the hills
+with a creeping robe of fur, and turned the Garden of the West into a
+wilderness.  Science may find a theory to account for the beginning
+of all things, but among all her triumphs she has been unable to put
+an end to the rabbit.  War has been made upon them by fire, dynamite,
+phosphorus, and all deadly poisons; by dogs, cats, weasels, foxes,
+and ferrets, but he still marches over the land triumphantly.
+
+For fifteen years Nosey roamed from station to station under various
+names, between Queensland and the Murray, but wherever he went, the
+memory of his crime never left him.  He had been taught in his
+boyhood that murder was one of the four sins crying to heaven for
+vengeance, and he knew that sooner or later the cry would be heard.
+Sometimes he longed to unburden his mind to a priest, but he seldom
+saw or heard of one.  The men with whom he worked and wandered were
+all like himself--lost souls who had taken the wrong turn in the
+beginning of their days, the failures of all trades and professions;
+thieves, drunkards, and gamblers; criminals who had fled from
+justice; men of pleasure and, therefore, of misery; youths of good
+family exported from England, Ireland, and Scotland to mend their
+morals, to study wool, and become rich squatters.  All these men get
+colonial experience, but it does not make them saintly or rich.  Here
+and there, all over the endless plains, they at last lie down and
+die, the dingoes hold inquests over them, and, literally, they go to
+the dogs, because they took the wrong turn in life and would not come
+back.
+
+In 1868 Nosey and his two mates were approaching a station on the
+Lachlan.  Since sunrise they had travelled ten miles without
+breakfast, and were both hungry and weary.  They put down their swags
+in the shade of a small grove of timber within sight of the station
+buildings.  Bob Castles said:
+
+"I was shearing in them sheds in '52 when old Shenty owned the run.
+He was a rum old miser, he was, would skin two devils for one hide;
+believe he has gone to hell; hope so, at any rate.  He couldn't read
+nor write much, but he could make money better'n any man I ever heard
+of.  Bought two runs on the Murray, and paid 180,000 pounds for 'em
+in one cheque.  He kept a lame schoolmaster to write his cheques and
+teach his children, gave him 40 pounds a year, the same as a
+shepherd.  Lived mostly on mutton all the year round; never killed no
+beef for the station, but now and then an old bullock past work,
+salted him down in the round swamp for a change o' grub.  Never grew
+no cabbage or wegetables, only a paddock of potatoes.  Didn't want no
+visitors, 'cos he was afraid they'd want to select some of his run.
+Wanted everything to look as poor and miserable as possible.  He put
+on a clean shirt once a week, on Sabbath to keep it holy, and by way
+of being religious.  Kept no fine furniture in the house, only a big
+hardwood table, some stools, and candle boxes.  After supper old
+Mother Shenty scraped the potato skins off the table into her apron
+--she always boiled the potatoes in their jackets--and then Shenty
+lay down on it and smoked his pipe till bedtime, thinking of the best
+way to keep down expenses.  A parson came along one day lifting a
+subscription for a church, or school, or something.  He didn't get
+anything out of old Shenty, only a pannikin of tea and some damper
+and mutton.  The old cove said:  'Church nor school never gave me
+nothing, nor do me no good, and I could buy up a heap o' parsons and
+schoolmasters if I wanted to, and they were worth buying.  Us
+squatters is the harrystockrisy out here.  The lords at home sends
+out their good-for-nothing sons to us, to get rich and be out of the
+way, and much good they does.  Why don't you parsons make money by
+your eddication if it's any good, instead of goin' round beggin'?
+You are all after the filthy lucre, wantin' to live on other folks.'
+I was holdin' the parson's horse, and when he got into the saddle, he
+turns to old Shenty, and says:  'From rottenness you sprung, and to
+rottenness you'll go.  Your money will drag you down to hell; you'll
+want to throw it away, but it will burn into your soul for all
+eternity.'
+
+"I am mortal hungry," continued Bob, "and they don't give no rations
+until about sundown, and we'll have to wait six hours.  It's hard
+lines.  I see there's an orchard there now, and most likely a
+wegtable garden--and cabbages.  I'd like some boiled beef and
+cabbage.  It wouldn't be no harm to try and get somethin' to eat,
+anyhow.  What do you say, Ned?  You was a swell cove once, and knows
+how to talk to the quality.  Go and try 'em."
+
+Ned went and talked to the "quality" so well that he brought back
+rations for three.
+
+Towards the end of the year Nosey arrived at Piney Station, about
+forty miles from the Murray, and obtained employment.  Baldy's bones
+had been lying under the rocks for nearly fifteen years.  It was
+absurd to suppose they could ever be discovered now, or if they were,
+that any evidence could be got out of them.  Nosey felt sure that all
+danger for himself was passed, but still the murder was frequently in
+his mind.  The squatter was often lonely, and his new man was
+garrulous, and one day Nosey, while at work, began to relate many
+particulars of life in the old country, in Van Diemen's Land, and in
+the other colonies, and he could not refrain from mentioning the
+greatest of his exploits.
+
+"I once done a man in Victoria," he said, "when I was shepherding; he
+found me out taking his fat sheep, and was going to inform on me, so
+I done him with an axe, and put him away so as nobody could ever find
+him."
+
+The squatter thought that Nosey's story was mostly blowing,
+especially that part of it referring to the murder.  No man who had
+really done such a deed, would be so foolish as to confess it to a
+stranger.
+
+Another man was engaged to work at the station.  As soon as he saw
+Nosey he exclaimed, "Hello, Nosey, is that you?"
+
+"My name is not Nosey."
+
+"All right; a name is nothing.  We are old chums, anyway."
+
+That night the two men had a long talk about old times.  They had
+both served their time in the island, and were, moreover, "townies,"
+natives of the same town at home.  Nosey began the conversation by
+saying to his old friend, "I've been a bad boy since I saw you last
+--I done a man in Victoria"; and then he gave the full particulars
+of his crime, as already related.  But the old chum could not believe
+the narrative, any more than did the squatter.
+
+"Well, Nosey," he said, "you can tell that tale to the marines."
+
+In the meantime the runs around Lake Nyalong had been surveyed by the
+government and sold.  In the Rises the land was being subdivided and
+fenced with stone walls, and there was a chance that Baldy's grave
+might be discovered if one of the surveyed lines ran near it, for the
+stonewallers picked up the rocks as near as possible to the wall they
+were building, and usually to about the distance of one chain on each
+side of it.
+
+A man who had a contract for the erection of one of these walls took
+with him his stepson to assist in the work.  In the month of August,
+1869, they were on their way to their work accompanied by a dog which
+chased a rabbit into a pile of rocks.  The  boy began to remove the
+rocks in order to find the rabbit, and in doing so uncovered part of
+a human skeleton.  He beckoned to his stepfather, who was rather
+deaf, to come and look at what he had found.  The man came, took up
+the skull, and examined it.
+
+"I'll be bound this skull once belonged to Baldy," he said.  "There
+is a hole here behind; and, yes, one jaw has been broken.  That's
+Nosey's work for sure' I wonder where he is now."
+
+No work was done at the wall that day, but information was given to
+the police.
+
+Mounted constable Kerry came over to the Rises.  The skeleton was
+found to be nearly entire; one jaw-bone was broken, and there was a
+hole in the back of the skull.  The feet were still encased in a pair
+of boots laced high above the ankles.  There were portions of a
+blue-striped shirt, and of a black silk necktie with reddish stripes.
+There was also the brim of an oiled sou'wester' hat, a pipe, and a
+knife.  The chin was very prominent, and the first molar teeth on the
+lower jaw were missing.  The remains were carefully taken up and
+conveyed to Nyalong; they were identified as those of Baldy; an
+inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was returned against
+Nosey and his wife.
+
+After the inquest mounted constable Kerry packed up the skeleton in a
+parcel with every small article found with it, placed it in a sack,
+put it under his bed, slept over it every night, and patiently waited
+for some tidings of the murderer.  In those days news travelled
+slowly, and the constable guarded his ghastly treasure for eighteen
+months.
+
+Nemesis was all the time on her way to Piney station, but her steps
+were slow, and she did not arrive until the seventeenth anniversary
+of the disapppearance of Baldy.
+
+On that day she came under the guise of constable, who produced a
+warrant, and said:
+
+"Cornelius Naso, alias Nosey, alias Pye, I arrest you under this
+warrant, charging you with having murdered a shepherd, named Thomas
+Balbus, alias Baldy, at Nyalong, in the colony of Victoria, on the
+28th day of February, 1854.  You need not say anything unless you
+like, but if you do say anything I shall take it down in writing, and
+it will be used as evidence against you at your trial."
+
+Nosey had nothing to say, except, "I deny the charge"; he had said
+too much already.
+
+He was handcuffed and taken to the police station at Albury.  In one
+of his pockets a letter was found purporting to be written by Julia,
+and disclosing her place of residence.
+
+Soon afterwards Nosey and his wife met in captivity after their long
+separation, but their meeting was not a happy one; they had no word
+of welcome for each other.
+
+The preliminary examination was held in the court house at Nyalong,
+and there was a large gathering of spectators when the proceedings
+commenced.  On a form below the witness box there was something
+covered with a white sheet.  Men craned their necks and looked at it
+over one another's shoulders.  The two prisoners eyed it intently.
+It was guarded by constable Kerry, who allowed no one to approach it,
+but with an authoritative wave of the hand kept back all impertinent
+intruders.  That day was the proudest in all his professional career.
+He had prepared his evidence and his exhibits with the utmost care.
+At the proper moment he carefully removed the white sheet, and the
+skeleton was exposed to view, with everything replaced in the
+position in which it had been found under the rocks in the Rises.
+Nosey's face grew livid as he eyed the evidence of his handiwork;
+Julia threw up both hands, and exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! there's poor Baldy that you murdered!"
+
+Nosey felt that this uncalled-for statement would damage his chance
+of escape, so, turning to the bench, he said:
+
+"Don't mind what the woman says, your lordship; she is not in her
+right senses, and always was weak-minded."
+
+The constable being sworn, related how, on information received, he
+had gone to the Stoney Rises, and had uncovered a skeleton which was
+lying on a broad flat stone.  The bones of the legs from the knees
+downward were covered with stones.  The boots were attached to the
+feet, and were pointing in such a direction as to show that the body
+must have rested on the right side.  Large stones, but such as one
+man could lift, had been placed over the feet and the legs.  The
+other bones were together, but had been disturbed.  With them he
+found the brim of an oiled sou'-westr' hat, a clay tobacco pipe, a
+rusty clasp-knife with a hole bored through the handle, fragments of
+a blue shirt; also pieces of a striped silk neckerchief, marked D. S.
+over 3; the marks had been sewn in with a needle.  There was a hole
+in the back of the skull, and the left jaw was broken.
+
+Just at this time a funeral procession, with a few attendants, passed
+the court-house on its way to the cemetery.  Julia's father was going
+to his grave.  He had come over the sea lately to spend the rest of
+his days in peace and comfort in the home of his daughter, and he
+found her in gaol under the charge of murder.  There was nothing more
+to live for, so he went out and died.
+
+The two prisoners were committed, but they remained in gaol for more
+than seven months longer, on account of the difficulty of securing
+the attendance of witnesses from New South Wales.
+
+But when the evidence was given it was overwhelming.  Every man who
+had known Baldy seemed to have been kept alive on purpose to give
+evidence against the murderer.  Every scrap of clothing which the
+wild cats had left was identified, together with the knife, the pipe,
+the hat brim, and the boots; and the prisoner's own confession was
+repeated.  Julia also took the side of the prosecution.  When asked
+if she had any questions to put, she said, "My husband killed the
+man, and forced me to help him to put the body on his horse."
+
+The jury retired to consider their verdict, and spent two hours over
+it.  In the meantime the two prisoners sat in the dock as far apart
+as possible.  They had never spoken to each other during the trial,
+and Nosey now said in a low voice:
+
+"You had no call, Julia, to turn on me the way you did.  What good
+could it do you?  Sure you might at least have said nothing against
+me."
+
+The pent-up bitterness of seventeen years burst forth.  The constable
+standing near tried to stop the torrent, but he might as well have
+tried to turn back a south-east gale with a feather.
+
+"I was to say nothing, indeed, was I?  And what call had I to say
+nothing?  Is that what you ask?  Was I to stand here all day and say
+never a word for myself until they were ready to hang me?  Tell me
+now, did I murder poor Baldy or did you?  Was it not you who struck
+him down with the axe without saying as much as 'by your leave,'
+either to me or to him?  Did you say a word to me until you finished
+your bloody work?  And then you threatened to cut me down, too, with
+the axe, if I didn't hold my tongue, and help you to lift the man on
+to your horse. It is this day you should have remembered before you
+began that night's work.  Sorrow's the day I ever met you at all,
+with the miserable life you led me; and you know I was always the
+good wife to you until you gave yourself entirely to the devil with
+your wicked ways.  Wasn't I always on the watch for you every evening
+looking for you, and the chop on the fire, and the hot tea, and
+everything comfortable?  And is it to hang me now you want to pay me
+back for the trouble I took for you and all the misery I suffered
+these long years?  And the death of my poor father, who found me in
+gaol, is at your door too, for he would have been alive and well this
+day but for the deed you done, which broke his poor old heart; the
+Lord have mercy on him.  And who is to blame but your own self for
+being in this place at all?  You not only done the man to death, but
+you must go about the bush bragging of it to strangers, and twisting
+the halter for your own neck like a born idiot; and that's what you
+are, in spite of your roguery and cunning."
+
+And so on for two hours of hell until the jury came back.  They
+acquitted Julia and found her husband guilty.  She left the court
+without once looking back, and he faced the jury alone.
+
+Judge Pohlman had never before sent a man to the gallows.  He made
+the usual little moral speech, and bewailed his own misfortune in
+having to perform so disagreeable a duty.  Then he put on the black
+cap and passed sentence.  At the concluding words, "May the Lord have
+mercy on your soul," the condemned man responded with a fervent
+"Amen," adding, "And that's the last of poor Nosey."  He seemed
+greatly relieved when the ceremony was over, but it was not quite the
+last, there was another to follow.
+
+For ten days he remained in his cell, and no one visited him except
+the priest.  His examination of conscience was not difficult, for he
+had often rehearsed it, and much of it had been done for him in
+public.
+
+He made his last journey between two priests, joining fervently in
+their prayers for the dying.  His step was firm, and he showed
+neither fear nor bravado.  The hangman quickly drew down the cap, but
+he seemed more flurried than his victim.  The sheriff, without
+speaking, motioned him to place the knot in the correct position
+under the ear.  Then the bolt was drawn and the story of "The Two
+Shepherds" was finished.
+
+
+The man whom Philip met at Bendigo had farms in the country thinly
+timbered.  North, south, east, and west the land was held under
+squatting licenses; with the exception of the home paddocks it was
+unfenced, and the stock was looked after by boundary riders and
+shepherds.  To the south, between Nyalong and the sea--a distance
+of fifty or sixty miles--the country was not occupied by either the
+white or the black men.  It consisted of ranges of hills heavily
+timbered, furrowed by deep valleys, through which flowed innumerable
+streams, winding their way to the river of the plains.  Sometimes the
+solitary bushman or prospector, looking across a deep valley, saw,
+nestled amongst the opposite hills, a beautiful meadow of grass.  But
+when he had crossed the intervening creek and scrubby valley, and
+continued his journey to the up-land, he found that the deceitful
+meadow was only a barren plain, covered, not with grass, but with the
+useless grass-tree.  There is a little saccharine matter in the roots
+of the grass-tree, and a hopeful man from Corio once built a
+sugar-mill near the stream, and took possession of the plain as a
+sugar plantation.  There was much labour, but very little sugar.
+
+In the dense forest, cattle had run wild, and were sometimes seen
+feeding in the thinly-timbered grass land outside; but whenever a
+horseman approached they dashed headlong into the scrub where no
+horseman could follow them.  Wild boars and their progeny also rooted
+among the tall tussocks in the marshes by the banks of the river,
+where it emerged from the ranges into the plains.
+
+Blackfish and eels were plentiful in the river, but they were of a
+perverse disposition, and would not bite in the day-time.  The bend
+nearest to Nyalong was twelve miles distant, and Philip once spent a
+night there with Gleeson and McCarthy.  A fire was kindled and some
+fish were caught, but Philip took none home.  Gleeson and McCarthy
+reserved their catches for their wives and families, and Philip's
+fish were all cooked on the fire at sunrise, and eaten for breakfast.
+Fishing was sport, certainly, but it was not profitable, nor
+exciting, except to the temper.  Sometimes an eel took the bait, and
+then twisted himself round the limb of a tree at the bottom of the
+river.  He then pulled all he was able until either the line or the
+hook was broken, or his jaw was torn into strips.
+
+After midnight Philip was drowsy, and leaned his back against a tree
+to woo sweet sleep.  But there were mosquitos in millions, bandicoots
+hopping close to the fire, and monkey-bears, night hawks, owls,
+'possums and dingoes, holding a corroboree hideous enough to break
+the sleep of the dead.
+
+After breakfast the horses were saddled for home.  Philip carried his
+revolver in his belt, and Gleeson had a shot-gun.  A kangaroo was
+seen feeding about a hundred yards distant, and Gleeson dismounted
+and shot at it, but it hopped away unharmed.  A few minutes
+afterwards, as the men were riding along at an easy walk, three other
+horsemen suddenly came past them at a gallop, wheeled about, and
+faced the fishermen.  One was Burridge, a station manager, the other
+two were his stockmen.  The six men looked at one another for a few
+moments without speaking.  Both Gleeson and McCarthy had the
+Tipperary temper, and it did not remain idle long.
+
+"Well," asked Gleeson, "is anything the matter?"
+
+"I dinna ken yet," said Burridge.  "Did na ye hear a gunshot just now?"
+
+"Yes, I fired at a kangaroo."
+
+"A kangaroo, eh?  Are you sure it was a kangaroo?"
+
+"Yes, it was a kangaroo.  What of that?  Oh, I see, you think we are
+after shooting your cattle.  Is that it?  Speak out like a man."
+
+"Sometimes a beast is shot about here, and I'd like to find out who
+does it."
+
+"Oh, indeed!  you'd like to know who does it, would you?  I can tell
+you, anyway, who is the biggest cattle duffer round here, if you'd
+like to know!"  Gleeson touched one flank of his horse with his heel,
+and rode close up to Burridge with the gun in his right hand.  "His
+name is Burridge, and that's yourself.  Everybody knows you, you old
+Scotch hound.  You have as many cattle on the run with your brand on
+them as your master has.  There is not a bigger cattle thief than old
+Burridge within a hundred miles, and you'll be taken off the run in
+irons yet.  Get out of my way, or I'll be tempted to send you to
+blazes before your time."
+
+Burridge did not go off the run in irons; he left it honourably for
+another run which he took up, and stocked with cattle bearing no
+brand but his own.  Evil tongues might tattle, but no man could prove
+that Burridge ever broke the law.
+
+One fishing excursion to the bend was enough for Philip, but a pig
+hunt was organised, and he joined it.  The party consisted of
+Gleeson, McCarthy, Bill the Butcher, Bob Atkins, and George Brown the
+Liar, who brought a rope-net and a cart in which all the game caught
+was to be carried home.  Five dogs accompanied the party, viz., Lion
+and Tiger, crossbred bull and mastiffs, experienced pig fighters, Sam
+as a reserve, and three mongrels as light skirmishers.
+
+The first animal met with was a huge old boar, the hero of a hundred
+fights, the great-grandfather of pigs.  He stood at bay among the
+tussocks, the dogs barking furiously around him.  Bill the Butcher
+said, "Keep back, you men, or he'll rip the guts out of your horses.
+I know him well.  He has only one tusk, but it's a boomer.  Look out
+sharp till the dogs tackle him, he might make a rush at some of us."
+
+The boar was a frightful-looking beast, long, tall, and slab-sided,
+in perfect condition for fight, all bone, muscle, and bristles, with
+not an ounce of lard in his lean body.  He stood still and stiff as a
+rock watching the dogs, his one white tusk, long and keen sticking
+out above his upper lip.  The loss of the other tusk left him at a
+disadvantage, as he could only strike effectively on one side.  Lion
+and Tiger had fought him before, and he had earned their respect.
+They were wary and cautious, and with good reason. Their best hold
+was by the ears, and these had been chewed away in former wars, till
+nothing was left of them but the ragged roots.  Bill the Butcher
+dismounted, dropped his bridle, and cheered on the dogs at a prudent
+distance, "Good dogs; seek him Lion; hold him Tiger."
+
+The dogs went nearer and nearer, jumping away whenever the boar made
+an attack.  At last they seized him by the roots of his ears, one on
+each side, and held on.  Bob Atkins and Bill approached the
+combatants, carrying some strong cord, of New Zealand flax.  A
+running noose was secured round the hind legs of the boar; he was
+then thrown on his side, and his forelegs were tied together.
+
+Lion and Tiger stood near panting, with blood dripping from their
+open jaws.  Philip could not imagine why Bill did not butcher the
+beast at once; it seemed impossible that a leathery old savage like
+that could ever be transformed into tender pork.  For the present he
+was left prone on the field of battle, and the pig hunt proceeded.
+There was soon much squealing of pigs, and barking of dogs among the
+tussocks.  Gleenson's dog pinned a young boar, and after its legs
+were tied Philip agreed to stand by and guard it, while Gleeson
+fetched the cart.  But the boar soon slipped the cord from his legs,
+and at once attacked his nearest enemy, rushing at Philip and trying
+to rip open his boots.  Philip's first impulse was to take out his
+revolver, and shoot; but he was always conscientious, and it occurred
+to him that he would be committing a breach of trust, as he had
+undertaken to guard the game alive until Gleeson came back with the
+cart.  So he tried to fight the pig with his boots, kicking him on
+the jaws right and left.  But the pig proved a stubborn fighter, and
+kept coming up to the scratch again and again, until Philip felt he
+had got into a serious difficulty.  He began to think as well as to
+kick quickly.
+
+"If I could only throw the animal to the ground I could hold him down."
+
+The dogs had shown him that the proper mode of seizing a hog was by
+the ears, so at the next round he seized both ears and held them.
+There was a pause in the fight, and Philip took advantage of it to
+address his enemy after the manner of the Greeks and Trojans.
+
+"I have got you at last, my friend, and the curse of Cromwell on you,
+I'd like to murder you without mercy; and if Gleeson don't come soon
+he'll find here nothing but dead pig.  I must try to throw you
+somehow."  After examining the pig narrowly he continued, "It will be
+done by the hind legs."
+
+He let go one ear and seized a hind leg instead, taking the enemy, as
+it were, both in front and rear.  For some time there was much
+kicking and squealing, until one scientific kick and a sudden twist
+of the hind quarters brought the quarry to earth.
+
+Philip knelt on the ribs of his foe, still holding one ear and one
+hind leg.  Then he proceeded with his speech, gasping for breath:
+
+"And this is what happens to a poor man in Australia!  Here have I
+been fighting a wild beast of a pig for half an hour, just to keep
+him alive, and all to oblige a cockatoo farmer, and small thanks to
+me for that same.  May all the curses--the Lord preserve us and
+give us patience; I am forgetting the twelve virtues entirely."
+
+Gleeson came at last with the cart and George Brown the Liar; the
+pig's legs were again tied together, he was lifted into the cart and
+covered with the rope net.  Four other pigs were caught, and then the
+hunters and dogs returned to the place in which the old boar had been
+left.  But he had broken or slipped his bonds, and had gone away.  He
+was tracked to the river, which was narrow but deep, so he had saved
+his bacon for another day.
+
+At the division of the game Philip declined to take any share.  He said:
+
+"Thanks, I have had pig enough for the present."
+
+So there were exactly five pigs for the other five men.
+
+Having been satiated with the pleasures of fishing and pig-hunting,
+Philip was next invited to try the pursuit of the kangaroo.  The
+first meet of men and hounds took place at Gleeson's farm.  McCarthy
+brought his dogs, and Philip brought Sam, his revolver, and a club.
+Barton was too proud to join in the sport; he despised inferior game.
+It might amuse new chums, but it was below the notice of the old
+trooper, whose business had been for many years to hunt and shoot
+bushrangers and black-fellows, not to mention his regular duty as
+flagellator.
+
+Gleeson that morning was cutting up his pumpkin plants with an axe.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Gleeson," said Philip.  "Is anything the matter?
+Is it a snake you are killing?"
+
+Gleeson began to laugh, a little ashamed of himself, and said, "Look
+at these cursed pumpkins.  I think they are bewitched.  Every morning
+I come to see if the fruit is growing, but this is what they do.  As
+soon as they get as big as a small potato, they begin to wither and
+turn yellow, and not a bit more will they grow.  So I'm cutting the
+blessed things to pieces."
+
+Philip saw that about half the runners had been already destroyed.
+He said, "Don't chop any more, Gleeson, and I'll show you how to make
+pumpkins grow."
+
+He picked up a feather in the fowl-yard, and went inside the garden.
+
+"Now look at these flowers closely; they are not all alike.  This
+flower will never turn into a pumpkin, but this one will if it gets a
+little of the dust from the first flower.  The bees or other insects
+usually take the dust from one flower to the other, but I suppose
+there are no bees about here just now?"
+
+Philip then dusted every flower that was open and said:  "Now, my
+friend, put away the axe, and you will have fruit here yet."  And the
+pumpkins grew and ripened.
+
+The two men then went towards the house, and Philip observed the
+fragments of a clock scattered about the ground in front of the
+verandah.
+
+"What happened to the clock?" said Philip.
+
+"Why," replied Gleeson, "the thing wasn't going right at all, so I
+took it to pieces just to examine it, and to oil the wheels, and when
+I tried to put it together again, the fingers were all awry, and the
+pins wouldn't fit in their places, and the pendulum swung crooked,
+and the whole thing bothered me so that I just laid it on the floor
+of the verandah, and gave it one big kick that sent it to
+smithereens.  But don't mind me or the clock at all, master; just
+come inside, and we'll have a bit o' dinner before we start."
+
+Gleeson was the kindest man in the world; all he wanted was a little
+patience.
+
+The kangaroo gave better sport than either the fish or the pig, and
+Philip enjoyed it.  His mare proved swift, but sometimes shied at the
+start, when the kangaroos were in full view.  She seemed to think
+that there was a kangaroo behind every tree, so she jumped aside from
+the trunks.  That was to kill Philip at last, but he had not the
+least idea what was to happen, and was as happy as hermits usually
+are, and they have their troubles and accidents just like other
+people.
+
+The kangaroos when disturbed made for the thick timber, and the
+half-grown ones, called "Flying Joeys," always escaped; they were so
+swift, and they could jump to such a distance that I won't mention
+it, as some ignorant people might call me a liar.  Those killed were
+mostly does with young, or old men.  Any horse of good speed could
+round up a heavy old man, and then he made for the nearest gum tree,
+and stood at bay with his back to it.  It was dangerous for man or
+dog to attack him in front, for with his long hind claws he could cut
+like a knife.
+
+Philip's family began to desert him.  Bruin, as already stated,
+sneaked away and was killed by Hugh Boyle.  Joey opened his
+cage-door, and flew up a gum tree.  When Philip came home from the
+school, and saw the empty cage, he called aloud, "Joey, Joey, sweet
+pretty Joey," and whistled.  The bird descended as far as the
+lightwood, but would not be coaxed to come any nearer.  He actually
+mocked his master, and said, "Ha, ha, ha! who are you?  Who are you?
+There is na luck aboot the hoose," which soon proved true, for the
+next bird Pussy brought into the house was Joey himself.
+
+Pup led a miserable life, and died early.  The coroner suspected that
+he had been murdered by Maggie, but there was no absolute proof.
+
+Maggie had really no conscience.  She began to gad about the bush.
+In her girlish days she wore short frocks, as it were, having had her
+wings clipped, but the next spring she went into society, was a
+debutante, wore a dress of black and white satin which shone in the
+sun, and she grew so vain and flighty, and strutted about so, that it
+was really ridiculous to watch her.  She began also to stay out late
+in the evening, which was very improper, and before going to bed
+Philip would go under the lightwood with a lighted candle, and look
+for her amongst the leaves,  saying, "Maggie, are you there?"  She
+was generally fast asleep, and all she could do was to blink her
+eyes, and say, "Peet, peet," and fall asleep again.  But one night
+she never answered at all.  She was absent all next day, and many a
+day after that.  October came, when all the scrub, the lightwood, and
+wattle were in full bloom, and the air everywhere was full of
+sweetness.  Philip was digging his first boiling of new potatoes,
+when all at once Maggie swooped down into the garden, and began
+strutting about, and picking up the worms and grubs from the soil
+newly turned up.
+
+"Oh, you impudent hussy!" he said.  "Where have you been all this
+time?"  He stooped, and tried to stroke her head as usual with his
+forefinger, but Maggie stuck her bill in the ground, turned a
+complete somersault, and caught the finger with both claws, which
+were very sharp.  She held on for a short time, then dropped nimbly
+to her feet, and said, "There, now, that will teach you to behave
+yourself."
+
+"Why, Maggie," said Philip, "what on earth is the matter with you?"
+
+"Oh, there's nothing the matter with me, I assure you.  I suppose you
+didn't hear the news, you are such an old stick-in-the-mud.  It was
+in the papers, though--no cards--and all the best society ladies
+knew it of course."
+
+"Why, Maggie, you don't mean to say you have got a mate?"
+
+"Of course I have, you horrid man, you are so vulgar.  We were
+married ages ago.  I didn't invite you of course, because I knew you
+would make yourself disagreeable--forbid the banns, or something,
+and scare away all the ladies and gentlemen, for you are a most awful
+fright, with your red hair and freckles, so I thought it best to say
+nothing about the engagement until the ceremony was over.  It was
+performed by the Rev. Sinister Cornix, and it was a very select
+affair, I assure you, and the dresses were so lovely.  There were six
+bridesmaids--the Misses Mudlark.  The Mudlarks, you know, have a
+good pedigree, they are come of the younger branch of our family.  We
+were united in the bonds under a cherry tree.  Oh! it was a lovely
+time, it was indeed, I assure you."
+
+"And where are you living now, Maggie?"
+
+"Oh, I am not going to tell you; you are too inquisitive.  But our
+mansion is on the top of a gum tree.  It is among the leaves at the
+end of a slender branch.  If Hugh Boyle tries to kidnap my babies,
+the branch will snap, and he will fall and break his neck, the
+wretch.  Oh, I assure you we thought of everything beforehand; for I
+know you keep a lot of boys bad enough to steal anything."
+
+"And what sort of a mate--husband, I mean--have you got?"
+
+"Oh, he is a perfect gentleman, and so attentive to me.  Latterly he
+has been a little crusty, I must admit; but you must not say a word
+against him.  If you do, I'll peck your eyes out.  A family, you
+know, is so troublesome, and it takes all your time to feed them.
+There are two of them, the duckiest little fluffy darlings you ever
+saw.  They were very hungry this morning, so when I saw you digging I
+knew you wouldn't begrudge them a breakfast, and I just flew down
+here for it.  But bless my soul, the little darlings will be
+screaming their hearts out with hunger while I am talking to you, and
+himself will be swearing like a Derviner.  So, by-by."
+
+Philip found Maggie's mansion easily enough; for, in spite of all her
+chatter, she had no depth of mind.  The tallest gum-tree was on
+Barlow's farm which adjoined the forty-acre on the east.  Barlow had
+been a stockman for several years on Calvert's run, and had saved
+money.  He invested his money in the Bank of Love, and the bank
+broke.  It happened in this way.
+
+A new shepherd from the other side was living with his wife and
+daughter near the Rises, and one day when Barlow was riding over the
+run, he heard some strange sounds, and stopped his horse to listen.
+There was nobody in sight in any direction, and Barlow said,
+"There's something the matter at the new shepherd's hut," and he rode
+swiftly towards it. As he approached the hut, he heard the screams of
+women and the voice of a blackfellow, who was hammering on the door
+with his waddy.  He was a tame blackfellow who had been educated at
+the Missionary Station.  He could write English, say prayers, sing
+hymns, read the Bible, and was therefore named Parson Bedford by the
+Derviners, after the Tasmanian Missionary.  He could box and wrestle
+so well that few white men could throw him.  He could also drink rum;
+so whenever he got any white money he knew how to spend it.  He was
+the best thief and the worst bully of all the blacks about Nyalong,
+because he had been so well educated.  I knew him well, and attended
+his funeral, walking in the procession with the doctor and twenty
+blackfellows. He had a white man's funeral, but there was no live
+parson present, so king Coco Quine made an oration, waving his hands
+over the coffin, "All same as whitefellow parson," then we all threw
+clods on the lid.
+
+So much noise was made by the women screaming and the Parson
+hammering, that the stockman was able to launch one crack of his
+stock-whip on the Parson's back before his arrival was observed.  The
+Parson sprang up into the air like a shot deer, and then took to his
+heels.  He did not run towards the open plains, but made a straight
+line for the nearest part of the Rises.  As he ran, Frank followed at
+an easy canter, and over and over again he landed his lash with a
+crack like a pistol on the behind of the black, who sprang among the
+rough rocks which the horse could not cross, and where the lash could
+not reach him.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 3.]
+
+Then there was a parley.  The Parson was smarting and furious.  He
+had learned the colonial art of blowing along with the language.  He
+threw down his waddy and said:
+
+"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse, drop your whip, and I'll
+fight you fair, same as whitefellow.  I am as good a man as you any
+day."
+
+"Do you take me for a blooming fool, Parson?  No fear.  If ever I see
+you at that hut again, or anywhere on the run, I'll cut the shirt off
+your back.  I shall tell Mr. Calvert what you have been after, and
+you'll soon find yourself in chokey with a rope round your neck."
+
+The Parson left Nyalong, and when he returned he was dying of rum and
+rheumatism.
+
+Frank rode back to the hut.  The mother and daughter had stood at the
+door watching him flog the Parson.  He was in their eyes a hero; he
+had scourged their savage enemy, and had driven him to the rocks.
+They were weeping beauties--at least the daughter was a beauty in
+Frank's eyes--but now they wiped away their tears, smoothed their
+hair, and thanked their gallant knight over and over again.  Two at a
+time they repeated their story, how they saw the blackfellow coming,
+how they bolted the door, and how he battered it with his club,
+threatening to kill them if they did not open it.
+
+Frank had never before been so much praised and flattered, at least
+not since his mother weaned him; but he pretended not to care.  He
+said:
+
+"Tut, tut, it's not worth mentioning.  Say no more about it.  I would
+of course have done as much for anybody."
+
+Of course he could not leave the ladies again to the mercy of the
+Parson, so he waited until the shepherd returned with his flock.
+
+Then Frank rode away with a new sensation, a something as near akin
+to love as a rough stockman could be expected to feel.
+
+Neddy, the shepherd, asked Mr. Calvert for the loan of arms, and he
+taught his wife and daughter the use of old Tower muskets.  He said,
+"If ever that Parson comes to the hut again, put a couple of bullets
+through him."
+
+After that Frank called at the hut nearly every day, enquiring if the
+Parson had been seen anywhere abroad.
+
+"No," said Cecily, "we haven't seen him any more;" and she smiled so
+sweetly, and lowered her eyes, and spoke low, with a bewitching
+Tasmanian accent.
+
+Frank was in the mud, and sinking daily deeper and deeper.  At last
+he resolved to turn farmer and leave the run, so he rented the land
+adjoining Philip's garden and the forty-acre.  There was on it a
+four-roomed, weather-board house and outbuildings, quite a bush
+palace.  Farming was then profitable.  Frank ploughed a large paddock
+and sowed it with wheat and oats.  Then while the grain was ripening
+he resolved to ask Cecily a very important question.  One Sunday he
+rode to the hut with a spare horse and side saddle.  Both horses were
+well groomed, the side saddle was new, the bits, buckles, and
+stirrup-irons were like burnished silver.  Cecily could ride well
+even without a saddle, but had never owned one.  She yielded to
+temptation, but with becoming coyness and modesty.  Frank put one
+hand on his knee, holding the bridle with the other; then Cicely
+raised one of her little feet, was lifted lightly on to the saddle,
+and the happy pair cantered gaily over the plain to their future home.
+
+Frank showed his bride-elect the land and the crops, the cows and the
+horses, the garden and the house.  Cecily looked at everything, but
+said next to nothing.  "She is shy," Frank thought, "and I must treat
+her gently."  But the opportunity must not be thrown away, and on
+their way over the plains Frank told his tale of love.  I don't know
+precisely what he said or how he said it, not having been present,
+but he did not hook his fish that day, and he took home with him the
+bait, the horse, and the empty side-saddle.  But he persevered with
+his suit, and before the wheat was ripe, Cecily consented to be his
+bride.
+
+He was so overjoyed with his success that instead of waiting for the
+happy day when he had to say "With this ring I thee wed, with all my
+worldly goods I thee endow," he gave Cecily the worldly goods
+beforehand--the horse, with the beautiful new side saddle and
+bridle--and nearly all his cash, reserving only sufficient to
+purchase the magic ring and a few other necessaries.
+
+The evening before the happy day the pair were seen walking together
+before sundown on a vacant lot in the township, discussing, it was
+supposed, the arrangements for the morrow.
+
+It was the time of the harvest, and Philip had been engaged to
+measure the work of the reapers on a number of farms.  I am aware
+that he asked and received 1 pound for each paddock, irrespective of
+area.  On the bridal morn he walked over Frank's farm with his chain
+and began the measurement, the reapers, most of them broken down
+diggers, following him and watching him.  Old Jimmy Gillon took one
+end of the chain; he said he had been a chainman when the railway
+mania first broke out in Scotland, so he knew all about land
+surveying.  Frank was absent, but he returned while Philip was
+calculating the wages payable to each reaper, and he said:  "Here's
+the money, master; pay the men what's coming to 'em and send 'em
+away."
+
+Frank looked very sulky, and Philip was puzzled.  He knew the
+blissful ceremony was to take place that day, but there was no sign
+of it, nor of any bliss whatever; no wedding garments, no parson, no
+bride.
+
+The bare matter of fact was, the bride had eloped during the night.
+
+"For young Lochinvar had come out of the West,
+And an underbred, fine-spoken fellow was he."
+
+He was a bullock-driver of superior manners and attractive
+personality, and was the only man in Australia who waxed and curled
+his moustaches.  Cecily had for some time been listening to
+Lochinvar, who was known to have been endeavouring to "cut out"
+Frank.  She was staying in the township with her mother preparing for
+matrimony, and her horse was in the stable at Howell's Hotel.
+
+When Frank rode away to his farm on that fateful evening, Lochinvar
+was watching him.  He saw Cecily going home to her mother for the
+last night, and while he was looking after her wistfully, and the
+pangs of despairing love were in his heart, Bill the Butcher came up
+and said:
+
+"Well, Lock, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, what can I do?  She is going to marry Frank in the morning."
+
+"I don't believe it:  not if you are half the man you ought to be."
+
+"But how can I help it?"
+
+"Help it?  Just go and take her.  Saddle your horse and her own, take
+'em up to the cottage, and ask her just to come outside for a minute.
+And if you don't persuade her in five minutes to ride away with you
+to Ballarat, I'll eat my head off.  I know she don't want to marry
+Frank; all she wants is an excuse not to, and it will be excuse
+enough when she has married you."
+
+These two worthy men went to the Hotel and talked the matter over
+with Howell.  The jolly landlord slapped his knee and laughed.  He
+said:  "You are right, Bill.  She'll go, I'll bet a fiver, and here
+it is, Lock; you take it to help you along."
+
+This base conspiracy was successful, and that was the reason Frank
+was so sulky on that harvest morning.
+
+He was meditating vengeance.  Love and hate, matrimony and murder,
+are sometimes not far asunder, but Frank was not by nature vengeful;
+he had that "foolish hanging of the nether lip which shows a lack of
+decision."
+
+I would not advise any man to seek in a law court a sovereign remedy
+for the wounds inflicted by the shafts of Cupid; but Frank tried it.
+During his examination in chief his mien was gloomy and his answers
+brief.
+
+Then Mr. Aspinall rose and said:  "I appear for the defendant, your
+Honour, but from press of other engagements I have been unable to
+give that attention to the legal aspects of this case which its
+importance demands, and I have to request that your Honour will be
+good enough to adjourn the court for a quarter of an hour."
+
+The court was adjourned for half an hour, and Mr. Aspinall and his
+solicitor retired to a room for a legal consultation.  It began thus:
+
+"I say, Lane, fetch me a nobbler of brandy; a stiffener, mind."
+
+Lane fetched the stiffener in a soda-water bottle, and it cleared the
+legal atmosphere.
+
+When the court resumed business, Frank took his stand in the witness
+box, and a voice said:  "Now, Mr. Barlow, look at me."
+
+Frank had been called many names in his time, but never "Mr. Barlow"
+before now.  He looked and saw the figure of a little man with a
+large head, whose voice came through a full-grown nose like the blast
+of a trumpet.
+
+"You say you gave Cecily some money, a horse, saddle, and bridle?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"And you bought a wedding ring?"
+
+"I've got it in my pocket."
+
+"I see.  Your Honour will be glad to hear that the ring, at any rate,
+is not lost.  It will be ready for another Cecily, won't it, Mr.
+Barlow?"
+
+Barlow, looking down on the floor of the court and shaking his head
+slowly from side to side, said:
+
+"No, it won't  No fear.  There 'ull be no more Cecilies for me."
+
+There was laughter in the court, and when Frank raised his eyes, and
+saw a broad grin on every face, he, too, burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+I saw Mr. Aspinall and Dr. Macadam walking together arm-in-arm from
+the court.  The long doctor and the little lawyer were a strange
+pair.  Everybody knew that they were sliding down the easy slope to
+their tragic end, but they seemed never to think of it.
+
+Frank returned to Nyalong, happier than either.  He related the
+particulars of the trial to his friends with the utmost cheerfulness.
+Whether he recovered all the worldly goods with which he had endowed
+Cecily is doubtful, but he faithfully kept his promise that "There
+'ull be no more Cecilies for me."
+
+There was a demon of mischief at work on Philip's hill at both sides
+of the dividing fence.  Sam was poisoned by a villainous butcher;
+Bruin had been killed by Hugh Boyle; Maggie had eloped with a wild
+native to a gum-tree; Joey had been eaten by Pussy; Barlow had been
+crossed in love, and then the crowning misfortune befell the hermit.
+
+Mrs. Chisholm was a lady who gave early tokens of her vocation.  At
+the age of seven she began to form benevolent plans for the colonies
+of Great Britain.  She built ships of broad beans, filled them with
+poor families of Couchwood, sent them to sea in a wash-basin, landed
+them in a bed-quilt, and started them growing wheat.  Then she loaded
+her fleet with a return cargo for the British pauper, one grain of
+wheat in each ship, and navigated it safely to Old England.  She made
+many prosperous voyages, but once a storm arose which sent all her
+ships to the bottom of the sea.  She sent a Wesleyan minister and a
+Catholic priest to Botany Bay in the same cabin, strictly enjoining
+them not to quarrel during the voyage.  At the age of twenty she
+married Captain Chisholm, and went with him to Madras.  There she
+established a School of Industry for Girls, and her husband seconded
+her in all her good works.
+
+Mr. Chamier, the secretary, took a great interest in her school; Sir
+Frederick Adams subscribed 20 pounds, and officers and gentlemen in
+Madras contributed in five days 2,000 rupees.  The school became an
+extensive orphanage.
+
+Mrs. and Captain Chisholm came to Australia in 1838 for the benefit
+of his health, and they landed at Sydney.  They saw Highland
+immigrants who could not speak English, and they gave them tools and
+wheelbarrows wherewith to cut and sell firewood.
+
+Captain Chisholm returned to India in 1840, but the health of her
+young family required Mrs. Chisholm to remain in Sydney.
+
+Female immigrants arriving in Sydney were regularly hired on board
+ship, and lured into a vicious course of life.  Mrs. Chisholm went on
+board each ship, and made it her business to protect and advise them,
+and begged the captain and agent to act with humanity.  Some place of
+residence was required in which the new arrivals could be sheltered,
+until respectable situations could be found for them, and in January,
+1841, she applied to Lady Gipps for help.  A committee of ladies was
+formed, and Mrs. Chisholm at length obtained a personal audience from
+the Governor, Sir George Gipps.  He believed she was labouring under
+an amiable delusion.  He wrote to a friend:
+
+"I expected to have seen an old lady in a white cap and spectacles,
+who would have talked to me about my soul.  I was amazed when my aide
+introduced a handsome, stately young woman, who proceeded to reason
+the question as if she thought her reason, and experience too, worth
+as much as mine."
+
+Sir George at last consented to allow her the use of a Government
+building, a low wooden one.  Her room was seven feet by seven feet.
+Rats ran about in it in all directions, and then alighted on her
+shoulders.  But she outgeneraled the rats.  She gave them bread and
+water the first  night, lit two candles, and sat up in bed reading
+"Abercrombie."  There came never less than seven nor more than
+thirteen rats eating at the same time.  The next night she gave them
+another feast seasoned with arsenic.
+
+The home for the immigrants given her by Sir George had four rooms,
+and in it at one time she kept ninety girls who had no other shelter.
+About six hundred females were then wandering about Sydney unprovided
+for.  Some slept in the recesses of the rocks on the Government
+domain.  She received from the ships in the harbour sixty-four girls,
+and all the money they had was fourteen shillings and three
+half-pence.
+
+She took them to the country, travelling with a covered cart to sleep
+in.  She left married families at different stations, and then sent
+out decent lasses who should be married.
+
+In those days the dead bodies of the poor were taken to the cemetery
+in a common rubbish-cart.
+
+By speeches and letters both public and private, and by interviews
+with influential men, Mrs. Chisholm sought help for the emigrants
+both in Sydney and England, where she opened an office in 1846.
+
+In the year 1856 Major Chisholm took a house at Nyalong, near
+Philip's school.  Two of the best scholars were John and David.  When
+David lost his place in the class he burst into tears, and the Blakes
+and the Boyles laughed.  The Major spoke to the boys and girls
+whenever he met them.  He asked John to tell him how many
+weatherboards he would have to buy to cover the walls of his house,
+which contained six rooms and a lean-to, and was built of slabs.
+John measured the walls and solved the problem promptly.  The Major
+then sent his three young children to the school, and made the
+acquaintance of the master.
+
+Mrs.  Chisholm never went to Nyalong, but the Major must have given
+her much information about it, for one day he read a portion of one
+of her letters which completely destroyed Philip's peace of mind.  It
+was to the effect that he was to open a school for boarders at
+Nyalong, and, as a preliminary, marry a wife.  The Major said that if
+Philip had no suitable young lady in view, Mrs. Chisholm, he was
+sure, would undertake to produce one at a very short notice.  She had
+the whole matter already planned, and was actually canvassing for
+  pupils among the wealthiest families in the colony.  The Major
+smiled benevolently, and said it was of no use for Philip to think of
+resisting Mrs. Chisholm; when she had once made up her mind,
+everybody had to give way, and the thing was settled.  Philip, too,
+smiled faintly, and tried to look pleased, dissembling his outraged
+feelings, but he went away in a state of indignation.  He actually
+made an attack on the twelve virtues, which seemed all at once to
+have conspired against  his happiness.  He said:  "If I had not kept
+school so conscientiously, this thing would never have happened.  I
+don't want boarders, and I don't want anybody to send me a wife to
+Nyalong.  I am not, thank God, one of the royal family, and not even
+Queen Victoria shall order me a wife."
+
+In that way the lonely hermit put his foot down and began a
+countermine, working as silently as possible.
+
+During the Christmas holidays, after his neighbour Frank had been
+jilted by Cecily, he rode away, and returned after a week's absence.
+The Major informed him that Mrs. Chisholm had met with an accident
+and would be unable to visit Nyalong for some time.  Philip was
+secretly pleased to hear the news, outwardly he expressed sorrow and
+sympathy, and nobody but himself suspected how mean and deceitful he
+was.
+
+At Easter he rode away again and returned in less than a week.  Next
+day he called at McCarthy's farm and dined with the family.  He said
+he had been married the previous morning before he had started for
+Nyalong, and had left his wife at the Waterholes.  McCarthy began to
+suspect that Philip was a little wrong in his head;  it was a kind of
+action that contradicted all previous experience.  He could remember
+various lovers running away together before marriage, but he could
+not call to mind a single instance in which they ran away from one
+another immediately after marriage.  But he said to himself, "It will
+all be explained by-and-by," and he refrained from asking any
+impertinent questions merely to gratify curiosity.
+
+After dinner Gleeson, Philip, and McCarthy rode into the bush with
+the hounds.  A large and heavy "old man" was sighted; and the dogs
+stuck him up with his back to a tree.  While they were growling and
+barking around the tree Gleeson dismounted, and, going behind the
+tree, seized the "old man" by the tail.  The kangaroo kept springing
+upwards and at the dogs, dragging Gleeson after  him, who was jerking
+the tail this way and that to bring his game to the ground, for the
+"old man" was so tall that the dogs could not reach his throat while
+he stood upright.  Philip gave his horse to McCarthy and approached
+the "old man" with his club.
+
+"Shoot him with your revolver," said Gleeson.  "If I let go his tail,
+he'll be ripping you with his toe."
+
+"I might shoot you instead," said Philip; "better to club him.  Hold
+on another moment."
+
+Philip's first blow was dodged by the kangaroo, but the second fell
+fairly on the skull; he fell down, and Ossian, a big and powerful
+hound, seized him instantly by the throat and held on.  The three men
+mounted their horses and rode away, but Philip's mare was, as usual,
+shying at every tree.  As he came near one which had a large branch,
+growing horizontally from the trunk, his mare spring aside, carried
+him under the limb, which struck his head, and threw him to the
+ground.  He never spoke again.
+
+After the funeral, McCarthy rode over to the Rocky Waterholes to make
+some enquiries.  He called at Mrs. Martin's residence, and he said:
+
+"Mr. Philip told us he was married the day before the accident, but
+it seemed so strange, we could not believe it; so I thought I would
+just ride over and enquire about it, for, of course, if he had a
+wife, she will be entitled to whatever little property he left behind
+him."
+
+"Yes, it's quite true," said Mrs. Martin.  "They were married sure
+enough.  He called here at Christmas, and said he would like to see
+Miss Edgeworth; but she was away on a visit to some friends.  I asked
+him if he had any message to leave for her, but he said, 'Oh, no;
+only I thought I should like to see how she is getting along.  That's
+all, thank you.  I might call again at Easter.'  So he went away.  On
+last Easter Monday he came again.  Of course I had told Miss
+Edgeworth, about his calling at Christmas and enquiring about her,
+and it made me rather suspicious when he came again.  As you may
+suppose, I could not help taking notice; but for two days, nor, in
+fact, for the whole week, was there the slightest sign of anything
+like lovemaking between them.  No private conversation, no walking
+out together, nothing but commonplace talk and solemn looks.  I said
+to myself, 'If there is anything between them, they keep it mighty
+close to be sure.'  On the Tuesday evening, however, he spoke to me.
+He said:
+
+"'I hope you won't mention it, Mrs. Martin, but I would like to have
+a little advice from you, if you would be so kind as to give it.
+Miss Edgeworth has been living with you for some time, and you must
+be well acquainted with her.  I am thinking of making a proposal, but
+our intercourse has been so slight, that I should be pleased first to
+have your opinion on the matter.'
+
+"'Mr. Philip,' I said, 'you really must not ask me to say anything
+one way or the other, for or against.  I have my own sentiments, of
+course; but nobody shall ever say that I either made a match or
+marred one.'
+
+"Nothing happened until the next day.  In the afternoon Miss
+Edgeworth was alone in this room, when I heard Mr. Philip walking
+down the passage, and stopping at the door, which was half open.  I
+peeped out, and then put off my slippers, and stepped a little
+nearer, until through the little opening between the door and the
+door-post, I could both see and hear them.  He was sitting on the
+table, dangling his boots to and fro just above the floor, and she
+was sitting on a low rocking-chair about six feet distant.  He did
+not beat about the bush, as the saying is; did not say, 'My dear,' or
+'by your leave, Miss,' or 'excuse me,' or anything nice, as one would
+expect from a gentleman on a delicate occasion of the kind, but he
+said, quite abruptly:
+
+"'How would you like to live at Nyalong, Miss Edgeworth?'
+
+"She was looking on the floor, and her fingers were playing with a
+bit of ribbon, and she was so nice and winsome, and well dressed, you
+couldn't have helped giving her a kiss.  She never raised her eyes to
+his face, but I think she just looked as high as his boots, which
+were stained and dusty.  The silly man was waiting for her to say
+something; but she hung down her head, and said nothing.  At last he
+said:
+
+"'I suppose you know what I mean, Miss Edgeworth?'
+
+"'Yes,' she said, in a low voice.  'I know what you mean, thank you.'
+
+"Then there was silence for I don't know how long; it was really
+dreadful, and I couldn't think how it was going to end.  At last he
+heaved a big sigh, and said:
+
+"'Well, Miss Edgeworth, there is no need to hurry; take time to think
+about it.  I am going to ride out, and perhaps you will be good
+enough to let me know your mind when I come back.'
+
+"Then he just shook her hand, and I hurried away from the door.  It
+was rather mean of me to be listening to them, but I took as much
+interest in Miss Edgeworth as if she were my own daughter.
+
+"'There is no need to hurry,' he had said, but in my opinion there
+was too much hurry, for they were married on the Saturday, and he
+rode away the same morning having to open school again on Monday.
+
+"Of course, Miss Edgeworth was a good deal put about when we heard
+what had happened, through the papers, but I comforted her as much as
+possible.  I said, 'as for myself, I had never liked the look of the
+poor man with his red hair and freckles.  I am sure he had a bad
+temper at bottom, for red-haired men are always hasty; and then he
+had a high, thin nose, and men of that kind are always close and
+stingy, and the stingiest man I ever knew was a Dublin man.  Then his
+manners, you must remember, were anything but nice; he didn't wasteany
+compliments on you before you married him, so you may just fancy what
+kind of compliments you would have had to put up with afterwards.
+And perhaps you have forgotten what you said yourself about him at
+Bendigo.  You were sure he was a severe master, you could see
+sternness on his brow.  And however you could have consented to go to
+the altar with such a man I cannot understand to this day.  I am sure
+it was a very bad match, and by-and-by you will thank your stars that
+you are well out of it.'
+
+"I must acknowledge that Miss Edgeworth did not take what I said to
+comfort her very kindly, and she 'gave me fits,' as the saying is;
+but bless your soul, she'll soon get over it, and will do better next
+time."
+
+Soon after the death of Philip, Major Chisholm and his family left
+Nyalong, and I was appointed Clerk to the Justices at Colac.  I sat
+under them for twelve years, and during that time I wrote a great
+quantity of criminal literature.  When a convict of good conduct in
+Pentridge was entitled to a ticket-of-leave, he usually chose the
+Western district as the scene of his future labours, so that the
+country was peopled with old Jack Bartons and young ones.  Some of
+the young ones had been Philip's scholars--viz., the Boyles and the
+Blakes.  They were friends of the Bartons, and Old John, the
+ex-flogger, trained them in the art of cattle-lifting.  His teaching
+was far more successful than that of Philip's, and when in course of
+time Hugh Boyle appeared in the dock on a charge of horse-stealing, I
+was pained but not surprised.  Barton, to whose farm the stolen horse
+had been brought by Hugh, was summoned as witness for the Crown, but
+he organised the evidence for the defence so well that the prisoner
+was discharged.
+
+On the next occasion both Hugh and his brother James were charged
+with stealing a team of bullocks, but this time the assistance of
+Barton was not available.  The evidence against the young men was
+overwhelming, and we committed them for trial.  I could not help
+pitying them for having gone astray so early in life.  They were both
+tall and strong, intelligent and alert, good stockmen, and quite able
+to earn an honest living in the bush.  They had been taught their
+duty well by Philip, but bad example and bad company out of school
+had led them astray.  The owner of the bullocks, an honest young boor
+named Cowderoy, was sworn and gave his evidence clearly.  Hugh and
+James knew him well.  They had no lawyer to defend them, and when the
+Crown Prosecutor sat down, there seemed no loophole left for the
+escape of the accused, and I mentally sentenced them to seven years
+on the roads, the invariable penalty for their offence.
+
+But now the advantages of a good moral education were brilliantly
+exemplified.
+
+"Have you any questions to put to this witness?" asked the Judge of
+the prisoners.
+
+"Yes, your Honour," said Hugh.  Then turning to Cowderoy, he said:
+"Do you know the nature of an oath?"
+
+The witness looked helplessly at Hugh, then at the Judge and Crown
+Prosecutor; stood first on one leg, then on the other; leaned down
+with his elbows on the edge of the witness-box apparently staggering
+under the weight of his own ignorance.
+
+"Why don't you answer the question?" asked the Judge sharply.  "Do
+you know the nature of an oath?"
+
+Silence.
+
+Mr. Armstrong saw his case was in danger of collapse, so he said:  "I
+beg to submit, your Honour, that this question comes too late and
+should have been put to the witness before he was sworn.  He has
+already taken the oath and given his evidence."
+
+"The question is a perfectly fair one, Mr. Armstrong," said the
+Judge:  and turning to the witness he repeated:  "Do you know the
+nature of an oath?"
+
+"No," said Cowderoy.
+
+The prisoners were discharged, thanks to their good education.
+
+
+
+A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.
+
+Sergeant Hyde came to my office and asked me to accompany him as far
+as Murray Street.  He said there was a most extraordinary dispute
+between a white woman and a black lubra about the ownership of a
+girl, and he had some doubts whether it was a case within the
+jurisdiction of a police-court, but thought we might issue a summons
+for illegal detention of property.  He wanted me to advise him, and
+give my opinion on the matter, and as by this time my vast experience
+of Justices' law entitled me to give an opinion on any imaginable
+subject, I very naturally complied with his request.  He was,
+moreover, a man so remarkable that a request by him for advice was of
+itself an honour.  In his youth he had been complimented on the
+possession of a nose exactly resembling that of the great Duke of
+Wellington, and ever since that time he had made the great man the
+guiding star of his voyage over the ocean of life, the only saint in
+his calendar; and he had, as far as human infirmity would permit,
+modelled his conduct and demeanour in imitation of those of the
+immortal hero.  He spoke briefly, and in a tone of decision.  The
+expression of his face was fierce and defiant, his bearing erect, his
+stride measured with soldierly regularity.  He was not a large man,
+weighing probably about nine stone; but that only enhanced his
+dignity, as it is a great historical fact that the most famous
+generals have been nearly all small men.
+
+When he came into my office, he always brought with him an odour of
+peppermint, which experience had taught me to associate with the
+proximity of brandy or whisky.  I have never heard or read that the
+Iron Duke took pepperment lozenges in the morning, but still it might
+have been his custom to do so.  The sergeant was a Londoner, and knew
+more about the private habits of his Grace than I did.  If he had
+been honoured with the command of a numerous army, he would, no
+doubt, have led it onward, or sent it forward to victory.  His
+forces, unfortunately, consisted of only one trooper, but the way in
+which he ordered and manoeuvred that single horseman proved what
+glory he would have won if he had been placed over many squadrons.
+By a general order he made him parade outside the gate of the station
+every morning at ten o'clock.  He then marched from the front door
+with a majestic mien and inspected the horse, the rider, and
+accoutrements.  He walked slowly round, examining with eagle eye the
+saddle, the bridle, the bits, the girth, the sword, pistols, spurs,
+and buckles.  If he could find no fault with anything, he gave in
+brief the word of command, "Patrol the forest road," or any other
+road on which an enemy might be likely to appear.  I never saw the
+sergeant himself on horseback.  He might have been a gay cavalier in
+the days of his fiery youth, but he was not one now.
+
+As we passed the "Crook and Plaid Hotel," on our return to the
+court-house, after investigating the dispute in Murray Street, I
+observed a stranger standing near the door, who said:
+
+"Hello, Hyde!  is that you?"
+
+He was evidently addressing the sergeant, but the latter merely gave
+him a slight glance, and went away with his noble nose in the air.
+
+The stranger looked after him and laughed.  He said:
+
+"That policeman was once a shepherd of mine up in Riverina, but I see
+he don't know me now--has grown too big for his boots.  Cuts me
+dead, don't he?  Ha!  ha!  ha!  Well I never!"
+
+The stranger's name was Robinson; he had been selling some cattle to
+a neighbouring squatter, and was now on his way home.  He explained
+how he had, just before the discovery of gold, hired Hyde as a
+shepherd, and had given him charge of a flock of sheep.
+
+There were still a few native blacks about the run, but by this time
+they were harmless enough:  never killed shepherds, or took mutton
+without leave.  They were somewhat addicted to petty larceny, but felony
+had been frightened out of their souls long ago.  They knew all the
+station hands, and the station hands knew them.  They soon spotted a
+new chum, and found out the soft side of him; and were generally able
+to coax or frighten him to give them tobacco, some piece of clothing,
+or white money.
+
+When the new shepherd had been following his flock for a few days,
+Mr. Robinson, while looking out from the verandah of his house over
+the plains, observed a strange object approaching at some distance.
+He said to himself, "That is not a horseman, nor an emu, nor a native
+companion, nor a swagman, nor a kangaroo."  He could not make it out;
+so he fetched his binocular, and then perceived that it was a human
+being, stark naked.  His first impression was that some unfortunate
+traveller had lost his way in the wide wilderness, or a station hand
+had gone mad with drink, or that a sundowner had become insane with
+hunger, thirst, and despair.
+
+He took a blanket and went to meet the man, in order that he might
+cover him decently before he arrived too near the house.  It was
+Hyde, the new shepherd, who said he had been stripped by the blacks.
+
+ From information afterwards elicited by Robinson it appeared that the
+blacks had approached Hyde in silence while his back was turned to
+them.  The sight of them gave a sudden shock to his system.  He was
+totally unprepared for such an emergency.  If he had had time to
+recall to memory some historical examples, he might have summoned up
+his sinking courage, and have done a deed worthy of record.  There
+was David, the youthful shepherd of Israel, who slew a lion and a
+bear, and killed Goliath, the gigantic champion of the Philistines.
+There were the Shepherd Kings, who ruled the land of Egypt.  there
+was one-eyed Polyphemus, moving among his flocks on the mountain tops
+of Sicily; a monster, dreadful, vast, and hideous; able to roast and
+eat these three blackfellows at one meal.  And nearer our own time
+was the youth whose immortal speech begins, "My name is Norval; on
+the Grampian Hills my father fed his flocks."  Our shepherd had a
+stick in his hand and a collie dog at his command.  Now was the time
+for him to display "London Assurance" to some purpose; and now was
+the time for the example of the ever-victorious Duke to work a
+miracle of valour.  But the crisis had come on too quickly, and there
+was no time to pump up bravery from the deep well of history.  The
+unearthly ugliness of the savages, their thick lips, prominent cheek
+bones, scowling and overhanging brows, broad snub noses, matted black
+hair, and above all the keen, steady, and ferocious scrutiny of their
+deep-set eyes, extinguished the last spark of courage in the heart of
+Hyde.  He did not look fierce and defiant any more.  He felt inclined
+to be very civil, so he smiled a sickly smile and tried to say
+something, but his chin wobbled, and his tongue would not move.
+
+The blacks came nearer, and one of them said, "Gib fig tobacker,
+mate?"  Here was a gleam of hope, a chance of postponing his final
+doom.  When a foe cannot be conquered, it is lawful to pay him to be
+merciful; to give him an indemnity for his trouble in not kicking
+you.  The shepherd instantly pulled out his tobacco, his pipe, his
+tobacco-knife, and matches, and handed them over.  A second
+blackfellow, seeing him so ready to give, took the loan of his tin
+billy, with some tea and sugar in it, and some boiled mutton and
+damper.  These children of the plains now saw that they had come upon
+a mine of wealth, and they worked it down to the bed rock.  One after
+another, and with the willing help of the owner, they took possession
+of his hat, coat, shirt, boots, socks, trousers, and drawers, until
+the Hyde was completely bare, as naked, and, it is to be hoped, as
+innocent, as a new-born babe.  His vanity, which was the major part
+of his personality, had vanished with his garments, and the remnant
+left of body and soul was very insignificant.
+
+Having now delivered up everything but his life, he had some hope
+that his enemies might at least spare him that.  They were jabbering to
+one another at a great rate, trying on, putting off, and exchanging
+first one article and then another of the spoils they had won.  They
+did not appear to think that the new chum was worth looking after any
+longer.  So he began slinking away slowly towards his flock of sheep,
+trying to look as if nothing in particular was the matter; but he
+soon turned in the direction of the home station.  He tried to run,
+and for a short time fear winged his feet; but the ground was hard
+and rough, and his feet were tender; and though he believed that
+death and three devils were behind him, he could go but slowly.  A
+solitary eaglehawk sat on the top branch of a dead gum-tree, watching
+him with evil eyes; a chorus of laughing jackasses cackled after him
+in derision from a grove of young timber; a magpie, the joy of the
+morning, and most mirthful of birds, whistled for him sweet notes of
+hope and good cheer; then a number of carrion crows beheld him, and
+approached with their long-drawn, ill-omened "croank, croank," the
+most dismal note ever uttered by any living thing.  They murder sick
+sheep, and pick out the eyes of stray lambs.  They made short
+straggling flights, alighting on the ground in front of the miserable
+man, inspecting his condition, and calculating how soon he would be
+ready to be eaten.  They are impatient gluttons, and often begin
+tearing their prey before it is dead.
+
+Mr. Robinson clothed the naked, and then mounted his horse and went
+for the blacks.  In a short time he returned with them to the
+station, and made them disgorge the stolen property, all but the tea,
+sugar, mutton, and damper, which were not returnable.  He gave them
+some stirring advice with his stockwhip, and ordered them to start
+for a warmer climate.  He then directed Hyde to return to his sheep,
+and not let those blank blacks humbug him out of clothes any more.
+But nothing would induce the shepherd to remain another day; he
+forswore pastoral pursuits for the rest of his life.  His courage had
+been tried and found wanting; he had been covered--or, rather,
+uncovered--with disgrace; and his dignity--at least in Riverina
+--was gone for ever.  In other scenes, and under happier auspices,
+he might recover it, but on Robinson's station he would be subjected
+to the derision of the station hands as long as he stayed.
+
+How he lived for some time afterwards is unknown; but in 1853 he was
+a policeman at Bendigo diggings.  At that time any man able to carry
+a carbine was admitted into the force without question.  It was then
+the refuge of the penniless, of broken-down vagabonds, and unlucky
+diggers.  Lords and lags were equally welcomed without characters or
+references from their former employers, the Masters' and Servants'
+Act having become a dead letter.  Hyde entered the Government
+service, and had the good sense to stay there.  His military bearing
+and noble mien proclaimed him fit to be a leader of men, and soon
+secured his promotion.  He was made a sergeant, and in a few years
+was transferred to the Western District, far away, as he thought,
+from the scene of his early adventure.
+
+He lived for several years after meeting with and cutting his old
+employer, Robinson, and died at last of dyspepsia and peppermints,
+the disease and the remedy combined.
+
+
+
+WHITE SLAVES.
+
+Many men who had been prisoners of the Crown, or seamen, lived on the
+islands in Bass' Straits, as well as on islands in the Pacific Ocean,
+fishing, sealing, or hunting, and sometimes cultivating patches of
+ground.  The freedom of this kind of life was pleasing to those who
+had spent years under restraint in ships, in gaols, in chain-gangs,
+or as slaves to settlers in the bush, for the lot of the assigned
+servant was often worse than that of a slave, as he had to give his
+labour for nothing but food and clothing, and was liable to be
+flogged on any charge of disobedience, insolence, or insubordination
+which his master might choose to bring against him.  Moreover, the
+black slave might be sold for cash, for five hundred to a thousand
+dollars, according to the quality of the article and the state of the
+market, so that it was for the enlightened self-interest of the owner
+to keep him in saleable condition.  But the white slave was
+unsaleable, and his life of no account.  When he died another could
+be obtained for nothing from the cargo of the next convict ship.
+
+Some masters treated their men well according to their deserts; but
+with regard to others, the exercise of despotic authority drew forth
+all the evil passions of their souls, and made them callous to the
+sufferings of their servants.
+
+The daily fear of the lash produced in the prisoners a peculiar
+expression of countenance, and a cowed and slinking gait, which I
+have never seen in any other men, white or black.  And that gait and
+expression, like that of a dog crouching at the heels of a cruel
+master in fear of the whip, remained still after the prisoners had
+served the time of their sentences, and had recovered their freedom.
+They never smiled, and could never regain the feelings and bearing of
+free men; they appeared to feel on their faces the brand of Cain, by
+which they were known to all men, and the scars left on their backs
+by the cruel lash could never be smoothed away.  Whenever they met,
+even on a lonely bush track, a man who, by his appearance might be a
+magistrate or a Government officer, they raised a hand to the
+forehead in a humble salute by mere force of habit.  There were some,
+it is true, whose spirits were never completely broken--who fought
+against fate to the last, and became bushrangers or murderers; but
+sooner or later they were shot, or they were arrested and hanged.
+The gallows-tree on the virgin soil of Australia flourished and bore
+fruit in abundance.
+
+The trial of a convict charged with disobedience or insubordination
+was of summary jurisdiction.  Joe Kermode, a teamster, chanced to be
+present at one of these trials.  It was about ten o'clock in the
+morning when he saw near a house on the roadside a little knot of men
+at an open window.  He halted his team to see what was the matter,
+and found that a police magistrate, sitting inside a room, was
+holding a Court of Petty Sessions at the window.  It was an open
+court, to which the public were admitted according to law; a very
+open court, the roof of which was blue--the blue sky of a summer's
+morning.  A witness was giving evidence against an assigned servant,
+charged with some offence against his master.  His majesty, the
+magistrate, yawned--this kind of thing was tiresome.  Presently a
+lady came into the room, walked to the open window, clasped her hands
+together, and laid them affectionately on the shoulder of the court.
+After listening for a few moments to the evidence she became
+impatient, and said, "Oh, William, give him three dozen and come to
+breakfast."  So William gave the man three dozen and went to
+breakfast--with a good conscience; having performed the ordinary
+duty of the day extraordinarily well, he was on the high road to
+perfection.
+
+The sentence of the court was carried out by a scourger, sometimes
+called flagellator, or flogger. The office of scourger was usually
+held by a convict; it meant promotion in the Government service, and
+although there was some danger connected with it, there was always a
+sufficient number of candidates to fill vacancies.  In New South
+Wales the number of officers in the cat-o'-nine tails department was
+about thirty.  The danger attached to the office consisted in the
+certainty of the scourger being murdered by the scourgee, if ever the
+opportunity was given.
+
+Joe Kermode had once been a hutkeeper on a station.  The hut was
+erected about forty yards from the stockyard, to which the sheep were
+brought every evening, to protect them from attack by dingoes or
+blackfellows.  If the dingoes and blackfellows had been content with
+one sheep at a time to allay the pangs of hunger, they could not have
+been blamed very much; but after killing one they went on killing as
+many more as they could, and thus wasted much mutton to gratify their
+thirst for blood.
+
+Joe and the shepherd were each provided with a musket and bayonet for
+self-defence.
+
+The hut was built of slabs, and was divided by a partition into two
+rooms, and Joe always kept his musket ready loaded,  night and day,
+just inside the doorway of the inner room.  Two or three blacks would
+sometimes call, and ask for flour, sugar, tobacco, or a firestick.
+If they attempted to come inside the hut, Joe ordered them off,
+backing at the same time towards the inner door, and he always kept a
+sharp look-out for any movement they made; for they were very
+treacherous, and he knew they would take any chance they could get to
+kill him, for the sake of stealing the flour, sugar, and tobacco.
+Two of them once came inside the hut and refused to go out, until Joe
+seized his musket, and tickled them in the rear with his bayonet,
+under the "move on" clause in the Police Offences Statute.
+
+Early one morning there was a noise as of some disturbance in the
+stockyard, and Joe, on opening the door of his hut, saw several
+blacks spearing the sheep.  He seized his musket and shouted, warning
+them to go away.  One of them, who was sitting on the top rail with
+his back towards the hut, seemed to think that he was out of range of
+the musket, for he made most unseemly gestures, and yelled back at
+Joe in a defiant and contemptuous manner.  Joe's gun was charged with
+shot, and he fired and hit his mark, for the blackfellow dropped
+suddenly from the top rail, and ran away, putting his hands behind
+him, and trying to pick out the pellets.
+
+One day a white stockman came galloping on  his horse up to the door
+of the hut, his face, hands, shirt and trousers being smeared and
+saturated with blood.  Joe took him inside the hut, and found that he
+had two severe wounds on the left shoulder.  After the bleeding had
+been stanched and the wounds bandaged, the stranger related that as
+he was riding he met a blackfellow carrying a fire-stick.  He thought
+it was a good opportunity of lighting his pipe, lucifer matches being
+then unknown in the bush; so he dismounted, took out his knife, and
+began cutting tobacco.  The blackfellow asked for a fig of tobacco,
+and, after filling his pipe, the stockman gave him the remainder of
+the fig he had been cutting, and held out his hand for the firestick.
+The blackfellow seemed disappointed; very likely expecting to receive
+a whole fig of tobacco--and, instead of handing him the firestick
+he threw it on the ground.  At the first moment the stockman did not
+suspect any treachery, as he had seen no weapon in possession of the
+blackfellow.  He stooped to pick up the firestick; but just as he was
+touching it, he saw the black man's feet moving nearer, and becoming
+suddenly suspicious, he quickly moved his head to one side and stood
+upright.  At the same instant he received a blow from a tomahawk on
+his left shoulder.  This blow, intended for his head, was followed by
+another, which inflicted a second wound; but the stockman succeeded
+in grasping the wrist of his enemy.  Then began a wrestling match
+between the two men, the stakes two lives, no umpire, no timekeeper,
+no backers, and no bets.  The only spectator was the horse, whose
+bridle was hanging on the ground.  But he seemed to take no interest
+in the struggle, and continued  nibbling the grass until it was over.
+
+The black man, who had now dropped his rug, was as agile and nimble
+as a beast of prey, and exerted all his skill and strength to free
+his hand.  But the white man felt that to loose his hold would be to
+lose his life, and he held on to his grip of the blackfellow's wrist
+with desperate resolution.  The tomahawk fell to the ground, but just
+then neither of the men could spare a hand to pick it up.  At length,
+by superior strength, the stockman brought his enemy to the ground.
+He then grasped the thick, matted hair with one hand, and thus
+holding the black's head close to the ground, he reached with the
+other hand for the tomahawk, and with one fierce blow buried the
+blade in the savage's brain.  Even then he did not feel quite sure of
+his safety.  He had an idea that it was very difficult to kill
+blackfellows outright, that theywere like American 'possums, and were
+apt to come to life again after they had been killed, and ought to be
+dead.  So to finish his work well, he hacked at the neck with the
+tomahawk until he had severed the head completely from the body; then
+taking the head by the hair, he threw it as far as he could to the
+other side of the track.  By this time he began to feel faint from
+loss of blood, so he mounted his horse and galloped to Joe Kermode's
+hut.
+
+When Joe had performed his duties of a good Samaritan to the stranger
+he mounted his horse, and rode to the field of battle.  He found the
+headless body of the black man, the head at the other side of the
+track, the tomahawk, the piece of tobacco, the rug, and the
+firestick.  Joe and the shepherd buried the body; the white man
+survived.
+
+
+
+THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.
+
+"The Government Stroke" is a term often used in the colonies, and
+indicates a lazy and inefficient manner of performing any kind of
+labour.  It originated with the convicts.  When a man is forced to
+work through fear of the lash, and receives no wages, it is quite
+natural and reasonable that he should exert himself as little as
+possible.  If you were to reason with him, and urge him to work
+harder at, for instance, breaking road metal, in order that the
+public might have good roads to travel on, and show him what a great
+satisfaction it should be to know that his labours would confer a
+lasting benefit on his fellow creatures; that, though it might appear
+a little hard on him individually, he should raise his thoughts to a
+higher level, and labour for the good of humanity in general, he
+would very likely say, "Do you take me for a fool?"  But if you gave
+him three dozen lashes for his laziness he will see, or at least
+feel, that your argument has some force in it.  As a matter of fact
+men work for some present or future benefit for themselves.  The
+saint who sells all he has to give to the poor, does so with the hope
+of obtaining a reward exceedingly great in the life to come.  And
+even if there were no life to come, his present life is happier far
+than that of the man who grabs at all the wealth he can get until he
+drops into the grave.  The man who works "all for love and nothing
+for reward" is a being incomprehensible to us ordinary mortals; he is
+an angel, and if ever he was a candidate for a seat in Parliament he
+was not elected.  Even love--"which rules the court, the camp, the
+grove"--is given only with the hope of a return of love; for
+hopeless love is nothing but hopeless misery.
+
+I once hired an old convict as gardener at five shillings a day.  He
+began to work in the morning with a great show of diligence while I
+was looking on.  But on my return home in the evening it was
+wonderful to find how little work he had contrived to get through
+during the day; so I began to watch him.  His systematic way of doing
+nothing would have been very amusing if it cost nothing.  He pressed
+his spade into the ground with his boot as slowly as possible, lifted
+the sod very gently, and turned it over.  Then he straightened his
+back, looked at the ground to the right, then to the left, then in
+front of him, and then cast his eyes along the garden fence.  Having
+satisfied himself that nothing particular was happening anywhere
+within view, he gazed awhile at the sod he had turned over, and then
+shaved the top off with his spade.  Having straightened his back once
+more, he began a survey of the superficial area of the next sod, and
+at length proceeded to cut it in the same deliberate manner,
+performing the same succeeding ceremonies.  If he saw me, or heard me
+approaching, he became at once very alert and diligent until I spoke
+to him, then he stopped work at once.  It was quite impossible for
+him both to labour and to listen; nobody can do two things well at
+the same time.  But his greatest relief was in talking;  he would
+talk with anybody all day long if possible, and do nothing else; his
+wages, of course, still running on.  There is very little talk worth
+paying for.  I would rather give some of my best friends a fee to be
+silent, than pay for anything they have to tell me.  My gardener was
+a most unprofitable servant; the only good I got out of him was a
+clear knowledge of what the Government stroke meant, and the
+knowledge was not worth the expense.  He was in other respects
+harmless and useless, and, although he had been transported for
+stealing, I could never find that he stole anything from me.  The
+disease of larceny seemed somehow to have been worked out of his
+system; though he used to describe with great pleasure how his
+misfortunes began by stealing wall-fruit when he was a boy; and
+although it was to him like the fruit
+
+"Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
+Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
+
+it was so sweet that, while telling me about it sixty years
+afterwards, he smiled and smacked his lips, renewing as it were the
+delight of its delicious taste.
+
+He always avoided, as much as possible, the danger of dying of hard
+work, so he is living yet, and is eighty-six years old.  Whenever I
+see him he gives me his blessing, and says he never worked for any
+man he liked so well.  A great philosopher says, in order to be happy
+it is necessary to be beloved, but in order to be beloved we must
+know how to please, and we can only please by ministering to the
+happiness of others.  I ministered to the old convict's happiness by
+letting him work so lazily, and so I was beloved and happy.
+
+He had formerly been an assigned servant to Mr. Gellibrand,
+Attorney-General of Tasmania, before that gentleman went with Mr.
+Hesse on that voyage to Australia Felix from which he never returned.
+Some portions of a skeleton were found on the banks of a river, which
+were supposed to belong to the lost explorer, and that river, and
+Mount Gellibrand, on which he and Hesse parted company, were named
+after him.
+
+There was a blackfellow living for many years afterwards in the Colac
+district who was said to have killed and eaten the lost white man;
+the first settlers therefore call him Gellibrand, as they considered
+he had made out a good claim to the name by devouring the flesh.
+This blackfellow's face was made up of hollows and protuberances ugly
+beyond all aboriginal ugliness.  I was present at an interview
+between him and senior-constable Hooley, who nearly rivalled the
+savage in lack of beauty.  Hooley had been a soldier in the Fifth
+Fusiliers, and had been convicted of the crime of manslaughter,
+having killed a coloured man near Port Louis, in the Mauritius.  He
+was sentenced to penal servitude for the offence, and had passed two
+years of his time in Tasmania.  This incident had produced in his
+mind an interest in blackfellows generally, and on seeing Gellibrand
+outside the Colac courthouse, he walked up to him, and looked him
+steadily in the face, without saying a word or moving a muscle of his
+countenance.  I never saw a more lovely pair.  The black fellow
+returned the gaze unflinchingly, his deep-set eyes fixed fiercely on
+those of the Irishman, his nostrils dilated, and his frowning
+forehead wrinkled and hard, as if cast in iron.  The two men looked
+like two wild beasts preparing for a deadly fight.  At length, Hooley
+moved his face nearer to that of the savage, until their noses almost
+met, and between his teeth he slowly ejaculated:  "You eat white man?
+You eat me?  Eh?"  Then the deep frown on Gellibrand's face began
+slowly to relax, his thick lips parted by degrees, and displayed,
+ready for business, his sharp and shining teeth, white as snow and
+hard as steel.  A smile, which might be likened to that of a humorous
+tiger, spread over his spacious features, and so the interview ended
+without a fight.  I was very much disappointed, as I hoped the two
+man-slayers were going to eat each other for the public good, and I
+was ready to back both of them without fear, favour, or affection.
+
+There is no doubt that the blacks ate human flesh, not as an article
+of regular diet, but occasionally, when the fortune of war, or
+accident, favoured them with a supply.  When Mr. Hugh Murray set out
+from Geelong to look for country to the westward, he took with him
+several natives belonging to the Barrabool tribe.  When they arrived
+near Lake Colac they found the banks of the Barongarook Creek covered
+with scrub, and on approaching the spot where the bridge now spans
+the watercourse, they saw a blackfellow with his lubra and a little
+boy, running towards the scrub.  The Barrabool blacks gave chase, and
+the little boy was caught by one of them before he could find
+shelter, and was instantly killed with a club.  That night the
+picaninny was roasted at the camp fire, and eaten.
+
+And yet these blacks had human feelings and affections.  I once saw a
+tribe travelling from one part of the district to another in search
+of food, as was their custom.  One of the men was dying of
+consumption, and was too weak to follow the rest.  He looked like a
+living skeleton, but he was not left behind to die.  He was sitting
+on the shoulders of his brother, his hands grasping for support the
+hair on the head, and his wasted legs dangling in front of the
+other's ribs.  These people were sometimes hunted as if they were
+wolves, but two brother wolves would not have been so kind to each
+other.
+
+Before the white men came the blacks never buried their dead; they
+had no spades and could not dig graves.  Sometimes their dead were
+dropped into the hollow trunks of trees, and sometimes they were
+burned.  There was once a knoll on the banks of the Barongarook
+Creek, below the court-house, the soil of which looked black and
+rich.  When I was trenching the ground near my house for vines and
+fruit trees, making another garden of paradise in lieu of the one I
+had lost, I obtained cart loads of bones from the slaughter yards and
+other places, and placed them in trenches; and in order to fertilize
+one corner of the garden, I spread over it several loads of the
+rich-looking black loam taken from the knoll near the creek.  After a
+few years the vines and trees yielded great quantities of grapes and
+fruit, and I made wine from my vineyard.  But the land on which I had
+spread the black loam was almost barren, and yet I had seen fragments
+of bones mixed with it, and amongst them a lower jaw with perfect
+teeth, most likely the jaw of a young lubra.  On mentioning the
+circumstance to one of the early settlers, he said my loam had been
+taken from the spot on which the blacks used to burn their dead.
+Soon after he arrived at Colac he saw there a solitary blackfellow
+crouching before a fire in which bones were visible.  So, pointing to
+them, he asked what was in the fire, and the blackfellow replied with
+one word "lubra."  He was consuming the remains of his dead wife, and
+large tears were coursing down his cheeks.  Day and night he sat
+there until the bones had been nearly all burned and covered with
+ashes.  This accounted for the fragments of bones in my black loam;
+why it was not fertile, I know, but I don't know how to express the
+reason well.
+
+While the trenching of my vineyard was going on, Billy Nicholls
+looked over the fence, and gave his opinion about it.  He held his
+pipe between his thumb and forefinger, and stopped smoking in stupid
+astonishment.  He said--"That ground is ruined, never will grow
+nothing no more; all the good soil is buried;  nothing but gravel and
+stuff on top; born fool."
+
+Old Billy was a bullock driver, my neighbour and enemy, and lived,
+with his numerous progeny, in a hut in the paddock next to mine.  In
+the rainy seasons the water flowed through my ground on to his, and
+he had dug a drain which led the water past his hut, instead of
+allowing it to go by the natural fall across his paddock.  The floods
+washed his drain into a deep gully near his hut, which was sometimes
+nearly surrounded with the roaring waters.  He then tried to dam the
+water back on to my ground, but I made a gap in his dam with a
+long-handled shovel, and let the flood go through.  Nature and the
+shovel were too much for Billy.  He came out of his hut, and stood
+watching the torrent, holding his dirty old pipe a few inches from
+his mouth, and uttered a loud soliloquy:--"Here I am--on a
+miserable island--fenced in with water--going to be washed away
+--by that Lord Donahoo, son of a barber's clerk--wants to drown me
+and my kids--don't he--I'll break his head wi' a paling--blowed
+if I don't."  He then put his pipe in his mouth, and gazed in silence
+on the rushing waters.
+
+I planted my ground with vines of fourteen different varieties, but,
+in a few years, finding that the climate was unsuitable for most of
+them, I reduced the number to about five.  These yielded an unfailing
+abundance of grapes every year, and as there was no profitable
+market, I made wine.  I pruned and disbudded the vines myself, and
+also crushed and pressed the grapes.  The digging and hoeing of the
+ground cost about 10 pounds each year.  When the wine had been in the
+casks about twelve months I bottled it; in two years more it was fit
+for consumption, and I was very proud of the article.  But I cannot
+boast that I ever made much profit out of it--that is, in cash--
+as I found that the public taste for wine required to be educated,
+and it took so long to do it that I had to drink most of the wine
+myself.  The best testimony to its excellence is the fact that I am
+still alive.
+
+The colonial taste for good liquor was spoiled from the very
+beginning, first by black strap and rum, condensed from the steam of
+hell, then by Old Tom and British brandy, fortified with tobacco--
+this liquor was the nectar with which the ambrosial station hands
+were lambed down by the publicans--and in these latter days by
+colonial beer, the washiest drink a nation was ever drenched with.
+the origin of bad beer dates from the repeal of the sugar duty in
+England; before that time beer was brewed from malt and hops, and
+that we had "jolly good ale and old," and sour pie.
+
+A great festival was impending at Colac, to consist of a regatta on
+the lake, the first we ever celebrated, and a picnic on its banks.
+All the people far and near invited themselves to the feast, from the
+most extensive of squatters to the oldest of old hands.  The
+blackfellows were there, too--what was left of them.  Billy Leura
+walked all the way from Camperdown, and on the day before the regatta
+came to my house with a couple of black ducks in his hand.  Sissy,
+six years old, was present; she inspected the blackfellow and the
+ducks, and listened.  Leura said he wanted to sell me the ducks, but
+not for money; he would take old clothes for them.  He was wearing
+nothing but a shirt and trousers, both badly out of repair, and was
+anxious to adorn his person with gay attire on the morrow.  So I
+traded off a pair of old cords and took the ducks.
+
+Next day we had two guests, a Miss Sheppard, from Geelong, and
+another lady, and as my house was near the lake, we did our
+picnicking inside.  We put on as much style as possible to suit the
+occasion, including, of course, my best native wine, and the two
+ducks roasted.  Sissy sat at the table next to Miss Sheppard, and
+felt it her duty to lead the conversation in the best society style.
+She said:
+
+"You see dose two ducks, Miss Sheppard?"
+
+"Yes, dear; very fine ones."
+
+"Well, papa bought 'em from a black man yesterday.  De man said dey
+was black ducks, but dey was'nt black, dey was brown.  De fedders are
+in de yard, and dey are brown fedders."
+
+"Yes, I know, dear; they call them black ducks, but they are brown--
+dark brown."
+
+"Well, you see, de blackfellow want to sell de ducks to papa, but
+papa has no money, so he went into de house and bring out a pair of
+his old lowsers, and de blackfellow give him de ducks for de lowsers,
+and dems de ducks you see."
+
+"Yes, dear; I see," said Miss Sheppard, blushing terribly.
+
+We all blushed.
+
+"You naughty girl," said mamma; "hold your tongue, or I'll send you
+to the kitchen."
+
+"But mamma, you know its quite true," said Sissy.  "Didn't I show you
+de black man just now, Miss Sheppard, when he was going to de lake?
+I said dere's de blackfellow, and he's got papa's lowsers on, didn't
+I now?"
+
+The times seemed prosperous with us, but it was only a deceptive
+gleam of sunshine before the coming storm of adversity.  I built an
+addition to my dwelling; and when it was completed I employed a
+paperhanger from London named Taylor, to beautify the old rooms.  He
+was of a talkative disposition; when he had nobody else to listen he
+talked to himself, and when he was tired of that he began singing.
+The weather was hot, and the heat, together with his talking and
+singing, made him thirsty; so one day he complained to me that his
+work was very dry.  I saw at once an opportunity of obtaining an
+independent and reliable judgment on the quality of my wine; so I
+went for a bottle, drew the cork, and offered him a tumblerful,
+telling him it was wine which I had made from my own grapes.  As
+Taylor was a native of London, the greatest city in the world, he
+must have had a wide experience in many things, was certain to know
+the difference between good and bad liquor, and I was anxious to
+obtain a favourable verdict on my Australian product.  He held up the
+glass to the light, and eyed the contents critically; then he tasted
+a small quantity, and paused awhile to feel the effect.  He then took
+another taste, and remarked, "It's sourish."  He put the tumbler to
+his mouth a third time, and emptied it quickly.  Then he placed one
+hand on his stomach, said "Oh, my," and ran away to the water tap
+outside to rinse his mouth and get rid of the unpleasant flavour.
+His verdict was adverse, and very unflattering.
+
+Next day, while I was inspecting his work, he gave me to understand
+that he felt dry again.  I asked him what he would like, a drink of
+water or a cup of tea?  He said, "Well, I think I'll just try another
+glass of that wine of yours."  He seemed very irrational in the
+matter of drink, but I fetched another bottle.  This time he emptied
+the first tumbler without hesitation, regardless of consequences.  He
+puckered his lips and curled his nose, and said it was rather
+sourish; but in hot weather it was not so bad as cold water, and was
+safer for the stomach.  He then drew the back of his hand across his
+mouth, looked at the paper which he had been putting on the wall, and
+said, "I don't like that pattern a bit; too many crosses on it."
+
+"Indeed," I said, "I never observed the crosses before, but I don't
+see any harm in them.  Why don't you like them?"
+
+"Oh, it looks too like the Catholics, don't you see?  too popish.  I
+hate them crosses."
+
+"Really," I replied.  "I am sorry to hear that.  I am a Catholic myself."
+
+"Oh, lor!  Are you, indeed?  I always thought you were a Scotchman."
+
+Taylor finished that bottle of wine during the afternoon, and next
+day he wanted another.  He wanted more every day, until he rose to be
+a three-bottle man.  He became reconciled to the crosses on the
+wall-paper, forgave me for not being a Scotchman, and I believe the
+run of my cellar would have made him a sincere convert to popery--
+as long as the wine lasted.
+
+Soon after this memorable incident, the Minister and Secretary made
+an official pleasure excursion through the Western District.  They
+visited the court and inspected it, and me, and the books, and the
+furniture.  They found everything correct, and were afterwards so
+sociable that I expected they would, on returning to Melbourne,
+speedily promote me, probably to the Bench.  But they forgot me, and
+promoted themselves instead.  I have seen them since sitting nearly
+as high as Haman in those expensive Law courts in Lonsdale Street,
+while I was a despicable jury-man serving the Crown for ten shillings
+a day.  That is the way of this world; the wicked are well-paid and
+exalted, while the virtuous are ill-paid and trodden down.  At a
+week's notice I was ordered to leave my Garden of Eden, and I let it
+to a tenant, the very child of the Evil One.  He pruned the vines
+with goats and fed his cattle on the fruit trees.  Then he wrote to
+inquire why the vines bore no grapes and the fruit trees no fruit,
+and wanted me to lower the rent, to repair the vineyard and the
+house, and to move the front gate to the corner of the fence.  That
+man deserved nothing but death, and he died.
+
+In the summer of 1853, the last survivor of the Barrabool tribe came
+to Colac, and joined the remnant of the Colac blacks, but one night
+he was killed by them at their camp, near the site of the present
+hospital.  A shallow hole was dug about forty or fifty yards from the
+south-east corner of the allotment on which the Presbyterian manse
+was built, and the Colac tribe buried his body there, and stuck
+branches of trees around his grave.  About six months afterwards a
+Government officer, the head of a department, arrived at Colac, and I
+rode with him about the township and neighbouring country showing him
+the antiquities and the monuments, among others the mausoleum of the
+last of the Barrabools.  The leaves had by this time fallen from the
+dead branches around the sepulchre, and the small twigs on them were
+decaying.  The cattle and goats would soon tread them down and
+scatter them, and the very site of the grave would soon be unknown.
+
+The officer was a man of culture and of scientific tendencies, and he
+asked me to dig up the skull of the murdered blackfellow, and sent it
+to his address in Melbourne.  He was desirous of exercising his
+culture on it, and wished to ascertain whether the skull was
+bracchy-cephalous, dolichophalous, or polycephalous.  I think that
+was the way he expressed it.  I said there was very likely a hole in
+it, and it would be spoiled; but he said the hole would make no
+difference.  I would do almost anything for science and money, but he
+did not offer me any, and I did not think a six months' mummy was old
+enough to steal; it was too fresh.  If that scientist would borrow a
+spade and dig up the corpse himself, I would go away to a sufficient
+distance and close my eyes and nose until he had deposited the relic
+in his carpet bag.  But I was too conscientious to be accessory to
+the crime of body-snatching, and he had not courage enough to do the
+foul deed.  That land is now fenced in, and people dwell there.  The
+bones of the last of the Barrabools still rest under somebody's
+house, or fertilise a few feet of a garden plot.
+
+
+ON THE NINETY-MILE.
+
+A HOME BY A REMOTER SEA.
+
+The Ninety-Mile, washed by the Pacific, is the sea shore of
+Gippsland.  It has been formed by the mills of two oceans, which for
+countless ages have been slowly grinding into meal the rocks on the
+southern coast of Australia; and every swirling tide and howling gale
+has helped to build up the beach.  The hot winds of summer scorch the
+dry sand, and spin it into smooth, conical hills.  Amongst these, low
+shrubs with grey-green leaves take root, and thrive and flourish
+under the salt sea spray where other trees would die.  Strange
+plants, with pulpy leaves and brilliant flowers, send forth long
+green lines, having no visible beginning or end, which cling to the
+sand and weave over it a network of vegetation, binding together the
+billowy dunes.
+
+The beach is broken in places by narrow channels, through which the
+tide rushes, and wanders in many currents among low mudbanks studded
+with shellfish--the feeding grounds of ducks, and gulls, and swans;
+and around a thousand islands whose soil has been woven together by
+the roots of the spiky mangrove, or stunted tea-tree.  Upon the muddy
+flats, scarcely above the level of the water, the black swans build
+their great circular nests, with long grass and roots compacted with
+slime.  Salt marshes and swamps, dotted with bunches of rough grass,
+stretch away behind the hummocks.  Here, towards the end of the
+summer, the blacks used to reap their harvest of fat eels, which they
+drew forth from the soft mud under the roots of the tussocks.
+
+The country between the sea and the mountains was the
+happy-hunting-ground of the natives before the arrival of the
+ill-omened white-fellow.  The inlets teemed with flathead, mullet,
+perch, schnapper, oysters, and sharks, and also with innumerable
+water-fowl.  The rivers yielded eels and blackfish.  The sandy shores
+of the islands were honey-combed with the holes in which millions of
+mutton-birds deposited their eggs in the last days of November in
+each year.  Along many tracks in the scrub the black wallabiesand
+paddy-melons hopped low.  In the open glades among the great
+gum-trees marched the stately emu, and tall kangaroos, seven feet
+high, stood erect on their monstrous hind-legs, their little
+fore-paws hanging in front, and their small faces looking as innocent
+as sheep.
+
+Every hollow gum-tree harboured two or more fat opossums, which, when
+roasted, made a rich and savoury meal.  Parrots of the most brilliant
+plumage, like winged flowers, flew in flocks from tree to tree, so
+tame that you could kill them with a stick, and so beautiful that it
+seemed a sin to destroy them.  Black cockatoos, screaming harshly the
+while, tore long strips of bark from the messmate, searching for the
+savoury grub.  Bronzed-winged pigeons, gleaming in the sun, rose from
+the scrub, and flocks of white cockatoos, perched high on the bare
+limbs of the dead trees, seemed to have made them burst into
+miraculous bloom like Aaron's rod.
+
+The great white pelican stood on one leg on a sand-bank, gazing along
+its huge beak at the receding tide, hour after hour, solemn and
+solitary, meditating on the mysteries of Nature.
+
+But on the mountains both birds and beasts were scarce, as many a
+famishing white man has found to his sorrow.  In the heat of summer
+the sea-breeze grows faint, and dies before it reaches the ranges.
+Long ropes of bark, curled with the hot sun, hang motionless from the
+black-butts and blue gums; a few birds may be seen sitting on the
+limbs of the trees, with their wings extended, their beaks open,
+panting for breath, unable to utter a sound from their parched
+throats.
+
+"When all food fails then welcome haws" is a saying that does not
+apply to Australia, which yields no haws or fruit of any kind that
+can long sustain life.  A starving man may try to allay the pangs of
+hunger with the wild raspberries, or with the cherries which wear
+their seeds outside, but the longer he eats them, the more hungry he
+grows.  One resource of the lost white man, if he has a gun and
+ammunition, is the native bear, sometimes called monkey bear.  Its
+flesh is strong and muscular, and its eucalyptic odour is stronger
+still.  A dog will eat opossum with pleasure, but he must be very
+hungry before he will eat bear; and how lost to all delicacy of
+taste, and sense of refinement, must the epicure be who will make the
+attempt!  The last quadruped on which a meal can be made is the
+dingo, and the last winged creature is the owl, whose scanty flesh is
+viler even than that of the hawk or carrion crow, and yet a white man
+has partaken of all these and survived.  Some men have tried roasted
+snake, but I never heard of anyone who could keep it on his stomach.
+The blacks, with their keen scent, knew when a snake was near by the
+odour it emitted, but they avoided the reptile whether alive or dead.
+
+Before any white man had made his abode in Gippsland, a schooner
+sailed from Sydney chartered by a new settler who had taken up a
+station in the Port Phillip district.  His wife and family were on
+board, and he had shipped a large quantity of stores, suitable for
+commencing life in a new land.  It was afterwards remembered that the
+deck of the vessel was encumbered with cargo of various kinds,
+including a bullock dray, and that the deck hamper would unfit her to
+encounter bad weather.  As she did not arrive at Port Phillip within
+a reasonable time, a cutter was sent along the coast in search of
+her; and her long boat was found ashore near the Lakes Entrance, but
+nothing else belonging to her was ever seen.
+
+When the report arose in 1843 that a white woman had been seen with
+the blacks, it was supposed that she was one of the passengers of the
+missing schooner, and parties of horsemen went out to search for her
+among the natives, but the only white woman ever found was a wooden
+one--the figure-head of a ship.
+
+Some time afterwards, when Gippsland had been settled by white men, a
+tree was discovered on Woodside station near the beach, in the bark
+of which letters had been cut, and it was said they would correspond
+with the initials of the names of some of the passengers and crew of
+the lost schooner, and by their appearance they must have been carved
+many years previously.  This tree was cut down, and the part of the
+trunk containing the letters was sawn off and sent to Melbourne.
+There is little doubt that the letters on the tree had been cut by
+one of the survivors of that ill-fated schooner, who had landed in
+the long boat near the Lakes, and had made their way along the
+Ninety-Mile beach to Woodside.  They were far from the usual track of
+coasting vessels, and had little chance of attracting attention by
+signals or fires.  Even if they had plenty of food, it was impossible
+for them to travel in safety through that unknown country to Port
+Phillip, crossing the inlets, creeks, and swamps, in daily danger of
+losing their lives by the spears of the wild natives.  They must have
+wandered along the ninety-mile as far as they could go, and then,
+weary and worn out for want of food, reluctant to die the death of
+the unhonoured dead, one of them had carved the letters on the tree,
+as a last despairing message to their friends, before they were
+killed by the savages, or succumbed to starvation.
+
+"For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
+This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned,
+Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
+Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?"
+
+
+GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.
+
+AT THE OLD PORT.
+
+Most of them were Highlanders, and the news of the discovery of
+Gippsland must often have been imparted in Gaelic, for many of the
+children of the mist could speak no English when they landed.
+
+Year after year settlers had advanced farther from Sydney along the
+coastal ranges, until stations were occupied to the westward of
+Twofold Bay.  In that rugged country, where no wheeled vehicle could
+travel, bullocks were trained to carry produce to the bay, and to
+bring back stores imported from Sydney.  Each train was in charge of
+a white man, with several native drivers.  But rumours of better
+lands towards the south were rife, and Captain Macalister, of the
+border police, equipped a party of men under McMillan to go in search
+of them.  Armed and provisioned, they journeyed over the mountains,
+under the guidance of the faithful native Friday, and at length from
+the top of a new Mount Pisgah beheld a fair land, watered throughout
+as the Paradise of the Lord.  Descending into the plains, McMillan
+selected a site for a station, left some of his men to build huts and
+stockyards, and returned to report his discovery to Macalister.
+
+Slabs were split with which walls were erected, but before a roof was
+put on them the blacks suddenly appeared and began to throw their
+spears at the intruders; one spear of seasoned hardwood actually
+penetrated through a slab.  The men, all but one, who shall be
+nameless, seized their guns and fired at the blacks, who soon
+disappeared.  The white men also disappeared over the mountains; the
+rout was mutual.
+
+But the country was too good to be occupied solely by savages, and
+when McMillan returned with reinforcements he made some arrangements,
+the exact particulars of which he would never disclose.  He brought
+cattle to his run, and they quickly grew fat; but civilised man does
+not live by fat cattle alone, and a market had to be sought.  Twofold
+Bay was too far away, and young Melbourne was somewhere beyond
+impassable mountains.  McMillan built a small boat, which he launched
+on the river, and pulled down to the lakes in search of an outlet.
+He found it, but the current was so strong that it carried him out to
+sea.  He had to land on the outer beach, and to drag his boat back
+over the sands to the inner waters.
+
+He next rode westward with his man Friday to look for a port at
+Corner Inlet, and he blazed a track to the Albert River.  Friday was
+an inland black.  He gazed at the river, which was flowing towards
+the mountains, and said:
+
+"What for stupid yallock* yan along a bulga**?"
+
+[* Footnote: *Yallock, river. **Bulga, mountain.]
+
+McMillan tried to explain the theory of the tides.
+
+"One big yallock down there push him along, come back by-and-by."
+And Friday saw the water come back by-and-by.
+
+They reached the mouth of the river on February 1st, 1841, saw a
+broad expense of salt water, and McMillan concluded that he had found
+a port for Gippsland.
+
+Ten months afterwards Jack Shay arrived at the port.  He had first
+come to Twofold Bay from Van Diemen's Land, and nothing was known
+about his former life.  "That's nothing to nobody," he said.  He was
+a bushman, rough and weather-beaten, with only one peculiarity.  The
+quart pot which he slung to his belt would hold half a gallon of tea,
+while other pots only held a quart, and that was the reason why he
+was known all the way from Monaroo to Adelaide as "Jack of the Quart
+Pot."
+
+He had arrived rather late on the previous evening, and this morning,
+as he sat on a log contemplating the scenery, his first conclusion
+was that the port was not flourishing.  There was  not a ship within
+sight.  The mouth of the Albert River was visible on his right, and
+the inlet was spread out before him shining in the morning sun.
+About a mile away on the western shore was One Tree Hill.  Towards
+the south were mud banks and mangrove islands, through which the
+channel zigzagged like a figure of eight, and then the view was
+closed by the scrub on Sunday Island.  There was a boat at anchor in
+the channel about a mile distant, in which two men were fishing for
+their breakfast, for there was famine in the settlement, and the few
+pioneers left in it were kept alive on a diet of roast flathead.  On
+the beach three boats were drawn up out of reach of the tide, and
+looking behind him Jack counted twelve huts and one store of
+wattle-and-dab.  The store had been built to hold the goods of the
+Port Albert Company.  It was in charge of John Campbell, and
+contained a quantity of axes, tomahawks, saddles and bridles, a
+grindstone, some shot and powder, two double-barrelled guns, nails
+and hammers, and a few other articles, but there was nothing eatable
+to be seen in it.  If there was any flour, tea, or sugar left, it was
+carefully concealed from any of the famishing settlers who might by
+chance peep in at the door.  Outside the hut was a nine-pounder gun
+on wheels, which had been landed by the company for use in time of
+war; but until this day there had been no hostilities between the
+natives and the settlers.  From time to time numbers of black faces
+had been seen among the scrub, but so far no spear had been thrown
+nor hostile gun fired.  The members of the company were Turnbull,
+McLeod, Rankin, Brodribb, Hornden, and Orr.  Soon after they landed
+they cleared a semi-circular piece of ground behind their tents, to
+prevent the blacks from sneaking up to them unseen.  Near the beach
+stood two she-oak trees, marked, one with the letters M. M., 1 Feb.,
+1841, the other 2 Mar., 1841, and the initials of the members of the
+Port Albert Company.  Behind the huts three hobbled horses were
+feeding, two of which had been brought by Jack Shay.  A gaunt
+deerhound, with a shaggy coat, lame and lean, was lying in the sun.
+There was also an old cart in front of one of the huts, out of which
+two boys came and began to gather wood and to kindle a fire.  They
+were ragged and hungry, and looked shyly at Jack Shay.  One was Bill
+Clancy, and the other had been printer's devil to Hardy, of the
+'Gazette', and was therefore known as Dick the Devil.  They had been
+picked up in Melbourne by Captain Davy, who had brought them to Port
+Albert in his whaleboat.  Their ambition had been for "a life on the
+ocean wave, and a home on the rolling deep," as  heroic young
+pirates; but at present they lived on shore, and their home was
+George Scutt's old cart.
+
+A man emerged from one of the huts carrying a candle-box, which he
+laid on the ground before the fire.  Jack observed that the box was
+full of eggs, on the top of which lay two teaspoons.  The man was
+Captain David, usually known as Davy.  He said:
+
+"I am going to ask you to breakfast, Jack; but you have been a long
+time coming, and provisions are scarce in these parts."
+
+"Don't you make no trouble whatsomever about me," said Jack.  "Many's
+the time I've hadshort rations, and I can take pot-luck with any man."
+
+"You'll find pot-luck here is but poor luck," replied Davy.  "I've
+got neither grub nor grog, no meat, no flour, no tea, no sugar--
+nothing but eggs; but, thank God, I've got plenty of them.  There are
+five more boxes full of them in my hut, so we may as well set to at
+once."
+
+Davy drew some hot ashes from the fire, and thrust the eggs into
+them, one by one.  When they were sufficiently cooked, he handed one
+and a teaspoon to Jack and took another himself, saying, "We shall
+have to eat them just as they are; there is plenty of salt water, but
+I haven't even a pinch of salt."
+
+"Why, Davy, there's plenty of salt right before your face.  Did you
+never try ashes?  Mix a spoonful with your egg this way, and you'll
+find you don't want no better salt."
+
+"Right you are, Jack; it goes down grand," said Davy, after seasoning
+and eating one egg.  Then to the boys, "Here you kids, take some eggs
+and roast 'em and salt 'em with ashes, and then take your sticks and
+try if you can knock down a few parrots or wattle birds for dinner.
+But don't you go far from the camp, and keep a sharp look-out for the
+blacks; for you can never trust 'em, and they might poke their spears
+through you."
+
+"But, Davy," asked Jack, "where is the port and the shipping, and
+where are all the settlers?  There don't seem to be many people
+stirring about here this morning."
+
+"Port and shipping be blessed," said Davy; "and as for the settlers,
+there are only about half-a-dozen left, with these two boys and my
+wife, and Hannah Scutt.  We don't keep no regular watch, and
+meal-times is of little use unless there's something to eat. I landed
+here from that whale-boat on the 30th of last May, and I have been
+waiting for you ever since.  In a few weeks we had about a hundred
+and fifty people camped here.  They came mostly in cutters from
+Melbourne, looking for work or looking for runs.  They said men were
+working for half-a-crown a day without rations on the road between
+Liardet's beach and the town.  But there was no work for them here;
+and, as their provisions soon ran short, they had to go away or
+starve.  I stopped here, and have been starving most of the time.
+Some went back in the cutters and some overland.
+
+"Brodribb and Hobson came here over the mountains with four Port
+Phillip blacks, and they decided to look for a better way by the
+coast.  I landed them and their four blacks at the head of Corner
+Inlet.  They were attacked by the Western Port blacks near the River
+Tarwin, but they frightened them away by firing their guns.  The four
+Port Phillip blacks who were carrying the ammunition and provisions
+ran away too; and the two white men had nothing to eat for two or
+three days until they made Massey and Anderson's station on the Bass,
+where they found their runaway blacks.
+
+"William Pearson and his party were the next who left the Port.  They
+took the road over the mountains, and lived on monkey bears until
+they reached Massey and Anderson's.
+
+"McClure, Scott, Montgomery, and several other men started next.
+They had very little of their provisions left when I landed them one
+morning at One Tree Hill there over the water.  They were fourteen
+days tramping over the mountains, and were so starved that they ate
+their own dogs.  They came back in a schooner, but I think some of
+them will never get over that journey.  I tell you, Jack, it's hard
+to make a start in a new country with no money, no food, and no live
+stock, except Scott's old horse and that lame deerhound.  Poor Ossian
+was a good dog, and used to run down an old man kangaroo for us,
+until one of them gave him a terrible rip with his claw, and he has
+been lame ever since.  For eight weeks we were living on roast
+flat-head, and I grew tired of it, so on the 17th of last month I
+started down the inlet in my whaleboat, and went to Lady Bay to take
+in some firewood.  I knew the mutton-birds would be coming to the
+islands on the 23rd or 24th, but I landed on one of them on the 19th,
+four or five days too soon, and began to look for something to eat.  There
+were some pig-faces, but they were only in flower, no fruit on 'em.
+I could find nothing but penguin's eggs and I put some of those in a
+pot over the fire.  But they would never get hard if I boiled them
+all day.  There is something oily inside of them, and how it gets
+there I never could tell.  You might as well try to live on rancid
+butter and nothing else. However, on November 23rd the mutton-birds
+began to come in thousands, and then I was soon living in clover.  I
+had any quantity of hard-boiled eggs and roast fowl, for I could
+knock down the birds with a stick.
+
+"But, Jack, what have you been doing since I met you the year before
+last?  You had a train of pack bullocks and a mob of cattle, looking
+for a run about Mount Buninyong.  Did you start a station there for
+Imlay?"
+
+"No, I didn't.  I found a piece of good country, but Pettit and the
+Coghills hunted me out of it, so Imlay sold the cattle, and went back
+to Twofold Bay.  Then Charles Lynot offered me a job.  He was taking
+a mob of cattle to Adelaide, but he heard there was no price for them
+there, so he took up a station at the Pyrenees, seventeen miles
+beyond Parson Irvine's run at the Amphitheatre.  I was there about
+twelve months.  My hut was not far from a deep waterhole, and the
+milking yard was about two hundred yards from the hut.  The wild
+blacks were very troublesome; they killed three white men at
+Murdering Creek, and me and Francis, Clarke's manager, hunted them
+off the station two or three times.  The blacks were more afraid of
+Francis than of anybody else, as besides his gun he always carried
+pistols, and they never could tell how many he had in his pockets.
+Cockatoo Bill's tribe drove away a lot of Parson Irvine's sheep, and
+broke a leg of each sheep to keep them from going back.  The Parson
+and Francis went after them, and one of our stockmen named Walker,
+and another, a big fellow whose name I forget.  They shot some of the
+blacks, but the sheep were spoiled.
+
+"There was a tame blackfellow we called Alick, and two gins, living
+about our station, and he had a daughter we called picaninny
+Charlotte, ten or eleven years old, who was very quick and smart, and
+spoke English very well.  One morning, when I was in the milking
+yard, she came to me and said, 'You look out.  Cockatoo Bill got your
+axe under his rug--sitting among a lot of lubras.  Chop you down
+when you bring up milk in buckets.'
+
+"I had no gun with me, so I crept out of the yard, and sneaked
+through the scrub to get into the hut through the back door, keeping
+out of sight of Bill and the lubras, who were all sitting on the
+ground in front of the hut.  We had plenty of arms, and I always kept
+my double-barrelled gun loaded, and hanging over the fireplace.  I
+crept inside the hut, reached down for the gun, and peeped out of the
+front door, looking for Bill.  The lubras began yabbering, and in an
+instant Bill dropped his rug and the axe, leaped over the heads of
+the women, and was off like a deer.  I took a flying shot at him with
+both barrels.  His lubra went about afterwards among the stations
+complaining that Jack Quart Pot shot Cockatoo Bill, and Parker (the
+Government Protector) made enquiries about him.  I saw him coming
+towards my hut, and I said to piccaninny Charlotte, 'No talk, no
+English, no nothing;' and when Parker asked her if she knew anything
+about Cockatoo Bill she shammed stupid, and he couldn't get a word
+out of her.  Who is that cove with the spyglass?"
+
+"That's John Campbell, the company's storeman.  He is looking for a
+schooner every day.  He would have gone long ago like the rest, but
+he does not like to leave the stores behind.  Here, Mr. Campbell,
+wouldn't you like to take a roast egg or two for breakfast?  There's
+plenty for the whole camp."
+
+"I will, Davy, and thank you.  Who are the men in the boat down the
+channel?"
+
+"They are George Scutt and Pately Jim fishing for their breakfast.
+They were hungry, I reckon, and went away before I brought out the
+eggs, or they might have had a feed."
+
+While the men were roasting their eggs, their eyes wandered over
+everything within view, far and near.  On land and sea their lives had
+often depended on their watchfulness.  The sun was growing warm, and there
+was a quivering haze over the waters.  While glancing down the
+channel, Davy observed some dark objects appearing near a mangrove
+island.  He pointed them out to Campbell, and said:
+
+"What kind of birds are they?  Do you think they are swans?"
+
+"I can't think what else they can be," said Campbell; "but they have
+not got the shape of birds, and they don't swim smoothly like swans,
+but go jerking along like big coots.  Take a look through the glass,
+Davy, and see if you can make them out."
+
+Davy took a long and steady look, and said:  "I am blowed if they
+ain't blackfellows in their canoes.  They are poleing them along
+towards the channel, one, two, three--there's a dozen of 'em or
+more.  I can see their long spears sticking out, and they are after
+some mischief.  The tide is on the ebb, and they are going to drop
+down with it, and spear those two men in the boat; and they are both
+landlubbers, and haven't even got a gun with them.  We must bear a
+hand and help them.  Get your guns and we'll launch the whaleboat."
+
+John Campbell steered, and Shay and Davy pulled as hard as they could
+towards the canoes, which were already drifting down with the
+current.  The two fishermen were busy with their lines, every now and
+then pulling out a fish and baiting their hooks with a fresh piece of
+shark.  They never looked up the channel, nor guessed the danger that
+was every moment coming nearer, for the blacks as yet had not made
+the least noise.  At last Campbell saw several of them seizing their
+spears and making ready to throw them, so he fired one of his
+barrels; and Davy stood up in the boat and gave a cooee that might
+have been heard at Sunday Island, for when anything excited him on
+the water he could be heard shouting and swearing at an incredible
+distance.  He yelled at the fishermen, "Boat ahoy!  up anchor, you
+lubbers, and scatter.  Don't you see the blacks after you?"
+
+The natives began paddling away as fast as they could towards the
+nearest land, and Davy and Shay pulled after them; but the blacks
+soon reached the shore, and, taking their spears, ran into the
+nearest scrub.  When the whaleboat grounded, there was not one of
+them to be seen.  Davy said:
+
+"They are watching us not far off.  You two keep a sharp look-out,
+and if you see a black face fire at it.  I am going to cut out the
+fleet."
+
+He rolled up his trousers, took a fishing line, waded out to the
+canoes, and tied them together, one behind another, leaving a little
+slack line between each of them.  He then fastened one end of the
+line to the whaleboat, shoved off, and sprang inside.  The blacks
+came out of the scrub, yelling and brandishing their spears, a few of
+which they threw at the boat, but it was soon out of their reach.
+Thus a great naval victory had been gained, and the whole of the
+enemy's fleet captured without the loss of a man.  Nothing like it
+had been achieved since the days of the great Gulliver.
+
+The two fishermen had taken no part in the naval operations, and when
+the whaleboat returned with its train of canoes like the tail of a
+kite, Davy administered a sharp reprimand.
+
+"Why didn't you two lubbers keep your eyes skinned.  I suppose you
+were asleep, eh?  You ought to have up anchor and pulled away, and
+then the devils could never got near you.  Look here!" holding up a
+piece of bark, "that's all they've got to paddle with in deep water,
+and in the shallows they can only pole along with sticks."
+
+Pately Jim had been a prize runner in Yorkshire, and trifles never
+took away his breath.  He replied calmly:
+
+"Yo're o'reet, Davy.  We wor a bit sleepy, but we're quite wakken
+noo.  Keep yor shirt on, and we'll do better next time."
+
+When the canoes, which were built entirely with sheets of bark, were
+drawn up on the beach, nothing was found in them but a few sticks,
+bark paddles, and a gown--a lilac cotton gown.
+
+"That goon," said Campbell, "has belonged to some white woman thae
+deevils have murdered.  There is no settler nearer than Jamieson, and
+they maun ha brocht the goon a' the way frae the Bass."
+
+But Campbell was mistaken.  There had been another white woman in
+Gippsland.
+
+
+
+THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.
+
+There is a large island where the Ninety-Mile Beach ends in a
+wilderness of roaring breakers.  It is the Isle of Blasted Hopes.
+Its enchanting landscape has allured many a landsman to his ruin, and
+its beacon, seen through the haze of a south-east gale, has guided
+many a watchful mariner to shipwreck and death.
+
+After the discovery of Gippsland, Pearson and Black first occupied
+the island under a grazing license, and they put eleven thousand
+sheep on it, with some horses, bullocks, and pigs.  The sheep began
+to die, so they sold them to Captain Cole at ten shillings a head,
+giving in the other stock.  They were of the opinion that they had
+made an excellent bargain, but when the muster was made nine thousand
+six hundred of the sheep were missing.  The pigs ran wild, but
+multiplied.  When the last sheep had perished, Cole sold his license
+to a man named Thomas, who put on more sheep, and afterwards
+exchanged as many as he could find with John King for cattle and
+horses.  Morrison next occupied the island until he was starved out.
+Then another man named Thomas took the fatal grazing license, but he
+did not live on the land.  He placed his brother in charge of it, to
+be out of the way of temptation, as he was too fond of liquor.  The
+brother was not allowed the use of a boat; he, with his wife and
+family, was virtually a prisoner, condemned to sobriety.  But by this
+time a lighthouse had been erected, and Watts the keeper of it had a
+boat, and was, moreover, fond of liquor.  The two men soon became
+firm friends, and often found it necessary to make voyages to Port
+Albert for flour, or tea, or sugar.  The last time they sailed
+together the barometer was low, and a gale was brewing.  When they
+left the wharf they had taken on board all the stores they required,
+and more; they were happy and glorious.  Next day the masthead of
+their boat was seen sticking out of the water near Sunday Island.
+The pilot schooner went down and hauled the boat to the surface, but
+nothing was found in her except the sand-ballast and a bottle of rum.
+Her sheet was made fast, and when the squall struck her she had gone
+down like a stone.  The Isle of Blasted Hopes was useless even as an
+asylum for inebriates.
+
+The 'Ecliptic' was carrying coals from Newcastle.  The time was
+midnight, the sky was misty, and the gale was from the south-east,
+when the watch reported a light ahead.  The cabin boy was standing on
+deck near the captain, when he held a consultation with his mate, who
+was also his son.  Father and son agreed; they said the light ahead
+was the one on Kent's Group, and then the vessel grounded amongst the
+breakers.  The seamen stripped off their heavy clothing, and went
+overboard; the captain and his son plunged in together and swam out
+of sight.  There were nine men in the water, while the cabin boy
+stood shivering on deck.  He, too, had thrown away his clothes, all
+but the wrist-bands of his shirt, which in his flurry he could not
+unbutton.  He could not make up his mind to jump overboard.  He heard
+the men in the water shouting to one another, "Make for the light."
+That course led them away from the nearest land, which they could not
+see.  At length a great sea swept the boy among the breakers, but his
+good angel pushed a piece of timber within reach, and he held on to
+it until he could feel the ground with his feet; he then let the
+timber go, and scrambled out of reach of the angry surge; but when he
+came to the dry sand he fainted and fell down.  When he recovered his
+senses he began to look for shelter; there was a signal station not
+far off, but he could not see it.  He went away from the pitiless sea
+through an opening between low conical hills, covered with dark
+scrub, over a pathway composed of drift sand and broken shells.  He
+found an old hut without a door. There was no one in it; he went
+inside, and lay down shivering.
+
+At daybreak a boy, the son of Ratcliff, the signal man, started out
+to look for his goats, and as they sometimes passed the  night in the
+old fowlhouse, he looked in for them.  But instead of the goats, he
+saw the naked cabin boy.  "Who are you?" he said, "and what are you
+doing here, and where did you come from?"
+
+"I have been shipwrecked," replied the cabin boy; and then he sat up
+and began to cry.
+
+Young Ratcliff ran off to tell his father what he had found; and the
+boy was brought to the cottage, put to bed, and supplied with food
+and drink.  The signal for a wreck was  hoisted at the flagstaff, but
+when the signallman went to look for a wreck he could not find one.
+He searched along the shore and found the dead body of the captain,
+and a piece of splintered spar seven or eight feet long, on which the
+cabin boy had come ashore.  The 'Ecliptic', with her cargo and crew,
+had completely disappeared, while the signalman, near at hand, slept
+peacefully, undisturbed by her crashing timbers, or the shouts of the
+drowning seamen.  Ratcliff was not a seer, and had  no mystical lore.
+He was a runaway sailor, who had, in the forties, travelled daily
+over the Egerton run, unconscious of the tons of gold beneath his
+feet.
+
+There was a fair wind and a smooth sea when the 'Clonmel' went ashore
+at three o'clock in the morning of the second day of January, 1841.
+Eighteen hours before she had taken a fresh departure from Ram's Head
+to Wilson's Promontory.  The anchors were let go, she swung to wind,
+and at the fall of the tide she bedded herself securely in the sand,
+her hull, machinery, and cargo uninjured.  The seventy-five
+passengers and crew were safely landed; sails, lumber, and provisions
+were taken ashore in the whaleboats and quarter-boats; tents were
+erected; the food supplies were stowed away under a capsized boat,
+and a guard set over them by Captain Tollervey.
+
+Next morning seven volunteers launched one of the whaleboats, boarded
+the steamer, took in provisions, made a lug out of a piece of canvas,
+hoisted the Union Jack to the mainmast upside down, and pulled safely
+away from the 'Clonmel' against a head wind.  They hoisted the lug
+and ran for one of the Seal Islands, where they found a snug little
+cove, ate a hearty meal, and rested for three hours.  They then
+pulled for the mainland, and reached Sealer's Cove about midnight,
+where they landed, cooked supper, and passed the rest of the night in
+the boat for fear of the blacks.
+
+Next morning three men went ashore for water and filled the breaker,
+when they saw three blacks coming down towards them; so they hurried
+on board, and the anchor was hauled up.
+
+As the wind was coming from the east, they had to pull for four hours
+before they weathered the southern point of the cove; they then
+hoisted sail and ran for Wilson's Promentory, which they rounded at
+ten o'clock a.m.  At eight o'clock in the evening they brought up in
+a small bay at the eastern extremity of Western Port, glad to get
+ashore and stretch their weary limbs.  After a night's refreshing
+repose on the sandy beach, they started at break of day, sailing
+along very fast with a strong and steady breeze from the east,
+although they were in danger of being swamped, as the sea broke over
+the boat repeatedly.  At two o'clock p.m. they were abreast of Port
+Philip Heads; but they found a strong ebb tide, with such a ripple
+and broken water that they did not consider it prudent to run over
+it.  They therefore put the boat's head to windward and waited for
+four hours, when they saw a cutter bearing down on them, which proved
+to be 'The Sisters', Captain Mulholland, who took the boat in tow and
+landed them at Williamstown at eleven o'clock p.m., sixty-three
+hours from the time they left the 'Clonmel'.
+
+Captain Lewis, the harbour master, went to rescue the crew and
+passengers and brought them all to Melbourne, together with the
+mails, which had been landed on the island since known by the name of
+the 'Clonmel'.
+
+For fifty-two years the black boilers of the 'Clonmel' have lain half
+buried in the sandspit, and they may still be seen among the breakers
+from the deck of every vessel sailing up the channel to Port Albert.
+
+The 'Clonmel', with  her valuable cargo, was sold in Sydney, and the
+purchaser, Mr. Grose, set about the business of making his fortune
+out of her.  He sent a party of wreckers who pitched their camps on
+Snake Island, where they had plenty of grass, scrub, and timber.  The
+work of taking out the cargo was continued under various captains for
+six years, and then Mr. Grose lost a schooner and was himself landed
+in the Court of Insolvency.
+
+While the pioneers at the Old Port were on the verge of starvation,
+the 'Clonmel' men were living in luxury.  They had all the blessings
+both of land and sea--corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, plum-duff,
+tea, sugar, coffee, wine, beer, spirits, and tobacco from the cargo
+of the 'Clonmel', and oysters without end from a neighbouring lagoon.
+They constructed a large square punt, which they filled with cargo
+daily, wind and weather permitting; at other times they rested from
+their labours, or roamed about the island shooting birds or hunting
+kangaroo.  They saw no other inhabitants, and believed that no black
+lucifer had as yet entered their island garden; but, though unseen,
+he was watching them and all their works.
+
+One morning the wreckers had gone to the wreck; a man named Kennedy
+was left in charge of the camp; Sambo, the black cook, was attending
+to his duties at the fire; and Mrs. Kennedy, the only lady of the
+party, was at the water hole washing clothes.  Her husband had left
+the camp with his gun in the hope of shooting some wattle birds,
+which were then fat with feeding on the sweet blossoms of the
+honeysuckle.  He was sitting on a log near the water-hole talking to
+his wife, who had just laid out to dry on the bushes three coloured
+shirts and a lilac dress.  She stood with her hands on  her hips,
+pensively contemplating the garments.  She had her troubles, and was
+turning them over in her mind, while her husband was thinking of
+something else quite different.  It is, I believe, a thing that often
+happens.
+
+"I am thinking, Flora," he said, "that this would be a grand island
+to live on--far better than Skye, because it has no rocks on it.  I
+would like to haf it for a station.  I could put sheep and cattle on
+it, and they could not go away nor be lifted, because there is deep
+water all round it; and we would haf plenty of beef, and mutton, and
+wool, and game, and fish, and oysters.  We could make a garden and
+haf plenty of kail, and potatoes, and apples."
+
+"It's all ferry well, Donald," she replied, "for you to be talking
+about sheep, and cattle, and apples; but I'd like to know wherefer we
+would be getting the money to buy the sheep and cattle?  And who
+would like to live here for efer a thousand miles from decent
+neebors?  And that's my best goon, and it's getting fery shabby; and
+wherefer I'm to get another goon in a country like this I'm thinking
+I don't know."
+
+Donald thought his wife was troubling herself about mere trifles, but
+before he had time to say so, a blackfellow snatched his gun from
+across his knees, another hit him on the head with a waddy, and a
+third did the same to Flora and the unfortunate couple lay senseless
+on the ground.  Their hopes and troubles had come to a sudden end.
+
+This onslaught had been made by four blacks, who now made a bundle of
+the clothes, and carried them and the gun away, going towards the
+camp in search of more plunder.  The tents occupied by the wreckers
+had been enclosed in a thick hedge of scrub to protect them from the
+drifting sand.  There was only one opening in the hedge, through
+which the blacks could see Sambo cooking the wreckers' dinner before
+a fire.  His head was bare, and he was enjoying the genial heat of
+early summer, singing snatches of the melodies of Old Virginny.
+
+The hearing of the Australian aboriginal is acute, and his talent for
+mimicry astonishing; he can imitate the notes of every bird and the
+call of every animal with perfect accuracy.
+
+Sambo's senseless song enchanted the four blacks.  It was first heard
+with tremendous applause in New Orleans, it was received with enthusiasm
+by every audience in the Great Republic, and it had been the delight
+of every theatre in the British Empire.  It may be said that "jim
+Crow" buried the legitimate drama and danced on its grave.  It really
+seemed to justify the severe judgment passed on us by the sage of
+Chelsea, that we were "sixteen millions, mostly fools."  No air was
+ever at the same time so silly and so successful as "Jim Crow."  But
+there was life in it, and it certainly prolonged that of Sambo, for
+as the four savages crouched behind the hedge listening to the
+
+"Turn about and wheel about, and do just so,
+And ebery time I turn about I jump Jim Crow,"
+
+they forgot their murderous errand.
+
+At last there was an echo of the closing words which seemed to come
+from a large gum tree beyond the tents, against which a ladder had
+been reared to the forks, used for the purpose of a look-out by
+Captain Leebrace.
+
+Sambo paused, looked up to the gum tree, and said, "By golly, who's
+dere?"  The echo was repeated, and then he wheeled about in real
+earnest, transfixed with horror, unable to move a limb.  The blacks
+were close to him now, but even their colour could not restore his
+courage.  They were cannibals, and were preparing to kill and eat
+him.  But first they examined their game critically, poking their
+fingers about him, pinching him in various parts of the body,
+stroking his broad nose and ample lips with evident admiration, and
+trying to pull out the curls on his woolly head.
+
+Sambo was usually proud of his personal appearance, but just now fear
+prevented him from enjoying the applause of the strangers.
+
+At length he recovered his presence of mind sufficiently to make an
+effort to avert his impending doom.  If the blacks could be induced
+to eat the dinner he was cooking their attention to  himself might be
+diverted, and their appetites appeased, so he pointed towards the
+pots, saying, "Plenty beef, pork, plum duff."
+
+The blacks seemed to understand his meaning, and they began to
+inspect the dinner; so instead of taking the food like sensible men,
+they upset all the pots with their waddies, and scattered the beef,
+pork, plum duff and potatoes, so that they were covered with sand and
+completely spoiled.
+
+Two of the blacks next peered into the nearest tent, and seeing some
+knives and forks, took possession of them.  But there was a sound of
+voices from the waterhole, and they quickly gathered together their
+stolen goods and disappeared.  In a few minutes Captain Leebrace and
+the wreckers arrived at the camp, bringing with them Kennedy and his
+wife, who had recovered their senses, and were able to tell what had
+happened.
+
+"Black debbils been heah, cappen, done spoil all de dinner, and run
+away wid de knives and forks," Sambo said.
+
+Captain Leebrace soon resolved on a course of reprisals.  He went up
+the ladder to the forks of the gum tree with his telescope, and soon
+obtained a view of the retreating thieves, appearing occasionally and
+disappearing among the long grass and timber; and after observing the
+course they were taking he came down the ladder.  He selected two of
+his most trustworthy men, and armed them and himself with
+double-barrelled guns, one barrel being smooth bore and the other
+rifled, weapons suitable for game both large and small.  During the
+pursuit the captain every now and then, from behind a tree, searched
+for the enemy with his telescope, until at last he could see that
+they had halted, and had joined a number of their tribe.  He judged
+that the blacks, if they suspected that the white men would follow
+them, would direct their looks principally towards the tents, so he
+made a wide circuit to the left.  Then he and his men crept slowly
+along the ground until they arrived within short range of the natives.
+
+Three of the blacks were wearing the stolen shirts, a fourth had put
+on the lilac dress, and they were strutting around to display their
+brave apparel just like white folks.  The savage man retains all
+finery for his own personal adornment, and never wastes any of it on
+his despicable wife, but still Captain Leebrace had some doubt in the
+matter.  He whispered to his men, "I don't like to shoot at a gown;
+there may be a lubra in it, but I'll take the middle fellow in the
+shirt, and you take the other two, one to the right, the other to the
+left; when I say one, two, three, fire."
+
+The order was obeyed and when the smoke cleared away the print dress
+was gone, but all the rest of the plunder was recovered on the spot.
+The shirts were stripped off the bodies of the blacks; and after they
+had been rinsed in a water-hole, they were found to have been not
+much damaged, each shirt having only a small bullet hole in it.  It
+was in this way that the lilac dress escaped, and was found in the
+canoe at the Old Port; the blackfellow who wore it had taken it off
+and put it under his knees in the bottom of his canoe, and when the
+white men's boat came after  him, he was in so great a hurry to hide
+himself in the scrub that he left the dress behind.
+
+Next day there was a sudden alarm in the camp at the Old Port.
+Clancy and Dick the Devil came running toward the beach, full of fear
+and excitement, screaming, "The blacks, the blacks, they are coming,
+hundreds of them, and they are all naked, and daubed over white, and
+they have long spears."
+
+The men who had guns--Campbell, Shay, and Davy--fetched them out
+of their huts and stood ready to receive the enemy; even McClure,
+although very weak, left his bed and came outside to assist in the
+fight.  The fringe of the scrub was dotted with the piebald bodies of
+the blacks, dancing about, brandishing their spears, and shouting
+defiance at the white men.  They were not in hundreds, as the boys
+imagined, their number apparently not exceeding forty; but it was
+evident that they were threatening death and destruction to the
+invaders of their territory.  None, however, but the very bravest
+ventured far into the cleared space, and they showed no disposition
+to make a rush or anything like a concerted attack.
+
+Campbell, after watching the enemy's movements for some time, said,
+"I think it will be better to give them a taste of the nine-pounder.
+Keep a look-out while I load her."
+
+He went into his store to get the charge ready.  He tied some powder
+tightly in a piece of calico and rammed it home.  On this he put a
+nine-pound shot; but, reflecting that the aim at the dancing savages
+would be uncertain, he put in a double charge, consisting of some
+broken glass and a handful of nails.
+
+He then thrust a wooden skewer down the touch-hole into the powder
+bag below, primed and directed the piece towards the scrub, giving
+it, as he judged, sufficient elevation to send the charge among the
+thickest of the foe.  As this was the first time the gun had been
+brought into action, and there was no telling for certain which way
+it would act, Campbell thought it best to be cautious; so he ordered
+all his men to take shelter behind the store.  He then selected a
+long piece of bark, which he lighted at the fire, and, standing
+behind an angle of the building, he applied the light to the
+touch-hole.  Every man was watching the scrub to see the effect of
+the discharge.  There was a fearful explosion, succeeded by shrieks
+of horror and fear from the blacks, as the ball and nails and broken
+glass went whistling over their heads through the trees.  Then there
+was a moment of complete silence.  Campbell, like a skilful general,
+ordered his men to pursue at once the flying foe, in order to reap to
+the full the fruits of victory, and they ran across the open ground
+to deliver a volley; but on arriving at the scrub no foe was to be
+seen, either dead or alive.  The elevation of the artillery had been
+too great, and the missiles had passed overhead; but the result was
+all that could be hoped for, for two months afterwards not a single
+native was visible.
+
+Two victories had been gained by the pioneers, and it was felt that
+they deserved some commemoration.  At night there was a feast around
+the camp fire; it was of necessity a frugal one, but each member of
+the small community contributed to it as much as he was able.
+Campbell produced flour enough for a large damper, a luxury unseen
+for the last eight weeks; McClure gave tea and sugar; Davy brought
+out a box full of eggs and a dozen mutton birds; Scutt and Pateley
+furnished a course of roast flathead; Clancy and Dick the Devil, the
+poor pirates, gave all the game they had that day killed, viz., two
+parrots and a wattle bird.  The twelve canoes, the spoils of victory,
+were of little value; they were placed on the camp fire one after
+another, and reduced to ashes.
+
+The warriors sat around on logs and boxes enjoying the good things
+provided and talking cheerfully, but they made no set speeches.
+Dinner oratory is full of emptiness and they had plenty of that every
+day.  They dipped pannikins of tea out of the iron pot.
+
+When Burke and Wills were starving at Cooper's Creek on a diet of
+nardoo, the latter recorded in his diary that what the food wanted
+was sugar; he believed that nardoo and sugar would keep him alive.
+The pioneers at the Old Port were convinced that their great want was
+fat; with that their supper would have been perfect.
+
+McClure was dying of consumption as everybody knew but himself; he
+could not believe that he had come so far from home only to die, and
+he joined the revellers at the camp fire.  He said to kindly
+enquirers that he felt quite well, and would soon regain his
+strength.  Before that terrible journey over the mountains he had
+been the life and soul of the Port.  He could play on the violin, on
+the bagpipes--both Scotch and Irish--and he was always so
+pleasant and cheerful, looking as innocent as a child, that no one
+could be long dispirited in his company, and the most impatient
+growler became ashamed of himself.
+
+McClure was persuaded to bring out his violin once more--it had
+been long silent--and he began playing the liveliest of tunes,
+strathspeys, jigs, and reels, until some of the men could hardly keep
+their heels still, but it is hard to dance on loose sand, and they
+had to be contented with expressing their feelings in song.  Davy
+sang "Ye Mariners of England," and other songs of the sea; and
+Pateley Jim gave the "Angel's Whisper," followed by an old ballad of
+the days of Robin Hood called "The Wedding of Aythur O'Braidley," the
+violin accompanying the airs and putting the very soul of music into
+every song.
+
+But by degrees the musician grew weary, and began to play odds and
+ends of old tunes, sacred and profane.  He dwelt some time on an
+ancient "Kyrie Eleeson," and at last glided, unconsciously as it
+were, into the "Land o' the Leal."
+
+I'm wearin' away, Jean,
+Like snaw wreaths in thaw, Jean,
+I'm wearin' awa, Jean,
+To the Land o' the Leal.
+
+There's nae sorrow there, Jean,
+There's nae caul or care, Jean,
+The days aye fair, Jean,
+I' the Land of the Leal.
+
+At last McClure rose from his seat, and said, "I'll pit awa the
+fiddle, and bid ye a good nicht.  I think I'll be going hame to my
+mither the morn."
+
+He went into his tent.  It was high tide, and there was a gentle
+swish of long low waves lapping the sandy beach.  The night wind
+sighed a soothing lullaby through the spines of the she-oak, and his
+spirit passed peacefully away with the ebb.  He was the first man who
+died at the Old Port, and he was buried on the bank of the river
+where Friday first saw its waters flowing towards the mountain.
+
+Thirty years afterwards I saw two old men, Campbell and Montgomery,
+pulling up the long grass which had covered his neglected grave.
+
+
+GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.
+
+Jack Shay was not sorry to leave the Old Port.  The nocturnal feast
+made to celebrate the repulse of the blackfellows could not conceal
+the state of famine which prevailed, and he was pleased to remember
+that he had brought plenty of flour, tea, and sugar as far as the
+Thomson river.  Davy had no saddle, but John Campbell lent him one
+for the journey, and also sold him shot and powder on credit.  So
+early in the morning the two men took a "tightener" of roast eggs,
+and commenced their journey on McMillan's track, each man carrying
+his double-barrelled gun, ready loaded, in his hand.  By this time
+the sight of a gun was a sufficient warning to the blackfellows to
+keep at a safe distance; the discharge of the nine-pounder had proved
+to them that the white man possessed mysterious powers of mischief,
+and it was a long time before they could recover courage enough to
+approach within view of the camp at the Old Port.  On the second day
+of their journey Davy and Shay arrived at the Thomson, and found the
+mob of cattle and the men all safe.  They built a hut, erected a
+stockyard, and roughly fixed the boundaries of the station by blazed
+trees, the bank of the river, and other natural marks.
+
+There were three brothers Imlay in the Twofold Bay district--John,
+Alexander, and George--the latter residing at the Bay, where he
+received stores from Sydney, and shipped return cargoes of station
+produce and fat cattle for Hobarton.  Two stations on the mountains
+were managed by the other two brothers, and their brand was III.,
+usually called "the Bible brand."  When the station on the Thomson
+was put in working order, the Imlays exchanged it for one owned by P.
+P. King, which was situated between their two stations in the Monaro
+district.  The Gippsland station was named Fulham, and was managed by
+John King.  Jack Shay returned to the mountains, and Davy to the Old
+Port.
+
+Soon afterwards the steamer 'Corsair' arrived from Melbourne,
+bringing many passengers, one of whom was John Reeve, who took up a
+station at Snake Ridge, and purchased the block of land known as
+Reeve's Survey.  The new settlers also brought a number of horses,
+and Norman McLeod had twenty bullocks on board.  The steamer could
+not reach the port, and brought-to abreast of the Midge Channel. The
+cattle and horses were slung and put into the water, four at a time,
+and swam to land, but all the bullocks disappeared soon afterwards
+and fled to the mountains.
+
+Next the brig 'Bruthen' arrived from Sydney, chartered by the
+Highland chief Macdonnell, of Glengarry.  In the days of King William
+III. a sum of 20,000 pounds was voted for the purpose of purchasing
+the allegiance of the Glengarry of that day, and of that of several
+other powerful chiefs.  On taking the oath of loyalty to the new
+dynasty, they were to receive not more than 2,000 pounds
+each; or, if they preferred dignity to cash, they could have any
+title of nobility they pleased below that of earl.  Most of them took
+the oath and the cash.  It is not recorded that any chief preferred a
+title, but the Macdonnell of 1842 was Lord Glengarry to all the new
+settlers in Gippsland.  His father, Colonel Alexander Ronaldson
+Macdonnell, was the last genuine specimen of a Highland chief, and he
+was the Fergus McIvor of Walter Scott's "Waverley."  He always wore
+the dress of his ancestors, and kept sentinels posted at his doors.
+He perished in the year 1828, while attempting to escape from a
+steamer which had gone ashore.  His estate was heavily encumbered,
+and his son was compelled to sell it to the Marquis of Huntly.  In
+1840 it was sold to the Earl of Dudley for 91,000 pounds, and in 1860
+to Edward Ellice for 120,000 pounds.
+
+The landless young chief resolved to transfer his broken fortunes to
+Australia.  He brought with him a number of men and women, chiefly
+Highlanders, who were landed by Davy in his whaleboat.  For this
+service Glengarry gave a cheque on a Sydney bank for five pounds,
+which was entrusted to Captain Gaunson of the schooner 'Coquette' to
+purchase groceries.  On arriving in Sydney the Gaunsons went on a
+pleasure excursion about the harbour, the 'Coquette' was capsized in
+a squall, one or two of the family perished, and Davy's cheque went
+down with the vessel.  But when the schooner was raised and the water
+pumped out, the cheque was found, and the groceries on the next
+voyage arrived safely at the Old Port.
+
+Glengarry's head man and manager of the enterprise was a poor
+gentleman from Tipperary named Dancer, and his chief stockman was
+Sandy Fraser.
+
+By the regulations then in force in New South Wales, Glengarry was
+entitled, for a fee of 10 pounds per annum, to hold under a
+depasturing license an area of twenty square miles, on which he might
+place 500 head of cattle or 4,000 sheep.  He selected a site for his
+head station and residence on the banks of the Tarra.  The house was
+built, huts and stockyards were erected, 500 dairy cows were bought
+at 10 pounds each, and the business of dairy farming commenced.
+
+But the young chief and his men were unused to the management of a
+station in the new country; they had everything to learn, and at a
+ruinous cost.
+
+A number of young men bailed up the cows each morning, and put on the
+leg ropes; then they sat on the top rails of the stockyard fence and
+waited while the maids drew the milk.  Dancer superintended the
+labours of the men and the milkmaids.  He sat in his office in a
+corner of the stockyard, entering in his books the number of cattle
+milked, and examining the state of their brands, which were daubed on
+the hides with paint and brush. Some cheese was made, but it was not
+of much account, and all the milk and butter were consumed on the
+station.
+
+At this time the blacks had quite recovered from the fright
+occasioned by the discharge of the nine-pounder gun, and were again
+often seen from the huts at the Old Port.  Donald Macalister was sent
+by his uncle, Lachlan Macalister, of Nuntin, to make arrangements for
+shipping some cattle and sheep.  The day before their arrival Donald
+saw some blacks at a distance in the scrub, and without any
+provocation fired at them with an old Tower musket, charged with
+shot.  The next day the drovers and shepherds arrived with the stock,
+and drove them over Glengarry's bridge to a place between the Tarra
+and Albert rivers, called the Coal Hole, afterwards occupied by
+Parson Bean.  there was no yard there, and the animals would require
+watching at night; so Donald decided to send them back to Glengarry's
+yards.  Then he and the drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant
+time; there would be songs and whisky, the piper would play, and the
+men and maids would dance.  The arrangement suited everybody.  The
+drovers started back with the cattle, Donald helped the shepherds to
+gather the sheep, and put them on the way, and then he rode after the
+cattle.  The track led him past a grove of dense ti-tree, on the land
+now known as the Brewery Paddock, and about a hundred yards ahead a
+single blackfellow came out of the grove, and began capering about
+and waving a waddy.  Donald pulled up his horse and looked at the
+black.  He had a pair of pistols in the holsters of his saddle, but
+he did not draw them:  there was no danger from a blackfellow a
+hundred yards off.  But there was another behind him and much nearer,
+who came silently out of the ti-tree and thrust a spear through
+Donald's neck.  The horse galloped away towards Glengarry's bridge.
+
+When the drovers saw the riderless horse, they supposed that
+Macalister had been accidentally thrown, and they sent Friday to look
+for him.  He found him dead.  The blacks had done their work quickly.
+They had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers and boots,
+had mutilated him in their usual fashion, and had disappeared.  A
+messenger was sent to old Macalister, and the young man was buried on
+the bank of the river near McClure's grave.  The new cemetery now
+contained three graves, the second being that of Tinker Ned, who shot
+himself accidentally when pulling out his gun from beneath a
+tarpaulin.
+
+Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with
+blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army, and
+an officer of the border police.  The murder of his nephew gave him
+both a professional and a family interest in chastising the
+criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them.  It was,
+of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the
+outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe.  The
+blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and
+those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said,
+of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an
+exaggeration.  At any rate, the black who capered about to attract
+young Macalister's attention escaped, and he often afterwards
+described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently
+considered a glorious act of revenge.  The gun used by old Macalister
+was a double-barrelled Purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon, which
+in its time had done great execution.
+
+The dairy business at Greenmount was carried on at a continual loss,
+and Glengarry resolved to return to Scotland.  He sold his cows and
+their increase to Thacker and Mason, of Sydney, for twenty-seven
+shillings and sixpence per head; his house was bought by John
+Campbell.  On the eve of his departure for Sydney in the schooner
+'Coquette' (Captain Gaunson), a farewell dinner was given by the
+Highlanders at the Old Port, and Long Mason, who had come from Sydney
+to take delivery of the cows on behalf of Thacker and Mason, was one
+of the guests.  But there was more of gloom than of gaiety around the
+festive board.  All wished well to the young chief, but the very best
+of his friends could think of nothing cheerful to say to him.  His
+enterprise had been a complete failure; the family tree of Clanranald
+the Dauntless had refused to take root in a strange land the glory
+had gone from it for ever, and there was nothing to celebrate in song
+or story.
+
+Other men from the Highlands failed to win the smiles of fortune in
+Gippsland.  At home, notwithstanding their tribal feuds, they held
+their own for two thousand years against the Roman and Saxon, the
+Dane and the Norman.  Only one hundred and fifty years ago (it seems
+now almost incredible) they nearly scared the Hanoverian dynasty from
+the throne of England, and even yet, though scattered throughout the
+British Empire, they are neither a fallen nor a falling race.
+
+Glengarry returned to his tent early, and then the buying and selling
+of the five hundred cows became the subject of conversation; the
+whisky circulated, and Long Mason observed that unfriendly looks
+began to be directed towards himself.  He was an Englishman, a
+Southron, and it was a foul shame and dishonour that such as he
+should pay a Highland chief only twenty-seven shillings and sixpence
+for beasts that had cost ten pounds each.  That was not the way in
+the good old days when the hardy men of the north descended from the
+mountains with broadsword and shield, lifted the cattle of the Saxon,
+and drove them to their homes in the glens.
+
+The fervid temper of the Gael grew hotter at the thought of the rank
+injustice which had been done, and it was decided that Long Mason
+should be drowned in the inlet.  He protested against the decision
+with vigour, and apparently with reason.  He said:
+
+"I did not buy the cattle at all.  Glengarry sold them to Thacker and
+my brother in Sydney, and I only came over to take delivery of them.
+What wrong have I done?"
+
+But the reasoning of the prosaic Englishman was thrown to the winds:
+
+"Ye've done everything wrong.  Ye should hae gin ten pund sterling
+apiece for the coos, and not twenty-sen and saxpence.  It's a pity
+yer brither, and Thacker, and MacFarlane are no here the nicht, and
+we'd droon them, too."
+
+Four strong men, shouting in Gaelic the war-cry of Sheriffmuir,
+"Revenge, revenge, revenge to-day, mourning to-morrow!" seized the
+long limbs of the unfortunate Mason, and in spite of his struggles
+bore him towards the beach.  The water near the margin was shallow,
+so they waded in until it was deep enough for their purpose.  There
+was a piercing cry, "Help! murder! murder!"  John Campbell heard it,
+but it was not safe for a Campbell to stand between a Macdonnell and
+his revenge.  However, Captain Davy and Pateley Jim came out of their
+huts to see what was the matter, and they waded after the
+Highlanders.  Each seized a man by the collar and downhauled.  There
+was a sudden whirlpool, a splashing and a spluttering, as all the
+five men went under and drank the brine.
+
+"I think," said Pateley, "that will cool 'em a bit," and it did.
+
+Long Mason was a university man, educated for the church, but before
+his ordination to the priesthood he had many other adventures and
+misfortunes.  After being nearly drowned by the Highlanders he was
+placed in charge of Woodside station by his elder brother; he tried
+to mitigate the miseries of solitude with drink, but he did so too
+much and was turned adrift.  He then made his way to New Zealand, and
+fought as a common soldier through the Heki war.  Captain Patterson,
+of the schooner 'Eagle', met him at a New Zealand port.  He was
+wearing a long, ragged old coat, such as soldiers wore, was out of
+employment, and in a state of starvation.  The captain took pity on
+him, brought him back to Port Albert, and he became a shepherd on a
+station near Bairnsdale.  While he was fighting the Maoris his
+brother had gone home, and had sent to Sydney money to pay his
+passage to England.  But he could not be found, and the money was
+returned to London.  At length Captain Bentley found out where he
+was, took him to Sydney, gave him an outfit, and paid his passage to
+England.  Long Mason, honest man that he was, sent back the passage
+money, was ordained priest, obtained a living near London, and roamed
+no more.
+
+He had a younger brother named Leonard Mason, who lived with Coady
+Buckley at Prospect, near the Ninety-Mile, and became a good bushman.
+In 1844 Leonard took up a station in North Gippsland adjoining the
+McLeod's run, but the Highlanders tried to drive him away by taking
+his cattle a long distance to a pound which had been established at
+Stratford.  The McLeods and their men were too many for Leonard.  He
+went to Melbourne to try if the law or the Government would give him
+any redress, but he could obtain no satisfaction.  The continued
+impounding of his cattle meant ruin to him, and when he returned to
+Gippsland he found his hut burned down and his cattle gone on the way
+to the pound.  He took a double-barrelled gun and went after them.
+He found them at Providence Ponds, which was a stopping place for
+drovers.  Next morning he rose early, went to the stockyard with his
+gun, and waited till McDougall, who was manager for the McLeods, came
+out with his stockmen.  When they approached the yard he said:
+
+"I shall shoot the first man who touches those rails to take my cattle
+out."
+
+McDougall laughed, and ordered one of his men to take down the
+slip-rails, but the man hesitated; he did not like the looks of
+Mason.  Then McDougall dismounted from his horse and went to the
+slip-rails, but as soon as he touched them Mason shot him.
+
+Coady Buckley spared neither trouble nor expense in obtaining the
+best counsel for Mason's defence at the trial in Melbourne.  He was
+found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years'
+imprisonment, but after a time was released on the condition of
+leaving Victoria, and when last heard of was a drover beyond the
+Murray.
+
+After the departure of Glengarry, Dancer could find no profitable
+employment in Gippsland, and lived in a state of indigence.  At last
+he borrowed sufficient money on a promissory note to pay his passage
+to Ireland.  In Tipperary he became a baronet and a sheriff, and
+lived to a good old age.
+
+
+WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.
+
+It seemed incredible to the first settlers in North Gippsland that
+their new Punjaub, the land of the five rivers, which emptied their
+waters into immense lakes, should communicate with the sea by no
+channel suitable for ships, and an expedition was organised to
+endeavour to find an outlet.  McMillan had two boats at his station
+at Bushy Park, but he had no sails, so he engaged Davy as sailmaker
+and chief navigator on the intended voyage.  The two men rode
+together from the Old Port up the track over Tom's Cap, and shot two
+pigeons by the way, which was fortunate, for when they arrived at
+Kilmany Park William Pearson was absent, and his men were found to be
+living under a discipline so strict that his stock-keeper, Jimmy
+Rentoul, had no meat, and dared not kill any without orders; so
+McMillan and Davy fried the pigeons, and ate one each for supper.
+Next morning they shot some ducks for breakfast, and then proceeded
+on their journey.  They called at Mewburn Park, arrived at Bushy Park
+(McMillan's own station), and Davy began making the sails the same
+evening.  Next morning he crossed the river in a canoe, made out of a
+hollow log, to Boisdale, Lachlan Macalister's station, and went to
+the milking yard.  The management was similar to that of Dancer at
+Greenmount.  Eleven men and women were milking about one hundred and
+fifty cows, superintended by nine Highlanders, who were sitting on
+the toprails discoursing in Gaelic.  One of them was Jock Macdonald,
+who was over eighteen stone in weight, too heavy for any ordinary
+horse to carry; the rest were Macalisters, Gillies, and Thomsons.
+The stockmen were convicts, and they lived with the Highlanders in a
+big building like the barracks for soldiers.  Every man seemed to do
+just what he liked, to kill what he liked, and to eat what he liked,
+and it was astonishing to see so little discipline on a station owned
+by a gentleman who had seen service both in the army and in the
+border police.
+
+The blacks were at this time very troublesome about the new stations.
+They began to be fond of beef, and in order to get it they drove fat
+cattle into the morasses and speared them.  This proceeding produced
+strained relations between the two races, and the only effectual
+remedy was the gun.  But many of the settlers had scruples about
+shooting blackfellows except in self-defence, and it could hardly be
+called self-defence to shoot one or more of the natives because a
+beast had been speared by some person or persons unknown.  John
+Campbell, at Glencoe, tried a dog, a savage deerhound, which he
+trained to chase the human game.  This dog acquired great skill in
+seizing a blackfellow by the heel, throwing him, and worrying him
+until Campbell came up on his horse.  When the dog had thus expelled
+the natives from Glencoe, Campbell agreed to lend him to little
+Curlewis for three months in order to clear Holey Plains Station.
+Curlewis paid ten heifers for the loan of the dog, and Campbell
+himself went to give him a start in the hunt, as the animal would not
+own any other man as master.  But the blacks soon learned that
+Campbell and his dog had left Glencoe unprotected, and the second
+night after his departure they boldly entered the potato patch near
+his hut, and bandicooted the whole of his potatoes.
+
+When the sails were made, the two boats were provisioned with tea,
+sugar, flour, and a keg of whisky; the meat was carried in the shape
+of two live sheep, to be killed when required.  The party consisted
+of eight men, and each man was armed with a double-barrelled gun.
+McMillan, McLennan, Loughnan, and Davy went in one boat, and in the
+other boat were William Pearson, John Reeve, Captain Orr, and
+Sheridan, who was manager for Raymond at Stratford.  Sheridan was a
+musical man, and took his flute with him.  When everything was ready
+they dropped down the river to Lake Wellington, and took note of the
+soundings during the whole of the voyage as they went along.
+Wherever they approached either shore, they saw natives or found
+traces of them.  Every beach was strewn with the feathers of the
+ducks, swans, and other birds they had killed, and it was difficult
+to find sufficient dead wood near the water to make a fire, the
+blacks having used so much of it at their numerous camping places.
+
+The gins had an ingenious system of capturing the ducks.  They moved
+along under water, leaving nothing but their nostrils visible above
+the surface, and they were thus able to approach the unsuspecting
+birds.  As opportunity offered they seized them by the legs, drew
+them quickly under water, and held them until they were drowned.
+When they had secured as many as they could hold in one hand they
+returned to land.
+
+One of the explorers always kept guard while the others slept, the
+first watch of each night being assigned to Davy, who baked the
+damper for the next day.  One of the sheep was killed soon after the
+voyage commenced; and the duty of taking ashore, tethering, and
+guarding the other sheep at each landing place was taken in turn by
+Pearson and Loughnan.  At the lower end of the lakes the water was
+found to be brackish, so they went ashore at several places to look
+for fresh water.  They landed on a flat at Reeve's River, and Davy
+found an old well of the natives, but it required cleaning out, so he
+went back to the boat for a spade.  It was Loughnan's turn that day
+to tether the sheep on some grassy spot, and to look after it; the
+animal by this time had become quite a pet, and was called Jimmy.  On
+coming near the boats Davy looked about for Jimmy,  but could not see
+him and asked Loughnan where he was.
+
+"Oh, he is all right," said Loughnan, "I did not tether  him, but he
+is over there eating the reeds."
+
+"Then he's gone," replied Davy.
+
+Every man became seriously alarmed and ran down to the reeds, for
+Jimmy carried their whole supply of meat.  They found his tracks at
+the edge of the water, and followed them to the foot of a high bluff,
+which they ascended, calling as they went repeatedly for Jimmy.  They
+looked in every direction, scanning especially the tops of the reeds
+to see if Jimmy was moving amongst them, but they could see no sign
+of the sheep that was lost.  The view of land and river, mountain and
+sea, was very beautiful, but they were too full of sorrow for Jimmy
+to enjoy it.  On going away they agreed to call the bluff Jimmy's
+point, but other voyagers came afterwards who knew nothing of Jimmy,
+and they named it Kalimna, The Beautiful.  Near the shore a number of
+sandpipers were shot, and stewed for dinner in the large iron pot
+which was half full of mutton fat.  Then the party pulled down to the
+entrance of the lakes at Reeve's River, went ashore, and camped for
+the night.
+
+Next day they found an outlet to the ocean, and sounded it as they
+went along, finding six feet of water on the bar at low tide.  But
+the channel proved afterwards to be a shifting one; the strong
+current round Cape Howe, and the southerly gales, often filled it
+with sand, and it was not until many years had passed, and much money
+had been expended, that a permanent entrance was formed.  In the
+meantime all the trade of Gippsland was carried on first through the
+Old Port, and then through the new Port Albert.  For ten years all
+vessels were piloted without buoy or beacon; in one year one hundred
+and forty having been entered inwards and outwards.
+
+The party now started on the return voyage.  In going up the lakes a
+number of blacks were observed on the port beach, and the boats were
+pulled towards the land until they grounded, and some of the men went
+ashore.  The natives were standing behind a small sand hummock
+calling out to the visitors.  One of them had lost an eye, and
+another looked somewhat like a white man browned with the sun and
+weather, but only the upper part of his body could be seen above the
+sand.  One of the men on shore said, "Look at that white-fellow."
+That was the origin of the rumour which was soon spread through the
+country that the blacks had a white woman living with them, the
+result being that for a long time the blackfellows were hunted and
+harassed continually by parties of armed men.  When the natives
+behind the sand hummock saw that the white men had no arms, they
+began to approach them without their spears.  Sheridan took up his
+flute, and they ran back to the scrub, but after he had played a
+while they came nearer again and listened to the music.
+
+After pulling two or three miles, another party of natives was seen
+running along the sands, and the explorers went ashore again at a
+point of land where seven or eight men had appeared, but not one was
+now visible.  Davy climbed up a honeysuckle tree, and then he could
+see them hiding in the scrub.  Several of them were seized and held
+by the white men, who gave them some sugar and then let them go.
+
+The boats then sailed away with a nice easterly breeze, and in
+McLennan's Straits hundreds of blackfellows were seen up in the trees
+shouting and shaking their spears; but the boats were kept away in
+mid-stream, out of reach of the weapons.
+
+That night the camp was made at Boney Point, near the mouth of the
+River Avon; the name was given to it on account of the large quantity
+of human bones found there.  No watch was kept, as it was believed
+that all the blacks had been left behind in McLennan's Straits.
+There was still some whisky left in the keg; and, before going to
+sleep, Orr, Loughnan, and Sheridan sang and drank alternately until
+the vessel was empty.  At daylight they pulled up the Avon and landed
+at Clydebank, which was at that time one of Macalister's stations,
+but afterwards belonged to Thomson and Cunningham.  After breakfast
+they walked to Raymond's station at Stratford, and then to McMillan's
+at Bushy Park.
+
+The cattle brought over the mountains into Gippsland soon grew fat,
+and the first settlers sold some of them to other men who came to
+search for runs; but the local demand was soon supplied.  In two
+years and a half all the best land was occupied.  An intending
+settler, who had driven a herd of cattle seven hundred miles, had
+some bitter complaints to make about the country in June, 1843.  He
+said:  "The whole length of Gippsland, from the bore of the mountains
+in which the road comes, is 110 miles, and the breadth about fifteen
+miles, the whole area 1650 square miles, one-third of which is
+useless through scrub and morass, which leaves only 1,100 square
+miles come-at-able at all, and nearly a third of this is useless.  On
+this 1,100 square miles of land there are 45,000 sheep, 1,500 cattle,
+and 300 horses.  Other herds of cattle and about 2,000 sheep are
+expected daily.  The blacks are continuing their outrages, robbing
+huts and gardens and slaughtering cattle wholesale, Messrs. Pearson
+and Cunningham being the latest sufferers by the cannibals.  Sheep
+shearing is nearly completed, after paying a most exorbitant price to
+the shearers.*  The wool is much lighter than in any other part of
+the colony, and the skins much thicker than in hotter climates;" and
+lastly, "A collection has been made for the support of a minister."
+But the minister was not supported long, and he had to shake the dust
+of Gippsland off his feet.  From Dan to Beersheba--from the bore in
+the mountains to the shores of Corner Inlet, all was barren to this
+disappointed drover.
+
+
+[Footnote] *In the season of 1844 the average price per 100 for
+sheep-shearing was 8s.; the highest price asked, 8s. 6d.
+
+
+And the squatters, in order to keep a foothold in the country, had to
+seek markets for their stock over the sea.  The first to export
+cattle was James McFarlane of Heyfield.  He chartered the schooner
+'Waterwitch' for 100 pounds a month for six months, and found her in
+everything.  She arrived on March 2nd, 1842, but could not come up to
+the Port being too sharp in the bottom, and drawing (when loaded with
+cattle) thirteen feet six inches, so she lay down at the Oyster Beds.
+McFarlane borrowed the square punt from the 'Clonmel' wreckers, a
+weak stockyard of tea tree was erected, and the punt was moored
+alongside.  A block was made fast to the bottom of the punt, and a
+rope rove through it to a bullock's head, and the men hauled on the
+rope.  Sometimes a beast would not jump, and had to be levered and
+bundled into the punt neck and crop.  Then the men got into a boat,
+and reached over to make the rope fast from the head of the bullock
+to one of the eyebolts which were fixed round the punt, and even then
+the bullock would sometimes go overboard.  It took a week to load
+twenty fat bullocks and twenty cows with their calves.  The schooner
+set sail for New Zealand on April 2nd, 1842, and at Port Nicholson
+the bullocks were sold for fifteen and the cows for twelve pounds
+each, cash.  The 'Waterwitch' returned to Port Albert on April 29th,
+and took in another cargo of breeding cattle, which had to be sold on
+bills, the cash at Port Nicholson being exhausted.  McFarlane next
+sought for a market at Hobarton, which was then supplied with beef
+from Twofold Bay.  Forty bullocks were put on board the 'Waterwitch'
+in five days, and in forty-eight hours they were offered for sale in
+Hobarton, and fetched fourteen pounds ten shillings a head--all but
+one, a snail-horned brute, which was very wild.  When he landed, a
+number of soldiers were at drill in the paddock, and he charged the
+redcoats at once. They prepared to receive cavalry, but he broke
+through the ranks, scattered the citizens the whole length of
+Liverpool Street, and reached the open country.  Guisden, the
+auctioneer, sold the chance of him for eleven pounds.
+
+At this time, nobody in Hobarton had heard of such a place as
+Gippsland; but the fat cattle, which were far superior to those
+imported from Twofold Bay, soon made the new territory well known,
+and many enterprising men of various characters found their way to it
+from the island.
+
+McFarlane sent over another cargo of forty bullocks, thirty-seven of
+which averaged fourteen pounds; one was lost, and two belonging to
+Macalister, heavy weights, were sold for forty pounds ten shillings.
+
+McMillan took over the 'Waterwitch' for the next trip, and also
+chartered the schooners 'Industry' and 'Scotia', which were the first
+vessels brought up to the shipping place at Port Albert on August,
+3rd, 1842.  Each of these vessels took two cargoes to Hobarton, which
+sold well, and then Macalister chartered the brig 'Pateena', which
+would hold sixty bullocks.  The 'Clonmel' punt was now dispensed
+with; the cattle were roped, put in the water, and made to swim
+between the vessel and a boat.  A piece of small ratline was fixed to
+the slings, with the handlead made fast to it so that it would sink.
+The mate had the slings, and a man in the boat held the other end of
+the line, and with it he hauled the slings under the bullocks, which
+were then made fast, and the animal was hoisted up.  In this way
+forty bullocks were shipped in three hours.
+
+Oysters were obtained in great abundance at Clonmel, Snake Island,
+and in other parts of the inlets, and the cattle vessels, after
+receiving their loading, took bags of oysters on board for sale at
+Hobarton.  In June, 1843, the cutter 'Lucy' took 700 dozen to
+Melbourne, and in July another 700 dozen.  In August the 'Mary Jane'
+took 500 dozen, and the cutter 'Domain' 400 dozen.  The oyster beds
+were soon destroyed, and when in course of a few years I was
+appointed inspector of fisheries at Port Albert I could never find a
+single dozen oysters to inspect, although I was informed that a
+certain reverend poacher near the Caledonian Canal could obtain a
+bucket full of them when so disposed.
+
+Gippsland enjoyed one year of prosperity, followed by seven years of
+adversity.  The price of stock declined so rapidly that in April,
+1843, the very best beasts only realized 6 pounds per head, and soon
+afterwards it was estimated that there were in New South Wales 50,000
+fat bullocks which nobody would buy.  Moreover, the government was
+grievously in want of money, and in addition to the fees for
+depasturing licenses, exacted half-yearly assessments on the
+unsaleable flocks and herds.  But the law exacted payment on live
+cattle only, so the squatters in their dire distress resolved to kill
+their stock and boil them, the hides and the resulting tallow being
+of some value.  The Hentys, in the Portland district, commenced
+boiling their sheep in January, 1844, and on every station in New
+South Wales the paddocks still called the "boiling down" were devoted
+to the destruction of sheep and cattle and to the production of
+tallow.  It was found that one hundred average sheep would yield one
+ton of tallow, and ten average bullocks also one ton, the price in
+London ranging from 35 pounds to 42 pounds per ton.  By this device
+of boiling-down some of the pioneers were enabled to retain their
+runs until the discovery of gold.
+
+The squatters were assisted in their endeavours to diminish the
+numbers of their live stock by their neighbours, both black and
+white.  It is absurd to blame the aborigines for killing sheep and
+cattle.  You might as well say it is immoral for a cat to catch mice.
+Hunting was their living; the land and every animal thereon was
+theirs; and after we had conferred on them, as usual, the names of
+savages and cannibals, they were still human beings; they were our
+neighbours, to be treated with mercy; and to seize their lands by
+force and to kill them was robbery and murder.  The State is a mere
+abstraction, has neither body nor soul, and an abstraction cannot be
+sent either to heaven or hell.  But each individual man will be
+rewarded according to his works, which will follow him.  Because the
+State erected a flag on a bluff overlooking the sea, Sandy McBean was
+not justified in shooting every blackfellow or gin  he met with on
+his run, as I know he did on the testimony of an eye-witness.  This
+is the age of whitewash.  There is scarcely a villain of note on
+whose character a new coat has not been laboriously daubed by
+somebody, and then we are asked to take a new view of it.  It does
+not matter very much now, but I should prefer to whitewash the
+aboriginals.
+
+J. P. Fawkner wrote:  "The military were not long here before the
+Melbourne district was stained with the blood of the aborigines, yet
+I can safely say that in the year in which there was neither
+governor, magistrate, soldier, nor policemen, not one black was shot
+or killed in the Melbourne district, except amongst or by the blacks
+themselves.  Can as much be said of any year since?  I think not."
+
+In the year 1844 Mr. Latrobe was required to send to the Council in
+Sydney a return of all blacks and whites killed in the Port Phillip
+district since its first settlement.  He said forty whites had been
+killed by the blacks, and one hundred and thirteen blacks had been
+reported as killed by the whites; but he added, "the return must not
+be looked upon as correct with respect to the number of aborigines
+killed."  The reason is plain.  When a white man murdered a few
+blacks it was not likely that he would put his neck into the
+hangman's noose by making a formal report of his exploit to Mr.
+Latrobe.  All the surviving blackfellow could say was:  "Quamby dead
+--long time--white-fellow--plenty--shoot 'em."
+
+He related in eight words the decline and fall of his race more truly
+than the white man could do it in eight volumes.
+
+It is not so easy a task to justify the white men who assisted the
+squatters to diminish the numbers of their stock.  They were
+principally convicts who had served their sentences, or part of them,
+in the island, and had come over to Gippsland in cattle vessels.
+Some of them lived honestly, about one hundred of them disappeared
+when the Commissioner of Crown Lands arrived with his black and white
+police, and a few of the most enterprising spirits adopted the
+calling of cattle stealers, for which business they found special
+facilities in the two special surveys.
+
+
+
+-------------------------------------
+
+
+TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.
+
+A notice dated March 4th, 1841, was gazetted in Sydney to the following
+effect:
+
+"Any Holder of a Land Receipt to the extent of not less than five
+thousand one hundred and twenty acres may, if he think fit, demand a
+special survey of any land not hereinafter excepted, within the
+district of Port Philip, whether such Land Receipt be obtained in the
+manner pointed out in the 'Government Gazette' of the 21st January
+last, or granted by the Land and Emigration Commissioners in London.
+
+"Not more than one mile of frontage to any river, watercourse, or lake
+to be allowed to every four square miles of area; the other
+boundaries to be straight lines running north and south, east and
+west.
+
+"No land to be taken up within five miles of the towns of Melbourne,
+Geelong, Williamstown, or Portland.
+
+"The right of opening roads through any part of the land to be
+reserved for the Crown, but no other reservation whatever to be
+inserted in the Deeds of Grant."
+
+The Port Albert Company took up land, under the above conditions,
+between the Albert and Tarra rivers.  It was in Orr's name, and is
+still known as Orr's Special Survey.  A surveyor was appointed to
+mark and plan the boundaries; he delegated the work to another
+surveyor.  Next a re-survey was made, then a sub-divisional survey,
+and then other surveys went on for fifty years, with ever-varying
+results.  It is now a well-established fact that Orr's Special Survey
+is subject to an alternate expansion and contraction of area, which
+from time to time vitiates the labour of every surveyor, and has
+caused much professional animosity.  Old men with one foot in the
+grave, in this year 1895, are still accusing each other of embezzling
+acres of it; the devil of Discord, and Mercury the god of thieves,
+encamped upon it; the Port Albert Company fell into its Slough of
+Despond, which in the Court of Equity was known as "Kemmis v. Orr,"
+and there all the members perished.
+
+Mr. John Reeve had a land receipt, and wanted land.  After he had
+taken up the station known as Snake Ridge he looked about for a good
+Special Survey.  He engaged Davy and his whaleboat for a cruise in
+Port Albert waters and McMillan, Sheridan, and Loughnan were of the
+party.  They went up the narrow channel called the Caledonian Canal,
+examined the bluffs, shores, and islands of Shallow Inlet, and at
+night encamped on St. Margaret's Island.  When shelter was required,
+Davy usually put up the mainsail of his boat for a tent; but that
+night was so fine and warm that it was decided to avoid the trouble
+of bringing the sail ashore and putting it up.  After supper the men
+lay around the fire, and one by one fell asleep; but about midnight
+heavy rain began to fall, the sail was brought ashore, and they all
+crept under it to keep themselves as dry as possible.
+
+The next morning was fair.  On leaving the port it had been the
+intention of the party to return the same evening, and the boat was
+victualled for one day only.  There was now nothing for breakfast but
+a little tea and sugar and a piece of damper:  no flesh, fish, or
+fowl.  Davy was anxious to entertain his passengers to the best of
+his ability, especially Mr. Reeve, who, though not of delicate
+health, was a gentleman of refined tastes, and liked to have his
+meals prepared and served in the best style.  Fresh water was of the
+first necessity, and, after so much rain, should have been plentiful,
+but not a spoonful could anywhere be found:  the soil of the island
+was sandy, and all the rain had soaked into it and disappeared.  The
+damper having been exposed to the weather was saturated with water.
+There was in the boat a large three-legged iron pot, half filled with
+fat, a hard and compact dainty not liable to be spilled or wasted,
+and in it had been stewed many a savoury meal of sandpipers, parrots,
+rats, and quail.  This pot had been fortunately left upright and
+uncoveredduring the night, and the abundant rain had filled it with
+fresh water.  Davy, with the intuition of artistic genius, at once
+saw the means of producing a repast fit for the gods.  He poured the
+water which covered the fat from the iron pot into the kettle, which
+he placed on the fire for the purpose of making tea.  He cut the
+sodden damper into substantial slices, put them into the pot, and
+cooked them in the fat over the fire.  When well done they tasted
+like fried bread, and gave entire satisfaction; Mr. Reeve observing,
+when the feast was finished, that he had never in all his life eaten
+a better breakfast.
+
+A start was made for the port, but the wind came dead ahead, and the
+men had to pull the whole way across the inlet, through the
+Caledonian Canal, and as far as Long Point.  There they went ashore
+for a rest, and Mr. Reeve asked Davy if he could find the mouth of
+the Tarra River.  Davy said he had never been there, but he had no
+doubt that he could find it, as he had seen the river when he was
+duck-shooting.  It was then high water, and the wind still blowing
+strongly from the west, so a reef was taken in the lug, and the boat
+ran right into the Tarra as far as the site of the present
+court-house.  There the party landed, and after looking at the
+country Mr. Reeve decided to take up his special survey there.  It
+was partly open forest, but it contained, also, a considerable area
+of rich flats covered with luxuriant tea tree and myrtle scrub, which
+in course of time became mingled with imported blackberry bushes,
+whins, sweetbriar, and thistles.  Any quantity of labour might be
+spent on it with advantage to the owner, so the following
+advertisement appeared in the public journals:
+
+TO CAPITALISTS AND THE INDUSTRIOUS LABOURING CLASS.
+
+GIPPSLAND--PORT ALBERT.
+
+An accurate plan of Mr. Reeve's Special Survey of Tarra Vale having
+been completed, notice is hereby given that farms of various sizes
+are now open for sale or lease.  The proprietor chiefly desires the
+establishment of a Respectable Tenantry, and will let these farms at
+the moderate rent of one bushel of wheat per acre.  The estate
+consists of 5,120 acres of rich alluvial flats; no part of the estate
+is more than two miles from the freshwater stream of Tarra.  Many
+families already occupy purchased allotments in the immediate
+vicinity of the landing place and Tarra Ville.  There is a licensed
+hotel, good stores and various tradesmen, likewise dray roads from
+Maneroo and Port Philip. Apply to F. Taylor, Tarra Ville, or John
+Brown, Melbourne.
+
+There were several doubtful statements in this notice, but, as the
+law says, "Buyer, beware."
+
+Joshua Dayton was not a capitalist, but he belonged to the
+Industrious Labouring Class, and he offered himself, and was accepted
+as a Respectable Tenant, at the rental of a bushel of wheat to the
+acre.  He was a thief on principle, but simple Mr. Taylor, of
+Tarraville, put his trust in him, because it would be necessary to
+fence and improve the land in order to produce the bushel of wheat.
+The fee simple, at any rate, would be safe with Mr. Reeve; but we
+live and learn--learn that there are men ingenious enough to steal
+even the fee simple, and transmit it by will to their innocent
+children.
+
+The farm comprised a beautiful and rich bend of the Tarra, forming a
+spacious peninsula.  Joshua erected a fence across the isthmus,
+leaving the rest of his land open to the trespass of cattle, which
+were, therefore, liable to be driven away.  But he did not drive them
+away; he impounded them within his bend, and at his leisure selected
+the fattest for slaughter, thus living literally on the fat of the
+land.  He formed his boiling-down establishment in a retired glade,
+surrounded with tea-tree, tall and dense, far from the prying eyes
+and busy haunts of men.  His hut stood on a gentle rise above the
+highest flood mark, and in close proximity to the slip rails, which
+were jealously guarded by his Cerberus, Neddy, a needy immigrant of a
+plastic nature, whose mind succumbed under the strong logic of his
+employer.
+
+Neddy had so far led an honest life, and did not fall into habits of
+thievery without some feelings of compunction.  When Joshua first
+drove cattle into the bend, he did not tell Neddy that he had stolen
+them.  Oh, no!  He said:
+
+"Here are a few beasts I have had running about for some time, and I
+think I'll kill one or two of the fattest and make tallow of them.
+Beef is worth next to nothing, and we must make a living somehow.
+And I know you would like a little fresh beef, Neddy; a change of
+diet is good for the health."
+
+But Neddy was not so much of a fool as to be able to shut his eyes to
+the nature of the boiling-down business.  The brands were too
+various, and Joshua claimed them all.  Neddy said one night:
+
+"Don't you think, Joshua, this game of yours is rather dangerous?
+Why, it's nothing better than cattle stealing; and I've heern folks
+say at one time it was a hanging matter.  You may be found out some
+day by an unlucky chance, and then what will you do?"
+
+"You mustn't call it cattle stealing, Neddy; that doesn't sound
+well," said Joshua.  "I call it back pay for work and labour done.  I
+have good reasons for it.  I was sent out for stealing a horse, which
+I never did steal; I only bought it cheap for a couple of pounds.
+They sent me to the island, and I worked seven years for a settler
+for nothing.  Now I put it to you, Neddy, as an honest and sensible
+man, Am I to get no pay for that seven years' work?  And how am I to
+get it if I don't take it myself?  The Government will give me no
+pay; they'd give me another seven years if they could.  But you see,
+there are no peelers here, no beaks, and no blooming courts, so I
+intend to make hay while the sun shines, which means tallow in these
+times.  All these settlers gets as much work out of Government men as
+they can get for nothing, and if you says two words to 'em they'll
+have you flogged.  So while I does my seven years I says nothing, but
+I thinks, and I makes up my mind to have it out of 'em when my time
+comes.  And I say it's fair and honest to get your back wages the
+best way you can.  These settlers are all tarred with the same brush;
+they make poor coves like us work for 'em, and flog us like bullocks,
+and then they pretend they are honest men.  I say be blowed to such
+honesty."
+
+"But if you are caught, Joshua, what then?"
+
+"Well, we must be careful.  I don't think they'll catch me in a
+hurry.  You see, I does my business quick:  cuts out the brand and
+burns it first thing, and always turns out beasts I don't want
+directly."
+
+Other men followed the example of Joshua, so that between troubles
+with the black men, troubles with the white men, and the want of a
+market for his stock, the settler's days were full of anxiety and
+misery.  And, in addition, the Government in Sydney was threatening
+him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name of a Commissioner of
+Crown Lands, to whom was entrusted the power of increasing or
+diminishing assessments at his own will and pleasure.  The settler
+therefore bowed down before the lordly tax-gatherer, and entertained
+him in his hut with all available hospitality, with welcome on his
+lips, smiles on his face, and hatred in his heart.
+
+The fees and fines collected by the Commissioners all over New South
+Wales had fallen off in one year to the extent of sixty-five per
+cent; more revenue was therefore required, and was it not just that
+those who occupied Crown lands should support the dignity of the
+Crown?  Then the blacks had to be protected, or otherwise dealt with.
+They could not pay taxes, as the Crown had already appropriated all
+they were worth, viz., their country.  But they were made amenable to
+British law; and in that celebrated case, "Regina v. Jacky Jacky," it
+was solemnly decided by the judge that the aborigines were subjects
+of the Queen, and that judge went to church on the Sabbath and said
+his prayers in his robes of office, wig and all.
+
+Jacky Jacky was charged with aiding and abetting Long Bill to murder
+little Tommy.  He said:
+
+"Another one blackfellow killed him, baal me shoot him."
+
+The court received his statement as equivalent to a plea of "Not
+guilty."
+
+Witness Billy, an aboriginal, said:
+
+"I was born about twenty miles from Sydney.  If I don't tell stories,
+I shall go to Heaven; if I do, I shall go down below.  I don't say
+any prayers.  It is the best place to go up to Heaven.  I learnt
+about heaven and hell about three years ago at Yass plains when
+driving a team there.  Can't say what's in that book; can't read.  If
+I go below, I shall be burned with fire."
+
+Billy was sworn, and said:
+
+"I knew Jacky Jacky and Cosgrove, the bullock driver.  I know Fyans
+Ford.  I know Manifolds.  I went from Fyans Ford with Cosgrove, a
+drove of cattle, and a dray for Manifolds.  I knew Little Tommy at
+Port Fairy.  He is dead.  I saw him dying.  When driving the team, I
+fell in with a lot of blacks.  They asked me what black boy Tommy
+was; told them my brother.  They kept following us two miles and a
+half.  Jacky Jacky said; 'Billy, I must kill that black boy in spite
+of you.'"
+
+Jacky Jacky said sharply, "Borack."
+
+"Jacky Jacky, who was the king, got on the dray, and Little Tommy got
+down; a blackfellow threw a spear at him, and hit him in the side;
+the king also threw a spear, and wounded him; a lot of blacks also
+speared him.  Long Bill came up and shot him with a ball.  Jacky
+Jacky said to Cosgrove:  'Plenty gammon; I must kill that black boy.'
+Little Tommy belonged to the Port Fairy tribe, which had always been
+fighting with Jacky Jacky's tribe."
+
+"It's all gammon," said Jacky Jacky, "borack me, its another
+blackfellow."
+
+"Jacky Jacky, when with the dray, spoke his own language which I did
+not understand.  I was not a friend of Little Tommy.  I was not
+afraid of the Port Fairy tribe.  I am sometimes friend with Jacky
+Jacky's tribe.  If I met him at Yass I can't say whether I should
+spear him or not; they would kill him at the Goulburn River if he
+went there.  Blackfellow not let man live who committed murder."
+
+Are the aboriginals amenable to British law?  Question argued by
+learned counsel, Messrs. Stawell and Barry.
+
+His Honor the Resident Judge said:  "The aboriginals are amenable to
+British law, and it is a mercy to them to be under that control,
+instead of being left to seek vengeance in the death of each other;
+it is a mercy to them to be under the protection of British law,
+instead of slaughtering each other."
+
+Jacky Jacky was found guilty of "aiding and abetting."  The
+principals in the murder were not prosecuted, probably could not be
+found.  Before leaving the court, he turned to the judge and said,
+"You hang me this time?"
+
+He only knew two maxims of British law applicable to his race, and
+these he had learned by experience.  One maxim was "Shoot 'em" and
+the other was "Hang him."
+
+There is abundant evidence to prove that an aboriginal legal maxim
+was, "The stranger is an enemy, kill him."  It was for that reason
+Jacky Jacky killed Little Tommy, who was a stranger, belonging to the
+hostile Port Fairy tribe.
+
+Joshua and Neddy carried on the boiling down business successfully
+for some time, regularly shipping tallow to Melbourne in casks, until
+some busybody began to insinuate that their tallow was contraband.
+Then Joshua took to carrying goods up the country, and Neddy took to
+drink.  He died at the first party given by Mother Murden at her
+celebrated hostelry.
+
+There were at this time about two hundred men, women, and children
+scattered about the neighbourhood of New Leith (afterwards called
+Port Albert), the Old Port, the New Alberton and Tarra Vale.
+Alberton, by the way, was gazetted as a township before the "village"
+of St. Kilda was founded.  There were no licenses issued for the
+various houses of entertainment, vulgarly called "sly grog shops."
+There was no church, no school, no minister, and no music, until
+Mother Murden imported some.  It was hidden in the recesses of a
+barrel organ; and, in order to introduce the new instrument to the
+notice of her patrons and friends, Mother Murden posted on her
+premises a manuscript invitation to a grand ball.  She was anxious
+that everything should be carried out in the best style, and that the
+festive time should commence at least without intoxication.  She therefore
+had one drunken man carried into the "dead room," another to an
+outside shed.  Neddy, the third, had become one of her best
+customers, and therefore she treated him kindly.  He was unsteady on
+his legs, and she piloted him with her own hands to the front door,
+expecting that he would find a place for himself somewhere or other.
+She gave him a gentle shove, said "Good night, Neddy," and closed the
+door.  She then cleared a space for the dancers in her largest room,
+placed the barrel-organ on a small table in one corner, and made her
+toilet.
+
+The guests began to arrive, and Mother Murden received them in her
+best gown at the front door.  Neddy was lying across the threshold.
+
+"It's only Neddy," she said apologetically; "he has been taking a
+little nobbler, and it always runs to his head.  He'll be all right
+by-and-by.  Come in my dears, and take your things off.  You'll find
+a looking-glass in the room behind the bar."
+
+The gentlemen stepped over Neddy, politely gave their hands to the
+ladies, and helped them over the human obstacle.
+
+When everything was ready, Mother Murden sat down by the
+barrel-organ, took hold of the handle, and addressed her guests:
+
+"Now boys, choose your girls."
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 4]
+
+The biggest bully, a "conditional pardon" man of the year 1839, acted
+as master of the ceremonies, and called out the figures.  He also
+appropriated the belle of the ball as his partner.
+
+The dancing began with great spirit, but as the night wore on the
+music grew monotonous.  There were only six tunes in the organ, and
+not all the skill and energy of Mother Murden could grind one more
+out of it.
+
+Neddy lay across the doorway, and was never disturbed.  He did not
+wake in time to take any part in the festive scene, being dead.  Now
+and then a few of the dancers stepped over him, and remarked, "Neddy
+is having a good rest."  In the cool night air they walked to and
+fro, then, returning to the ball-room, they took a little
+refreshment, and danced to the same old tunes, until they were tired.
+
+Mother Murden's first ball was a grand success for all but Neddy.
+
+"No sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet,
+To chase the glowing hours with flying feet."
+
+But morn reveals unsuspected truths, and wrinkled invisible in the
+light of tallow candles.  The first rays of the rising sun fell on
+Neddy's ghastly face, and the "conditional pardon" man said, "Why,
+he's dead and cold."
+
+Mother Murden came to the door with a tumbler in her hand, containing
+a morning nip for Neddy, "to kill the worm," as the Latins say; but
+the worm was dead already.  The merry-makers stood around; the men
+looked serious and the ladies shivered.  They said the air felt
+chilly, so they bade one another good morning and hurried home.
+
+It is hard to say why one sinner is taken and the other left.
+Joshua's time did not arrive until many years afterwards, when we had
+acquitted him at the General Sessions; but that is another story.
+
+
+
+HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.
+
+At this time there was no visible government in Gippsland.  The
+authorities in Sydney and Melbourne must have heard of the existence
+of the country and of its settlement, but they were content for a
+time with the receipt of the money paid into the Treasury for
+depasturing licenses and for assessments on stock.
+
+In 1840 the Land Fund received in New South Wales amounted to 316,000
+pounds; in 1841 it was only 90,000 pounds; and in 1842 Sir George
+Gipps, in his address to the Council severely reprimanded the
+colonists for the reckless spirit of speculation and overtrading in
+which they had indulged during the two preceding years.  This general
+reprimand had a more particular application to Mr. Benjamin Boyd, the
+champion boomer of those days.
+
+Labourers out of employment were numerous, and contractors were
+informed by 'Gazette' notice that the services of one hundred
+prisoners were available for purposes of public utility, such as
+making roads, dams, breakwaters, harbours, bridges, watchhouses, and
+police buildings.  Assignees of convicts were warned that if they
+wished to return them to the custody of the Government, they must pay
+the expense of their conveyance to Sydney, otherwise all their
+servants would be withdrawn, and they would become ineligible as
+assignees of prisoners in future.
+
+Between the first of July, 1840, and the first of November, 1841,
+26,556 bounty immigrants had been received in Sydney.  The bounty
+orders were suspended in the autumn of the latter year, but in 1842
+Lord Stanley was of opinion that the colony could beneficially
+receive ten thousand more immigrants during the current year.
+
+Many married labourers could find no work in Sydney, and in November,
+1843, the Government requested persons sending wool-drays to the city
+to take families to inland districts gratis.
+
+A regular stream of half-pay officers also poured into the colony,
+and made Sir George's life a burden.  They all wanted billets, and if
+he made the mistake of appointing a civilian to some office, Captain
+Smith, with war in his eye and fury in his heart, demanded an
+interview at once.  He said:
+
+"I see by this morning's 'Gazette' that some fellow of the name of
+Jones has been made a police superintendent, and here am I, an
+imperial officer, used to command and discipline, left out in the
+cold, while that counter-jumper steps over my head.  I can't
+understand your policy, Sir George.  What will my friends of the club
+in London say, when they hear of it, but that the service is going to
+the dogs?"
+
+So Captain Smith obtained his appointment as superintendent of
+police, and with a free sergeant and six convict constables, taken,
+as it were, out of bond, was turned loose in the bush.  He had been
+for twenty years in the preventive service, but had never captured a
+prize more valuable than a bottle of whisky.  He knew nothing
+whatever about horses, and rode like a beer barrel, but he
+nevertheless lectured his troopers about their horses and
+accoutrements.  The sergeant was an old stockrider, and he one day so
+far forgot the rules of discipline as to indulge in a mutinous smile,
+and say:
+
+"Well, captain, you may know something about a ship, but I'll be
+blowed if you know anything about a horse."
+
+That observation was not entered in any report, but the sergeant was
+fined 2 pounds for "insolence and insubordination."  The sum of
+60,899 pounds was voted for police services in 1844, and Captain
+Smith was paid out of it.  All the revenue went to Sydney, and very
+little of it found its way to Melbourne, so that Mr. Latrobe's
+Government was sometimes deprived of the necessaries of life.
+
+Alberton was gazetted as a place for holding Courts of Petty
+Sessions, and Messrs. John Reeve and John King were appointed
+Justices of the Peace for the new district.
+
+Then Michael Shannon met James Reading on the Port Albert Road,
+robbed him of two orders for money and a certificate of freedom, and
+made his way to Melbourne.  There he was arrested, and remanded by
+the bench to the new court at Alberton.  But there was no court
+there, no lock-up, and no police; and Mr. Latrobe, with tears in his
+eyes, said he had no cash whatever to spend on Michael Shannon.
+
+The public journals denounced Gippsland, and said it was full of
+irregularities.  Therefore, on September 13th, 1843, Charles J. Tyers
+was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district.  He
+endeavoured to make his way overland to the scene of his future
+labours, but the mountains were discharging the accumulated waters of
+the winter and spring rainfall, every watercourse was full, and the
+marshes were impassable.
+
+The commissioner waited, and then made a fresh start with six men and
+four baggage horses.  Midway between Dandenong and the Bunyip he
+passed the hut of Big Mat, a new settler from Melbourne, and obtained
+from him some information about the best route to follow.  It began
+to rain heavily, and it was difficult to ford the swollen creeks
+before arriving at the Big Hill.  At Shady Creek there was nothing
+for the horses to eat, and beyond it the ground became treacherous
+and full of crabholes.  At the Moe the backwater was found to be
+fully a quarter of a mile wide, encumbered with dead logs and scrub,
+and no safe place for crossing the creek could be found.  During the
+night the famishing horses tore open with their teeth the packages
+containing the provisions, and before morning all that was left of
+the flour, tea, and sugar was trodden into the muddy soil and
+hopelessly lost; not an ounce of food could be collected.  There was
+no game to be seen; every bird and beast seemed to have fled from the
+desolate ranges.  Mr. Tyers had been for many years a naval
+instructor on board a man-of-war, understood navigation and
+surveying, and, it is to be presumed, knew the distance he had
+travelled and the course to be followed in returning to Port Philip;
+but there were valleys filled with impenetrable scrub, creeks often
+too deep to ford, and boundless morasses, so that the journey was
+made crooked with continual deviations.  If a black boy like
+McMillan's Friday had accompanied the expedition, his native instinct
+would, at such a time, have been worth all the science in the world.
+
+The seven men, breakfastless, turned their backs to Gippsland.  The
+horses were already weak and nearly useless, so they and all the
+tents and camp equipage were abandoned.  Each man carried nothing but
+his gun and ammunition.  All day long they plodded wearily through
+the bush--wading the streams, climbing over the logs, and pushing
+their way through the scrub.  Only two or three small birds were
+shot, which did not give, when roasted, a mouthful to each man.
+
+At night a large fire was made, and the hungry travellers lay around
+it.  Next morning they renewed their journey, Mr. Tyers keeping the
+men from straggling as much as he could, and cheering them with the
+hope of soon arriving at some station.  No game was shot all that
+day; no man had a morsel of food; the guns and ammunition seemed
+heavy and useless, and one by one they were dropped.  It rained at
+intervals, the clothing became soaked and heavy, and some of the men
+threw away their coats.  A large fire was again made at night, but no
+one could sleep, shivering with cold and hunger.
+
+Next morning one man refused to go any further, saying he might as
+well die where he was.  He was a convict accustomed to life in the
+bush, and Mr. Tyers was surprised that he should be the first man to
+give way to despair, and partly by force and partly by persuasion he
+was induced to proceed.  About midday smoke was seen in the distance,
+and the hope of soon obtaining food put new life into the wayfarers.
+But they soon made a long straggling line of march; the strongest in
+the front, the weakest in the rear.
+
+The smoke issued from the chimney of the hut occupied by Big Mat.  He
+was away looking after his cattle, but his wife Norah was inside,
+busy with her household duties, while the baby was asleep in the
+corner.  There was a small garden planted with vegetables in front of
+the hut, and Norah, happening to look out of the window during the
+afternoon, saw a strange man pulling off the pea pods and devouring
+them.  The strange man was Mr. Tyers.  Some other men were also
+coming near.
+
+"They are bushrangers," she said running to the door and bolting it,
+"and they'll rob the hut and maybe they'll murder me and the baby."
+
+That last thought made her fierce.  She seized an old Tower musket,
+which was always kept loaded ready for use, and watched the men
+through the window.  They came into the garden one after another, and
+at once began snatching the peas and eating them.  There was
+something fearfully wild and strange in the demeanour of the men, but
+Norah observed that they appeared to have no firearms and very little
+clothing.  They never spoke, and seemed to take no notice of anything
+but the peas.
+
+"The Lord preserve us," said Norah, "I wish Mat would come."
+
+Her prayer was heard, for Mat came riding up to the garden fence with
+two cattle dogs, which began barking at the strangers.  Mat said:
+
+"Hello, you coves, is it robbing my garden ye are?"
+
+Mr. Tyers looked towards Mat and spoke, but his voice was weak, his
+mouth full of peas, and Mat could not tell what he was saying.  He
+dismounted, hung the bridle on to a post, and came into the garden.
+He looked at the men, and soon guessed what was the matter with them;
+he had often seen their complaint in Ireland.
+
+"Poor craythurs," he said, "it's hungry ye are, and hunger's a
+killing disorder.  Stop ating they pays to wonst, or they'll kill ye,
+and come into the house, and we'll give ye something better."
+
+The men muttered, but kept snatching off the peas.  Norah had
+unbolted the door, and was standing with the musket in her hand.
+
+"Take away the gun, Norah, and put the big billy on the fire, and
+we'll give 'em something warm.  The craythurs are starving.  I
+suppose they are runaway prisoners, and small blame to 'em for that
+same, but we can't let 'em die of hunger."
+
+The strangers had become quite idiotic, and wou'd not leave the peas,
+until Mat lost all patience, bundled them one by one by main force
+into his hut, and shut the door.
+
+He had taken the pledge from Father Mathew before he left Ireland,
+and had kept it faithfully; but he was not strait-laced.  He had a
+gallon of rum in the hut, to be used in case of snake-bite and in
+other emergencies, and he now gave each man a little rum and water,
+and a small piece of damper.
+
+Rum was a curse to the convicts, immigrants, and natives.  Its
+average price was then about 4s. 3d. per gallon.  The daily ration of
+a soldier consisted of one pound of bread, one pound of fresh meat,
+and one-seventh of a quart of rum.  But on this day, to Mr. Tyers and
+his men, the liquor was a perfect blessing.  He was sitting on the
+floor with his back to the slabs.
+
+"You don't know me, Mat?"
+
+"Know ye, is it?  Sure I never clapped eyes on ye before, that I know
+of.  Are ye runaway Government men?  Tell the truth, now, for I am
+not the man to turn informer agin misfortunate craythurs like
+yourselves."
+
+"My name is Tyers.  I passed this way, you may remember, not very long
+ago."
+
+"What!  Mr. Tyers, the commissioner?  Sure I didn't know you from
+Adam.  So ye never went to Gippsland at all?"
+
+"Our horses got at the provisions and spoiled them; so we had to come
+back, and we have had nothing to eat for three days.  There is one
+man somewhere behind yet; I am afraid he will lie down and die.  Do
+you think you could find him?"
+
+"For the love of mercy, I'll try, anyway.  Norah, dear, take care of
+the poor fellows while I go and look for the other man; and mind,
+only to give 'em a little food and drink at a time, or they'll kill
+their wake stomachs with greediness; and see you all do just as Norah
+tells you while I'm away, for you are no better than childer."
+
+Mat galloped away to look for the last man, while his wife watched
+over the welfare of her guests.  She said:
+
+"The Lord save us, and be betune us and harm, but when I seen you in
+the garden I thought ye were bushrangers, and I took up the ould gun
+to shoot ye."
+
+Mat soon found the last man, put him on his horse, and brought him to
+the hut.  Next morning he yoked his bullocks, put all his guests into
+the dray, and started for Dandenong.  On December 23rd, 1843, Mr.
+Tyers and his men arrived in Melbourne, and he reported to Mr.
+Latrobe the failure of his second attempt to reach Gippsland.
+
+While the commissioner and his men were vainly endeavouring to reach
+the new country, seven other men were suffering famine and extreme
+hardships to get away from it.  They had arrived at the Old Port by
+sea, having been engaged to strip bark by Mr. P. W. Walsh, usually
+known in Melbourne as Paddy Walsh.  He had been chief constable in
+Launceston.  Many years before Batman or Fawkner landed in Port
+Philip, parties of whalers were sent each year to strip wattle bark
+at Western Port.  Griffiths and Co. had found the business
+profitable, and Paddy Walsh came to the conclusion that there was
+money to be made out of bark in Gippsland.  He therefore engaged
+seven men and shipped them by schooner, writing to a storekeeper at
+the Old Port to receive the bark, ship it to Melbourne, and supply
+the strippers with the requisite stores.
+
+The seven men landed at the Old Port and talked to the pioneers.
+They listened to their dismal accounts of starvation on roast
+flathead and mutton-birds' eggs, of the ferocity of the blacks, of
+the murder of Macalister, of the misfortunes of Glengarry.  The
+nine-pounder gun still stood at the corner of the company's store,
+pointed towards the scrub, a silent warning to the new men of the
+dangers in store for them.  They took their guns and went about the
+bush looking for wattle trees, but they could not find in any place a
+sufficient quantity to make the business profitable.  There was no
+regular employment to be had, but fortunately the schooner 'Scotia',
+chartered by John King, went ashore in a gale, and four of the
+barkers, all Irishmen obtained a few days' work in taking out her mud
+ballast.  But no permanent livelihood could be expected from
+shipwrecks, and the seven strippers resolved, if possible, to return
+to Melbourne.  They wanted to see Paddy Walsh once more, but they had
+no money, and the storekeeper refused to pay their fare by sea.
+After much negotiation, they obtained a week's rations, and gave all
+the tools they had brought with them to Captain Davy in payment for
+his trouble in landing them at One Tree Hill.  They were informed
+that Brodribb and Hobson had made Western Port in four days on foot,
+and of course they could do the same.  Four of the men were named
+Crow, Sparrow, Fox, and Macnamara; of the other three two were
+Englishmen, Smith and Brown; the third, a native of London, named
+Spiller, installed himself in the office of captain on account of his
+superior knowledge.  He guaranteed to lead the party in a straight
+line to Western Port.  He said he could box the compass; he had not
+one about him, but that made no difference.  He would lay out their
+course every morning; they had to travel westward; the sun rose in
+the east, everybody knew as much as that; so all he had to do was to
+turn his back to the rising sun, and march straight on to Western
+Port which was situated in the west.  The men agreed that Spiller's
+theory was a very good one; they could not think of any objection to
+it.
+
+Each man carried his blanket and rations, his gun and ammunition.
+Every morning Spiller pointed out the course to be taken and led the
+way.  From time to time, with a look of extreme wisdom, he took
+observations of the position of the sun, and studied the direction of
+his own shadow on the ground.  For five days the men followed him
+with great confidence, and then they found that their rations were
+all consumed, and there was no sign of Western Port or any
+settlement.  They began to grumble, and to mistrust their captain;
+they said he must have been leading them astray, otherwise they would
+have seen some sign of the country being inhabited, and they formed a
+plan for putting Spiller's knowledge of inland navigation to the test.
+
+A start was made next morning, the cockney as usual, taking the lead.
+One man followed him, but kept losing ground purposely, merely
+keeping the leader in sight; the others did the same.  Before the
+last man had lost sight of the camp, he could see Spiller in the
+distance walking towards it.  He then uttered a long coo-ee, which
+was answered by every man of the party.  They thought some valuable
+discovery had been made.  One by one they followed the call and were
+soon assembled at the still burning embers they had lately left.
+
+"A nice navigator you are, ain't you, Spiller?  Do you know where you
+are now?" asked Brown.
+
+"Well, I must say there seems to be some mistake," said Spiller.  "I
+came along when I heard the coo-ee, and found myself here.  It is
+most unaccountable.  Here is where we camped last night, sure enough.
+It is most surprising."
+
+"Yes, it is surprising," said Smith.  "You know the compass, don't
+you, you conceited little beggar.  You can box it and make a bee-line
+for Western Port, can't you?  Here you have been circussing us round
+the country, nobody knows where, until we have not a morsel of food
+left; but if I am to be starved to death through you, you miserable
+little hound, I am not going to leave you alive.  What do you say,
+mates?  Let us kill him and eat him.  I'll do the job myself if
+nobody else likes it.  I say nothing could be fairer."
+
+Sparrow, one of the Irishmen, spoke.  He was a spare man, six feet
+high, had a long thin face, a prominent nose, sloping shoulders, mild
+blue eyes, and a most gentle voice.  I knew him after he returned to
+Gippsland and settled there.  He was averse to quarrelling and
+fighting; and, to enable him to lead a peaceable life, he carried a
+short riding whip with a hammer handle, and kept the lash twisted
+round his hand.  He was a conscientious man too, and had a strong
+moral objection to the proposal of killing and eating Spiller; but he
+did not want to offend the company, and he made his refusal as mild
+as possible.
+
+"It's a think I wouldn't like to quarrel about with no man," he said,
+"and the Lord knows I am as hungry as any of you; and if we die
+through this misleading little chap I couldn't say but he would be
+guilty of murdering us, and we might be justified in making use of
+what little there is of him.  But for my part I couldn't take my
+share of the meat--not to-day at any rate, because you may
+disremember it's Friday, and it's agen the laws of the Church to ate
+meat this day.  So I'd propose that we wait till to-morrow, and if we
+grow very wake with the hunger, we can make use of the dog to stay
+our stomachs a little while longer, and something better may turn up
+in the meantime."
+
+"Is it to cook my dog Watch you mean?" asked Crow.  (Here Watch went
+to his master, and lay down at his feet, looking up in his face and
+patting the ground with his tail.)  "I tell you what it is, Sparrow,
+you are not going to ate my dog.  What has the poor fellow done to
+you, I'd like to know?  You may cook Spiller if you like, to-day or
+to-morrow, it's all the same to me--and I grant he well deserves it
+--but if you meddle with Watch you'll have to deal with me."
+
+"It's no use going on this way, mates," said Brown.  "We might as
+well be moving while we have strength enough to do so.  Come along."
+
+The men began to rise to their feet.  Macnamara suddenly snatched
+Spiller's gun, and fired off both barrels; he then said, "Now hand
+over your shot and powder."  Spiller, half scared to death, handed
+them over.
+
+"Now," said Macnamara, "you are my prisoner.  I am going to take care
+of you until you are wanted; and if I see you so much as wink the
+wrong way I'll blow your brains out, if you have any.  Here's your
+empty gun.  Now march."
+
+All the men followed.  The country was full of scrub, and they walked
+through it in Indian file.  Not a bird or beast was killed that day
+or the next.  A consultation was held at night, and it was agreed to
+kill Watch in the morning if nothing else turned up, Crow by this
+time being too hungry to say another word in favour of his dog.  But
+at daylight an eaglehawk was watching them from a tree, and Brown
+shot it.  It was soon put in the ashes, and when cooked was divided
+among the seven.
+
+On the eighth day Macnamara said, "I can smell the ocean."  His name
+means "sons of the sea," and he was born and reared on the shore of
+the Atlantic.  Sand hummocks were soon seen, and the roar of the
+breakers beyond could be heard.  Two redbills were shot and eaten,
+and Spiller and Watch were kept for future use.  On the ninth day
+they shot a native bear, which afforded a sumptuous repast, and gave
+them strength to travel two days longer.  When they camped at night a
+tribe of blacks made a huge fire within a short distance, howling
+their war songs, and brandishing their weapons.  It was impossible to
+sleep or to pass a peaceful night with such neighbours, so they
+crawled nearer to the savages and fired a volley at them.  Then there
+was silence, which lasted all night.  Next morning they found a
+number of spears and other weapons which the blacks had left on the
+ground; these they threw into the fire, and then resumed their
+miserable journey.  On this day cattle tracks were visible, and at
+last, completely worn out, they arrived at Chisholm's station, eleven
+days after leaving One Tree Hill.  They still carried their guns, and
+had no trouble in obtaining food during the rest of their journey to
+Melbourne.
+
+At the same time that Mr. Tyers reported his failure to reach
+Gippsland, the seven men reported to Walsh their return from it.  The
+particulars of these interviews may be imagined, but they were never
+printed, Mr. John Fawkner, with unusual brevity, remarking that
+"Gippsland appears to be sinking into obscurity."
+
+Some time afterwards it was stated that "a warrant had been issued
+for Mr P. Walsh, formerly one of our leading merchants, on a charge
+of fraud committed in 1843.  Warrant returned 'non est inventus'; but
+whether he has left the colony, or is merely rusticating, does not
+appear.  Being an uncertificated bankrupt, it would be a rather
+dangerous experiment, punishable by law with transportation for
+fifteen years."
+
+But Mr. Tyers could not afford to allow Gippsland to sink into
+obscurity; his official life and salary depended on his finding it.
+A detachment of border and native police had arrived from Sydney by
+the 'Shamrock', and some of them were intended as a reinforcement for
+Gippsland, "to strengthen the hands of the commissioner in putting
+down irregularities that at present exist there."
+
+Dr. Holmes was sending a mob of cattle over the mountains, and Mr.
+Tyers ordered his troopers to travel with them, arranging to meet
+them at the head of the Glengarry river.  He avoided this time all
+the obstacles he had formerly encountered by making a sea voyage, and
+he landed at Port Albert on the 13th day of January, 1844.
+
+
+
+GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.
+
+As soon as it was known at the Old Port that a Commissioner of Crown
+Lands had arrived, Davy, the pilot, hoisted a flag on his signal
+staff, and welcomed the representative of law and order with one
+discharge from the nine-pounder.  He wanted to be patriotic, as
+became a free-born Briton.  But he was very sorry afterwards; he said
+he had made a mistake.  The proper course would have been to hoist
+the flag at half-mast, and to fire minute guns, in token of the grief
+of the pioneers for the death of freedom.
+
+Mr. Tyers rode away with a guide, found his troopers at the head of
+the Glengarry, and returned with them over Tom's Cap.  He camped on
+the Tarra, near the present Brewery Bridge, and his black men at
+night caught a number of blackfish, which were found to be most
+excellent.
+
+Next day the commissioner entered on his official duties, and began
+to put down irregularities.  He rode to the Old Port, and halted his
+men in front of the company's store.  All the inhabitants soon
+gathered around him.  He said to the storekeeper:
+
+"My name is Tyers.  I am the Commissioner of Crown Lands.  I want to
+see your license for this store."
+
+"This store belongs to the Port Albert Company," replied John
+Campbell.  "We have no license, and never knew one was required in
+such a place as this."
+
+"You are, then, in illegal occupation of Crown lands, and unless you
+pay me twenty pounds for a license I am sorry to say it will be my
+duty to destroy your store," said Mr. Tyers.
+
+There were two other stores, and a similar demand was made at each of
+them for the 20 pounds license fee, which was paid after some demur,
+and the licenses were signed and handed to the storekeepers.
+
+Davy's hut was the next visited.
+
+"Who owns this building?" asked Mr. Tyers.
+
+"I do," said Davy.  "I put it up myself."
+
+"Have you a license?"
+
+"No, I have not.  Never was asked for one since I came here, and I
+don't see why I should be asked for one now."
+
+"Well, I ask you now.  You are in illegal occupation of Crown lands,
+and you must pay me twenty pounds, or I shall have to destroy your
+hut."
+
+"I hav'nt got the twenty pounds," Davy said:  "never had as much
+money in my life; and I wouldn't pay it to you if I had it.  I would
+like to know what right the Government, or anybody else, has to ask
+me for twenty pounds for putting up a hut on this sandbank?  I have
+been here with my family pretty nigh on to three years; sometimes
+nearly starved to death, living a good deal of the time on birds, and
+'possums, and roast flathead; and what right, in the name of common
+sense, has the Government to send you here to make me pay twenty
+pounds?  What has the Government done for me or anybody else in
+Gippsland?  They have already taken every penny they could get out of
+the settlers, and, as far as I know, have not spent one farthing on
+this side of the mountains.  They did not even know there was such a
+country till McMillan found it.  It belonged to the blacks.  There
+was nobody else here when we came, and if we pay anybody it should be
+the blackfellows.  Besides, if I had had stock, and money enough to
+take up a run, I could have had the pick of Gippsland, twenty square
+miles, for ten pounds; and because I am a poor man you want me to pay
+twenty pounds for occupying a few yards of sand.  Where is the sense
+of that, I'd like to know?  If you are an honest Englishman, you
+ought to be ashamed of yourself for coming here with your troopers
+and carbines and pistols on such a business, sticking up a poor man
+for twenty pounds in the name of the Government.  Why, no bushrangers
+could do worse than that."
+
+"You are insolent, my man.  If you don't pay the money at once I'll
+give you just ten minutes to clear out, and then I shall order my men
+to burn down your hut.  You will find that you can't defy the
+Government with impunity."
+
+"Burn away, if you like, and much good may it do you."  Pointing to
+his whaleboat on the beach, "There's the ship I came here in from
+Melbourne, and that's the ship I shall go back in, and you daren't
+hinder me."
+
+Mr. Reeve was present, watching the proceedings and listening.  He
+had influential friends in Sydney, had a station at Snake Ridge, a
+special survey on the Tarra, and he felt that it would be advisable
+to pour oil on the troubled waters.  He said:
+
+"I must beg of you, Mr. Tyers, to excuse Davy.  He is our pilot, and
+there is no man in Gippsland better qualified for that post, nor one
+whose services have been so useful to the settlers both here and at
+the lakes.  We have already requested the Government to appoint him
+pilot at the port; we are expecting a reply shortly, and it will be
+only reasonable that he should be allowed a site for his hut."
+
+"You see, Mr. Reeve, I must do my duty," said Mr. Tyers, "and treat
+all alike.  I cannot allow one man to remain in illegal occupation,
+while I expel the others."
+
+"The settlers cannot afford to lose their pilot, and I will give you
+my cheque for the twenty pounds," said Mr. Reeve.
+
+"Twelve months afterwards the cheque was sent back from Sydney, and
+Mr. Reeve made a present of it to Davy.
+
+"At this time the public journals used very strong language in their
+comments on the action of Governors and Government officials, and
+complaint was made in the House of Commons that the colonial press
+was accustomed to use "a coarseness of vituperation and harshness of
+expression towards all who were placed in authority."  But gentlemen
+were still civil to one another, except on rare occasions, and then
+their language was a strong as that of the journals, e.g.:
+
+"I, Arthur Huffington, surgeon, residing at the station of Mr. W.
+Bowman, on the Ovens River, do hereby publicly proclaim George
+Faithful, settler on the King River, to be a malicious liar and a
+coward.
+
+"Ovens River, March 6th, 1844.
+
+"You will find a copy of the above posted at every public-house
+between the Ovens and Melbourne, and at the corner of every street in
+the town."
+
+This defiance could not escape the notice of the lawyers, and they
+soon got the matter into their own hands.
+
+Huffington brought an action of trespass on the case for libel
+against Faithful, damages 2,000 pounds.
+
+It was all about branding a female calf; "duffing it" was the vulgar
+term, and to call a settler "duffer" was more offensive than if you
+called him a murderer.
+
+Mr. Stawell opened the pleadings, brushing up the fur of the two
+tiger cats thus:
+
+"Here you have Mr. Faithful--the son of his father--the pink of
+superintendents--the champion of Crown Lands Commissioners--the
+fighting man of the plains of Goulburn--the fastidious Beau Brummel
+of the Ovens River,"--and so on.  Arthur and George were soon sorry
+they had not taken a shot at each other in a paddock.
+
+The calf was a very valuable animal--to the learned counsel.  On
+January 30th, 1844, Davy became himself an officer of the Government
+he had denounced so fiercely, being appointed pilot at Port Albert by
+Sir George Gipps, who graciously allowed him to continue the receipt
+of the fee already charged, viz., three pounds for each vessel
+inwards and outwards.
+
+There were eight other huts on the sandbank, but as not one of the
+occupants was able to pay twenty pounds, their names are not worth
+mentioning.  After making a formal demand for the money, and giving
+the trespassers ten minutes to take their goods away, Mr. Tyers
+ordered his men to set the buildings on fire, and in a short time
+they were reduced to ashes.  The commissioner then rode back to his
+camp with the eighty pounds, and wrote a report to the Government of
+the successful inauguration of law and order within his jurisdiction,
+and of the energetic manner in which he had commenced to put down the
+irregularities prevalent in Gippsland.
+
+The next duty undertaken by the commissioner was to settle disputes
+about the boundaries of runs, and he commenced with those of Captain
+Macalister, who complained of encroachments.  To survey each run with
+precision would take up much time and labour, so a new mode of
+settlement was adopted.  By the regulations in force no single
+station was to consist of more than twenty square miles of area,
+unless the commissioner certified that more was required for stock
+possessed by applicant.  This regulation virtually left everything to
+the goodwill and pleasure of the commissioner, who first decided what
+number of square miles he would allot to a settler, then mounted his
+horse, to whose paces he was accustomed, and taking his compass with
+him, he was able to calculate distances by the rate of speed of his
+horse almost as accurately as if he had measured them with a chain.
+These distances he committed to paper, and he gave to every squatter
+whose run he thus surveyed a description of his boundaries, together
+with a tracing from a chart of the district, which he began to make.
+He allotted to Captain Macalister all the country which he claimed,
+and a dispute between Mr. William Pearson and Mr. John King was
+decided in favour of the latter.
+
+It was reported in Sydney that Mr. Tyers was rather difficult of
+access, but it was believed he had given satisfaction to all and
+everyone with whom he had come in contact, except those expelled from
+the Old Port, and a few squatters who did not get as much land as
+they wanted.  There were also about a hundred escaped prisoners in
+the country, but these never complained that the commissioner was
+difficult of access.
+
+The blacks were still troublesome, and I heard Mr. Tyers relate the
+measures taken by himself and his native police to suppress their
+irregularities.  He was informed that some cattle had been speared,
+and he rode away with his force to investigate the complaint.  He
+inspected the cattle killed or wounded, and then directed his black
+troopers to search for tracks, and this they did willingly and well.
+Traces of natives were soon discovered, and their probable
+hiding-place in the scrub was pointed out to Mr. Tyers.  He therefore
+dismounted, and directing two of his black troopers armed with
+carbines to accompany him, he held a pistol in each hand and walked
+cautiously into the scrub.  The two black troopers discharged their
+carbines.  The commissioner had seen nothing to shoot at, but his
+blacks soon showed him two of the natives a few yards in front, both
+mortally wounded.  Mr. Tyers sent a report of the affair to the
+Government, and that was the end of it.
+
+This manner of dealing with the native difficulty was adopted in the
+early days, and is still used under the name of "punitive
+expeditions."  That judge who prayed to heaven in his wig and robes
+of office, said that the aborigines were subjects of the Queen, and
+that it was a mercy to them to be under her protection.  The mercy
+accorded to them was less than Jedburgh justice:  they were shot
+first, and not even tried afterwards.
+
+The settlers expelled from the sandbank at the Old Port required some
+spot on which they could put up their huts without giving offence to
+the superior powers.  The Port Albert Company excised a township from
+their special survey, and called it Victoria; Mr. Robert Turnbull
+bought 160 acres, the present Port Albert, at 1 pound per acre, and
+offered sites for huts to the homeless at the rate of 1 pound per
+annum, on the condition that they carried on no business.  The stores
+were removed from the Old Port to the new one, and the first
+settlement in Gippsland was soon again overgrown with scrub and ferns.
+Mr. Reeve offered farms to the industrious at the rental of one bushel
+of wheat to the acre.  For some time the township of Tarraville was a
+favourite place of residence, because the swamps which surrounded
+Port Albert were impassable for drays during the winter months; the
+roads to Maneroo and Melbourne mentioned in Mr. Reeve's advertisement
+were as yet in the clouds.  Captain Moore came from Sydney in the
+revenue cutter 'Prince George' to look for smugglers, but he did not
+find any.  He was afterwards appointed collector for Gippsland, and
+he came down again from Sydney with a boat's crew of six prisoners, a
+free coxswain, and a portable house, in which he sate for the receipt
+of Customs.
+
+For a time the commissioner resided at Tarraville, and then he went
+to the lakes and surveyed a township at Flooding Creek, now called
+Sale.  His black troopers were in some cases useful, in others they
+were troublesome; they indulged in irregularities; there was no doubt
+that they drank rum procured in some inexplicable manner.  They could
+not be confined in barracks, or remain continually under the eye of
+their chief, and it was not always possible to discover in what
+manner they spent their leisure hours.  But occasionally some
+evidence of their exploits came to light, and Mr. Tyers became aware
+that his black police considered themselves as living among hostile
+tribes, in respect of whom they had a double duty to perform, viz.,
+to track cattle spearers at the order of their chief, and on their
+own account to shoot as many of their enemies as they could
+conveniently approach.
+
+There were now ladies as well as gentlemen in Gippsland, and one day
+the commissioner sailed away in his boat with a select party.  After
+enjoying the scenery and the summer breezes for a few hours, he cast
+his eyes along the shore in search of some romantic spot on which to
+land.  Dead wood and dry sticks were extremely scarce, as the blacks
+used all they could find at their numerous camps.  He was at length
+so fortunate as to observe a brown pile of decayed branches, and he
+said, "I think we had better land over there; that deadwood will make
+a good fire"; and the boat was steered towards it.  But when it
+neared the land the air was filled with a stench so horrible that Mr.
+Tyers at once put the boat about, and went away in another direction.
+Next day he visited the spot with his police, and he found that the
+dead wood covered a large pile of corpses of the natives shot by his
+own black troopers, and he directed them to make it a holocaust.
+
+The white men brought with them three blessings for the natives--
+rum, bullets, and blankets.  The blankets were a free gift by the
+Government, and proved to the eyes of all men that our rule was kind
+and charitable.  The country was rightfully ours; that was decided by
+the Supreme Court; we were not obliged to pay anything for it, but
+out of pure benignity we gave the lubras old gowns, and the black men
+old coats and trousers; the Government added an annual blanket, and
+thus we had good reason to feel virtuous.
+
+We also appointed a protector of the aborigines, Mr. G. A. Robinson,
+at a salary of 500 pounds per annum.  He took up his residence on the
+then sweet banks of the Yarra, and made excursions in various
+directions, compiling a dictionary.  He started on a tour in the
+month of April, 1844, making Alberton his first halting-place, and
+intending to reach Twofold Bay by way of Omeo.  But he found the
+country very difficult to travel; he had to swim his horse over many
+rivers, and finally he returned to Melbourne by way of Yass, having
+added no less than 8,000 words to his vocabulary of the native
+languages.  But the public journals spoke of his labours and his
+dictionary with contempt and derision.  They said, "Pshaw! a few
+mounted police, well armed, would effect more good among the
+aborigines in one month than the whole preaching mob of protectors in
+ten years."
+
+When a race of men is exterminated somebody ought to bear the blame,
+and the easiest way is to lay the fault at the door of the dead; they
+never reply.
+
+When every blackfellow in South Gippsland, except old Darriman, was
+dead, Mr. Tyers explained his experience with the Government
+blankets.  They were now no longer required, as Darriman could obtain
+plenty of old clothes from charitable white men.  It had been the
+commissioner's duty to give one blanket annually to each live native,
+and thus that garment became to him the Queen's livery, and an emblem
+of civilisation; it raised the savage in the scale of humanity and
+encouraged him to take the first step in the march of progress.  His
+second step was into the grave.  The result of the gift of blankets
+was that the natives who received them ceased to clothe themselves
+with the skins of the kangaroo, the bear or opossum.  The rugs which
+they had been used to make for themselves would keep out the rain,
+and in them they could pass the wettest night or day in their
+mia-mias, warm and dry.  But the blankets we kindly gave them by way
+of saving our souls were manufactured for the colonial market, and
+would no more resist the rain than an old clothes-basket.  The
+consequence was that when the weather was cold and wet, the
+blackfellow and his blanket were also cold and wet, and he began
+to shiver; inflammation attacked his lungs, and rheumatism his limbs,
+and he soon went to that land where neither blankets nor rugs are
+required.  Mr. Tyers was of opinion that more blacks were killed by
+the blankets than by rum and bullets.
+
+Government in Gippsland was advancing.  There were two justices of
+the peace, the commissioner, black and white police, a collector of
+customs, a pilot, and last of all, a parson--parson Bean--who
+quarrelled with his flock on the question of education.  The sheep
+refused to feed the shepherd; he had to shake the dust off his feet,
+and the salvation of souls was, as usual, postponed to a more
+convenient season. At length Mr. Latrobe himself undertook to pay a
+visit to Gippsland.  He was a splendid horseman, had long limbs like
+King Edward Longshanks, and was in the habit of making dashing
+excursions with a couple of troopers to take cursory views of the
+country.  He set out in the month of May, 1844, and was introduced to
+the settlers in the following letter by "a brother squatter":
+
+"Gentlemen, look out.  The jackal of your oppressor has started on a
+tour.  For what purpose?  To see the isolated and miserable domiciles
+you occupy and the hard fare on which you subsist?  No!  but to see
+if the oppressor can further apply the screw with success and
+impunity.  You have located yourselves upon lands at the risk of life
+and property, paying to the Government in license and assessment fees
+for protection which you have never received, and your quiesence
+under such a system of robbery has stimulated your oppressor to levy
+on you a still greater amount of taxation, not to advance your
+interests, but to replenish his exhausted treasury.  Should you
+strain your impoverished exchequer to entertain your (in a family
+sense) worthy superintendent, depend upon it he will recommend a
+more severe application of the screw.  Give him, therefore, your
+ordinary fare, salt junk and damper, or scabby mutton, with a pot of
+Jack the Painter's tea, in a black pot stirred with a greasy knife."
+
+Mr. Latrobe and Sir George bore all the weight of public abuse, and
+it was heavy.  Now it is divided among many Ministers, each of whom
+carries his share with much patience, while our Governor's days in
+the "Sunny South" are "days of pleasantness, and all his paths are
+peace."
+
+No gentleman could accept hospitality like that suggested by "a
+brother squatter," and Mr. Latrobe sought refuge at the Port Albert
+Hotel, Glengarry's imported house.  Messrs. Tyers, Raymond, McMillan,
+Macalister, and Reeve were pitching quoits at the rear of the
+building under the lee of the ti-tree scrub.  Davy, the pilot, was
+standing near on duty, looking for shipping with one eye and at the
+game with the other.  The gentlemen paused to watch the approaching
+horsemen.  Mr. Latrobe had the royal gift of remembering faces once
+seen; and he soon recognised all those present, even the pilot whom
+he had seen when he first arrived in Melbourne.  He shook hands with
+everyone, and enquired of Davy how he was getting on with the
+piloting.  He said:  "Now gentlemen, go on with your game.  I like
+quoits myself and I should be sorry to interrupt you."  Then he went
+into the hotel and stayed there until morning.  He no doubt obtained
+some information from Mr. Tyers and his friends, but he went no
+further into the country.  Next morning he started with his two
+troopers on his return to Melbourne, and the other gentlemen mounted
+their horses to accompany him; but the "worthy superintendent" rode
+so fast that he left everyone behind and was soon out of sight, so
+his intended escort returned to port.  Mr. Latrobe's view of
+Gippsland was very cursory.
+
+Rabbit Island was stocked with rabbits in 1839 by Captain Wishart,
+the whaler.  In 1840 he anchored his barque, the 'Wallaby', in Lady's
+Bay, and lanced his last whale off Horn Point.  A great, grey shark
+happened to be cruising about the whaling ground, the taste of blood
+was on the sea, and he followed the wounded whale; until, going round
+in her flurry, she ran her nose against Wishart's boat and upset it.
+Then the shark saw strange animals in the water which he had never
+seen before.  He swam under them and sniffed at their tarry trousers,
+until they landed on the rocks:  all but one, Olav Pedersen, a strong
+man but a slow swimmer.  A fin arose above the water between Olav and
+the shore.  He knew what that meant, and his heart failed him.  Three
+times he called for help and Wishart threw off his wet clothes and
+plunged into the sea.  The shark was attracted to the naked captain,
+and he bit a piece out of one leg.  Both bodies were recovered; that
+of Wishart was taken to Hobarton, and Olav was buried on the shore at
+the foot of a gum tree.  His epitaph was painted on a board nailed to
+the tree, and was seen by one of the pioneers on his first voyage to
+the Old Port in 1841.
+
+Before Gippsland was brought under the law, Rabbit Island was
+colonised by two whalers named Page and Yankee Jim, and Page's wife
+and baby.  They built a bark hut, fenced in a garden with a
+rabbit-proof fence, and planted it with potatoes.  Their base of
+supplies for groceries was at the Old Port.
+
+They were monarchs of all they surveyed,
+From the centre all round to the sea.
+
+They paid no rent and no taxes.  Sometimes they fished, or went to
+the seal islands and brought back seal skins.  In the time of the
+potato harvest, and when that of the mutton birds drew near, there
+were signs of trouble coming from the mainland.  Fires were visible
+on the shore at night, and smoke by day; and Page suspected that the
+natives were preparing to invade the island.  At length canoes
+appeared bobbing up and down on the waves, but a shot from the rifle
+sent them back to the shore.  For three days and nights no fire or
+smoke was seen, and the two whalers ceased to keep watch.  But early
+next morning voices were heard from the beach below the hut; the
+blacks were trying to launch the boat.  Page and Jim shouted at them
+and went down the cliff; then the blacks ran away up the rocks, and
+were quickly out of sight.  Presently Mrs. page came running out of
+the hut half dressed, and carrying her baby; she said she heard the
+blacks jabbering in the garden.  In a short time the hut was in a
+blaze, and was soon burned to the ground.  The two men then launched
+their boat and went to the Port.  Davy shipped a crew of six men, and
+started in his whaleboat for the island; but the wind was blowing
+hard from the west, and they did not arrive at the island until next
+day.  The blacks had then all disappeared; and, as the men wanted
+something to eat, Davy told them to dig up some potatoes, while he
+went and shot six rabbits.  When he returned with his game, the men
+said they could not find any potatoes.  He said, "That's all
+nonsense," and went himself to the garden; but he could not find one
+potato.  The blackfellows had shipped the whole crop in their canoes,
+so that there was nothing but rabbit for breakfast.
+
+In this manner the reign of the Page dynasty came to an abrupt
+termination.  The baby heir-apparent grew up to man's estate as a
+private citizen, and became a fisherman at Williamstown.
+
+
+
+UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.
+
+After Mr. Latrobe's short visit to Port Albert, Gippsland was for
+many years ruled by Mr. Tyers with an authority almost royal.  Davy,
+after his first rebellious outburst at the burning of the huts, and
+his subsequent appointment as pilot, retired to the new Port Albert
+and avoided as much as possible the haunts of the commissioner.  On
+the salt water he was almost as powerful and imperious as was his
+rival by land.  He ruled over all ships and shipwrecks, and allowed
+no man to say him nay.
+
+Long Mason, the first overseer of Woodside Station, took over a cargo
+of fat cattle to Hobarton for his brother.  After receiving the cash
+for the cattle he proceeded to enjoy himself after the fashion of the
+day.  The shepherd knocked down his cheque at the nearest groggery
+and then returned to his sheep full of misery.  Long Mason had nearly
+300 pounds, and he acted the part of the prodigal brother.  He soon
+made troops of friends, dear brethren and sisters, on whom he
+lavished his coin; he hired a band of wandering minstrels to play his
+favourite music, and invited the beauty an chivalry of the convict
+capital to join him in his revels.  When his money was expended he
+was put on board a schooner bound for Port Albert, on which Davis (of
+Yarram) and his family were passengers.  For two days he lay in his
+bunk sick and suffering.  As the vessel approached the shore his
+misery was intense.  He demanded drink, but no one would give him
+any.  He began to search his pockets for coin, but of the 300 pounds
+only one solitary sixpence was left.  With this he tried to bribe the
+cabin boy to find for him one last taste of rum; but the boy said,
+"All the grog is locked up, and the captain would welt me if I gave
+you a single drop."
+
+So Long Mason landed at the Port with his sixpence, was dismissed by
+his brother from Woodside Station, and became a wandering swagman.
+
+The next overseer for Woodside voyaged to Port Albert in the brig
+'Isabella' in the month of June, 1844.  This vessel had been employed
+in taking prisoners to Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur until  the
+government built a barque called the 'Lady Franklin'; then Captain
+Taylor bought the brig for the cattle trade.  On this voyage he was
+anxious to cross the bar for shelter from a south-east gale, and he
+did not wait for the pilot, although the vessel was deeply laden;
+there was not water enough for her on the old bar; she struck on it,
+and the heavy easterly sea threw her on the west bank.  It was some
+time before the pilot and his two men could get aboard, as they had
+to fight their way through the breakers to leeward.  There was too
+much sea for the boat to remain in safety near the ship, and Davy
+asked the captain to lend him a hand to steer the boat back to Sunday
+Island.  The second mate went in her, but she was capsized directly.
+The ship's boat was hanging on the weather davits, and it was no use
+letting her down to windward on account of the heavy sea.  Davy ran
+out to the end of the jibboom with a lead line.  He could see the
+second mate hanging on to the keel of the capsized boat, and his two
+men in the water.  The ebb sea kept washing them out, and the heavy
+sea threw them back again, and whenever they could get their heads
+above water they shouted for help.  Davy threw the lead towards them
+from the end of the jibboom, but they were too far away for the line
+to reach them.  At length the ship's boat was launched to leeward,
+four men and the mate got into her, but by this time the two boatmen
+were drowned.  While the ship's boat was running through the breakers
+past the pilot boat, the first mate grabbed the second mate by the
+collar, held on to him until they were in smooth water, and then
+hauled him in.  It was too dangerous for the seamen to face the
+breakers again, so the pilot sang out to them to go to Snake Island.
+
+About two o'clock in the afternoon the vessel lay pretty quiet on the
+ebb tide; a fire was lighted in the galley, and all hands had
+something to eat.  There was not much water in the cabin; but, as
+darkness set in, and the flood tide made, the seas began to come
+aboard.  There was a heavy general cargo in the hold, six steerage
+passengers, four men and two women (one of whom had a baby), and one
+cabin passenger, who was going to manage Woodside Station in place of
+Long Mason, dismissed.
+
+The sea began to roll over the bulwarks, and the brig was fast
+filling with water.  For some time the pumps were kept going, but the
+water gained on them, and all hands had to take to the rigging.  The
+two women and the baby were first helped up to the foretop; then the
+pilot, counting the men, found one missing.
+
+"Captain," he said, "what has become of the new manager?"
+
+"Oh, he is lying in his bunk half-drunk."
+
+"Then," replied Davy, "he'll be drowned!"
+
+He descended into the cabin and found the man asleep, with the water
+already on a level with his berth.
+
+"Why the blazes don't you get up and come out of this rat-hole?" he
+said.  "Don't you see you are going to be drowned?"
+
+The manager looked up and smiled.
+
+"Please, don't be so unkind, my dear man," he replied.  "Let me sleep
+a little longer, and then I'll go on deck."
+
+Davy standing with the water up to his belt, grew mad.
+
+"Come out of that, you confounded fool," he said.
+
+He dragged him out of his bunk into the water, and hauled him up the
+companion ladder, and with the help of the men took him up the
+rigging, and lashed him there out of reach of the breakers.
+
+All the rest of the men went aloft, and remained there during the
+night.  Their clothing was soaked with water, and the weather was
+frosty and bitterly cold.  Just before daylight, when the tide had
+ebbed, and the sea had gone down, the two women and the baby were
+brought below from the foretop, and all hands descended to the deck.
+They wanted to make a fire, but everything was wet, and they had to
+cut up some of the standing rigging which had been out of reach of
+the surf before they could find anything that would burn.  With that
+a fire was made in the galley, and the women and baby were put
+inside.  At sunrise it was found that the sea had washed up a ridge
+of sand near the ship, and, not wishing to pass another tide on
+board, all the crew and passengers went over the side, and waded
+through the shallow water until they came to a dry sand-pit.  They
+were eleven in number, including the women and baby, and they waited
+until the boat came over from Snake Island and took them to the port.
+A little of the cargo was taken out of the 'Isabella', but in a few
+days she went to pieces.
+
+Captain Taylor went to Hobarton, and bought from the insurers the
+schooner 'Sylvanus' which had belonged to him, and having been
+wrecked was then lying ashore on the coast.  He succeeded in floating
+her off without much damage, and he ran her in the cattle trade for
+some time.  He then sold her to Boys & Hall, of Hobarton, went to
+Sydney, bought the schooner 'Alert', and sailed her in the same trade
+until the discovery of gold.  All the white seamen went off to the
+diggings, and he hired four Kanakas to man his craft.
+
+On his last trip to Port Albert the pilot was on board, waiting for
+the tide.  The pilot boat had been sent back to Sunday Island, the
+ship's boat was in the water, and was supposed to have been made fast
+astern by the crew.  At break of day the pilot came on deck, and on taking
+a look round, he saw that the longboat had got away and was drifting
+towards Rabbit Island.  He roared down the companion to Captain
+Taylor, "Your longboat's got adrift, and is off to Rabbit Island."
+
+In another minute Captain Taylor was on deck.  He gazed at his
+distant longboat and swore terribly.  Then he took a rope and went
+for his four Kanakas; but they did not wait for him; they all plunged
+into the sea and deserted.  The captain and pilot stood on deck
+watching them as they swam away, hand over hand, leaving foaming
+wakes behind like vessels in full sail.  They were making straight
+for the longboat, and Davy said, "They will go away in her and leave
+us here in the lurch."  But the captain said, "I think not."  He was
+right.  The Kanakas brought back the boat within hail of the
+schooner, and after being assured by the captain that he would not
+ropes-end them, they climbed aboard.
+
+On returning to Hobarton Captain Taylor was seized with the gold
+fever.  He laid up the 'Alert', went with his four men to Bendigo,
+and was a lucky digger.  Then he went to New Zealand, bought a farm,
+and ploughed the waves no more.
+
+In January, 1851, some buoys were sent to Port Albert and laid down
+in the channel.  The account for the work was duly sent to the chief
+harbour master at Williamstown, but he took no notice of it, nor made
+any reply to several letters requesting payment.  There was something
+wrong at headquarters, and Davy resolved to see for himself what it
+was.  Moreover, he had not seen Melbourne for ten years, and he
+yearned for a change.  So, without asking leave of anyone, he left
+Port Albert and its shipping "to the sweet little cherub that sits up
+aloft, and takes care of the life of Poor Jack," and went in his boat
+to Yanakie Landing.  Mrs. Bennison lent him a pony, and told him to
+steer for two bald hills on the Hoddle Ranges; he could not see the
+hills for the fog, and kept too much to port, but at last he found a
+track.  He camped out that night, and next morning had breakfast at
+Hobson's Station.  He stayed one night at Kilcunda, and another at
+Lyle's station, near the bay.  He then followed a track which
+Septimus Martin had cut through the tea-tree, and his pony became
+lame by treading on the sharp stumps, so that he had to push it or
+drag it along until he arrived at Dandenong, where he left it at an
+inn kept by a man named Hooks.  He hired a horse from Hooks at five
+shillings a day.  The only house between Dandenong and Melbourne was
+once called the South Yarra Pound, kept by Mrs. Atkinson.  It was
+near Caulfield, on the Melbourne side of "No-good-damper swamp."
+Some blackfellows had been poisoned there by a settler who wanted to
+get rid of them. He gave them a damper with arsenic in it, and when
+dying they said, "No good, damper."
+
+Davy landed in Melbourne on June 17th, 1851, put his horse in Kirk's
+bazaar, and stayed at the Queen's Head in Queen Street, where Sir
+William Clarke's office is now.  The landlady was Mrs. Coulson, a
+widow.  Next morning he was at the wharf before daylight, and went
+down the Yarra in the first steamer for Williamstown.  He found that
+Captain Bunbury, the chief harbour-master, had gone away in the
+buoy-boat, a small schooner called the 'Apollo', so he hired a
+whale-boat, and overtook the schooner off the Red Bluff.  When he
+went on board he spoke to Ruffles, master of the schooner, and said:
+
+"Is the harbour-master aboard?  I want to see him."
+
+"Yes, but don't speak so loud, or you'll wake him up," replied
+Ruffles.  "He is asleep down below."
+
+Davy roared out, "I want to wake him up.  I have come two hundred
+miles on purpose to do it.  I want to get a settlement about those
+buoys at Port Albert.  I am tired of writing about them."
+
+This woke up Bunbury, who sang out:
+
+"What's the matter, Ruffles?  What's all that noise about?"
+
+"It's the pilot from Port Albert.  He wants to see you, sir, about the
+buoys."
+
+"Tell him to come down below."  Davy went.
+
+Bunbury was a one-armed naval lieutenant, the head of the harbour
+department, and drew the salary.  He had subordinate officers.  A
+clerk at Williamstown did his clerical work, and old Ruffles
+navigated the 'Apollo' for him through the roaring waters of Port
+Philip Bay, while he lay in his bunk meditating on something.  He
+said:
+
+"Oh, is that you, Pilot?  Well, about those buoys, eh?  That's all
+right.  All you have to do is go to my office in Williamstown, tell
+my clerk to fill in a form for you, take it to the Treasury, and you
+will get your money."
+
+Davy went back to the office at Williamstown, had the form made out
+by the clerk, and took it to Melbourne in the steamer, the last trip
+she made that day.  By this time the Treasury was closed. It was
+situated in William Street, where the vast Law Courts are now; and
+Davy was at the door when it was opened next morning, the first
+claimant for money.  A clerk took his paper, looked over it, smiled,
+and said it was of no use whatever without Bunbury's signature.  Davy
+started for Williamstown again in the second boat, found that Bunbury
+had gone away again in the 'Apollo', followed him in a whale boat,
+overtook him off St. Kilda, obtained his signature, and returned to
+the Treasury.  Captain Lonsdale was there, but he said it was too
+late to pay money that day, and also that the form should be signed
+by someone at the Public Works office.
+
+Then Davy's patience was gone, and he spoke the loud language of the
+sea.  The frail building shook as with an earthquake.  Mr. Latrobe
+was in a back room writing one of those gubernatorial despatches
+which are so painful to read.  He had to suspend the pangs of
+composition, and he came into the front room to see what was the
+matter.  Davy told him what was the matter in very unofficial words.
+Mr. Latrobe listened patiently and then directed Captain Lonsdale to
+keep the Treasury open until the account was paid.  He also said the
+schooner 'Agenoria' had been wrecked on the day that Davy left Port
+Albert, and requested him to return to duty as soon as possible, lest
+other vessels might be wrecked for want of a pilot.  "The sweet
+little cherub that sits up aloft" could not be depended on to pilot
+vessels over the bar.
+
+Davy took his paper to the Public Works office in Queen Street.  Here
+he found another officer bursting with dignity, who said:  "There is
+already one signature too many on this account."
+
+"Can't you scratch it out, then?" said Davy.
+
+"We don't keep hens to scratch in this office," replied the dignified
+one, who took a ruler, and having drawn a line through the
+superfluous name, signed his own.  When Davy went again to the
+Treasury with his account, Captain Lonsdale said he had not cash on
+hand to pay it, and deducted twenty pounds, which he sent to Port
+Albert afterwards, when the Government had recovered its solvency.
+His Honour the Superintendent might have assumed the classical motto,
+"Custos sum pauperis horti."
+
+Davy put the money in his pocket, went to the Queen's Head, and, as
+it was already dark, he hired a man for ten shillings to show him the
+road through the wet wilderness of Caulfield and round No-good-damper
+Swamp.  It was half-past eleven when he arrived at Hook's Hotel, and,
+as his pony was still too lame to travel, he bought the horse he had
+hired, and set out with the Sale mailman.  At the Moe he found Angus
+McMillan, William Montgomery, and their stockmen, afraid to cross the
+creek on account of the flood, and they had eaten all their
+provisions.  Before dark a black gin came over in a canoe from the
+accommodation hut on the other side of the creek, having heard the
+travellers cooeying.  They told her they wanted something to eat, but
+it was too dangerous for her to cross the water again that night.  A
+good fire was kept burning but it was a wretched time.  It rained
+heavily, a gale of wind was blowing, and trees kept falling down in
+all directions.  Scott, the hut-keeper, sent the gin over in the
+canoe next morning with a big damper, tea, sugar, and meat, which
+made a very welcome breakfast for the hungry travellers.
+
+They stayed there two days and two nights, and as the flood was still
+rising, they resolved to try to cross the creek at all risks,
+preferring to face the danger of death by drowning rather than to die
+slowly of starvation.  Each man took off his clothes, all but his
+flannel shirt and drawers, strapped them to the pommel of his saddle,
+threw the stirrup irons over the saddle, and stopped them with a
+string under the horse's belly to keep them from getting foul in the
+trees and scrub.  In some places the horses had to climb over logs
+under water, sometimes they had to swim, but in the end they all
+arrived safely at the hut.  They were very cold, and ravenously
+hungry; and while their clothes were drying before a blazing fire,
+they drank hot tea and ate up every scrap of food, so that Scott was
+obliged to accompany them to the next station for rations.  He left
+the gin behind, having no anxiety about her.  While he was away she
+could feed sumptuously on grubs, crabs, and opossums.
+
+In March, 1852, when everybody was seized with the gold fever, Davy
+took it in the natural way.  He again left Port Albert without a
+pilot and went to Melbourne to resign his office.  But Mr. Latrobe
+promised to give him a salary of 500 pounds a year and a boat's crew
+of five men and a coxswain.  The men were to have twelve-and-six a
+day and the coxswain fifteen shillings.
+
+By this time the gold fever had penetrated to the remotest parts of
+Gippsland, and from every squatting station and every lonely hut on
+the plains and mountains men gathered in troops.  They were leaving
+plenty of gold behind them at Walhalla and other places.  The first
+party Davy met had a dray and bullocks.  They were slowly cutting a
+road through the scrub, and their team was the first that made its
+way over the mountains from Gippsland to Melbourne.  Their captain
+was a lady of unbounded bravery and great strength--a model
+pioneeress, with a talent for governing the opposite sex.*  When at
+home on her station she did the work of a man and a woman too.  She
+was the one in a thousand so seldom found.  She not only did the
+cooking and housework, but she also rode after stock, drove a team,
+killed fat beasts, chopped wood, stripped bark, and fenced.  She did
+not hanker after woman's rights, nor rail against the male sex.  She
+was not cultured, nor scientific, nor artistic, nor aesthetic.  She
+despised all the ologies.  All great men respected her, and if the
+little ones were insolent she boxed their ears and twisted their
+necks.  She conquered all the blackfellows around her land with her
+own right arm.  At first she had been kind to them, but they soon
+became troublesome, wanted too much flour, sugar, and beef, and
+refused to go away when she ordered them to do so.  Without another
+word she took down her stockwhip, went to the stable, and saddled her
+horse.  Then she rounded up the blackfellows like a mob of cattle and
+started them.  If they tried to break away, or to hide themselves
+among the scrub, or behind tussocks, she cut pieces out of their
+hides with her whip.  Then she headed them for the Ninety-mile Beach,
+and landed them in the Pacific without the loss of a man.  In that
+way she settled the native difficulty.  The Neills, with a bullock
+team, the Buckleys and Moores, with horse teams, followed the track
+of the leading lady.  The station-owners stayed at home and watched
+their fat stock, which soon became valuable, and was no longer boiled.
+
+[Footnote]  *Mrs. Buntine; died 1896.
+
+On December 31st, 1851, there were in Tasmania twenty thousand and
+sixty-nine convicts.  Six months afterwards more than ten thousand
+had left the island, and in three years forty-five thousand eight
+hundred and eighty-four persons, principally men, had left for the
+diggings.  It was evident that Sir Wm. Denison would soon have nobody
+to govern but old women and children, a circumstance derogatory to
+his dignity, so he wrote to England for more convicts and immigrants,
+and he pathetically exclaimed, "To whom but convicts could
+colonists look to cultivate their lands, to tend their flocks, to
+reap their harvests?"  In the month of May, 1853, Sir William wrote
+that "the discovery of gold had turned him topsy-turvy altogether,"
+and he rejoiced that no gold had been discovered in his island.  Then
+the Legislature perversely offered a reward of five thousand pounds
+to any man who would discover a gold field in Tasmania, but, as a
+high-toned historian observes, "for many years they were so fortunate
+as not to find it."
+
+The convicts stole boats at Launceston, and landed at various places
+about Corner Inlet.  Some were arrested by the police and sent back
+to Tasmania.  Many called at Yanakie Station for free rations.  Mr.
+Bennison applied for police protection, and Old Joe, armed with a
+carbine, was sent from Alberton as a garrison.  Soon afterwards a
+cutter of about fifteen tons burden arrived at Corner Inlet manned by
+four convicts, who took the mainsail ashore and used it as a tent.
+They then allowed the cutter to drift on the rocks under Mount
+Singapore, and she went to pieces directly.  While trying to find a
+road to Melbourne, they came to Yanakie Station, and they found
+nobody at the house except Joe, Mrs. Bennison, and an old hand.  It
+was now Joe's duty to overawe and arrest the men, but they, although
+unarmed, overawed and arrested Joe.  He became exceedingly civil, and
+after Mrs. Bennison had supplied them with provisions he showed them
+the road to Melbourne.  They were arrested a few days afterwards at
+Dandenong and sent back to the island prison.
+
+
+
+A NEW RUSH.
+
+----
+
+"And there was gathering in hot haste."
+
+When gold was first discovered at Stockyard Creek, Griffiths, one of
+the prospectors, came to me with the intention of registering the
+claim, under the impression that I was Mining Registrar. He showed me
+a very good sample of gold.  As I had not then been appointed
+registrar, he had to travel sixty miles further before he could
+comply with the necessary legal formalities.  Then the rush began.
+Old diggers came from all parts of Victoria, New South Wales,
+Queensland, and New Zealand; also men who had never dug before, and
+many who did not intend to dig--pickpockets, horse thieves, and
+jumpers.  The prospectors' claim proved the richest, and the jumpers
+and the lawyers paid particular attention to it.  The trail of the
+old serpent is over everything.  The desire of the jumpers was to
+obtain possession of the rich claim, or of some part of it; and the
+lawyers longed for costs, and they got them.  The prospectors paid,
+and it was a long time before they could extricate their claim from
+the clutches of the law.  They found the goldfield, and they also
+soon found an unprofitable crop of lawsuits growing on it.  They were
+called upon to show cause before the warden and the Court of Mines
+why they should not be deprived of the fruit of their labours.  The
+fact of their having discovered gold, and of having pegged out and
+registered their claim, could not be denied; but then it was argued
+by counsel most learned in mining law that they had done something
+which they should have omitted to do, or had omitted to do something
+else which they should have done, frail human beings as they were,
+and therefore their claim should be declared to belong to some
+Ballarat jumper.  I had to sit and listen to such like legal logic
+until it made me sick, and ashamed of my species.  Of course, justice
+was never mentioned, that was out of the question; if law and justice
+don't agree, so much the worse for justice.
+
+Gold was next found at Turton's Creek, which proved one of the
+richest little gullies ever worked by diggers.  It was discovered by
+some prospectors who followed the tracks which Mr. Turton had cut
+over the scrubby mountains, and so they gratefully gave his name to
+the gully, but I never heard that they gave him any of the gold which
+they found in it.  A narrow track from Foster was cut between high
+walls of impenetrable scrub, and it soon became like a ditch full of
+mud, deep and dangerous.  If the diggers had been assured that they
+would find heaven at the other end of it, they would never have tried
+to go, the prospect of eternal happiness having a much less attraction
+for them than the prospect of gold; but the sacred thirst made them
+tramp bravely through the slough.  The sun and wind never dried the
+mud, because it was shut in and overshadowed by the dense growth of
+the bush.  All tools and provisions were carried through it on the
+backs of horses, whose legs soon became caked with mud, and the hair
+was taken off them as clean as if they had been shaved with a razor.
+Most of them had a short life and a hard one.
+
+The digging was quite shallow, and the gully was soon rifled of the
+gold.  At this time there was a mining registrar at Foster, as the
+new diggings at Stockyard Creek were named, and some men, after
+pegging out their claim at Turton's Creek, went back down the ditch
+to register them at Foster.  It was a great mistake.  It was neither
+the time nor the place for legal forms or ceremony.  Time was of the
+essence of the contract, and they wasted the essence.  Other and
+wiser men stepped on to their ground while they were absent,
+commenced at once to work vigorously, and the original peggers, when
+they returned, were unable to dislodge them.  Peter Wilson pegged out
+a claim, and then rode away to register it.  He returned next day and
+found two men on it who had already nearly worked it out.
+
+"This claim is mine, mates," said Peter; "I pegged it out yesterday,
+and I have registered it.  You will have to come out."
+
+One of the men looked up at Peter and said, "Oh! your name is Peter,
+isn't it?  I hear you are a fighting man.  Well, you just come down
+off that bare-legged horse, and I'll kill you in a couple of minutes,
+while I take a spell."
+
+"It's no use your talking that way; you'll see I'll have the law on
+you, and you'll have to pay for it," replied Peter.
+
+"You can go, Peter, and fetch the law as soon as you like.  I don't
+care a tinker's curse for you or the law; all I want is the profits,
+and I'm going to have them."
+
+This profane outlaw and his mate got the profits, cleared all the
+gold out of Peter's claim, and took it away with them.
+
+It was reported in Melbourne that there was no law or order at
+Turton's Creek; that the diggers were treating the mining statutes
+and regulations with contempt; that the gold went to the strong, and
+the weakest went to the wall.  Therefore, six of the biggest
+policemen in  Melbourne were selected, stretched out, and measured in
+Russell Street barracks, and were then ordered to proceed to Turton's
+Creek and vindicate the majesty of the law.  They landed from the
+steamer on the wharf at Port Albert, and, being armed with carbines
+and revolvers, looked very formidable.  They proceeded on their
+journey in the direction of Foster, and it was afterwards reported
+that they arrived at Turton's Creek, and finding everybody quiet and
+peaceable, they came back again, bringing with them neither jumpers
+nor criminals.  It was said, however, that they never went any
+further than the commencement of the ditch.  They would naturally, on
+viewing it, turn aside and camp, to recruit their energies and
+discuss the situation.  Although they were big constables, it did not
+follow they were big fools.  They said the Government ought to have
+asphalted the ditch for them.  It was unreasonable to expect men,
+each six foot four inches in height, carrying arms and accoutrements,
+which they were bound by the regulations to keep clean and in good
+order, to plunge into that river of mud, and to spoil all their
+clothes.
+
+Turton's Creek was soon worked out, and before any professional
+jumpers or lawyers could put their fingers in the pie, the plums were
+all gone.  The gully was prospected from top to bottom, and the hills
+on both sides were tunnelled, but no more gold, and no reefs were
+found.  There was much speculation by geologists, mining experts, and
+old duffers as to the manner in which the gold had contrived to get
+into the creek, and where it came from; where it went to, the diggers
+who carried it away in their pockets knew well enough.
+
+The diggers dispersed; some went to Melbourne to enjoy their wealth;
+some stayed at Foster to try to get more; some died from the extreme
+enjoyment of riches suddenly acquired, and a few went mad.  One of
+the latter was brought to Palmerston, and remained there a day or two
+on his way to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum.  Having an inborn thirst
+for facts, I conversed with him from the wooden platform which
+overlooks the gaol yard.  He was walking to and fro, and talking very
+cheerfully to himself, and to the world in general.  He spoke well,
+and had evidently been well educated, but his ideas were all in
+pieces as it were, and lacked connection.  He spoke very
+disrespectfully of men in high places, both in England and the
+Colonies; and remarked that Members of Parliament were the greatest
+rascals on the face of the earth.  No man of sound mind would ever
+use such language as that.
+
+Some years afterwards, while I was Collector of Customs at Port
+Albert, I received a letter from Melbourne to the following purport:
+
+"Yarra Bend Asylum,
+----------188--
+
+"Strictly private and confidential
+
+"Sir,--You are hereby ordered to take possession of and detain
+every vessel arriving at Port Albert.  You will immediately proceed
+on board each of them, and place the broad arrow abaft the foremast
+six feet above the deck.  You will thus cut off all communication
+with the British Empire.  I may state that I am the lawful heir to
+the title and estates of a Scottish dukedom, and am deprived of the
+possession and enjoyment of my rightful station and wealth by the
+machinations of a band of conspirators, who have found means to
+detain me in this prison in order to enjoy my patrimony.  You will
+particularly observe that you are to hold no communication whatever
+with the Governor of this colony, as he is the paid agent of the
+conspirators, and will endeavour to frustrate all efforts to obtain
+my rights.  You will also be most careful to withhold all information
+from the Duke of Dunsinane, who is a member of the junior branch of
+my family, and at the head of the conspiracy.  You will proceed as
+soon as possible to enrol a body of men for the purpose of effecting
+my deliverance by force of arms.  As these men will require payment
+for their services, you will enter the Bank of Victoria at Port
+Albert, and seize all the money you will find there, the amount of
+which I estimate at ten thousand pounds, which will be sufficient for
+preliminary expenses.  You will give, in my name, to the manager of
+the bank, a guarantee in writing for repayment of the money, with
+current rate of interest added, when I recover the dukedom and
+estates.  Be careful to explain to him that you take the money only
+as a loan, and that will prevent the bank from laying any criminal
+charge against you.  Should anything of the kind be in contemplation,
+you will be good enough to report progress to me as soon as possible,
+and I will give you all necessary instructions as to your future
+proceedings.
+
+"I may mention that in seeking to obtain my title and estates, I am
+influenced by no mean or mercenary considerations; my sole desire is
+to benefit the human race.  I have been employing all my leisure
+hours during the last nine years in perfecting a system of philosophy
+entirely new, and applicable to all times, to all nations, and to all
+individuals.  I have discovered the true foundation for it, which,
+like all great inventions, is so simple that it will surprise the
+world it was never thought of before.  It is this:  "Posito
+impossibili sequitur quidlibet."  My philosophy is founded on the
+firm basis of the Impossible; on that you can build anything and
+everything.  My great work is methodical, divided into sections and
+chapters, perfect in style, and so lucid in argument that he who runs
+may read and be enlightened.  I have counted the words, and they
+number so far seven hundred and two thousand five hundred and
+seventy-eight (702,578).  Five years more will be required to
+complete the work; I shall then cause it to be translated into every
+language of the world, and shipped at the lowest rate of tonnage for
+universal distribution gratis.  This will ensure its acceptance and
+its own beauty and intrinsic merits will secure its adoption by all
+nations, and the result will be human happiness.  It will supersede
+all the baseless theories of science, religion, and morality which
+have hitherto confounded the human intellect.
+
+"Extract from my Magnum Opus.
+
+"We may reasonably suppose that matter is primordially self-existent,
+and that it imbued itself with the potentiality of life.  It
+therefore produced germs.  A pair of germs coalesced, and formed a
+somewhat discordant combination, the movements in which tended
+towards divergence.  They attracted and enclosed other atoms, and,
+progressing through sleep and wakefulness, at last arrived at
+complete satisfaction, or perfect harmonic combination.  This
+harmonic combination is death.  We may say then, in brief, that
+growth is simply discordant currents progressing towards harmony.
+One question may be briefly noticed.  It has been asked, when did
+life first appear on the earth?  We shall understand now that the
+question is unnecessary.  Life first appeared on the earth when the
+earth first appeared as an unsatisfied atom seeking combination.  The
+question is rather, when did the inanimate first appear?  It appeared
+when the first harmonic combination was effected.  The earth is
+indeed to be considered as having grown up through the life that is
+inherent in it.  Man is the most concentrated and differentiated
+outgrowth of that life.  Mankind is, so to speak, the brain of the
+earth, and is progressing towards the conscious guidance of all its
+processes."
+
+"Dunsinane."
+
+It was not clear on what ground this noble duke based his authority
+over me; but I had been so long accustomed to fulfil the behests of
+lunatics of low degree that I was able to receive those of an
+afflicted lord with perfect equanimity. But as I could not see that
+my obedience would be rewarded with anything except death or
+Pentridge, I refrained from action.  I did not place the broad arrow
+abaft of anything or anybody, nor did I make a levy on the cash in
+the Bank of Victoria.
+
+
+GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.
+
+"A pleasing land of drowsihed it was,
+And dreams that wave before the half-shut eye."
+
+For twelve years I did the Government stroke in Her Majesty's Court
+at Colac, then I was ordered to make my way to Gippsland.
+
+The sun of wisdom shone on a new ministry.  They observed that many
+of their officers were destitute of energy, and they resolved to
+infuse new life into the service, by moving its members continually
+from place to place.  But officials live long, and the most robust
+ministry dies early, and the wisdom of one cabinet is foolishness to
+the next.
+
+I took root so deeply in the soil of Gippsland that I became
+immoveable.  Twice the Government tried to uproot me, but I remained
+there to the end of my official days.
+
+Little reliable information about the country or its inhabitants was
+to be had, so I fondly imagined that in such a land, secured from
+contamination by the wicked world outside, I should find a people of
+primeval innocence and simplicity, and the long-forgotten lines
+returned to my memory:
+
+"Beatus ille qui procul negotils,
+Ut prisca gens mortalium."
+
+It was summer time, and the weather was serene and beautiful, when in
+the grey dusk of the evening we sailed through the Rip at Port Philip
+Heads.  Then began the troubles of the heaving ocean, and the log of
+the voyage was cut short.  It ran thus:
+
+"The ship went up, and the ship went down; and then we fell down, and
+then we was sick; and then we fell asleep; and then we was at Port
+Albert; and that's all I knows about it."
+
+I walked along the one street past the custom house, the post-office,
+and the bank, about three hundred yards and saw nothing beyond but
+tea-tree and swamps, through which ran a roughly-metalled road,
+leading apparently to the distant mountains.  There was nothing but
+stagnation; it was the deadest seaport ever seen or heard of.  There
+were some old stores, empty and falling to pieces, which the owners
+had not been enterprising enough to burn for the insurance money; the
+ribs of a wrecked schooner were sticking out of the mud near the
+channel; a stockyard, once used for shipping cattle, was rotting
+slowly away, and a fisherman's net was hanging from the top rails to
+dry.  Three or four drays filled with pigs were drawn up near the
+wharf; these animals were to form part of the steamer's return cargo,
+one half of her deck space being allotted to pigs, and the other half
+to passengers.  In case of foul weather, the deck hamper, pigs and
+passengers, was impartially washed overboard.
+
+An old man in a dirty buggy was coming along the road, and all the
+inhabitants and dogs turned out to look and bark at him, just as they
+do in a small village in England, when the man with the donkey-cart
+comes in sight.  To allay my astonishment on observing so much
+agitation and excitement, the Principal Inhabitant introduced
+himself, and informed me that it was a busy day at the Port, a kind
+of market day, on account of the arrival of the steamer.
+
+I began sorrowfully to examine my official conscience to discover for
+which of my unatoned-for sins I had been exiled to this dreary land.
+
+Many a time in after years did I see a stranger leave the steamer,
+walk, as I had done, to the utmost extremity of the seaport, and
+stand at the corner of the butcher's shop, gazing on the swamps, the
+tea-tree, and the far-away wooded hills, the Strelezcki ranges.  The
+dismal look of hopeless misery thatstole over his countenance was
+pitiful to behold.  After recovering the power of speech, his first
+question was, "How is it possible that any man could ever consent to
+live in a hole like this?"  Here the Principal Inhabitant intervened,
+and poured balm on the wounded spirit of the stranger.  He gently
+reminded him that first impressions are not always to be relied on;
+and assured him that if he would condescend to take up his abode with
+us for two or three years, he would never want to live anywhere else.
+The climate was delicious, the best in the world; it induced a
+feeling of repose, and bliss, and sweet contentment.  We had no ice
+or snow, or piercing blasts in winter; and the heat of summer was
+tempered by the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, which gently
+lapped our lovely shores.  The land, when cleared, was as rich and
+fertile as the farmer's heart could wish, yielding abundant pasturage
+both in summer and winter.  The mountains sent down to us unfailing
+supplies of the purest water; we wanted no schemes of irrigation, for
+
+"Green are our fields and fair our flowers,
+Our fountains never drumlie."
+
+We had no plagues of locust, no animal or insect pests to destroy our
+crops or herbage.  Rabbits had been introduced and turned loose at
+various times, but, instead of multiplying until they had become as
+numerous as the sand on the seashore, as had been the case in other
+parts of Australia, in Gippsland they invariably died; and it had
+been abundantly proved that rabbits had no more chance of living
+there than snakes in Ireland.  And with regard to the salubrity of
+the climate, the first settlers lived so long that they were
+absolutely tired of life.  Let him look at the cemetery, if he could
+find it.  After thirty years of settlement it was almost uninhabited
+--neglected and overgrown with tussocks and scrub for want of use.
+
+It will be gathered from this statement of the Principal Inhabitant
+that Gippsland had really been discovered and settled about thirty
+years before; but mountains and sea divided it from the outside
+world, and, on account of the intense drowsiness and inactivity which
+the delicious air and even temperature of the climate produced, the
+land and its inhabitants had been forgotten and unnoticed until it
+had been rediscovered, and its praises sung by the enterprising
+Minister of the Crown before mentioned.
+
+Following the example of the cautious cat when introduced into a
+strange house, I investigated every corner of the district as far as
+the nature of the country would permit; and I found that it contained
+three principal corners or villages about three miles apart, at each
+of which the police magistrate and clerk had to attend on certain
+days, business or no business, generally the latter.  It was, of
+course, beneath the dignity of a court to walk officially so far
+through the scrub; so the police magistrate was allowed sixty pounds
+per annum in addition to his salary, and the clerk whom I relieved
+fifty pounds, to defray the expense of keeping their horses.
+
+"Away went Gilpin, and away
+Went Gilpin's hat and wig."
+
+I bought a waggonette, and then began to look for a horse to draw it.
+As soon as my want became known it was pleasing to find so many of my
+neighbours willing to supply it.  Cox, the gaoler, said he knew of a
+horse that would just suit me.  It belonged to Binns, an
+ex-constable, who was spending a month in gaol on account of a little
+trouble that had come upon him.  Cox invited me into his office, and
+brought Binns out of his cell.
+
+"Yes," said Binns "I have a horse, and there's not another like him
+on the island," (these men always meant Van Diemen's Land when they
+said "the island," forgetting occasionally that they had crossed the
+straits, and were in a land of freedom) "as good a goer as ever
+carried a saddle, or wore a collar.  I wouldn't sell him on no
+account, only you see I'm hard up just now."
+
+"What is his age?" I enquired.
+
+"Well, he's just rising ten.  He has been used a bit hard, but you
+won't overwork him, and he'll do all the law business you want as
+easy as winking. He's the best trotter on the island, and has won
+many a stake for me.  When I took Johnny-come-lately to gaol in
+Melbourne for stealing him, he brought me back in less time than any
+horse ever did the distance before or since.  And you can have him
+dirt cheap.  I'll take ten pounds for him, and he's worth twenty
+pounds of any man's money."
+
+Lovers' vows and horsedealers' oaths are never literally true; it is
+safer to receive them as lies.  I thought it would be prudent to try
+this trotter before buying him, so Binns signed an order, in a very
+shaky hand, to the man in charge of his farm, to let me have the
+horse on trial.  When I harnessed and put him in between the shafts
+he was very quiet indeed.  I took a whip, not for the purpose of
+using it, but merely for show; a horse that had won so many races
+would, of course, go without the lash.
+
+When I was seated and requested him to start, he began walking very
+slowly, as if he had a load of two tons weight behind him, and I
+never weighed so much as that.  I had to use the whip, and at last
+after a good deal of reflection he began to trot, but not with any
+speed; he did not want to win anything that day.  I remarked that his
+ears looked dead; no sound or sight of any kind disturbed the peace
+of his mind.  He evidently knew this world well and despised it;
+nothing in it could excite his feelings any more.
+
+Halfway up the Water Road I met Bill Mills, a carrier.  He stopped
+his team and looked at mine.
+
+"Have you bought that horse, Mister?" he said.
+
+"Not yet; I am only trying him," I replied.  "Do you know him?"
+
+"Know him?  I should think I did.  That's old Punch.  I broke him
+into harness when he was three off.  He nearly killed me; ran away
+with me and my dog-cart among the scrub at the racecourse swamp, and
+smashed it against a honeysuckle."
+
+"Is that long ago?" I enquired.
+
+"Long ago?  Let me see.  That horse is twenty year old if he's a day.
+He'll not run away with you now; no fear; he's quite safe.  Good-day,
+Mister.  Come on, Star;" and Bill touched his leader with his whip.
+
+When I arrived at the court-house, I made a search in the cause list
+book, and found that Johnny-come-lately had been sent to gaol just
+sixteen years before for stealing Old Punch, so I restored that
+venerable trotter to its owner.
+
+I had soon more horses offered to me for trial, every old screw
+within twenty miles being brought to me for inspection.  The next
+animal I harnessed belonged to Andrew Jackson, and was brought by
+Andrew Jackson, junior, who said his father could let me have it for
+a month on trial.  Jackson, junior, was anxious to go away without
+the horse, but I told him to wait a bit while I put on the harness.
+The animal was of a mouse colour, very tall, something like a
+giraffe; and by the time I got him between the shafts, I could see
+that he was possessed by a devil of some kind.  It might be a winged
+one who would fly away with me; so, in order to have a clear course,
+I led him through the gateway into the middle of the road, and while
+Jackson, junior, held his head, I mounted carefully into the trap.  I
+held the lines ready for a start, and after some hesitation the
+giraffe did start, but he went tail foremost.  I tried to reverse the
+engine, but it would only work in one direction.  He backed me into
+the ditch, and then across it on to the side path, then against the
+fence, bucking at it, and trying to go through and put me in the
+Tarra.  I told Andrew, junior, to take the giraffe home to his
+parent, and relate what he had seen.
+
+My next horse was a black one from Sale, and he also was possessed of
+a devil, but one of a different species.  He was named Gilpin, and
+the very name ought to have been a warning to me if I had had sense
+enough to profit by it.  Just as I sat down, and took the reins, and
+was going to observe what he would do, he suddenly went away at full
+gallop.  I tried to pull him in, but he put his chin against his
+chest, and the harder I pulled the faster he flew.  The road was full
+of ruts, and I was bumped up and down very badly.  My hat went away,
+but, for the present, my head kept its place.  I managed to steer
+safely as far as the bridge across the Tarra but, in going over it,
+the horse's hoofs and whirling wheels sounded like thunder, and
+brought out the whole population of Tarraville to look at me.  It was
+on a Sunday afternoon; some good people were singing hymns in the
+local chapel, and as I passed the turn of the road, they left the
+anxious benches, came outside in a body, and gazed at me, a
+bare-headed and miserable Sabbath-breaker going swiftly to perdition.
+I also was on a very anxious bench.  But now there was a long stretch
+of good road before me, and I made good use of it.  Instead of
+pulling the horse in, I let him go, and encouraged him with the whip
+to go faster, being determined to let him gallop until either he or
+the sun went down.  Then the despicable wretch slackened his pace,
+and wanted to come to terms.  So I wheeled him round and whipped him
+without mercy, making him gallop all the way home again.  I did not
+buy him.
+
+But the next horse I tried was comparatively blameless, so I bought
+him, and at the end of the first month sent in a claim to the Law
+Department for the usual allowance.  I was curtly informed that the
+amount had been reduced from fifty pounds to ten pounds for my horse,
+although sixty pounds was still allowed to the other horse for
+travelling the same distance, the calculation evidently being based
+on the supposition that the police magistrate's horse would eat six
+times as much as mine.  Remonstrance was vain, and I found I had
+burdened myself with an animal, possessing no social or political
+influence whatever.  I knew already that the world was governed
+without wisdom, and I now felt that it was also ruled with extreme
+meanness.
+
+And even after my horse was condemned to starve on ten pounds per
+annum, the cost of justice was still extravagant.  Without reckoning
+the expense incurred in erecting and maintaining three court houses,
+and three police stations, and paying three policemen for doing next
+to nothing, I ascertained from the cause lists that it cost the
+Government fourteen pounds sterling every time we fined Terry, the
+cobbler, five shillings for being drunk; and Terry did not always pay
+the fines.  What ails British law is dignity, and the insufferable
+expense attending it.  The disease will never be cured until a
+strong-minded Chief Justice shall be found, who has sense enough to
+sit on the bench in his native hair, and to take off his coat when
+the thermometer rises to eighty degrees.  It was in that manner Judge
+Winstanley kept court at Waterloo in Illinois, and we had there
+quicker justice, cheaper laws, and better manners than those which
+this southern hemisphere yet exhibits.  As to the lawyers, if we did
+not like them, we could lynch them, so they were sociable and civil.
+Moreover, Prairie de Long was discovered and settled nearly twenty
+years before Australia Felix was heard of.
+
+The three villages had a life-long feud with, and a consuming
+jealousy of, each other.  Until my arrival I was not aware that there
+were three such places as Palmerston, Alberton, and Tarraville,
+claiming separate and rival existences.  I had a notion that they
+were merely straggling suburbs of the great city and seaport, Port
+Albert.  But it was a grievous mistake.  I asked a tall young lady at
+the hotel, who brought in some very salt fish that took the skin off
+the roof of my mouth, if she could recommend the society of these
+villages, and if she would favour me with her opinion as to which
+would be the best place to select as a residence, and she said, "The
+people there are an 'orrid lot."  This was very discouraging; but, on
+making further enquiries, I found she only expressed the opinion
+which the inhabitants of these centres of population held of each
+other; and it was evident that I should have to demean myself with
+prudence, and show no particular affection for one place more than
+for another, or trouble would ensue.  Therefore, as soon as occasion
+offered, I took a house and paddock within easy distance of all the
+three corners, so that when the Government allowance had reduced my
+horse to a skeleton, I might give him a spell on grass, and travel to
+the courts on foot.  The house was on a gentle rise, overlooking a
+rich river flat.  It had been built by a retainer of Lord Glengarry,
+who had declined to follow any further the fortunes of his chief when
+he had closed his dairying operations at Greenmount.  A tragedy had
+been enacted in it some years before, and a ghost had often since
+been seen flitting about the house and grounds on moonlight nights.
+This gave an aristocratic distinction to the property, which was very
+pleasing, as it is well known that ghosts never haunted any mansions
+or castles except such as have belonged to ancient families of noble
+race.  I bought the estate on very reasonable terms, no special
+charge being made for the ghost.
+
+The paddock had been without a tenant for some time, but I found it
+was not unoccupied.  A friendly neighbour had introduced his flock of
+sheep into it, and he was fattening them cheaply.  I said, "Tityre,
+tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fayi, be good enough to round up your
+sheep and travel."  Tityrus said that would be all right; he would
+take them away as soon as they were ready for the butcher.  It would
+be no inconvenience to me, as my horse would not be able to eat all
+the grass.  The idea of paying anything did not occur to him; he was
+doing me a favour.  He was one of the simple natives.  As I did not
+like to take favours from an entire stranger, the sheep and the
+shepherd sought other pastures beyond the winding Tarra.
+
+The dense tea-tree which bordered the banks of the river was the home
+of wild hogs, which spent the nights in rooting up the soil and
+destroying the grass.  I therefore armed myself with a gun charged
+with buckshot, and went to meet the animals by moonlight.  I lay in
+ambush among the tussocks.  One shot was enough for each hog; after
+receiving it he retired hastily into the tea-tree and never came out
+again.
+
+After I had cleared my land from sheep and pigs, the grass began to
+grow in abundance; and passing travellers, looking pensively over the
+fence, were full of pity for me because I had not stock enough to
+eat the grass.  One man had a team of bullocks which he was willing
+to put in; another had six calves ready to be weaned; and a third
+friend had a horse which he could spare for a spell.  All these were
+willing to put in their stock, and they would not charge me anything.
+They were three more of the simple natives.
+
+I would rather buy forty cows than one horse, because, even allowing
+for the cow's horns, the horse has so many more points.  I wanted a
+good cow, a quiet milker, and a farmer named Ruffy offered to sell me
+one.  He was very rough indeed, both in words and work.  He showed me
+the cow, and put her in the bail with a big stick; said she was as
+quiet as a lamb, and would stand to be milked anywhere without a
+leg-rope.  "Here Tom," he roared to his son, "bring a bucket, and
+come and milk Daisy without the rope, and show the gentleman what a
+quiet beast she is."  Tom brought a bucket, placed the stool near the
+cow, sat down, and grasped one of the teats.  Daisy did not give any
+milk, but she gave instead three rapid kicks, which scattered Tom,
+the bucket, and the stool all over the stockyard.  I could not think
+of anything that it would be safe to say under the circumstances, so
+I went away while the farmer was picking up the fragments.
+
+
+GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.
+
+"Satan finds some mischief still
+For idle hands to do."
+
+Although I had to attend at three courts on three days of each week,
+my duties were very light, and quite insufficient to keep me out of
+mischief; it was therefore a matter of very great importance for me
+to find something else to do.  In bush townships the art of killing
+time was attained in various ways.  Mr. A. went on the street with a
+handball, and coaxed some stray idler to join him in a game.  He was
+a young man of exceptional innocence, and died early, beloved of the
+gods.  Mr. B. kept a pair of sticks under his desk in the court
+house, and made a fencing school of the space allotted to the public.
+Some of the police had been soldiers, and were quite pleased to prove
+their skill in arms, and show how fields were won.  As a result there
+were more breaches of the peace inside the court than outside.  Mr.
+C. tried to while away his lonely hours by learning to play on a
+violin, which he kept concealed in a corner between a press and the
+wall of his office.  He executed music, and doubled the terrors of
+the law.  Intending litigants stood transfixed with horror when they
+approached the open door of his office, and listened to the wails and
+long-drawn screeches which filled the interior of the building; and
+every passing dog sat down on its tail, and howled in sympathetic
+agony with the maddening sounds.
+
+But the majority of the officials condemned to live in the dreary
+townships tried to alleviate their misery by drinking and gambling.
+The Police Magistrate, the Surveyor, the Solicitor, the Receiver of
+Revenue, the Police Inspector, and the Clerk of Courts, together with
+one or two settlers, formed a little society for the promotion of
+poker, euchre, and other little games, interspersed with whiskies.
+It is sad to recall to mind the untimely end at which most of them
+arrived.  Mr. D. was found dead on the main road; Mr. E. shot himself
+through the head; Mr. F. fell asleep in the bush and never woke; and
+Mr. G. was drowned in a waterhole.  One officer was not quite so
+unfortunate as some of his friends.  His score at the Crook and Plaid
+became so long that he began to pass that hotel without calling.
+Polly, the venerable landlady, took offence at such conduct, and was
+daily on the watch for him.  When she saw him passing, which he
+always did at a rapid pace, she hobbled to the door, and called after
+him, "Hey, hey!"  Then the gentleman twirled his cane, whistled a
+lively tune, looked up, first to the sky, and then to the right and
+left, but never stopped, or looked back to Polly behind him.  At last
+his creditors became so troublesome, and his accounts so
+inexplicable, that he deserted the public service, and took refuge
+across the Murray.
+
+Mr. H. fell into the habit of borrowing his collections to pay his
+gambling debts.  He was allowed a certain number of days at the
+beginning of each month to complete his returns, and send in his
+cash.  So he made use of the money collected during the days of grace
+to repay any sums he had borrowed from the public cash during the
+preceding month.  But the cards were against him.  One morning an
+Inspector of Accounts from Melbourne appeared unexpectedly in his
+office.
+
+In those days there were no railways and no telegraphs.  Their
+introduction was an offensive nuisance to us.  The good old times
+will never come again, when we could regulate our own hours of
+attendance, take unlimited leave of absence, and relieve distress by
+having recourse to the Government cash.  When Grimes was
+Auditor-General every officer was a gentleman and a man of honour.
+In the bush no bank account was kept, as there was no bank within
+fifty or a hundred miles; and it was an implied insult to expect a
+gentleman to produce his cash balance out of his pocket.  As a matter
+of courtesy he expected to be informed by letter two or three weeks
+beforehand when it was intended to make an official inspection of his
+books, in order that he might not be absent, nor taken unawares.
+
+When the Inspector appeared, Mr. H. did not lose his presence of
+mind, or show any signs of embarrassment.  He said he was glad to see
+him (which was a lie), hoped he had had a pleasant journey through
+the bush; asked how things were going on in Melbourne, and made
+enquiries about old friends there.  But all the while he was
+calculating chances.  He had acquired the valuable habit of the
+gambler and speculator, of talking about one thing while he was
+thinking about another.  His thoughts ran on in this style:  "This
+fellow (he could not think of him as a gentleman) wants to see my
+cash; haven't got any; must be near five hundred pounds short by this
+time; can't borrow it' no time to go round' couldn't get it if I did'
+deuced awkward; shall be given in charge; charged with larceny or
+embezzlement or something; can't help it' better quit till I think
+about it."  So apologising for his absence for a few minutes on
+urgent business, he went out, mounted his horse, and rode away to the
+mountains.
+
+The inspector waited five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes.  He
+made enquiries, and finding that Mr. H. had gone away, he examined
+the books and vouchers, and concluded that there should be a cash
+balance of more than four hundred pounds payable to revenue.  He
+looked about the office for the cash, but did not find any.  Then the
+police began to look for Mr. H., but week after week passed by, and
+Mr. H. was neither seen nor heard of.
+
+There were only two ways of leaving South Gippsland that could be
+considered safe; one was by sea from Port Albert, the other by the
+road over the mountains.  If anyone ventured to desert the beaten
+track, and tried to escape unseen through the forest, he was likely
+to be lost, and to be starved to death.  The only man ever known to
+escape was an eccentric farmer, a "wandering outlaw of his own dark
+mind," as Byron so darkly expressed it.  He deserted his wife one
+morning in a most systematic manner, taking with him his horse and
+cart, a supply of provisions, and all the money he was worth.  A
+warrant for his arrest was issued, and the police were on the
+look-out for him at all the stations from Port Albert to Melbourne,
+but they never found him.  Many weeks passed by without any tidings
+of the man or his team, when one day he drove up to his own gate,
+unhitched his horse, and went to work as usual.  On enquiry it was
+found that he had gone all the way to Sydney overland, on a visit to
+an old friend living not far from that city.  It was supposed that he
+had some reason for his visit when he started, but if so, he lost it
+by the way, for when he arrived he had nothing particular to say.
+After a few days' rest he commenced his return journey to South
+Gippsland, and travelled the whole distance without being observed by
+the watchful police.  When asked about his travels, his only remark
+was, "Splendid horse; there he is between the shafts; walked twelve
+hundred miles; never turned a hair; splendid horse; there he is."
+
+But Mr. H. lacked the intellect or the courage to perform a similar
+fool's errand successfully.  He rode up to the police station at
+Alberton, and finding from the officer in charge that he was wanted
+on a warrant, he supplied that want.  He stated that he had been on a
+visit, for the benefit of his health, to a friend in the mountains, a
+rail-splitter, who had given him accommodation in his hut on
+reasonable terms.  He had lived in strict retirement.  For a time he
+was in daily and nightly fear of the appearance of the police coming
+to arrest him; every sound disturbed him.  In about ten days he began
+to feel lonely and disappointed because the police did not come;
+neither they or anybody else seemed to be looking for him, or to care
+anything about him.  Heroic self-denial was not his virtue, and he
+felt no call to live the life of a hermit.  He was treated with
+undeserved neglect, and at the end of four weeks he resolved that, as
+the police would not come to him, he would go to the police.
+
+He unburdened his mind, and made a confession to the officer who had
+him in charge.  He explained how he had taken the money, how he had
+lost it, and who had won it.  It relieved his mind, and the policeman
+kept the secret of confession until after the trial.  Then he broke
+the seal, and related to me confidentially the story of his penitent,
+showing that he was quite as unfit for the sacerdotal office as
+myself.
+
+Mr. H. on his trial was found not guilty, but the department did not
+feel inclined to entrust him with the collection or custody of any
+more cash.  In succeeding years he again served the Government as
+State school teacher, having received his appointment from a minister
+of merciful principles.  A reclaimed poacher makes an excellent
+gamekeeper, and a repentant thief may be a better teacher of youth
+than a sanctimonious hypocrite.
+
+
+SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.
+
+"Am I my brother's keeper?"
+
+The islands in Bass' Straits, Hogan's Group, Kent's Group, the
+Answers, the Judgment Rocks, and others, are visited at certain
+seasons of the year by seals of three different kinds--viz., the
+hair seals, which are not of much value except for their oil; the
+grey seals, whose skins are valuable; and the black seals, whose furs
+always command the highest price.  When these animals have not been
+disturbed in their resorts for some years they are comparatively
+tame, and it is not difficult to approach them.  Great numbers of the
+young ones are sometimes found on the rocks, and if pushed into the
+water they will presently come out again, scramble back on to the
+rocks, and begin crying for their dams.  But the old seals, when
+frequently disturbed, become shy, and, on the first alarm, take to
+the water.  The flesh of the young seals is good to eat, and seamen
+who have been cast away on the islands have been sometimes saved from
+starvation by eating it.
+
+I once made the acquaintance of an old sealer.  He had formerly been
+very sensitive on the point of honour; would resent an insult as
+promptly as any knight-errant; but by making an idol of his honour
+his life had been a grievous burden to him.  And he was not even a
+gentleman, and never had been one.  He was known only as "Jack."
+
+It was in the year 1854, when I had been cast ashore in Corio Bay by
+a gale of hostile fortune, and had taken refuge for a while at the
+Buck's Head Hotel, then kept by a man named McKenzie.  One evening
+after tea I was talking to a carpenter at the back door, who was
+lamenting his want of timber.  He had not brought a sufficient supply
+from Geelong to complete his contract, which was to construct some
+benches for a Presbyterian Church.  Jack was standing near listening
+to the conversation.
+
+"What kind of timber do you want?" he said.  "There is a lot of
+planks down there in the yard, and if you'll be outside about eleven
+o'clock, I'll chuck over as many as you want."
+
+The contractor hesitated.  "Whose planks are they?"  he asked.
+
+"I don't know whose they are, and I don't care," replied Jack.  "Say
+the word, and you can have them, if you like."
+
+The contractor made no reply, at least in words, to this generous
+offer.  It is not every man that has a friend like Jack; many men
+will steal from you, but very few will steal for you, and when such a
+one is found he deserves his reward.
+
+We adjourned to the bar parlour, and Jack had a glass of brandy, for
+which he did not pay.  There was among the company a man from Adelaide,
+a learned mineralogist, who commenced a dissertation on the origin of
+gold.  He was most insufferable; would talk about nothing but
+science.  Darwin wrote a book about "The Origin of Species," and it
+has been observed that the origin of species is precisely what is not
+in the book.  So we argued about the origin of gold, but we could get
+nowhere near it.
+
+When the rest of the company had retired, Jack observed to me:  "You
+put down that Adelaide chap gradely; he had not a leg to stand on."
+
+I was pleased to find that Jack knew a good argument when he heard
+it, so I rewarded his intelligence with another glass of brandy, and
+asked him if he had been long in the colonies.  He said:
+
+"My name's not Jack; that's what they call me, but it doesn't matter
+what my name is.  I was brought up in Liverpool, but I wasn't born
+there; that doesn't matter either.  I used to work at the docks, was
+living quite respectable, was married and had a little son about five
+years old.  One night after I had had supper and washed myself, I
+said to th' missus, 'There's a peep-show i' Tithebarn Street, and if
+you'll wash Bobby's face I'll tek him there; its nobbut a penny.'
+You know it was one o' them shows where they hev pictures behind a
+piece o' calico, Paul Pry with his umbrella, Daniel i' th' lions'
+den, ducks swimming across a river, a giantess who was a man shaved
+and dressed in women's clothes, a dog wi' five legs, and a stuffed
+mermaid--just what little lads would like.  There was a man,
+besides, who played on a flute, and another singing funny songs. When
+I went outside into the street there was little Billy Yates, as used
+to play with Bobby, so I says, 'Come along, Billy, and I'll tek thee
+to the show.'  When we got there we set down on a bench, and, just as
+they began to show th' pictures, three black-fellows came in and set
+down on th' bench before us. They thowt they were big swells, and had
+on black coats, white shirts, stiff collars up to their ears, red and
+green neck-handkerchers, and bell-topper hats; so I just touched one
+of em on th' showder and said:  'Would you please tek your hats off
+to let th' lads see th' pictures?'  Well, the nigger just turned his
+head half-round, and looked at me impudent like, but he kept his hat
+on.  So I asked him again quite civil, and he called me a low fellow,
+towld me to mind my own business, and the other two niggers grinned.
+Well, you know, I could not stand that.  I knew well enough what they
+were.  They were stewards on the liners running between New York and
+Liverpool, and they were going round trying to pass for swells in a
+penny peep-show.  I didn't want to make a row just then and spoil the
+show, so I said to th' lads, we mun go hooum, and I took 'em hooum,
+and then come back to th' show and waited at th' door.  When the
+niggers come out I pitched into th' one as had given me cheek; but we
+couldn't have it out for th' crowd, and we were all shoved into th'
+street.  I went away a bit, thinking no more about it, and met a man
+I knew and we went into a public house and had a quart o' fourpenny.
+We were in a room by ourselves, when the varra same three niggers
+come in and stood a bit inside the door.  So I took my tumbler and
+threw it at th' head of th' man I wanted, and then went at him.  But
+I couldn't lick him gradely because th' landlord come in and stopped
+us; so after a while I went hooum.  Next morning I was going along
+Dale Street towards the docks to work, when who should I see but that
+varra same blackfellow:  it looked as if th' devil was in it.  He was
+by hisself this time, coming along at th' other side of th' street.
+So I crossed over and met him, and went close up to him and said,
+'Well, what have you to say for yoursel' now?' and I gav him a lick
+under th' ear.  He fell down on th' kerbstone and wouldn't get up--
+turned sulky like.  There was soon a crowd about, and they tried to
+wakken him up; but he wouldn't help hisself a bit--just sulked and
+wouldn't stir.  I don't believe he'd ha' died but for that, because I
+nobbut give him but one hit.  I thowt I'd better make mysel' scarce
+for a while, so I left Liverpool and went to Preston.  Were you ever
+in Preston?"  I said I was.  "Well then, you'll remember Melling, the
+fish-monger, a varra big, fat man.  I worked for him for about six
+months, and then come back to Liverpool, thinking there'd be no more
+bother about the blackfellow.  But they took me up, and gev me
+fourteen year for it; and if it had been a white man I wouldn't ha'
+got more than twelve months, and I was sent out to Van Diemen's Land
+and ruined for ever, just for nowt else but giving a chance lick to a
+blackfellow.  And now I hear they're going to war wi' Russia, and--
+England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales--I hope they'll all get
+blooming well licked.  It don't mend a man much to transport him, nor
+a woman either for that matter:  they all grow worse than ever.  When
+I got my ticket I sometimes went working in th' bush, sometimes
+whaling and sealing, and sometimes stripping bark at Western Port and
+Portland Bay, before there was such a place as Melbourne.  I was in a
+whaler for two years about Wilson's Promontory, until the whales were
+all killed or driven away.  I never saved any money until nine years
+back; we always went on th' spree and spent every penny directly we
+were paid off.  At that time I went with a man from Port Albert to
+the Seal Islands in a boat.  I knew of a place where there was a
+cave, a big hollow under the rocks, where th' seals used to go to
+sleep, and a blow hole coming out of it to th' top of the island.  We
+hired a boat and went there, and made a kind of a door which we could
+drop down with a rope to shut up the mouth of th' cave and catch the
+seals inside.  We killed so many that we couldn't take th' skins away
+all at once in the boat to Port Albert; we had to come back again.  I
+thowt to myself I'd be richer than ever I was in my life; th' skins
+were worth hundreds of pounds.  I had agreed to go halves with th'
+Port Albert man, but, you see, he'd ha' never gotten a penny but for
+me, because he knew nothing whatever about sealing.  It didn't look
+quite fair to give him half; and then I thowt what a lucky thing it
+would be for me if he were drowned; and he was drowned, but mind you,
+I didn't do it.  It was this way.  When we got back to th' blow-hole
+th' weather was bad. One o' them sou'east gales set in, and th' big
+waves dashed agen the rocks, roaring and sending spray right across
+th' island.  We had packed away all th' seal-skins snug in th' boat
+and pulled th' door up from th' bottom of th' chimney before th' gale
+started.  When we were taking down the rope and tackle and th'
+shears, th' water began to come boiling up th' blow hole and sinking
+down again.  There was a big rush of wind, first up and then down
+sucking you in like.  It was a ticklish time, and just as we were
+going to lower th' shears, th' Port Albert man made a kind of slip,
+and was sucked in with the wind, and went head first into the boiling
+water and out of sight.  I took hold of the slack of a rope, thinking
+I'd throw it to him; he might get hold of it, and then I could pull
+him out.  In about half a minute he was thrown up again by th' next
+wave right to the top of th' chimney.  I could see his face within
+four feet of me.  He threw up his hands for something to catch at and
+looked at me, and then gave a fearful scream.  I didn't throw him the
+rope; something stopped me.  He might not have got hold of it, you
+know, anyhow.  He went down again among th' white water, and I never
+saw him no more--only when I am dreaming.  I always dream about
+him.  I can see his face come up above the boiling water, and when he
+screams I wake up.  I can never get clear of him out of my head; and
+yet, mind you, I didn't drown him; he fell in of his self, and I just
+missed throwing him th' rope, that's all; and I wasn't bound to do
+it, was I?
+
+"As for the money I got for the seal skins, I could have lived
+comfortably on it all my life, but it never did me no good.  I
+started drinking, trying to forget that Port Albert man, but it was
+no use.  Every shilling was soon gone, and eversince I've been doing
+odd jobs and loafing about the publics.  I've never done no good and
+never shall.  Let's have just another nobbler afore we turn in."
+
+
+
+A HAPPY CONVICT.
+
+"Thrice did I receive forty stripes, save one."
+
+It was court day at Palmerston, and there was an unusual amount of
+business that morning.  A constable brought in a prisoner, and
+charged him with being a vagrant--having no lawful visible means of
+support.  I entered the charge in the cause list, "Police v. John
+Smithers, vagrancy," and then looked at the vagrant.  He was growing
+aged, was dressed in old clothes, faded, dirty, and ill-fitting; he
+had not been measured for them.  His face was very dark, and his hair
+and beard were long and rough, showing that he had not been in gaol
+lately.  His eyes wandered about the court in a helpless and vacant
+manner.  Two boys about eight or nine years old entered the court,
+and, with colonial presumption, sat in the jury box.  There were no
+other spectators, so I left them there to represent the public.  They
+stared at the prisoner, whispered to each other, and smiled.  The
+prisoner could not see anything to laugh at, and frowned at them.
+Then the magistrate came in, rubbing one of his hands over the other,
+glanced at the prisoner as he passed, and withered him with a look of
+virtuous severity.  He was our Black Wednesday magistrate, and was
+death on criminals.  When he had taken his seat on the bench, I
+opened the court, and called the first and only case.  It was not
+often we had a man to sit on, and we sat heavily on this one.  I put
+on my sternest look, and said "John Smithers"--here the prisoner
+instantly put one hand to his forehead and stood at "attention"--
+"you are charged by the police with vagrancy, having no lawful
+visible means of support.  What have you to say to that charge?"
+
+"I am a blacksmith looking for work," said the prisoner; "I ain't
+done nothing, your worship, and I don't want nothing."
+
+"But you should do something," replied the magistrate; "we don't want
+idle vagabonds like you wandering about the country.  You will be
+sent to gaol for three months."
+
+I stood up and reminded the justice respectfully that there was as
+yet no evidence against the prisoner, so, as a matter of form, he
+condescended to hear the constable, who went into the witness-box and
+proved his case to the hilt.  He had found the man at nightfall
+sitting under the shelter of some tea-tree sticks before a fire;
+asked him what he was doing there; said he was camping out; had come
+from Melbourne looking for work; was a blacksmith; took him in charge
+as a vagrant, and locked him up; all his property was the clothes he
+wore, an old blanket, a tin billy, a clasp knife, a few crusts of
+bread, and old pipe, and half a fig of tobacco; could find no money
+about him.
+
+That last fact settled the matter.  A man travelling about the bush
+without money is a deep-dyed criminal.  I had done it myself, and so
+was able to measure the extent of such wickedness.  I never felt
+really virtuous unless I had some money in my pocket.
+
+"You are sentenced to imprisonment for three months in Melbourne
+gaol," said the magistrate; "and mind you don't come here again."
+
+"I ain't done nothing, your worship," replied the prisoner; "and I
+don't want nothing."
+
+"Take him away, constable."
+
+Seven years afterwards, as I was riding home about sundown through
+Tarraville, I observed a solitary swagman sitting before a fire,
+among the ruins of an old public house, like Marius meditating among
+the ruins of Carthage.  There was a crumbling chimney built of bricks
+not worth carting away--the early bricks in South Gippsland were
+very bad, and the mortar had no visible lime in it--the ground was
+strewn with brick-bats, bottles, sardine tins, hoop iron, and other
+articles, the usual refuse of a bush shanty.  It had been, in the
+early times, a place reeking with crime and debauchery.  Men had gone
+out of it mad with drinking the poisonous liquor, had stumbled down
+the steep bank, and had ended their lives and crimes in the black
+Tarra river below.  Here the rising generation had taken their first
+lessons in vice from the old hands who made the house their favourite
+resort.  Here was planned the murder of Jimmy the Snob by Prettyboy
+and his mates, whose hut was near the end of the bridge across the
+river, and for which murder Prettyboy was hanged in Melbourne.
+
+In the dusk I mistook the swagman for a stray aboriginal who had
+survived the destruction of his tribe, but on approaching nearer, I
+found that he was, or at least once had been, a white man.  He had
+gathered a few sticks, which he was breaking and putting on the fire.
+I did not recognise him, did not think I had ever seen him before,
+and I rode away.
+
+During the next twenty-four hours he had advanced about half-a-mile
+on his journey, and in the evening was making his fire in the Church
+paddock, near a small water-hole opposite my house.  I could see him
+from the verandah, and I sent Jim to offer him shelter in an
+outbuilding.  Jim was one of the two boys who had represented the
+public in the jury box at the Palmerston court seven years before.
+He came back, and said the man declined the offer of shelter; never
+slept under a roof winter or summer, if he could help it; had lived
+in the open air for twelve years, and never stayed a night in any
+building, except for three months, when he was in Melbourne gaol.  He
+had been arrested by a constable near Palmerston seven years before,
+although he had done nothing, and a fool of a beak, with a long grey
+beard, had given him three months, while two puppies of boys were
+sitting in the jury box laughing at him.
+
+He also gave some paternal advice to the youth, which, like a great
+deal of other paternal advice, was rejected as of no value.
+
+"Never you go to Melbourne, young man," he said, "and if you do,
+never stop in any boarding-house, or public.  They are full of
+vermin, brought in by bad characters, mostly Government officers and
+bank clerks, who have been in Pentridge.  Don't you never go near
+'em."
+
+This advice did not sound very respectful; however, I overlooked it
+for the present, as it was not unlikely I might have the advantage of
+seeing him again in custody, and I sent to him across the road some
+hot tea, bread, butter, and beef.  This softened the heart and loosed
+the tongue of the old swagman.  It appeared from his account of
+himself that he was not much of a blacksmith.  He was ostensibly
+going about the colony looking for work, but as long as he could get
+food for nothing he did not want any work, and he always avoided a
+blacksmith's shop; as soon as he found himself near one he ceased to
+be a blacksmith.
+
+When asked about his former life, he said a gentleman had once
+advised him to write the particulars of it, and had promised him
+half-a-crown if he would do so.  He had written some of them, but had
+never seen the gentleman again, so he did not get the half-crown; and
+now he would take sixpence for the copyright of his work.  I gave him
+sixpence, and he drew out a manuscript from an inside pocket of his
+coat, and handed it to me.  It was composed of small sheets of
+whitey-brown wrapping paper sewn together.  He had ruled lines on it,
+and had written his biography with lead pencil. On looking over it I
+observed that, although he was deficient in some of the inferior
+qualifications of a great historian, such as spelling, grammar, and a
+command of words of seven syllables, yet he had the true instincts of
+a faithful chronicler.  He had carefully recorded the names of all
+the eminent bad men he had met, of the constable who had first
+arrested him, of the magistrate who had committed him for trial, of
+the judge who had sentenced him, of the gaolers and warders who had
+kept him in prison, of the captain, doctor, and officers of the ship
+which conveyed him to Sydney, of the squatters who had forced him to
+work for them, and of the scourgers who had scourged him for not
+working enough.  The names of all these celebrated men, together with
+the wicked deeds for which they were admired, were given in detail,
+after the true historic method.  We all take a great interestin
+reading every particular relating to the lives of notorious tyrants
+and great sinners; we like to know what clothes they wore, and how
+they swore.  But the lives of great and good men and women are very
+uninteresting; some young ladies even, when travelling by train,
+prefer, as I observe, French novels inspired by Cloacina to the
+"Lives of the Saints."
+
+Some people in the colonies are said to have had no grandfathers; but
+John Smithers was even more deficient in pedigree, for he had neither
+father nor mother, as far as he could recollect.  He commenced life
+as a stable boy and general drudge in England, at a village inn owned
+and conducted by a widow named Cobbledick.   This widow had a
+daughter named Jemima.  The mischief wrought in this world by women,
+from Eve to Jemima downwards, is incalculable, and Smithers averred
+that it was this female, Jemima, who brought on his sorrow, grief,
+and woe.  She was very advanced in wordly science, as young ladies
+are apt to be when they are educated in the retail liquor trade. When
+Smithers had been several years at the inn, and Jemima was already in
+her teens, she thought the world went slowly; she had no lover, there
+was nobody coming to marry her, nobody coming to woo.  But at length
+she was determined to find a remedy for this state of things.  She
+had never read the history of the loves of the great Catherine of
+Russia, nor of those of our own virgin Queen Elizabeth, but by an
+inborn royal instinct she was impelled to follow their high example.
+If lovers did not offer their adoration to her charms spontaneously,
+there was at any rate one whose homage she could command.  One Sunday
+afternoon, while her mother was absent, she went to the stable and
+ordered Smithers to come and take a walk with her, directing him
+first to polish his shoes and put on his best clothes.  She brought
+out a bottle of scented oil to sweeten him, and told him to rub it
+well into his hair, and stroke his head with his hands until it was
+sleek and shiny.  She had put on her Sunday dress and best bonnet;
+she had four ringlets at each side of her face; and to crown her
+charms, had ventured to borrow her mother's gold watch and chain.
+Being now a perfect princess in stateliness and beauty, she took Jack
+by the arm--she called him Jack--and made him march away with
+her.  He was rather abashed at the new duty imposed upon him, but he
+had been so well kicked and cuffed all his life that he never thought
+of disobeying orders.  Love fooled the gods, and it gave him little
+trouble to fool so sorry a pair as Jack and his Jemima.  They walked
+along Perkins' Lane where many of the neighbours were likely to see
+them, for Jemima was anxious that all the other girls, her dearest
+friends, should be filled with spite and envy at her good fortune in
+having secured a lover.
+
+When the happy youth and maid were returning with wandering steps and
+slow, Jemima saw her mother pass the end of the lane on her way
+homewards, much sooner than she had expected.  The golden hours on
+angel wings had flown away too quickly for the lovers.  Miss
+Cobbledick was filled with sudden alarm, and her brief day of glory
+was clouded.  It was now impossible to reach home in time to avoid
+trouble.  Her mother would be certain to miss the watch, and what was
+she to do with it?  What with Jack, and what with herself?
+Self-preservation being the first law of nature, Jemima resolved to
+sacrifice Jack in order to shield herself from her mother's rage.  He
+was not of much account in any respect; so she gave him the watch and
+chain, telling him to keep them safely till she asked for them, and
+to hurry round by the yard gate into the stable.  This gave great
+relief to her conscience, and enabled her to meet her mother with a
+face of untroubled innocence.
+
+Jack had not a lively imagination; but during the night he had a
+clear and blissful vision of his future destiny, the only dream of
+fortune his life was ever blessed with.  He was to be the landlord of
+the hotel, when Mrs. Cobbledick had gone to bliss, and Jemima was to
+be his bride, and the landlady.
+
+But early next morning there was trouble in the house.  The watch was
+missing, and nobody knew anything about it.  Jemima helped her mother
+to look for it, and could not find it.  A constable was sent for, and
+he questioned everyone in and about the house, and searched
+everywhere without result.  Last of all Jack was asked if he knew
+anything of the missing watch.  He was faithful and true.  How could
+he betray Jemima, his future partner in life?  He said he "had never
+seen no watch, and didn't know nothing whatsomever about no watch,"
+and the next instant the constable pulled the watch out of Jack's
+pocket.
+
+At his trial he was asked what he had to say in his defence, and then
+he told the truth, and said Jemima gave him the watch to keep until
+she should ask for it.  But there is a time for all things; and Jack
+could never learn the proper time for telling the truth, or for
+telling a lie; he was always in the wrong.  The judge, in passing
+sentence, said he had aggravated his crime by endeavouring to
+implicate an innocent young lady in his villany, and gave him seven
+years.
+
+He was taken on board a hulk, where he found two or three hundred
+other boys imprisoned.  On the evening of his arrival a report was
+circulated among them that they were all to be sent to another ship,
+which was bound for Botany Bay, and that they would never see England
+again.  They would have to work and sleep in chains; they would be
+yoked together, and whipped like bullocks; and if they escaped into
+the bush the blacks would kill and eat them.  As this dismal tale
+went round, some of the boys, who were quite young and small, began
+to cry, and to call for their mothers to come and help them; and then
+the others began to scream and should and yell.  The warders came
+below and tried to silence them, but the more they tried the louder
+grew the uproar, and it continued for many hours during the night.
+
+"Britons rarely swerve
+ From law, however stern, which tends their strength to serve."
+
+Discipline must be maintained; so next morning the poor little
+beggars were brought up on deck in batches, stripped, triced up, and
+severely flogged.  Jack, and a number of other boys, said they had
+not cried at all, but the officer in charge thought it was better
+that a few of the innocent should suffer rather than that one of the
+guilty should escape, so they were all flogged alike, and soon after
+they were shipped for New South Wales.
+
+On his arrival n Sydney, Jack was assigned as a servant to a
+squatter, and taken into the bush a long way to the west.  The
+weather had been very hot for a long time, all the grass had withered
+to dust, and the cattle were starving.  The first work which he was
+ordered to do was to climb trees and cut off the branches, in order
+that the cattle might keep themselves alive by eating the leaves and
+twigs.  Jack had never been used to handle an axe or tomahawk, so he
+found the labour of chopping very hard.  He did his best, but that
+was not good enough for the squatter, who took him to a magistrate,
+and had him flogged by the official scourger.
+
+While serving his sentence of seven years he was flogged four times;
+three of the times he said he had "done nothing," and for the fourth
+flogging he confessed to me that he had "done something," but he did
+not say what the "something" was.  In those days it seems that "doing
+nothing" and "doing something" were crimes equally meriting the lash.
+
+And now after a long life of labour the old convict had achieved
+independence at last.  I don't think I ever met a richer man; he was
+richer than the whole family of the Rothschilds; he wanted scarcely
+anything.  Food and clothing he obtained for the asking for them, and
+he was not particular as to their quality of the quantity was
+sufficient.  Property to him was something despicable; he did not
+want any, and would not live inside of a house if he had one; he
+preferred the outside.  He was free from family cares--never had
+father or mother, sister or brother, wife or children.  No poor relatives
+ever claimed his hospitality; no intimate friends wanted to borrow
+half-a-crown; no one ever asked him to buy suburban lots, or to take
+shares in a limited liability company.  He was perfectly indifferent
+to all danger from bush-rangers, burglars, pickpockets, or cattle
+stealers; he did not even own a dog, so the dogman never asked him
+for the dog tax.  He never enquired about the state of the money
+market, nor bothered himself about the prices of land or cattle, wood,
+wine, or wheat.  Every bank, and brewery, and building society in the
+world might go into liquidation at once for aught he cared.  He had
+retired from the Government service, had superannuated himself on a
+pension of nothing per annum, and to draw it he required no voucher.
+
+And yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, I don't think there
+are many men who would voluntarily choose his lot.  I watched him
+from the end of the verandah, and began speculating about him.  What
+was he thinking about during his solitary watches in the night or
+while he tramped alone through the bush year after year in heat and
+cold, wind and rain?  Did he ever think of anything--of his past
+life, or of his future lot?  Did he believe in or hope for a heaven?
+or had he any fear of hell and eternal punishment?  Surely he had
+been punished enough; in this life he had endured evil things in
+plenty, and might at least hope for eternal rest in the next.
+
+He was sitting with his back against a gum tree, and his feet towards
+the fire. From time to time he threw a few more sticks on the embers,
+and a fitful blaze lit up his dark weatherbeaten face.
+
+Then to my surprise he began to sing, and to sing well.  His voice
+was strong, clear, and mellow, and its tones rose and fell in the
+silent night air with a pathetic and wonderful sweetness.  The burden
+of his song was "We may be happy yet."
+
+"Oh, smile as thou wert wont to smile,
+Before a weight of care
+Had crushed thine heart, and yet awhile
+Left only sorrow there;
+We may be happy yet."
+
+He sang three stanzas, and was silent.  Then someone said:  "Poor old
+fellow; I hope he may be happy yet."
+
+Next morning he was sitting with his back against the gum tree.  His
+fire had gone out, and he seemed to be late in awaking, and in no
+hurry to resume his journey.  But his travels were finished; he never
+awoke.  His body was quite cold, and he must have died soon after he
+had sung the last note of his song.  He had only sixpence in his
+pocket--the sixpence I had given him for his biography.  The police
+took him in charge once more and put him in his last prison, where he
+will remain until we shall all be called together by the dread blast
+of the Archangel's trumpet on the Judgment Day.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Book of the Bush
+       Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial
+              Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others
+              Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned
+
+Author: George Dunderdale
+
+Illustrator: J. Macfarlane
+
+Release Date: July 24, 2005 [EBook #16349]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Amy Zellmer
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h3>THE</h3>
+
+<h2>BOOK OF THE BUSH</h2>
+
+<h4>CONTAINING</h4>
+
+<h3><i>MANY TRUTHFUL SKETCHES OF THE EARLY COLONIAL LIFE OF
+SQUATTERS, WHALERS, CONVICTS, DIGGERS, AND OTHERS WHO LEFT THEIR
+NATIVE LAND AND NEVER RETURNED.</i></h3>
+
+<h4>By</h4>
+
+<h2>GEORGE DUNDERDALE.</h2>
+
+<h4><i>ILLUSTRATED BY J. MACFARLANE.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>LONDON:<br>
+WARD, LOCK &amp; CO., LIMITED,<br>
+WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.<br>
+NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.</h4>
+
+<hr align="center" width="50%">
+<center>
+<p><a name="bookbush-01"></a><img alt="" src="images/bookbush-01.jpg"></p>
+
+<p><b>"Joey's out"</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<hr align="center" width="50%">
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-01">PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-02">FIRST SETTLERS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-03">WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA" ON KING'S
+ISLAND.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-04">DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-05">WHALING.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-06">OUT WEST IN 1849.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-07">AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-08">A BUSH HERMIT.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-09">THE TWO SHEPHERDS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-10">A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-11">WHITE SLAVERS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-12">THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-13">ON THE NINETY-MILE.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-14">GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-15">THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-16">GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-17">WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-18">TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-19">HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-20">GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-21">UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-22">A NEW RUSH.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-23">GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-24">GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-25">SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.</a><br>
+<a href="#ch-26">A HAPPY CONVICT.</a></p>
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<p><a href="#bookbush-01">ILLUSTRATION 1. "Joey's out."</a><br>
+<a href="#bookbush-02">ILLUSTRATION 2. "I'll show you who is
+master aboard this ship."</a><br>
+<a href="#bookbush-03">ILLUSTRATION 3. "You stockman, Frank, come
+off that horse."</a><br>
+<a href="#bookbush-04">ILLUSTRATION 4. "The biggest bully
+apropriated the belle of the ball."</a></p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>"The best article in the March (1893) number of the 'Austral
+Light' is a pen picture by Mr. George Dunderdale of the famous
+Ninety-Mile Beach, the vast stretch of white and lonely
+sea-sands, which forms the sea-barrier of Gippsland."--'Review of
+Reviews', March, 1893.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>"The most interesting article in 'Austral Light' is one on
+Gippsland pioneers, by George Dunderdale."--'Review of Reviews',
+March, 1895.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>"In 'Austral Light' for September Mr. George Dunderdale
+contributes, under the title of 'Gippsland under the Law,' one of
+those realistic sketches of early colonial life which only he can
+write."--'Review of Reviews', September, 1895.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<h2><u>THE BOOK OF THE BUSH.</u></h2>
+
+<p><a name="ch-01"></a></p>
+
+<h3>PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>While the world was young, nations could be founded peaceably.
+There was plenty of unoccupied country, and when two neighbouring
+patriarchs found their flocks were becoming too numerous for the
+pasture, one said to the other: "Let there be no quarrel, I pray,
+between thee and me; the whole earth is between us, and the land
+is watered as the garden of Paradise. If thou wilt go to the
+east, I will go to the west; or if thou wilt go to the west, I
+will go to the east." So they parted in peace.</p>
+
+<p>But when the human flood covered the whole earth, the surplus
+population was disposed of by war, famine, or pestilence. Death
+is the effectual remedy for over-population. Heroes arose who had
+no conscientious scruples. They skinned their natives alive, or
+crucified them. They were then adored as demi-gods, and placed
+among the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Pious Aeneas was the pattern of a good emigrant in the early
+times, but with all his piety he did some things that ought to
+have made his favouring deities blush, if possible.</p>
+
+<p>America, when discovered for the last of many times, was
+assigned by the Pope to the Spaniards and Portuguese. The natives
+were not consulted; but they were not exterminated; their
+descendants occupy the land to the present day.</p>
+
+<p>England claimed a share in the new continent, and it was
+parcelled out to merchant adventurers by royal charter. The
+adventures of these merchants were various, but they held on to
+the land.</p>
+
+<p>New England was given to the Puritans by no earthly potentate,
+their title came direct from heaven. Increase Mather said: "The
+Lord God has given us for a rightful possession the land of the
+Heathen People amongst whom we dwell;" and where are the Heathen
+People now?</p>
+
+<p>Australia was not given to us either by the Pope or by the
+Lord. We took this land, as we have taken many other lands, for
+our own benefit, without asking leave of either heaven or earth.
+A continent, with its adjacent islands, was practically vacant,
+inhabited only by that unearthly animal the kangaroo, and by
+black savages, who had not even invented the bow and arrow, never
+built a hut or cultivated a yard of land. Such people could show
+no valid claim to land or life, so we confiscated both. The
+British Islands were infested with criminals from the earliest
+times. Our ancestors were all pirates, and we have inherited from
+them a lurking taint in our blood, which is continually impelling
+us to steal something or kill somebody. How to get rid of this
+taint was a problem which our statesmen found it difficult to
+solve. In times of war they mitigated the evil by filling the
+ranks of our armies from the gaols, and manning our navies by the
+help of the press-gang, but in times of peace the scum of society
+was always increasing.</p>
+
+<p>At last a great idea arose in the mind of England. Little was
+known of New Holland, except that it was large enough to harbour
+all the criminals of Great Britain and the rest of the population
+if necessary. Why not transport all convicts, separate the chaff
+from the wheat, and purge out the old leaven? By expelling all
+the wicked, England would become the model of virtue to all
+nations.</p>
+
+<p>So the system was established. Old ships were chartered and
+filled with the contents of the gaols. If the ships were not
+quite seaworthy it did not matter much. The voyage was sure to be
+a success; the passengers might never reach land, but in any case
+they would never return. On the vessels conveying male convicts,
+some soldiers and officers were embarked to keep order and put
+down mutiny. Order was kept with the lash, and mutiny was put
+down with the musket. On the ships conveying women there were no
+soldiers, but an extra half-crew was engaged. These men were
+called "Shilling-a-month" men, because they had agreed to work
+for one shilling a month for the privilege of being allowed to
+remain in Sydney. If the voyage lasted twelve months they would
+thus have the sum of twelve shillings with which to commence
+making their fortunes in the Southern Hemisphere. But the
+"Shilling-a-month" man, as a matter of fact, was not worth one
+cent the day after he landed, and he had to begin life once more
+barefoot, like a new-born babe.</p>
+
+<p>The seamen's food on board these transports was bad and
+scanty, consisting of live biscuit, salt horse, Yankee pork, and
+Scotch coffee. The Scotch coffee was made by steeping burnt
+biscuit in boiling water to make it strong. The convicts'
+breakfast consisted of oatmeal porridge, and the hungry seamen
+used to crowd round the galley every morning to steal some of it.
+It would be impossible for a nation ever to become virtuous and
+rich if its seamen and convicts were reared in luxury and
+encouraged in habits of extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>When the transport cast anchor in the beautiful harbour of
+Port Jackson, the ship's blacksmith was called out of his bunk at
+midnight. It was his duty to rivet chains on the legs of the
+second-sentence men--the twice convicted. They had been told on
+the voyage that they would have an island all to themselves,
+where they would not be annoyed by the contemptuous looks and
+bitter jibes of better men. All night long the blacksmith plied
+his hammer and made the ship resound with the rattling chains and
+ringing manacles, as he fastened them well on the legs of the
+prisoners. At dawn of day, chained together in pairs, they were
+landed on Goat Island; that was the bright little isle--their
+promised land. Every morning they were taken over in boats to the
+town of Sydney, where they had to work as scavengers and
+road-makers until four o'clock in the afternoon. They turned out
+their toes, and shuffled their feet along the ground, dragging
+their chains after them. The police could always identify a man
+who had been a chain-gang prisoner during the rest of his life by
+the way he dragged his feet after him.</p>
+
+<p>In their leisure hours these convicts were allowed to make
+cabbage-tree hats. They sold them for about a shilling each, and
+the shop-keepers resold them for a dollar. They were the best
+hats ever worn in the Sunny South, and were nearly
+indestructible; one hat would last a lifetime, but for that
+reason they were bad for trade, and became unfashionable.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the transported were assigned as servants to those
+willing to give them food and clothing without wages. The free
+men were thus enabled to grow rich by the labours of the
+bondmen--vice was punished and virtue rewarded.</p>
+
+<p>Until all the passengers had been disposed of, sentinels were
+posted on the deck of the transport with orders to shoot anyone
+who attempted to escape. But when all the convicts were gone,
+Jack was sorely tempted to follow the shilling-a-month men. He
+quietly slipped ashore, hurried off to Botany Bay, and lived in
+retirement until his ship had left Port Jackson. He then returned
+to Sydney, penniless and barefoot, and began to look for a berth.
+At the Rum Puncheon wharf he found a shilling-a-month man already
+installed as cook on a colonial schooner. He was invited to
+breakfast, and was astonished and delighted with the luxuries
+lavished on the colonial seaman. He had fresh beef, fresh bread,
+good biscuit, tea, coffee, and vegetables, and three pounds a
+month wages. There was a vacancy on the schooner for an able
+seaman, and Jack filled it. He then registered a solemn oath that
+he would "never go back to England no more," and kept it.</p>
+
+<p>Some kind of Government was necessary, and, as the first
+inhabitants were criminals, the colony was ruled like a gaol, the
+Governor being head gaoler. His officers were mostly men who had
+been trained in the army and navy. They were all poor and needy,
+for no gentleman of wealth and position would ever have taken
+office in such a community. They came to make a living, and when
+free immigrants arrived and trade began to flourish, it was found
+that the one really valuable commodity was rum, and by rum the
+officers grew rich. In course of time the country was divided
+into districts, about thirty or thirty-five in number, over each
+of which an officer presided as police magistrate, with a clerk
+and staff of constables, one of whom was official flogger, always
+a convict promoted to the billet for merit and good
+behaviour.</p>
+
+<p>New Holland soon became an organised pandemonium, such as the
+world had never known since Sodom and Gomorrah disappeared in the
+Dead Sea, and the details of its history cannot be written. To
+mitigate its horrors the worst of the criminals were transported
+to Norfolk Island. The Governor there had not the power to
+inflict capital punishment, and the convicts began to murder one
+another in order to obtain a brief change of misery, and the
+pleasure of a sea voyage before they could be tried and hanged in
+Sydney. A branch pandemonium was also established in Van Diemen's
+Land. This system was upheld by England for about fifty
+years.</p>
+
+<p>The 'Britannia', a convict ship, the property of Messrs.
+Enderby &amp; Sons, arrived at Sydney on October 14th, 1791, and
+reported that vast numbers of sperm whales were seen after
+doubling the south-west cape of Van Diemen's Land. Whaling
+vessels were fitted out in Sydney, and it was found that money
+could be made by oil and whalebone as well as by rum. Sealing was
+also pursued in small vessels, which were often lost, and sealers
+lie buried in all the islands of the southern seas, many of them
+having a story to tell, but no story-teller.</p>
+
+<p>Whalers, runaway seamen, shilling-a-month men, and escaped
+convicts were the earliest settlers in New Zealand, and were the
+first to make peaceful intercourse with the Maoris possible. They
+built themselves houses with wooden frames, covered with reeds
+and rushes, learned to converse in the native language, and
+became family men. They were most of them English and Americans,
+with a few Frenchmen. They loved freedom, and preferred Maori
+customs, and the risk of being eaten, to the odious supervision
+of the English Government. The individual white man in those days
+was always welcome, especially if he brought with him guns,
+ammunition, tomahawks, and hoes. It was by these articles that he
+first won the respect and admiration of the native. If the
+visitor was a "pakeha tutua," a poor European, he might receive
+hospitality for a time, in the hope that some profit might be
+made out of him. But the Maori was a poor man also, with a great
+appetite, and when it became evident that the guest was no better
+than a pauper, and could not otherwise pay for his board, the
+Maori sat on the ground, meditating and watching, until his teeth
+watered, and at last he attached the body and baked it.</p>
+
+<p>In 1814 the Church Missionary Society sent labourers to the
+distant vineyard to introduce Christianity, and to instruct the
+natives in the rights of property. The first native protector of
+Christianity and letters was Hongi Hika, a great warrior of the
+Ngapuhi nation, in the North Island. He was born in 1777, and
+voyaging to Sydney in 1814, he became the guest of the Rev. Mr.
+Marsden. In 1819 the rev. gentleman bought his settlement at
+Kerikeri from Hongi Hika, the price being forty-eight axes. The
+area of the settlement was thirteen thousand acres. The land was
+excellent, well watered, in a fine situation, and near a good
+harbour. Hongi next went to England with the Rev. Mr. Kendall to
+see King George, who was at that time in matrimonial trouble.
+Hongi was surprised to hear that the King had to ask permission
+of anyone to dispose of his wife Caroline. He said he had five
+wives at home, and he could clear off the whole of them if he
+liked without troubling anybody. He received valuable presents in
+London, which he brought back to Sydney, and sold for three
+hundred muskets and ammunition. The year 1822 was the most
+glorious time of his life. He raised an army of one thousand men,
+three hundred of whom had been taught the use of his muskets. The
+neighbouring tribes had no guns. He went up the Tamar, and at
+Totara slew five hundred men, and baked and ate three hundred of
+them. On the Waipa he killed fourteen hundred warriors out of a
+garrison of four thousand, and then returned home with crowds of
+slaves. The other tribes began to buy guns from the traders as
+fast as they were able to pay for them with flax; and in 1827, at
+Wangaroa, a bullet went through Hongi's lungs, leaving a hole in
+his back through which he used to whistle to entertain his
+friends; but he died of the wound fifteen months afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>Other men, both clerical and lay, followed the lead of the
+Rev. Mr. Marsden. In 1821 Mr. Fairbairn bought four hundred acres
+for ten pounds worth of trade. Baron de Thierry bought forty
+thousand acres on the Hokianga River for thirty-six axes. From
+1825 to 1829 one million acres were bought by settlers and
+merchants. Twenty-five thousand acres were bought at the Bay of
+Islands and Hokianga in five years, seventeen thousand of which
+belonged to the missionaries. In 1835 the Rev. Henry Williams
+made a bold offer for the unsold country. He forwarded a deed of
+trust to the governor of New South Wales, requesting that the
+missionaries should be appointed trustees for the natives for the
+remainder of their lands, "to preserve them from the intrigues of
+designing men." Before the year 1839, twenty millions of acres
+had been purchased by the clergy and laity for a few guns, axes,
+and other trifles, and the Maoris were fast wasting their
+inheritance. But the titles were often imperfect. When a man had
+bought a few hundreds of acres for six axes and a gun, and had
+paid the price agreed on to the owner, another owner would come
+and claim the land because his grandfather had been killed on it.
+He sat down before the settler's house and waited for payment,
+and whether he got any or not he came at regular intervals during
+the rest of his life and sat down before the door with his spear
+and mere* by his side waiting for more purchase money.</p>
+
+<blockquote>[*Footnote Axe made of greenstone.]</blockquote>
+
+<p>Some honest people in England heard of the good things to be
+had in New Zealand, formed a company, and landed near the mouth
+of the Hokianga River to form a settlement. The natives happened
+to be at war, and were performing a war dance. The new company
+looked on while the natives danced, and then all desire for land
+in New Zealand faded from their hearts. They returned on board
+their ship and sailed away, having wasted twenty thousand pounds.
+Such people should remain in their native country. Your true
+rover, lay or clerical, comes for something or other, and stays
+to get it, or dies.</p>
+
+<p>After twenty years of labour, and an expenditure of two
+hundred thousand pounds, the missionaries claimed only two
+thousand converts, and these were Christians merely in name. In
+1825 the Rev. Henry Williams said the natives were as insensible
+to redemption as brutes, and in 1829 the Methodists in England
+contemplated withdrawing their establishment for want of
+success.</p>
+
+<p>The Catholic Bishop Pompallier, with two priests, landed at
+Hokianga on January 10th, 1838, and took up his residence at the
+house of an Irish Catholic named Poynton, who was engaged in the
+timber trade. Poynton was a truly religious man, who had been
+living for some time among the Maoris. He was desirous of
+marrying the daughter of a chief, but he wished that she should
+be a Christian, and, as there was no Catholic priest nearer than
+Sydney, he sailed to that port with the chief and his daughter,
+called on Bishop Polding, and informed him of the object of his
+visit. A course of instruction was given to the father and
+daughter, Poynton acting as interpreter; they were baptised, and
+the marriage took place. After the lapse of sixty years their
+descendents were found to have retained the faith, and were
+living as good practical Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Pompallier celebrated his first Mass on January 13th,
+1838, and the news of his arrival was soon noised abroad and
+discussed. The Methodist missionaries considered the action of
+the bishop as an unwarrantable intrusion on their domain, and,
+being Protestants, they resolved to protest. This they did
+through the medium of thirty native warriors, who appeared before
+Poynton's house early in the morning of January 22nd, when the
+bishop was preparing to say Mass. The chief made a speech. He
+said the bishop and his priests were enemies to the Maoris. They
+were not traders, for they had brought no guns, no axes. They had
+been sent by a foreign chief (the Pope) to deprive the Maoris of
+their land, and make them change their old customs. Therefore he
+and his warriors had come to break the crucifix, and the
+ornaments of the altar, and to take the bishop and his priests to
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>The bishop replied that, although he was not a trader, he had
+come as a friend, and did not wish to deprive them of their
+country or anything belonging to them. He asked them to wait a
+while, and if they could find him doing the least injury to
+anyone they could take him to the river. The warriors agreed to
+wait, and went away.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the bishop went further up the river to Wherinaki,
+where Laming, a pakeha Maori, resided. Laming was an
+Irish-Protestant who had great influence with his tribe, which
+was numerous and warlike. He was admired by the natives for his
+strength and courage. He was six feet three inches in height, as
+nimble and spry as a cat, and as long-winded as a coyote. His
+father-in-law was a famous warrior named Lizard Skin. His
+religion was that of the Church of England, and he persuaded his
+tribe to profess it. He told them that the Protestant God was
+stronger than the Catholic God worshipped by his fellow
+countryman, Poynton. In after years, when his converts made
+cartridges of their Bibles and rejected Christianity, he was
+forced to confess that their religion was of this world only.
+They prayed that they might be brave in battle, and that their
+enemies might be filled with fear.</p>
+
+<p>Laming's Christian zeal did not induce him to forget the
+duties of hospitality. He received the bishop as a friend, and
+the Europeans round Tatura and other places came regularly to
+Mass. During the first six years of the mission, twenty thousand
+Maoris either had been baptised or were being prepared for
+baptism.</p>
+
+<p>Previous to the year 1828 some flax had been brought to Sydney
+from New Zealand, and manufactured into every species of cordage
+except cables, and it was found to be stronger than Baltic hemp.
+On account of the ferocious character of the Maoris, the Sydney
+Government sent several vessels to open communication with the
+tribes before permitting private individuals to embark in the
+trade. The ferocity attributed to the natives was not so much a
+part of their personal character as the result of their habits
+and beliefs. They were remarkable for great energy of mind and
+body, foresight, and self-denial. Their average height was about
+five feet six inches, but men from six feet to six feet six
+inches were not uncommon. Their point of honour was revenge, and
+a man who remained quiet while the manes of his friend or
+relation were unappeased by the blood of the enemy, would be
+dishonoured among his tribe.</p>
+
+<p>The Maoris were in reality loath to fight, and war was never
+begun until after long talk. Their object was to exterminate or
+enslave their enemies, and they ate the slain.</p>
+
+<p>Before commencing hostilities, the warriors endeavoured to put
+fear into the hearts of their opponents by enumerating the names
+of the fathers, uncles, or brothers of those in the hostile tribe
+whom they had slain and eaten in former battles. When a fight was
+progressing the women looked on from the rear. They were naked to
+the waist, and wore skirts of matting made from flax. As soon as
+a head was cut off they ran forward, and brought it away, leaving
+the body on the ground. If many were slain it was sometimes
+difficult to discover to what body each head had belonged,
+whether it was that of a friend or a foe, and it was lawful to
+bake the bodies of enemies only.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding their peculiar customs, one who knew the
+Maoris well described them as the most patient, equable,
+forgiving people in the world, but full of superstitious ideas,
+which foreigners could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>They believed that everything found on their coast was sent to
+them by the sea god, Taniwa, and they therefore endeavoured to
+take possession of the blessings conferred on them by seizing the
+first ships that anchored in their rivers and harbours. This led
+to misunderstandings and fights with their officers and crews,
+who had no knowledge of the sea god, Taniwa. It was found
+necessary to put netting all round the vessels as high as the
+tops to prevent surprise, and when trade began it was the rule to
+admit no more than five Maoris on board at once.</p>
+
+<p>The flax was found growing spontaneously in fields of
+inexhaustible extent along the more southerly shores of the
+islands. The fibre was separated by the females, who held the top
+of the leaf between their toes, and drew a shell through the
+whole length of the leaf. It took a good cleaner to scrape
+fifteen pounds weight of it in a day; the average was about ten
+pounds, for which the traders gave a fig of tobacco and a pipe,
+two sheets of cartridge paper, or one pound of lead. The price at
+which the flax was sold in Sydney varied from 20 pounds to 45
+pounds per ton, according to quality, so there was a large margin
+of profit to the trader. In 1828 sixty tons of flax valued at
+2,600 pounds, were exported from Sydney to England.</p>
+
+<p>The results of trading with the foreigners were fatal to the
+natives. At first the trade was in axes, knives, and other
+edge-tools, beads, and ornaments, but in 1832 the Maoris would
+scarcely take anything but arms and ammunition, red woollen
+shirts, and tobacco. Every man in a native hapu had to procure a
+musket, or die. If the warriors of the hapu had no guns they
+would soon be all killed by some tribe that had them. The price
+of one gun, together with the requisite powder, was one ton of
+cleaned flax, prepared by the women and slaves in the sickly
+swamps. In the meantime the food crops were neglected, hunger and
+hard labour killed many, some fell victims to diseases introduced
+by the white men, and the children nearly all died.</p>
+
+<p>And the Maoris are still dying out of the land, blighted by
+our civilization. They were willing to learn and to be taught,
+and they began to work with the white men. In 1853 I saw nearly
+one hundred of them, naked to the waist, sinking shafts for gold
+on Bendigo, and no Cousin Jacks worked harder. We could not, of
+course, make them Englishmen--the true Briton is born, not made;
+but could we not have kept them alive if we had used reasonable
+means to do so? Or is it true that in our inmost souls we wanted
+them to die, that we might possess their land in peace?</p>
+
+<p>Besides flax, it was found that New Zealand produced most
+excellent timber--the kauri pine. The first visitors saw
+sea-going canoes beautifully carved by rude tools of stone, which
+had been hollowed out, each from a single tree, and so large that
+they were manned by one hundred warriors. The gum trees of New
+Holland are extremely hard, and their wood is so heavy that it
+sinks in water like iron. But the kauri, with a leaf like that of
+the gum tree, is the toughest of pines, though soft and easily
+worked--suitable for shipbuilding, and for masts and spars. In
+1830 twenty-eight vessels made fifty-six voyages from Sydney to
+New Zealand, chiefly for flax; but they also left parties of men
+to prosecute the whale and seal fisheries, and to cut kauri pine
+logs. Two vessels were built by English mechanics, one of 140
+tons, and the other of 370 tons burden, and the natives began to
+assist the new-comers in all their labours.</p>
+
+<p>At this time most of the villages had at least one European
+resident called a Pakeha Maori, under the protection of a chief
+of rank and influence, and married to a relative of his, either
+legally or by native custom. It was through the resident that all
+the trading of the tribe was carried on. He bought and paid for
+the flax, and employed men to cut the pine logs and float them
+down the rivers to the ships.</p>
+
+<p>Every whaling and trading vessel that returned to Sydney or
+Van Diemen's Land brought back accounts of the wonderful
+prospects which the islands afforded to men of enterprise, and
+New Zealand became the favourite refuge for criminals, runaway
+prisoners, and other lovers of freedom. When, therefore the crew
+of the schooner 'Industry' threw Captain Blogg overboard, it was
+a great comfort to them to know that they were going to an island
+in which there was no Government.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Blogg had arrived from England with a bad character.
+He had been tried for murder. He had been ordered to pay five
+hundred pounds as damages to his mate, whom he had imprisoned at
+sea in a hencoop, and left to pick up his food with the fowls. He
+had been out-lawed, and forbidden to sail as officer in any
+British ship. These were facts made known to, and discussed by,
+all the whalers who entered the Tamar, when the whaling season
+was over in the year 1835. And yet the notorious Blogg found no
+difficulty in buying the schooner 'Industry', taking in a cargo,
+and obtaining a clearance for Hokianga, in New Zealand. He had
+shipped a crew consisting of a mate, four seamen, and a cook.</p>
+
+<p>Black Ned Tomlins, Jim Parrish, and a few other friends
+interviewed the crew when the 'Industry' was getting ready for
+sea. Black Ned was a half-breed native of Kangaroo Island, and
+was looked upon as the best whaler in the colonies, and the
+smartest man ever seen in a boat. He was the principal speaker.
+He put the case to the crew in a friendly way, and asked them if
+they did not feel themselves to be a set of fools, to think of
+going to sea with a murdering villain like Blogg?</p>
+
+<p>Dick Secker replied mildly but firmly. He reckoned the crew
+were, in a general way, able to take care of themselves. They
+could do their duty, whatever it was; and they were not afraid of
+sailing with any man that ever trod a deck.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days at sea they were able to form a correct
+estimate of their master mariner. He never came on deck
+absolutely drunk, but he was saturated with rum to the very
+marrow of his bones. A devil of cruelty, hate, and murder glared
+from his eyes, and his blasphemies could come from no other place
+but the lowest depths of the bottomless pit. The mate was
+comparatively a gentle and inoffensive lamb. He did not curse and
+swear more than was considered decent and proper on board ship,
+did his duty, and avoided quarrels.</p>
+
+<p>One day Blogg was rating the cook in his usual style when the
+latter made some reply, and the captain knocked him down. He then
+called the mate, and with his help stripped the cook to the waist
+and triced him up to the mast on the weather side. This gave the
+captain the advantage of a position in which he could deliver his
+blows downward with full effect. Then he selected a rope's end
+and began to flog the cook. At every blow he made a spring on his
+feet, swung the rope over his head, and brought it down on the
+bare back with the utmost force. It was evident that he was no
+'prentice hand at the business, but a good master flogger. The
+cook writhed and screamed, as every stroke raised bloody ridges
+on his back; but Blogg enjoyed it. He was in no hurry. He was
+like a boy who had found a sweet morsel, and was turning it over
+in his mouth to enjoy it the longer. After each blow he looked at
+the three seamen standing near, and at the man at the helm, and
+made little speeches at them. "I'll show you who is master aboard
+this ship." Whack! "That's what every man Jack of you will get if
+you give me any of your jaw." Whack! "Maybe you'd like to mutiny,
+wouldn't you?" Whack! The blows came down with deliberate
+regularity; the cook's back was blue, black, and bleeding, but
+the captain showed no sign of any intention to stay his hand. The
+suffering victim's cries seemed to inflame his cruelty. He was a
+wild beast in the semblance of a man. At last, in his extreme
+agony, the cook made a piteous appeal to the seamen:</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="bookbush-02"></a><img alt="" src="images/bookbush-02.jpg"></p>
+
+<p><b>"I'll show you who is master aboard this ship."</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>"Mates, are you men? Are you going to stand there all day, and
+watch me being flogged to death for nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>Before the next stroke fell the three men had seized the
+captain; but he fought with so much strength and fury that they
+found it difficult to hold him. The helmsman steadied the tiller
+with two turns of the rope and ran forward to assist them. They
+laid Blogg flat on the deck, but he kept struggling, cursing,
+threatening, and calling on the mate to help him; but that
+officer took fright, ran to his cabin in the deckhouse, and began
+to barricade the door.</p>
+
+<p>Then a difficulty arose. What was to be done with the
+prisoner? He was like a raving maniac. If they allowed him his
+liberty, he was sure to kill one or more of them. If they bound
+him he would get loose in some way--probably through the
+mate--and after what had occurred, it would be safer to turn
+loose a Bengal tiger on deck then the infuriated captain. There
+was but one way out of the trouble, and they all knew it. They
+looked at one another; nothing was wanting but the word, and it
+soon came. Secker had sailed from the Cove of Cork, and being an
+Irishman, he was by nature eloquent, first in speech, and first
+in action. He reflected afterwards, when he had leisure to do
+so.</p>
+
+<p>"Short work is the best," he said, "over he goes; lift the
+devil." Each man seized an arm or leg, and Blogg was carried
+round the mast to the lee side. The men worked together from
+training and habit. They swung the body athwart the deck like a
+pendulum, and with a "one! two! three!" it cleared the bulwark,
+and the devil went head foremost into the deep sea. The cook,
+looking on from behind the mast, gave a deep sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that a great breach of the peace was committed on
+the Pacific Ocean; and it was done, too, on a beautiful summer's
+evening, when the sun was low, a gentle breeze barely filled the
+sails, and everybody should have been happy and comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Blogg rose to the surface directly and swam after his
+schooner. The fury of his soul did not abate all at once. He
+roared to the mate to bring the schooner to, but there was no
+responsive "Aye, aye, sir." He was now outside of his
+jurisdiction, and his power was gone. He swam with all his
+strength, and his bloated face still looked red as the foam
+passed by it. The helmsman had resumed his place, and steadied
+the tiller, keeping her full, while the other men looked over the
+stern. Secker said: "The old man will have a long swim."</p>
+
+<p>But the "old man" swam a losing race. His vessel was gliding
+away from him: his face grew pale, and in an agony of fear and
+despair, he called to the men for God's sake to take him on board
+and he would forgive everything.</p>
+
+<p>But his call came too late; he could find no sureties for his
+good behaviour in the future; he had never in his life shown any
+love for God or pity for man, and he found in his utmost need
+neither mercy nor pity now. He strained his eyes in vain over the
+crests of the restless billows, calling for the help that did not
+come. The receding sails never shivered; no land was near, no
+vessel in sight. The sun went down, and the hopeless sinner was
+left struggling alone on the black waste of waters.</p>
+
+<p>The men released the cook and held a consultation about a
+troublesome point of law. Had they committed mutiny and murder,
+or only justifiable homicide? They felt that the point was a very
+important one to them--a matter of life and death--and they stood
+in a group near the tiller to discuss the difficulty, speaking
+low, while the cook was shivering in the forecastle, trying to
+ease the pain.</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion of the seamen was, that they had done what was
+right, both in law and conscience. They had thrown Blogg
+overboard to prevent him from murdering the cook, and also for
+their own safety. After they had done their duty by seizing him,
+he would have killed them if he could. He was a drunken sweep. He
+was an outlaw, and the law would not protect him. Anybody could
+kill an outlaw without fear of consequences, so they had heard.
+But still there was some doubt about it, and there was nobody
+there to put the case for the captain. The law was, at that time,
+a terrible thing, especially in Van Diemen's Land, under Colonel
+Arthur. He governed by the gallows, to make everything orderly
+and peaceable, and men were peaceable enough after they were
+hanged.</p>
+
+<p>So Secker and his mates decided that, although they had done
+nothing but what was right in throwing Blogg over the side, it
+would be extremely imprudent to trust their innocence to the
+uncertainty of the law and to the impartiality of Colonel
+Arthur.</p>
+
+<p>Their first idea was to take the vessel to South America, but
+after some further discussion, they decided to continue the
+voyage to Hokianga, and to settle among the Maoris. Nobody had
+actually seen them throw Blogg overboard except the cook, and him
+they looked upon as a friend, because they had saved him from
+being flogged to death. They had some doubts about the best
+course to take with the mate, but as he was the only man on board
+who was able to take the schooner to port, they were obliged to
+make use of his services for the present, and at the end of the
+voyage they could deal with him in any way prudence might
+require, and they did not mean to run any unnecessary risks.</p>
+
+<p>They went to the house on deck, and Secker called the mate,
+informing him that the captain had lost his balance, and had
+fallen overboard, and that it was his duty to take charge of the
+'Industry', and navigate her to Hokianga. But the mate had been
+thoroughly frightened, and was loth to leave his entrenchment. He
+could not tell what might happen if he opened his cabin door: he
+might find himself in the sea in another minute. The men who had
+thrown the master overboard would not have much scruple about
+sending an inferior officer after him. If the mate resolved to
+show fight, it would be necessary for him to kill every man on
+board, even the cook, before he could feel safe; and then he
+would be left alone in mid-ocean with nobody to help him to
+navigate the vessel--a master and crew under one hat, at the
+mercy of the winds and the waves, with six murdered men on his
+conscience; and he had a conscience, too, as was soon to be
+proved.</p>
+
+<p>The seamen swore most solemnly that they did not intend to do
+him the least harm, and at last the mate opened his door. While
+in his cabin, he had been spending what he believed to be the
+last minutes of his life in preparing for death; he did his best
+to make peace with heaven, and tried to pray. But his mouth was
+dry with fear, his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, his
+memory of sacred things failed him, and he could not pray for
+want of practice. He could remember only one short prayer, and he
+was unable to utter even that audibly. And how could a prayer
+ever reach heaven in time to be of any use to him, when he could
+not make it heard outside the deck-house? In his desperate
+straits he took a piece of chalk and began to write it; so when
+at last he opened the door of his cabin, the four seamen observed
+that he had nearly covered the boards with writing. It looked
+like a litany, but it was a litany of only three words--"Lord,
+have mercy"--which were repeated in lines one above the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>That litany was never erased or touched by any man who
+subsequently sailed on board the 'Industry'. She was the first
+vessel that was piloted up the channel to Port Albert in
+Gippsland, to take in a cargo of fat cattle, and when she arrived
+there on August 3rd, 1842, the litany of the mate was still
+distinctly legible.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing exalts a man so quickly in the estimation of his
+fellow creatures as killing them. Emperors and kings court the
+alliance of the conquering hero returning from fields of
+slaughter. Ladies in Melbourne forgot for a time the demands of
+fashion in their struggles to obtain an ecstatic glimpse of our
+modern Bluebeard, Deeming; and no one was prouder than the belle
+of the ball when she danced down the middle with the man who shot
+Sandy M'Gee.</p>
+
+<p>And the reverence of the mate for his murdering crew was
+unfathomable. Their lightest word was a law to him. He wrote up
+the log in their presence, stating that Captain Blogg had been
+washed into the sea in a sudden squall on a dark night; vessel
+hove to, boat lowered, searched for captain all night, could see
+nothing of him; mate took charge, and bore away for Hokianga next
+morning. When these untruthful particulars had been entered and
+read over to the four seamen, they were satisfied for the
+present. They would settle among the Maoris, and lead a free and
+happy life. They could do what they liked with the schooner and
+her cargo, having disposed of the master and owner; and as for
+the mate, they would dispose of him, too, if he made himself in
+any way troublesome. What a wonderful piece of good luck it was
+that they were going to a new country in which there was no
+government!</p>
+
+<p>The 'Industry' arrived off the bar at Hokianga on November
+30th, 1835, and was boarded by a Captain Young, who had settled
+seven miles up the estuary, at One Tree Point, and acted as pilot
+of the nascent port. He inquired how much water the schooner
+drew, noted the state of the tide, and said he would remain on
+board all night, and go over the bar next morning with the first
+flood.</p>
+
+<p>The mate had a secret and wanted to get rid of it. While
+looking round at the shore, and apparently talking about
+indifferent subjects, he said to the pilot: "Don't look at the
+men, and don't take any notice of them. They threw Blogg, the
+master, overboard, when he was flogging the cook, and they would
+murder me, too, if they knew I told you; so you must pretend not
+to take any notice of them. What their plans may be, I don't
+know; but you may be sure they won't go back to the Tamar, if
+they can help it."</p>
+
+<p>If the pilot felt any surprise, he did not show it. After a
+short pause he said: "You go about your business, and don't speak
+to me again, except when the men can hear you. I will think about
+what is best to be done."</p>
+
+<p>During the night Captain Young thought about it to some
+purpose. Being a master mariner himself he could imagine no
+circumstances which would justify a crew in throwing a master
+mariner overboard. It was the one crime which could not be
+pardoned either afloat or ashore. Next day he took the vessel up
+the estuary, and anchored her within two hundred yards of the
+shore, opposite the residence of Captain McDonnell.</p>
+
+<p>It is true there was no government at that time at Hokianga,
+nor anywhere else in New Zealand; there were no judges, no
+magistrates, no courts, and no police. But the British Angel of
+Annexation was already hovering over the land, although she had
+not as yet alighted on it.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the shores of New Zealand were infested with
+captains. There was a Captain Busby, who was called British
+Resident, and, unfortunately for our seamen, Captain McDonnell
+had been appointed Additional British Resident at Hokianga a few
+weeks previously. So far he had been officially idle; there was
+no business to do, no chance of his displaying his zeal and
+patriotism. Moreover, he had no pay, and apparently no power and
+no duties. He was neither a Governor nor a Government, but a kind
+of forerunner of approaching empire--one of those harmless and
+far-reaching tentacles which the British octopus extends into the
+recesses of ocean, searching for prey to satisfy the demands of
+her imperial appetite.</p>
+
+<p>McDonnell was a naval lieutenant; had served under the East
+India Company; had smuggled opium to China; had explored the
+coasts of New Zealand; and on March 31st, 1831, had arrived at
+Hokianga from Sydney in the 'Sir George Murray', a vessel which
+he had purchased for 1,300 pounds. He brought with him his wife,
+two children, and a servant, but took them back on the return
+voyage. He was now engaged in the flax and kauri pine trade.</p>
+
+<p>The 'Industry' had scarcely dropped her anchor before the
+Additional Resident boarded her. The pilot spoke to him and in a
+few words informed him that Blogg, the master, had been pitched
+into the sea, and explained in what manner he proposed to arrest
+the four seamen. McDonnell understood, and agreed to the plan at
+once. He called to the mate in a loud voice, and said: "I am
+sorry to hear that you have lost the master of this vessel. I
+live at that house you see on the rising ground, and I keep a
+list in a book of all vessels that come into the river, and the
+names of the crews. It is a mere formality, and won't take more
+than five minutes. So you will oblige me, mate, by coming ashore
+with your men at once, as I am in a hurry, and have other
+business to attend to." He then went ashore in his boat. The mate
+and seamen followed in the ship's boat, and waited in front of
+the Additional Resident's house. He had a visitor that morning,
+the Pakeha Maori, Laming.</p>
+
+<p>The men had not to wait long, as it was not advisable to give
+them much time to think and grow suspicious. McDonnell came to
+the front door and called the mate, who went inside, signed his
+name, re-appeared directly, called Secker, and entered the house
+with him. The Additional Resident was sitting at a table with the
+signature book before him. He rose from the chair, told Secker to
+sit down, gave him a pen, and pointed out the place where his
+name was to be signed. Laming was sitting near the table. While
+Secker was signing his name McDonnell suddenly put a twisted
+handkerchief under his chin and tightened it round his neck.
+Laming presented a horse-pistol and said he would blow his brains
+out if he uttered a word, and the mate slipped a pair of
+handcuffs on his wrists. He was then bundled out at the back door
+and put into a bullet-proof building at the rear. The other three
+seamen were then called in one after the other, garrotted,
+handcuffed, and imprisoned in the same way. The little formality
+of signing names was finished in a few minutes, according to
+promise.</p>
+
+<p>If such things could be done in New Zealand, where there was
+neither law nor government, what might happen in Van Diemen's
+Land, where one man was both law and government, and that man was
+Colonel Arthur? The prisoners had plenty of time to make a
+forecast of their fate, while the mate engaged a fresh crew and
+took in a cargo of flax and timber. When he was ready to sail, he
+reshipped his old crew in irons, returned with them to the Tamar,
+and delivered them to the police to be dealt with according to
+law. For a long time the law was in a state of chaos. Major
+Abbott was sent from England in 1814 as the first judge. The
+proceedings in his court were conducted in the style of a
+drum-head court martial, the accusation, sentences, and execution
+following one another with military precision and rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>He adjudicated in petty sessions as a magistrate, and dealt in
+a summary manner with capital offences, which were very numerous.
+To imprison a man who was already a prisoner for life was no
+punishment; the major's powers were, therefore, limited to the
+cat and the gallows. And as the first gallows had been built to
+carry only eight passengers, his daily death sentences were also
+limited to that number. For twenty years torture was used to
+extort confession-- even women were flogged if they refused to
+give evidence, and an order of the Governor was held to be equal
+to law. Major Abbott died in 1832.</p>
+
+<p>In 1835 the court consisted of the judge-advocate and two of
+the inhabitants selected by the Governor, Colonel Arthur, who
+came out in the year 1824, and had been for eleven years a terror
+to evil-doers. His rule was as despotic as he could possibly make
+it. If any officer appointed by the Home Government disagreed
+with his policy he suspended him from his office, and left him to
+seek redress from his friends in England--a tedious process,
+which lasted for years. Disagreeable common people he suspended
+also--by the neck. If a farmer, squatter, or merchant was
+insubordinate, he stopped his supply of convict labour, and
+cruelly left him to do his own work. He brooked no discussion of
+his measures by any pestilent editor. He filled all places of
+profit with his friends, relatives, and dependents. Everything
+was referred to his royal will and pleasure. His manners were
+stiff and formal, his tastes moral, his habits on Sundays
+religious, and his temper vindictive. Next to the articles of
+war, the thirty-nine Articles claimed his obedience. When his
+term of office was drawing to a close he went to church on a
+certain Sunday to receive the Lord's Supper. While studying his
+prayer book he observed that it was his duty if his brother had
+anything against him to seek a reconciliation before offering his
+gift. The ex-Attorney-General, Gellibrand, was present, a brother
+Christian who had had many things against him for many years. He
+had other enemies, some living and some dead, but they were
+absent. To be reconciled to all of them was an impossibility. He
+could not ask the minister to suspend the service while he went
+round Hobart Town looking for his enemies, and shaking hands with
+them. But he did what was possible. He rose from his knees,
+marched over to Gellibrand, and held out his hand. Gellibrand was
+puzzled; he looked at the hand and could see nothing in it. By
+way of explanation Colonel Arthur pointed out the passage in the
+prayer-book which had troubled his sensitive conscience.
+Gellibrand read it, and then shook hands. With a soul washed
+whiter than snow, the colonel approached the table.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the convicts every grade of society was represented,
+from King Jorgensen to the beggar. One Governor had a convict
+private secretary. Officers of the army and navy, merchants,
+doctors, and clergymen consorted with costermongers, poachers,
+and pickpockets. The law, it is sad to relate, had even sent out
+lawyers, who practised their profession under a cloud, and
+sometimes pleaded by permission of the court. But their ancient
+pride had been trodden in the dust; the aureole which once
+encircled their wigs was gone, and they were often snubbed and
+silenced by ignorant justices. The punishment for being found out
+is life-long and terrible. Their clients paid the fees partly in
+small change and partly in rum.</p>
+
+<p>The defence of the seamen accused of murdering Captain Blogg
+was undertaken by Mr. Nicholas. He had formerly been employed by
+the firm of eminent solicitors in London who conducted the
+defence of Queen Caroline, when the "first gentleman in Europe"
+tried to get rid of her, and he told me that his misfortunes
+(forgeries) had deprived him of the honour of sharing with Lord
+Brougham the credit of her acquittal.</p>
+
+<p>Many years had passed since that celebrated trial when I made
+the acquaintance of Nicholas. He had by this time lost all social
+distinction. He had grown old and very shabby, and was so mean
+that even his old friends, the convicts who had crossed the
+straits, looked down on him with contempt. He came to me for an
+elector's right, as a vote in our electorate--the Four
+Counties--was sometimes worth as much as forty shillings, besides
+unlimited grog. We were Conservatives then, true patriots, and we
+imitated--feebly, it is true, but earnestly--the time-honoured
+customs of old England.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nicholas had been a man of many employments, and of many
+religions. He was never troubled with scruples of conscience, but
+guided his conduct wholly by enlightened self-interest. He was a
+Broad Churchman, very broad. As tutor in various families, he had
+instructed his pupils in the tenets of the Church of England, of
+the Catholics, of the Presbyterians, and of the Baptists. He
+always professed the religion of his employer for the time being,
+and he found that four religions were sufficient for his
+spiritual and temporal wants. There were many other sects, but
+the labour of learning all their peculiar views would not pay, so
+he neglected them. The Wesleyans were at one time all-powerful in
+our road district, and Nicholas, foreseeing a chance of filling
+an office of profit under the Board, threw away all his sins, and
+obtained grace and a billet as toll-collector or pikeman. In
+England the pike-man was always a surly brute, who collected his
+fees with the help of a bludgeon and a bulldog, but Nicholas
+performed his duties in the disguise of a saint. He waited for
+passengers in his little wooden office, sitting at a table, with
+a huge Bible before him, absorbed in spiritual reading. He wore
+spectacles on his Roman nose, had a long grey beard, quoted
+Scripture to chance passengers, and was very earnest for their
+salvation. He was atoning for the sins of his youth by leading
+the life of a hermit by praying and cheating. He has had many
+followers. He made mistakes in his cash, which for a while were
+overlooked in so good a man, but they became at length so serious
+that he lost his billet. He had for some time been spoken of by
+his friends and admirers as "Mr. Nicholas," but after his last
+mistakes had been discovered, he began to be known merely as "Old
+Nick the Lawyer," or "Old Nick the Liar," which some ignorant
+people look upon as convertible terms. I think Lizard Skin, the
+cannibal, was a better Christian than old Nick the lawyer, as he
+was brave and honest, and scorned to tell a lie.</p>
+
+<p>The convict counsel for the four seamen defended them at a
+great expenditure of learning and lies. He argued at great
+length:-- "That there was no evidence that a master mariner named
+Blogg ever existed; that he was an outlaw, and, as such, every
+British subject had an inchoate right to kill him at sight, and,
+therefore, that the seamen, supposing for the sake of argument
+that they did kill him, acted strictly within their legal rights;
+that Blogg drowned himself in a fit of delirium tremens, after
+being drunk on rum three days and nights consecutively; that he
+fell overboard accidentally and was drowned; that the cook and
+mate threw him overboard, and then laid the blame on the innocent
+seamen; that Blogg swam ashore, and was now living on an
+unchartered island; that if he was murdered, his body had not
+been found: there could be no murder without a corpse; and
+finally, he would respectfully submit to that honourable court,
+that the case bristled with ineradicable difficulties."</p>
+
+<p>The seamen would have been sent to the gallows in any case,
+but Nicholas' speech made their fate inevitable. The court
+brushed aside the legal bristles, and hanged the four seamen on
+the evidence of the mate and the cook.</p>
+
+<p>The tragedy of the gallows was followed by a short afterpiece.
+Jim Parrish, Ned Tomlins, and every whaler and foremast man in
+Hobart Town and on the Tamar, discussed the evidence both drunk
+and sober, and the opinion was universal that the cook ought to
+have sworn an oath strong enough to go through a three-inch slab
+of hardwood that he had seen Captain Blogg carried up to heaven
+by angels, instead of swearing away the lives of men who had
+taken his part when he was triced up to the mast. The cook was in
+this manner tried by his peers and condemned to die, and he knew
+it. He tried to escape by shipping on board a schooner bound to
+Portland Bay with whalers. The captain took on board a keg of
+rum, holding fifteen gallons, usually called a "Big Pup," and
+invited the mate to share the liquor with him. The result was
+that the two officers soon became incapable of rational
+navigation. Off King's Island the schooner was hove to in a gale
+of wind, and for fourteen days stood off and on--five or six
+hours one way, and five or six hours the other--while the master
+and mate were down below, "nursing the Big Pup." The seamen were
+all strangers to the coast, and did not know any cove into which
+they could run for refuge. The cook was pitched overboard one
+dark night during that gale off King's Island, and his loss was a
+piece of ancient history by the time the master and mate had
+consumed the rum, and were able to enter up the log.</p>
+
+<p>Ex-Attorney-General Gellibrand sailed to Port Philip to look
+for country in Australia Felix, and he found it. He was last seen
+on a rounded hill, gazing over the rich and beautiful land which
+borders Lake Colac; land which he was not fated to occupy, for he
+wandered away and was lost, and his bones lay unburied by the
+stream which now bears his name.</p>
+
+<p>When Colonel Arthur's term of office expired he departed with
+the utmost ceremony. The 21st Fusiliers escorted him to the
+wharf. As he entered his barge his friends cheered, and his
+enemies groaned, and then went home and illuminated the town, to
+testify their joy at getting rid of a tyrant. He was the model
+Governor of a Crown colony, and the Crown rewarded him for his
+services. He was made a baronet, appointed Governor of Canada and
+of Bombay, was a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council, a colonel
+of the Queen's Own regiment, and he died on September 19th, 1854,
+full of years and honours, and worth 70,000 pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Laming was left an orphan by the death of Lizard Skin. The
+chief had grown old and sick, and he sat every day for two years
+on a fallen puriri near the white man's pah, but he never entered
+it. His spear was always sticking up beside him. He had a gun,
+but was never known to use it. He was often humming some ditty
+about old times before the white man brought guns and powder, but
+he spoke to no one. He was pondering over the future of his
+tribe, but the problem was too much for him. The white men were
+strong and were overrunning his land. His last injunction to his
+warriors was, that they should listen to the words of his Pakeha,
+and that they should be brave that they might live.</p>
+
+<p>When the British Government took possession of New Zealand
+without paying for it, they established a Land Court to
+investigate the titles to lands formerly bought from the natives,
+and it was decided in most cases that a few axes and hoes were an
+insufficient price to pay for the pick of the country; the
+purchases were swindles. Laming had possession of three or four
+hundred acres, and to the surprise of the Court it was found that
+he had paid a fair price for them, and his title was allowed.
+Moreover, his knowledge of the language and customs of the Maoris
+was found to be so useful that he was appointed a Judge of the
+Land Court.</p>
+
+<p>The men who laid the foundations of empire in the Great South
+Land were men of action. They did not stand idle in the shade,
+waiting for someone to come and hire them. They dug a vineyard
+and planted it. The vines now bring forth fruit, the winepress is
+full, the must is fermenting. When the wine has been drawn off
+from the lees, and time has matured it, of what kind will it be?
+And will the Lord of the Vineyard commend it?</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>FIRST SETTLERS.</h3>
+
+<p>The first white settler in Victoria was the escaped convict
+Buckley; but he did not cultivate the country, nor civilise the
+natives. The natives, on the contrary, uncivilised him. When
+white men saw him again, he had forgotten even his mother tongue,
+and could give them little information. For more than thirty
+years he had managed to live--to live like a savage; but for any
+good he had ever done he might as well have died with the other
+convicts who ran away with him. He never gave any clear account
+of his companions, and many people were of opinion that he kept
+himself alive by eating them, until he was found and fed by the
+blacks, who thought he was one of their dead friends, and had
+"jumped up a white fellow."</p>
+
+<p>While Buckley was still living with the blacks about Corio
+Bay, in 1827, Gellibrand and Batman applied for a grant of land
+at Western Port, where the whalers used to strip wattle bark when
+whales were out of season; but they did not get it.</p>
+
+<p>Englishmen have no business to live anywhere without being
+governed, and Colonel Arthur had no money to spend in governing a
+settlement at Western Port. So Australia Felix was unsettled for
+eight years longer.</p>
+
+<p>Griffiths &amp; Co., of Launceston, were trading with Sydney
+in 1833. Their cargo outward was principally wheat, the price of
+which varied very much; sometimes it was 2s. 6d. a bushel in
+Launceston, and 18s. in Sydney. The return cargo from Port
+Jackson was principally coal, freestone, and cedar.</p>
+
+<p>Griffiths &amp; Co. were engaged in whaling in Portland Bay.
+They sent there two schooners, the 'Henry' and the 'Elizabeth',
+in June, 1834. They erected huts on shore for the whalers. The
+'Henry' was wrecked; but the whales were plentiful, and yielded
+more oil than the casks would hold, so the men dug clay pits on
+shore, and poured the oil into them. The oil from forty-five
+whales was put into the pits, but the clay absorbed every
+spoonful of it, and nothing but bones was gained from so much
+slaughter. Before the 'Elizabeth' left Portland Bay, the Hentys,
+the first permanent settlers in Victoria, arrived in the schooner
+'Thistle', on November 4th, 1834.</p>
+
+<p>When the whalers of the 'Elizabeth' had been paid off, and had
+spent their money, they were engaged to strip wattle bark at
+Western Port, and were taken across in the schooner, with
+provisions, tools, six bullocks and a dray. During that season
+they stripped three hundred tons of bark and chopped it ready for
+bagging. John Toms went over to weigh and ship the bark, and
+brought it back, together with the men, in the barque 'Andrew
+Mack'.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA," ON KING'S ISLAND.</h3>
+
+<p>She sailed from Cork on January 8th, 1835, B. H. Peck, master;
+Dr. Stevenson, R.N., surgeon. She had on board 150 female
+prisoners and thirty-three of their children, nine free women and
+their twenty-two children, and a crew of twenty-six. Several
+ships had been wrecked on King's Island, and when a vessel
+approached it the mate of the watch warned his men to keep a
+bright look out. He said, "King's Island is inhabited by
+anthropophagi, the bloodiest man eaters ever known; and, if you
+don't want to go to pot, you had better keep your eyes skinned."
+So the look-out man did not go to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the 'Neva' went ashore on the Harbinger reef, on
+May 13th unshipped her rudder and parted into four pieces. Only
+nine men and thirteen women reached the island; they were nearly
+naked and had nothing to eat, and they wandered along the beach
+during the night, searching amongst the wreckage. At last they
+found a puncheon of rum, upended it, stove in the head, and
+drank. The thirteen women then lay down on the sand close
+together, and slept. The night was very cold, and Robinson, an
+apprentice, covered the women as well as he could with some
+pieces of sail and blankets soaked with salt water. The men
+walked about the beach all night to keep themselves warm, being
+afraid to go inland for fear of the cannibal blackfellows. In the
+morning they went to rouse the women, and found that seven of the
+thirteen were dead.</p>
+
+<p>The surviving men were the master, B. H. Peck, Joseph Bennet,
+Thomas Sharp, John Watson, Edward Calthorp, Thomas Hines, Robert
+Ballard, John Robinson, and William Kinderey. The women were
+Ellen Galvin, Mary Stating, Ann Cullen, Rosa Heland, Rose Dunn,
+and Margaret Drury.</p>
+
+<p>For three weeks these people lived almost entirely on
+shellfish. They threw up a barricade on the shore, above high
+water mark, to protect themselves against the cannibals. The only
+chest that came ashore unbroken was that of Robinson the
+apprentice, and in it there was a canister of powder. A flint
+musket was also found among the wreckage, and with the flint and
+steel they struck a light and made a fire. When they went down to
+the beach in search of shellfish, one man kept guard at the
+barricade, and looked out for the blackfellows; his musket was
+loaded with powder and pebbles.</p>
+
+<p>Three weeks passed away before any of the natives appeared,
+but at last they were seen approaching along the shore from the
+south. At the first alarm all the ship-wrecked people ran to the
+barricade for shelter, and the men armed themselves with anything
+in the shape of weapons they could find. But their main hope of
+victory was the musket. They could not expect to kill many
+cannibals with one shot, but the flash and report would be sure
+to strike them with terror, and put them to flight.</p>
+
+<p>By this time their diet of shellfish had left them all weak
+and emaciated, skeletons only just alive; the anthropophagi would
+have nothing but bones to pick; still, the little life left in
+them was precious, and they resolved to sell it as dear as they
+could. They watched the savages approaching; at length they could
+count their number. They were only eleven all told, and were
+advancing slowly. Now they saw that seven of the eleven were
+small, only picaninnies. When they came nearer three out of the
+other four were seen to be lubras, and the eleventh individual
+then resolved himself into a white savage, who roared out, "Mates
+ahoy!"</p>
+
+<p>The white man was Scott, the sealer, who had taken up is abode
+on the island with his harem, three Tasmanian gins and seven
+children.</p>
+
+<p>They were the only permanent inhabitants; the cannibal blacks
+had disappeared, and continued to exist only in the fancies of
+the mariners. Scott's residence was opposite New Year's Island
+not far from the shore; there he had built a hut and planted a
+garden with potatoes and other vegetables. Flesh meat he obtained
+from the kangaroos and seals. Their skins he took to Launceston
+in his boat, and in it he brought back supplies of flour and
+groceries. He had observed dead bodies of women and men, and
+pieces of a wrecked vessel cast up by the sea, and had travelled
+along the shore with his family, looking for anything useful or
+valuable which the wreck might yield. After hearing the story,
+and seeing the miserable plight of the castaways, he invited them
+to his home. On arriving at the hut Scott and his lubras prepared
+for their guests a beautiful meal of kangaroo and potatoes. This
+was their only food as long as they remained on King's Island,
+for Scott's only boat had got adrift, and his flour, tea, and
+sugar had been all consumed. But kangaroo beef and potatoes
+seemed a most luxurious diet to the men and women who had been
+kept alive for three weeks on nothing but shellfish.</p>
+
+<p>Scott and his hounds hunted the kangaroo, and supplied the
+colony with meat. The liver of the kangaroo when boiled and left
+to grow cold is a dry substance, which, with the help of hunger
+and a little imagination, is said to be as good as bread.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of July, 1835, heavy gales were blowing over
+King's Island. For fourteen days the schooner 'Elizabeth', with
+whalers for Port Fairy, was hove to off the coast, standing off
+and on, six hours one way and six hours the other. Akers, the
+captain, and his mate got drunk on rum and water daily. The cook
+of the 'Industry' was on board the 'Elizabeth', the man whom
+Captain Blogg was flogging when his crew seized him and threw him
+overboard. The cook also was now pitched overboard for having
+given evidence against the four men who had saved him from
+further flogging.</p>
+
+<p>At this time also Captain Friend, of the whaling cutter 'Sarah
+Ann', took shelter under the lee of New Year's Island, and he
+pulled ashore to visit Scott the sealer. There he found the
+shipwrecked men and women whom he took on board his cutter, and
+conveyed to Launceston, except one woman and two men. It was then
+too late in the season to take the whalers to Port Fairy. Captain
+Friend was appointed chief District Constable at Launceston; all
+the constables under him were prisoners of the Crown, receiving
+half a dollar a day. He was afterwards Collector of Customs at
+the Mersey.</p>
+
+<p>In November, 1835 the schooner 'Elizabeth' returned to
+Launceston with 270 tuns of oil. The share of the crew of a
+whaling vessel was one-fiftieth of the value of the oil and bone.
+The boat-steerer received one-thirtieth, and of the headmen some
+had one-twenty-fifth, others one-fifteenth. In this same year,
+1835, Batman went to Port Phillip with a few friends and seven
+Sydney blackfellows. On June 14th he returned to Van Diemen's
+Land, and by the 25th of the same month he had compiled a report
+of his expedition, which he sent to Governor Arthur, together
+with a copy of the grant of land executed by the black chiefs. He
+had obtained three copies of the grant signed by three brothers
+Jagga-Jagga, by Bungaree, Yan-Yan, Moorwhip, and Marmarallar. The
+area of the land bought by Batman was not surveyed with
+precision, but it was of great extent, like infinite space, whose
+centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere. And in addition
+he took up a small patch of one hundred thousand acres between
+the bay and the Barwon, including the insignificant site of
+Geelong, a place of small account even to this day. Batman was a
+long-limbed Sydney native, and he bestrode his real estate like a
+Colossus, but King William was a bigger Colossus than Batman--he
+claimed both the land and the blacks, and ignored the Crown
+grant.</p>
+
+<p>Next, John Fawkner and his friends chartered the schooner
+'Enterprise' for a voyage across the Straits to Australia Felix.
+He afterwards claimed to be the founder of Melbourne. He could
+write and talk everlastingly, but he had not the 'robur' and 'as
+triplex' suitable for a sea-robber. Sea-sickness nearly killed
+him, so he stayed behind while the other adventurers went and
+laid the foundation. They first examined the shores of Western
+Port, then went to Port Philip Bay and entered the River Yarra.
+They disembarked on its banks, ploughed some land, sowed maize
+and wheat, and planted two thousand fruit trees. They were not so
+grasping as Batman, and each man pegged out a farm of only one
+hundred acres. These farms were very valuable in the days of the
+late boom, and are called the city of Melbourne. Batman wanted to
+oust the newcomers; he claimed the farms under his grant from the
+Jagga-Jaggas. He squatted on Batman's Hill, and looked down with
+evil eyes on the rival immigrants. He saw them clearing away the
+scrub along Flinders Street, and splitting posts and rails all
+over the city from Spencer Street to Spring Street, regardless of
+the fact that the ground under their feet would be, in the days
+of their grandchildren, worth 3,000 pounds per foot. Their
+bullock-drays were often bogged in Elizabeth Street, and they
+made a corduroy crossing over it with red gum logs. Some of these
+logs were dislodged quite sound fifty years afterwards by the
+Tramway Company's workmen.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>"Know ye not that lovely river?<br>
+Know ye not that smiling river?<br>
+Whose gentle flood, by cliff and wood,<br>
+With 'wildering sound goes winding ever."</blockquote>
+
+<p>In January, 1836, Captain Smith, who was in charge of the
+whaling station at Port Fairy, went with two men, named Wilson
+and Gibbs, in a whale boat to the islands near Warrnambool, to
+look for seal. They could find no seal, and then they went across
+the bay, and found the mouth of the river Hopkins. In trying to
+land there, their boat capsized in the surf, and Smith was
+drowned. The other two men succeeded in reaching the shore naked,
+and they travelled back along the coast to Port Fairy, carrying
+sticks on their shoulders to look like guns, in order to frighten
+away the natives, who were very numerous on that part of the
+coast. On this journey they found the wreck of a vessel, supposed
+to be a Spanish one, which has since been covered by the drifting
+sand. When Captain Mills was afterwards harbour master at
+Belfast, he took the bearings of it, and reported them to the
+Harbour Department in Melbourne. Vain search was made for it many
+years afterwards in the hope that it was a Spanish galleon laden
+with doubloons.</p>
+
+<p>Davy was in the Sydney trade in the 'Elizabeth' until March,
+1836; he then left her and joined the cutter 'Sarah Ann', under
+J. B. Mills, to go whaling at Port Fairy. In the month of May,
+Captain Mills was short of boats, and went to the Hopkins to look
+for the boat lost by Smith. He took with him two boats with all
+their whaling gear, in case he should see a whale. David Fermaner
+was in one of the boats, which carried a supply of provisions for
+the two crews; in the other boat there was only what was styled a
+nosebag, or snack--a mouthful for each man.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving off the Hopkins, they found a nasty sea on, and
+Captain Mills said it would be dangerous to attempt to land; but
+his brother Charles said he would try, and in doing so his boat
+capsized in the breakers. All the men clung to the boat, but the
+off-sea prevented them from getting on shore. When Captain Mills
+saw what had happened, he at once pushed on his boat through the
+surf and succeeded in reaching the shore inside the point on the
+eastern side of the entrance. He then walked round towards the
+other boat with a lance warp, waded out in the water as far as he
+could, and then threw the warp to the men, who hauled on it until
+their boat came ashore, and they were able to land.</p>
+
+<p>All the provisions were lost. The water was baled out of the
+boat that had been capsized, and she was taken over to the west
+head. All the food for twelve men was in the nosebag, and it was
+very little; each man had a mere nibble for supper. In those days
+wombats were plentiful near the river, but the men could not
+catch or kill one of them. Captain Mills had a gun in his boat
+which happened to be loaded, and he gave it to Davy to try if he
+could shoot anything for breakfast next morning. There was only
+one charge, all the rest of the ammunition having been lost in
+the breakers. Davy walked up the banks of the river early in the
+morning, and saw plenty of ducks, but they were so wild he could
+not get near them. At last he was so fortunate as to shoot a musk
+duck, which he brought back to the camp, stuck up before the
+fire, and roasted. He then divided it into twelve portions, and
+gave one portion to each of the twelve men for breakfast; but it
+was a mockery of a meal, as unsubstantial as an echo--smell, and
+nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>The two boats were launched, and an attempt was made to pass
+out to sea through the surf, but the wind was far down south, and
+the men had to return and beach the boats. The sails were taken
+ashore and used as tents. In the evening they again endeavoured
+to catch a wombat, but failed.</p>
+
+<p>On the next day they tried again to get out of the river, but
+the surf half filled the boats with water, and they were glad to
+reach the camp again.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Mills was a native of Australia, and a good bushman;
+he told the men that sow thistles were good to eat, so they went
+about looking for them, and having found a quantity ate them. On
+the third day they tried once more to get out of the river, but
+without success.</p>
+
+<p>On the fourth day Mills decided to carry the boats and whaling
+gear overland to a bight in the bay to the west. The gear was
+divided into lots among the men, and consisted of ten oars, two
+steer-oars, two tubs of whale line each 120 fathoms in length,
+two fifty-pound anchors, four harpoons, six lances, six lance
+warps, two tomahawks, two water kegs, two piggins for balers, two
+sheath knives, and two oil-stones for touching up the lances when
+they became dull. These were carried for about a quarter of a
+mile, and then put down for a rest, and the men went back to the
+camp. The boats were much lighter than the gear, being made of
+only half-inch plank. One boat was capsized bottom up, and the
+men took it on their shoulders, six on each side, the tallest men
+being placed in the middle on account of the shear of the boat,
+and it was carried about half a mile past the gear. They then
+returned for the other boat, and in this way brought everything
+to the bight close to the spot where the bathing house at
+Warrnambool has since been erected. There they launched the
+boats, and got out to sea, pulling against a strong westerly
+breeze.</p>
+
+<p>The men were very weak, having had nothing to eat for four
+days but some sow thistles and a musk duck, and the pull to Port
+Fairy was hard and long. They landed about four o'clock in the
+afternoon, and Captain Mills told them not to eat anything,
+saying he would give them something better. At that time there
+was a liquor called "black strap," brought out in the convict
+ships for the use of the prisoners, and it was sold with the
+ships' surplus stores in Sydney and Hobarton. Mills had some of
+it at Port Fairy. He now put a kettle full of it on the fire, and
+when it was warmed gave each man a half a pint to begin with. He
+then told them to go and get supper, and afterwards he gave each
+of them another half pint.</p>
+
+<p>Rum was in those days a very profitable article of commerce,
+and the trade in it was monopolised by the Government officers,
+civil and military. Like flour in the back settlements of the
+United States, it was reckoned "ekal to cash," and was made to do
+the office of the pagoda tree in India, which rained dollars at
+every shake.</p>
+
+<p>The boat that was lost by Smith at the Hopkins was found in
+good condition, half filled with sand. Joe Wilson went for it
+afterwards, and brought it back to Port Fairy. He was a native of
+Sydney, and nephew of Raibey of Launceston, and was murdered not
+long afterwards at the White Hills. He was sent by Raibey on
+horseback to Hobarton to buy the revenue cutter 'Charlotte',
+which had been advertised for sale. He was shot by a man who was
+waiting for him behind a tree. He fell from his horse, and
+although he begged hard for his life, the man beat out his brains
+with the gun. The murderer took all the money Wilson had, which
+was only one five-pound note, the number of which Raibey knew. A
+woman tried to pass it in Launceston, and her statements led to
+the discovery and conviction of the murderer, who was hanged in
+chains at the White Hills, and the gibbet remained there for many
+years.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>WHALING.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>"I wish I were in Portland Bay,<br>
+Oh, yes, Oh!<br>
+Harpooning whales on a thirtieth lay,<br>
+A hundred years ago."</blockquote>
+
+<p>In the year 1837, J. B. Mills had charge of the Portland
+Fishery, and Davy went with him in the 'Thistle' schooner as mate
+and navigator, and they were over a month on the passage. Charles
+Mills was second in command at the station at Portland, and Peter
+Coakley, an Irishman, was third; the remainder of the crew
+required for whaling was on board the 'Thistle'. Among them was
+one named McCann, a Sydney native, a stonemason by trade, and
+father of the McCann who was afterwards member of Parliament for
+Geelong. During a westerly gale the schooner ran to Western Port
+for shelter. In sailing through the Rip, McCann, who was acting
+as steward, while going aft to the cabin, had to cross over a
+colonial sofa which was lashed on deck. Instead of stepping over
+it gently, he made a jump, and the vessel lurching at the same
+time, he went clean overboard. Davy, who was standing by the man
+at the helm, told him to put the helm down and let the vessel
+come to. He then ran forward and got a steer-oar from underneath
+the boots, and threw it overboard. McCann, being an expert
+swimmer, swam to the oar, a boat was launched, four men got into
+it, picked him up, and brought him aboard again none the worse.
+There was too much sea on to hoist in the boat, as there were no
+davits, and while she was being towed in she ran ahead of the
+vessel, which went over her and filled her with water. On
+arriving in Western Port the boat was found to have been not much
+damaged. There was on board the 'Thistle' an apprentice whom Davy
+had stolen in Sydney after he had served four years of his time
+to a boat-builder named Green. This apprentice repaired the boat,
+which afterwards proved to be the fastest out of forty-one boats
+that went out whaling in Portland Bay every morning.</p>
+
+<p>There were in 1837 eight parties of whalers in Portland Bay,
+and so many whales were killed that the business from that year
+declined and became unprofitable. Mills' party in the 'Thistle'
+schooner, of which Davy was mate and navigator, or nurse to
+Mills, who was not a trained seaman, had their station at Single
+Corner; Kelly's party was stationed at the neck of land where the
+breakwater has been constructed. Then there were Dutton's party,
+with the barque 'African'; Nicholson's, with the barque
+'Cheviot', from Hobarton; Chamberlain's, with the barque 'William
+the Fourth', of Hobarton; the 'Hope' barque, and a brig, both
+from Sydney. The Hentys also had a whaling station at Double
+Corner, and by offering to supply their men with fresh meat three
+times a week, obtained the pick of the whalers. Their head men
+were Johnny Brennan, John Moles, and Jim Long, natives of Sydney
+or Tasmania, and all three good whalers.</p>
+
+<p>When the 'Thistle' arrived at Portland Bay every other party
+had got nearly one hundred tuns of oil each, and Mills' party had
+none. He started out next morning, choosing the boat which had
+picked up McCann at Western Port, and killed one whale, which
+turned out six tuns of oil. He did not get any more for three
+weeks, being very unlucky. After getting the schooner ready for
+cutting in, Davy went to steer the boat for Charles Mills, and
+always got in a mess among the whales, being either capsized or
+stove in among so many boats. At the end of three weeks Captain
+Mills got a whale off the second river, halfway round towards
+Port Fairy. She was taken in tow with the three boats, and after
+two days' towing, she was anchored within half-a-mile of the
+schooner in Portland Bay, and the men went ashore. During the
+night a gale of wind came on from the south-west, and the whale,
+being a bit stale and high out of the water, drove ashore at the
+Bluff, a little way past Henty's house.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Mills said he would go and see what he could
+get from her on the beach, and ordered his brother, Charles
+Mills, and Coakley to go out looking for whales. All the boats
+used to go out before daylight, and dodge one another round the
+Bay for miles. It was cold work sitting in the boats. The men
+stayed out until ten or eleven o'clock, and went ashore that day
+on the Convincing Ground, which was so-called because the whalers
+used to go down there to fight, and convince one another who was
+the best man.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon, about two o'clock, it was Davy's turn to go
+up a tree to look for whales. In looking round the Bay towards
+the Bluff, he saw a boat with a whiff on. He jumped down, and
+told Charles Mills, who said: "Come on." there was a great rush
+of all the boats, but Mills' boat kept well forward of the lot.
+When they arrived off the Bluff they found Captain Mills had
+fastened to a whale, two other loose whales being near. They
+pulled up alongside him, and he pointed out a loose whale, to
+which they fastened. Mansfield, of the Hobarton party, fastened
+to the third whale. Davy came aft to the steer-oar, and Charles
+Mills went forward to kill his whale. He had hardly got the lance
+in his hand when the whale threw herself right athwart the nose
+of the boat. He then sent the lance right into her and killed her
+stone dead. Mansfield, in hauling up his whale got on top of
+Captain Mills' whale, which stove in Mansfield's boat, and sent
+all his men flying in the air. There was a rush then to pick up
+the men. Charles Mills, finding his whale dead, struck a whiff in
+the lance-hole he had made when he killed her, cut the line that
+was fast to her, and bent it on to another spare iron.
+Mansfield's whale then milled round and came right on to Charles
+Mills' boat, and he fastened to her. This gave him a claim of one
+half of her, so that Mills and his men got two and a half out of
+the three whales. The men were all picked up. Mills' whales were
+anchored about half-a-mile from the schooner, and the boats went
+out next morning and took them in tow.</p>
+
+<p>The whales tow very easily when fresh killed, but if they are
+allowed to get stiff their fins stand out and hinder the towing.
+When the two whales were brought alongside the schooner, the
+boats of Kelly's party were seen fast to a whale off Black Nose
+Point. Charles Mills pulled over, and when he arrived he found a
+loose whale, Mansfield and Chase being fast to two other whales.
+Mills fastened to the loose whale, and then the three whales
+fouled the three lines, and rolled them all together like a warp,
+which made it difficult to kill them. After the men had pulled up
+on them for some time with the oars, two of them began spouting
+blood and sickened, and Chase's boat got on to them and capsized.
+Then the whales took to running, and Mansfield cut his line to
+pick up Chase and his crew. Mansfield's whale being sick, went in
+a flurry and died. Mills' whale and Chase's worked together until
+Mills killed his whale; he then whiffed her and fastened to
+Chase's whale, which gave him a claim for half, and he killed
+her; so that his party got one and a-half out of the three
+whales. Chase and his crew were all picked up.</p>
+
+<p>From that day the luck of Mills and his party turned, and they
+could not try out fast enough. In four months from the time the
+'Thistle' left Launceston she had on board two hundred and forty
+tuns of oil.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1836, the Hentys had a few cattle running behind
+the Bluff when Major Mitchell arrived overland from Sydney, and
+reported good country to the north. They then brought over more
+cattle from Launceston, and stocked a station.</p>
+
+<p>The first beast killed by the Hentys for their whalers was a
+heifer, and the carcase, divided into two parts, was suspended
+from the flagstaff at their house. It could be seen from afar by
+the men who were pulling across the bay in their boats, and they
+knew that Henty's men were going to feed on fresh meat, while all
+the rest were eating such awful stuff as Yankee pork and salt
+horse. The very sight of the two sides of the heifer suspended at
+the flagstaff was an unendurable insult and mockery to the
+carnivorous whalers, and an incitement to larceny. Davy Fermaner
+was steering one of the boats, and he exclaimed: "There, they are
+flashing the fresh meat to us. They would look foolish if they
+lost it to-night."</p>
+
+<p>There was feasting and revelry that night at Single Corner.
+Hungry men were sharpening their sheath-knives with steel, and
+cutting up a side of beef. A large fire was burning, and on the
+glowing coals, and in every frying-pan rich steaks were fizzing
+and hissing. It was like a feast of heroes, and lasted long
+through the night. They sang responsively, like gentle
+shepherds--shepherds of the ocean fields whose flocks were mighty
+whales:</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Mother, the butcher's brought the meat,<br>
+What shall I do with it?<br>
+Fry the flesh, and broil the bones,<br>
+And make a pudding of the su-et."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Next morning the Hentys looked for the missing beef up the
+flagstaff, and along the shore of the ever-sounding ocean, but
+their search was vain. They suspected that the men of Kelly's
+party were the thieves, but these all looked as stupid, ignorant,
+and innocent as the adverse circumstances would permit. There was
+no evidence against them to be found; the beef was eaten and the
+bones were burned and buried. Mills' men were the beef lifters,
+and some of Kelly's men helped them to eat it.</p>
+
+<p>The whales killed at the Portland fishery were of two kinds,
+the right or black whale, and the sperm whale. The right whale
+has an immense tongue, and lives by suction, the food being a
+kind of small shrimp. When in a flurry--that is, when she has
+received her death-stroke with the lance--she goes round in a
+circle, working with her head and flukes. The sperm whales feed
+on squid, which they bite, and when in a flurry they work with
+the head and flukes, and with the mouth open, and often crush the
+boats.</p>
+
+<p>After the crew of the 'Thistle' had spent their money, they
+were taken back to Port Fairy for the purpose of stripping bark,
+a large quantity of wattle trees having been found in the
+neighbouring country. Sheep were also taken there in charge of
+Mr. J. Murphy, who intended to form a station. John Griffiths
+also sent over his father, Jonathan, who had been a carpenter on
+board the first man-of-war that had arrived at Port Jackson,
+three old men who had been prisoners, four bullocks, a plough,
+and some seed potatoes. A cargo of the previous season's bark was
+put into the 'Thistle', and on her return to Launceston, was
+transferred to the 'Rhoda' brig, Captain Rolls, bound for London.
+More sheep and provisions were then taken in the 'Thistle', and
+after they were landed at Port Fairy, another cargo of bark was
+put on board. For three days there was no wind, and a tremendous
+sea setting in from the south-east, the schooner could not leave
+the bay. On the night of December 24th a gale of wind came on
+from the south-east; one chain parted, and after riding until
+three o'clock in the morning of Christmas Day, the other chain
+also parted. The vessel drew eight feet, and was lying in between
+three and four fathoms of water. As soon as the second chain
+broke, Davy went up on the fore-yard and cut the gaskets of the
+foresail. The schooner grounded in the trough of sea, but when
+she rose the foresail was down, and she paid off before the wind.
+The shore was about a mile, or a mile and a half distant, and she
+took the beach right abreast of a sheep yard, where her wreck now
+lies. The men got ashore in safety, but all the cargo was
+lost.</p>
+
+<p>A tent was pitched on shore near the wreck, but as there was
+no vessel in the bay by which they could return to Launceston,
+the four men, Captain Mills, D. Fermaner, Charles Ferris, and
+Richard Jennings, on December 31st, 1837, set sail in a whaleboat
+for Port Philip. Davy had stolen Jennings from the 'Rhoda' brig
+at Launceston, when seamen were scarce. He was afterwards a pilot
+at Port Philip, and was buried at Williamstown.</p>
+
+<p>The whaleboat reached Port Philip on January 3rd, 1838, having
+got through the Rip on the night of the 2nd. Ferris was the only
+man of the crew who had been in before, he having gone in with
+Batman, in the 'Rebecca' cutter, Captain Baldwin. Baldwin was
+afterwards before the mast in the 'Elizabeth' schooner; he was a
+clever man, but fond of drink.</p>
+
+<p>The whaleboat anchored off Portsea, but the men did not land
+for fear of the blacks.</p>
+
+<p>At daylight Davy landed to look for water, but could not find
+any; and there were only three pints in the water-bag. The wind
+being from the north, the boat was pulled over to Mud Island, and
+the men went ashore to make tea with the three pints of water.
+Davy walked about the island, and found a rookery of small
+mackerel-gulls and a great quantity of their eggs in the sand. He
+broke a number of them, and found that the light-coloured eggs
+were good, and that the dark ones had birds in them. He took off
+his shirt, tied the sleeves together, bagged a lot of the eggs,
+and carried them back to the camp. Mills broke the best of them
+into the great pot, and the eggs and water mixed together and
+boiled made about a quart for each man.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast the wind shifted to the southward, and the
+'Henry' brig, from Launceston, Captain Whiting, ran in, bound to
+Point Henry with sheep; but before Mills and his men could get
+away from Mud Island the brig had passed. They pulled and sailed
+after her, but did not overtake her until she arrived off the
+point where Batman first settled, now called Port Arlington; at
+that time they called the place Indented Heads.</p>
+
+<p>When the whaleboat came near the brig to ask for water, two or
+three muskets were levelled at the men over the bulwarks, and
+they were told to keep off, or they would be shot. At that time a
+boat's crew of prisoners had escaped from Melbourne in a whale
+boat, and the ship-wrecked men were suspected as the runaways.
+But one of the crew of the 'Henry', named Jack Macdonald, looked
+over the side, and seeing Davy in the boat, asked him what they
+had done with the schooner 'Thistle', and they told him they had
+lost her at Port Fairy.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Whiting asked Macdonald if he knew them, and on being
+informed that they were the captain and crew of the schooner
+'Thistle', he invited them on board and supplied them with a good
+dinner. They went on to Point Henry in the brig, and assisted in
+landing the sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Batman was at that time in Melbourne. Davy had seen him before
+in Launceston. After discharging the sheep the brig proceeded to
+Gellibrand's Point, and as Captain Whiting wanted to go up to
+Melbourne, the men pulled him up the Yarra in their whaleboat.
+Fawkner's Hotel at that time was above the site of the present
+customs House, and was built with broad paling. Mills and Whiting
+stayed there that night, Davy and the other two men being invited
+to a small public-house kept by a man named Burke, a little way
+down Little Flinders Street, where they were made very
+comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>Next day they went back to the brig 'Henry', and started for
+Launceston.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1838, Davy was made master of the schooner
+'Elizabeth', and took in her a cargo of sheep, and landed them at
+Port Fairy. The three old convicts whom Griffiths had sent there
+along with his father Jonathan, had planted four or five acres of
+potatoes at a place called Goose Lagoon, about two miles behind
+the township. The crop was a very large one, from fifteen to
+twenty tons to the acre, and Davy had received orders to take in
+fifty tons of the potatoes, and to sell them in South Australia.
+He did so, and after four days' passage went ashore at the port,
+offered the potatoes for sale, and sold twenty tons at 22 pounds
+10 shillings per ton. On going ashore again next morning, he was
+offered 20 pounds per ton for the remainder, and he sold them at
+that price.</p>
+
+<p>On the same day the 'Nelson' brig, from Hobarton, arrived with
+one hundred tons of potatoes, but she could not sell them, as
+Davy had fully stocked the market. He was paid for the potatoes
+in gold by the two men who bought them.</p>
+
+<p>He went up to the new city of Adelaide. All the buildings were
+of the earliest style of architecture, and were made of tea-tree
+and sods, or of reeds dabbed together with mud. The hotels had no
+signboards, but it was easy to find them by the heaps of bottles
+outside. Kangaroo flesh was 1s. 6d. a pound, but grog was cheap.
+Davy was looking for a shipmate named Richard Ralph, who was then
+the principal architect and builder in the city. He found him
+erecting homes for the immigrants out of reeds and mud. He was
+paid 10 pounds or 12 pounds for each building. He was also
+hunting kangaroo and selling meat. He was married to a lady
+immigrant, and on the whole appeared to be very comfortable and
+prosperous. Davy gave the lady a five-shilling piece to go and
+fetch a bottle of gin, and was surprised when she came back
+bringing two bottles of gin and 3s. change. In the settlement the
+necessaries of life were dear, but the luxuries were cheap. If a
+man could not afford to buy kangaroo beef and potatoes, he could
+live sumptuously on gin. Davy walked back to the port the same
+evening, and next day took in ballast, which was mud dug out
+among the mangroves.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived at Launceston in four days, and then went as
+coasting pilot of the barque 'Belinda', bound to Port Fairy to
+take in oil for London. The barque took in 100 head of cattle,
+the first that were landed at Port Fairy. He then went to Port
+Philip, and was employed in lightering cargo up the Yarra, and in
+ferrying between Williamstown and the beach now called Port
+Melbourne. He took out the first boatman's licence issued, and
+has the brass badge, No. 1, still. Vessels at that time had to be
+warped up the Yarra from below Humbug Reach, as no wind could get
+at the topsails, on account of the high tea-tree on the
+banks.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>OUT WEST IN 1849.</h3>
+
+<p>I did not travel as a capitalist, far from it. I went up the
+Mississippi as a deck passenger, sleeping at night sometimes on
+planks, at other times on bags of oats piled on the deck about
+six feet high. The mate of a Mississippi boat is always a bully
+and every now and then he came along with a deck-hand carrying a
+lamp, and requested us to come down. He said it was "agen the
+rules of the boat to sleep on oats"; but we kept on breaking the
+rules as much as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Above the mouth of the Ohio the river bank on the Missouri
+side is high, rocky, and picturesque. I longed to be the owner of
+a farm up there, and of a modest cottage overlooking the Father
+of Waters. I said, "If there's peace and plenty to be had in this
+world, the heart that is humble might hope for it here," and then
+the very first village visible was called "Vide Poche." It is now
+a suburb of St. Louis.</p>
+
+<p>I took a passage on another boat up the Illinois river. There
+was a very lordly man on the lower deck who was frequently
+"trailing his coat." He had, in fact, no coat at all, only a grey
+flannel shirt and nankeen trousers, but he was remarkably in want
+of a fight, and anxious to find a man willing to be licked. He
+was a desperado of the great river. We had heard and read of such
+men, of their reckless daring and deadly fights; but we were
+peaceful people; we had come out west to make a living, and
+therefore did not want to be killed. When the desperado came near
+we looked the other way.</p>
+
+<p>There was a party of five immigrant Englishmen sitting on
+their luggage. One of them was very strongly built, a likely
+match for the bully, and a deck-hand pointing to him said:</p>
+
+<p>"Jack, do you know what that Englishman says about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, what does he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says he don't think you are of much account with all your
+brag. Reckons he could lick you in a couple of minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Uttering imprecations, Jack approached the Englishman, and
+dancing about the deck, cleared the ring for the coming
+combat.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, you green-horn, and take your gruel. Here's the best
+man on the river for you. You'll find him real grit."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger sat still, said he was not a fighting man, and
+did not want to quarrel with anybody.</p>
+
+<p>Jack grew more ferocious than ever, and aimed a blow at the
+peaceful man to persuade him to come on. He came on suddenly. The
+two men were soon writhing together on the guard deck, and I was
+pleased to observe the desperado was undermost. The Englishman
+was full of fear, and was fighting for his life. He was doing it
+with great earnestness. He was grasping the throat of his enemy
+tightly with both hands, and pressing his thumbs on the
+wind-pipe. We could see he was going to win in his own simple
+way, without any recourse to science, and he would have done so
+very soon had he not been interrupted. But as Jack was growing
+black in the face, the other Englishmen began to pull at their
+mate, and tried to unlock his grip on Jack's throat. It was not
+easy to do so. He held on to his man to the very last, crying
+out: "Leave me alone till I do for him. Man alive, don't you know
+the villain wants to murder me?"</p>
+
+<p>The desperado lay for a while gulping and gasping on his bed
+of glory, unable to rise. I observed patches of bloody skin
+hanging loose on both sides of his neck when he staggered along
+the deck towards the starboard sponson.</p>
+
+<p>There was peace for a quarter of an hour. Then Jack's voice
+was heard again. He had lost prestige, and was coming to recover
+it with a bowie knife. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Where's that Britisher? I am going to cut his liver out."</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman heard the threat, and said to him mates:</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so! He means to murder me. Why didn't you leave me
+alone when I had the fine holt of him?"</p>
+
+<p>He then hurried away and ran upstairs to the saloon.</p>
+
+<p>Jack followed to the foot of the ladder, and one wild-eyed
+young lady said:</p>
+
+<p>"Look at the Englishman [he was sitting on a chair a few feet
+distance]. Ain't he pale? Oh! the coward!"</p>
+
+<p>She wanted to witness a real lively fight, and was
+disappointed. The smell of blood seems grateful to the nostrils
+of both ladies and gentlemen in the States. A butcher from St.
+Louis explained it thus:</p>
+
+<p>"It's in the liver. Nine out of ten of the beasts I kill have
+liver complaint. I am morally sartin I'd find the human livers
+just the same if I examined them in any considerable
+quantity."</p>
+
+<p>The captain came to the head of the stairs and descended to
+the deck. He was tall and lanky and mild of speech. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Jack, what are you going to do with that knife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am waiting to cut the liver out of that Englishman. Send
+him down, Captain, till I finish the job."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see. He has been peeling your neck pretty bad, ain't
+he? Powerful claws, I reckon. Jack, you'll be getting into
+trouble some day with your weepons." He took a small knife out of
+his pocket. "Look here, Jack. I've been going up and down the
+river more'n twenty years, and never carried a weepon bigg'n
+that, and never had a muss with nobody. A man who draws his bowie
+sometimes gets shot. Let's look at your knife."</p>
+
+<p>He examined it closely, deciphered the brand, drew his thumb
+over the edge, and observed:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, blame me, if it ain't one of them British bowies--a
+Free-trade Brummagen. I reckon you can't carve anyone with a
+thing like this." He made a dig at the hand-rail with the point,
+and it actually curled up like the ring in a hog's snout. "You
+see, Jack, a knife like that is mean, unbecoming a gentleman, and
+a disgrace to a respectable boat." He pitched the British article
+into the river and went up into the saloon.</p>
+
+<p>As Jack had not yet recovered his prestige, he went away, and
+returned with a dinner knife in one hand and a shingling hammer
+in the other. He waited for his adversary until the sun was low
+and the deck passengers were preparing their evening meal. Two of
+the Englishmen came along towards the stairs and ascended to the
+saloon. Presently they began to descend with their mate in the
+middle. Jack looked at them, and for some reason or other he did
+not want any more prestige. He sauntered away along the guard
+deck, and remained in retirement during the rest of the voyage.
+He was not, after all, a very desperate desperado.</p>
+
+<p>During the next night our boat was racing with a rival craft,
+and one of her engines was damaged. She had then to hop on one
+leg, as it were, as far as Peoria. The Illinois river had here
+spread out into a broad lake; the bank was low, there were no
+buildings of any kind near the water; some of the passengers
+landed, and nobody came to offer them welcome.</p>
+
+<p>I stood near an English immigrant who had just brought his
+luggage ashore, and was sitting on it with his wife and three
+children. They looked around at the low land and wide water, and
+became full of misery. The wife said:</p>
+
+<p>"What are we boun' to do now, Samiul? Wheer are me and the
+childer to go in this miserable lookin' place?"</p>
+
+<p>Samiul: "I'm sure, Betsy, I don't know. I've nobbut hafe a
+dollar left of o' my money. They said Peoria was a good place for
+us to stop at, but I don't see any signs o' farmin' about here,
+and if I go away to look for a job, where am I to put thee and
+the childer, and the luggage and the bedding?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Betsy, beginning to cry; "I'm sorry we ever left
+owd England. But thou would come, Samiul, thou knows, and this is
+the end on it. Here we are in this wild country without house or
+home, and wi' nothin' to eat. I allus thowt tha wor a fool,
+Samiul, and now I'm sure and sartin on it."</p>
+
+<p>Samiul could not deny it. His spirit was completely broken; he
+hung down his head, and tears began to trickle down his eyes. The
+three children--two sturdy little boys and a fair-haired little
+girl-- seeing their dad and ma shedding tears, thought the whole
+world must be coming to an end, and they began howling out aloud
+without any reserve. It was the best thing they could have done,
+as it called public attention to their misery, and drew a crowd
+around them. A tall stranger came near looked at the group, and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"My good man, what in thunder are you crying for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was told Peoria was a good place for farmin'," Samuel said,
+"and now I don't know where to go, and I have got no money."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are a soft 'un," replied the stranger. "Just dry up
+and wait here till I come back."</p>
+
+<p>He walked away with long strides. Peoria was then a
+dreary-looking city, of which we could see nothing but the end of
+a broad road, a few frame buildings, two or three waggons, and
+some horses hitched to the posts of the piazzas.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger soon returned with a farmer in a waggon drawn by
+two fine upstanding horses, fit for a royal carriage. The farmer
+at once hired the immigrant at ten dollars a month with board for
+himself and family. He put the luggage into his waggon, patted
+the boys on the head and told them to be men; kissed the little
+girl as he lifted her into the waggon, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Sissy, you are a nice little lady, and you are to come
+along with me, and we'll be good friends."</p>
+
+<p>Never was sorrow so quickly turned into joy. The man, his
+wife, and children, actually began smiling before the tears on
+their cheeks were dry.</p>
+
+<p>Men on every western prairie were preparing their waggons for
+the great rush to California; new hands were wanted on the lands,
+and the immigrants who were then arriving in thousands, took the
+place of the other thousands who went westward across the plains.
+There was employment for everybody, and during my three years'
+residence on the prairies I only saw one beggar. He was an
+Italian patriot, who said he had fought for Italy; he was now
+begging for it in English, badly-broken, so I said:</p>
+
+<p>"You are a strong, healthy man; why don't you go to work? You
+could earn eight or ten dollars a month, with board, anywhere in
+these parts."</p>
+
+<p>But the Italian patriot was a high-class beggar; he was
+collecting funds, and had no idea of wasting his time in hard
+work. He gave me to understand that I had insulted him.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this patriot, there were a few horse-thieves and hog
+duffers on the prairies, but these, when identified, were either
+stretched under a tree or sent to Texas.</p>
+
+<p>In those days the prairie farmers were all gentlemen,
+high-minded, truthful, honourable, and hospitable. There were no
+poor houses, no asylums. All orphans were adopted and treated as
+members of some family in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>I am informed that things are quite different now. The march
+of empire has been rapid; many men have grown rich, to use a
+novel expression, beyond the dreams of avarice, and ten times as
+many have grown poor and discontented.</p>
+
+<p>The great question for statesmen now is, "What is to be done
+for the relief of the masses?" and the answer to it is as
+difficult to find as ever.</p>
+
+<p>But I have to proceed up the Illinois river.</p>
+
+<p>The steamboat stopped at Lasalle, the head of navigation, and
+we had then to travel on the Illinois and Michigan canal. We went
+on board a narrow passenger boat towed by two horses, and
+followed by two freight barges. We did not go at a breakneck
+pace, and had plenty of time for conversation, and to look at the
+scenery, which consisted of prairies, sloughs, woods, and rivers.
+The picture lacked background, as there is nothing in Illinois
+deserving the name of hill. But we passed an ancient monument, a
+tall pillar, rising out of the bed of the Illinois river. It is
+called "Starved Rock." Once a number of Indian warriors, pursued
+by white men, climbed up the almost perpendicular sides of the
+pillar. They had no food, and though the stream was flowing
+beneath them, they could not obtain a drink of water without
+danger of death from rifle bullets. The white men instituted a
+blockade of the pillar, and the red men all perished of
+starvation on the top of it.</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was conducted by the captain of the canal
+boat, as he walked on the deck to and fro. He was full of
+information. He said he was a native of Kentucky; had come down
+the Ohio river from Louisville; was taking freight to Chicago;
+reckoned he was bound to rake in the dollars on the canal; was no
+dog-gonned Abolitionist; niggers were made to work for white
+folks; they had no souls any more than a horse; he'd like to see
+the man who would argue the point.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Beecher Stowe was then writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," at
+too great a distance to hear the challenge, but a greenhorn
+ventured to argue the point.</p>
+
+<p>"What about the mulatto? Half black, half white. His father
+being a white man had a whole soul; his mother being black had no
+soul. Has the mulatto a whole soul, half a soul, or no soul at
+all?"</p>
+
+<p>The captain paused in his walk, with both hands in his
+pockets, gazed at the argumentative greenhorn, turned his quid,
+spat across the canal, went away whistling "Old Dan Tucker," and
+left the question of the mulatto's soul unsolved.</p>
+
+<p>When I arrived at Joliet there was a land boom at Chicago. The
+canal company had cut up their alternate sections, and were
+offering them at the usual alarming sacrifice. A land boom is a
+dream of celestial bliss. While it lasts, the wisest men and the
+greatest fools walk with ecstatic steps through the golden
+streets of a New Jerusalem. I have been there three times. It is
+dreadful to wake up and to find that all the gold in the street
+is nothing but moonshine.</p>
+
+<p>I proceeded to the Lake City to lay the foundation of my
+fortune by buying town lots. I laid the foundation on a five-acre
+block in West Joliet, but had to borrow seven dollars from my
+nearest friend to pay the first deposit. Chicago was then a small
+but busy wooden town, with slushy streets, plank sidewalks,
+verandahs full of rats, and bedrooms humming with mosquitoes. I
+left it penniless but proud, an owner of real estate.</p>
+
+<p>While returning to Joliet on the canal boat my nearest friend,
+from whom I had borrowed the seven dollars, kindly gave me his
+views on the subject of "greenhorns." (The Australian equivalent
+of "greenhorn" is "new chum." I had the advantage of serving my
+time in both capacities). "No greenhorn," he observed, "ever
+begins to get along in the States until he has parted with his
+bottom dollar. That puts a keen edge on his mind, and he grows
+smart in business. A smart man don't strain his back with hard
+work for any considerable time. He takes out a patent for
+something--a mowing machine, or one for sowing corn and pumpkins,
+a new churn or wash-tub, pills for the shakes, or, best of all, a
+new religion--anything, in fact, that will catch on and fetch the
+public."</p>
+
+<p>I had parted with my bottom dollar, was also in debt, and
+therefore in the best position for getting along; but I could not
+all at once think of anything to patent, and had to earn my daily
+bread some way or other. I began to do it by hammering sheets of
+iron into the proper curves for an undershot water-wheel. After I
+had worked two days my boss suggested that I should seek other
+employment--in a school, for instance; a new teacher was wanted
+in the common school of West Joliet.</p>
+
+<p>I said I should prefer something higher; a teacher was of no
+more earthly account than a tailor.</p>
+
+<p>The boss said: "That might be so in benighted Britain, but in
+the Great United States our prominent citizens begin life as
+teachers in the common schools, and gradually rise to the highest
+positions in the Republic."</p>
+
+<p>I concluded to rise, but a certificate of competency was
+required, and I presented myself for examination to the proper
+official, the editor and proprietor of 'The True Democrat' whose
+office was across the bridge, nearly opposite Matheson's woollen
+factory. I found the editor and his compositor labouring over the
+next edition of the paper.</p>
+
+<p>The editor began the examination with the alphabet. I said in
+England we used twenty-six letters, and I named all of them
+correctly except the last. I called it "zed," but the editor said
+it was "zee," and I did not argue the point.</p>
+
+<p>He then asked me to pick out the vowels, the consonants, the
+flats, the sharps, the aspirates, the labials, the palatals, the
+dentals, and the mutes. I was struck dumb; I could feel the very
+foundation of all learning sinking beneath me, and had to confess
+that I did not know my letters.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went on to spelling and writing. My writing was barely
+passable, and my spelling was quite out of date. I used
+superfluous letters which had been very properly abolished by
+Webster's dictionary.</p>
+
+<p>At last the editor remarked, with becoming modesty, that he
+was himself of no account at figures, but Mr. Sims would put me
+through the arithmetic. Mr. Sims was the compositor, and an
+Englishman; he put me through tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>When the examination was finished, I felt like a convicted
+impostor, and was prepared to resume work on the undershot
+water-wheel, but the two professors took pity on me, and
+certified in writing that I was qualified to keep school.</p>
+
+<p>Then the editor remarked that the retiring teacher, Mr.
+Randal, had advertised in the 'True Democrat' his ability to
+teach the Latin language; but, unfortunately, Father Ingoldsby
+had offered himself as a first pupil; Mr. Randal never got
+another, and all his Latin oozed out. On this timely hint I
+advertised my ability to teach the citizens of Joliet not only
+Latin, but Greek, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. My
+advertisement will be found among the files of the 'True
+Democrat' of the year 1849 by anyone taking the trouble to look
+for it. I had carelessly omitted to mention the English language,
+but we sometimes get what we don't ask for, and no less than
+sixteen Germans came to night school to study our tongue. They
+were all masons and quarrymen engaged in exporting steps and
+window sills to the rising city of Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>When Goldsmith tried to earn his bread by teaching English in
+Holland, he overlooked the fact that it was first necessary for
+him to learn Low Dutch. I overlooked the same fact, but it gave
+me no trouble whatever. There was no united Germany then, and my
+pupils disagreed continually about the pronunciation of their own
+language, which seemed, like that of Babel, intelligible to
+nobody. I composed their quarrels by confining their minds to
+English solely, and harmony was restored each night by song.</p>
+
+<p>The school-house was a one-storey frame building on the second
+plateau in West Joliet, and was attended by about one hundred
+scholars. In the rear was a shallow lagoon, fenced on one side by
+a wall of loose rocks, infested with snakes. The track to the
+cemetery was near, and it soon began to be in very frequent use.
+One day during recess the boys had a snake hunt, and they tied
+their game in one bunch by the heads with string, and suspended
+them by the wayside. I counted them, and there were twenty-seven
+snakes in the bunch.</p>
+
+<p>The year '49 was the 'annus mirabilis' of the great rush for
+gold across the plains, and it was also an 'annus miserabilis' on
+account of the cholera. In three weeks fourteen hundred waggons
+bound for California crossed one of the bridges over the canal. I
+was desirous of joining the rush, but was, as usual, short of
+cash, and I had to stay at Joliet to earn my salary. I met the
+editor of the 'True Democrat' nearly every day carrying home a
+bucket of water from the Aux Plaines river. He did his own
+chores. He sent two young men who wished to become teachers to my
+school to graduate. One was named O'Reilly, lately from Ireland;
+I gave him his degree in a few weeks, and he kept school
+somewhere out on the prairie. The other did not graduate before
+the cholera came. He was a native of Vermont, and he played the
+clarionet in our church choir. The instrumental music came from
+the clarionet, from a violin, and a flute. The choir came from
+France and Germany, Old England and New England, Ireland, Alsace,
+and Belgium. It was divided into two hostile camps, and the party
+which first took possession of the gallery took precedence in the
+music for that day only. There was a want of harmony. One morning
+when the priest was chanting the first words of the Gloria, the
+head of a little French bugler appeared at the top of the gallery
+stairs, and at once started a plaint chant, Gloria, we had never
+rehearsed or heard before. He sang his solo to the end. He was
+thirsting for glory, and he took a full draught.</p>
+
+<p>I don't think there was ever a choir like ours but one, and
+that was conducted by a butcher from Dolphinholm in the Anglican
+Church at Garstang. One Sunday he started a hymn with a new tune.
+Three times his men broke down, and three times they were heard
+by the whole congregation whispering ferociously at one another.
+At length the parson tried to proceed with the service, and said:
+"Let us pray." But the bold butcher retorted: "Pray be hanged.
+Let us try again, lads; I know we can do it." He then started the
+hymn for the fourth time, and they did it. After the service the
+parson demanded satisfaction of the butcher, and got it in a
+neighbouring pasture.</p>
+
+<p>The cholera came, and we soon grew very serious. The young man
+from Vermont walked with me after school hours, and we tried to
+be cheerful, but it was of no use. Our talk always reverted to
+the plague, and the best way to cure it or to avoid it. The
+doctors disagreed. Every theory was soon contradicted by facts;
+all kinds of people were attacked and died; the young and the
+old, the weak and the strong, the drunken and the sober. Every
+man adopted a special diet or a favourite liquor--brandy,
+whiskey, bitters, cherry-bounce, sarsaparilla. My own particular
+preventive was hot tea, sweetened with molasses and seasoned with
+cayenne pepper. I survived, but that does not prove anything in
+particular.</p>
+
+<p>The two papers, the 'Joliet Signal' and the 'True Democrat',
+scarcely ever mentioned the cholera. It would have been bad
+policy, tending to scare away the citizens and to injure
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>Many men suddenly found that they had urgent business to look
+after elsewhere, and sneaked away, leaving their wives and
+families behind them.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday Father Ingoldsby advised his people to prepare their
+souls for the visit of the Angel of Death, who was every night
+knocking at their doors. There were many, he said, whose faces he
+had never seen at the rails since he came to Joliet; and what
+answer would they give to the summons which called them to appear
+without delay before the judgment seat of God? What doom could
+they expect but that of damnation and eternal death?</p>
+
+<p>The sermon needed no translation for the men of many nations
+who were present. Irishmen and Englishmen, Highlanders and
+Belgians, French and Germans, Mexicans and Canadians, could
+interpret the meaning of the flashing eye which roamed to every
+corner of the church, singling out each miserable sinner; the
+fierce frown, the threatening gesture, the finger first pointing
+to the heaven above, and then down to the depths of hell.</p>
+
+<p>Some stayed to pray and to confess their sins; others hardened
+their hearts and went home unrepentant. Michael Mangan went to
+Belz's grocery near the canal. He said he felt pains in his
+interior, and drank a jigger of whisky. Then he bought
+half-a-gallon of the same remedy to take home with him. It was a
+cheap prescription, costing only twelve and a half cents, but it
+proved very effective. Old Belz put the stuff into an earthenware
+bottle, which he corked with a corncob. Michael started for home
+by the zigzag path which led up the steep limestone bluff, but
+his steps were slow and unsteady; he sat down on a rock, and took
+another dose out of his bottle. He never went any further of his
+own motion, and we buried him next day. We were of different
+opinions about the cause of his death; some thought it was the
+cholera, others the pangs of conscience, some the whisky, and
+others a mixture of all three; at any rate, he died without
+speaking to the priest.</p>
+
+<p>Next day another neighbour died, Mr. Harrigan. He had lost one
+arm, but with the other he wrote a good hand, and registered
+deeds in the County Court. I called to see him. He was in bed
+lying on his back, his one arm outside the coverlet, his heaving
+chest was bare, and his face was ghastly pale. There were six men
+in the room, one of whom said:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know me, Mr. Harrigan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, divil a dog in Lockport but knows you, Barney," said
+the dying man.</p>
+
+<p>Barney lived in Lockport, and in an audible whisper said to
+us: "Ain't he getting on finely? He'll be all right again
+to-morrow, please God."</p>
+
+<p>"And didn't the doctor say I'd be dead before twelve this
+day?" asked Harrigan.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the clock on the mantelshelf. It was past ten. He
+died an hour later.</p>
+
+<p>One day the young man from Vermont rose from his seat and
+looked at me across the schoolroom. I thought he was going to say
+something. He took down his hat, went to the door, turned and
+looked at me again, but he did not speak or make any sign. Next
+morning his place was vacant, and I asked one of the boys if he
+had seen the young man. The boy said:</p>
+
+<p>"He ain't a-coming to school no more, I calkilate. He was
+buried this morning before school hours."</p>
+
+<p>That year, '49 was a dismal year in Joliet.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rogers, one of the school managers, came and sat on a
+bench near the door. He was a New Englander, a carpenter,
+round-shouldered, tall and bony. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"I called in to tell you that I can't vote for appinting you
+to this school next term. Fact is the ladies are dead against
+you; don't see you at meeting on the Sabbath; say you go to the
+Catholic Church with the Irish and Dutch. I a'n't a word to say
+agen you myself. This is a free country; every man can go, for
+aught I care, whichever way he darn chooses--to heaven, or hell,
+or any other place. But I want to be peaceable, and I can't get
+no peace about voting for you next term, so I thought I'd let you
+know, that you mightn't be disappointed."</p>
+
+<p>In that way Mr. Rogers washed his hands of me. I said I was
+sorry I did not please the ladies, but I liked to hear a man who
+spoke his mind freely.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards the Germans brought me word that the Yankees
+were calling a meeting about me. I was aware by this time that
+when a special gathering of citizens takes place to discuss the
+demerits of any individual, it is advisable for that individual
+to be absent if possible; but curiosity was strong within me;
+hitherto I had never been honoured with any public notice
+whatever, and I attended the meeting uninvited.</p>
+
+<p>The Yankees are excellent orators; they are born without
+bashfulness; they are taught to speak pieces in school from their
+childhood; they pronounce each word distinctly; they use
+correctly the rising inflection and the falling inflection.
+Moreover, they are always in deadly earnest; there is another
+miserable world awaiting their arrival. Their humorists are the
+most unhappy of men. You may smile when you read their jokes, but
+when you see the jokers you are more inclined to weep. With pain
+and sorrow they grind, like Samson, at the jokers' mill all the
+days of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting was held in the new two-storey school-house.</p>
+
+<p>Deacon Beaumont took the chair--my chair--and Mr Curtis was
+appointed secretary. I began to hate Deacon Beaumont, as also Mr.
+Curtis, who was the only other teacher present; it was evident
+they were going to put him in my place.</p>
+
+<p>Each speaker on rising put his left hand in the side pocket of
+his pants. I was not mentioned by name, but nevertheless I was
+given clearly to understand that I had been reared in a land
+whose people are under the dominion of a tyrannical monarch and a
+bloated aristocracy; that therefore I had never breathed the pure
+air of freedom, and was unfitted to teach the children of the
+Great Republic.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tucker, an influential citizen, moved finally that the
+school managers be instructed to engage a Mr. Sellars, of
+Dresden, as teacher at the West Joliet School. He said Mr.
+Sellars was a young man from New England who had been teaching
+for a term at Dresden, and had given great satisfaction. He had
+the best testimony to the character and ability of the young man
+from his own daughter, Miss Priscilla Tucker, who had been school
+marm in the same school, and was now home on a visit. She could
+give, from her own personal knowledge, any information the
+managers might require.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tucker's motion was seconded. There was no amendment
+proposed, and all in favour of the motion were requested by
+Deacon Beaumont to stand up. The Yankees all rose to their feet,
+the others sat still, all but old Gorges, a Prussian, who, with
+his two sons, had come to vote for me. But the old man did not
+understand English. His son John pulled him down, but Deacon
+Beaumont had counted his vote, and the motion was carried by a
+majority of one. So I was, in fact, put out of the school by my
+best friend, old Gorges.</p>
+
+<p>I went away in a dudgeon and marked off a cellar on my real
+estate, 30 feet by 18 feet, on the top of the bluff, near the
+edge of the western prairie. The ground was a mixture of stiff
+clay and limestone rock, and I dug at it all through the month of
+September. Curious people came along and made various remarks;
+some said nothing, but went away whistling. One day Mr. Jackson
+and Paul Duffendorff were passing by, and I wanted them to pass,
+but they stopped like the rest. Mr. Jackson was reckoned one of
+the smartest men in Will county. He had a large farm, well
+stocked, but he was never known to do any work except with his
+brains. He was one of those men who increased the income of the
+State of Illinois by ability. Duffendorf was a huge Dutchman,
+nearly seven feet in height. He was a great friend of mine, great
+every way, but very stupid; he had no sense of refinement. He
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Ve gates, schoolmeister? Py golly! Here, Mr. Shackson, is our
+schoolmeister a vurkin mit spade and bick. How vas you like dat
+kind of vurk, Mr. Shackson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never could be such a darned fool; sooner steal," answered
+Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>Duffendorf laughed until he nearly fell into the cellar. Now
+this talk was very offensive. I knew Mr. Jackson was defendant in
+a case then pending. He had been charged with conspiring to
+defraud; with having stolen three horses; with illegally
+detaining seventy-five dollars; and on other counts which I
+cannot remember just now. The thing was originally very simple,
+even Duffendorff could understand it.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Jackson was in want of some ready money, so he directed
+his hired man to steal three of his horses in the dead of night,
+take them to Chicago, sell them to the highest bidder, find out
+where the highest bidder lived, and then return with the cash to
+Joliet. The hired man did his part of the business faithfully,
+returned and reported to his employer. Then Mr. Jackson set out
+in search of his stolen horses, found them, and brought them
+home. The man expected to receive half the profits of the
+enterprise. The boss demurred, and only offered one-third, and
+said if that was not satisfactory he would bring a charge of
+horse-stealing. The case went into court, and under the treatment
+of learned counsel grew very complicated. It was remarkable as
+being the only one on record in Will county in which a man had
+made money by stealing his own horses. It is, I fancy, still 'sub
+judice'.</p>
+
+<p>Both the old school and the new school remained closed even
+after the cholera ceased to thin out the citizens, but I felt no
+further interest in the education of youth. When winter came I
+tramped three miles into the forest, and began to fell trees and
+split rails in order to fence in my suburban estate. For some
+time I carried a rifle, and besides various small game I shot two
+deer, but neither of them would wait for me to come up with them
+even after I had shot them; they took my two bullets away with
+them, and left me only a few drops of blood on the snow; then I
+left the rifle at home. For about four months the ground was
+covered with snow, and the cold was intense, but I continued
+splitting until the snakes came out to bask in the sun and warm
+themselves. I saw near a dead log eight coiled together, and I
+killed them all. The juice of the sugar maples began to run. I
+cut notches in the bark in the shape of a broad arrow, bored a
+hole at the point, inserted a short spout of bark, and on sunny
+mornings the juice flowed in a regular stream, clear and
+sparkling; on cloudy days it only dropped.</p>
+
+<p>One evening as I was plodding my weary way homeward, I looked
+up and saw in the distance a man inspecting my cellar. I said,
+"Here's another disgusting fool who ain't seen it before." It
+certainly was a peculiar cellar, but not worth looking at so
+much. I hated the sight of it. It had no building over it, never
+was roofed in, and was sometimes full of snow.</p>
+
+<p>The other fool proved to be Mr. Curtis, the teacher who had
+written the resolution of the meeting which voted me out of the
+school. He held out his hand, and I took it, but reluctantly, and
+under secret protest. I thought to myself, "This mine enemy has
+an axe to grind, or he would not be here. I'll be on my
+guard."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been waiting for you some time," said Mr. Curtis. "I
+was told you were splitting rails in the forest, and would be
+home about sundown. I wanted to see you about opening school
+again. Mr. Rogers won't have anything to say to it, but the other
+two managers, Mr. Strong and Mr. Demmond, want to engage you and
+me, one to teach in the upper storey of the school, the other
+down below, and I came up to ask you to see them about it."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it happen that Mr. Sellars has not come over from
+Dresden?" I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Joliet is about the last place on this earth that Mr. Sellars
+will come to. Didn't you hear about him and Priscilla?" asked Mr.
+Curtis.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I heard nothing since that meeting; only saw the school
+doors were closed every time I passed that way."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am surprised. I thought everybody knew by this time,
+though we did not like to say much about it."</p>
+
+<p>I began to feel interested. Mr. Curtis had something pleasant
+to tell me about the misfortunes of my enemies, so I listened
+attentively.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tale of western love, and its course was no smoother
+in Illinois than in any less enlightened country of old Europe.
+Miss Priscilla reckoned she could hoe her own row. She and Mr.
+Sellars conducted the Common School at Dresden with great success
+and harmony. All went merry as a marriage bell, and the marriage
+was to come off by-and-by--so hoped Miss Priscilla. During the
+recess she took the teacher's arm, and they walked to and fro
+lovingly. All Dresden said it was to be a match, but at the end
+of the term Miss Priscilla returned to Joliet--the match was not
+yet made.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this time that the dissatisfaction with the new
+British teacher became extreme; Miss Priscilla fanned the flame
+of discontent. She did not "let concealment like a worm i' th'
+bud feed on her damask cheek," but boldly proposed that Mr.
+Sellars--a true-born native of New England, a good young man,
+always seen at meetings on the Sabbath--should be requested to
+take charge of the West Joliet school. So the meeting was held: I
+was voted out, Mr. Sellars was voted in, and the daughters of the
+Puritans triumphed.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Priscilla wrote to Dresden, announcing to her beloved the
+success of her diplomacy, requesting him to come to Joliet
+without delay, and assume direction of the new school. This
+letter fell into the hands of another lady who had just arrived
+at Dresden from New England in search of her husband, who
+happened to be Mr. Sellars. The letter which that other lady
+wrote to Miss Priscilla I did not see, but it was said to be a
+masterpiece of composition, and it emptied two schools. Mr.
+Tucker went over to Dresden and looked around for Mr. Sellars,
+but that gentleman had gone out west, and was never heard of
+again. The west was a very wide unfenced space, without
+railways.</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is," said Mr. Curtis, "we were all kinder shamed the
+way things turned out, and we just let 'em rip. But people are
+now stirring about the school being closed so long, so Mr. Strong
+and Mr. Demmond have concluded to engage you and me to conduct
+the school."</p>
+
+<p>We were engaged that night, and I went rail-splitting no more.
+But I fenced my estate; and while running the line on the western
+boundary I found the grave of Highland Mary. It was in the middle
+of a grove of oak and hickory saplings, and was nearly hidden by
+hazel bushes. The tombstone was a slab about two feet high,
+roughly hewn. Her epitaph was, "Mary Campbell, aged 7. 1827."
+That was all. Poor little Mary.</p>
+
+<p>The Common Schools of Illinois were maintained principally
+from the revenue derived from grants of land. When the country
+was first surveyed, one section of 640 acres in each township of
+six miles square was reserved for school purposes. There was a
+State law on education, but the management was entirely local,
+and was in the hands of a treasurer and three directors, elected
+biennally by the citizens of each school district. The revenue
+derived from the school section was sometimes not sufficient to
+defray the salary of the teacher, and then the deficiency was
+supplied by the parents of the children who had attended at the
+school; those citizens whose children did not attend were not
+taxed by the State for the Common Schools; they did not pay for
+that which they did not receive. In some instances only one
+school was maintained by the revenue of two school sections. When
+the attendance in the school was numerous, a young lady, called
+the "school-marm," assisted in the teaching. Sometimes, as in the
+case of Miss Priscilla, she fell into trouble.</p>
+
+<p>The books were provided by the enterprise of private citizens,
+and an occasional change of "Readers" was agreeable both to
+teachers and scholars. The best of old stories grow tiresome when
+repeated too often. One day a traveller from Cincinnati brought
+me samples of a new series of "Readers," offering on my approval,
+to substitute next day a new volume for every old one produced. I
+approved, and he presented each scholar with copies of the new
+series for nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The teaching was secular, but certain virtues were inculcated
+either directly or indirectly. Truth and patriotism were
+recommended by the example of George Washington, who never told a
+lie, and who won with his sword the freedom of his country. There
+were lessons on history, in which the tyranny of the English
+Government was denounced; Kings, Lords and Bishops, especially
+Bishop Laud, were held up to eternal abhorrence; as was also
+England's greed of gain, her intolerance, bigotry, taxation; her
+penal and navigation laws. The glorious War of Independence was
+related at length. The children of the Puritans, of the Irish and
+the Germans, did not in those days imbibe much prejudice in
+favour of England or her institutions, and the English teacher
+desirous of arriving at the truth, had the advantage of having
+heard both sides of many historical questions; of listening, as
+it were, to the scream of the American eagle, as well as to the
+roar of the British lion.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Curtis was a good teacher, systematic, patient,
+persevering, and ingenious. I ceased to hate him; Miss
+Priscilla's downfall cemented our friendship. We kept order in
+the school by moral suasion, but the task was sometimes
+difficult. My private feelings were in favour of the occasional
+use of the hickory stick, the American substitute for the rod of
+Solomon, and the birch of England.</p>
+
+<p>The geography we taught was principally that of the United
+States and her territories, spacious maps of which were suspended
+round the school, continually reminding the scholars of their
+glorious inheritance. It was then full of vacant lots, over which
+roamed the Indian and the buffalo, species of animals now nearly
+extinct. We did not pay much attention to the rest of the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Elocution was inculcated assiduously, and at regular intervals
+each boy and girl had to come forth and "speak a piece" in the
+presence of the scholars, teachers, and visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Mental arithmetic and the use of fractions were taught daily.
+The use of the decimal in the American coinage is of great
+advantage; it is easier and more intelligible to children than
+the clumsy old system of pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings.
+It is a system which would no doubt have been long ago adopted by
+England, if it had not been humiliating to our national pride to
+take even a good thing from rebellious Yankees, and inferior
+Latin races. We cling fondly to absurdities because they are our
+own. In Australia wild rabbits are vermin, in England they are
+private property; and if one of the three millions of her
+miserable paupers is found with a rabbit in each of his coat
+pockets, he is fined 10s. or sent to gaol. Pope Gregory XIII.
+demonstrated the error of the calendar then in use, and all
+Catholic nations adopted his correction. But when the adoption of
+the calendar was proposed in Parliament, John Bull put his big
+foot down at once; he would receive no truth, not even a
+mathematical one, from the Pope of Rome, and it was only after
+the lapse of nearly 200 years, when the memory of Gregory and his
+calendar had almost faded away from the sensitive mind of
+Protestantism, that an Act was passed, "equalising the style in
+Great Britain and Ireland with that used in other countries of
+Europe."</p>
+
+<p>A fugitive slave with his wife and daughter came to Joliet.
+One day he was seized by three slave-hunters, who took him
+towards the canal. A number of abolitionists assembled to rescue
+the slave, but the three men drew their revolvers, and no
+abolitionist had the courage to fire the first shot. The slave
+was put in a canal boat and went south; his wife remained in
+Joliet and earned her bread by weaving drugget; the daughter came
+to my school; she was of pure negro blood, but was taught with
+the white girls.</p>
+
+<p>The abolitionists were increasing in number, and during the
+war with the South the slaves were freed. They are now like
+Israel in Egypt, they increase too rapidly. If father Abraham had
+sent them back to Africa when they were only four millions, he
+would have earned the gratitude of his country. Now they number
+more than eight millions; the Sunny South agrees with their
+constitution; they work as little and steal as much as possible.
+In the days of their bondage they were addicted to petty larceny;
+now they have votes, and when they achieve place and power they
+are addicted to grand larceny, and they loot the public treasury
+as unblushingly as the white politicians.</p>
+
+<p>The nigger question has doubled in magnitude during the last
+thirty years, and there will have to be another abolition
+campaign of some kind. The blacks are incapable of ruling the
+whites; no time was given to educate them for their new duties,
+if teaching them was possible; the Declaration of Independence
+was in their case a mockery from the beginning. When all the old
+abolitionists and slave-holders are dead, another generation of
+men grown wiser by the failure of the policy of their forefathers
+may solve the black problem.</p>
+
+<p>Complaint is made that the American education of to-day is in
+a chaotic condition, due to the want of any definite idea of what
+education is aiming at. There is evidence that the ancients of
+New England used to birch their boys, but after independence had
+been fought for and won, higher aims prevailed. The Puritan then
+believed that his children were born to a destiny far grander
+than that of any other children on the face of the earth; the
+treatment accorded to them was therefore to be different. The
+fundamental idea of American life was to be "Freedom," and the
+definition of "Freedom" by a learned American is, "The power
+which necessarily belongs to the self-conscious being of
+determining his actions in view of the highest, the universal
+good, and thereby of gradually realising in himself the eternal
+divine perfection." The definition seems a little hazy, but the
+workings of great minds are often unintelligible to common
+people. "The American citizen must be morally autonomous,
+regarding all institutions as servants, not as masters. So far
+man has been for the most part a thrall. The true American must
+worship the inner God recognised as his own deepest and eternal
+self, not an outer God regarded as something different from
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>Lucifer is said to have entertained a similar idea. He would
+not be a thrall, and the result as described by the republican
+Milton was truly disastrous:</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Him the Almighty Power<br>
+Hurl'd headlong<br>
+down<br>
+to bottomless perdition<br>
+Region of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace<br>
+And rest can never dwell."</blockquote>
+
+<p>The manner in which the American citizen is to be made
+"morally autonomous, and placed beyond the control of current
+opinion," will require much money; his parents must therefore be
+rich; they must already have inherited wealth, or have obtained
+it by ability or labour. The course of training to be given to
+youth includes travelling for six years in foreign countries
+under private tutors, studying human history, ethnic, social,
+political, industrial, &aelig;sthetic, religious; gems of poetry;
+the elements of geometry; mechanics; art, plastic, and graphic;
+reading Confucius, Sakya-muni, Themistocles, Socrates, Julius
+Caesar, Paul, Mahommed, Charlemagne, Alfred, Gregory VII., St.
+Bernard, St. Francis, Savonarola, Luther, Queen Elizabeth,
+Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Tennyson,
+and Lowell.</p>
+
+<p>The boys on the prairies had to earn their bread; they could
+not spend six years travelling around and studying all the
+writers above mentioned, making themselves morally autonomous,
+and worshipping their own deepest and eternal selves. The best
+men America has produced were reared at home, and did chores out
+of school hours.</p>
+
+<p>When I was expelled from school by the Yankees, Mr. McEvoy,
+the leading Irish politician, called me aside and said: "Whisper,
+you just hang round until next election, and we'll turn out the
+Yankee managers, and put you in the school again." The Germans
+were slow in acquiring political knowledge as well as in learning
+the English language; but language, politics, and law itself are
+the birthright of the Irish. By force of circumstances, and
+through the otherwise deplorable failure of Miss Priscilla, I
+resumed work in the school before the election, but Mr. McEvoy,
+true to his promise, organised the opposition--it is always the
+opposition--and ejected the Yankee managers, but in the fall of
+1850 I resigned, and went a long way south.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned, Joliet was a city, and Mr. Rendel, one of my
+German night scholars, was city marshal. I met him walking the
+streets, and carrying his staff of office with great dignity. I
+took up my abode in an upper apartment of the gaol, then in
+charge of Sheriff Cunningham, who had a farm in West Joliet, near
+a plank road, leading on to the prairie. I had known the Sheriff
+two years before, but did not see much of him at this time,
+though I was in daily communication with his son, Silas, the
+Deputy Sheriff. It was under these favourable circumstancesthat I
+was enabled to witness a General Gaol Delivery of all the
+prisoners in Joliet. One, charged with killing his third man, was
+out on bail. I saw him in Matheson's boarding-house making love
+to one of the hired girls, and she seemed quite pleased with his
+polite attentions. Matheson was elected Governor of the State of
+Illinois, and became a millionaire by dealing in railways. He was
+a native of Missouri, and a man of ability; In '49 I saw him at
+work in a machine shop.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners did not regain their freedom all at once, but in
+the space of three weeks they trickled out one by one. The Deputy
+Sheriff, Silas, had been one of my pupils; he was now about
+seventeen years of age, and a model son of the prairies. His
+features were exceedingly thin, his eyes keen, his speech and
+movements slow, his mind cool and calculating. He never injured
+his constitution by any violent exertion; in fact, he seemed to
+have taken leave of active life and all its worries, and to have
+settled down to an existence of ease and contemplation. If he had
+any anxiety about the safe custody of his prisoners he never
+showed it. He had finished his education, so I did not attempt to
+control him by moral suasion, or by anything else, but by degrees
+I succeeded in eliciting from him all the particulars he could
+impart about the criminals under his care. There was no fence
+around the gaol, and Silas kept two of them always locked in. He
+"calkilated they wer kinder unsafe." They belonged to a society
+of horse thieves whose members were distributed at regular
+intervals along the prairies, and who forwarded their stolen
+animals by night to Chicago. The two gentlemen in gaol were of an
+untrustworthy character, and would be likely to slip away. About
+a week after my arrival I met Silas coming out of the gaol, and
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>"They're gone, be gosh." Silas never wasted words.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is gone?" I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, them two horse thieves. Just look here."</p>
+
+<p>We went round to the east side of the gaol, and there was a
+hole about two feet deep, and just wide enough to let a man
+through. The ground underneath the wall was rocky, but the two
+prisoners had been industrious, had picked a hole under the wall
+and had gone through.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the Sheriff?" I asked. "Won't Mr. Cunningham go after
+the men?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's away at Bourbonnais' Grove, about suthin' or other,
+among the Bluenoses; can't say when he'll be back; it don't
+matter anyhow. He might just as well try to go to hell backwards
+as catch them two horse thieves now."</p>
+
+<p>Silas had still two other prisoners under his care, and he let
+them go outside as usual to enjoy the fresh air. They had both
+been committed for murder, but their crime was reckoned a
+respectable one compared to the mean one of horse stealing, so
+Silas gave them honourable treatment.</p>
+
+<p>One of the prisoners was a widow lady who had killed another
+lady with an axe, at a hut near the canal on the road to
+Lockport. She seemed crazy, and when outside the gaol walked here
+and there in a helpless kind of way, muttering to herself; but
+sometimes an idea seemed to strike her that she had something to
+do Lockport way, and she started in that direction, forgetting
+very likely that she had done it already; but whenever Silas
+called her back, she returned without giving any trouble. One
+day, however, when Silas was asleep she went clean out of sight,
+and I did not see her any more. The Sheriff was still absent
+among the Bluenoses.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth prisoner was an Englishman named Wilkins who owned
+a farm on the prairie, in the direction of Bourbonnais' Grove. A
+few weeks before, returning home from Joliet with his waggon and
+team of horses, he halted for a short time at a distillery,
+situated at the foot of the low bluff which bounded the bottom,
+through which ran the Aux Plaines River. It was a place at which
+the farmers often called to discuss politics, the prices of
+produce, and other matters, and also, if so disposed, to take in
+a supply of liquor. The corn whisky of Illinois was an article of
+commerce which found its way to many markets. Although it was
+sold at a low price at home, it became much more valuable after
+it had been exported to England or France, and had undergone
+scientific treatment by men of ability. The corn used in its
+manufacture was exceedingly cheap, as may be imagined when
+corn-fed pork was, in the winter of '49, offered for sale in
+Joliet at one cent per pound. After the poison of the prairies
+had been exported to Europe, a new flavour was imparted to it,
+and it became Cognac, or the best Irish or Scotch whisky.</p>
+
+<p>Wilkins halted his team and went into the whisky-mill, where
+the owner, Robinson, was throwing charcoal into the furnace under
+his boiler with a long-handled shovel. He was an enterprising
+Englishman who was wooing the smiles of fortune with better
+prospects of success than the slow, hard-working farmer. I had
+seen him first in West Joliet in '49, when he was travelling
+around buying corn for his distillery. He was a handsome man,
+about thirty years of age, five feet ten inches in height, had
+been well educated, was quite able to hold his own among the men
+of the West, and accommodated himself to their manners and
+habits.</p>
+
+<p>There were three other farmers present, and their talk drifted
+from one thing to another until it at last settled on the
+question of the relative advantages of life in England and the
+States. Robinson took the part of England, Wilkins stuck to the
+States; he said:</p>
+
+<p>"A poor man has no chance at home; he is kept down by
+landlords, and can never get a farm of his own. In Illinois I am
+a free man, and have no one to lord it over me. If I had lived
+and slaved in England for a hundred years I should never have
+been any better off, and now I have a farm as good as any in Will
+County, and am just as good a man as e'er another in it."</p>
+
+<p>Now Wilkins was only a small man, shorter by four inches than
+Robinson, who towered above him, and at once resented the claim
+to equality. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"You as good as any other man, are you? Why there ain't a more
+miserable little skunk within twenty miles round Joliet."</p>
+
+<p>Robinson was forgetting the etiquette of the West. No
+man--except, perhaps, in speaking to a nigger--ever assumed a
+tone of insolent superiority to any other man; if he did so, it
+was at the risk of sudden death; even a hired man was habitually
+treated with civility. The titles of colonel, judge, major,
+captain, and squire were in constant use both in public and
+private; there was plenty of humorous "chaff," but not insult.
+Colonels, judges, majors, captains, and squires were civil, both
+to each other and to the rest of the citizens. Robinson, in
+speaking to his fellow countryman, forgot for a moment that he
+was not in dear old England, where he could settle a little
+difference with his fists. But little Wilkins did not forget, and
+he was not the kind of man to be pounded with impunity. He had in
+his pocket a hunting knife, with which he could kill a hog--or a
+man. When Robinson called him a skunk he felt in his pocket for
+the knife, and put his thumb on the spring at the back of the
+buckhorn handle, playing with it gently. It was not a British
+Brummagem article, made for the foreign or colonial market, but a
+genuine weapon that could be relied on at a pinch.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I dare say you were a great man at home, weren't you?" he
+said. "A lord maybe, or a landlord. But we don't have sich great
+men here, and I am as good a man as you any day, skunk though I
+be."</p>
+
+<p>Robinson had just thrown another shovelful of charcoal into
+the furnace under his boiler, and he held up his shovel as if
+ready to strike Williams, but it was never known whether he
+really intended to strike or not.</p>
+
+<p>The three other men standing near were quite amused with the
+dispute of the two Englishmen, and were smiling pleasantly at
+their foolishness. But little Wilkins did not smile, nor did he
+wait for the shovel to come down on his head; he darted under it
+with his open knife in the same manner as the Roman soldier went
+underneath the dense spears of the Pyrrhic phalanx, and set to
+work. Robinson tried to parry the blows with the handle of the
+shovel, but he made only a poor fight; the knife was driven to
+the hilt into his body seven times, then he threw down his
+shovel, and tried to save himself behind the boiler, but it was
+too late; the dispute about England and the States was
+settled.</p>
+
+<p>Wilkins took his team home, then returned to Joliet and gave
+himself into the custody of the squire, Hoosier Smith. At the
+inquest he was committed to take his trial for murder, and did
+not get bail. His wife left the farm, and with her two little
+boys lived in an old log hut near the gaol. She brought with her
+two cows, which Wilkins milked each morning as soon as Silas let
+him out of prison. I could see him every day from the window of
+my room, and I often passed by the hut when he was doing chores,
+chopping wood, or fetching water, but I never spoke to him. He
+did not look happy or sociable, and I could not think of anything
+pleasant to say by way of making his acquaintance. After much
+observation and thought I came to the conclusion that Sheriff
+Cunningham wanted his prisoner to go away; he would not like to
+hang the man; the citizens would not take Wilkins off his hands;
+if two fools chose to get up a little difficulty and one was
+killed, it was their own look-out; and anyway they were only
+foreigners. The fact was Wilkins was waiting for someone to
+purchase his farm.</p>
+
+<p>The court-house for Will County was within view of the gaol,
+at the other side of the street, and one day I went over to look
+at it. The judge was hearing a civil case, and I sat down to
+listen to the proceedings. A learned counsel was addressing the
+jury. He talked at great length in a nasal tone, slowly and
+deliberately; he had one foot on a form, one hand in a pocket of
+his pants, and the other hand rested gracefully on a volume of
+the statutes of the State of Illinois. He had much to say about
+various horses running on the prairie, and particularly about one
+animal which he called the "Skemelhorne horse." I tried to follow
+his argument, but the "Skemelhorne horse" was so mixed up with
+the other horses that I could not spot him.</p>
+
+<p>Semicircular seats of unpainted pine for the accommodation of
+the public rose tier above tier, but most of them were empty.
+There were present several gentlemen of the legal profession, but
+they kept silence, and never interrupted the counsel's address.
+Nor did the judge utter a word; he sat at his desk sideways, with
+his boots resting on a chair. He wore neither wig nor gown, and
+had not even put on his Sunday go-to-meeting clothes. Neither had
+the lawyers. If there was a court crier or constable present he
+was indistinguishable from the rest of the audience.</p>
+
+<p>Near the judge's desk there was a bucket of water and three
+tumblers on a small table. It was a hot day. The counsel paused
+in his speech, went to the table, and took a drink; a juryman
+left the box and drank. The judge also came down from his seat,
+dipped a tumbler in the bucket and quenched his thirst; one
+spectator after another went to the bucket. There was equality
+and fraternity in the court of law; the speech about the
+Skemelhorne horse went on with the utmost gravity and decorum,
+until the nasal drawl of the learned counsel put me to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>On awakening, I went into another hall, in which dealings in
+real estate were registered. Shelves fixed against the walls held
+huge volumes lettered on the back. One of these volumes was on a
+table in the centre of the hall, and in it the registrar was
+copying a deed. Before him lay a pile of deeds with a lead weight
+on the top. A farmer came in with a paper, on which the registrar
+endorsed a number and placed at the bottom of the pile. There was
+no parchment used; each document was a half-sheet foolscap size,
+party printed and partly written. Another farmer came in, took up
+the pile and examined the numbers to see how soon his deed was
+likely to be copied, and if it was in its proper place according
+to the number endorsed. The registrar was not fenced off from the
+public by a wide counter; he was the servant of the citizens, and
+had to satisfy those who paid him for his labours. His pay was a
+fixed number of cents per folio, not dollars, nor pounds.</p>
+
+<p>When I went back to gaol I found it deserted. Wilkins had sold
+his farm and disappeared. His wife remained in the hut. Sheriff
+Cunningham was still away among the Bluenoses, and Silas was
+'functus officio', having accomplished a general gaol delivery.
+He did not pine away on account of the loss of his prisoners, nor
+grow any thinner--that was impossible. I remained four days
+longer, expecting something would happen; but nothing did happen,
+then I left the gaol.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote out two notices informing the public that I was
+willing to sell my real estate; one of these I pasted up at the
+Post Office, the other on the bridge over the Aux Plaines River.
+Next day a German from Chicago agreed to pay the price asked, and
+we called on Colonel Smith, the Squire. The Colonel filled in a
+brief form of transfer, witnessed the payment of the money--which
+was in twenty-dollar gold pieces, and he charged one dollar as
+his fee. The German would have to pay about 35 cents for its
+registration. If the deed was lost or stolen, he would insert in
+a local journal a notice of his intention to apply for a copy,
+which would make the original of as little value to anybody as a
+Provincial and Suburban bank note.</p>
+
+<p>In Illinois, transfers of land were registered in each county
+town. To buy or sell a farm was as easy as horse-stealing, and
+safer. Usually, no legal help was necessary for either
+transaction.</p>
+
+<p>By this time California had a rival; gold had been found in
+Australia. I was fond of gold; I jingled the twenty dollar gold
+pieces in my pocket, and resolved to look for more at the
+fountainhead, by way of my native land. A railway from Chicago
+had just reached Joliet, and had been opened three days before.
+It was an invitation to start, and I accepted it.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody ever loved his native land better than I do when I am
+away from it. I can call to mind its innumerable beauties, and in
+fancy saunter once more through the summer woods, among the
+bracken, the bluebells, and the foxglove. I can wander by the
+banks of the Brock, where the sullen trout hide in the clear
+depths of the pools. I can walk along the path--the path to
+Paradise--still lined with the blue-eyed speedwell and red
+campion; I know where the copse is carpeted with the bluebell and
+ragged robin, where grow the alders, and the hazels rich with
+brown nuts, the beeches and the oaks; where the flower of the
+yellow broom blazes like gold in the noontide sun; where the
+stockdove coos overhead in the ivy; where the kingfisher darts
+past like a shaft of sapphire, and the water ouzel flies up
+stream; where the pheasant glides out from his home in the wood
+to feed on the headland of the wheat field; where the partridge
+broods in the dust with her young; where the green lane is
+bordered by the guelder-rose or wayfaring tree, the raspberry,
+strawberry, and cherry, the wild garlic of starlike flowers, the
+woodruff, fragrant as new-mown hay; the yellow pimpernel on the
+hedge side. I see in the fields and meadows the bird's foot
+trefoil, the oxeye daisy, the lady smocks, sweet hemlock,
+butterbur, the stitchwort, and the orchis, the "long purpled" of
+Shakespeare. By the margin of the pond the yellow iris hangs out
+its golden banners over which the dragon fly skims. The hedgerows
+are gay with the full-blown dog-roses, the bells of the
+bilberries droop down along the wood-side, and the red-hipped
+bumble bees hum over them. Out of the woodland and up Snaperake
+Lane I rise to the moorland, and then the sea coast comes in
+sight, and the longing to know what lies beyond it.</p>
+
+<p>I have been twice to see what lies beyond it, and when I
+return once more my own land does not know me. There is another
+sea coast in sight now, and when I sail away from it I hope to
+land on some one of the Isles of the Blest.</p>
+
+<p>I called on my oldest living love; she looked, I thought, even
+younger than when we last parted. She was sitting before the fire
+alone, pale and calm, but she gave me no greeting; she had
+forgotten me. I took a chair, sat down beside her, and waited. A
+strange lass with a fair face and strong bare arms came in and
+stared at me steadily for a minute or two, but went away without
+saying a word. I looked around the old house room that I knew so
+well, with its floor of flags from Buckley Delph, scoured white
+with sandstone. There stood, large and solid, the mealark of
+black oak, with the date, 1644, carved just below the heavy lid,
+more than 200 years old, and as sound as ever. The sloping mirror
+over the chest of drawers was still supported by the four
+seasons, one at each corner. Above it was Queen Caroline, with
+the crown on her head, and the sceptre in her hand, seated in a
+magnificent Roman chariot, drawn by the lion and the unicorn.
+That team had tortured my young soul for years. I could never
+understand why that savage lion had not long ago devoured both
+the Queen and the unicorn.</p>
+
+<p>My old love was looking at me, and at last she put one hand on
+my knee, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"It's George."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I said, "it's George."</p>
+
+<p>She gazed a while into the fire and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Alice is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Alice is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"And Jenny is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and Jenny. They are at the bottom of the sea."</p>
+
+<p>In that way she counted a long list of the dead, which she
+closed by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"They are all gone but Joe."</p>
+
+<p>She had been a widow more than twenty-five years. She was a
+young woman, tall and strong, before Bonaparte, Wellington, the
+United States, or Australia, had ever been heard of in
+Lancashire, and from the top of a stile she had counted every
+windmill and chimney in Preston before it was covered with the
+black pall of smoke from the cotton-mills.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.</h3>
+
+<p><b>I.</b></p>
+
+<p>I lost a summer in 1853, and had two winters instead, one in
+England, the other in Australia.</p>
+
+<p>It was cold in the month of May as we neared Bendigo. We were
+a mixed party of English, Irish, and Scotch, twelve in number,
+and accompanied by three horse-teams, carrying tubs, tents, and
+provisions. We also had plenty of arms wherewith to fight the
+bush-rangers, but I did not carry any myself; I left the fighting
+department to my mate, Philip, and to the others who were fond of
+war. Philip was by nature and training as gentle and amiable as a
+lamb, but he was a Young Irelander, and therefore a fighter on
+principle. O'Connell had tried moral suasion on the English
+Government long enough, and to no purpose, so Philip and his
+fiery young friends were prepared to have recourse to arms. The
+arms he was now carrying consisted of a gleaming bowie knife, and
+two pistols stuck in his belt. The pistols were good ones; Philip
+had tried them on a friend in the Phoenix Park the morning after
+a ball at the Rotunda, and had pinked his man--shot him in the
+arm. It is needless to say that there was a young lady in the
+case; I don't know what became of her, but during the rest of her
+life she could boast of having been the fair demoiselle on whose
+account the very last duel was fought in Ireland. Then the age of
+chivalry went out. The bowie knife was the British article bought
+in Liverpool. It would neither kill a man nor cut a beef-steak,
+as was proved by experience.</p>
+
+<p>We met parties of men from Bendigo--unlucky diggers, who
+offered to sell their thirty-shilling licenses. By this time my
+cash was low; my twenty-dollar gold pieces were all consumed.
+While voyaging to the new Ophir, where gold was growing
+underfoot, I could not see any sound sense in being niggardly.
+But when I saw a regular stream of disappointed men with empty
+pockets offering their monthly licenses for five shillings each
+within sight of the goldfield, I had misgivings, and I bought a
+license that had three weeks to run from William Matthews. Ten
+other men bought licenses, but William Patterson, a canny
+Scotchman, said he would chance it.</p>
+
+<p>It was about midday when we halted near Bendigo Creek,
+opposite a refreshment tent. Standing in front of it was a man
+who had passed us on the road, and lit his pipe at our fire. When
+he stooped to pick up a firestick I saw the barrel of a revolver
+under his coat. He was accompanied by a lady on horseback,
+wearing a black riding habit. Our teamsters called him Captain
+Sullivan. He was even then a man well known to the convicts and
+the police, and was supposed to be doing a thriving business as
+keeper of a sly grog shop, but in course of time it was
+discovered that his main source of profit was murder and robbery.
+He was afterwards known as "The New Zealand Murderer," who turned
+Queen's evidence, sent his mates to the gallows, but himself died
+unhanged.</p>
+
+<p>While we stood in the track, gazing hopelessly over the
+endless heaps of clay and gravel covering the flat, a little man
+came up and spoke to Philip, in whom he recognised a fellow
+countryman. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"You want a place to camp on, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Philip, "we have only just come up from
+Melbourne."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, come along with me," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>He was a civil fellow, and said his name was Jack Moore. We
+went with him in the direction of the first White Hill, but
+before reaching it we turned to the left up a low bluff, and
+halted in a gully where many men were at work puddling clay in
+tubs.</p>
+
+<p>After we had put up our tent, Philip went down the gully to
+study the art of gold digging. He watched the men at work; some
+were digging holes, some were dissolving clay in tubs of water by
+stirring it rapidly with spades, and a few were stooping at the
+edge of water-holes, washing off the sand mixed with the gold in
+milk pans.</p>
+
+<p>Philip tried to enter into conversation with the diggers. He
+stopped near one man, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, mate. How are you getting along?"</p>
+
+<p>The man gazed at him steadily, and replied "Go you to hell,"
+so Philip moved on. The next man he addressed sent him in the
+same direction, adding a few blessings; the third man was panning
+off, and there was a little gold visible in his pan. He was gray,
+grim, and hairy. Philip said:</p>
+
+<p>"Not very lucky to-day, mate?"</p>
+
+<p>The hairy man stood up, straightened his back, and looked at
+Philip from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky be blowed. I wish I'd never seen this blasted place.
+Here have I been sinking holes and puddling for five months, and
+hav'n't made enough to pay my tucker and the Government license,
+thirty bob a month. I am a mason, and I threw up twenty-eight bob
+a day to come to this miserable hole. Wherever you come from,
+young man, I advise you to go back there again. There's twenty
+thousand men on Bendigo, and I don't believe nineteen thousand of
+'em are earning their grub."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't well go back fifteen thousand miles, even if I had
+money to take me back," answered Philip.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you might walk as far as Melbourne," said the hairy
+man, "and then you could get fourteen bob a day as a hodman; or
+you might take a job at stone breaking; the Government are giving
+7s. 6d. a yard for road metal. Ain't you got any trade to work
+at?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never learned a trade, I am only a gentleman." He felt
+mean enough to cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's bad. If you are a scholar, you might keep
+school, but I don't believe there's half-a-dozen kids on the
+diggin's. They'd be of no mortal use except to tumble down
+shafts. Fact is, if you are really hard up, you can be a peeler.
+Up at the camp they'll take on any useless loafer wot's able to
+carry a carbine, and they'll give you tucker, and you can keep
+your shirt clean. But, mind, if you do join the Joeys, I hope
+you'll be shot. I'd shoot the hull blessed lot of 'em if I had my
+way. They are nothin' but a pack of robbers." The hairy man knew
+something of current history and statistics, but he had not a
+pleasant way of imparting his knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Picaninny Gully ended in a flat, thinly timbered, where there
+were only a few diggers. Turning to the left, Philip found two
+men near a waterhole hard at work puddling. When he bade them
+good-day, they did not swear at him, which was some comfort. They
+were brothers, and were willing to talk, but they did not stop
+work for a minute. They had a large pile of dirt, and were making
+hay while the sun shone--that is, washing their dirt as fast as
+they could while the water lasted. During the preceding summer
+they had carted their wash-dirt from the gully until rain came
+and filled the waterhole. They said they had not found any rich
+ground, but they could now make at least a pound a day each by
+constant work. Philip thought they were making more, as they
+seemed inclined to sing small; in those days to brag of your good
+luck might be the death of you.</p>
+
+<p>While Philip was away interviewing the diggers, Jack showed me
+where he had worked his first claim, and had made 400 pounds in a
+few days. "You might mark off a claim here and try it," he said.
+"I think I took out the best gold, but there may be a little left
+still hereabout." I pegged off two claims, one for Philip, and
+one for myself, and stuck a pick in the centre of each. Then we
+sat down on a log. Six men came up the gully carrying their
+swags, one of them was unusually tall. Jack said: "Do you see
+that big fellow there? His name is McKean. He comes from my part
+of Ireland. He is a lawyer; the last time I saw him he was in a
+court defending a prisoner, and now the whole six feet seven of
+him is nothing but a dirty digger."</p>
+
+<p>"What made you leave Ireland, Jack?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I left it, I guess, same as you did, because I couldn't live
+in it. My father was a fisherman, and he was drowned. Mother was
+left with eight children, and we were as poor as church mice. I
+was the oldest, so I went to Belfast and got a billet on board
+ship as cabin boy. I made three voyages from Liverpool to
+America, and was boxed about pretty badly, but I learned to
+handle the ropes. My last port there was Boston, and I ran away
+and lived with a Yankee farmer named Small. He was a nigger
+driver, he was, working the soul out of him early and late. He
+had a boat, and I used to take farm produce in it across the bay
+to Boston, where the old man's eldest son kept a boarding-house.
+There was a daughter at home, a regular high-flier. She used to
+talk to me as if I was a nigger. One day when we were having
+dinner, she was asking me questions about Ireland, and about my
+mother, sisters, and brothers. Then I got mad, thinking how poor
+they were, and I could not help them. 'Miss Small,' I said, 'my
+mother is forty years old, and she has eight children, and she
+looks younger than you do, and has not lost a tooth.'</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Small, although quite young, was nearly toothless, so
+she was mad enough to kill me; but her brother Jonathan was at
+table, and he took my part, saying, 'Sarves you right, Sue;' why
+can't you leave Jack alone?'</p>
+
+<p>"But Sue made things most unpleasant, and I told Jonathan I
+couldn't stay on the farm, and would rather go to sea again.
+Jonathan said he, too, was tired of farming, and he would go with
+me. He could manage a boat across Boston Harbour, but he had
+never been to sea. Next time there was farm stuff to go to Boston
+he went with me; we left the boat with his brother, and shipped
+in a whaler bound for the South Seas. I used to show him how to
+handle the ropes, to knot and splice, and he soon became a pretty
+good hand, though he was not smart aloft when reefing. His name
+was Small, but he was not a small man; he was six feet two, and
+the strongest man on board, and he didn't allow any man to thrash
+me, because I was little. After eighteen months' whaling he
+persuaded me to run away from the ship at Hobarton; he said he
+was tired of the greasy old tub; so one night we bundled up our
+swags, dropped into a boat, and took the road to Launceston,
+where we expected to find a vessel going to Melbourne. When we
+were half-way across the island, we called just before sundown at
+a farmhouse to see if we could get something to eat, and lodging
+for the night. We found two women cooking supper in the kitchen,
+and Jonathan said to the younger one, 'Is the old man at home?'
+She replied quite pertly:</p>
+
+<p>"'Captain Massey is at home, if that's what you mean by 'old
+man.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, my dear,' said Jonathan, 'will you just tell him that
+we are two seamen on our way to Launceston, and we'd like to have
+a word with him.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I am not your dear,' she replied, tossing her head, and went
+out. After a while she returned, and said: 'Captain Massey wanted
+to speak to the little man first.' That was me.</p>
+
+<p>"I went into the house, and was shown into the parlour, where
+the captain was standing behind a table. There was a gun close to
+his hand in a corner, two horse pistols on a shelf, and a sword
+hanging over them. He said: 'Who are you, where from, and whither
+bound?' to which I replied:</p>
+
+<p>"'My name is John Moore; me and my mate have left our ship, a
+whaler, at Hobarton, and we are bound for Launceston.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, you are a runaway foremast hand are you? Then you know
+something about work on board ship.' He then put questions to me
+about the work of a seaman, making sail, and reefing, about
+masts, yards, and rigging, and finished by telling me to box a
+compass. I passed my examination pretty well, and he told me to
+send in the other fellow. He put Jonathan through his
+sea-catechism in the same way, and then said we could have supper
+and a shake-down for the night.</p>
+
+<p>"After supper the young lady sat near the kitchen fire sewing,
+and Jonathan took a chair near her and began a conversation. He
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I must beg pardon for having ventured to address you as 'my
+dear,' on so short an acquaintance, but I hope you will forgive
+my boldness. Fact is, I felt quite attached to you at first
+sight.' And so on. If there was one thing that Jonathan could do
+better than another it was talking. The lady was at first very
+prim and reserved; but she soon began to listen, smiled, and even
+tittered. A little boy about two years old came in and stood near
+the fire. Having nothing else to do, I took him on my knee, and
+set him prattling until we were very good friends. Then an idea
+came into my head. I said:</p>
+
+<p>"'I guess, Jonathan, this little kid is about the same age as
+your youngest boy in Boston, ain't he?'</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Jonathan had no boy and was not married, but the
+sudden change that came over that young lady was remarkable. She
+gave Jonathan a look of fury, jumped up from her seat, snatched
+up her sewing, and bounced out of the kitchen. The old man came
+in, and told us to come along, and he would show us our bunks. We
+thought he was a little queer, but he seemed uncommonly kind and
+anxious to make us comfortable for the night. He took us to a hut
+very strongly built with heavy slabs, left us a lighted candle,
+and bade us good-night. After he closed the door we heard him put
+a padlock on it; he was a kindly old chap, and did not want
+anybody to disturb us during the night, and we soon fell fast
+asleep. Next morning he came early and called us to breakfast. He
+stayed with us all the time, and when we had eaten, said:</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, have you had a good breakfast?'</p>
+
+<p>"Jonathan spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, old man, we have. You are a gentleman; you have done
+yourself proud, and we are thankful, ain't we, Jack? You are the
+best and kindest old man we've met since we sailed from Boston.
+And now I think it's time we made tracks for Launceston. By-bye,
+Captain. Come along, Jack.'</p>
+
+<p>"'No you won't, my fine coves,' replied the captain. 'You'll
+go back to Hobarton, and join your ship if you have one, which I
+don't believe. You can't humbug an old salt like me. You are a
+pair of runaway convicts, and I'll give you in charge as sich.
+Here, constables, put the darbies on 'em, and take 'em back to
+Hobarton.'</p>
+
+<p>"Two men who had been awaiting orders outside the door now
+entered, armed with carbines, produced each a pair of handcuffs,
+and came towards us. But Jonathan drew back a step or two,
+clenched his big fists, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"'No, you don't. If this is your little game, captain, all I
+have to say is, you are the darndest double-faced old cuss on
+this side of perdition. You can shoot me if you like, but neither
+you nor the four best men in Van Diemen's Land can put them irons
+on me. I am a free citizen of the Great United States, and a free
+man I'll be or die. I'll walk back to Hobarton, if you like, with
+these men, for I guess that greasy old whaler has gone to sea
+again by this time, and we'll get another ship there as well as
+at Launceston.'</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Massey did not like to venture on shooting us
+off-hand, so at last he told the constables to put up their
+handcuffs and start with us for Hobarton.</p>
+
+<p>"After we had travelled awhile Jonathan cooled down and began
+to talk to the constables. He asked them how they liked the
+island, how long they had been in it, if it was a good country
+for farming, how they were getting along, and what pay they got
+for being constables. One of them said: 'The island is pretty
+good in parts, but it's too mountaynyus; we ain't getting along
+at all, and we won't have much chance to do any good until our
+time is out.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What on airth do you mean by saying "until you time is out?"
+Ain't your time your own?' asked Jonathan.</p>
+
+<p>"'No, indeed. I see you don't understand. We are Government
+men, and we ain't done our time. We were sent out from
+England.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh! you were sent out, were you? Now, I see, that means you
+are penitentiary men, and ought to be in gaol. Jack, look here.
+This kind of thing will never do. You and me are two honest
+citizens of the United States, and here we are, piloted through
+Van Diemen's Land by two convicts, and Britishers at that. This
+team has got to be changed right away.'</p>
+
+<p>"He seized both carbines and handed them to me; then he
+handcuffed the constables, who were so taken aback they never
+said a word. Then Jonathan said, 'This is training day. Now,
+march.'</p>
+
+<p>"The constables walked in front, me and Jonathan behind,
+shouldering the guns. In this way we marched until we sighted
+Hobarton, but the two convicts were terribly afraid to enter the
+city as prisoners; they said they were sure to be punished, would
+most likely be sent into a chain gang, and would soon be
+strangled in the barracks at night for having been policemen. We
+could see they were really afraid, so we took off the handcuffs
+and gave them back the carbines.</p>
+
+<p>"Before entering the city we found that the whaler had left
+the harbour, and felt sure we would not be detained long, as
+nothing could be proved against us. When we were brought before
+the beak Jonathan told our story, and showed several letters he
+had received from Boston, so he was discharged. But I had nothing
+to show; they knew I was an Irishman, and the police asked for a
+remand to prove that I was a runaway convict. I was kept three
+weeks in gaol, and every time I was brought to court Jonathan was
+there. He said he would not go away without me. The police could
+find out nothing against me, so, at last, they let me go. We went
+aboard the first vessel bound for Melbourne, and, when sail was
+made, I went up to the cross-trees and cursed Van Diemen's Land
+as long as I could see it. Jonathan took ship for the States, but
+I went shepherding, and grew so lazy that if my stick dropped to
+the ground I wouldn't bend my back to pick it up. But when I
+heard of the diggings, I woke up, humped my swag, and ran away--I
+was always man enough for that-- and I don't intend to shepherd
+again."</p>
+
+<p>When Philip returned from his excursion down the gully, he
+gave me a detailed report of the results and said, "Gold mining
+is remarkable for two things, one certain, the other uncertain.
+The certain thing is labour, the uncertain thing is gold." This
+information staggered me, so I replied, "Those two things will
+have to wait till morning. Let us boil the billy." Our spirits
+were not very high when we began work next day.</p>
+
+<p>We slept under our small calico tent, and our cooking had to
+be done outside. Sometimes it rained, and then we had to kindle a
+fire with stringy bark under an umbrella The umbrella was
+mine--the only one I ever saw on the diggings. Some men who
+thought they were witty made observations about it, but I stuck
+to it all the same. No man could ever laugh me out of a valuable
+property.</p>
+
+<p>We lived principally on beef steak, tea, and damper. Philip
+cut his bread and beef with his bowie knife as long as it lasted.
+Every man passing by could see that we were formidable, and ready
+to defend our gold to the death--when we got it. But the bowie
+was soon useless; it got a kink in the middle, and a curl at the
+point, and had no edge anywhere. It was good for nothing but
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>A number of our shipmates had put up tents in the
+neighbourhood, and at night we all gathered round the camp fire
+to talk and smoke away our misery. One, whose name I forget, was
+a journalist, correspondent for the 'Nonconformist'. Scott was an
+artist, Harrison a mechanical engineer. Doran a commercial
+traveller, Moran an ex-policeman, Beswick a tailor, Bernie a
+clogger. The first lucky digger we saw, after Picaninny Jack,
+came among us one dark night; he came suddenly, head foremost,
+into our fire, and plunged his hands into the embers. We pulled
+him out, and then two other men came up. They apologised for the
+abrupt entry of their mate. They said he was a lucky digger, and
+they were his friends and fellow-countrymen. A lucky digger could
+find friends anywhere, from any country, without looking for
+them, especially if he was drunk, as was this stranger. They said
+he had travelled from Melbourne with a pack horse, and, near
+Mount Alexander, he saw a woman picking up something or other on
+the side of a hill. She might be gathering flowers, but he could
+not see any. He stopped and watched her for a while and then went
+nearer. She did not take any notice of him, so he thought the
+poor thing had been lost in the bush, and had gone cranky. He
+pitied her, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My good woman, have you lost anything? Could I help you to
+look for it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not your good woman, and I have not lost anything; so I
+don't want anybody to help me to look for it."</p>
+
+<p>He was now quite sure she was cranky. She stooped and picked
+up something, but he could not see what it was. He began to look
+on the ground, and presently he found a bright little nugget of
+gold. Then he knew what kind of flowers the woman was gathering.
+Without a word he took his horse to the foot of the hill, hobbled
+it, and took off his swag. He went up the hill again, filled his
+pan with earth, and washed it off at the nearest waterhole. He
+had struck it rich; the hill-side was sprinkled with gold, either
+on the surface or just below it. For two weeks there were only
+two parties at work on that hill, parties of one, but they did
+not form a partnership. The woman came every day, picking and
+scratching like an old hen, and went away at sundown.</p>
+
+<p>When the man went away he took with him more than a
+hundredweight of gold. He was worth looking at, so we put more
+wood on the fire, and made a good blaze. Yes, he was a lucky
+digger, and he was enjoying his luck. He was blazing drunk, was
+in evening dress, wore a black bell-topper, and kid gloves. The
+gloves had saved his hands from being burned when he thrust them
+into the fire. There could be no doubt that he was enjoying
+himself. He came suddenly out of the black night, and staggered
+away into it again with his two friends.</p>
+
+<p>One forenoon, about ten o'clock, while we were busy,
+peacefully digging and puddling, we heard a sound like the
+rumbling of distant thunder from the direction of Bendigo flat.
+The thunder grew louder until it became like the bellowing of ten
+thousand bulls. It was the welcome accorded by the diggers to our
+"trusty and well-beloved" Government when it came forth on a
+digger hunt. It was swelled by the roars, and cooeys, and curses
+of every man above ground and below, in the shafts and drives on
+the flats, and in the tunnels of the White Hills, from Golden
+Gully and Sheep's Head, to Job's Gully and Eaglehawk, until the
+warning that "Joey's out" had reached to the utmost bounds of the
+goldfield. <a href="#bookbush-01">(go to illustration)</a></p>
+
+<p>There was a strong feeling amongst the diggers that the
+license fee of thirty shillings per month was excessive, and this
+feeling was intensified by the report that it was the intention
+of the Government to double the amount. As a matter of fact, by
+far the larger number of claims yielded no gold at all, or not
+enough to pay the fee. The hatred of the hunted diggers made it
+quite unsafe to send out a small number of police and soldiers,
+so there came forth at irregular intervals a formidable body of
+horse and foot, armed with carbines, swords, and pistols.</p>
+
+<p>This morning they marched rapidly along the track towards the
+White Hills, but wheeling to the left up the bluff they suddenly
+appeared at the head of Picaninny Gully. Mounted men rode down
+each side of the gully as fast as the nature of the ground would
+permit, for it was then honeycombed with holes, and encumbered
+with the trunks and stumps of trees, especially on the eastern
+side. They thus managed to hem us in like prisoners of war, and
+they also overtook some stragglers hurrying away to right and
+left. Some of these had licenses in their pockets, and refused to
+stop or show them until they were actually arrested. It was a
+ruse of war. They ran away as far as possible among the holes and
+logs, in order to draw off the cavalry, make them break their
+ranks, and thus to give a chance to the unlicensed to escape or
+to hide themselves. The police on foot, armed with carbines and
+accompanied by officers, next came down the centre of the gully,
+and every digger was asked to show his license. I showed that of
+William Matthews.</p>
+
+<p>It was not that the policy of William Patterson was tried and
+found wanting. He was at work on his claim a little below mine,
+and knowing he had no license, I looked at him to see how he
+would behave in the face of the enemy. He had stopped working,
+and was walking in the direction of his tent, with head bowed
+down as ifin search of something he had lost. He disappeared in
+his tent, which was a large one, and had, near the opening, a
+chimney built up with ironstone boulders and clay. But the police
+had seen him; he was followed, found hiding in the corner of his
+chimney, arrested, and placed among the prisoners who were then
+halted near my tub. Immediately behind Patterson, and carrying a
+carbine on his shoulder, stood a well-known shipmate named Joynt,
+whom poverty had compelled to join the enemy. He would willingly
+have allowed his friend and prisoner to escape, but no chance of
+doing so occurred, and long after dark Patterson approached our
+camp fire, a free man, but hungry, tired, and full of bitterness.
+He had been forced to march along the whole day like a convicted
+felon, with an ever-increasing crowd of prisoners, had been taken
+to the camp at nightfall and made to pay 6 pounds 10s.--viz., a
+fine of 5 pounds and 1 pound 10s. for a license.</p>
+
+<p>The feelings of William Patterson, and of thousands of other
+diggers, were outraged, and they burned for revenge. A roll-up
+was called, and three public meetings were held on three
+successive Saturday afternoons, on a slight eminence near the
+Government camp. The speakers addressed the diggers from a wagon.
+Some advocated armed resistance. It was well known that many men,
+French, German, and even English, were on the diggings who had
+taken part in the revolutionary outbreak of '48, and that they
+were eager to have recourse to arms once more in the cause of
+liberty. But the majority advocated the trial of a policy of
+peace, at least to begin with. A final resolution was passed by
+acclamation that a fee of ten shillings a month should be
+offered, and if not accepted, no fee whatever was to be paid.</p>
+
+<p>It was argued that if the diggers stood firm, it would be
+impossible for the few hundreds of soldiers and police to arrest
+and keep in custody nearly twenty thousand men. If an attempt was
+made to take us all to gaol, digger-hunting would have to be
+suspended, the revenue would dwindle to nothing, and Government
+would be starved out. It was, in fact, no Government at all; it
+was a mere assemblage of armed men sent to rob us, not to protect
+us; each digger had to do that for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, Sunday, I walked through the diggings, and observed
+the words "No License Here" pinned or pasted outside every tent,
+and during the next month only about three hundred licenses were
+taken out, instead of the fourteen or fifteen thousand previously
+issued, the digger-hunting was stopped, and a license-fee of
+forty shillings for three months was substituted for that of
+thirty shillings per month.</p>
+
+<p><b>II.</b></p>
+
+<p>As no man who had a good claim would be willing to run the
+risk of losing it, the number of licenses taken out after the
+last meeting would probably represent the number of really lucky
+diggers then at work on Bendigo, viz., three hundred more or
+less, and of the three hundred I don't think our gully could
+boast of one. All were finding a little gold, but even the most
+fortunate were not making more than "tucker." By puddling eight
+tubs of washdirt I found that we could obtain about one pound's
+worth of gold each per day; but this was hardly enough to keep
+hope alive. The golden hours flew over us, but they did not send
+down any golden showers. I put the little that fell to my share
+into a wooden match-box, which I carried in my pocket. I knew it
+would hold twelve ounces--if I could get so much --and looked
+into it daily and shook the gold about to see if I were growing
+rich.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to feel jolly, and I could see that Philip
+was discontented. He had never been accustomed to manual labour;
+he did not like being exposed to the cold winds, to the frost or
+rain, with no shelter except that afforded by our small tent.
+While at work we were always dirty, and often wet; and after we
+had passed a miserable night, daylight found us shivering, until
+warmth came with hard work. One morning Philip lost his temper;
+his only hat was soaked with rain, and his trousers, shirt, and
+boots were stiff with clay. He put a woollen comforter on his
+head in lieu of the hat. The comforter was of gaudy colours, and
+soon attracted public attention. A man down the gully said:</p>
+
+<p>"I obsarved yesterday we had young Ireland puddling up here,
+and I persave this morning we have an Italian bandit or a Sallee
+rover at work among us."</p>
+
+<p>Every digger looked at Philip, and he fell into a sudden fury;
+you might have heard him at the first White Hill.</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday I heard a donkey braying down the gully, and this
+morning he is braying again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I see," replied the Donkey. "We are in a bad temper this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>Father Backhaus was often seen walking with long strides among
+the holes and hillocks on Bendigo Flat or up and down the
+gullies, on a visit to some dying digger, for Death would not
+wait until we had all made our pile. His messengers were going
+around all the time; dysentery, scurvy, or fever; and the priest
+hurried after them. Sometimes he was too late; Death had entered
+the tent before him.</p>
+
+<p>He celebrated Mass every Sunday in a tent made of drugget, and
+covered with a calico fly. His presbytery, sacristy,
+confessional, and school were all of similar materials, and of
+small dimensions. There was not room in the church for more than
+thirty or forty persons; there were no pews, benches, or chairs.
+Part of the congregation consisted of soldiers from the camp, who
+had come up from Melbourne to shoot us if occasion required. Six
+days of the week we hated them and called "Joey" after them, but
+on the seventh day we merely glared at them, and let them pass in
+silence. They were sleek and clean, and we were gaunt as wolves,
+with scarcely a clean shirt among us. Philip, especially hated
+them as enemies of his country, and the more so because they were
+his countrymen, all but one, who was a black man.</p>
+
+<p>The people in and around the church were not all Catholics. I
+saw a man kneeling near me reading the Book of Common Prayer of
+the Church of England; there was also a strict Presbyterian, to
+whom I spoke after Mass. He said the priest did not preach with
+as much energy as the ministers in Scotland. And yet I thought
+Father Backhaus' sermon had that day been "powerful," as the
+Yankees would say. He preached from the top of a packing case in
+front of the tent. The audience was very numerous, standing in
+close order to the distance of twenty-five or thirty yards under
+a large gum tree.</p>
+
+<p>The preacher spoke with a German accent, but his meaning was
+plain.</p>
+
+<p>He said:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear brethren' 'Beatus ille qui post aurum non abiit'.
+Blessed is the man who has not gone after gold, nor put his trust
+in money or treasures. You will never earn that blessing, my dear
+brethren. Why are you here? You have come from every corner of
+the world to look for gold. You think it is a blessing, but when
+you get it, it is often a curse. You go what you call 'on the
+spree'; you find the 'sly grog'; you get drunk and are robbed of
+your gold; sometimes you are murdered; or you fall into a hole
+and are killed, and you go to hell dead drunk. Patrick Doyle was
+here at Mass last Sunday; he was then a poor digger. Next day he
+found gold, 'struck it rich,' as you say; then he found the grog
+also and brought it to his tent. Yesterday he was found dead at
+the bottom of his golden shaft, and he was buried in the
+graveyard over there near the Government camp."</p>
+
+<p>My conscience was quite easy when the sermon was finished. It
+would be time enough for me to take warning from the fate of
+Paddy Doyle when I had made my pile. Let the lucky diggers
+beware! I was not one of them.</p>
+
+<p>After we had been at work a few weeks, Father Backhaus, before
+stepping down from the packing-case, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I want someone to teach in a school; if there is anyone here
+willing to do so, I should like to see him after Mass."</p>
+
+<p>I was looking round for Philip among the crowd when he came
+up, eager and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking of going in to speak to the priest about that
+school," he said. "Would you have any objection? You know we are
+doing no good in the gully, but I won't leave itif you think I
+had better not."</p>
+
+<p>Philip was honourable; he would not dissolve our short
+partnership, and leave me alone unless I was quite willing to let
+him go.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever kept school before?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, never. But I don't think the teaching will give me much
+trouble. There can't be many children around here, and I can
+surely teach them A B C and the Catechism."</p>
+
+<p>Although I thought he had not given fortune a fair chance to
+bless us, he looked so wistful and anxious that I had not the
+heart to say no. Philip went into the tent, spoke to the priest,
+and became a schoolmaster. I was then a solitary "hatter."</p>
+
+<p>Next day a man came up the gully with a sack on his back with
+something in it which he had found in a shaft. He thought the
+shaft had not been dug down to the bedrock, and he would bottom
+it. He bottomed on a corpse. The claim had been worked during the
+previous summer by two men. One morning there was only one man on
+it; he said his mate had gone to Melbourne, but he had in fact
+killed him during the night, and dropped him down the hole. The
+police never hunted out that murderer; they were too busy hunting
+us.</p>
+
+<p>I was not long alone. A beggarly looking young man came a few
+days later, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I hear you have lost your mate Philip, and my mates have all
+gone away and taken the tent with them; so I want to ask you to
+let me stay in your tent until I can look round a bit."</p>
+
+<p>This young man's name was David Beswick, but he was known
+simply as "Bez." He was a harmonious tailor from Manchester; he
+played the violoncello, also the violin; had a good tenor voice,
+and a talent for the drama. He, and a man named Santley from
+Liverpool, had taken leading parts in our plays and concerts on
+shipboard. Scott, the artist, admired Bez; he said he had the
+head, the features, and the talent of a Shakespeare. He had a
+sketch of Bez in his portfolio, which he was filling with crooked
+trees, common diggers, and ugly blackamoors. I could see no
+Shakespeare in Bez; he was nothing but a dissipated tailor who
+had come out in the steerage, while I had voyaged in the house on
+deck. I was, therefore, a superior person, and looked down on the
+young man, who was seated on a log near the fire, one leg crossed
+over the other, and slowly stroking his Elizabethan beard. I
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Philip has left me, but I don't want any partner. I
+understand you are a tailor by trade, and I don't think much of a
+tailor."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replied Bez, "I don't think much of him myself, so I
+have dropped the business. I am now a sailor. You know yourself I
+sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne, and, anyhow, there's only the
+difference of a letter between a tailor and a sailor."</p>
+
+<p>There was a flaw somewhere in the argument, but I only said,
+"'Valeat quantum valere potest.'" Bez looked solemn; a little
+Latin goes a long way with some people. He was an object of
+charity, and I made him feel it.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place this tent is teetotal. No grog is to come
+inside it. There is to be no mining partnership. You can keep all
+the gold you get, and I shall do the same. You must keep all
+trade secrets, and never confess you are a tailor. I could never
+hold up my head among the diggers if they should discover that my
+mate was only the ninth part of a man. You must carry to the tent
+a quantity of clay and rocks sufficient to build a chimney, of
+which I shall be the architect. You will also pay for your own
+tucker, chop wood, make the fire, fetch water, and boil the
+billy." Bez promised solemnly to abide by these conditions, and
+then I allowed him to deposit his swag in the tent.</p>
+
+<p>The chimney was built in three days, and we could then defy
+the weather, and dispense with the umbrella. Bez performed his
+part of the contract well. He adopted a rolling gait and the
+frown of a pirate; he swore naval oaths strong enough to still a
+hurricane. Among his digging outfit was a huge pick; it was a
+two-man pick, and he carried it on his shoulder to suggest his
+enormous strength. He threw tailordom to the winds; when a rent
+appeared in his trousers he closed it with pins, disdaining the
+use of the needle, until he became so ragged that I ordered him
+into dock for repairs.</p>
+
+<p>One day in passing Philip's school I peeped in at the flap of
+the tent. He had already acquired the awe-inspiring look of the
+schoolmaster. He was teaching a class of little boys, whose
+wandering eyes were soon fixed on my face, and then Philip saw
+me. He smiled and blushed, and came outside. He said he was
+getting along capitally, and did not want to try digging any
+more. He had obtained a small treatise called "The Twelve Virtues
+of a Good Master," and he was studying it daily in order to
+qualify himself for his new calling. He had undertaken to
+demonstrate one of Euclid's propositions every night by way of
+exercising his reasoning faculties. He was also making new
+acquaintances amongst men who were not diggers--doctors,
+storekeepers, and the useful blacksmiths who pointed our picks
+with steel. He had also two or three friends at the Governmnt
+camp, and I felt inclined to look upon him as a traitor to the
+diggers' cause but although he had been a member of the party of
+Young Irelanders, he was the most innocent traitor and the
+poorest conspirator I ever heard of. He could keep nothing from
+me. If he had been a member of some secret society, he would have
+burst up the secret, or the secret would have burst him.</p>
+
+<p>He had some friends among the diggers. The big gum tree in
+front of the church tent soon became a kind of trysting place on
+Sundays, at which men could meet with old acquaintances and
+shipmates, and convicts could find old pals. Amongst the crowd
+one Sunday were five men belonging to a party of six from
+Nyalong; the sixth man was at home guarding the tent. Four of the
+six were Irish Catholics, and they came regularly to Mass every
+Sunday; the other two were Englishmen, both convicts, of no
+particular religion, but they had married Catholic immigrants,
+and sometimes went to church, but more out of pastime than piety.
+One of these men, known as John Barton-- he had another name in
+the indents--stood under the gum tree, but not praying; I don't
+think he ever thought of praying except the need of it was
+extreme. He was of medium height, had a broad face, snub nose,
+stood erect like a soldier, and was strongly built. His small
+ferrety eyes were glancing quickly among the faces around him
+until they were arrested by another pair of eyes at a short
+distance. The owner of the second pair of eyes nudged two other
+men standing by, and then three pairs of eyes were fixed on
+Barton. He was not a coward, but something in the expression of
+the three men cowed him completely. He turned his head and
+lowered it, and began to push his way among the crowd to hide
+himself. After Mass, Philip found him in his tent, and suspecting
+that he was a thief put his hand on a medium-sized Colt's
+revolver, which he had exchanged for his duelling pistols, and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my friend, and what are you doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake speak low," whispered Barton. "I came in here
+to hide. There are three men outside who want to kill me."</p>
+
+<p>"Three men who want to kill you, eh? Do you expect me to
+believe that anybody among the crowd there would murder you in
+broad daylight? My impression is, my friend, that you are a
+sneaking thief, and that you came here to look for gold. I'll
+send a man to the police to come and fetch you, and if you stir a
+step I'll shoot you."</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness' sake, mate, keep quiet. I am not a burglar, not
+now at any rate. I'll tell you the truth. I was a Government
+flagellator, a flogger, you know, on the Sydney side, and I
+flogged those three men. Couldn't help it, it was my business to
+do it. I know they are looking for me, and they will follow me
+and take the first chance to murder me. They are most desperate
+characters. One of them was insubordinate when he was assigned
+servant to a squatter, and the squatter, who was on horseback,
+gave him a cut with his stockwhip. Then this man jumped at his
+master, pulled him off his horse, dragged him to the wood-heap,
+held his head on the block, seized the axe, and was just going to
+chop his master's head off, when another man stopped him. That is
+what I had to flog him for, and then he was sent back to Sydney.
+So you can just think what a man like that would do. When my time
+was up I went as a trooper to the Nyalong district under Captain
+Foster, the Commissioner, and after a while I settled down and
+married an immigrant woman from Tipperary, a Catholic. That's the
+way I happened to be here at Mass with my mates, who are
+Catholics; but I'll never do it again; it's as much as my life is
+worth. I daresay there are lots of men about Bendigo whom I
+flogged while I was in the business, and every single man-jack of
+them would kill me if he got the chance. And so for goodness'
+sake let me stay here till dark. I suppose you are an honest man;
+you look like it anyway, and you would not want to see me
+murdered, now, would you?"</p>
+
+<p>Barton was, in fact, as great a liar and rogue as you would
+meet with anywhere, but in extreme cases he would tell the truth,
+and the present case was an extreme one. Philip was merciful; he
+allowed Barton to remain in his tent all day, and gave him his
+dinner. When darkness came he escorted him to the tent of the men
+from Nyalong, and was introduced to them by his new friend. Their
+names were Gleeson, Poynton, Lyons, and two brothers McCarthy.
+One of these men was brother-in-law to Barton, and had been a
+fellow-trooper with him under Captain Foster. Barton had entered
+into family relations as an honest man; he could give himself any
+character he chose until he was found out. He was too frightened
+to stay another night on Bendigo, and he began at once to bundle
+up his swag. Gleeson and Poynton accompanied him for some
+distance beyond the pillar of white quartz on Specimen Hill, and
+then he left the track and struck into the bush. Fear winged his
+feet' he arrived safely at Nyalong, and never went to another
+rush. The other five then stayed on Bendigo for several weeks
+longer, and when they returned home their gold was sufficient for
+a dividend of 700 pounds for each man. Four of them bought farms,
+one kept a store, and Barton rented some land. Philip met them
+again when he was promoted to the school at Nyalong, and they
+were his firm friends as long as he lived there.</p>
+
+<p>I went to various rushes to improve my circumstances. Once I
+was nearly shot. A bullet whizzed past my head, and lodged in the
+trunk of a stringy bark a little further on. That was the only
+time in my life I was under fire, and I got from under it as
+quickly as possible. Once I went to a rush of Maoris, near Job's
+Gully, and Scott came along with his portfolio, a small pick,
+pan, and shovel. He did not dig any, but got the ugliest Maori he
+could find to sit on a pile of dirt while he took his portrait
+and sketched the tattoos. That spoiled the rush; every man, black
+and white, crowded around Scott while he was at work with his
+pencil, and then every single savage shook hands with him, and
+made signs to have his tattoos taken, they were so proud of their
+ugliness. They were all naked to the waist.</p>
+
+<p>Near the head of Sheep's Head Gully, Jack Moore and I found
+the cap of a quartz reef with visible gold in it. We broke up
+some of it, but could not make it pay, having no quartz-crushing
+machinery. Golden Gully was already nearly worked out, but I got
+a little gold in it which was flaky, and sticking on edge in the
+pipeclay bottom. I found some gold also in Sheep's Head, and then
+we heard of a rush on the Goulburn River. Next day we offered our
+spare mining plant for sale on the roadside opposite Specimen
+Hill, placing the tubs, cradles, picks and spades all in a row.
+Bez was the auctioneer. He called out aloud, and soon gathered a
+crowd, which he fascinated by his eloquence. The bidding was
+spirited, and every article was sold, even Bez's own two-man
+pick, which would break the heart of a Samson to wield it.</p>
+
+<p>When we left Bendigo, Bez, Birnie, Dan, Scott, and Moses were
+of the party, and a one-horse cart carried our baggage. When we
+came to a swamp we carried the baggage over it on our backs, and
+then helped the horse to draw the empty cart along. Our party
+increased in number by the way, especially after we met with a
+dray carrying kegs of rum.</p>
+
+<p>Before reaching the new rush, afterwards known as Waranga, we
+prospected some country about twenty miles from the Goulburn
+river. Here Scott left us. Before starting he called me aside,
+and told me he was going to the Melbourne Hospital to undergo an
+operation. He had a tumour on one leg above the knee, for which
+he had been treated in Dublin, and had been advised to come to
+Australia, in the hope that a change of climate and occupation
+might be of benefit, but he had already walked once from Bendigo
+to Melbourne, and now he was obliged to go again. He did not like
+to start without letting someone know his reason for leaving us.
+I felt full of pity for Scott, for I thought he was going to his
+death alone in the bush, and I asked him if he felt sure that he
+could find his way. He showed me his pocket compass and a map,
+and said he could make a straight course for Melbourne. He had
+always lived and worked alone, but whenever we moved he
+accompanied us not wishing to be quite lost amongst strangers. He
+arrived at the hospital, but he never came out of it alive.</p>
+
+<p>Dan gave me his money to take care of while he and Bez were
+living on rum from the dray, and I gave out as little cash as
+possible in order to promote peace and sobriety. One night Dan
+set fire to my tent in order to rouse his banker. I dragged Bez
+outside the tent and extinguished the fire. There was bloodshed
+afterwards--from Dan's nose--and his account was closed. After a
+while some policemen in plain clothes came along and examined the
+dray. They found fourteen kegs of rum in it, which they seized,
+together with four horses and the dray.</p>
+
+<p>I worked for seven months in various parts of the Ovens
+district until I had acquired the value in gold of my vanished
+twenty-dollar pieces; that was all my luck. During this time some
+of us paid the &pound;2 license fee for three months. We were not
+hunted by the military. Four or five troopers and officials rode
+slowly about the diggings and the cry of "Joey" was never raised,
+while a single unarmed constable on foot went amongst the claims
+to inspect licenses. He stayed with us awhile, talking about
+digging matters. He said the police were not allowed to carry
+carbines now, because a digger had been accidentally shot. He was
+a very civil fellow, and his price, if I remember rightly was
+half-a-crown. Yet the digger hunting was continued at Ballarat
+until it ended in the massacre of December 3rd 1854.</p>
+
+<p>At that time I was at Colac, and while Dr. Ignatius was
+absent, I had the charge of his household, which consisted of one
+old convict known as "Specs," who acted in the capacity of
+generally useless, received orders most respectfully, but forgot
+them as much as possible. He was a man of education who had gone
+astray in London, and had fallen on evil days in Queensland and
+Sydney. When alone in the kitchen he consoled himself with
+curses. I could hear his voice from the other side of the slabs.
+He cursed me, he cursed the Doctor, he cursed the horses, the
+cat, the dog, and the whole world and everything in it. It was
+impossible to feel anything but pity for the man, for his life
+was ruined, and he had ruined it himself. I had also under my
+care a vegetable garden, a paddock of Cape barley, two horses,
+some guinea fowls, and a potato patch. One night the potatoes had
+been bandicooted. To all the early settlers in the bush the
+bandicoot is well known. It is a marsupial quadruped which lives
+on bulbs, and ravages potato patches. It is about eighteen inches
+in length from the origin of its tail to the point of its nose.
+It has the habits of a pickpocket. It inserts its delicate fore
+paws under the stalks of the potato, and pulls out the tubers.
+That morning I had endeavoured to dig some potatoes; the stalks
+were there, but the potatoes were gone. I stopped to think, and
+examined the ground. I soon discovered tracks of the bandicoot,
+but they had taken the shape of a small human foot. We had no
+small human feet about our premises, but at the other side of the
+fence there was a bark hut full of them. I turned toward the hut
+suspiciously, and saw the bandicoot sitting on a top-rail,
+watching me, and dangling her feet to and fro. She wore towzled
+red hair, a short print frock, and a look of defiance. I went
+nearer to inspect her bandicoot feet. Then she openly defied me,
+and said:</p>
+
+<p>"You need not look so fierce, mister. I have as much right to
+sit on this rail as you have."</p>
+
+<p>"Lilias," I replied, "you won't sit there long. You
+bandicooted my potatoes last night, and you've left the marks of
+your dirty feet on the ground. The police are coming to measure
+your feet, and then they will take you to the lock-up."</p>
+
+<p>I gazed across the barley paddock for the police, and Lilias
+looked as well. There was a strange man approaching rapidly, and
+the bandicoot's courage collapsed. She slid from the fence, took
+to flight, and disappeared among the tussocks near the creek.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger did not go to the garden gate, but stood looking
+over the fence. He said: "Is Dr. Ignatius at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he is away somewhere about Fiery Creek, and I don't think
+he'll return until Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger hung down his head and was silent. He was a young
+man of small frame, well dressed for those days, but he had o
+luggage. He looked so miserable that I pitied him. He was like a
+hunted animal. I said:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a friend of Dr. Ignatius?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he knows me well. My name is Carr; I have come from
+Ballarat."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew various men had left Ballarat. One had arrived in
+Geelong on December 4th, and had consulted Dr. Walshe about a
+bullet between his knuckles, another was hiding in a house at
+Chilwell.* He had lost one arm, and the Government were offering
+400 pounds for him, so he took outdoor exercise only by night,
+disguised in an Inverness cape.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a chance for me to hear exciting news from the lips
+of a warrior fresh from the field of battle, so I said:</p>
+
+<p>"If you would like to stay here until the doctor returns you
+will be welcome."</p>
+
+<blockquote>[*Footnote Peter Lalor.]</blockquote>
+
+<p>He was my guest for four days. He said that he went out with
+the military on the morning of December 3rd, and was the first
+surgeon who entered the Eureka Stockade after the fight was over.
+He found twelve men dead in it, and twelve more mortally wounded.
+This was about all the information he vouchsafed to give me. I
+was anxious for particulars. I wanted to know what arms he
+carried to the fray, whether he touched up his sword on the
+grind-stone before sallying forth, how many men or women he had
+called upon to stand in the name of her gracious Majesty Queen
+Victoria, how many skulls he had cloven, how many diggers he had
+"slewed," and how many peaceful prisoners he had brought back to
+the Government camp. On all these points he was silent, and
+during his stay with me he spoke as little as possible, neither
+reading, writing, nor walking about. But there was something to
+be learned from the papers. He had been a witness at the inquest
+on Scobie, killed by Bentley and two others, and principally on
+his evidence Bentley was discharged, but was afterwards
+re-arrested and condemned to three years' imprisonment. Dr. Carr
+was regarded as a "colluding associate" with Bentley and Dewes,
+the magistrate, and the official condemnation of Dewes confirmed
+the popular denunciation of them. At a dinner given to Mr.
+Tarleton, the American Consul, Dr. Otway, the Chairman said:</p>
+
+<p>"While I and my fellow-colonists are thoroughly loyal to our
+Sovereign Lady, the Queen, we do not, and will not, respect her
+men servants, her maid servants, her oxen, or her asses."</p>
+
+<p>A Commission was coming to Ballarat to report on wrong doings
+there, and they were looking for witnesses. On Friday, December
+8th, the camp surgeon and Dr. Carr had a narrow escape from being
+shot. While the former gentleman was entering the hospital he was
+fired at by one of the sentries. The ball passed close to the
+shoulder of Dr. Carr, who was reading inside, went through the
+lid of the open medicine chest, and some splinters struck him on
+the side. There were in the hospital at that time seven diggers
+seriously wounded and six soldiers, including the drummer boy.
+Troubles were coming in crowds, and the bullet, the splinters,
+and the Commission put the little doctor to flight. He left the
+seven diggers, the five soldiers, and the drummer boy in the
+hospital, and made straight for Colac. Fear dogged his footsteps
+wherever he went, and the mere sight of him had sent the impudent
+thief Lilias to hide behind the tussocks.</p>
+
+<p>I always hate a man who won't talk to me and tell me things,
+and the doctor was so silent and unsociable, that, by way of
+revenge, I left him to the care and curses of old "Specs."</p>
+
+<p>After four days he departed, and he appeared again at Ballarat
+on January 15th, giving evidence at an inquest on one Hardy,
+killed by a gunshot wound. In the meantime a total change had
+taken place among the occupants of the Government camp.
+Commissioner Rede had retired, Dr. Williams, the coroner, and the
+district surgeons had received notice to quit in twenty-four
+hours, and they left behind them twenty-four patients in and
+around the camp hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Carr left the colony, and the next report about him was
+from Manchester, where he made a wild and incoherent speech to
+the crowd at the Exchange. His last public appearance was in a
+police-court on a charge of lunacy. He was taken away by his
+friends, and what became of him afterwards is not recorded.</p>
+
+<p>Doctors, when there is a dearth of patients, sometimes take to
+war, and thus succeed in creating a "practice." Occasionally they
+meet with disaster, of which we can easily call to mind
+instances, both ancient and modern.</p>
+
+<p><b>III.</b></p>
+
+<p>Diggers do not often turn their eyes heavenwards; their
+treasure does not lie in that direction. But one night I saw Bez
+star-gazing.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the names of any of the stars in this part of the
+roof?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make out many of the Manchester stars," he replied.
+"I knew a few when I was a boy, but there was a good deal of fog
+and smoke, and latterly I have not looked up that way much; but I
+can spot a few of them yet, I think."</p>
+
+<p>Bez was a rather prosy poet, and his eye was not in a fine
+frenzy rolling.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see," he said; "that's the north; Charles' Wain and
+the North Pole ought to be there, but they have gone down
+somewhere. There are the Seven Stars--I never could make 'em
+seven; if there ever were that number one of 'em has dropped out.
+And there's Orion; he has somehow slipped up to the north, and is
+standing on his head, heels uppermost. There are the two stars in
+his heels, two on his shoulders, three in his belt, and three in
+his sword. There is the Southern Cross; we could never see that
+in our part of England, nor those two silvery clouds, nor the two
+black holes. They look curious, don't they? I suppose the two
+clouds are the Gates of Heaven, and the two black spots the Gates
+of Hell, the doors of eternity. Which way shall we go? That's the
+question."</p>
+
+<p>The old adage is still quite true--'coelum non animum mutant
+qui trans mare currunt'. When a young gentleman in England takes
+to idleness and grog, and disgraces his family, he is provided
+with a passage to Australia, in order that he may become a
+reformed prodigal; but the change of climate does not effect a
+reform; it requires something else.</p>
+
+<p>Dan in Glasgow and Bez in Manchester had both been given to
+drink too much. They came to Victoria to acquire the virtue of
+temperance, and they were sober enough when they had no
+money.</p>
+
+<p>Dan told me that when he awoke after his first week at sea, he
+sat every day on the topgallant forecastle thinking over his past
+wickedness, watching the foam go by, and continually tempted to
+plunge into it.</p>
+
+<p>After the rum, the dray, and the four horses were seized by
+the police. Dan and Bez grew sober, and went to Reid's Creek,
+passing me at work on Spring Creek. They came back as separate
+items. Dan called at my tent, and I gave him a meal of damper,
+tea, and jam. He ate the whole of the jam, which cost me 2s. 6d.
+per pound. He then humped his swag and started for Melbourne. On
+his way through the township, since named Beechworth, he took a
+drink of liquor which disabled him, and he lay down by the
+roadside using an ant-hill for a pillow. He awoke at daylight
+covered with ants, which were stinging and eating him alive.</p>
+
+<p>Some days later Bez came along, passed my tent for a mile, and
+then came back. He said he was ashamed of himself. I gave him
+also a feed of damper, tea, and jam limited. Dan had made me
+cautious in the matter of lavish hospitality. The Earl of
+Lonsdale lately spent fifty thousand pounds in entertaining the
+Emperor of Germany, but it was money thrown away. The next time
+the Kaiser comes to Westmoreland he will have to pay for his
+board and buy his preserves. Bez made a start for Melbourne, met
+an old convict, and with him took a job at foot-rotting sheep on
+a station owned by a widow lady. Here he passed as an engraver in
+reduced circumstances. He told lies so well, that the convict was
+filled with admiration, and said, "I'm sure, mate, you're a flash
+covey wot's done his time in the island."</p>
+
+<p>The two chums foot-rotted until they had earned thirty
+shillings each, then they went away and got drunk at a roadside
+shanty; at least, Bez did, and when the convict picked his
+pockets, he kindly put back three shillings and sixpence, saying,
+"That will give him another start on the wallaby track."</p>
+
+<p>Bez at last arrived at Flagstaff Hill, which was then bare,
+with a sand-hole on one side of it. He had had nothing to eat for
+twenty-four hours, and had only one shilling and sixpence in his
+pocket, which he was loath to spend for fear of arriving in
+Melbourne a complete beggar. He lay down famishing and weary on
+the top of the hill near Flagstaff, and surveyed the city, the
+bay, and the shipping. He had hoped by this time to have been
+ready to take a passage in one of those ships to Liverpool, and
+to return home a lucky digger. But he had only eighteen pence, so
+he said, "I am afraid, Bez, you will never see Manchester
+again."</p>
+
+<p>There was at that time a small frame building at the west end
+of Flinders Street, with a hill behind it, on which goats were
+browsing; the railway viaduct runs now over the exact spot. Many
+parties of hopeful diggers from England and California had slept
+there on the floor the night before they started for Ballarat,
+Mount Alexander, or Bendigo. We called it a house of refuge, and
+Bez now looked for refuge in it. There he met Dan and Moran, who
+had both found employment in the city, and they fed the hungry
+Bez. Dan was labouring at his trade in the building business, and
+he set Bez to work roofing houses with corrugated iron. They soon
+earned more money than they had ever earned by digging for gold,
+but on Saturday nights and Sundays they took their pleasure in
+the old style, and so they went to the dogs. I don't know how
+Dan's life ended (his real name was Donald Fraser), but Bez died
+suddenly in the bar of a public-house, and he was honoured with
+an inquest and a short paragraph in the papers.</p>
+
+<p>Moran had saved a hundred pounds by digging in Picaninny
+Gully, and he was soon afterwards admitted to serve Her Majesty
+again in the police department. On the Sunday after Price was
+murdered by the convicts at Williamstown I met Moran after Mass
+in the middle of Lonsdale Street. I reproached him for his
+baseness in deserting to the enemy--Her Majesty, no less--and in
+self-defence he nearly argued my head off. At last I threatened
+to denounce him as a "Joey" --he was in plain clothes--and have
+him killed by the crowd in the street. Nothing but death could
+silence Moran. The rest of his history is engraved on a monument
+in the Melbourne Cemetery; he, his wife, and all his children
+died many years ago.--R.I.P. He was really a good man, with only
+one defect--most of us have many--he was always trying to divide
+a hair 'twixt West and South-West side.</p>
+
+<p>I met Santley after thirty years, sitting on a bench in front
+of the "Travellers' Rest" at Alberton, in Gippsland. He had a
+wrinkled old face, and did not recognise my beautiful countenance
+until he heard my name. He had half-a-dozen little boys and girls
+around him--his grandchildren, I believe--and was as happy as a
+king teaching them to sing hymns. I don't think Santley had grown
+rich, but he always carried a fortune about with him wherever he
+went, viz., a kind heart and a cheerful disposition. Nobody could
+ever think of quarrelling with Santlay any more than with George
+Coppin, or with that benevolent bandmaster, Herr Plock. He told
+me that he was now related to the highest family in the world,
+his daughter having married the Chinese giant, whose brothers and
+sisters were all of the race of Anak.</p>
+
+<p>My mate, Philip, was so successful with his little school in
+the tent that he was promoted to another at the Rocky Waterholes,
+and then he went to the township at Lake Nyalong. Philip had
+never travelled as far as Lake Nyalong, but Picaninny Jack told
+him that he had once been there, and that it was a beautiful
+country. He tried to find it at another time, but got bushed on
+the wrong side of the lake; now he believed there was a regular
+track that way if Philip could only find it. The settlers and
+other inhabitants ought to be well off; if not, it was their own
+fault, for they had the best land in the whole of Australia.</p>
+
+<p>Philip felt sure that he would find at least one friend at
+Nyalong-- viz., Mr. Barton, whom he had harboured in his tent at
+Bendigo, and had sheltered from the pursuit of the three
+bloodthirsty convicts. Some people might be too proud to look
+forward to the friendship of a flagellator, but in those days we
+could not pick and choose our chums; Barton might not be
+clubable, but he might be useful, and the social ladder requires
+a first step.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to such men as Dan and Bez, in Melbourne, and to other
+enterprising builders in various places, habitable dwellings of
+wood, brick, and bluestone began to be used, instead of the handy
+but uncomfortable tent, and, at the Rocky Waterholes, Philip had
+for some time been lodging in a weatherboard house with the
+respectable Mrs. Martin. Before going to look for Nyalong he
+introduced his successor to her, and also to the scholars. Her
+name was Miss Edgeworth.</p>
+
+<p>The first virtue of a good master is gravity, and Philip had
+begun at the beginning. He was now graver even than usual while
+he briefly addressed his youthful auditors.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear children," he said, "I am going away, and have to
+leave you in the care of this young lady, Miss Edgeworth. I am
+sure you will find her to be a better teacher than myself,
+because she has been trained in the schools of the great city of
+Dublin, and I, unfortunately, had no training at all; she is
+highly educated, and will be, I doubt not, a perfect blessing to
+the rising generation of the Rocky Waterholes. I hope you will be
+diligent, obedient, and respectful to her. Good-bye, and God
+bless you all."</p>
+
+<p>These words were spoken in the tone of a judge passing
+sentence of death on a criminal, and Miss Edgeworth was in doubt
+whether it would be becoming under the circumstances to laugh or
+to cry, so she made no speech in reply. She said afterwards to
+Mrs. Martin, "Mr. Philip must have been a most severe master; I
+can see sternness on his brow." Moreover, she was secretly aware
+that she did not deserve his compliments, and that her learning
+was limited, especially in arithmetic; she had often to blame the
+figures for not adding up correctly. For this reason she had a
+horror of examinations, and every time the inspector came round
+she was in a state of mortal fear. His name was Bonwick. He was a
+little man, but he was so learned that the teachers looked
+forward to his visits with awe. A happy idea came into Miss
+Edgeworth's mind. She was, it is true, not very learned, nor was
+she perfect in the practice of the twelve virtues, but she had
+some instinctive knowledge of the weakness of the male man. Mr.
+Bonwick was an author, a learned author who had written
+books--among others a school treatise on geography. Miss
+Edgeworth bought two copies of this work, and took care to place
+them on her table in the school every morning with the name of
+the author in full view. On his next visit Mr. Bonwick's
+searching eyes soon detected the presence of his little treatise,
+and he took it up with a pleased smile. This was Miss Edgeworth's
+opportunity; she said, in her opinion, the work was a must
+excellent one, and extremely well adapted for the use of
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>The inspector was more than satisfied; a young lady of so much
+judgment and discrimination was a peerless teacher, and Miss
+Edgeworth's work was henceforward beyond all question.</p>
+
+<p>There were no coaches running to Nyalong, and, as Philip's
+poverty did not permit him to purchase a horse, and he had
+scruples about stealing one, he packed up his swag and set out on
+foot. It may be mentioned as bearing on nothing in particular
+that, after Philip had taken leave of Miss Edgeworth, she stood
+at a window, flattened her little nose against one of the panes,
+and watched him trudging away as long as he was in sight. Then
+she said to Mrs. Martin:</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't it a pity that so respectable a young man should be
+tramping through the bush like a pedlar with a pack?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, miss, not a bit of it," replied Mrs. Martin;
+"nearly every man in the country has had to travel with his swag
+one time or another. We are all used to it; and it ain't no use
+of your looking after him that way, for most likely you'll never
+see him again." But she did.</p>
+
+<p>About two miles from the Waterholes Philip overtook another
+swagman, a man of middle age, who was going to Nyalong to look
+for work. He had tried the diggings, and left them for want of
+luck, and Philip, having himself been an unlucky digger, had a
+fellow feeling for the stranger. He was an old soldier named
+Summers.</p>
+
+<p>"I am three and fifty years old," he said, "and I 'listed when
+I was twenty. I was in all the wars in India for nineteen years,
+and never was hit but once, and that was on the top of my head.
+Look here," he took off his hat and pointed to a ridge made by
+the track of a bullet, "if I had been an inch taller I shouldn't
+be here now. And maybe it would have been all the better. I have
+been too long at the fighting to learn another trade now. When I
+'listed I was told my pay would be a shilling a day and
+everything found. A shilling a day is seven shillings a week, and
+I thought I should live like a fighting cock, plenty to eat and a
+shilling a day for drink or sport. But I found out the difference
+when it was too late. They kept a strict account against every
+man; it was full of what they called deductions, and we had to
+pay for so many things out of that shilling that sometimes for
+months together I hadn't the price of a pint o' threepenny with a
+trop o' porter through it."</p>
+
+<p>"What was the biggest battle you ever were in?" enquired
+Philip.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I had some close shaves, but the worst was when we took
+a stockade from the Burmans. My regiment was the 47th, and one
+company of ours, sixty-five, rank and file, and two companies
+from other regiments were ordered to attack it. Our officers were
+all shot down before we reached the stockade, but we got in, and
+went at the Burmans with the bayonet. But such a crowd came at us
+from the rear of the stockade that we had to go out again, and we
+ran down the hill. Our ranks were broken, and we had no time to
+rally before a lot of horsemen were among us. My bayonet was
+broken, and I had nothing but my empty musket to fight with. I
+warded off the sabre cuts with it right and left, so, dodging
+among the horses, and I was not once wounded. It was all over in
+a hot minute or two, but, when the supports came up, and we were
+afterwards mustered, only five men of our company answered the
+roll-call. Of course I was one of them, and the barrel of my
+musket was notched like a saw by all the strokes I had parried
+with it." The last time Philip saw Summers he was hammering
+bluestone by the roadside. The pomp and circumstance of glorious
+war had left him in hisold age little better than a beggar.</p>
+
+<p>Philip found Nyalong without much trouble, and renewed the
+acquaintance begun at Bendigo with Mr. Barton and the other
+diggers. To all appearance his promotion was not worth much; he
+might as well have stayed at the Waterholes. Mr. McCarthy acted
+as school director --an honorary office--and he showed Philip the
+school. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"It is not of much account, I must acknowledge; we were short
+of funds, and had to put it up cheap. Most of the wall, you see,
+is only half a brick thick, and, during the sudden gusts that
+come across the lake, the north side bulges inward a good deal;
+so, when you hear the wind coming you had better send the
+children outside until the gale is over. That is what Mr. Foy,
+the last teacher did. And, I must tell you also this school has
+gone to the dogs; there are some very bad boys here--the Boyles
+and the Blakes. When they saw Mr. Foy was going to use his cane
+on them they would dart out of the school, the master after them.
+Then there was a regular steeplechase across the paddocks, and
+every boy and girl came outside to watch it, screaming and
+yelling. It was great fun, but it was not school-teaching. I am
+afraid you will never manage the Boyles and the Blakes. Mr.
+McLaggan, the minister, once found six of them sitting at the
+foot of a gum tree, drinking a bottle of rum. He spoke to them,
+told them that they were young reprobates, and were going
+straight to hell. Hugh Boyle held out the bottle, and said,
+'Here, Mr. McLaggan, wouldn't you like a nip yourself?' The
+minister was on horseback, and always carried a whip with a heavy
+lash, and it was a beautiful sight the way he laid the lash on
+those Boyles and Blakes. I really think you had better turn them
+out of the school, Mr. Philip, or else they will turn you
+out."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Philip's lips closed with a snap. He said, "It is my duty
+to educate them; turning them out of school is not education. We
+will see what can be done."</p>
+
+<p>As everyone knows, the twelve virtues of a good master are
+Gravity, Silence, Humility, Prudence, Wisdom, Patience,
+Discretion, Meekness, Zeal, Vigilance, Piety, and Generosity. I
+don't suppose any teacher was ever quite perfect in the practice
+of them, but a sincere endeavour is often useful. On reflection,
+Philip thought it best to add two other virtues to the
+catalogue--viz., Firmness, and a Strap of Sole-Leather.</p>
+
+<p>There was a full attendance of scholars the first morning, and
+when all the names had been entered on the roll, Philip observed
+that the Boyles and the Blakes were all there; they were
+expecting some new kind of fun with the new master. In order that
+the fun might be inside the school and not all over the paddocks,
+Philip placed his chair near the door, and locked it. Then
+education began; the scholars were all repeating their lessons,
+talking to one another aloud and quarrelling.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, Josh Blake's a-pinching me." "Please, sir, Hugh
+Boyle is a-scroodgin." "Please, sir, Nancy Toomey is making faces
+at me."</p>
+
+<p>It was a pandemonium of little devils, to be changed, if
+possible, into little angels. The master rose from the chair, put
+up one hand, and said: "Silence!"</p>
+
+<p>Every eye was on him, every tongue was silent, and every ear
+was listening, "Joseph Blake and Hugh Boyle, come this way." They
+did so.</p>
+
+<p>"No one here is to shout or talk, or read in a loud voice. If
+any of you want to speak to me you must hold up your hand, so.
+When I nod you can come to me. If you don't do everything I tell
+you, you will be slapped on the hand, or somewhere else, with
+this strap."</p>
+
+<p>He held it up to view. It was eighteen inches long, three
+inches broad, heavy, and pliant. The sight of it made Tommy
+Traddles and many other little boys and girls good all at once;
+but Joseph and Hugh went back to their seats grinning at one
+another. Mr. Foy had often talked that way, but it always came to
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh was the hero of the school, or rather the leading
+villain. In about two minutes he called out, "Please, sir, Josh
+Blake is a-shoving me with his elbow."</p>
+
+<p>"Hugh Boyle, come this way." He came.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Hugh, I told you that there must be no speaking or
+reading aloud. Of course you forgot what I said; you should have
+put up your hand."</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the day Hugh received two slaps, then three,
+then four. He began to fear the strap as well as to feel it. That
+was the beginning of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>Nancy Toomey was naughty, and was sent into a corner. She was
+sulky and rebellious when told to return to her seat. She said,
+in the hearing of Tommy Traddles, "The master is a carroty-headed
+crawler."</p>
+
+<p>It is as well to remark that Philip's hair was red; a man with
+red hair is apt to be of a hasty temper, and, as a matter of
+fact, I had seen Philip's fist fly out very rapidly on several
+occasions before he began to practise the twelve virtues.</p>
+
+<p>Tommy put up his hand, and, at a nod, went up to the
+master.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tommy, what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, Nancy Toomey has been calling you a
+carroty-headed crawler."</p>
+
+<p>Tommy's eyebrows were raised, his eyes and mouth wide open.
+Philip looked over his head at Nancy, whose face was on fire. He
+slowly repeated:</p>
+
+<p>"Nancy Toomey has been calling me a carroty-headed crawler,
+has she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. That's what she called you. I heard her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tommy, go to your seat like a good boy. Nancy won't
+call names any more."</p>
+
+<p>In a little more than a week perfect discipline and good order
+prevailed in the school.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>A BUSH HERMIT.</h3>
+
+<p>It is not good for man to be alone, but Philip became a
+hermit. Half a mile from the school and the main road there was
+an empty slab hut roofed with shingles. It was on the top of a
+long sloping hill, which afforded a beautiful view over the lake
+and the distant hills. Half an acre of garden ground was fenced
+in with the hut, and it was part of the farm of a man from
+Hampshire, England, who lived with his wife near the main road. A
+man from Hampshire is an Englishman, and should speak English;
+but, when Philip tried to make a bargain about the hut, he could
+not understand the Hampshire language, and the farmer's wife had
+to interpret. And that farmer lived to the age of eighty years,
+and never learned to speak English. He was not a fool by any
+means; knew all about farming; worked twelve or fourteen hours a
+day all the year round, having never heard of the eight hours
+system; but he talked, and prayed, and swore all his life in the
+Hampshire dialect. Whenever he spoke to the neighbours a look of
+pain and misery came over them. Sometimes he went to meetings,
+and made a speech, but he was told to go and fetch a Chinaman to
+interpret.</p>
+
+<p>Philip entered into possession of the hut. It had two rooms,
+and the furniture did not cost much. At Adams' store he bought a
+camp oven, an earthenware stew-pot, a milk pan, a billy, two
+pannikins, two spoons, a whittle, and a fork. The extra pannikin
+and spoon were for the use of visitors, for Philip's idea was
+that a hermit, if not holy, should be at least hospitable. With
+an axe and saw he made his own furniture--viz., two hardwood
+stools, one of which would seat two men; for a table he sawed off
+the butt end of a messmate, rolled it inside the hut, and nailed
+on the top of it a piece of a pine packing case. His bedstead was
+a frame of saplings, with strong canvas nailed over it, and his
+mattress was a sheet of stringy bark, which soon curled up at the
+sides and fitted him like a coffin. His pillow was a linen bag
+filled with spare shirts and socks, and under it he placed his
+revolver, in case he might want it for unwelcome visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Patrick Duggan's wife did the laundry work, and refused to
+take payment in cash. But she made a curious bargain about it. A
+priest visited Nyalong only once a month; he lived fifty miles
+away; when Mrs. Duggan was in her last sickness he might be
+unable to administer to her the rites of the church. So her
+bargain was, that in case the priest should be absent, the
+schoolmaster, as next best man, was to read prayers over her
+grave. Philip thought there was something strange, perhaps
+simoniacal, about the bargain. Twice Mrs. Duggan, thinking she
+was on the point of death, sent a messenger to remind him of his
+duty; and when at last she did die, he was present at the
+funeral, and read the prayers for the dead over her grave.</p>
+
+<p>Avarice is a vice so base that I never heard of any man who
+would confess that he had ever been guilty of it. Philip was my
+best friend, and I was always loath to think unkindly of him, but
+at this time I really think he began to be rather penurious--not
+avaricious, certainly not. But he was not a hermit of the holiest
+kind. He began to save money and acquire stock. He had not been
+long on the hill before he owned a horse, two dogs, a cat, a
+native bear, a magpie, and a parrot, and he paid nothing for any
+of them except the horse. One day he met Mr. McCarthy talking to
+Bob Atkins, a station hand, who had a horse to sell--a filly,
+rising three. McCarthy was a good judge of horses, and after
+inspecting the filly, he said: "She will just suit you, Mr.
+Philip, you ought to buy her." So the bargain was made; the price
+was ten pounds, Bob giving in the saddle, bridle, a pair of
+hobbles, and a tether rope. He was proud of his deal.</p>
+
+<p>Two years afterwards, when Philip was riding through the bush,
+Bob rode up alongside, and after a while said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mister, how do you like that filly I sold you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well indeed. She is a capital roadster and
+stockhorse."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she ever throw you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never. What makes you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's queer. The fact is I sold her to you because I
+could not ride her. Every time I mounted, she slung me a
+buster."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, Bob, you meant well, didn't you? But she never yet
+slung me a buster; she is quieter than a lamb, and she will come
+to me whenever I whistle, and follow me like a dog."</p>
+
+<p>Philip's first dog was named Sam. He was half collie and half
+bull dog, and was therefore both brave and full of sagacity. He
+guarded the hut and the other domestics during school hours, and
+when he saw Philip coming up the hill, he ran to meet him,
+smiling and wagging his tail, and reported all well. The other
+dog was only a small pup, a Skye terrier, like a bunch of tow, a
+present from Tommy Traddles. Pup's early days were made very
+miserable by Maggie, the magpie. That wicked bird used to strut
+around Philip while he was digging in the garden, and after
+filling her crop with worms and grubs, she flapped away on one
+wing and went round the hut looking for amusement. She jumped on
+Pup's back, scratched him with her claws, pecked at his skull,
+and pulled locks of wool out of it, the poor innocent all the
+while yelping and howling for mercy. Sam never helped Pup, or
+drove Maggie away; he was actually afraid of her, and believed
+she was a dangerous witch. Sometimes she pecked at his tail, and
+he dared not say a word, but sneaked away, looking sideways at
+her, hanging down his ears, and afraid to say his tail was his
+own. Joey, the parrot, watched all that was going on from his
+cage, which was hung on a hook outside the hut door. Philip tried
+to teach Joey to whistle a tune: "There is na luck aboot the
+hoose, There is na luck at a'," but the parrot had so many things
+to attend to that he never had time to finish the tune. He was,
+indeed, very vain and flighty, sidling along his perch and
+saying: "Sweet pretty Joey, who are you, who are you? Ha! Ha!
+Ha!" wanting everybody to take notice and admire him. When Maggie
+first attacked poor Pup, scratched his back, pecked at his head,
+and tore locks of wool out of him, and Pup screamed pitifully to
+all the world for help, Joey poked his head between the wires of
+his cage, turned one eye downwards, listened to the language, and
+watched the new performance with silent ecstacy. He had never
+heard or seen anything like it in the whole course of his life.
+Philip used to drive Maggie away, take up poor Pup and stroke
+him, while Maggie, the villain, hopped around, flapping her wings
+and giving the greatest impudence.</p>
+
+<p>It really gave Philip a great deal of trouble to keep order
+among his domestics. One day, while hoeing in the garden, he
+heard the Pup screaming miserably. He said, "There's that
+villain, Maggie, at him again," and he ran up to the hut to drive
+her away. But when he reached it there was neither Pup nor Maggie
+to be seen, only Joey in his cage, and he was bobbing his head up
+and down, yelping exactly like the Pup, and then he began
+laughing at Philip ready to burst, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Who are you? Who
+are you? There is no luck aboot the hoose, There is na luck at
+a'."</p>
+
+<p>The native bear resided in a packing case, nailed on the top
+of a stump nearly opposite the hut door. He had a strap round his
+waist, and was fastened to the stump by a piece of clothes line.
+The boys called him a monkey-bear, but though his face was like
+that of a bear he was neither a monkey nor a bear. He was in fact
+a sloth; his legs were not made for walking, but for climbing,
+and although he had strong claws and a very muscular forearm, he
+was always slow in his movements. He was very silent and
+unsociable, never joined in the amusements of the other
+domestics, and when Philip brought him a bunch of tender young
+gum-tree shoots for his breakfast in the morning, he did not even
+say "thanks" or smile, or show the least gratitude. He never
+spoke except at dead of night, when he was exchanging compliments
+with some other bear up a gum tree in the forty-acre paddock. And
+such compliments! Their voices were frightful, something between
+a roar and a groan, and although Philip was a great linguist he
+was never quite sure what they were saying. But the bear was
+always scheming to get away; he was like the Boers, and could not
+abide British rule. Philip would not have kept him at all, but as
+he had taken him into the family circle when a cub he did not
+like to be cruel and turn him out along in a heartless world.
+Twice Bruin managed to untie the clothes line and started for the
+forty-acre. He crawled along very slowly, and when he saw Philip
+coming after him, he stopped, looked behind him, and said, "Hoo,"
+showing his disgust. Then Philip took hold of the end of the
+clothes line and brought him back, scolding all the time.</p>
+
+<p>"You miserable Bruin, you don't know what's good for you; you
+can't tell a light-wood from a gum-tree, and you'll die of
+starvation, or else the boys will find you, and they will kill
+you, thinking you are a wild bush bear, for you don't show any
+signs of good education, after all the trouble I have taken to
+teach you manners. I am afraid you will come to a bad end."</p>
+
+<p>And so he did. The third time Bruin loosed the clothes line he
+had a six hours' start before he was missed, and sure enough he
+hid himself in a lightwood for want of sense, and that very night
+the boys saw him by the light of the moon, and Hugh Boyle climbed
+up the tree and knocked him down with a waddy.</p>
+
+<p>Pussy, Philip's sixth domestic, had attained her majority; she
+had never gone after snakes in her youth, and had always avoided
+bad company. She did her duty in the house as a good mouser, and
+when mice grew scarce she went hunting for game; she had a hole
+under the eaves near the chimney, through which she could enter
+the hut at any time of the night or day. While Philip was musing
+after tea on the "Pons Asinorum" by the light of a tallow candle,
+Pussy was out poaching for quail, and as soon as she caught one
+she brought it home, dropped it on the floor, rubbed her side
+against Philip's boot, and said, "I have brought a little game
+for breakfast." Then Philip stroked her along the back, after
+which she lay down before the fire, tucked in her paws and fell
+asleep, with a good conscience.</p>
+
+<p>But many bush cats come to an unhappy and untimely end by
+giving way to the vice of curiosity. When Dinah, the vain kitten,
+takes her first walk abroad in spring time, she observes
+something smooth and shiny gliding gently along. She pricks up
+her ears, and gazes at the interesting stranger; then she goes a
+little nearer, softly lifting first one paw and then another.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger is more intelligent than Dinah. He says to
+himself, "I know her sort well, the silly thing. Saw her ages ago
+in the Garden. She wants mice and frogs and such things--takes
+the bread out of my mouth. Native industry must be protected." so
+the stranger brings his head round under the grass and waits for
+Dinah, who is watching his tail. The tail moves a little and then
+a little more. Dinah says, "It will be gone if I don't mind," and
+she jumps for it. At that instant the snake strikes her on the
+nose with his fangs. Dinah's fur rises on end with sudden fright,
+she shakes her head, and the snake drops off. She turns away, and
+says, "This is frightful; what a deceitful world! Life is not
+worth living." Her head feels queer, and being sleepy she lies
+down, and is soon a dead cat.</p>
+
+<p>That summer was very hot at Nyalong, one hundred and ten
+degrees in the shade. Philip began to find his bed of stringy
+bark very hard, and as it grew older it curled together so much
+that he could scarcely turn in it from one side to the other. So
+he made a mattress which he stuffed with straw, and he found it
+much softer than the stringy bark. But after a while the mattress
+grew flat, and the stuffing lumpy. Sometimes on hot days he took
+out his bed, and after shaking it, he laid it down on the grass;
+his blankets he hung on the fence for many reasons which he
+wanted to get rid of.</p>
+
+<p>The water in the forty-acre to the south was all dried up. An
+old black snake with a streak of orange along his ribs grew
+thirsty. His last meal was a mouse, and he said, "That was a dry
+mouthful, and wants something to wash it down." He knew his way
+to the water-hole at the end of the garden, but he had to pass
+the hut, which when he travelled that way the summer before was
+unoccupied. After creeping under the bottom rail of the fence, he
+raised his head a little, and looked round. He said, "I see
+there's another tenant here"--Bruin was then alive and was
+sitting on the top of his stump eating gum leaves--"I never saw
+that fellow so low down in the world before; I wonder what he is
+doing here; been lagged, I suppose for something or other. He is
+a stupid, anyway, and won't take any notice even if he sees
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Sam and Puss were both blinking their eyes in the shade of the
+lightwood, and whisking the flies from their ears. Maggie was
+walking about with beak open, showing her parched tongue; the
+heat made her low-spirited.</p>
+
+<p>The snake had crept as far as Philip's mattress, which was
+lying on the grass, when Maggie saw him. She instantly gave the
+alarm, "A snake, a snake!" for she knew he was a bad character.
+Sam and Puss jumped up and began to bark; Joey said, "There is na
+luck aboot the hoose." Bruin was too stupid to say anything. The
+snake said, "Here is a terrible row all at once, I must make for
+a hole." He had a keen eye for a hole, and he soon saw one. It
+was a small one, in Philip's mattress, almost hidden by the seam,
+and had been made most likely by a splinter or a nail. The snake
+put his head in it, saying, "Any port in a storm," then drew in
+his whole length, and settled himself comfortably among the
+straw.</p>
+
+<p>Beasts and birds have instincts, and a certain amount of will
+and understanding, but no memory worth mentioning. For that
+reason the domestics never told Philip about the snake in his
+mattress, they had forgotten all about it. If Sam had buried a
+bone, he would have remembered it a week afterwards, if he was
+hungry; but as for snakes, it was, "out of sight, out of
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>Philip took in his mattress and blanket before sundown and
+made his bed. The snake was still in the straw; he had been badly
+scared, and thought it would be best to keep quiet until he saw a
+chance to creep out, and continue his journey down the garden.
+But it was awfully dark inside the mattress, and although he went
+round and round amongst the straw he could not find any way out
+of it, so at last he said: "I must wait till morning," and went
+to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>When Philip went to bed the snake was disturbed, and woke up.
+There was so heavy a weight on him that he could scarcely move,
+and he was almost suffocated. He said: "This is dreadful; I have
+been in many a tight place in my time, but never in one so tight
+as this. Whatever am I to do? I shall be squeezed to death if I
+don't get away from this horrid monster on top of me."</p>
+
+<p>Philip fell asleep as usual, and by-and-by the snake began to
+flatten his ribs, and draw himself from under the load, until at
+last he was clear of it; then, heaving a deep sigh of relief he
+lay quiet for awhile to recover his breath. He knew there was a
+hole somewhere if he could only find it and he kept poking his
+nose here and there against the mattress.</p>
+
+<p>After sleeping an hour or two, Philip turned on his other
+side, and the snake had to move out of the way in a hurry for
+fear of being squeezed to death. There was a noise as of
+something rustling in the straw, and after listening awhile,
+Philip said: "I suppose it's a mouse," and soon fell fast asleep
+again, because he was not afraid of mice even when they ran
+across his nose.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning he took his blankets out again, and hung them
+on the fence, shook up his mattress and pillow, and then spread
+the sheets over them, tucking them in all round, and then he got
+ready his breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of that day was spent by the snake in trying to find
+a way out. The sheets being tucked in he was still in the dark,
+and he kept going round and round, feeling for the hole with his
+nose until he went completely out of his mind, just as a man does
+when he is lost in the bush. So the day wore on, night and
+bedtime came again, and Philip lay down to rest once more right
+over the imprisoned snake. Then that snake went raving mad, lost
+all control of himself, and rolled about recklessly. Philip sat
+up in bed, and a cold sweat began to trickle down his face, and
+his hair stood on end. He whispered to himself as if afraid the
+snake might hear him. "The Lord preserve us, that's no mouse;
+it's a snake right under me. What shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to do was to strike a light; the matches and
+candle were on a box at his bedside, and he slowly put out his
+hand to reach them, expecting every moment to feel the fangs in
+his wrist. But he found the match-box, struck a light, carefully
+examined the floor as far as he could see it, jumped out of bed
+at one bound, and took refuge in the other room. There he looked
+in every corner, and along every rafter for the other snake, for
+he knew that at this season snakes are often found in pairs, but
+he could not see the mate of the one he had left in bed.</p>
+
+<p>There was no sleep for Philip that night, and, by the light of
+the candle, he sat waiting for the coming day, and planning dire
+vengeance. At sunrise he examined closely every hole, and
+crevice, and corner, and crack in both rooms, floor and floor,
+slabs, rafters, and shingles. He said, at last: "I think there is
+only one snake, and he is in the bed."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went outside, and cut a stick about five feet long,
+one end of which he pointed with his knife. Returning to the
+bedroom, he lifted up with the point of his stick the sheets,
+blankets, and pillows, took them outside, and hung them on the
+fence. Next he turned over the mattress slowly, but there was
+nothing to be seen under it. He poked the mattress with the blunt
+end of his stick here and there, and he soon saw that something
+was moving inside. "Ah!" he said, "there you are, my friend." The
+thought of having slept two nights on a live snake made him
+shudder a little, but he was bent on vengeance. He took hold of
+one end of the mattress with one hand, and holding the stick in
+the other, he carried it outside and laid it on the grass.
+Looking carefully at every side of the mattress he discovered the
+hole through which the snake had entered. It was so small that he
+could scarcely believe that a snake had gone through it, but no
+other hole was anywhere visible. Philip said, "If the beast comes
+out it shall be through fire," so he picked up a few pieces of
+bark which he placed over the hole, and set on fire. The straw
+inside was soon in a blaze, and the snake was lively. His
+situation was desperate, and his movements could be traced by the
+rising and falling of the ticking. Philip said, "My friend, you
+are looking for a hole, but when you find it it will be a hot
+one." The snake at last made a dash for life through the fire,
+and actually came out into the open air. But he was dazed and
+blinded, and his skin was wet and shining with oil, or
+perspiration, or something.</p>
+
+<p>Philip gave him a finishing stroke with his stick, and tossed
+him back into the fire. Of course a new mattress was necessary,
+and a keen eye for snakes ever afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>The teaching in the school went on with regularity and
+success. There was, however, an occasional interruption. Once a
+furious squall came over the lake, and shook the frail building
+so much that Philip threw open the door and sent out all the
+children, the little ones and girls first, and then the boys,
+remaining himself to the last like the captain of a sinking ship;
+but he was not so much of a fool to stay inside and brave
+destruction; he went out to a safe distance until the squall was
+over.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a visitor interfered with the work of the school,
+and Philip for that reason hated visitors; but it was his duty to
+be civil and patient. Two inspectors called on two different
+occasions to examine the scholars. One of them was scarcely
+sober, and he behaved in a manner so eccentric that the master
+had a strong temptation to kick him out. However, he at last
+succeeded in seeing the inspector outside the door peaceably, and
+soon afterwards the department dispensed with that gentleman's
+services.</p>
+
+<p>He had obtained his office by favour of a minister at home for
+services rendered at an election. His salary was 900 pounds per
+annum. The next inspector received the same salary. He was
+brother or brother-in-law to a bishop, and had many ancestors and
+relatives of high degree. Philip foolishly showed him a few
+nuggets which he had picked up in Picaninny Gully, and the
+inspector showed Philip the letter by which he had obtained his
+appointment and 900 pounds a year. It was only a couple of lines
+written and signed by a certain lord in London, but it was
+equivalent to an order for a billet on the government of
+Victoria. Then the inspector said he would feel extremely obliged
+to Philip if he would give him one of his little nuggets that he
+might send it to my lord as a present, and Philip at once handed
+over his biggest nugget. Little amenities of this kind make life
+so pleasant. My lord would be pleased to receive the nugget, the
+inspector was pleased to send it, and Philip said "it cannot be
+bribery and corruption, but this inspector being a gentleman will
+be friendly. When he mentions me and my school in his report he
+cannot possibly forget the nugget."</p>
+
+<p>Barney, the boozer, one day visited the school. He opened the
+door and stood on the threshold. His eyes seemed close together,
+and there was a long red scar on his bare neck, where he had on a
+former occasion cut his throat. All the scholars were afraid of
+Barney, and the girls climbed up on the benches and began to
+scream.</p>
+
+<p>Philip went up to the Boozer and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my friend, what do you want here?"</p>
+
+<p>"The devil knows," replied Barney.</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, but he is not here, he has gone down the
+road."</p>
+
+<p>Then taking Barney by the arm he turned him round and guided
+him to the road. Barney went about twenty yards until he came to
+a pool of water. He stepped on to the fence and sat on the top
+rail gazing into the pool. At last he threw his hat into it, then
+his boots, coat, shirt, and trousers. When he was quite naked, he
+stamped on his clothes until they were thoroughly soaked and
+buried in mud. Barney then resumed his search for the devil,
+swinging his arms to and fro in a free and defiant manner.</p>
+
+<p>The school was also visited by a bishop, a priest, a squatter,
+and a judge. The dress and demeanour of the judge were very
+impressive at so great a distance from any centre of
+civilization, for he wore a tall beaver hat, a suit of black
+broadcloth, and a white necktie. Philip received him with
+reverence, thinking he could not be anything less than a lord
+spiritual, such is the power of broadcloth and fine linen. Nosey,
+the shepherd, was then living at Nyalong, having murdered the
+other shepherd, Baldy, about six months before, and this judge
+sent Nosey to the gallows seventeen years afterwards; but neither
+Nosey nor the judge knew what was to happen after seventeen
+years. This is the story of Nosey and Baldy.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>THE TWO SHEPHERDS.</h3>
+
+<p>By the men on the run they were known as Nosey and Baldy, but
+in a former stage of their existence, in the days of the Emperor
+Augustus C&aelig;sar, they were known as Naso and Balbus. They
+were then rivals in love and song, and accused each other of
+doing things that were mean. And now, after undergoing for their
+sins various transmigrations into the forms of inferior animals,
+during two thousand years, as soon as shepherds are required in
+Australia Felix, they appear once more following their flocks and
+herds. But they are entirely forgetful of all Greek and Roman
+civilization; their morals have not improved, and their quarrels
+are more bitter than ever. In the old times they tootled on the
+tuneful reed, and sang in purest Latin the sweetest ditties ever
+heard, in praise of Galatea and Amyntas, Delia and Iolla. But
+they never tootle now, and never sing, and when they speak, their
+tongue is that of the unmusical barbarians. In their pagan days
+they stained their rustic altars with the blood of a kid, a
+sacrifice to Jupiter, and poured out libations of generous wine;
+but they offer up neither prayer nor sacrifice now, and they pour
+libations of gin down their throats.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian rustic is yet musical, and the Roman citizen has
+not lost the genius of his race. He is still unrivalled in
+sculpture and architecture, in painting, in poetry, and
+philosophy; and in every handicraft his fingers are as deft as
+ever. But empire has slipped from his grasp, and empire once
+lost, like time, never returns. Who can rebuild Ninevah or
+Babylon, put new life into the mummies of the Pharoahs, and
+recrown them; raise armies from the dust of the warriors of
+Sesostris, and send them forth once more to victory and
+slaughter? Julian the Apostate tried to rebuild the Holy City and
+Temple of Israel, to make prophecy void--apparently a small
+enterprise for a Roman Emperor--but all his labours were vain.
+Modern Julians have been trying to resuscitate old Rome, and to
+found for her a new empire, and have only made Italy another
+Ireland, with a starving people and a bankrupt government. 'Nos
+patri&aelig; fines, nos dulcia linquimus arva'. The Italians are
+emigrating year after year to avoid starvation in the Garden of
+Europe. In every city of the great empire on which the sun never
+sets they wander through the streets, clad in faded garments of
+olive green--the toga long since discarded and forgotten--making
+sweet music from the harp and violin, their melancholy eyes
+wandering after the passing crowd, hoping for the pitiful penny
+that is so seldom given.</p>
+
+<p>The two shepherds were employed on a station north of Lake
+Nyalong. It is a country full of dead volcanoes, whose craters
+have been turned into salt lakes, and their rolling floods of
+lava have been stiffened into barriers of black rocks; where the
+ashes belched forth in fiery blasts from the deep furnaces of a
+burning world have covered the hills and plains with perennial
+fertility.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy had been entrusted with a fattening flock, and Nosey had
+in his care a lambing flock. From time to time the sheep were
+counted, and it was found that the fattening flock was decreasing
+in numbers. The squatter wanted to know what had become of his
+missing sheep, but Baldy could give no account of them. His
+suspicions, however, soon fell on Nosey. The latter was his
+nearest neighbour, and although he had only the same wages--viz.,
+thirty pounds a year and rations-- he seemed to be unaccountably
+prosperous, and was the owner of a wife and two horses. He had
+been transported for larceny when he was only fifteen years of
+age, and at twenty-eight he was suspected of being still a thief.
+Girls of the same age were sent from Great Britain to Botany Bay
+and Van Diemen's Land for stealing one bit of finery, worth a
+shilling, and became the consorts of criminals of the deepest
+dye. You may read their names in the Indents to this day,
+together with their height, age, complexion, birthplace, and
+other important particulars.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy went over to Nosey's hut one evening when the blue smoke
+was curling over the chimney, and the long shadows of the Wombat
+Hills were creeping over the Stoney Rises. Julia was boiling the
+billy for tea, and her husband was chopping firewood outside.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, Julia," said Baldy; "fine evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Same to you, Baldy. Any news to-day?" asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is," said Baldy, "and it's bad news for me;
+there's ten more of my fatteners missing" (Nosey stopped chopping
+and listened) "and the master says I'll have to hump my swag if I
+can't find out what has become of them. I say, Nosey, you don't
+happen to have seen any dingoes or blacks about here lately?"</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't seen e'er a one, neither dingo nor blackfellow. But,
+you know, if they were after mischief they'd take care not to
+make a show. There might be stacks of them about and we never to
+see one of them."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey was proud of his cunning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Baldy, "I can hear of nobody having seen any
+strangers about the Rises, nor dingoes, nor black fellows. And
+the dingoes, anyhow, would have left some of the carcases behind;
+but the thieves, whoever they are, have not left me as much as a
+lock of the wool of my sheep. I have been talking about 'em with
+old Sharp; he is the longest here of any shepherd in the country,
+and knows all the blacks, and he says it's his opinion the man
+who took the sheep is not far away from the flock now. What do
+you think about it, Nosey?"</p>
+
+<p>"What the----should I know about your sheep?" said Nosey. "Do
+you mean to insinivate that I took 'em? I'll tell you what it is,
+Baldy; it'll be just as well for you to keep your blasted tongue
+quiet about your sheep, for if I hear any more about 'em, I'll
+see you for it; do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I hear. All right, Nosey, we'll see about it," said
+Baldy.</p>
+
+<p>There would have been a fight perhaps, but Baldy was a smaller
+man than the other and was growing old, while Nosey was in the
+prime of life.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy went to Nyalong next day. His rations did not include
+gin, and he wanted some badly, the more so because he was in
+trouble about his lost sheep. Gin, known then as "Old Tom," was
+his favourite remedy for all ailments, both of mind and body. If
+he could not find out what had become of his sheep, his master
+might dismiss him without a character. There was not much good
+character running to waste on the stations, but still no squatter
+would like to entrust a flock to a shepherd who was suspected of
+having stolen and sold his last master's sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy walked to Nyalong along the banks of the lake. The
+country was then all open, unfenced, except the paddocks at the
+home stations. The boundary between two of the runs was merely
+marked by a ploughed furrow, not very straight, which started
+near the lake, and went eastward along the plains. In the Rises
+no plough could make a line through the rocks, and the boundaries
+there were imaginary. Stray cattle were roaming over the country,
+eating the grass, and the main resource of the squatters was the
+Pounds Act. Hay was then sold at 80 pounds per ton at Bendigo; a
+draft of fat bullocks was worth a mine of gold at Ballarat, and,
+therefore, grass was everywhere precious. No wonder if the hardy
+bullock-driver became a cattle lifter after his team had been
+impounded by the station stockman when found only four hundred
+yards from the bush track. Money, in the shape of fat stock, was
+running loose, as it were, on every run, and why should not the
+sagacious Nosey do a little business when Baldy's fat sheep were
+tempting him, and a market for mutton could be found no farther
+away than the Nyalong butcher's shop.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy left the township happier than usual, carrying under his
+arm two bottles of Old Tom. He was seen by a man who knew him
+entering the Rises, and going away in the direction of Nosey's
+hut, and then for fifteen years he was a lost shepherd. In course
+of time it was ascertained that he had called at Nosey's hut on
+his way home. He had the lost sheep on his mind, and he could not
+resist the impulse to have another word or two with Nosey about
+them. He put down the two bottles of gin outside the door of the
+hut, near an axe whose handle leaned against the wall. Nosey and
+his wife, Julia, were inside, and he bade them good evening. Then
+he took a piece of tobacco out of his pocket, and began cutting
+it with his knife. He always carried his knife tied to his belt
+by a string which went through a hole bored in the handle. It was
+a generally useful knife, and with it he foot-rotted sheep,
+stirred the tea in his billy, and cut beef and damper, sticks,
+and tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been to Nyalong," he said, "and I heern something
+about my sheep; they went to the township all right, strayed
+away, you know, followed one another's tails, and never came
+back, the O. K. bullocks go just the same way. Curious, isn't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>Nosey listened with keen interest. "Well, Baldy," he said,
+"and what did you hear? Did you find out who took 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," said Baldy; "I know pretty well all about 'em now,
+both sheep and bullocks. Old Sharp was right about the sheep,
+anyway. The thief is not far from the flock, and it's not me."
+Baldy was brewing mischief for himself, but he did not know how
+much.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell the police about 'em?" asked Nosey.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, not to-day!" answered Baldy. "Time enough yet. I
+ain't in no hurry to be an informer."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey eyed him with unusual savagery, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now didn't I tell you to say no more about your blasted
+sheep, or I'd see you for it? and here you are again, and you
+can't leave 'em alone. You are no better than a fool."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I am a fool, Nosey. Just wait till I get a light, and
+I'll leave your hut and trouble you no more."</p>
+
+<p>He was standing in the middle of the floor cutting his
+tobacco, and rubbing it between the palms of his hands, shaking
+his head, and eyeing the floor with a look of great sagacity.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey went outside, and began walking to and fro, thinking and
+whispering to himself. It was a habit he had acquired while
+slowly sauntering after his sheep. He seemed to have another
+self, an invisible companion with whom he discussed whatever was
+uppermost in his mind. If he had then consulted his other self,
+Julia, he might have saved himself a world of trouble; but he did
+not think of her. He said to himself: "Now, Nosey, if you don't
+mind, you are going to be in a hole. That old fool inside has
+found out something or other about the sheep, and the peelers
+will have you, if you don't look out, and they'll give you
+another seven years and maybe ten. You've done your time once,
+Nosey, and how would you like to do it again? Why couldn't you
+leave the cursed sheep alone and keep out of mischief just when
+you were settling down in life comfortable, and might have a
+chance to do better. Baldy will be telling the peelers to-morrow
+all he knows about the sheep you stole, and then they'll fetch
+you, sure. There's only one thing to stop the old fool's jaw, and
+you are not game to do it, Nosey; you never done a man yet, and
+you are not game to do it now, and you'll be damned if you do it,
+and the devil will have you, and you'll be hanged first maybe.
+And if you don't do him you'll be lagged again for the sheep, and
+in my opinion, Nosey, you are not game. Yes, by the powers, you
+are, Nosey, damned if you ain't. Who's afeered? And you'll do it
+quick --do it quick. Now or never's your time."</p>
+
+<p>While talking thus to himself, Nosey was pacing to and fro,
+and he glanced at the axe every time he passed the door. The
+weapon was ready to his hand, and seemed to be inviting him to
+use it.</p>
+
+<p>"Baldy is going to light his pipe, and while he is stooping to
+get a firestick, I'll do him with the axe."</p>
+
+<p>When Baldy turned towards the fire, Nosey grasped the axe and
+held it behind him. He waited a moment, and then entered the hut;
+but Baldy either heard his step, or had some suspicion of danger,
+for he looked around before takingup a firestick. At that instant
+the blow, intended for the back of the head, struck him on the
+jaw, and he fell forward among the embers. For one brief moment
+of horror he must have realised that he was being murdered, and
+then another blow behind the head left him senseless.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey dragged the body out of the fireplace into the middle of
+the floor, intending, while he was doing a man, to do him well.
+He raised the axe to finish his work with a third blow, but Julia
+gave a scream so piercing that his attention was diverted to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nosey," she said, "what are you doing to poor Baldy? You
+are murdering him."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey turned to his wife with upraised axe.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your jaw, woman, and keep quiet, or I'll do as much for
+you."</p>
+
+<p>She said no more. She was tall and stout, had small, sharp,
+roving eyes; and Nosey was a thick-set man, with a thin,
+prominent nose, sunken eyes, and overhanging brows. He never had
+a prepossessing appearance, and now his look and attitude were so
+ugly and fierce that the big woman was completely cowed. The pair
+stood still for some time, watching the last convulsive movements
+of the murdered Baldy.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey could now pride himself on having been "game to do his
+man," but he could not feel much glory in his work just yet. He
+had done it without sufficient forethought, and his mind was soon
+full of trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Murder was worse than sheep stealing, and the consequences of
+his new venture in crime began to crowd on his mind with
+frightful rapidity. He had not even thought of any plan for
+hiding away the corpse. He had no grave ready, and could not dig
+one anywhere in the neighbourhood. The whole of the country round
+his hut was rocky-- little hills of bare bluestone boulders, and
+grassy hollows covered with only a few inches of soil--rocks
+everywhere, above ground and below. He could burn the body, but
+it would take a long time to do it well; somebody might come
+while he was at the work, and even the ashes might betray his
+secret. There were shallow lakes and swamps, but he could not put
+the corpse into any of them with safety: search would be made
+wherever there was water, on the supposition that Baldy had been
+drowned after drinking too freely of the gin he had brought from
+Nyalong, and if the body was found, the appearance of the skull
+would show that death had been caused, not by drowning, but by
+the blows of that cursed axe. Nosey began to lay all the blame on
+the axe, and said, "If it had not stood up so handy near the
+door, I wouldn't have killed the man."</p>
+
+<p>It was the axe that tempted him. Excuses of that sort are of a
+very ancient date.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily Nosey owned two horses, one of which was old and
+quiet. He told Julia to fasten the door, and to open it on no
+account whatever, while he went for the horse, which was feeding
+in the Rises hobbled, and with a bell tied round his neck. When
+he returned he saddled the animal, and Julia held the bridle
+while he went into the hut for the body. He observed Baldy's pipe
+on the floor near the fire-place, and he replaced it in the
+pocket in which it had been usually kept, as it might not be safe
+to leave anything in the hut belonging to the murdered man. There
+was a little blood on the floor, but he would scrape that off by
+daylight, and he would then also look at the axe and put away the
+two bottles of gin somewhere; he could do all that next morning
+before Baldy was missed. But the corpse must be taken away at
+once, for he felt that every minute of delay might endanger his
+neck. He dragged the body outside, and with Julia's help lifted
+it up and placed it across the saddle. Then he tried to steady
+his load with his right hand, and to guide the horse by the
+bridle with his left, but he soon found that a dead man was a bad
+rider; Baldy kept slipping towards the near side or the off side
+with every stride of the horse, and soon fell to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey was in a furious hurry, he was anxious to get away; he
+cursed Baldy for giving him so much trouble; he could have killed
+him over again for being so awkward and stubborn, and he begun to
+feel that the old shepherd was more dangerous dead than alive. At
+last he mounted his horse, and called to Julia to come and help
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Julia, lift him up till I catch hold of his collar, and
+I'll pull him up in front of me on the saddle, and hold him that
+way."</p>
+
+<p>Julia, with many stifled moans, raised the body from the
+ground, Nosey reached down and grasped the shirt collar, and thus
+the two managed to place the swag across the saddle. Then Nosey
+made a second start, carefully balancing the body, and keeping it
+from falling with his right hand, while he held the bridle with
+his left.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral procession slowly wound its way in a westerly
+direction among the black rocks over the softest and smoothest
+ground to avoid making any noise. There was no telling what
+stockman or cattle-stealer the devil might send at any moment to
+meet the murderer among the lonely Rises, and even in the
+darkness his horrible burden would betray him. Nosey was
+disturbed by the very echo of his horse's steps; it seemed as if
+somebody was following him at a little distance; perhaps Julia,
+full of woman's curiosity; and he kept peering round and looking
+back into the darkness. In this way he travelled about a mile and
+a half, and then dismounting, lowered the body to the ground, and
+began to look for some suitable hiding place. He chose one among
+a confused heap of rocks, and by lifting some of them aside he
+made a shallow grave, to which he dragged the body, and covered
+it by piling boulders over and around it. He struck several
+matches to enable him to examine his work carefully, and closed
+up every crevice through which his buried treasure might be
+visible.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Nosey was astir early. He had an important
+part to act, and he was anxious to do it well. He first examined
+the axe and cleaned it well, carefully burning a few of Baldy's
+grey hairs which he found on it. Then he searched the floor for
+drops of blood, which he carefully scraped with a knife, and
+washed until no red spot was visible. Then he walked to Baldy's
+and pretended to himself that he was surprised to find it empty.
+What had happened the previous night was only a dream, an ugly
+dream. He met an acquaintance and told him that Baldy was neither
+in his hut nor with his sheep.</p>
+
+<p>The two men called at old Sharp's hut to make enquiries. The
+latter said, "I seen Baldy's sheep yesterday going about in mobs,
+and nobody to look after them." Then the three men went to the
+deserted hut. Everything in it seemed undisturbed. The dog was
+watching at the door, and they told him to seek Baldy. He pricked
+up his ears, wagged his tail, and looked wistfully in the
+direction of Nosey's hut, evidently expecting his master to come
+in sight that way.</p>
+
+<p>The men went to the nearest magistrate and informed him that
+the shepherd was missing. A messenger went to the head station.
+Enquiries were made at the township, and it was found that Baldy
+had been to Nyalong the previous day, and had left in the evening
+carrying two bottles of gin. This circumstance seemed to account
+for his absence; he had taken too much of the liquor, was lying
+asleep somewhere, and would reappear in the course of the day.
+Men both on foot and on horseback roamed through the Rises,
+examining the hollows and the flats, the margins of the shallow
+lakes, and peering into every wombat hole as they passed. They
+never thought of turning over any of the boulders; a drunken man
+would never make his bed and blanket of rocks; he would be found
+lying on the top if he had stumbled amongst them. One by one as
+night approached the searchers returned to the hut. They had
+discovered nothing, and the only conclusion they could come to
+was, that Baldy was taking a very long sleep somewhere--which was
+true enough.</p>
+
+<p>Next day every man from the neighbouring stations, and some
+from Nyalong, joined in the search. The chief constable was
+there, and as became a professed detector of crime, he examined
+everything minutely inside and outside the two huts, but he could
+not find anything suspicious about either of them. He entered
+into conversation with Julia, but the eye of her husband was on
+her, and she had little to say. Nosey, on the contrary, was full
+of suggestions as to what might have happened to Baldy, and he
+helped to look for him eagerly and actively in every direction
+but the right one.</p>
+
+<p>For many days the Rises were peopled with prospectors, but one
+by one they dropped away. The chief constable was loath to leave
+the riddle unsolved; he had the instinct of the sleuth-hound on
+the scent of blood. He had been a pursuer of bad works amongst
+the convicts for a long time, both in Van Diemen's Land and in
+Victoria, and had helped to bring many men to the gallows or the
+chain-gang. He had once been shot in the back by a horse thief
+who lay concealed behind the door of a shepherd's hut, but he
+secured the horse thief. He was a man without nerves, of medium
+height, strongly built, had a broad face, massive ears, wide,
+firm mouth, and strong jaws.</p>
+
+<p>One night after the searchers had departed to their various
+homes, the chief remained alone in the Rises, and leaving his
+horse hobbled at a distance, cautiously approached Nosey's hut.
+He placed his ear to the outside of the weatherboards, and
+listened for some time to the conversation of Nosey and his wife,
+expecting to obtain by chance some information about the
+disappearance of the other shepherd. Nosey was in a bad temper,
+swearing and finding fault with everything. Julia was prudent and
+said little; it was best not to say too much to a man who was so
+handy with the family axe. But at last she made use of one
+expression which seemed to mean something. She said, "Oh, Nosey,
+you murdering villain, you know you ought to be hanged." There
+was a prophetic ring in these words which delighted the chief
+constable, and he glued his great ear to the weatherboards,
+eagerly listening for more; but the wrangling pair were very
+disappointing; they would not keep to the point. At last he
+walked round the hut, suddenly opened the door, and entered.
+Nosey was struck dumb at once. His first thought was that his
+plan had been sprung, and that the murder was out. The chief
+addressed Julia in a tone of authority, imitating the counsel for
+the crown when examining a prevaricating witness.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, missus, remember you will be put on your oath. You said
+just now, 'Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought
+to be hanged.' Those were your very words. Now what did you mean?
+On your oath, mind; out with it at once."</p>
+
+<p>But Julia was not to be caught so easily. She replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bad luck to him, he is always angry. I don't know what to
+do with him. I did not mean anything."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not mean anything about Baldy, I suppose, did you,
+now?" queried the constable, shamefully leading the witness, and
+looking hard at Nosey.</p>
+
+<p>Julia parried the question by heaving a deep sigh, and saying:
+"Hi, ho, Harry, if I were a maid, I never would marry;" and then
+she began singing a silly old song.</p>
+
+<p>The constable was disgusted, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My good woman, you'll find there will be nothing to laugh at
+in this job, when I see you again."</p>
+
+<p>As he left the hut, he turned at the door and gave one more
+look at Nosey, who had stood all the time rivetted to the ground,
+expecting every moment that the constable would produce the
+handcuffs. Soon afterwards Julia went outside, walked round the
+hut, and stayed awhile, listening and looking in every direction.
+When she returned, Nosey said, in a hoarse whisper:</p>
+
+<p>"Is he gan yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think," replied Julia, "he won't be coming again to-night.
+He has thrown away his trouble this time, anyhow; but ye must
+hould your tongue, Nosey, if ye want to save your neck; he means
+to have you if he can."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey stayed on the run some weeks longer, following his
+sheep. It would not be advisable to go away suddenly, and,
+moreover, he recollected that what the eye could not see might
+some time be discovered by another of the senses. So he waited
+patiently, standing guard as it were over the dead, until his
+curiosity induced him to pay a farewell visit by daylight to the
+place where Baldy was buried.</p>
+
+<p>There had been hot weather since the body had been deposited
+in the shallow grave, and the crevices among the piles of
+bluestones had been filled by the wind with the yellow stalks of
+decayed grass. Nosey walked round his own particular pile, and
+inspected it closely. He was pleased to find that it showed no
+signs of having been touched since he raised it. It was just like
+any of the other heaps of rocks around it. He had, at any rate,
+given Baldy as good a funeral as circumstances would permit,
+better than that of many a man who had perished of hunger, heat,
+and thirst, in the shelterless wastes of the Never-Never Land,
+"beyond Moneygrub's farthest run." Nosey and the weather had done
+their work so well that for the next fifteen years no shepherd,
+stockman, or squatter ever gave a second look at that unknown
+grave. The black snake coiled itself beneath the decaying
+skeleton, and spent the winter in secure repose. The native cat
+tore away bits of Baldy's clothing, and with them and the yellow
+grass made, year after year, a nest for its young among the
+whitening bones.</p>
+
+<p>Everything, so far, had turned out quite as satisfactorily as
+any murderer could expect. Nosey had been game to do his man, and
+he had done him well. Julia was prudent enough to hold her tongue
+for her own sake; it was unlikely that any further search would
+be made for the lost shepherd; he had been safely put out of
+sight, and not even Julia knew where he was buried.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey began to have a better opinion of himself than ever.
+Neither the police nor the law could touch him. He would never be
+called to account for putting away his brother shepherd, in this
+world at any rate; and as for the next, why it was a long way
+off, and there was time enough to think about it. The day of
+reckoning was distant, but it came at last, as it always does to
+every sinner of us all.</p>
+
+<p>Nosey resigned his billet, and went to Nyalong. He lived in a
+hut in the eastern part of the township, not far from the lake,
+and near the corner of the road coming down from the Bald Hill.
+Here had been laid the foundation of a great inland city by a
+bush publican, two storekeepers, a wheelwright, and a blacksmith.
+Another city had been started at the western side of Wandong
+Creek, but its existence was ignored by the eastern pioneers.</p>
+
+<p>The shepherd soon began to forget or despise the advice of his
+wife, Julia; his tongue grew loose again, and at the bar of the
+inn of the crossroads his voice was often heard loud and abusive.
+He felt that he had become a person of importance, as the
+possessor of a secret which nobody could discover. What he said
+and what he did was discussed about the township, and the chief
+constable listened to every report, expecting that some valuable
+information would accidentally leak out.</p>
+
+<p>One day a man wearing a blue jumper and an old hat came down
+the road, stepped on to the verandah of the inn, and threw down
+his swag. Nosey was there, holding forth to Bill the Butcher,
+Dick Smalley, Frank Barton, Bob Atkins, Charley Goodall, and
+George Brown the Liar. A dispute occurred, in which the
+presumptuous stranger joined, and Nosey promptly knocked him off
+the verandah into the gutter. A valid claim to satisfaction was
+thus established, and the swagman showed a disposition to enforce
+it. He did not attempt to regain his position on the boards, but
+took his stand on the broad stone of honour in the middle of the
+road. He threw up his hat into the air, and began walking rapidly
+to and fro, clenched his fists, stiffened his sinews, and at
+every turn in his walk said:</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your
+life."</p>
+
+<p>This man's action promised real sport, and true Britons as we
+all were we were delighted to see him. Nosey stood on the
+verandah for a minute or two, watching the motions of the
+swagman; he did not seem to recollect all at once what the code
+of honour required, until Bill the Butcher remarked, "He wants
+you, Nosey," then Nosey went.</p>
+
+<p>The two men met in the middle of the road, and put up their
+hands. They appeared well-matched in size and weight. The swagman
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your
+life."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey began the battle by striking out with his right and
+left, but his blows did not seem to reach home, or to have much
+effect.</p>
+
+<p>The swagman dodged and parried, and soon put in a swinging
+blow on the left temple. Nosey fell to the ground, and the
+stranger resumed his walk as before, uttering his war cry:</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your
+life."</p>
+
+<p>There were no seconds, but the rules of chivalry were strictly
+observed; the stranger was a true gentleman, and did not use his
+boots.</p>
+
+<p>In the second round Nosey showed more caution, but the result
+was the same, and it was brought about by another hard blow on
+the temple. The third round finished the fight. Nosey lay on the
+ground so long that Bill, the Butcher, went over to look at him,
+and then he threw up the sponge--metaphorically--as there was no
+sponge, nor any need of one.</p>
+
+<p>The defeated Nosey staggered towards his hut, and his temper
+was afterwards so bad that Julia declined to stay with him any
+longer; she loosed the marriage bonds without recourse to law,
+and disappeared. Her husband went away westward, but he did not
+stay long. He returned to Nyalong and lived awhile alone in his
+hut there, but he was restless and dissatisfied. Everybody looked
+at him so curiously. Even the women and children stood still as
+he passed by them, and began whispering to one another, and he
+guessed well enough why they were looking at him and what they
+were saying--"That's Nosey the murderer; he killed Baldy and hid
+him away somewhere; his wife said he ought to be hanged, and she
+has run away and left him."</p>
+
+<p>When the hungry hawk comes circling over the grove of crookedy
+gum in which two magpies are feeding their callow young, the bush
+is soon filled with cries of alarm. The plump quail hides himself
+in the depths of a thick tussock; the bronze-winged pigeon dives
+into the shelter of the nearest scrub, while all the noisiest
+scolds of the air gather round the intruder. Every magpie, minah,
+and wattle-bird within a mile joins in the clamour. They dart at
+the hawk as he flies from tree to tree. When he alights on a limb
+they give him no peace; they flap their wings in his face, and
+call him the worst of names. Even the Derwent Jackass, the
+hypocrite with the shining black coat and piercing whistle, joins
+in the public outcry, and his character is worse than that of the
+hawk himself, for he has been caught in the act of kidnapping and
+devouring the unfledged young of his nearest neighbour. The
+distracted hawk has at length to retreat dinnerless to the swampy
+margin of the river where the tallest tea-trees wave their
+feathery tops in the wind.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner the human hawk was driven from the township. He
+descended in the scale of crime, stole a horse, and departed by
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Bill, the butcher, said next day: "Nosey has gone for good
+this time. He will ride that horse to death and then steal
+another."</p>
+
+<p>At this time I rode through the Rises and called at the two
+huts; I found them occupied by two shepherds not unlike the
+former tenants, who knew little and cared less what had become of
+their predecessors. Time empties thrones and huts impartially,
+and the king feels no pride in his monument of marble, nor the
+shepherd any shame beneath the shapeless cairn which hides his
+bones.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the old races both of men and animals were dying
+out around Lake Nyalong, and others were taking their places. The
+last black child ever seen in the township was brought by its
+mother to the hut of a white woman. It was naked and very dirty,
+and she laid it down on the clay floor. The white woman's heart
+was moved with pity at the sight of the miserable little bairn.
+She took it up, washed it with warm water and soap, wrapped it in
+flannel, and gave it back to the mother. But the lubra was loath
+to receive it. She said, "Black picaninny all die. No good; white
+picaninny live."</p>
+
+<p>The kangaroo, wombat, and dingo were fast dying out, as well a
+the blackfellow. We could all see well enough how the change was
+brought about. Millions of years ago, new species may have been
+evolved out of the old species, but nothing of the kind happens
+now. The white men of Australia were not evolved out of the black
+men. There are no family ties, and never will be, between the
+kangaroo, the wombat and wallaby, and their successors, the
+cattle, the sheep, and the goats. We can kill species, but we
+can't create any.</p>
+
+<p>The rabbit, destined to bring Nosey to the gallows, was a
+favoured animal on Austin's station at the Barwon. It was a
+privilege to shoot him--in small quantities--he was so precious.
+But he soon became, as the grammar says, a noun of multitude. He
+swarmed on the plains, hopped over the hills, burrowed among the
+rocks in the Rises, and nursed his multitudinous progeny in every
+hollow log of the forest. Neither mountain, lake, or river ever
+barred his passage. He ate up all the grass and starved the
+pedigree cattle, the well-born dukes and duchesses, and on tens
+of thousands of fertile acres left no food to keep the nibbling
+sheep alive. Every hole and crevice of the rocks was full of him.
+An uninvited guest, he dropped down the funnel-shaped entrance to
+the den of the wombat, and made himself at home with the wild cat
+and snake. He clothed the hills with a creeping robe of fur, and
+turned the Garden of the West into a wilderness. Science may find
+a theory to account for the beginning of all things, but among
+all her triumphs she has been unable to put an end to the rabbit.
+War has been made upon them by fire, dynamite, phosphorus, and
+all deadly poisons; by dogs, cats, weasels, foxes, and ferrets,
+but he still marches over the land triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>For fifteen years Nosey roamed from station to station under
+various names, between Queensland and the Murray, but wherever he
+went, the memory of his crime never left him. He had been taught
+in his boyhood that murder was one of the four sins crying to
+heaven for vengeance, and he knew that sooner or later the cry
+would be heard. Sometimes he longed to unburden his mind to a
+priest, but he seldom saw or heard of one. The men with whom he
+worked and wandered were all like himself--lost souls who had
+taken the wrong turn in the beginning of their days, the failures
+of all trades and professions; thieves, drunkards, and gamblers;
+criminals who had fled from justice; men of pleasure and,
+therefore, of misery; youths of good family exported from
+England, Ireland, and Scotland to mend their morals, to study
+wool, and become rich squatters. All these men get colonial
+experience, but it does not make them saintly or rich. Here and
+there, all over the endless plains, they at last lie down and
+die, the dingoes hold inquests over them, and, literally, they go
+to the dogs, because they took the wrong turn in life and would
+not come back.</p>
+
+<p>In 1868 Nosey and his two mates were approaching a station on
+the Lachlan. Since sunrise they had travelled ten miles without
+breakfast, and were both hungry and weary. They put down their
+swags in the shade of a small grove of timber within sight of the
+station buildings. Bob Castles said:</p>
+
+<p>"I was shearing in them sheds in '52 when old Shenty owned the
+run. He was a rum old miser, he was, would skin two devils for
+one hide; believe he has gone to hell; hope so, at any rate. He
+couldn't read nor write much, but he could make money better'n
+any man I ever heard of. Bought two runs on the Murray, and paid
+180,000 pounds for 'em in one cheque. He kept a lame schoolmaster
+to write his cheques and teach his children, gave him 40 pounds a
+year, the same as a shepherd. Lived mostly on mutton all the year
+round; never killed no beef for the station, but now and then an
+old bullock past work, salted him down in the round swamp for a
+change o' grub. Never grew no cabbage or wegetables, only a
+paddock of potatoes. Didn't want no visitors, 'cos he was afraid
+they'd want to select some of his run. Wanted everything to look
+as poor and miserable as possible. He put on a clean shirt once a
+week, on Sabbath to keep it holy, and by way of being religious.
+Kept no fine furniture in the house, only a big hardwood table,
+some stools, and candle boxes. After supper old Mother Shenty
+scraped the potato skins off the table into her apron --she
+always boiled the potatoes in their jackets--and then Shenty lay
+down on it and smoked his pipe till bedtime, thinking of the best
+way to keep down expenses. A parson came along one day lifting a
+subscription for a church, or school, or something. He didn't get
+anything out of old Shenty, only a pannikin of tea and some
+damper and mutton. The old cove said: 'Church nor school never
+gave me nothing, nor do me no good, and I could buy up a heap o'
+parsons and schoolmasters if I wanted to, and they were worth
+buying. Us squatters is the harrystockrisy out here. The lords at
+home sends out their good-for-nothing sons to us, to get rich and
+be out of the way, and much good they does. Why don't you parsons
+make money by your eddication if it's any good, instead of goin'
+round beggin'? You are all after the filthy lucre, wantin' to
+live on other folks.' I was holdin' the parson's horse, and when
+he got into the saddle, he turns to old Shenty, and says: 'From
+rottenness you sprung, and to rottenness you'll go. Your money
+will drag you down to hell; you'll want to throw it away, but it
+will burn into your soul for all eternity.'</p>
+
+<p>"I am mortal hungry," continued Bob, "and they don't give no
+rations until about sundown, and we'll have to wait six hours.
+It's hard lines. I see there's an orchard there now, and most
+likely a wegtable garden--and cabbages. I'd like some boiled beef
+and cabbage. It wouldn't be no harm to try and get somethin' to
+eat, anyhow. What do you say, Ned? You was a swell cove once, and
+knows how to talk to the quality. Go and try 'em."</p>
+
+<p>Ned went and talked to the "quality" so well that he brought
+back rations for three.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of the year Nosey arrived at Piney Station,
+about forty miles from the Murray, and obtained employment.
+Baldy's bones had been lying under the rocks for nearly fifteen
+years. It was absurd to suppose they could ever be discovered
+now, or if they were, that any evidence could be got out of them.
+Nosey felt sure that all danger for himself was passed, but still
+the murder was frequently in his mind. The squatter was often
+lonely, and his new man was garrulous, and one day Nosey, while
+at work, began to relate many particulars of life in the old
+country, in Van Diemen's Land, and in the other colonies, and he
+could not refrain from mentioning the greatest of his
+exploits.</p>
+
+<p>"I once done a man in Victoria," he said, "when I was
+shepherding; he found me out taking his fat sheep, and was going
+to inform on me, so I done him with an axe, and put him away so
+as nobody could ever find him."</p>
+
+<p>The squatter thought that Nosey's story was mostly blowing,
+especially that part of it referring to the murder. No man who
+had really done such a deed, would be so foolish as to confess it
+to a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Another man was engaged to work at the station. As soon as he
+saw Nosey he exclaimed, "Hello, Nosey, is that you?"</p>
+
+<p>"My name is not Nosey."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; a name is nothing. We are old chums, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>That night the two men had a long talk about old times. They
+had both served their time in the island, and were, moreover,
+"townies," natives of the same town at home. Nosey began the
+conversation by saying to his old friend, "I've been a bad boy
+since I saw you last --I done a man in Victoria"; and then he
+gave the full particulars of his crime, as already related. But
+the old chum could not believe the narrative, any more than did
+the squatter.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nosey," he said, "you can tell that tale to the
+marines."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the runs around Lake Nyalong had been surveyed
+by the government and sold. In the Rises the land was being
+subdivided and fenced with stone walls, and there was a chance
+that Baldy's grave might be discovered if one of the surveyed
+lines ran near it, for the stonewallers picked up the rocks as
+near as possible to the wall they were building, and usually to
+about the distance of one chain on each side of it.</p>
+
+<p>A man who had a contract for the erection of one of these
+walls took with him his stepson to assist in the work. In the
+month of August, 1869, they were on their way to their work
+accompanied by a dog which chased a rabbit into a pile of rocks.
+The boy began to remove the rocks in order to find the rabbit,
+and in doing so uncovered part of a human skeleton. He beckoned
+to his stepfather, who was rather deaf, to come and look at what
+he had found. The man came, took up the skull, and examined
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be bound this skull once belonged to Baldy," he said.
+"There is a hole here behind; and, yes, one jaw has been broken.
+That's Nosey's work for sure' I wonder where he is now."</p>
+
+<p>No work was done at the wall that day, but information was
+given to the police.</p>
+
+<p>Mounted constable Kerry came over to the Rises. The skeleton
+was found to be nearly entire; one jaw-bone was broken, and there
+was a hole in the back of the skull. The feet were still encased
+in a pair of boots laced high above the ankles. There were
+portions of a blue-striped shirt, and of a black silk necktie
+with reddish stripes. There was also the brim of an oiled
+sou'wester' hat, a pipe, and a knife. The chin was very
+prominent, and the first molar teeth on the lower jaw were
+missing. The remains were carefully taken up and conveyed to
+Nyalong; they were identified as those of Baldy; an inquest was
+held, and a verdict of wilful murder was returned against Nosey
+and his wife.</p>
+
+<p>After the inquest mounted constable Kerry packed up the
+skeleton in a parcel with every small article found with it,
+placed it in a sack, put it under his bed, slept over it every
+night, and patiently waited for some tidings of the murderer. In
+those days news travelled slowly, and the constable guarded his
+ghastly treasure for eighteen months.</p>
+
+<p>Nemesis was all the time on her way to Piney station, but her
+steps were slow, and she did not arrive until the seventeenth
+anniversary of the disapppearance of Baldy.</p>
+
+<p>On that day she came under the guise of constable, who
+produced a warrant, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Cornelius Naso, alias Nosey, alias Pye, I arrest you under
+this warrant, charging you with having murdered a shepherd, named
+Thomas Balbus, alias Baldy, at Nyalong, in the colony of
+Victoria, on the 28th day of February, 1854. You need not say
+anything unless you like, but if you do say anything I shall take
+it down in writing, and it will be used as evidence against you
+at your trial."</p>
+
+<p>Nosey had nothing to say, except, "I deny the charge"; he had
+said too much already.</p>
+
+<p>He was handcuffed and taken to the police station at Albury.
+In one of his pockets a letter was found purporting to be written
+by Julia, and disclosing her place of residence.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards Nosey and his wife met in captivity after
+their long separation, but their meeting was not a happy one;
+they had no word of welcome for each other.</p>
+
+<p>The preliminary examination was held in the court house at
+Nyalong, and there was a large gathering of spectators when the
+proceedings commenced. On a form below the witness box there was
+something covered with a white sheet. Men craned their necks and
+looked at it over one another's shoulders. The two prisoners eyed
+it intently. It was guarded by constable Kerry, who allowed no
+one to approach it, but with an authoritative wave of the hand
+kept back all impertinent intruders. That day was the proudest in
+all his professional career. He had prepared his evidence and his
+exhibits with the utmost care. At the proper moment he carefully
+removed the white sheet, and the skeleton was exposed to view,
+with everything replaced in the position in which it had been
+found under the rocks in the Rises. Nosey's face grew livid as he
+eyed the evidence of his handiwork; Julia threw up both hands,
+and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! there's poor Baldy that you murdered!"</p>
+
+<p>Nosey felt that this uncalled-for statement would damage his
+chance of escape, so, turning to the bench, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mind what the woman says, your lordship; she is not in
+her right senses, and always was weak-minded."</p>
+
+<p>The constable being sworn, related how, on information
+received, he had gone to the Stoney Rises, and had uncovered a
+skeleton which was lying on a broad flat stone. The bones of the
+legs from the knees downward were covered with stones. The boots
+were attached to the feet, and were pointing in such a direction
+as to show that the body must have rested on the right side.
+Large stones, but such as one man could lift, had been placed
+over the feet and the legs. The other bones were together, but
+had been disturbed. With them he found the brim of an oiled
+sou'-westr' hat, a clay tobacco pipe, a rusty clasp-knife with a
+hole bored through the handle, fragments of a blue shirt; also
+pieces of a striped silk neckerchief, marked D. S. over 3; the
+marks had been sewn in with a needle. There was a hole in the
+back of the skull, and the left jaw was broken.</p>
+
+<p>Just at this time a funeral procession, with a few attendants,
+passed the court-house on its way to the cemetery. Julia's father
+was going to his grave. He had come over the sea lately to spend
+the rest of his days in peace and comfort in the home of his
+daughter, and he found her in gaol under the charge of murder.
+There was nothing more to live for, so he went out and died.</p>
+
+<p>The two prisoners were committed, but they remained in gaol
+for more than seven months longer, on account of the difficulty
+of securing the attendance of witnesses from New South Wales.</p>
+
+<p>But when the evidence was given it was overwhelming. Every man
+who had known Baldy seemed to have been kept alive on purpose to
+give evidence against the murderer. Every scrap of clothing which
+the wild cats had left was identified, together with the knife,
+the pipe, the hat brim, and the boots; and the prisoner's own
+confession was repeated. Julia also took the side of the
+prosecution. When asked if she had any questions to put, she
+said, "My husband killed the man, and forced me to help him to
+put the body on his horse."</p>
+
+<p>The jury retired to consider their verdict, and spent two
+hours over it. In the meantime the two prisoners sat in the dock
+as far apart as possible. They had never spoken to each other
+during the trial, and Nosey now said in a low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"You had no call, Julia, to turn on me the way you did. What
+good could it do you? Sure you might at least have said nothing
+against me."</p>
+
+<p>The pent-up bitterness of seventeen years burst forth. The
+constable standing near tried to stop the torrent, but he might
+as well have tried to turn back a south-east gale with a
+feather.</p>
+
+<p>"I was to say nothing, indeed, was I? And what call had I to
+say nothing? Is that what you ask? Was I to stand here all day
+and say never a word for myself until they were ready to hang me?
+Tell me now, did I murder poor Baldy or did you? Was it not you
+who struck him down with the axe without saying as much as 'by
+your leave,' either to me or to him? Did you say a word to me
+until you finished your bloody work? And then you threatened to
+cut me down, too, with the axe, if I didn't hold my tongue, and
+help you to lift the man on to your horse. It is this day you
+should have remembered before you began that night's work.
+Sorrow's the day I ever met you at all, with the miserable life
+you led me; and you know I was always the good wife to you until
+you gave yourself entirely to the devil with your wicked ways.
+Wasn't I always on the watch for you every evening looking for
+you, and the chop on the fire, and the hot tea, and everything
+comfortable? And is it to hang me now you want to pay me back for
+the trouble I took for you and all the misery I suffered these
+long years? And the death of my poor father, who found me in
+gaol, is at your door too, for he would have been alive and well
+this day but for the deed you done, which broke his poor old
+heart; the Lord have mercy on him. And who is to blame but your
+own self for being in this place at all? You not only done the
+man to death, but you must go about the bush bragging of it to
+strangers, and twisting the halter for your own neck like a born
+idiot; and that's what you are, in spite of your roguery and
+cunning."</p>
+
+<p>And so on for two hours of hell until the jury came back. They
+acquitted Julia and found her husband guilty. She left the court
+without once looking back, and he faced the jury alone.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Pohlman had never before sent a man to the gallows. He
+made the usual little moral speech, and bewailed his own
+misfortune in having to perform so disagreeable a duty. Then he
+put on the black cap and passed sentence. At the concluding
+words, "May the Lord have mercy on your soul," the condemned man
+responded with a fervent "Amen," adding, "And that's the last of
+poor Nosey." He seemed greatly relieved when the ceremony was
+over, but it was not quite the last, there was another to
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>For ten days he remained in his cell, and no one visited him
+except the priest. His examination of conscience was not
+difficult, for he had often rehearsed it, and much of it had been
+done for him in public.</p>
+
+<p>He made his last journey between two priests, joining
+fervently in their prayers for the dying. His step was firm, and
+he showed neither fear nor bravado. The hangman quickly drew down
+the cap, but he seemed more flurried than his victim. The
+sheriff, without speaking, motioned him to place the knot in the
+correct position under the ear. Then the bolt was drawn and the
+story of "The Two Shepherds" was finished.</p>
+
+<p>The man whom Philip met at Bendigo had farms in the country
+thinly timbered. North, south, east, and west the land was held
+under squatting licenses; with the exception of the home paddocks
+it was unfenced, and the stock was looked after by boundary
+riders and shepherds. To the south, between Nyalong and the
+sea--a distance of fifty or sixty miles--the country was not
+occupied by either the white or the black men. It consisted of
+ranges of hills heavily timbered, furrowed by deep valleys,
+through which flowed innumerable streams, winding their way to
+the river of the plains. Sometimes the solitary bushman or
+prospector, looking across a deep valley, saw, nestled amongst
+the opposite hills, a beautiful meadow of grass. But when he had
+crossed the intervening creek and scrubby valley, and continued
+his journey to the up-land, he found that the deceitful meadow
+was only a barren plain, covered, not with grass, but with the
+useless grass-tree. There is a little saccharine matter in the
+roots of the grass-tree, and a hopeful man from Corio once built
+a sugar-mill near the stream, and took possession of the plain as
+a sugar plantation. There was much labour, but very little
+sugar.</p>
+
+<p>In the dense forest, cattle had run wild, and were sometimes
+seen feeding in the thinly-timbered grass land outside; but
+whenever a horseman approached they dashed headlong into the
+scrub where no horseman could follow them. Wild boars and their
+progeny also rooted among the tall tussocks in the marshes by the
+banks of the river, where it emerged from the ranges into the
+plains.</p>
+
+<p>Blackfish and eels were plentiful in the river, but they were
+of a perverse disposition, and would not bite in the day-time.
+The bend nearest to Nyalong was twelve miles distant, and Philip
+once spent a night there with Gleeson and McCarthy. A fire was
+kindled and some fish were caught, but Philip took none home.
+Gleeson and McCarthy reserved their catches for their wives and
+families, and Philip's fish were all cooked on the fire at
+sunrise, and eaten for breakfast. Fishing was sport, certainly,
+but it was not profitable, nor exciting, except to the temper.
+Sometimes an eel took the bait, and then twisted himself round
+the limb of a tree at the bottom of the river. He then pulled all
+he was able until either the line or the hook was broken, or his
+jaw was torn into strips.</p>
+
+<p>After midnight Philip was drowsy, and leaned his back against
+a tree to woo sweet sleep. But there were mosquitos in millions,
+bandicoots hopping close to the fire, and monkey-bears, night
+hawks, owls, 'possums and dingoes, holding a corroboree hideous
+enough to break the sleep of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast the horses were saddled for home. Philip
+carried his revolver in his belt, and Gleeson had a shot-gun. A
+kangaroo was seen feeding about a hundred yards distant, and
+Gleeson dismounted and shot at it, but it hopped away unharmed. A
+few minutes afterwards, as the men were riding along at an easy
+walk, three other horsemen suddenly came past them at a gallop,
+wheeled about, and faced the fishermen. One was Burridge, a
+station manager, the other two were his stockmen. The six men
+looked at one another for a few moments without speaking. Both
+Gleeson and McCarthy had the Tipperary temper, and it did not
+remain idle long.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," asked Gleeson, "is anything the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dinna ken yet," said Burridge. "Did na ye hear a gunshot
+just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I fired at a kangaroo."</p>
+
+<p>"A kangaroo, eh? Are you sure it was a kangaroo?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was a kangaroo. What of that? Oh, I see, you think we
+are after shooting your cattle. Is that it? Speak out like a
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes a beast is shot about here, and I'd like to find
+out who does it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed! you'd like to know who does it, would you? I can
+tell you, anyway, who is the biggest cattle duffer round here, if
+you'd like to know!" Gleeson touched one flank of his horse with
+his heel, and rode close up to Burridge with the gun in his right
+hand. "His name is Burridge, and that's yourself. Everybody knows
+you, you old Scotch hound. You have as many cattle on the run
+with your brand on them as your master has. There is not a bigger
+cattle thief than old Burridge within a hundred miles, and you'll
+be taken off the run in irons yet. Get out of my way, or I'll be
+tempted to send you to blazes before your time."</p>
+
+<p>Burridge did not go off the run in irons; he left it
+honourably for another run which he took up, and stocked with
+cattle bearing no brand but his own. Evil tongues might tattle,
+but no man could prove that Burridge ever broke the law.</p>
+
+<p>One fishing excursion to the bend was enough for Philip, but a
+pig hunt was organised, and he joined it. The party consisted of
+Gleeson, McCarthy, Bill the Butcher, Bob Atkins, and George Brown
+the Liar, who brought a rope-net and a cart in which all the game
+caught was to be carried home. Five dogs accompanied the party,
+viz., Lion and Tiger, crossbred bull and mastiffs, experienced
+pig fighters, Sam as a reserve, and three mongrels as light
+skirmishers.</p>
+
+<p>The first animal met with was a huge old boar, the hero of a
+hundred fights, the great-grandfather of pigs. He stood at bay
+among the tussocks, the dogs barking furiously around him. Bill
+the Butcher said, "Keep back, you men, or he'll rip the guts out
+of your horses. I know him well. He has only one tusk, but it's a
+boomer. Look out sharp till the dogs tackle him, he might make a
+rush at some of us."</p>
+
+<p>The boar was a frightful-looking beast, long, tall, and
+slab-sided, in perfect condition for fight, all bone, muscle, and
+bristles, with not an ounce of lard in his lean body. He stood
+still and stiff as a rock watching the dogs, his one white tusk,
+long and keen sticking out above his upper lip. The loss of the
+other tusk left him at a disadvantage, as he could only strike
+effectively on one side. Lion and Tiger had fought him before,
+and he had earned their respect. They were wary and cautious, and
+with good reason. Their best hold was by the ears, and these had
+been chewed away in former wars, till nothing was left of them
+but the ragged roots. Bill the Butcher dismounted, dropped his
+bridle, and cheered on the dogs at a prudent distance, "Good
+dogs; seek him Lion; hold him Tiger."</p>
+
+<p>The dogs went nearer and nearer, jumping away whenever the
+boar made an attack. At last they seized him by the roots of his
+ears, one on each side, and held on. Bob Atkins and Bill
+approached the combatants, carrying some strong cord, of New
+Zealand flax. A running noose was secured round the hind legs of
+the boar; he was then thrown on his side, and his forelegs were
+tied together.</p>
+
+<p>Lion and Tiger stood near panting, with blood dripping from
+their open jaws. Philip could not imagine why Bill did not
+butcher the beast at once; it seemed impossible that a leathery
+old savage like that could ever be transformed into tender pork.
+For the present he was left prone on the field of battle, and the
+pig hunt proceeded. There was soon much squealing of pigs, and
+barking of dogs among the tussocks. Gleenson's dog pinned a young
+boar, and after its legs were tied Philip agreed to stand by and
+guard it, while Gleeson fetched the cart. But the boar soon
+slipped the cord from his legs, and at once attacked his nearest
+enemy, rushing at Philip and trying to rip open his boots.
+Philip's first impulse was to take out his revolver, and shoot;
+but he was always conscientious, and it occurred to him that he
+would be committing a breach of trust, as he had undertaken to
+guard the game alive until Gleeson came back with the cart. So he
+tried to fight the pig with his boots, kicking him on the jaws
+right and left. But the pig proved a stubborn fighter, and kept
+coming up to the scratch again and again, until Philip felt he
+had got into a serious difficulty. He began to think as well as
+to kick quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could only throw the animal to the ground I could hold
+him down."</p>
+
+<p>The dogs had shown him that the proper mode of seizing a hog
+was by the ears, so at the next round he seized both ears and
+held them. There was a pause in the fight, and Philip took
+advantage of it to address his enemy after the manner of the
+Greeks and Trojans.</p>
+
+<p>"I have got you at last, my friend, and the curse of Cromwell
+on you, I'd like to murder you without mercy; and if Gleeson
+don't come soon he'll find here nothing but dead pig. I must try
+to throw you somehow." After examining the pig narrowly he
+continued, "It will be done by the hind legs."</p>
+
+<p>He let go one ear and seized a hind leg instead, taking the
+enemy, as it were, both in front and rear. For some time there
+was much kicking and squealing, until one scientific kick and a
+sudden twist of the hind quarters brought the quarry to
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>Philip knelt on the ribs of his foe, still holding one ear and
+one hind leg. Then he proceeded with his speech, gasping for
+breath:</p>
+
+<p>"And this is what happens to a poor man in Australia! Here
+have I been fighting a wild beast of a pig for half an hour, just
+to keep him alive, and all to oblige a cockatoo farmer, and small
+thanks to me for that same. May all the curses--the Lord preserve
+us and give us patience; I am forgetting the twelve virtues
+entirely."</p>
+
+<p>Gleeson came at last with the cart and George Brown the Liar;
+the pig's legs were again tied together, he was lifted into the
+cart and covered with the rope net. Four other pigs were caught,
+and then the hunters and dogs returned to the place in which the
+old boar had been left. But he had broken or slipped his bonds,
+and had gone away. He was tracked to the river, which was narrow
+but deep, so he had saved his bacon for another day.</p>
+
+<p>At the division of the game Philip declined to take any share.
+He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, I have had pig enough for the present."</p>
+
+<p>So there were exactly five pigs for the other five men.</p>
+
+<p>Having been satiated with the pleasures of fishing and
+pig-hunting, Philip was next invited to try the pursuit of the
+kangaroo. The first meet of men and hounds took place at
+Gleeson's farm. McCarthy brought his dogs, and Philip brought
+Sam, his revolver, and a club. Barton was too proud to join in
+the sport; he despised inferior game. It might amuse new chums,
+but it was below the notice of the old trooper, whose business
+had been for many years to hunt and shoot bushrangers and
+black-fellows, not to mention his regular duty as
+flagellator.</p>
+
+<p>Gleeson that morning was cutting up his pumpkin plants with an
+axe.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Mr. Gleeson," said Philip. "Is anything the
+matter? Is it a snake you are killing?"</p>
+
+<p>Gleeson began to laugh, a little ashamed of himself, and said,
+"Look at these cursed pumpkins. I think they are bewitched. Every
+morning I come to see if the fruit is growing, but this is what
+they do. As soon as they get as big as a small potato, they begin
+to wither and turn yellow, and not a bit more will they grow. So
+I'm cutting the blessed things to pieces."</p>
+
+<p>Philip saw that about half the runners had been already
+destroyed. He said, "Don't chop any more, Gleeson, and I'll show
+you how to make pumpkins grow."</p>
+
+<p>He picked up a feather in the fowl-yard, and went inside the
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look at these flowers closely; they are not all alike.
+This flower will never turn into a pumpkin, but this one will if
+it gets a little of the dust from the first flower. The bees or
+other insects usually take the dust from one flower to the other,
+but I suppose there are no bees about here just now?"</p>
+
+<p>Philip then dusted every flower that was open and said: "Now,
+my friend, put away the axe, and you will have fruit here yet."
+And the pumpkins grew and ripened.</p>
+
+<p>The two men then went towards the house, and Philip observed
+the fragments of a clock scattered about the ground in front of
+the verandah.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened to the clock?" said Philip.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," replied Gleeson, "the thing wasn't going right at all,
+so I took it to pieces just to examine it, and to oil the wheels,
+and when I tried to put it together again, the fingers were all
+awry, and the pins wouldn't fit in their places, and the pendulum
+swung crooked, and the whole thing bothered me so that I just
+laid it on the floor of the verandah, and gave it one big kick
+that sent it to smithereens. But don't mind me or the clock at
+all, master; just come inside, and we'll have a bit o' dinner
+before we start."</p>
+
+<p>Gleeson was the kindest man in the world; all he wanted was a
+little patience.</p>
+
+<p>The kangaroo gave better sport than either the fish or the
+pig, and Philip enjoyed it. His mare proved swift, but sometimes
+shied at the start, when the kangaroos were in full view. She
+seemed to think that there was a kangaroo behind every tree, so
+she jumped aside from the trunks. That was to kill Philip at
+last, but he had not the least idea what was to happen, and was
+as happy as hermits usually are, and they have their troubles and
+accidents just like other people.</p>
+
+<p>The kangaroos when disturbed made for the thick timber, and
+the half-grown ones, called "Flying Joeys," always escaped; they
+were so swift, and they could jump to such a distance that I
+won't mention it, as some ignorant people might call me a liar.
+Those killed were mostly does with young, or old men. Any horse
+of good speed could round up a heavy old man, and then he made
+for the nearest gum tree, and stood at bay with his back to it.
+It was dangerous for man or dog to attack him in front, for with
+his long hind claws he could cut like a knife.</p>
+
+<p>Philip's family began to desert him. Bruin, as already stated,
+sneaked away and was killed by Hugh Boyle. Joey opened his
+cage-door, and flew up a gum tree. When Philip came home from the
+school, and saw the empty cage, he called aloud, "Joey, Joey,
+sweet pretty Joey," and whistled. The bird descended as far as
+the lightwood, but would not be coaxed to come any nearer. He
+actually mocked his master, and said, "Ha, ha, ha! who are you?
+Who are you? There is na luck aboot the hoose," which soon proved
+true, for the next bird Pussy brought into the house was Joey
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Pup led a miserable life, and died early. The coroner
+suspected that he had been murdered by Maggie, but there was no
+absolute proof.</p>
+
+<p>Maggie had really no conscience. She began to gad about the
+bush. In her girlish days she wore short frocks, as it were,
+having had her wings clipped, but the next spring she went into
+society, was a debutante, wore a dress of black and white satin
+which shone in the sun, and she grew so vain and flighty, and
+strutted about so, that it was really ridiculous to watch her.
+She began also to stay out late in the evening, which was very
+improper, and before going to bed Philip would go under the
+lightwood with a lighted candle, and look for her amongst the
+leaves, saying, "Maggie, are you there?" She was generally fast
+asleep, and all she could do was to blink her eyes, and say,
+"Peet, peet," and fall asleep again. But one night she never
+answered at all. She was absent all next day, and many a day
+after that. October came, when all the scrub, the lightwood, and
+wattle were in full bloom, and the air everywhere was full of
+sweetness. Philip was digging his first boiling of new potatoes,
+when all at once Maggie swooped down into the garden, and began
+strutting about, and picking up the worms and grubs from the soil
+newly turned up.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you impudent hussy!" he said. "Where have you been all
+this time?" He stooped, and tried to stroke her head as usual
+with his forefinger, but Maggie stuck her bill in the ground,
+turned a complete somersault, and caught the finger with both
+claws, which were very sharp. She held on for a short time, then
+dropped nimbly to her feet, and said, "There, now, that will
+teach you to behave yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Maggie," said Philip, "what on earth is the matter with
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there's nothing the matter with me, I assure you. I
+suppose you didn't hear the news, you are such an old
+stick-in-the-mud. It was in the papers, though--no cards--and all
+the best society ladies knew it of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Maggie, you don't mean to say you have got a mate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I have, you horrid man, you are so vulgar. We were
+married ages ago. I didn't invite you of course, because I knew
+you would make yourself disagreeable--forbid the banns, or
+something, and scare away all the ladies and gentlemen, for you
+are a most awful fright, with your red hair and freckles, so I
+thought it best to say nothing about the engagement until the
+ceremony was over. It was performed by the Rev. Sinister Cornix,
+and it was a very select affair, I assure you, and the dresses
+were so lovely. There were six bridesmaids--the Misses Mudlark.
+The Mudlarks, you know, have a good pedigree, they are come of
+the younger branch of our family. We were united in the bonds
+under a cherry tree. Oh! it was a lovely time, it was indeed, I
+assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"And where are you living now, Maggie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am not going to tell you; you are too inquisitive. But
+our mansion is on the top of a gum tree. It is among the leaves
+at the end of a slender branch. If Hugh Boyle tries to kidnap my
+babies, the branch will snap, and he will fall and break his
+neck, the wretch. Oh, I assure you we thought of everything
+beforehand; for I know you keep a lot of boys bad enough to steal
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"And what sort of a mate--husband, I mean--have you got?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is a perfect gentleman, and so attentive to me.
+Latterly he has been a little crusty, I must admit; but you must
+not say a word against him. If you do, I'll peck your eyes out. A
+family, you know, is so troublesome, and it takes all your time
+to feed them. There are two of them, the duckiest little fluffy
+darlings you ever saw. They were very hungry this morning, so
+when I saw you digging I knew you wouldn't begrudge them a
+breakfast, and I just flew down here for it. But bless my soul,
+the little darlings will be screaming their hearts out with
+hunger while I am talking to you, and himself will be swearing
+like a Derviner. So, by-by."</p>
+
+<p>Philip found Maggie's mansion easily enough; for, in spite of
+all her chatter, she had no depth of mind. The tallest gum-tree
+was on Barlow's farm which adjoined the forty-acre on the east.
+Barlow had been a stockman for several years on Calvert's run,
+and had saved money. He invested his money in the Bank of Love,
+and the bank broke. It happened in this way.</p>
+
+<p>A new shepherd from the other side was living with his wife
+and daughter near the Rises, and one day when Barlow was riding
+over the run, he heard some strange sounds, and stopped his horse
+to listen. There was nobody in sight in any direction, and Barlow
+said, "There's something the matter at the new shepherd's hut,"
+and he rode swiftly towards it. As he approached the hut, he
+heard the screams of women and the voice of a blackfellow, who
+was hammering on the door with his waddy. He was a tame
+blackfellow who had been educated at the Missionary Station. He
+could write English, say prayers, sing hymns, read the Bible, and
+was therefore named Parson Bedford by the Derviners, after the
+Tasmanian Missionary. He could box and wrestle so well that few
+white men could throw him. He could also drink rum; so whenever
+he got any white money he knew how to spend it. He was the best
+thief and the worst bully of all the blacks about Nyalong,
+because he had been so well educated. I knew him well, and
+attended his funeral, walking in the procession with the doctor
+and twenty blackfellows. He had a white man's funeral, but there
+was no live parson present, so king Coco Quine made an oration,
+waving his hands over the coffin, "All same as whitefellow
+parson," then we all threw clods on the lid.</p>
+
+<p>So much noise was made by the women screaming and the Parson
+hammering, that the stockman was able to launch one crack of his
+stock-whip on the Parson's back before his arrival was observed.
+The Parson sprang up into the air like a shot deer, and then took
+to his heels. He did not run towards the open plains, but made a
+straight line for the nearest part of the Rises. As he ran, Frank
+followed at an easy canter, and over and over again he landed his
+lash with a crack like a pistol on the behind of the black, who
+sprang among the rough rocks which the horse could not cross, and
+where the lash could not reach him.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="bookbush-03"></a><img alt="" src="images/bookbush-03.jpg"></p>
+
+<p><b>"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse."</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Then there was a parley. The Parson was smarting and furious.
+He had learned the colonial art of blowing along with the
+language. He threw down his waddy and said:</p>
+
+<p>"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse, drop your whip, and
+I'll fight you fair, same as whitefellow. I am as good a man as
+you any day."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you take me for a blooming fool, Parson? No fear. If ever
+I see you at that hut again, or anywhere on the run, I'll cut the
+shirt off your back. I shall tell Mr. Calvert what you have been
+after, and you'll soon find yourself in chokey with a rope round
+your neck."</p>
+
+<p>The Parson left Nyalong, and when he returned he was dying of
+rum and rheumatism.</p>
+
+<p>Frank rode back to the hut. The mother and daughter had stood
+at the door watching him flog the Parson. He was in their eyes a
+hero; he had scourged their savage enemy, and had driven him to
+the rocks. They were weeping beauties--at least the daughter was
+a beauty in Frank's eyes--but now they wiped away their tears,
+smoothed their hair, and thanked their gallant knight over and
+over again. Two at a time they repeated their story, how they saw
+the blackfellow coming, how they bolted the door, and how he
+battered it with his club, threatening to kill them if they did
+not open it.</p>
+
+<p>Frank had never before been so much praised and flattered, at
+least not since his mother weaned him; but he pretended not to
+care. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut, it's not worth mentioning. Say no more about it. I
+would of course have done as much for anybody."</p>
+
+<p>Of course he could not leave the ladies again to the mercy of
+the Parson, so he waited until the shepherd returned with his
+flock.</p>
+
+<p>Then Frank rode away with a new sensation, a something as near
+akin to love as a rough stockman could be expected to feel.</p>
+
+<p>Neddy, the shepherd, asked Mr. Calvert for the loan of arms,
+and he taught his wife and daughter the use of old Tower muskets.
+He said, "If ever that Parson comes to the hut again, put a
+couple of bullets through him."</p>
+
+<p>After that Frank called at the hut nearly every day, enquiring
+if the Parson had been seen anywhere abroad.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Cecily, "we haven't seen him any more;" and she
+smiled so sweetly, and lowered her eyes, and spoke low, with a
+bewitching Tasmanian accent.</p>
+
+<p>Frank was in the mud, and sinking daily deeper and deeper. At
+last he resolved to turn farmer and leave the run, so he rented
+the land adjoining Philip's garden and the forty-acre. There was
+on it a four-roomed, weather-board house and outbuildings, quite
+a bush palace. Farming was then profitable. Frank ploughed a
+large paddock and sowed it with wheat and oats. Then while the
+grain was ripening he resolved to ask Cecily a very important
+question. One Sunday he rode to the hut with a spare horse and
+side saddle. Both horses were well groomed, the side saddle was
+new, the bits, buckles, and stirrup-irons were like burnished
+silver. Cecily could ride well even without a saddle, but had
+never owned one. She yielded to temptation, but with becoming
+coyness and modesty. Frank put one hand on his knee, holding the
+bridle with the other; then Cicely raised one of her little feet,
+was lifted lightly on to the saddle, and the happy pair cantered
+gaily over the plain to their future home.</p>
+
+<p>Frank showed his bride-elect the land and the crops, the cows
+and the horses, the garden and the house. Cecily looked at
+everything, but said next to nothing. "She is shy," Frank
+thought, "and I must treat her gently." But the opportunity must
+not be thrown away, and on their way over the plains Frank told
+his tale of love. I don't know precisely what he said or how he
+said it, not having been present, but he did not hook his fish
+that day, and he took home with him the bait, the horse, and the
+empty side-saddle. But he persevered with his suit, and before
+the wheat was ripe, Cecily consented to be his bride.</p>
+
+<p>He was so overjoyed with his success that instead of waiting
+for the happy day when he had to say "With this ring I thee wed,
+with all my worldly goods I thee endow," he gave Cecily the
+worldly goods beforehand--the horse, with the beautiful new side
+saddle and bridle--and nearly all his cash, reserving only
+sufficient to purchase the magic ring and a few other
+necessaries.</p>
+
+<p>The evening before the happy day the pair were seen walking
+together before sundown on a vacant lot in the township,
+discussing, it was supposed, the arrangements for the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>It was the time of the harvest, and Philip had been engaged to
+measure the work of the reapers on a number of farms. I am aware
+that he asked and received 1 pound for each paddock, irrespective
+of area. On the bridal morn he walked over Frank's farm with his
+chain and began the measurement, the reapers, most of them broken
+down diggers, following him and watching him. Old Jimmy Gillon
+took one end of the chain; he said he had been a chainman when
+the railway mania first broke out in Scotland, so he knew all
+about land surveying. Frank was absent, but he returned while
+Philip was calculating the wages payable to each reaper, and he
+said: "Here's the money, master; pay the men what's coming to 'em
+and send 'em away."</p>
+
+<p>Frank looked very sulky, and Philip was puzzled. He knew the
+blissful ceremony was to take place that day, but there was no
+sign of it, nor of any bliss whatever; no wedding garments, no
+parson, no bride.</p>
+
+<p>The bare matter of fact was, the bride had eloped during the
+night.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"For young Lochinvar had come out of the West,<br>
+And an underbred, fine-spoken fellow was he."</blockquote>
+
+<p>He was a bullock-driver of superior manners and attractive
+personality, and was the only man in Australia who waxed and
+curled his moustaches. Cecily had for some time been listening to
+Lochinvar, who was known to have been endeavouring to "cut out"
+Frank. She was staying in the township with her mother preparing
+for matrimony, and her horse was in the stable at Howell's
+Hotel.</p>
+
+<p>When Frank rode away to his farm on that fateful evening,
+Lochinvar was watching him. He saw Cecily going home to her
+mother for the last night, and while he was looking after her
+wistfully, and the pangs of despairing love were in his heart,
+Bill the Butcher came up and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Lock, what are you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what can I do? She is going to marry Frank in the
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it: not if you are half the man you ought to
+be."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can I help it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Help it? Just go and take her. Saddle your horse and her own,
+take 'em up to the cottage, and ask her just to come outside for
+a minute. And if you don't persuade her in five minutes to ride
+away with you to Ballarat, I'll eat my head off. I know she don't
+want to marry Frank; all she wants is an excuse not to, and it
+will be excuse enough when she has married you."</p>
+
+<p>These two worthy men went to the Hotel and talked the matter
+over with Howell. The jolly landlord slapped his knee and
+laughed. He said: "You are right, Bill. She'll go, I'll bet a
+fiver, and here it is, Lock; you take it to help you along."</p>
+
+<p>This base conspiracy was successful, and that was the reason
+Frank was so sulky on that harvest morning.</p>
+
+<p>He was meditating vengeance. Love and hate, matrimony and
+murder, are sometimes not far asunder, but Frank was not by
+nature vengeful; he had that "foolish hanging of the nether lip
+which shows a lack of decision."</p>
+
+<p>I would not advise any man to seek in a law court a sovereign
+remedy for the wounds inflicted by the shafts of Cupid; but Frank
+tried it. During his examination in chief his mien was gloomy and
+his answers brief.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Aspinall rose and said: "I appear for the defendant,
+your Honour, but from press of other engagements I have been
+unable to give that attention to the legal aspects of this case
+which its importance demands, and I have to request that your
+Honour will be good enough to adjourn the court for a quarter of
+an hour."</p>
+
+<p>The court was adjourned for half an hour, and Mr. Aspinall and
+his solicitor retired to a room for a legal consultation. It
+began thus:</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Lane, fetch me a nobbler of brandy; a stiffener,
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>Lane fetched the stiffener in a soda-water bottle, and it
+cleared the legal atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>When the court resumed business, Frank took his stand in the
+witness box, and a voice said: "Now, Mr. Barlow, look at me."</p>
+
+<p>Frank had been called many names in his time, but never "Mr.
+Barlow" before now. He looked and saw the figure of a little man
+with a large head, whose voice came through a full-grown nose
+like the blast of a trumpet.</p>
+
+<p>"You say you gave Cecily some money, a horse, saddle, and
+bridle?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"And you bought a wedding ring?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. Your Honour will be glad to hear that the ring, at any
+rate, is not lost. It will be ready for another Cecily, won't it,
+Mr. Barlow?"</p>
+
+<p>Barlow, looking down on the floor of the court and shaking his
+head slowly from side to side, said:</p>
+
+<p>"No, it won't No fear. There 'ull be no more Cecilies for
+me."</p>
+
+<p>There was laughter in the court, and when Frank raised his
+eyes, and saw a broad grin on every face, he, too, burst into a
+fit of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Mr. Aspinall and Dr. Macadam walking together arm-in-arm
+from the court. The long doctor and the little lawyer were a
+strange pair. Everybody knew that they were sliding down the easy
+slope to their tragic end, but they seemed never to think of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Frank returned to Nyalong, happier than either. He related the
+particulars of the trial to his friends with the utmost
+cheerfulness. Whether he recovered all the worldly goods with
+which he had endowed Cecily is doubtful, but he faithfully kept
+his promise that "There 'ull be no more Cecilies for me."</p>
+
+<p>There was a demon of mischief at work on Philip's hill at both
+sides of the dividing fence. Sam was poisoned by a villainous
+butcher; Bruin had been killed by Hugh Boyle; Maggie had eloped
+with a wild native to a gum-tree; Joey had been eaten by Pussy;
+Barlow had been crossed in love, and then the crowning misfortune
+befell the hermit.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Chisholm was a lady who gave early tokens of her
+vocation. At the age of seven she began to form benevolent plans
+for the colonies of Great Britain. She built ships of broad
+beans, filled them with poor families of Couchwood, sent them to
+sea in a wash-basin, landed them in a bed-quilt, and started them
+growing wheat. Then she loaded her fleet with a return cargo for
+the British pauper, one grain of wheat in each ship, and
+navigated it safely to Old England. She made many prosperous
+voyages, but once a storm arose which sent all her ships to the
+bottom of the sea. She sent a Wesleyan minister and a Catholic
+priest to Botany Bay in the same cabin, strictly enjoining them
+not to quarrel during the voyage. At the age of twenty she
+married Captain Chisholm, and went with him to Madras. There she
+established a School of Industry for Girls, and her husband
+seconded her in all her good works.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Chamier, the secretary, took a great interest in her
+school; Sir Frederick Adams subscribed 20 pounds, and officers
+and gentlemen in Madras contributed in five days 2,000 rupees.
+The school became an extensive orphanage.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. and Captain Chisholm came to Australia in 1838 for the
+benefit of his health, and they landed at Sydney. They saw
+Highland immigrants who could not speak English, and they gave
+them tools and wheelbarrows wherewith to cut and sell
+firewood.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Chisholm returned to India in 1840, but the health of
+her young family required Mrs. Chisholm to remain in Sydney.</p>
+
+<p>Female immigrants arriving in Sydney were regularly hired on
+board ship, and lured into a vicious course of life. Mrs.
+Chisholm went on board each ship, and made it her business to
+protect and advise them, and begged the captain and agent to act
+with humanity. Some place of residence was required in which the
+new arrivals could be sheltered, until respectable situations
+could be found for them, and in January, 1841, she applied to
+Lady Gipps for help. A committee of ladies was formed, and Mrs.
+Chisholm at length obtained a personal audience from the
+Governor, Sir George Gipps. He believed she was labouring under
+an amiable delusion. He wrote to a friend:</p>
+
+<p>"I expected to have seen an old lady in a white cap and
+spectacles, who would have talked to me about my soul. I was
+amazed when my aide introduced a handsome, stately young woman,
+who proceeded to reason the question as if she thought her
+reason, and experience too, worth as much as mine."</p>
+
+<p>Sir George at last consented to allow her the use of a
+Government building, a low wooden one. Her room was seven feet by
+seven feet. Rats ran about in it in all directions, and then
+alighted on her shoulders. But she outgeneraled the rats. She
+gave them bread and water the first night, lit two candles, and
+sat up in bed reading "Abercrombie." There came never less than
+seven nor more than thirteen rats eating at the same time. The
+next night she gave them another feast seasoned with arsenic.</p>
+
+<p>The home for the immigrants given her by Sir George had four
+rooms, and in it at one time she kept ninety girls who had no
+other shelter. About six hundred females were then wandering
+about Sydney unprovided for. Some slept in the recesses of the
+rocks on the Government domain. She received from the ships in
+the harbour sixty-four girls, and all the money they had was
+fourteen shillings and three half-pence.</p>
+
+<p>She took them to the country, travelling with a covered cart
+to sleep in. She left married families at different stations, and
+then sent out decent lasses who should be married.</p>
+
+<p>In those days the dead bodies of the poor were taken to the
+cemetery in a common rubbish-cart.</p>
+
+<p>By speeches and letters both public and private, and by
+interviews with influential men, Mrs. Chisholm sought help for
+the emigrants both in Sydney and England, where she opened an
+office in 1846.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1856 Major Chisholm took a house at Nyalong, near
+Philip's school. Two of the best scholars were John and David.
+When David lost his place in the class he burst into tears, and
+the Blakes and the Boyles laughed. The Major spoke to the boys
+and girls whenever he met them. He asked John to tell him how
+many weatherboards he would have to buy to cover the walls of his
+house, which contained six rooms and a lean-to, and was built of
+slabs. John measured the walls and solved the problem promptly.
+The Major then sent his three young children to the school, and
+made the acquaintance of the master.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Chisholm never went to Nyalong, but the Major must have
+given her much information about it, for one day he read a
+portion of one of her letters which completely destroyed Philip's
+peace of mind. It was to the effect that he was to open a school
+for boarders at Nyalong, and, as a preliminary, marry a wife. The
+Major said that if Philip had no suitable young lady in view,
+Mrs. Chisholm, he was sure, would undertake to produce one at a
+very short notice. She had the whole matter already planned, and
+was actually canvassing for pupils among the wealthiest families
+in the colony. The Major smiled benevolently, and said it was of
+no use for Philip to think of resisting Mrs. Chisholm; when she
+had once made up her mind, everybody had to give way, and the
+thing was settled. Philip, too, smiled faintly, and tried to look
+pleased, dissembling his outraged feelings, but he went away in a
+state of indignation. He actually made an attack on the twelve
+virtues, which seemed all at once to have conspired against his
+happiness. He said: "If I had not kept school so conscientiously,
+this thing would never have happened. I don't want boarders, and
+I don't want anybody to send me a wife to Nyalong. I am not,
+thank God, one of the royal family, and not even Queen Victoria
+shall order me a wife."</p>
+
+<p>In that way the lonely hermit put his foot down and began a
+countermine, working as silently as possible.</p>
+
+<p>During the Christmas holidays, after his neighbour Frank had
+been jilted by Cecily, he rode away, and returned after a week's
+absence. The Major informed him that Mrs. Chisholm had met with
+an accident and would be unable to visit Nyalong for some time.
+Philip was secretly pleased to hear the news, outwardly he
+expressed sorrow and sympathy, and nobody but himself suspected
+how mean and deceitful he was.</p>
+
+<p>At Easter he rode away again and returned in less than a week.
+Next day he called at McCarthy's farm and dined with the family.
+He said he had been married the previous morning before he had
+started for Nyalong, and had left his wife at the Waterholes.
+McCarthy began to suspect that Philip was a little wrong in his
+head; it was a kind of action that contradicted all previous
+experience. He could remember various lovers running away
+together before marriage, but he could not call to mind a single
+instance in which they ran away from one another immediately
+after marriage. But he said to himself, "It will all be explained
+by-and-by," and he refrained from asking any impertinent
+questions merely to gratify curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner Gleeson, Philip, and McCarthy rode into the bush
+with the hounds. A large and heavy "old man" was sighted; and the
+dogs stuck him up with his back to a tree. While they were
+growling and barking around the tree Gleeson dismounted, and,
+going behind the tree, seized the "old man" by the tail. The
+kangaroo kept springing upwards and at the dogs, dragging Gleeson
+after him, who was jerking the tail this way and that to bring
+his game to the ground, for the "old man" was so tall that the
+dogs could not reach his throat while he stood upright. Philip
+gave his horse to McCarthy and approached the "old man" with his
+club.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot him with your revolver," said Gleeson. "If I let go his
+tail, he'll be ripping you with his toe."</p>
+
+<p>"I might shoot you instead," said Philip; "better to club him.
+Hold on another moment."</p>
+
+<p>Philip's first blow was dodged by the kangaroo, but the second
+fell fairly on the skull; he fell down, and Ossian, a big and
+powerful hound, seized him instantly by the throat and held on.
+The three men mounted their horses and rode away, but Philip's
+mare was, as usual, shying at every tree. As he came near one
+which had a large branch, growing horizontally from the trunk,
+his mare spring aside, carried him under the limb, which struck
+his head, and threw him to the ground. He never spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>After the funeral, McCarthy rode over to the Rocky Waterholes
+to make some enquiries. He called at Mrs. Martin's residence, and
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Philip told us he was married the day before the
+accident, but it seemed so strange, we could not believe it; so I
+thought I would just ride over and enquire about it, for, of
+course, if he had a wife, she will be entitled to whatever little
+property he left behind him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's quite true," said Mrs. Martin. "They were married
+sure enough. He called here at Christmas, and said he would like
+to see Miss Edgeworth; but she was away on a visit to some
+friends. I asked him if he had any message to leave for her, but
+he said, 'Oh, no; only I thought I should like to see how she is
+getting along. That's all, thank you. I might call again at
+Easter.' So he went away. On last Easter Monday he came again. Of
+course I had told Miss Edgeworth, about his calling at Christmas
+and enquiring about her, and it made me rather suspicious when he
+came again. As you may suppose, I could not help taking notice;
+but for two days, nor, in fact, for the whole week, was there the
+slightest sign of anything like lovemaking between them. No
+private conversation, no walking out together, nothing but
+commonplace talk and solemn looks. I said to myself, 'If there is
+anything between them, they keep it mighty close to be sure.' On
+the Tuesday evening, however, he spoke to me. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"'I hope you won't mention it, Mrs. Martin, but I would like
+to have a little advice from you, if you would be so kind as to
+give it. Miss Edgeworth has been living with you for some time,
+and you must be well acquainted with her. I am thinking of making
+a proposal, but our intercourse has been so slight, that I should
+be pleased first to have your opinion on the matter.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Mr. Philip,' I said, 'you really must not ask me to say
+anything one way or the other, for or against. I have my own
+sentiments, of course; but nobody shall ever say that I either
+made a match or marred one.'</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing happened until the next day. In the afternoon Miss
+Edgeworth was alone in this room, when I heard Mr. Philip walking
+down the passage, and stopping at the door, which was half open.
+I peeped out, and then put off my slippers, and stepped a little
+nearer, until through the little opening between the door and the
+door-post, I could both see and hear them. He was sitting on the
+table, dangling his boots to and fro just above the floor, and
+she was sitting on a low rocking-chair about six feet distant. He
+did not beat about the bush, as the saying is; did not say, 'My
+dear,' or 'by your leave, Miss,' or 'excuse me,' or anything
+nice, as one would expect from a gentleman on a delicate occasion
+of the kind, but he said, quite abruptly:</p>
+
+<p>"'How would you like to live at Nyalong, Miss Edgeworth?'</p>
+
+<p>"She was looking on the floor, and her fingers were playing
+with a bit of ribbon, and she was so nice and winsome, and well
+dressed, you couldn't have helped giving her a kiss. She never
+raised her eyes to his face, but I think she just looked as high
+as his boots, which were stained and dusty. The silly man was
+waiting for her to say something; but she hung down her head, and
+said nothing. At last he said:</p>
+
+<p>"'I suppose you know what I mean, Miss Edgeworth?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes,' she said, in a low voice. 'I know what you mean, thank
+you.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then there was silence for I don't know how long; it was
+really dreadful, and I couldn't think how it was going to end. At
+last he heaved a big sigh, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, Miss Edgeworth, there is no need to hurry; take time
+to think about it. I am going to ride out, and perhaps you will
+be good enough to let me know your mind when I come back.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then he just shook her hand, and I hurried away from the
+door. It was rather mean of me to be listening to them, but I
+took as much interest in Miss Edgeworth as if she were my own
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"'There is no need to hurry,' he had said, but in my opinion
+there was too much hurry, for they were married on the Saturday,
+and he rode away the same morning having to open school again on
+Monday.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Miss Edgeworth was a good deal put about when we
+heard what had happened, through the papers, but I comforted her
+as much as possible. I said, 'as for myself, I had never liked
+the look of the poor man with his red hair and freckles. I am
+sure he had a bad temper at bottom, for red-haired men are always
+hasty; and then he had a high, thin nose, and men of that kind
+are always close and stingy, and the stingiest man I ever knew
+was a Dublin man. Then his manners, you must remember, were
+anything but nice; he didn't wasteany compliments on you before
+you married him, so you may just fancy what kind of compliments
+you would have had to put up with afterwards. And perhaps you
+have forgotten what you said yourself about him at Bendigo. You
+were sure he was a severe master, you could see sternness on his
+brow. And however you could have consented to go to the altar
+with such a man I cannot understand to this day. I am sure it was
+a very bad match, and by-and-by you will thank your stars that
+you are well out of it.'</p>
+
+<p>"I must acknowledge that Miss Edgeworth did not take what I
+said to comfort her very kindly, and she 'gave me fits,' as the
+saying is; but bless your soul, she'll soon get over it, and will
+do better next time."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the death of Philip, Major Chisholm and his family
+left Nyalong, and I was appointed Clerk to the Justices at Colac.
+I sat under them for twelve years, and during that time I wrote a
+great quantity of criminal literature. When a convict of good
+conduct in Pentridge was entitled to a ticket-of-leave, he
+usually chose the Western district as the scene of his future
+labours, so that the country was peopled with old Jack Bartons
+and young ones. Some of the young ones had been Philip's
+scholars--viz., the Boyles and the Blakes. They were friends of
+the Bartons, and Old John, the ex-flogger, trained them in the
+art of cattle-lifting. His teaching was far more successful than
+that of Philip's, and when in course of time Hugh Boyle appeared
+in the dock on a charge of horse-stealing, I was pained but not
+surprised. Barton, to whose farm the stolen horse had been
+brought by Hugh, was summoned as witness for the Crown, but he
+organised the evidence for the defence so well that the prisoner
+was discharged.</p>
+
+<p>On the next occasion both Hugh and his brother James were
+charged with stealing a team of bullocks, but this time the
+assistance of Barton was not available. The evidence against the
+young men was overwhelming, and we committed them for trial. I
+could not help pitying them for having gone astray so early in
+life. They were both tall and strong, intelligent and alert, good
+stockmen, and quite able to earn an honest living in the bush.
+They had been taught their duty well by Philip, but bad example
+and bad company out of school had led them astray. The owner of
+the bullocks, an honest young boor named Cowderoy, was sworn and
+gave his evidence clearly. Hugh and James knew him well. They had
+no lawyer to defend them, and when the Crown Prosecutor sat down,
+there seemed no loophole left for the escape of the accused, and
+I mentally sentenced them to seven years on the roads, the
+invariable penalty for their offence.</p>
+
+<p>But now the advantages of a good moral education were
+brilliantly exemplified.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any questions to put to this witness?" asked the
+Judge of the prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your Honour," said Hugh. Then turning to Cowderoy, he
+said: "Do you know the nature of an oath?"</p>
+
+<p>The witness looked helplessly at Hugh, then at the Judge and
+Crown Prosecutor; stood first on one leg, then on the other;
+leaned down with his elbows on the edge of the witness-box
+apparently staggering under the weight of his own ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you answer the question?" asked the Judge sharply.
+"Do you know the nature of an oath?"</p>
+
+<p>Silence.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Armstrong saw his case was in danger of collapse, so he
+said: "I beg to submit, your Honour, that this question comes too
+late and should have been put to the witness before he was sworn.
+He has already taken the oath and given his evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"The question is a perfectly fair one, Mr. Armstrong," said
+the Judge: and turning to the witness he repeated: "Do you know
+the nature of an oath?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Cowderoy.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners were discharged, thanks to their good
+education.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.</h3>
+
+<p>Sergeant Hyde came to my office and asked me to accompany him
+as far as Murray Street. He said there was a most extraordinary
+dispute between a white woman and a black lubra about the
+ownership of a girl, and he had some doubts whether it was a case
+within the jurisdiction of a police-court, but thought we might
+issue a summons for illegal detention of property. He wanted me
+to advise him, and give my opinion on the matter, and as by this
+time my vast experience of Justices' law entitled me to give an
+opinion on any imaginable subject, I very naturally complied with
+his request. He was, moreover, a man so remarkable that a request
+by him for advice was of itself an honour. In his youth he had
+been complimented on the possession of a nose exactly resembling
+that of the great Duke of Wellington, and ever since that time he
+had made the great man the guiding star of his voyage over the
+ocean of life, the only saint in his calendar; and he had, as far
+as human infirmity would permit, modelled his conduct and
+demeanour in imitation of those of the immortal hero. He spoke
+briefly, and in a tone of decision. The expression of his face
+was fierce and defiant, his bearing erect, his stride measured
+with soldierly regularity. He was not a large man, weighing
+probably about nine stone; but that only enhanced his dignity, as
+it is a great historical fact that the most famous generals have
+been nearly all small men.</p>
+
+<p>When he came into my office, he always brought with him an
+odour of peppermint, which experience had taught me to associate
+with the proximity of brandy or whisky. I have never heard or
+read that the Iron Duke took pepperment lozenges in the morning,
+but still it might have been his custom to do so. The sergeant
+was a Londoner, and knew more about the private habits of his
+Grace than I did. If he had been honoured with the command of a
+numerous army, he would, no doubt, have led it onward, or sent it
+forward to victory. His forces, unfortunately, consisted of only
+one trooper, but the way in which he ordered and manoeuvred that
+single horseman proved what glory he would have won if he had
+been placed over many squadrons. By a general order he made him
+parade outside the gate of the station every morning at ten
+o'clock. He then marched from the front door with a majestic mien
+and inspected the horse, the rider, and accoutrements. He walked
+slowly round, examining with eagle eye the saddle, the bridle,
+the bits, the girth, the sword, pistols, spurs, and buckles. If
+he could find no fault with anything, he gave in brief the word
+of command, "Patrol the forest road," or any other road on which
+an enemy might be likely to appear. I never saw the sergeant
+himself on horseback. He might have been a gay cavalier in the
+days of his fiery youth, but he was not one now.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed the "Crook and Plaid Hotel," on our return to the
+court-house, after investigating the dispute in Murray Street, I
+observed a stranger standing near the door, who said:</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Hyde! is that you?"</p>
+
+<p>He was evidently addressing the sergeant, but the latter
+merely gave him a slight glance, and went away with his noble
+nose in the air.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger looked after him and laughed. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"That policeman was once a shepherd of mine up in Riverina,
+but I see he don't know me now--has grown too big for his boots.
+Cuts me dead, don't he? Ha! ha! ha! Well I never!"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger's name was Robinson; he had been selling some
+cattle to a neighbouring squatter, and was now on his way home.
+He explained how he had, just before the discovery of gold, hired
+Hyde as a shepherd, and had given him charge of a flock of
+sheep.</p>
+
+<p>There were still a few native blacks about the run, but by
+this time they were harmless enough: never killed shepherds, or
+took mutton without leave. They were somewhat addicted to petty
+larceny, but felony had been frightened out of their souls long
+ago. They knew all the station hands, and the station hands knew
+them. They soon spotted a new chum, and found out the soft side
+of him; and were generally able to coax or frighten him to give
+them tobacco, some piece of clothing, or white money.</p>
+
+<p>When the new shepherd had been following his flock for a few
+days, Mr. Robinson, while looking out from the verandah of his
+house over the plains, observed a strange object approaching at
+some distance. He said to himself, "That is not a horseman, nor
+an emu, nor a native companion, nor a swagman, nor a kangaroo."
+He could not make it out; so he fetched his binocular, and then
+perceived that it was a human being, stark naked. His first
+impression was that some unfortunate traveller had lost his way
+in the wide wilderness, or a station hand had gone mad with
+drink, or that a sundowner had become insane with hunger, thirst,
+and despair.</p>
+
+<p>He took a blanket and went to meet the man, in order that he
+might cover him decently before he arrived too near the house. It
+was Hyde, the new shepherd, who said he had been stripped by the
+blacks.</p>
+
+<p>From information afterwards elicited by Robinson it appeared
+that the blacks had approached Hyde in silence while his back was
+turned to them. The sight of them gave a sudden shock to his
+system. He was totally unprepared for such an emergency. If he
+had had time to recall to memory some historical examples, he
+might have summoned up his sinking courage, and have done a deed
+worthy of record. There was David, the youthful shepherd of
+Israel, who slew a lion and a bear, and killed Goliath, the
+gigantic champion of the Philistines. There were the Shepherd
+Kings, who ruled the land of Egypt. there was one-eyed
+Polyphemus, moving among his flocks on the mountain tops of
+Sicily; a monster, dreadful, vast, and hideous; able to roast and
+eat these three blackfellows at one meal. And nearer our own time
+was the youth whose immortal speech begins, "My name is Norval;
+on the Grampian Hills my father fed his flocks." Our shepherd had
+a stick in his hand and a collie dog at his command. Now was the
+time for him to display "London Assurance" to some purpose; and
+now was the time for the example of the ever-victorious Duke to
+work a miracle of valour. But the crisis had come on too quickly,
+and there was no time to pump up bravery from the deep well of
+history. The unearthly ugliness of the savages, their thick lips,
+prominent cheek bones, scowling and overhanging brows, broad snub
+noses, matted black hair, and above all the keen, steady, and
+ferocious scrutiny of their deep-set eyes, extinguished the last
+spark of courage in the heart of Hyde. He did not look fierce and
+defiant any more. He felt inclined to be very civil, so he smiled
+a sickly smile and tried to say something, but his chin wobbled,
+and his tongue would not move.</p>
+
+<p>The blacks came nearer, and one of them said, "Gib fig
+tobacker, mate?" Here was a gleam of hope, a chance of postponing
+his final doom. When a foe cannot be conquered, it is lawful to
+pay him to be merciful; to give him an indemnity for his trouble
+in not kicking you. The shepherd instantly pulled out his
+tobacco, his pipe, his tobacco-knife, and matches, and handed
+them over. A second blackfellow, seeing him so ready to give,
+took the loan of his tin billy, with some tea and sugar in it,
+and some boiled mutton and damper. These children of the plains
+now saw that they had come upon a mine of wealth, and they worked
+it down to the bed rock. One after another, and with the willing
+help of the owner, they took possession of his hat, coat, shirt,
+boots, socks, trousers, and drawers, until the Hyde was
+completely bare, as naked, and, it is to be hoped, as innocent,
+as a new-born babe. His vanity, which was the major part of his
+personality, had vanished with his garments, and the remnant left
+of body and soul was very insignificant.</p>
+
+<p>Having now delivered up everything but his life, he had some
+hope that his enemies might at least spare him that. They were
+jabbering to one another at a great rate, trying on, putting off,
+and exchanging first one article and then another of the spoils
+they had won. They did not appear to think that the new chum was
+worth looking after any longer. So he began slinking away slowly
+towards his flock of sheep, trying to look as if nothing in
+particular was the matter; but he soon turned in the direction of
+the home station. He tried to run, and for a short time fear
+winged his feet; but the ground was hard and rough, and his feet
+were tender; and though he believed that death and three devils
+were behind him, he could go but slowly. A solitary eaglehawk sat
+on the top branch of a dead gum-tree, watching him with evil
+eyes; a chorus of laughing jackasses cackled after him in
+derision from a grove of young timber; a magpie, the joy of the
+morning, and most mirthful of birds, whistled for him sweet notes
+of hope and good cheer; then a number of carrion crows beheld
+him, and approached with their long-drawn, ill-omened "croank,
+croank," the most dismal note ever uttered by any living thing.
+They murder sick sheep, and pick out the eyes of stray lambs.
+They made short straggling flights, alighting on the ground in
+front of the miserable man, inspecting his condition, and
+calculating how soon he would be ready to be eaten. They are
+impatient gluttons, and often begin tearing their prey before it
+is dead.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Robinson clothed the naked, and then mounted his horse and
+went for the blacks. In a short time he returned with them to the
+station, and made them disgorge the stolen property, all but the
+tea, sugar, mutton, and damper, which were not returnable. He
+gave them some stirring advice with his stockwhip, and ordered
+them to start for a warmer climate. He then directed Hyde to
+return to his sheep, and not let those blank blacks humbug him
+out of clothes any more. But nothing would induce the shepherd to
+remain another day; he forswore pastoral pursuits for the rest of
+his life. His courage had been tried and found wanting; he had
+been covered--or, rather, uncovered--with disgrace; and his
+dignity--at least in Riverina --was gone for ever. In other
+scenes, and under happier auspices, he might recover it, but on
+Robinson's station he would be subjected to the derision of the
+station hands as long as he stayed.</p>
+
+<p>How he lived for some time afterwards is unknown; but in 1853
+he was a policeman at Bendigo diggings. At that time any man able
+to carry a carbine was admitted into the force without question.
+It was then the refuge of the penniless, of broken-down
+vagabonds, and unlucky diggers. Lords and lags were equally
+welcomed without characters or references from their former
+employers, the Masters' and Servants' Act having become a dead
+letter. Hyde entered the Government service, and had the good
+sense to stay there. His military bearing and noble mien
+proclaimed him fit to be a leader of men, and soon secured his
+promotion. He was made a sergeant, and in a few years was
+transferred to the Western District, far away, as he thought,
+from the scene of his early adventure.</p>
+
+<p>He lived for several years after meeting with and cutting his
+old employer, Robinson, and died at last of dyspepsia and
+peppermints, the disease and the remedy combined.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>WHITE SLAVES.</h3>
+
+<p>Many men who had been prisoners of the Crown, or seamen, lived
+on the islands in Bass' Straits, as well as on islands in the
+Pacific Ocean, fishing, sealing, or hunting, and sometimes
+cultivating patches of ground. The freedom of this kind of life
+was pleasing to those who had spent years under restraint in
+ships, in gaols, in chain-gangs, or as slaves to settlers in the
+bush, for the lot of the assigned servant was often worse than
+that of a slave, as he had to give his labour for nothing but
+food and clothing, and was liable to be flogged on any charge of
+disobedience, insolence, or insubordination which his master
+might choose to bring against him. Moreover, the black slave
+might be sold for cash, for five hundred to a thousand dollars,
+according to the quality of the article and the state of the
+market, so that it was for the enlightened self-interest of the
+owner to keep him in saleable condition. But the white slave was
+unsaleable, and his life of no account. When he died another
+could be obtained for nothing from the cargo of the next convict
+ship.</p>
+
+<p>Some masters treated their men well according to their
+deserts; but with regard to others, the exercise of despotic
+authority drew forth all the evil passions of their souls, and
+made them callous to the sufferings of their servants.</p>
+
+<p>The daily fear of the lash produced in the prisoners a
+peculiar expression of countenance, and a cowed and slinking
+gait, which I have never seen in any other men, white or black.
+And that gait and expression, like that of a dog crouching at the
+heels of a cruel master in fear of the whip, remained still after
+the prisoners had served the time of their sentences, and had
+recovered their freedom. They never smiled, and could never
+regain the feelings and bearing of free men; they appeared to
+feel on their faces the brand of Cain, by which they were known
+to all men, and the scars left on their backs by the cruel lash
+could never be smoothed away. Whenever they met, even on a lonely
+bush track, a man who, by his appearance might be a magistrate or
+a Government officer, they raised a hand to the forehead in a
+humble salute by mere force of habit. There were some, it is
+true, whose spirits were never completely broken--who fought
+against fate to the last, and became bushrangers or murderers;
+but sooner or later they were shot, or they were arrested and
+hanged. The gallows-tree on the virgin soil of Australia
+flourished and bore fruit in abundance.</p>
+
+<p>The trial of a convict charged with disobedience or
+insubordination was of summary jurisdiction. Joe Kermode, a
+teamster, chanced to be present at one of these trials. It was
+about ten o'clock in the morning when he saw near a house on the
+roadside a little knot of men at an open window. He halted his
+team to see what was the matter, and found that a police
+magistrate, sitting inside a room, was holding a Court of Petty
+Sessions at the window. It was an open court, to which the public
+were admitted according to law; a very open court, the roof of
+which was blue--the blue sky of a summer's morning. A witness was
+giving evidence against an assigned servant, charged with some
+offence against his master. His majesty, the magistrate,
+yawned--this kind of thing was tiresome. Presently a lady came
+into the room, walked to the open window, clasped her hands
+together, and laid them affectionately on the shoulder of the
+court. After listening for a few moments to the evidence she
+became impatient, and said, "Oh, William, give him three dozen
+and come to breakfast." So William gave the man three dozen and
+went to breakfast--with a good conscience; having performed the
+ordinary duty of the day extraordinarily well, he was on the high
+road to perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The sentence of the court was carried out by a scourger,
+sometimes called flagellator, or flogger. The office of scourger
+was usually held by a convict; it meant promotion in the
+Government service, and although there was some danger connected
+with it, there was always a sufficient number of candidates to
+fill vacancies. In New South Wales the number of officers in the
+cat-o'-nine tails department was about thirty. The danger
+attached to the office consisted in the certainty of the scourger
+being murdered by the scourgee, if ever the opportunity was
+given.</p>
+
+<p>Joe Kermode had once been a hutkeeper on a station. The hut
+was erected about forty yards from the stockyard, to which the
+sheep were brought every evening, to protect them from attack by
+dingoes or blackfellows. If the dingoes and blackfellows had been
+content with one sheep at a time to allay the pangs of hunger,
+they could not have been blamed very much; but after killing one
+they went on killing as many more as they could, and thus wasted
+much mutton to gratify their thirst for blood.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and the shepherd were each provided with a musket and
+bayonet for self-defence.</p>
+
+<p>The hut was built of slabs, and was divided by a partition
+into two rooms, and Joe always kept his musket ready loaded,
+night and day, just inside the doorway of the inner room. Two or
+three blacks would sometimes call, and ask for flour, sugar,
+tobacco, or a firestick. If they attempted to come inside the
+hut, Joe ordered them off, backing at the same time towards the
+inner door, and he always kept a sharp look-out for any movement
+they made; for they were very treacherous, and he knew they would
+take any chance they could get to kill him, for the sake of
+stealing the flour, sugar, and tobacco. Two of them once came
+inside the hut and refused to go out, until Joe seized his
+musket, and tickled them in the rear with his bayonet, under the
+"move on" clause in the Police Offences Statute.</p>
+
+<p>Early one morning there was a noise as of some disturbance in
+the stockyard, and Joe, on opening the door of his hut, saw
+several blacks spearing the sheep. He seized his musket and
+shouted, warning them to go away. One of them, who was sitting on
+the top rail with his back towards the hut, seemed to think that
+he was out of range of the musket, for he made most unseemly
+gestures, and yelled back at Joe in a defiant and contemptuous
+manner. Joe's gun was charged with shot, and he fired and hit his
+mark, for the blackfellow dropped suddenly from the top rail, and
+ran away, putting his hands behind him, and trying to pick out
+the pellets.</p>
+
+<p>One day a white stockman came galloping on his horse up to the
+door of the hut, his face, hands, shirt and trousers being
+smeared and saturated with blood. Joe took him inside the hut,
+and found that he had two severe wounds on the left shoulder.
+After the bleeding had been stanched and the wounds bandaged, the
+stranger related that as he was riding he met a blackfellow
+carrying a fire-stick. He thought it was a good opportunity of
+lighting his pipe, lucifer matches being then unknown in the
+bush; so he dismounted, took out his knife, and began cutting
+tobacco. The blackfellow asked for a fig of tobacco, and, after
+filling his pipe, the stockman gave him the remainder of the fig
+he had been cutting, and held out his hand for the firestick. The
+blackfellow seemed disappointed; very likely expecting to receive
+a whole fig of tobacco--and, instead of handing him the firestick
+he threw it on the ground. At the first moment the stockman did
+not suspect any treachery, as he had seen no weapon in possession
+of the blackfellow. He stooped to pick up the firestick; but just
+as he was touching it, he saw the black man's feet moving nearer,
+and becoming suddenly suspicious, he quickly moved his head to
+one side and stood upright. At the same instant he received a
+blow from a tomahawk on his left shoulder. This blow, intended
+for his head, was followed by another, which inflicted a second
+wound; but the stockman succeeded in grasping the wrist of his
+enemy. Then began a wrestling match between the two men, the
+stakes two lives, no umpire, no timekeeper, no backers, and no
+bets. The only spectator was the horse, whose bridle was hanging
+on the ground. But he seemed to take no interest in the struggle,
+and continued nibbling the grass until it was over.</p>
+
+<p>The black man, who had now dropped his rug, was as agile and
+nimble as a beast of prey, and exerted all his skill and strength
+to free his hand. But the white man felt that to loose his hold
+would be to lose his life, and he held on to his grip of the
+blackfellow's wrist with desperate resolution. The tomahawk fell
+to the ground, but just then neither of the men could spare a
+hand to pick it up. At length, by superior strength, the stockman
+brought his enemy to the ground. He then grasped the thick,
+matted hair with one hand, and thus holding the black's head
+close to the ground, he reached with the other hand for the
+tomahawk, and with one fierce blow buried the blade in the
+savage's brain. Even then he did not feel quite sure of his
+safety. He had an idea that it was very difficult to kill
+blackfellows outright, that theywere like American 'possums, and
+were apt to come to life again after they had been killed, and
+ought to be dead. So to finish his work well, he hacked at the
+neck with the tomahawk until he had severed the head completely
+from the body; then taking the head by the hair, he threw it as
+far as he could to the other side of the track. By this time he
+began to feel faint from loss of blood, so he mounted his horse
+and galloped to Joe Kermode's hut.</p>
+
+<p>When Joe had performed his duties of a good Samaritan to the
+stranger he mounted his horse, and rode to the field of battle.
+He found the headless body of the black man, the head at the
+other side of the track, the tomahawk, the piece of tobacco, the
+rug, and the firestick. Joe and the shepherd buried the body; the
+white man survived.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.</h3>
+
+<p>"The Government Stroke" is a term often used in the colonies,
+and indicates a lazy and inefficient manner of performing any
+kind of labour. It originated with the convicts. When a man is
+forced to work through fear of the lash, and receives no wages,
+it is quite natural and reasonable that he should exert himself
+as little as possible. If you were to reason with him, and urge
+him to work harder at, for instance, breaking road metal, in
+order that the public might have good roads to travel on, and
+show him what a great satisfaction it should be to know that his
+labours would confer a lasting benefit on his fellow creatures;
+that, though it might appear a little hard on him individually,
+he should raise his thoughts to a higher level, and labour for
+the good of humanity in general, he would very likely say, "Do
+you take me for a fool?" But if you gave him three dozen lashes
+for his laziness he will see, or at least feel, that your
+argument has some force in it. As a matter of fact men work for
+some present or future benefit for themselves. The saint who
+sells all he has to give to the poor, does so with the hope of
+obtaining a reward exceedingly great in the life to come. And
+even if there were no life to come, his present life is happier
+far than that of the man who grabs at all the wealth he can get
+until he drops into the grave. The man who works "all for love
+and nothing for reward" is a being incomprehensible to us
+ordinary mortals; he is an angel, and if ever he was a candidate
+for a seat in Parliament he was not elected. Even love--"which
+rules the court, the camp, the grove"--is given only with the
+hope of a return of love; for hopeless love is nothing but
+hopeless misery.</p>
+
+<p>I once hired an old convict as gardener at five shillings a
+day. He began to work in the morning with a great show of
+diligence while I was looking on. But on my return home in the
+evening it was wonderful to find how little work he had contrived
+to get through during the day; so I began to watch him. His
+systematic way of doing nothing would have been very amusing if
+it cost nothing. He pressed his spade into the ground with his
+boot as slowly as possible, lifted the sod very gently, and
+turned it over. Then he straightened his back, looked at the
+ground to the right, then to the left, then in front of him, and
+then cast his eyes along the garden fence. Having satisfied
+himself that nothing particular was happening anywhere within
+view, he gazed awhile at the sod he had turned over, and then
+shaved the top off with his spade. Having straightened his back
+once more, he began a survey of the superficial area of the next
+sod, and at length proceeded to cut it in the same deliberate
+manner, performing the same succeeding ceremonies. If he saw me,
+or heard me approaching, he became at once very alert and
+diligent until I spoke to him, then he stopped work at once. It
+was quite impossible for him both to labour and to listen; nobody
+can do two things well at the same time. But his greatest relief
+was in talking; he would talk with anybody all day long if
+possible, and do nothing else; his wages, of course, still
+running on. There is very little talk worth paying for. I would
+rather give some of my best friends a fee to be silent, than pay
+for anything they have to tell me. My gardener was a most
+unprofitable servant; the only good I got out of him was a clear
+knowledge of what the Government stroke meant, and the knowledge
+was not worth the expense. He was in other respects harmless and
+useless, and, although he had been transported for stealing, I
+could never find that he stole anything from me. The disease of
+larceny seemed somehow to have been worked out of his system;
+though he used to describe with great pleasure how his
+misfortunes began by stealing wall-fruit when he was a boy; and
+although it was to him like the fruit</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste<br>
+Brought death into the world, and all our woe."</blockquote>
+
+<p>it was so sweet that, while telling me about it sixty years
+afterwards, he smiled and smacked his lips, renewing as it were
+the delight of its delicious taste.</p>
+
+<p>He always avoided, as much as possible, the danger of dying of
+hard work, so he is living yet, and is eighty-six years old.
+Whenever I see him he gives me his blessing, and says he never
+worked for any man he liked so well. A great philosopher says, in
+order to be happy it is necessary to be beloved, but in order to
+be beloved we must know how to please, and we can only please by
+ministering to the happiness of others. I ministered to the old
+convict's happiness by letting him work so lazily, and so I was
+beloved and happy.</p>
+
+<p>He had formerly been an assigned servant to Mr. Gellibrand,
+Attorney-General of Tasmania, before that gentleman went with Mr.
+Hesse on that voyage to Australia Felix from which he never
+returned. Some portions of a skeleton were found on the banks of
+a river, which were supposed to belong to the lost explorer, and
+that river, and Mount Gellibrand, on which he and Hesse parted
+company, were named after him.</p>
+
+<p>There was a blackfellow living for many years afterwards in
+the Colac district who was said to have killed and eaten the lost
+white man; the first settlers therefore call him Gellibrand, as
+they considered he had made out a good claim to the name by
+devouring the flesh. This blackfellow's face was made up of
+hollows and protuberances ugly beyond all aboriginal ugliness. I
+was present at an interview between him and senior-constable
+Hooley, who nearly rivalled the savage in lack of beauty. Hooley
+had been a soldier in the Fifth Fusiliers, and had been convicted
+of the crime of manslaughter, having killed a coloured man near
+Port Louis, in the Mauritius. He was sentenced to penal servitude
+for the offence, and had passed two years of his time in
+Tasmania. This incident had produced in his mind an interest in
+blackfellows generally, and on seeing Gellibrand outside the
+Colac courthouse, he walked up to him, and looked him steadily in
+the face, without saying a word or moving a muscle of his
+countenance. I never saw a more lovely pair. The black fellow
+returned the gaze unflinchingly, his deep-set eyes fixed fiercely
+on those of the Irishman, his nostrils dilated, and his frowning
+forehead wrinkled and hard, as if cast in iron. The two men
+looked like two wild beasts preparing for a deadly fight. At
+length, Hooley moved his face nearer to that of the savage, until
+their noses almost met, and between his teeth he slowly
+ejaculated: "You eat white man? You eat me? Eh?" Then the deep
+frown on Gellibrand's face began slowly to relax, his thick lips
+parted by degrees, and displayed, ready for business, his sharp
+and shining teeth, white as snow and hard as steel. A smile,
+which might be likened to that of a humorous tiger, spread over
+his spacious features, and so the interview ended without a
+fight. I was very much disappointed, as I hoped the two
+man-slayers were going to eat each other for the public good, and
+I was ready to back both of them without fear, favour, or
+affection.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the blacks ate human flesh, not as an
+article of regular diet, but occasionally, when the fortune of
+war, or accident, favoured them with a supply. When Mr. Hugh
+Murray set out from Geelong to look for country to the westward,
+he took with him several natives belonging to the Barrabool
+tribe. When they arrived near Lake Colac they found the banks of
+the Barongarook Creek covered with scrub, and on approaching the
+spot where the bridge now spans the watercourse, they saw a
+blackfellow with his lubra and a little boy, running towards the
+scrub. The Barrabool blacks gave chase, and the little boy was
+caught by one of them before he could find shelter, and was
+instantly killed with a club. That night the picaninny was
+roasted at the camp fire, and eaten.</p>
+
+<p>And yet these blacks had human feelings and affections. I once
+saw a tribe travelling from one part of the district to another
+in search of food, as was their custom. One of the men was dying
+of consumption, and was too weak to follow the rest. He looked
+like a living skeleton, but he was not left behind to die. He was
+sitting on the shoulders of his brother, his hands grasping for
+support the hair on the head, and his wasted legs dangling in
+front of the other's ribs. These people were sometimes hunted as
+if they were wolves, but two brother wolves would not have been
+so kind to each other.</p>
+
+<p>Before the white men came the blacks never buried their dead;
+they had no spades and could not dig graves. Sometimes their dead
+were dropped into the hollow trunks of trees, and sometimes they
+were burned. There was once a knoll on the banks of the
+Barongarook Creek, below the court-house, the soil of which
+looked black and rich. When I was trenching the ground near my
+house for vines and fruit trees, making another garden of
+paradise in lieu of the one I had lost, I obtained cart loads of
+bones from the slaughter yards and other places, and placed them
+in trenches; and in order to fertilize one corner of the garden,
+I spread over it several loads of the rich-looking black loam
+taken from the knoll near the creek. After a few years the vines
+and trees yielded great quantities of grapes and fruit, and I
+made wine from my vineyard. But the land on which I had spread
+the black loam was almost barren, and yet I had seen fragments of
+bones mixed with it, and amongst them a lower jaw with perfect
+teeth, most likely the jaw of a young lubra. On mentioning the
+circumstance to one of the early settlers, he said my loam had
+been taken from the spot on which the blacks used to burn their
+dead. Soon after he arrived at Colac he saw there a solitary
+blackfellow crouching before a fire in which bones were visible.
+So, pointing to them, he asked what was in the fire, and the
+blackfellow replied with one word "lubra." He was consuming the
+remains of his dead wife, and large tears were coursing down his
+cheeks. Day and night he sat there until the bones had been
+nearly all burned and covered with ashes. This accounted for the
+fragments of bones in my black loam; why it was not fertile, I
+know, but I don't know how to express the reason well.</p>
+
+<p>While the trenching of my vineyard was going on, Billy
+Nicholls looked over the fence, and gave his opinion about it. He
+held his pipe between his thumb and forefinger, and stopped
+smoking in stupid astonishment. He said--"That ground is ruined,
+never will grow nothing no more; all the good soil is buried;
+nothing but gravel and stuff on top; born fool."</p>
+
+<p>Old Billy was a bullock driver, my neighbour and enemy, and
+lived, with his numerous progeny, in a hut in the paddock next to
+mine. In the rainy seasons the water flowed through my ground on
+to his, and he had dug a drain which led the water past his hut,
+instead of allowing it to go by the natural fall across his
+paddock. The floods washed his drain into a deep gully near his
+hut, which was sometimes nearly surrounded with the roaring
+waters. He then tried to dam the water back on to my ground, but
+I made a gap in his dam with a long-handled shovel, and let the
+flood go through. Nature and the shovel were too much for Billy.
+He came out of his hut, and stood watching the torrent, holding
+his dirty old pipe a few inches from his mouth, and uttered a
+loud soliloquy:--"Here I am--on a miserable island--fenced in
+with water--going to be washed away --by that Lord Donahoo, son
+of a barber's clerk--wants to drown me and my kids--don't
+he--I'll break his head wi' a paling--blowed if I don't." He then
+put his pipe in his mouth, and gazed in silence on the rushing
+waters.</p>
+
+<p>I planted my ground with vines of fourteen different
+varieties, but, in a few years, finding that the climate was
+unsuitable for most of them, I reduced the number to about five.
+These yielded an unfailing abundance of grapes every year, and as
+there was no profitable market, I made wine. I pruned and
+disbudded the vines myself, and also crushed and pressed the
+grapes. The digging and hoeing of the ground cost about 10 pounds
+each year. When the wine had been in the casks about twelve
+months I bottled it; in two years more it was fit for
+consumption, and I was very proud of the article. But I cannot
+boast that I ever made much profit out of it--that is, in cash--
+as I found that the public taste for wine required to be
+educated, and it took so long to do it that I had to drink most
+of the wine myself. The best testimony to its excellence is the
+fact that I am still alive.</p>
+
+<p>The colonial taste for good liquor was spoiled from the very
+beginning, first by black strap and rum, condensed from the steam
+of hell, then by Old Tom and British brandy, fortified with
+tobacco-- this liquor was the nectar with which the ambrosial
+station hands were lambed down by the publicans--and in these
+latter days by colonial beer, the washiest drink a nation was
+ever drenched with. the origin of bad beer dates from the repeal
+of the sugar duty in England; before that time beer was brewed
+from malt and hops, and that we had "jolly good ale and old," and
+sour pie.</p>
+
+<p>A great festival was impending at Colac, to consist of a
+regatta on the lake, the first we ever celebrated, and a picnic
+on its banks. All the people far and near invited themselves to
+the feast, from the most extensive of squatters to the oldest of
+old hands. The blackfellows were there, too--what was left of
+them. Billy Leura walked all the way from Camperdown, and on the
+day before the regatta came to my house with a couple of black
+ducks in his hand. Sissy, six years old, was present; she
+inspected the blackfellow and the ducks, and listened. Leura said
+he wanted to sell me the ducks, but not for money; he would take
+old clothes for them. He was wearing nothing but a shirt and
+trousers, both badly out of repair, and was anxious to adorn his
+person with gay attire on the morrow. So I traded off a pair of
+old cords and took the ducks.</p>
+
+<p>Next day we had two guests, a Miss Sheppard, from Geelong, and
+another lady, and as my house was near the lake, we did our
+picnicking inside. We put on as much style as possible to suit
+the occasion, including, of course, my best native wine, and the
+two ducks roasted. Sissy sat at the table next to Miss Sheppard,
+and felt it her duty to lead the conversation in the best society
+style. She said:</p>
+
+<p>"You see dose two ducks, Miss Sheppard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear; very fine ones."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, papa bought 'em from a black man yesterday. De man said
+dey was black ducks, but dey was'nt black, dey was brown. De
+fedders are in de yard, and dey are brown fedders."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know, dear; they call them black ducks, but they are
+brown-- dark brown."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, de blackfellow want to sell de ducks to papa,
+but papa has no money, so he went into de house and bring out a
+pair of his old lowsers, and de blackfellow give him de ducks for
+de lowsers, and dems de ducks you see."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear; I see," said Miss Sheppard, blushing terribly.</p>
+
+<p>We all blushed.</p>
+
+<p>"You naughty girl," said mamma; "hold your tongue, or I'll
+send you to the kitchen."</p>
+
+<p>"But mamma, you know its quite true," said Sissy. "Didn't I
+show you de black man just now, Miss Sheppard, when he was going
+to de lake? I said dere's de blackfellow, and he's got papa's
+lowsers on, didn't I now?"</p>
+
+<p>The times seemed prosperous with us, but it was only a
+deceptive gleam of sunshine before the coming storm of adversity.
+I built an addition to my dwelling; and when it was completed I
+employed a paperhanger from London named Taylor, to beautify the
+old rooms. He was of a talkative disposition; when he had nobody
+else to listen he talked to himself, and when he was tired of
+that he began singing. The weather was hot, and the heat,
+together with his talking and singing, made him thirsty; so one
+day he complained to me that his work was very dry. I saw at once
+an opportunity of obtaining an independent and reliable judgment
+on the quality of my wine; so I went for a bottle, drew the cork,
+and offered him a tumblerful, telling him it was wine which I had
+made from my own grapes. As Taylor was a native of London, the
+greatest city in the world, he must have had a wide experience in
+many things, was certain to know the difference between good and
+bad liquor, and I was anxious to obtain a favourable verdict on
+my Australian product. He held up the glass to the light, and
+eyed the contents critically; then he tasted a small quantity,
+and paused awhile to feel the effect. He then took another taste,
+and remarked, "It's sourish." He put the tumbler to his mouth a
+third time, and emptied it quickly. Then he placed one hand on
+his stomach, said "Oh, my," and ran away to the water tap outside
+to rinse his mouth and get rid of the unpleasant flavour. His
+verdict was adverse, and very unflattering.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, while I was inspecting his work, he gave me to
+understand that he felt dry again. I asked him what he would
+like, a drink of water or a cup of tea? He said, "Well, I think
+I'll just try another glass of that wine of yours." He seemed
+very irrational in the matter of drink, but I fetched another
+bottle. This time he emptied the first tumbler without
+hesitation, regardless of consequences. He puckered his lips and
+curled his nose, and said it was rather sourish; but in hot
+weather it was not so bad as cold water, and was safer for the
+stomach. He then drew the back of his hand across his mouth,
+looked at the paper which he had been putting on the wall, and
+said, "I don't like that pattern a bit; too many crosses on
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," I said, "I never observed the crosses before, but I
+don't see any harm in them. Why don't you like them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it looks too like the Catholics, don't you see? too
+popish. I hate them crosses."</p>
+
+<p>"Really," I replied. "I am sorry to hear that. I am a Catholic
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, lor! Are you, indeed? I always thought you were a
+Scotchman."</p>
+
+<p>Taylor finished that bottle of wine during the afternoon, and
+next day he wanted another. He wanted more every day, until he
+rose to be a three-bottle man. He became reconciled to the
+crosses on the wall-paper, forgave me for not being a Scotchman,
+and I believe the run of my cellar would have made him a sincere
+convert to popery-- as long as the wine lasted.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this memorable incident, the Minister and Secretary
+made an official pleasure excursion through the Western District.
+They visited the court and inspected it, and me, and the books,
+and the furniture. They found everything correct, and were
+afterwards so sociable that I expected they would, on returning
+to Melbourne, speedily promote me, probably to the Bench. But
+they forgot me, and promoted themselves instead. I have seen them
+since sitting nearly as high as Haman in those expensive Law
+courts in Lonsdale Street, while I was a despicable jury-man
+serving the Crown for ten shillings a day. That is the way of
+this world; the wicked are well-paid and exalted, while the
+virtuous are ill-paid and trodden down. At a week's notice I was
+ordered to leave my Garden of Eden, and I let it to a tenant, the
+very child of the Evil One. He pruned the vines with goats and
+fed his cattle on the fruit trees. Then he wrote to inquire why
+the vines bore no grapes and the fruit trees no fruit, and wanted
+me to lower the rent, to repair the vineyard and the house, and
+to move the front gate to the corner of the fence. That man
+deserved nothing but death, and he died.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1853, the last survivor of the Barrabool
+tribe came to Colac, and joined the remnant of the Colac blacks,
+but one night he was killed by them at their camp, near the site
+of the present hospital. A shallow hole was dug about forty or
+fifty yards from the south-east corner of the allotment on which
+the Presbyterian manse was built, and the Colac tribe buried his
+body there, and stuck branches of trees around his grave. About
+six months afterwards a Government officer, the head of a
+department, arrived at Colac, and I rode with him about the
+township and neighbouring country showing him the antiquities and
+the monuments, among others the mausoleum of the last of the
+Barrabools. The leaves had by this time fallen from the dead
+branches around the sepulchre, and the small twigs on them were
+decaying. The cattle and goats would soon tread them down and
+scatter them, and the very site of the grave would soon be
+unknown.</p>
+
+<p>The officer was a man of culture and of scientific tendencies,
+and he asked me to dig up the skull of the murdered blackfellow,
+and sent it to his address in Melbourne. He was desirous of
+exercising his culture on it, and wished to ascertain whether the
+skull was bracchy-cephalous, dolichophalous, or polycephalous. I
+think that was the way he expressed it. I said there was very
+likely a hole in it, and it would be spoiled; but he said the
+hole would make no difference. I would do almost anything for
+science and money, but he did not offer me any, and I did not
+think a six months' mummy was old enough to steal; it was too
+fresh. If that scientist would borrow a spade and dig up the
+corpse himself, I would go away to a sufficient distance and
+close my eyes and nose until he had deposited the relic in his
+carpet bag. But I was too conscientious to be accessory to the
+crime of body-snatching, and he had not courage enough to do the
+foul deed. That land is now fenced in, and people dwell there.
+The bones of the last of the Barrabools still rest under
+somebody's house, or fertilise a few feet of a garden plot.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>ON THE NINETY-MILE.</h3>
+
+<p><b>A HOME BY A REMOTER SEA.</b></p>
+
+<p>The Ninety-Mile, washed by the Pacific, is the sea shore of
+Gippsland. It has been formed by the mills of two oceans, which
+for countless ages have been slowly grinding into meal the rocks
+on the southern coast of Australia; and every swirling tide and
+howling gale has helped to build up the beach. The hot winds of
+summer scorch the dry sand, and spin it into smooth, conical
+hills. Amongst these, low shrubs with grey-green leaves take
+root, and thrive and flourish under the salt sea spray where
+other trees would die. Strange plants, with pulpy leaves and
+brilliant flowers, send forth long green lines, having no visible
+beginning or end, which cling to the sand and weave over it a
+network of vegetation, binding together the billowy dunes.</p>
+
+<p>The beach is broken in places by narrow channels, through
+which the tide rushes, and wanders in many currents among low
+mudbanks studded with shellfish--the feeding grounds of ducks,
+and gulls, and swans; and around a thousand islands whose soil
+has been woven together by the roots of the spiky mangrove, or
+stunted tea-tree. Upon the muddy flats, scarcely above the level
+of the water, the black swans build their great circular nests,
+with long grass and roots compacted with slime. Salt marshes and
+swamps, dotted with bunches of rough grass, stretch away behind
+the hummocks. Here, towards the end of the summer, the blacks
+used to reap their harvest of fat eels, which they drew forth
+from the soft mud under the roots of the tussocks.</p>
+
+<p>The country between the sea and the mountains was the
+happy-hunting-ground of the natives before the arrival of the
+ill-omened white-fellow. The inlets teemed with flathead, mullet,
+perch, schnapper, oysters, and sharks, and also with innumerable
+water-fowl. The rivers yielded eels and blackfish. The sandy
+shores of the islands were honey-combed with the holes in which
+millions of mutton-birds deposited their eggs in the last days of
+November in each year. Along many tracks in the scrub the black
+wallabiesand paddy-melons hopped low. In the open glades among
+the great gum-trees marched the stately emu, and tall kangaroos,
+seven feet high, stood erect on their monstrous hind-legs, their
+little fore-paws hanging in front, and their small faces looking
+as innocent as sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Every hollow gum-tree harboured two or more fat opossums,
+which, when roasted, made a rich and savoury meal. Parrots of the
+most brilliant plumage, like winged flowers, flew in flocks from
+tree to tree, so tame that you could kill them with a stick, and
+so beautiful that it seemed a sin to destroy them. Black
+cockatoos, screaming harshly the while, tore long strips of bark
+from the messmate, searching for the savoury grub. Bronzed-winged
+pigeons, gleaming in the sun, rose from the scrub, and flocks of
+white cockatoos, perched high on the bare limbs of the dead
+trees, seemed to have made them burst into miraculous bloom like
+Aaron's rod.</p>
+
+<p>The great white pelican stood on one leg on a sand-bank,
+gazing along its huge beak at the receding tide, hour after hour,
+solemn and solitary, meditating on the mysteries of Nature.</p>
+
+<p>But on the mountains both birds and beasts were scarce, as
+many a famishing white man has found to his sorrow. In the heat
+of summer the sea-breeze grows faint, and dies before it reaches
+the ranges. Long ropes of bark, curled with the hot sun, hang
+motionless from the black-butts and blue gums; a few birds may be
+seen sitting on the limbs of the trees, with their wings
+extended, their beaks open, panting for breath, unable to utter a
+sound from their parched throats.</p>
+
+<p>"When all food fails then welcome haws" is a saying that does
+not apply to Australia, which yields no haws or fruit of any kind
+that can long sustain life. A starving man may try to allay the
+pangs of hunger with the wild raspberries, or with the cherries
+which wear their seeds outside, but the longer he eats them, the
+more hungry he grows. One resource of the lost white man, if he
+has a gun and ammunition, is the native bear, sometimes called
+monkey bear. Its flesh is strong and muscular, and its eucalyptic
+odour is stronger still. A dog will eat opossum with pleasure,
+but he must be very hungry before he will eat bear; and how lost
+to all delicacy of taste, and sense of refinement, must the
+epicure be who will make the attempt! The last quadruped on which
+a meal can be made is the dingo, and the last winged creature is
+the owl, whose scanty flesh is viler even than that of the hawk
+or carrion crow, and yet a white man has partaken of all these
+and survived. Some men have tried roasted snake, but I never
+heard of anyone who could keep it on his stomach. The blacks,
+with their keen scent, knew when a snake was near by the odour it
+emitted, but they avoided the reptile whether alive or dead.</p>
+
+<p>Before any white man had made his abode in Gippsland, a
+schooner sailed from Sydney chartered by a new settler who had
+taken up a station in the Port Phillip district. His wife and
+family were on board, and he had shipped a large quantity of
+stores, suitable for commencing life in a new land. It was
+afterwards remembered that the deck of the vessel was encumbered
+with cargo of various kinds, including a bullock dray, and that
+the deck hamper would unfit her to encounter bad weather. As she
+did not arrive at Port Phillip within a reasonable time, a cutter
+was sent along the coast in search of her; and her long boat was
+found ashore near the Lakes Entrance, but nothing else belonging
+to her was ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>When the report arose in 1843 that a white woman had been seen
+with the blacks, it was supposed that she was one of the
+passengers of the missing schooner, and parties of horsemen went
+out to search for her among the natives, but the only white woman
+ever found was a wooden one--the figure-head of a ship.</p>
+
+<p>Some time afterwards, when Gippsland had been settled by white
+men, a tree was discovered on Woodside station near the beach, in
+the bark of which letters had been cut, and it was said they
+would correspond with the initials of the names of some of the
+passengers and crew of the lost schooner, and by their appearance
+they must have been carved many years previously. This tree was
+cut down, and the part of the trunk containing the letters was
+sawn off and sent to Melbourne. There is little doubt that the
+letters on the tree had been cut by one of the survivors of that
+ill-fated schooner, who had landed in the long boat near the
+Lakes, and had made their way along the Ninety-Mile beach to
+Woodside. They were far from the usual track of coasting vessels,
+and had little chance of attracting attention by signals or
+fires. Even if they had plenty of food, it was impossible for
+them to travel in safety through that unknown country to Port
+Phillip, crossing the inlets, creeks, and swamps, in daily danger
+of losing their lives by the spears of the wild natives. They
+must have wandered along the ninety-mile as far as they could go,
+and then, weary and worn out for want of food, reluctant to die
+the death of the unhonoured dead, one of them had carved the
+letters on the tree, as a last despairing message to their
+friends, before they were killed by the savages, or succumbed to
+starvation.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,<br>
+This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned,<br>
+Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,<br>
+Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?"</blockquote>
+
+<p><a name="ch-14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.</h3>
+
+<p><b>AT THE OLD PORT.</b></p>
+
+<p>Most of them were Highlanders, and the news of the discovery
+of Gippsland must often have been imparted in Gaelic, for many of
+the children of the mist could speak no English when they
+landed.</p>
+
+<p>Year after year settlers had advanced farther from Sydney
+along the coastal ranges, until stations were occupied to the
+westward of Twofold Bay. In that rugged country, where no wheeled
+vehicle could travel, bullocks were trained to carry produce to
+the bay, and to bring back stores imported from Sydney. Each
+train was in charge of a white man, with several native drivers.
+But rumours of better lands towards the south were rife, and
+Captain Macalister, of the border police, equipped a party of men
+under McMillan to go in search of them. Armed and provisioned,
+they journeyed over the mountains, under the guidance of the
+faithful native Friday, and at length from the top of a new Mount
+Pisgah beheld a fair land, watered throughout as the Paradise of
+the Lord. Descending into the plains, McMillan selected a site
+for a station, left some of his men to build huts and stockyards,
+and returned to report his discovery to Macalister.</p>
+
+<p>Slabs were split with which walls were erected, but before a
+roof was put on them the blacks suddenly appeared and began to
+throw their spears at the intruders; one spear of seasoned
+hardwood actually penetrated through a slab. The men, all but
+one, who shall be nameless, seized their guns and fired at the
+blacks, who soon disappeared. The white men also disappeared over
+the mountains; the rout was mutual.</p>
+
+<p>But the country was too good to be occupied solely by savages,
+and when McMillan returned with reinforcements he made some
+arrangements, the exact particulars of which he would never
+disclose. He brought cattle to his run, and they quickly grew
+fat; but civilised man does not live by fat cattle alone, and a
+market had to be sought. Twofold Bay was too far away, and young
+Melbourne was somewhere beyond impassable mountains. McMillan
+built a small boat, which he launched on the river, and pulled
+down to the lakes in search of an outlet. He found it, but the
+current was so strong that it carried him out to sea. He had to
+land on the outer beach, and to drag his boat back over the sands
+to the inner waters.</p>
+
+<p>He next rode westward with his man Friday to look for a port
+at Corner Inlet, and he blazed a track to the Albert River.
+Friday was an inland black. He gazed at the river, which was
+flowing towards the mountains, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"What for stupid yallock* yan along a bulga**?"</p>
+
+<blockquote>[* Footnote: *Yallock, river. **Bulga,
+mountain.]</blockquote>
+
+<p>McMillan tried to explain the theory of the tides.</p>
+
+<p>"One big yallock down there push him along, come back
+by-and-by." And Friday saw the water come back by-and-by.</p>
+
+<p>They reached the mouth of the river on February 1st, 1841, saw
+a broad expense of salt water, and McMillan concluded that he had
+found a port for Gippsland.</p>
+
+<p>Ten months afterwards Jack Shay arrived at the port. He had
+first come to Twofold Bay from Van Diemen's Land, and nothing was
+known about his former life. "That's nothing to nobody," he said.
+He was a bushman, rough and weather-beaten, with only one
+peculiarity. The quart pot which he slung to his belt would hold
+half a gallon of tea, while other pots only held a quart, and
+that was the reason why he was known all the way from Monaroo to
+Adelaide as "Jack of the Quart Pot."</p>
+
+<p>He had arrived rather late on the previous evening, and this
+morning, as he sat on a log contemplating the scenery, his first
+conclusion was that the port was not flourishing. There was not a
+ship within sight. The mouth of the Albert River was visible on
+his right, and the inlet was spread out before him shining in the
+morning sun. About a mile away on the western shore was One Tree
+Hill. Towards the south were mud banks and mangrove islands,
+through which the channel zigzagged like a figure of eight, and
+then the view was closed by the scrub on Sunday Island. There was
+a boat at anchor in the channel about a mile distant, in which
+two men were fishing for their breakfast, for there was famine in
+the settlement, and the few pioneers left in it were kept alive
+on a diet of roast flathead. On the beach three boats were drawn
+up out of reach of the tide, and looking behind him Jack counted
+twelve huts and one store of wattle-and-dab. The store had been
+built to hold the goods of the Port Albert Company. It was in
+charge of John Campbell, and contained a quantity of axes,
+tomahawks, saddles and bridles, a grindstone, some shot and
+powder, two double-barrelled guns, nails and hammers, and a few
+other articles, but there was nothing eatable to be seen in it.
+If there was any flour, tea, or sugar left, it was carefully
+concealed from any of the famishing settlers who might by chance
+peep in at the door. Outside the hut was a nine-pounder gun on
+wheels, which had been landed by the company for use in time of
+war; but until this day there had been no hostilities between the
+natives and the settlers. From time to time numbers of black
+faces had been seen among the scrub, but so far no spear had been
+thrown nor hostile gun fired. The members of the company were
+Turnbull, McLeod, Rankin, Brodribb, Hornden, and Orr. Soon after
+they landed they cleared a semi-circular piece of ground behind
+their tents, to prevent the blacks from sneaking up to them
+unseen. Near the beach stood two she-oak trees, marked, one with
+the letters M. M., 1 Feb., 1841, the other 2 Mar., 1841, and the
+initials of the members of the Port Albert Company. Behind the
+huts three hobbled horses were feeding, two of which had been
+brought by Jack Shay. A gaunt deerhound, with a shaggy coat, lame
+and lean, was lying in the sun. There was also an old cart in
+front of one of the huts, out of which two boys came and began to
+gather wood and to kindle a fire. They were ragged and hungry,
+and looked shyly at Jack Shay. One was Bill Clancy, and the other
+had been printer's devil to Hardy, of the 'Gazette', and was
+therefore known as Dick the Devil. They had been picked up in
+Melbourne by Captain Davy, who had brought them to Port Albert in
+his whaleboat. Their ambition had been for "a life on the ocean
+wave, and a home on the rolling deep," as heroic young pirates;
+but at present they lived on shore, and their home was George
+Scutt's old cart.</p>
+
+<p>A man emerged from one of the huts carrying a candle-box,
+which he laid on the ground before the fire. Jack observed that
+the box was full of eggs, on the top of which lay two teaspoons.
+The man was Captain David, usually known as Davy. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to ask you to breakfast, Jack; but you have been a
+long time coming, and provisions are scarce in these parts."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you make no trouble whatsomever about me," said Jack.
+"Many's the time I've hadshort rations, and I can take pot-luck
+with any man."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find pot-luck here is but poor luck," replied Davy.
+"I've got neither grub nor grog, no meat, no flour, no tea, no
+sugar-- nothing but eggs; but, thank God, I've got plenty of
+them. There are five more boxes full of them in my hut, so we may
+as well set to at once."</p>
+
+<p>Davy drew some hot ashes from the fire, and thrust the eggs
+into them, one by one. When they were sufficiently cooked, he
+handed one and a teaspoon to Jack and took another himself,
+saying, "We shall have to eat them just as they are; there is
+plenty of salt water, but I haven't even a pinch of salt."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Davy, there's plenty of salt right before your face. Did
+you never try ashes? Mix a spoonful with your egg this way, and
+you'll find you don't want no better salt."</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are, Jack; it goes down grand," said Davy, after
+seasoning and eating one egg. Then to the boys, "Here you kids,
+take some eggs and roast 'em and salt 'em with ashes, and then
+take your sticks and try if you can knock down a few parrots or
+wattle birds for dinner. But don't you go far from the camp, and
+keep a sharp look-out for the blacks; for you can never trust
+'em, and they might poke their spears through you."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Davy," asked Jack, "where is the port and the shipping,
+and where are all the settlers? There don't seem to be many
+people stirring about here this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Port and shipping be blessed," said Davy; "and as for the
+settlers, there are only about half-a-dozen left, with these two
+boys and my wife, and Hannah Scutt. We don't keep no regular
+watch, and meal-times is of little use unless there's something
+to eat. I landed here from that whale-boat on the 30th of last
+May, and I have been waiting for you ever since. In a few weeks
+we had about a hundred and fifty people camped here. They came
+mostly in cutters from Melbourne, looking for work or looking for
+runs. They said men were working for half-a-crown a day without
+rations on the road between Liardet's beach and the town. But
+there was no work for them here; and, as their provisions soon
+ran short, they had to go away or starve. I stopped here, and
+have been starving most of the time. Some went back in the
+cutters and some overland.</p>
+
+<p>"Brodribb and Hobson came here over the mountains with four
+Port Phillip blacks, and they decided to look for a better way by
+the coast. I landed them and their four blacks at the head of
+Corner Inlet. They were attacked by the Western Port blacks near
+the River Tarwin, but they frightened them away by firing their
+guns. The four Port Phillip blacks who were carrying the
+ammunition and provisions ran away too; and the two white men had
+nothing to eat for two or three days until they made Massey and
+Anderson's station on the Bass, where they found their runaway
+blacks.</p>
+
+<p>"William Pearson and his party were the next who left the
+Port. They took the road over the mountains, and lived on monkey
+bears until they reached Massey and Anderson's.</p>
+
+<p>"McClure, Scott, Montgomery, and several other men started
+next. They had very little of their provisions left when I landed
+them one morning at One Tree Hill there over the water. They were
+fourteen days tramping over the mountains, and were so starved
+that they ate their own dogs. They came back in a schooner, but I
+think some of them will never get over that journey. I tell you,
+Jack, it's hard to make a start in a new country with no money,
+no food, and no live stock, except Scott's old horse and that
+lame deerhound. Poor Ossian was a good dog, and used to run down
+an old man kangaroo for us, until one of them gave him a terrible
+rip with his claw, and he has been lame ever since. For eight
+weeks we were living on roast flat-head, and I grew tired of it,
+so on the 17th of last month I started down the inlet in my
+whaleboat, and went to Lady Bay to take in some firewood. I knew
+the mutton-birds would be coming to the islands on the 23rd or
+24th, but I landed on one of them on the 19th, four or five days
+too soon, and began to look for something to eat. There were some
+pig-faces, but they were only in flower, no fruit on 'em. I could
+find nothing but penguin's eggs and I put some of those in a pot
+over the fire. But they would never get hard if I boiled them all
+day. There is something oily inside of them, and how it gets
+there I never could tell. You might as well try to live on rancid
+butter and nothing else. However, on November 23rd the
+mutton-birds began to come in thousands, and then I was soon
+living in clover. I had any quantity of hard-boiled eggs and
+roast fowl, for I could knock down the birds with a stick.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Jack, what have you been doing since I met you the year
+before last? You had a train of pack bullocks and a mob of
+cattle, looking for a run about Mount Buninyong. Did you start a
+station there for Imlay?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't. I found a piece of good country, but Pettit and
+the Coghills hunted me out of it, so Imlay sold the cattle, and
+went back to Twofold Bay. Then Charles Lynot offered me a job. He
+was taking a mob of cattle to Adelaide, but he heard there was no
+price for them there, so he took up a station at the Pyrenees,
+seventeen miles beyond Parson Irvine's run at the Amphitheatre. I
+was there about twelve months. My hut was not far from a deep
+waterhole, and the milking yard was about two hundred yards from
+the hut. The wild blacks were very troublesome; they killed three
+white men at Murdering Creek, and me and Francis, Clarke's
+manager, hunted them off the station two or three times. The
+blacks were more afraid of Francis than of anybody else, as
+besides his gun he always carried pistols, and they never could
+tell how many he had in his pockets. Cockatoo Bill's tribe drove
+away a lot of Parson Irvine's sheep, and broke a leg of each
+sheep to keep them from going back. The Parson and Francis went
+after them, and one of our stockmen named Walker, and another, a
+big fellow whose name I forget. They shot some of the blacks, but
+the sheep were spoiled.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a tame blackfellow we called Alick, and two gins,
+living about our station, and he had a daughter we called
+picaninny Charlotte, ten or eleven years old, who was very quick
+and smart, and spoke English very well. One morning, when I was
+in the milking yard, she came to me and said, 'You look out.
+Cockatoo Bill got your axe under his rug--sitting among a lot of
+lubras. Chop you down when you bring up milk in buckets.'</p>
+
+<p>"I had no gun with me, so I crept out of the yard, and sneaked
+through the scrub to get into the hut through the back door,
+keeping out of sight of Bill and the lubras, who were all sitting
+on the ground in front of the hut. We had plenty of arms, and I
+always kept my double-barrelled gun loaded, and hanging over the
+fireplace. I crept inside the hut, reached down for the gun, and
+peeped out of the front door, looking for Bill. The lubras began
+yabbering, and in an instant Bill dropped his rug and the axe,
+leaped over the heads of the women, and was off like a deer. I
+took a flying shot at him with both barrels. His lubra went about
+afterwards among the stations complaining that Jack Quart Pot
+shot Cockatoo Bill, and Parker (the Government Protector) made
+enquiries about him. I saw him coming towards my hut, and I said
+to piccaninny Charlotte, 'No talk, no English, no nothing;' and
+when Parker asked her if she knew anything about Cockatoo Bill
+she shammed stupid, and he couldn't get a word out of her. Who is
+that cove with the spyglass?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's John Campbell, the company's storeman. He is looking
+for a schooner every day. He would have gone long ago like the
+rest, but he does not like to leave the stores behind. Here, Mr.
+Campbell, wouldn't you like to take a roast egg or two for
+breakfast? There's plenty for the whole camp."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, Davy, and thank you. Who are the men in the boat down
+the channel?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are George Scutt and Pately Jim fishing for their
+breakfast. They were hungry, I reckon, and went away before I
+brought out the eggs, or they might have had a feed."</p>
+
+<p>While the men were roasting their eggs, their eyes wandered
+over everything within view, far and near. On land and sea their
+lives had often depended on their watchfulness. The sun was
+growing warm, and there was a quivering haze over the waters.
+While glancing down the channel, Davy observed some dark objects
+appearing near a mangrove island. He pointed them out to
+Campbell, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of birds are they? Do you think they are
+swans?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't think what else they can be," said Campbell; "but
+they have not got the shape of birds, and they don't swim
+smoothly like swans, but go jerking along like big coots. Take a
+look through the glass, Davy, and see if you can make them
+out."</p>
+
+<p>Davy took a long and steady look, and said: "I am blowed if
+they ain't blackfellows in their canoes. They are poleing them
+along towards the channel, one, two, three--there's a dozen of
+'em or more. I can see their long spears sticking out, and they
+are after some mischief. The tide is on the ebb, and they are
+going to drop down with it, and spear those two men in the boat;
+and they are both landlubbers, and haven't even got a gun with
+them. We must bear a hand and help them. Get your guns and we'll
+launch the whaleboat."</p>
+
+<p>John Campbell steered, and Shay and Davy pulled as hard as
+they could towards the canoes, which were already drifting down
+with the current. The two fishermen were busy with their lines,
+every now and then pulling out a fish and baiting their hooks
+with a fresh piece of shark. They never looked up the channel,
+nor guessed the danger that was every moment coming nearer, for
+the blacks as yet had not made the least noise. At last Campbell
+saw several of them seizing their spears and making ready to
+throw them, so he fired one of his barrels; and Davy stood up in
+the boat and gave a cooee that might have been heard at Sunday
+Island, for when anything excited him on the water he could be
+heard shouting and swearing at an incredible distance. He yelled
+at the fishermen, "Boat ahoy! up anchor, you lubbers, and
+scatter. Don't you see the blacks after you?"</p>
+
+<p>The natives began paddling away as fast as they could towards
+the nearest land, and Davy and Shay pulled after them; but the
+blacks soon reached the shore, and, taking their spears, ran into
+the nearest scrub. When the whaleboat grounded, there was not one
+of them to be seen. Davy said:</p>
+
+<p>"They are watching us not far off. You two keep a sharp
+look-out, and if you see a black face fire at it. I am going to
+cut out the fleet."</p>
+
+<p>He rolled up his trousers, took a fishing line, waded out to
+the canoes, and tied them together, one behind another, leaving a
+little slack line between each of them. He then fastened one end
+of the line to the whaleboat, shoved off, and sprang inside. The
+blacks came out of the scrub, yelling and brandishing their
+spears, a few of which they threw at the boat, but it was soon
+out of their reach. Thus a great naval victory had been gained,
+and the whole of the enemy's fleet captured without the loss of a
+man. Nothing like it had been achieved since the days of the
+great Gulliver.</p>
+
+<p>The two fishermen had taken no part in the naval operations,
+and when the whaleboat returned with its train of canoes like the
+tail of a kite, Davy administered a sharp reprimand.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you two lubbers keep your eyes skinned. I suppose
+you were asleep, eh? You ought to have up anchor and pulled away,
+and then the devils could never got near you. Look here!" holding
+up a piece of bark, "that's all they've got to paddle with in
+deep water, and in the shallows they can only pole along with
+sticks."</p>
+
+<p>Pately Jim had been a prize runner in Yorkshire, and trifles
+never took away his breath. He replied calmly:</p>
+
+<p>"Yo're o'reet, Davy. We wor a bit sleepy, but we're quite
+wakken noo. Keep yor shirt on, and we'll do better next
+time."</p>
+
+<p>When the canoes, which were built entirely with sheets of
+bark, were drawn up on the beach, nothing was found in them but a
+few sticks, bark paddles, and a gown--a lilac cotton gown.</p>
+
+<p>"That goon," said Campbell, "has belonged to some white woman
+thae deevils have murdered. There is no settler nearer than
+Jamieson, and they maun ha brocht the goon a' the way frae the
+Bass."</p>
+
+<p>But Campbell was mistaken. There had been another white woman
+in Gippsland.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.</h3>
+
+<p>There is a large island where the Ninety-Mile Beach ends in a
+wilderness of roaring breakers. It is the Isle of Blasted Hopes.
+Its enchanting landscape has allured many a landsman to his ruin,
+and its beacon, seen through the haze of a south-east gale, has
+guided many a watchful mariner to shipwreck and death.</p>
+
+<p>After the discovery of Gippsland, Pearson and Black first
+occupied the island under a grazing license, and they put eleven
+thousand sheep on it, with some horses, bullocks, and pigs. The
+sheep began to die, so they sold them to Captain Cole at ten
+shillings a head, giving in the other stock. They were of the
+opinion that they had made an excellent bargain, but when the
+muster was made nine thousand six hundred of the sheep were
+missing. The pigs ran wild, but multiplied. When the last sheep
+had perished, Cole sold his license to a man named Thomas, who
+put on more sheep, and afterwards exchanged as many as he could
+find with John King for cattle and horses. Morrison next occupied
+the island until he was starved out. Then another man named
+Thomas took the fatal grazing license, but he did not live on the
+land. He placed his brother in charge of it, to be out of the way
+of temptation, as he was too fond of liquor. The brother was not
+allowed the use of a boat; he, with his wife and family, was
+virtually a prisoner, condemned to sobriety. But by this time a
+lighthouse had been erected, and Watts the keeper of it had a
+boat, and was, moreover, fond of liquor. The two men soon became
+firm friends, and often found it necessary to make voyages to
+Port Albert for flour, or tea, or sugar. The last time they
+sailed together the barometer was low, and a gale was brewing.
+When they left the wharf they had taken on board all the stores
+they required, and more; they were happy and glorious. Next day
+the masthead of their boat was seen sticking out of the water
+near Sunday Island. The pilot schooner went down and hauled the
+boat to the surface, but nothing was found in her except the
+sand-ballast and a bottle of rum. Her sheet was made fast, and
+when the squall struck her she had gone down like a stone. The
+Isle of Blasted Hopes was useless even as an asylum for
+inebriates.</p>
+
+<p>The 'Ecliptic' was carrying coals from Newcastle. The time was
+midnight, the sky was misty, and the gale was from the
+south-east, when the watch reported a light ahead. The cabin boy
+was standing on deck near the captain, when he held a
+consultation with his mate, who was also his son. Father and son
+agreed; they said the light ahead was the one on Kent's Group,
+and then the vessel grounded amongst the breakers. The seamen
+stripped off their heavy clothing, and went overboard; the
+captain and his son plunged in together and swam out of sight.
+There were nine men in the water, while the cabin boy stood
+shivering on deck. He, too, had thrown away his clothes, all but
+the wrist-bands of his shirt, which in his flurry he could not
+unbutton. He could not make up his mind to jump overboard. He
+heard the men in the water shouting to one another, "Make for the
+light." That course led them away from the nearest land, which
+they could not see. At length a great sea swept the boy among the
+breakers, but his good angel pushed a piece of timber within
+reach, and he held on to it until he could feel the ground with
+his feet; he then let the timber go, and scrambled out of reach
+of the angry surge; but when he came to the dry sand he fainted
+and fell down. When he recovered his senses he began to look for
+shelter; there was a signal station not far off, but he could not
+see it. He went away from the pitiless sea through an opening
+between low conical hills, covered with dark scrub, over a
+pathway composed of drift sand and broken shells. He found an old
+hut without a door. There was no one in it; he went inside, and
+lay down shivering.</p>
+
+<p>At daybreak a boy, the son of Ratcliff, the signal man,
+started out to look for his goats, and as they sometimes passed
+the night in the old fowlhouse, he looked in for them. But
+instead of the goats, he saw the naked cabin boy. "Who are you?"
+he said, "and what are you doing here, and where did you come
+from?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been shipwrecked," replied the cabin boy; and then he
+sat up and began to cry.</p>
+
+<p>Young Ratcliff ran off to tell his father what he had found;
+and the boy was brought to the cottage, put to bed, and supplied
+with food and drink. The signal for a wreck was hoisted at the
+flagstaff, but when the signallman went to look for a wreck he
+could not find one. He searched along the shore and found the
+dead body of the captain, and a piece of splintered spar seven or
+eight feet long, on which the cabin boy had come ashore. The
+'Ecliptic', with her cargo and crew, had completely disappeared,
+while the signalman, near at hand, slept peacefully, undisturbed
+by her crashing timbers, or the shouts of the drowning seamen.
+Ratcliff was not a seer, and had no mystical lore. He was a
+runaway sailor, who had, in the forties, travelled daily over the
+Egerton run, unconscious of the tons of gold beneath his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>There was a fair wind and a smooth sea when the 'Clonmel' went
+ashore at three o'clock in the morning of the second day of
+January, 1841. Eighteen hours before she had taken a fresh
+departure from Ram's Head to Wilson's Promontory. The anchors
+were let go, she swung to wind, and at the fall of the tide she
+bedded herself securely in the sand, her hull, machinery, and
+cargo uninjured. The seventy-five passengers and crew were safely
+landed; sails, lumber, and provisions were taken ashore in the
+whaleboats and quarter-boats; tents were erected; the food
+supplies were stowed away under a capsized boat, and a guard set
+over them by Captain Tollervey.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning seven volunteers launched one of the whaleboats,
+boarded the steamer, took in provisions, made a lug out of a
+piece of canvas, hoisted the Union Jack to the mainmast upside
+down, and pulled safely away from the 'Clonmel' against a head
+wind. They hoisted the lug and ran for one of the Seal Islands,
+where they found a snug little cove, ate a hearty meal, and
+rested for three hours. They then pulled for the mainland, and
+reached Sealer's Cove about midnight, where they landed, cooked
+supper, and passed the rest of the night in the boat for fear of
+the blacks.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning three men went ashore for water and filled the
+breaker, when they saw three blacks coming down towards them; so
+they hurried on board, and the anchor was hauled up.</p>
+
+<p>As the wind was coming from the east, they had to pull for
+four hours before they weathered the southern point of the cove;
+they then hoisted sail and ran for Wilson's Promentory, which
+they rounded at ten o'clock a.m. At eight o'clock in the evening
+they brought up in a small bay at the eastern extremity of
+Western Port, glad to get ashore and stretch their weary limbs.
+After a night's refreshing repose on the sandy beach, they
+started at break of day, sailing along very fast with a strong
+and steady breeze from the east, although they were in danger of
+being swamped, as the sea broke over the boat repeatedly. At two
+o'clock p.m. they were abreast of Port Philip Heads; but they
+found a strong ebb tide, with such a ripple and broken water that
+they did not consider it prudent to run over it. They therefore
+put the boat's head to windward and waited for four hours, when
+they saw a cutter bearing down on them, which proved to be 'The
+Sisters', Captain Mulholland, who took the boat in tow and landed
+them at Williamstown at eleven o'clock p.m., sixty-three hours
+from the time they left the 'Clonmel'.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Lewis, the harbour master, went to rescue the crew and
+passengers and brought them all to Melbourne, together with the
+mails, which had been landed on the island since known by the
+name of the 'Clonmel'.</p>
+
+<p>For fifty-two years the black boilers of the 'Clonmel' have
+lain half buried in the sandspit, and they may still be seen
+among the breakers from the deck of every vessel sailing up the
+channel to Port Albert.</p>
+
+<p>The 'Clonmel', with her valuable cargo, was sold in Sydney,
+and the purchaser, Mr. Grose, set about the business of making
+his fortune out of her. He sent a party of wreckers who pitched
+their camps on Snake Island, where they had plenty of grass,
+scrub, and timber. The work of taking out the cargo was continued
+under various captains for six years, and then Mr. Grose lost a
+schooner and was himself landed in the Court of Insolvency.</p>
+
+<p>While the pioneers at the Old Port were on the verge of
+starvation, the 'Clonmel' men were living in luxury. They had all
+the blessings both of land and sea--corned beef, salt pork,
+potatoes, plum-duff, tea, sugar, coffee, wine, beer, spirits, and
+tobacco from the cargo of the 'Clonmel', and oysters without end
+from a neighbouring lagoon. They constructed a large square punt,
+which they filled with cargo daily, wind and weather permitting;
+at other times they rested from their labours, or roamed about
+the island shooting birds or hunting kangaroo. They saw no other
+inhabitants, and believed that no black lucifer had as yet
+entered their island garden; but, though unseen, he was watching
+them and all their works.</p>
+
+<p>One morning the wreckers had gone to the wreck; a man named
+Kennedy was left in charge of the camp; Sambo, the black cook,
+was attending to his duties at the fire; and Mrs. Kennedy, the
+only lady of the party, was at the water hole washing clothes.
+Her husband had left the camp with his gun in the hope of
+shooting some wattle birds, which were then fat with feeding on
+the sweet blossoms of the honeysuckle. He was sitting on a log
+near the water-hole talking to his wife, who had just laid out to
+dry on the bushes three coloured shirts and a lilac dress. She
+stood with her hands on her hips, pensively contemplating the
+garments. She had her troubles, and was turning them over in her
+mind, while her husband was thinking of something else quite
+different. It is, I believe, a thing that often happens.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking, Flora," he said, "that this would be a grand
+island to live on--far better than Skye, because it has no rocks
+on it. I would like to haf it for a station. I could put sheep
+and cattle on it, and they could not go away nor be lifted,
+because there is deep water all round it; and we would haf plenty
+of beef, and mutton, and wool, and game, and fish, and oysters.
+We could make a garden and haf plenty of kail, and potatoes, and
+apples."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all ferry well, Donald," she replied, "for you to be
+talking about sheep, and cattle, and apples; but I'd like to know
+wherefer we would be getting the money to buy the sheep and
+cattle? And who would like to live here for efer a thousand miles
+from decent neebors? And that's my best goon, and it's getting
+fery shabby; and wherefer I'm to get another goon in a country
+like this I'm thinking I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>Donald thought his wife was troubling herself about mere
+trifles, but before he had time to say so, a blackfellow snatched
+his gun from across his knees, another hit him on the head with a
+waddy, and a third did the same to Flora and the unfortunate
+couple lay senseless on the ground. Their hopes and troubles had
+come to a sudden end.</p>
+
+<p>This onslaught had been made by four blacks, who now made a
+bundle of the clothes, and carried them and the gun away, going
+towards the camp in search of more plunder. The tents occupied by
+the wreckers had been enclosed in a thick hedge of scrub to
+protect them from the drifting sand. There was only one opening
+in the hedge, through which the blacks could see Sambo cooking
+the wreckers' dinner before a fire. His head was bare, and he was
+enjoying the genial heat of early summer, singing snatches of the
+melodies of Old Virginny.</p>
+
+<p>The hearing of the Australian aboriginal is acute, and his
+talent for mimicry astonishing; he can imitate the notes of every
+bird and the call of every animal with perfect accuracy.</p>
+
+<p>Sambo's senseless song enchanted the four blacks. It was first
+heard with tremendous applause in New Orleans, it was received
+with enthusiasm by every audience in the Great Republic, and it
+had been the delight of every theatre in the British Empire. It
+may be said that "jim Crow" buried the legitimate drama and
+danced on its grave. It really seemed to justify the severe
+judgment passed on us by the sage of Chelsea, that we were
+"sixteen millions, mostly fools." No air was ever at the same
+time so silly and so successful as "Jim Crow." But there was life
+in it, and it certainly prolonged that of Sambo, for as the four
+savages crouched behind the hedge listening to the</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Turn about and wheel about, and do just so,<br>
+And ebery time I turn about I jump Jim Crow,"</blockquote>
+
+<p>they forgot their murderous errand.</p>
+
+<p>At last there was an echo of the closing words which seemed to
+come from a large gum tree beyond the tents, against which a
+ladder had been reared to the forks, used for the purpose of a
+look-out by Captain Leebrace.</p>
+
+<p>Sambo paused, looked up to the gum tree, and said, "By golly,
+who's dere?" The echo was repeated, and then he wheeled about in
+real earnest, transfixed with horror, unable to move a limb. The
+blacks were close to him now, but even their colour could not
+restore his courage. They were cannibals, and were preparing to
+kill and eat him. But first they examined their game critically,
+poking their fingers about him, pinching him in various parts of
+the body, stroking his broad nose and ample lips with evident
+admiration, and trying to pull out the curls on his woolly
+head.</p>
+
+<p>Sambo was usually proud of his personal appearance, but just
+now fear prevented him from enjoying the applause of the
+strangers.</p>
+
+<p>At length he recovered his presence of mind sufficiently to
+make an effort to avert his impending doom. If the blacks could
+be induced to eat the dinner he was cooking their attention to
+himself might be diverted, and their appetites appeased, so he
+pointed towards the pots, saying, "Plenty beef, pork, plum
+duff."</p>
+
+<p>The blacks seemed to understand his meaning, and they began to
+inspect the dinner; so instead of taking the food like sensible
+men, they upset all the pots with their waddies, and scattered
+the beef, pork, plum duff and potatoes, so that they were covered
+with sand and completely spoiled.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the blacks next peered into the nearest tent, and
+seeing some knives and forks, took possession of them. But there
+was a sound of voices from the waterhole, and they quickly
+gathered together their stolen goods and disappeared. In a few
+minutes Captain Leebrace and the wreckers arrived at the camp,
+bringing with them Kennedy and his wife, who had recovered their
+senses, and were able to tell what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Black debbils been heah, cappen, done spoil all de dinner,
+and run away wid de knives and forks," Sambo said.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Leebrace soon resolved on a course of reprisals. He
+went up the ladder to the forks of the gum tree with his
+telescope, and soon obtained a view of the retreating thieves,
+appearing occasionally and disappearing among the long grass and
+timber; and after observing the course they were taking he came
+down the ladder. He selected two of his most trustworthy men, and
+armed them and himself with double-barrelled guns, one barrel
+being smooth bore and the other rifled, weapons suitable for game
+both large and small. During the pursuit the captain every now
+and then, from behind a tree, searched for the enemy with his
+telescope, until at last he could see that they had halted, and
+had joined a number of their tribe. He judged that the blacks, if
+they suspected that the white men would follow them, would direct
+their looks principally towards the tents, so he made a wide
+circuit to the left. Then he and his men crept slowly along the
+ground until they arrived within short range of the natives.</p>
+
+<p>Three of the blacks were wearing the stolen shirts, a fourth
+had put on the lilac dress, and they were strutting around to
+display their brave apparel just like white folks. The savage man
+retains all finery for his own personal adornment, and never
+wastes any of it on his despicable wife, but still Captain
+Leebrace had some doubt in the matter. He whispered to his men,
+"I don't like to shoot at a gown; there may be a lubra in it, but
+I'll take the middle fellow in the shirt, and you take the other
+two, one to the right, the other to the left; when I say one,
+two, three, fire."</p>
+
+<p>The order was obeyed and when the smoke cleared away the print
+dress was gone, but all the rest of the plunder was recovered on
+the spot. The shirts were stripped off the bodies of the blacks;
+and after they had been rinsed in a water-hole, they were found
+to have been not much damaged, each shirt having only a small
+bullet hole in it. It was in this way that the lilac dress
+escaped, and was found in the canoe at the Old Port; the
+blackfellow who wore it had taken it off and put it under his
+knees in the bottom of his canoe, and when the white men's boat
+came after him, he was in so great a hurry to hide himself in the
+scrub that he left the dress behind.</p>
+
+<p>Next day there was a sudden alarm in the camp at the Old Port.
+Clancy and Dick the Devil came running toward the beach, full of
+fear and excitement, screaming, "The blacks, the blacks, they are
+coming, hundreds of them, and they are all naked, and daubed over
+white, and they have long spears."</p>
+
+<p>The men who had guns--Campbell, Shay, and Davy--fetched them
+out of their huts and stood ready to receive the enemy; even
+McClure, although very weak, left his bed and came outside to
+assist in the fight. The fringe of the scrub was dotted with the
+piebald bodies of the blacks, dancing about, brandishing their
+spears, and shouting defiance at the white men. They were not in
+hundreds, as the boys imagined, their number apparently not
+exceeding forty; but it was evident that they were threatening
+death and destruction to the invaders of their territory. None,
+however, but the very bravest ventured far into the cleared
+space, and they showed no disposition to make a rush or anything
+like a concerted attack.</p>
+
+<p>Campbell, after watching the enemy's movements for some time,
+said, "I think it will be better to give them a taste of the
+nine-pounder. Keep a look-out while I load her."</p>
+
+<p>He went into his store to get the charge ready. He tied some
+powder tightly in a piece of calico and rammed it home. On this
+he put a nine-pound shot; but, reflecting that the aim at the
+dancing savages would be uncertain, he put in a double charge,
+consisting of some broken glass and a handful of nails.</p>
+
+<p>He then thrust a wooden skewer down the touch-hole into the
+powder bag below, primed and directed the piece towards the
+scrub, giving it, as he judged, sufficient elevation to send the
+charge among the thickest of the foe. As this was the first time
+the gun had been brought into action, and there was no telling
+for certain which way it would act, Campbell thought it best to
+be cautious; so he ordered all his men to take shelter behind the
+store. He then selected a long piece of bark, which he lighted at
+the fire, and, standing behind an angle of the building, he
+applied the light to the touch-hole. Every man was watching the
+scrub to see the effect of the discharge. There was a fearful
+explosion, succeeded by shrieks of horror and fear from the
+blacks, as the ball and nails and broken glass went whistling
+over their heads through the trees. Then there was a moment of
+complete silence. Campbell, like a skilful general, ordered his
+men to pursue at once the flying foe, in order to reap to the
+full the fruits of victory, and they ran across the open ground
+to deliver a volley; but on arriving at the scrub no foe was to
+be seen, either dead or alive. The elevation of the artillery had
+been too great, and the missiles had passed overhead; but the
+result was all that could be hoped for, for two months afterwards
+not a single native was visible.</p>
+
+<p>Two victories had been gained by the pioneers, and it was felt
+that they deserved some commemoration. At night there was a feast
+around the camp fire; it was of necessity a frugal one, but each
+member of the small community contributed to it as much as he was
+able. Campbell produced flour enough for a large damper, a luxury
+unseen for the last eight weeks; McClure gave tea and sugar; Davy
+brought out a box full of eggs and a dozen mutton birds; Scutt
+and Pateley furnished a course of roast flathead; Clancy and Dick
+the Devil, the poor pirates, gave all the game they had that day
+killed, viz., two parrots and a wattle bird. The twelve canoes,
+the spoils of victory, were of little value; they were placed on
+the camp fire one after another, and reduced to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>The warriors sat around on logs and boxes enjoying the good
+things provided and talking cheerfully, but they made no set
+speeches. Dinner oratory is full of emptiness and they had plenty
+of that every day. They dipped pannikins of tea out of the iron
+pot.</p>
+
+<p>When Burke and Wills were starving at Cooper's Creek on a diet
+of nardoo, the latter recorded in his diary that what the food
+wanted was sugar; he believed that nardoo and sugar would keep
+him alive. The pioneers at the Old Port were convinced that their
+great want was fat; with that their supper would have been
+perfect.</p>
+
+<p>McClure was dying of consumption as everybody knew but
+himself; he could not believe that he had come so far from home
+only to die, and he joined the revellers at the camp fire. He
+said to kindly enquirers that he felt quite well, and would soon
+regain his strength. Before that terrible journey over the
+mountains he had been the life and soul of the Port. He could
+play on the violin, on the bagpipes--both Scotch and Irish--and
+he was always so pleasant and cheerful, looking as innocent as a
+child, that no one could be long dispirited in his company, and
+the most impatient growler became ashamed of himself.</p>
+
+<p>McClure was persuaded to bring out his violin once more--it
+had been long silent--and he began playing the liveliest of
+tunes, strathspeys, jigs, and reels, until some of the men could
+hardly keep their heels still, but it is hard to dance on loose
+sand, and they had to be contented with expressing their feelings
+in song. Davy sang "Ye Mariners of England," and other songs of
+the sea; and Pateley Jim gave the "Angel's Whisper," followed by
+an old ballad of the days of Robin Hood called "The Wedding of
+Aythur O'Braidley," the violin accompanying the airs and putting
+the very soul of music into every song.</p>
+
+<p>But by degrees the musician grew weary, and began to play odds
+and ends of old tunes, sacred and profane. He dwelt some time on
+an ancient "Kyrie Eleeson," and at last glided, unconsciously as
+it were, into the "Land o' the Leal."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I'm wearin' away, Jean,<br>
+Like snaw wreaths in thaw, Jean,<br>
+I'm wearin' awa, Jean,<br>
+To the Land o' the Leal.</p>
+
+<p>There's nae sorrow there, Jean,<br>
+There's nae caul or care, Jean,<br>
+The days aye fair, Jean,<br>
+I' the Land of the Leal.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>At last McClure rose from his seat, and said, "I'll pit awa
+the fiddle, and bid ye a good nicht. I think I'll be going hame
+to my mither the morn."</p>
+
+<p>He went into his tent. It was high tide, and there was a
+gentle swish of long low waves lapping the sandy beach. The night
+wind sighed a soothing lullaby through the spines of the she-oak,
+and his spirit passed peacefully away with the ebb. He was the
+first man who died at the Old Port, and he was buried on the bank
+of the river where Friday first saw its waters flowing towards
+the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>Thirty years afterwards I saw two old men, Campbell and
+Montgomery, pulling up the long grass which had covered his
+neglected grave.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.</h3>
+
+<p>Jack Shay was not sorry to leave the Old Port. The nocturnal
+feast made to celebrate the repulse of the blackfellows could not
+conceal the state of famine which prevailed, and he was pleased
+to remember that he had brought plenty of flour, tea, and sugar
+as far as the Thomson river. Davy had no saddle, but John
+Campbell lent him one for the journey, and also sold him shot and
+powder on credit. So early in the morning the two men took a
+"tightener" of roast eggs, and commenced their journey on
+McMillan's track, each man carrying his double-barrelled gun,
+ready loaded, in his hand. By this time the sight of a gun was a
+sufficient warning to the blackfellows to keep at a safe
+distance; the discharge of the nine-pounder had proved to them
+that the white man possessed mysterious powers of mischief, and
+it was a long time before they could recover courage enough to
+approach within view of the camp at the Old Port. On the second
+day of their journey Davy and Shay arrived at the Thomson, and
+found the mob of cattle and the men all safe. They built a hut,
+erected a stockyard, and roughly fixed the boundaries of the
+station by blazed trees, the bank of the river, and other natural
+marks.</p>
+
+<p>There were three brothers Imlay in the Twofold Bay
+district--John, Alexander, and George--the latter residing at the
+Bay, where he received stores from Sydney, and shipped return
+cargoes of station produce and fat cattle for Hobarton. Two
+stations on the mountains were managed by the other two brothers,
+and their brand was III., usually called "the Bible brand." When
+the station on the Thomson was put in working order, the Imlays
+exchanged it for one owned by P. P. King, which was situated
+between their two stations in the Monaro district. The Gippsland
+station was named Fulham, and was managed by John King. Jack Shay
+returned to the mountains, and Davy to the Old Port.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards the steamer 'Corsair' arrived from Melbourne,
+bringing many passengers, one of whom was John Reeve, who took up
+a station at Snake Ridge, and purchased the block of land known
+as Reeve's Survey. The new settlers also brought a number of
+horses, and Norman McLeod had twenty bullocks on board. The
+steamer could not reach the port, and brought-to abreast of the
+Midge Channel. The cattle and horses were slung and put into the
+water, four at a time, and swam to land, but all the bullocks
+disappeared soon afterwards and fled to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Next the brig 'Bruthen' arrived from Sydney, chartered by the
+Highland chief Macdonnell, of Glengarry. In the days of King
+William III. a sum of 20,000 pounds was voted for the purpose of
+purchasing the allegiance of the Glengarry of that day, and of
+that of several other powerful chiefs. On taking the oath of
+loyalty to the new dynasty, they were to receive not more than
+2,000 pounds each; or, if they preferred dignity to cash, they
+could have any title of nobility they pleased below that of earl.
+Most of them took the oath and the cash. It is not recorded that
+any chief preferred a title, but the Macdonnell of 1842 was Lord
+Glengarry to all the new settlers in Gippsland. His father,
+Colonel Alexander Ronaldson Macdonnell, was the last genuine
+specimen of a Highland chief, and he was the Fergus McIvor of
+Walter Scott's "Waverley." He always wore the dress of his
+ancestors, and kept sentinels posted at his doors. He perished in
+the year 1828, while attempting to escape from a steamer which
+had gone ashore. His estate was heavily encumbered, and his son
+was compelled to sell it to the Marquis of Huntly. In 1840 it was
+sold to the Earl of Dudley for 91,000 pounds, and in 1860 to
+Edward Ellice for 120,000 pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The landless young chief resolved to transfer his broken
+fortunes to Australia. He brought with him a number of men and
+women, chiefly Highlanders, who were landed by Davy in his
+whaleboat. For this service Glengarry gave a cheque on a Sydney
+bank for five pounds, which was entrusted to Captain Gaunson of
+the schooner 'Coquette' to purchase groceries. On arriving in
+Sydney the Gaunsons went on a pleasure excursion about the
+harbour, the 'Coquette' was capsized in a squall, one or two of
+the family perished, and Davy's cheque went down with the vessel.
+But when the schooner was raised and the water pumped out, the
+cheque was found, and the groceries on the next voyage arrived
+safely at the Old Port.</p>
+
+<p>Glengarry's head man and manager of the enterprise was a poor
+gentleman from Tipperary named Dancer, and his chief stockman was
+Sandy Fraser.</p>
+
+<p>By the regulations then in force in New South Wales, Glengarry
+was entitled, for a fee of 10 pounds per annum, to hold under a
+depasturing license an area of twenty square miles, on which he
+might place 500 head of cattle or 4,000 sheep. He selected a site
+for his head station and residence on the banks of the Tarra. The
+house was built, huts and stockyards were erected, 500 dairy cows
+were bought at 10 pounds each, and the business of dairy farming
+commenced.</p>
+
+<p>But the young chief and his men were unused to the management
+of a station in the new country; they had everything to learn,
+and at a ruinous cost.</p>
+
+<p>A number of young men bailed up the cows each morning, and put
+on the leg ropes; then they sat on the top rails of the stockyard
+fence and waited while the maids drew the milk. Dancer
+superintended the labours of the men and the milkmaids. He sat in
+his office in a corner of the stockyard, entering in his books
+the number of cattle milked, and examining the state of their
+brands, which were daubed on the hides with paint and brush. Some
+cheese was made, but it was not of much account, and all the milk
+and butter were consumed on the station.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the blacks had quite recovered from the fright
+occasioned by the discharge of the nine-pounder gun, and were
+again often seen from the huts at the Old Port. Donald Macalister
+was sent by his uncle, Lachlan Macalister, of Nuntin, to make
+arrangements for shipping some cattle and sheep. The day before
+their arrival Donald saw some blacks at a distance in the scrub,
+and without any provocation fired at them with an old Tower
+musket, charged with shot. The next day the drovers and shepherds
+arrived with the stock, and drove them over Glengarry's bridge to
+a place between the Tarra and Albert rivers, called the Coal
+Hole, afterwards occupied by Parson Bean. there was no yard
+there, and the animals would require watching at night; so Donald
+decided to send them back to Glengarry's yards. Then he and the
+drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant time; there would be
+songs and whisky, the piper would play, and the men and maids
+would dance. The arrangement suited everybody. The drovers
+started back with the cattle, Donald helped the shepherds to
+gather the sheep, and put them on the way, and then he rode after
+the cattle. The track led him past a grove of dense ti-tree, on
+the land now known as the Brewery Paddock, and about a hundred
+yards ahead a single blackfellow came out of the grove, and began
+capering about and waving a waddy. Donald pulled up his horse and
+looked at the black. He had a pair of pistols in the holsters of
+his saddle, but he did not draw them: there was no danger from a
+blackfellow a hundred yards off. But there was another behind him
+and much nearer, who came silently out of the ti-tree and thrust
+a spear through Donald's neck. The horse galloped away towards
+Glengarry's bridge.</p>
+
+<p>When the drovers saw the riderless horse, they supposed that
+Macalister had been accidentally thrown, and they sent Friday to
+look for him. He found him dead. The blacks had done their work
+quickly. They had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers
+and boots, had mutilated him in their usual fashion, and had
+disappeared. A messenger was sent to old Macalister, and the
+young man was buried on the bank of the river near McClure's
+grave. The new cemetery now contained three graves, the second
+being that of Tinker Ned, who shot himself accidentally when
+pulling out his gun from beneath a tarpaulin.</p>
+
+<p>Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with
+blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army,
+and an officer of the border police. The murder of his nephew
+gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising
+the criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them. It
+was, of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned
+in the outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the
+tribe. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon
+Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the
+number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children;
+but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rate, the black who
+capered about to attract young Macalister's attention escaped,
+and he often afterwards described and imitated the part he took
+in what he evidently considered a glorious act of revenge. The
+gun used by old Macalister was a double-barrelled Purdy, a
+beautiful and reliable weapon, which in its time had done great
+execution.</p>
+
+<p>The dairy business at Greenmount was carried on at a continual
+loss, and Glengarry resolved to return to Scotland. He sold his
+cows and their increase to Thacker and Mason, of Sydney, for
+twenty-seven shillings and sixpence per head; his house was
+bought by John Campbell. On the eve of his departure for Sydney
+in the schooner 'Coquette' (Captain Gaunson), a farewell dinner
+was given by the Highlanders at the Old Port, and Long Mason, who
+had come from Sydney to take delivery of the cows on behalf of
+Thacker and Mason, was one of the guests. But there was more of
+gloom than of gaiety around the festive board. All wished well to
+the young chief, but the very best of his friends could think of
+nothing cheerful to say to him. His enterprise had been a
+complete failure; the family tree of Clanranald the Dauntless had
+refused to take root in a strange land the glory had gone from it
+for ever, and there was nothing to celebrate in song or
+story.</p>
+
+<p>Other men from the Highlands failed to win the smiles of
+fortune in Gippsland. At home, notwithstanding their tribal
+feuds, they held their own for two thousand years against the
+Roman and Saxon, the Dane and the Norman. Only one hundred and
+fifty years ago (it seems now almost incredible) they nearly
+scared the Hanoverian dynasty from the throne of England, and
+even yet, though scattered throughout the British Empire, they
+are neither a fallen nor a falling race.</p>
+
+<p>Glengarry returned to his tent early, and then the buying and
+selling of the five hundred cows became the subject of
+conversation; the whisky circulated, and Long Mason observed that
+unfriendly looks began to be directed towards himself. He was an
+Englishman, a Southron, and it was a foul shame and dishonour
+that such as he should pay a Highland chief only twenty-seven
+shillings and sixpence for beasts that had cost ten pounds each.
+That was not the way in the good old days when the hardy men of
+the north descended from the mountains with broadsword and
+shield, lifted the cattle of the Saxon, and drove them to their
+homes in the glens.</p>
+
+<p>The fervid temper of the Gael grew hotter at the thought of
+the rank injustice which had been done, and it was decided that
+Long Mason should be drowned in the inlet. He protested against
+the decision with vigour, and apparently with reason. He
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I did not buy the cattle at all. Glengarry sold them to
+Thacker and my brother in Sydney, and I only came over to take
+delivery of them. What wrong have I done?"</p>
+
+<p>But the reasoning of the prosaic Englishman was thrown to the
+winds:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye've done everything wrong. Ye should hae gin ten pund
+sterling apiece for the coos, and not twenty-sen and saxpence.
+It's a pity yer brither, and Thacker, and MacFarlane are no here
+the nicht, and we'd droon them, too."</p>
+
+<p>Four strong men, shouting in Gaelic the war-cry of
+Sheriffmuir, "Revenge, revenge, revenge to-day, mourning
+to-morrow!" seized the long limbs of the unfortunate Mason, and
+in spite of his struggles bore him towards the beach. The water
+near the margin was shallow, so they waded in until it was deep
+enough for their purpose. There was a piercing cry, "Help!
+murder! murder!" John Campbell heard it, but it was not safe for
+a Campbell to stand between a Macdonnell and his revenge.
+However, Captain Davy and Pateley Jim came out of their huts to
+see what was the matter, and they waded after the Highlanders.
+Each seized a man by the collar and downhauled. There was a
+sudden whirlpool, a splashing and a spluttering, as all the five
+men went under and drank the brine.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said Pateley, "that will cool 'em a bit," and it
+did.</p>
+
+<p>Long Mason was a university man, educated for the church, but
+before his ordination to the priesthood he had many other
+adventures and misfortunes. After being nearly drowned by the
+Highlanders he was placed in charge of Woodside station by his
+elder brother; he tried to mitigate the miseries of solitude with
+drink, but he did so too much and was turned adrift. He then made
+his way to New Zealand, and fought as a common soldier through
+the Heki war. Captain Patterson, of the schooner 'Eagle', met him
+at a New Zealand port. He was wearing a long, ragged old coat,
+such as soldiers wore, was out of employment, and in a state of
+starvation. The captain took pity on him, brought him back to
+Port Albert, and he became a shepherd on a station near
+Bairnsdale. While he was fighting the Maoris his brother had gone
+home, and had sent to Sydney money to pay his passage to England.
+But he could not be found, and the money was returned to London.
+At length Captain Bentley found out where he was, took him to
+Sydney, gave him an outfit, and paid his passage to England. Long
+Mason, honest man that he was, sent back the passage money, was
+ordained priest, obtained a living near London, and roamed no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>He had a younger brother named Leonard Mason, who lived with
+Coady Buckley at Prospect, near the Ninety-Mile, and became a
+good bushman. In 1844 Leonard took up a station in North
+Gippsland adjoining the McLeod's run, but the Highlanders tried
+to drive him away by taking his cattle a long distance to a pound
+which had been established at Stratford. The McLeods and their
+men were too many for Leonard. He went to Melbourne to try if the
+law or the Government would give him any redress, but he could
+obtain no satisfaction. The continued impounding of his cattle
+meant ruin to him, and when he returned to Gippsland he found his
+hut burned down and his cattle gone on the way to the pound. He
+took a double-barrelled gun and went after them. He found them at
+Providence Ponds, which was a stopping place for drovers. Next
+morning he rose early, went to the stockyard with his gun, and
+waited till McDougall, who was manager for the McLeods, came out
+with his stockmen. When they approached the yard he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall shoot the first man who touches those rails to take
+my cattle out."</p>
+
+<p>McDougall laughed, and ordered one of his men to take down the
+slip-rails, but the man hesitated; he did not like the looks of
+Mason. Then McDougall dismounted from his horse and went to the
+slip-rails, but as soon as he touched them Mason shot him.</p>
+
+<p>Coady Buckley spared neither trouble nor expense in obtaining
+the best counsel for Mason's defence at the trial in Melbourne.
+He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years'
+imprisonment, but after a time was released on the condition of
+leaving Victoria, and when last heard of was a drover beyond the
+Murray.</p>
+
+<p>After the departure of Glengarry, Dancer could find no
+profitable employment in Gippsland, and lived in a state of
+indigence. At last he borrowed sufficient money on a promissory
+note to pay his passage to Ireland. In Tipperary he became a
+baronet and a sheriff, and lived to a good old age.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.</h3>
+
+<p>It seemed incredible to the first settlers in North Gippsland
+that their new Punjaub, the land of the five rivers, which
+emptied their waters into immense lakes, should communicate with
+the sea by no channel suitable for ships, and an expedition was
+organised to endeavour to find an outlet. McMillan had two boats
+at his station at Bushy Park, but he had no sails, so he engaged
+Davy as sailmaker and chief navigator on the intended voyage. The
+two men rode together from the Old Port up the track over Tom's
+Cap, and shot two pigeons by the way, which was fortunate, for
+when they arrived at Kilmany Park William Pearson was absent, and
+his men were found to be living under a discipline so strict that
+his stock-keeper, Jimmy Rentoul, had no meat, and dared not kill
+any without orders; so McMillan and Davy fried the pigeons, and
+ate one each for supper. Next morning they shot some ducks for
+breakfast, and then proceeded on their journey. They called at
+Mewburn Park, arrived at Bushy Park (McMillan's own station), and
+Davy began making the sails the same evening. Next morning he
+crossed the river in a canoe, made out of a hollow log, to
+Boisdale, Lachlan Macalister's station, and went to the milking
+yard. The management was similar to that of Dancer at Greenmount.
+Eleven men and women were milking about one hundred and fifty
+cows, superintended by nine Highlanders, who were sitting on the
+toprails discoursing in Gaelic. One of them was Jock Macdonald,
+who was over eighteen stone in weight, too heavy for any ordinary
+horse to carry; the rest were Macalisters, Gillies, and Thomsons.
+The stockmen were convicts, and they lived with the Highlanders
+in a big building like the barracks for soldiers. Every man
+seemed to do just what he liked, to kill what he liked, and to
+eat what he liked, and it was astonishing to see so little
+discipline on a station owned by a gentleman who had seen service
+both in the army and in the border police.</p>
+
+<p>The blacks were at this time very troublesome about the new
+stations. They began to be fond of beef, and in order to get it
+they drove fat cattle into the morasses and speared them. This
+proceeding produced strained relations between the two races, and
+the only effectual remedy was the gun. But many of the settlers
+had scruples about shooting blackfellows except in self-defence,
+and it could hardly be called self-defence to shoot one or more
+of the natives because a beast had been speared by some person or
+persons unknown. John Campbell, at Glencoe, tried a dog, a savage
+deerhound, which he trained to chase the human game. This dog
+acquired great skill in seizing a blackfellow by the heel,
+throwing him, and worrying him until Campbell came up on his
+horse. When the dog had thus expelled the natives from Glencoe,
+Campbell agreed to lend him to little Curlewis for three months
+in order to clear Holey Plains Station. Curlewis paid ten heifers
+for the loan of the dog, and Campbell himself went to give him a
+start in the hunt, as the animal would not own any other man as
+master. But the blacks soon learned that Campbell and his dog had
+left Glencoe unprotected, and the second night after his
+departure they boldly entered the potato patch near his hut, and
+bandicooted the whole of his potatoes.</p>
+
+<p>When the sails were made, the two boats were provisioned with
+tea, sugar, flour, and a keg of whisky; the meat was carried in
+the shape of two live sheep, to be killed when required. The
+party consisted of eight men, and each man was armed with a
+double-barrelled gun. McMillan, McLennan, Loughnan, and Davy went
+in one boat, and in the other boat were William Pearson, John
+Reeve, Captain Orr, and Sheridan, who was manager for Raymond at
+Stratford. Sheridan was a musical man, and took his flute with
+him. When everything was ready they dropped down the river to
+Lake Wellington, and took note of the soundings during the whole
+of the voyage as they went along. Wherever they approached either
+shore, they saw natives or found traces of them. Every beach was
+strewn with the feathers of the ducks, swans, and other birds
+they had killed, and it was difficult to find sufficient dead
+wood near the water to make a fire, the blacks having used so
+much of it at their numerous camping places.</p>
+
+<p>The gins had an ingenious system of capturing the ducks. They
+moved along under water, leaving nothing but their nostrils
+visible above the surface, and they were thus able to approach
+the unsuspecting birds. As opportunity offered they seized them
+by the legs, drew them quickly under water, and held them until
+they were drowned. When they had secured as many as they could
+hold in one hand they returned to land.</p>
+
+<p>One of the explorers always kept guard while the others slept,
+the first watch of each night being assigned to Davy, who baked
+the damper for the next day. One of the sheep was killed soon
+after the voyage commenced; and the duty of taking ashore,
+tethering, and guarding the other sheep at each landing place was
+taken in turn by Pearson and Loughnan. At the lower end of the
+lakes the water was found to be brackish, so they went ashore at
+several places to look for fresh water. They landed on a flat at
+Reeve's River, and Davy found an old well of the natives, but it
+required cleaning out, so he went back to the boat for a spade.
+It was Loughnan's turn that day to tether the sheep on some
+grassy spot, and to look after it; the animal by this time had
+become quite a pet, and was called Jimmy. On coming near the
+boats Davy looked about for Jimmy, but could not see him and
+asked Loughnan where he was.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is all right," said Loughnan, "I did not tether him,
+but he is over there eating the reeds."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he's gone," replied Davy.</p>
+
+<p>Every man became seriously alarmed and ran down to the reeds,
+for Jimmy carried their whole supply of meat. They found his
+tracks at the edge of the water, and followed them to the foot of
+a high bluff, which they ascended, calling as they went
+repeatedly for Jimmy. They looked in every direction, scanning
+especially the tops of the reeds to see if Jimmy was moving
+amongst them, but they could see no sign of the sheep that was
+lost. The view of land and river, mountain and sea, was very
+beautiful, but they were too full of sorrow for Jimmy to enjoy
+it. On going away they agreed to call the bluff Jimmy's point,
+but other voyagers came afterwards who knew nothing of Jimmy, and
+they named it Kalimna, The Beautiful. Near the shore a number of
+sandpipers were shot, and stewed for dinner in the large iron pot
+which was half full of mutton fat. Then the party pulled down to
+the entrance of the lakes at Reeve's River, went ashore, and
+camped for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Next day they found an outlet to the ocean, and sounded it as
+they went along, finding six feet of water on the bar at low
+tide. But the channel proved afterwards to be a shifting one; the
+strong current round Cape Howe, and the southerly gales, often
+filled it with sand, and it was not until many years had passed,
+and much money had been expended, that a permanent entrance was
+formed. In the meantime all the trade of Gippsland was carried on
+first through the Old Port, and then through the new Port Albert.
+For ten years all vessels were piloted without buoy or beacon; in
+one year one hundred and forty having been entered inwards and
+outwards.</p>
+
+<p>The party now started on the return voyage. In going up the
+lakes a number of blacks were observed on the port beach, and the
+boats were pulled towards the land until they grounded, and some
+of the men went ashore. The natives were standing behind a small
+sand hummock calling out to the visitors. One of them had lost an
+eye, and another looked somewhat like a white man browned with
+the sun and weather, but only the upper part of his body could be
+seen above the sand. One of the men on shore said, "Look at that
+white-fellow." That was the origin of the rumour which was soon
+spread through the country that the blacks had a white woman
+living with them, the result being that for a long time the
+blackfellows were hunted and harassed continually by parties of
+armed men. When the natives behind the sand hummock saw that the
+white men had no arms, they began to approach them without their
+spears. Sheridan took up his flute, and they ran back to the
+scrub, but after he had played a while they came nearer again and
+listened to the music.</p>
+
+<p>After pulling two or three miles, another party of natives was
+seen running along the sands, and the explorers went ashore again
+at a point of land where seven or eight men had appeared, but not
+one was now visible. Davy climbed up a honeysuckle tree, and then
+he could see them hiding in the scrub. Several of them were
+seized and held by the white men, who gave them some sugar and
+then let them go.</p>
+
+<p>The boats then sailed away with a nice easterly breeze, and in
+McLennan's Straits hundreds of blackfellows were seen up in the
+trees shouting and shaking their spears; but the boats were kept
+away in mid-stream, out of reach of the weapons.</p>
+
+<p>That night the camp was made at Boney Point, near the mouth of
+the River Avon; the name was given to it on account of the large
+quantity of human bones found there. No watch was kept, as it was
+believed that all the blacks had been left behind in McLennan's
+Straits. There was still some whisky left in the keg; and, before
+going to sleep, Orr, Loughnan, and Sheridan sang and drank
+alternately until the vessel was empty. At daylight they pulled
+up the Avon and landed at Clydebank, which was at that time one
+of Macalister's stations, but afterwards belonged to Thomson and
+Cunningham. After breakfast they walked to Raymond's station at
+Stratford, and then to McMillan's at Bushy Park.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle brought over the mountains into Gippsland soon grew
+fat, and the first settlers sold some of them to other men who
+came to search for runs; but the local demand was soon supplied.
+In two years and a half all the best land was occupied. An
+intending settler, who had driven a herd of cattle seven hundred
+miles, had some bitter complaints to make about the country in
+June, 1843. He said: "The whole length of Gippsland, from the
+bore of the mountains in which the road comes, is 110 miles, and
+the breadth about fifteen miles, the whole area 1650 square
+miles, one-third of which is useless through scrub and morass,
+which leaves only 1,100 square miles come-at-able at all, and
+nearly a third of this is useless. On this 1,100 square miles of
+land there are 45,000 sheep, 1,500 cattle, and 300 horses. Other
+herds of cattle and about 2,000 sheep are expected daily. The
+blacks are continuing their outrages, robbing huts and gardens
+and slaughtering cattle wholesale, Messrs. Pearson and Cunningham
+being the latest sufferers by the cannibals. Sheep shearing is
+nearly completed, after paying a most exorbitant price to the
+shearers.* The wool is much lighter than in any other part of the
+colony, and the skins much thicker than in hotter climates;" and
+lastly, "A collection has been made for the support of a
+minister." But the minister was not supported long, and he had to
+shake the dust of Gippsland off his feet. From Dan to
+Beersheba--from the bore in the mountains to the shores of Corner
+Inlet, all was barren to this disappointed drover.</p>
+
+<blockquote>[*Footnote *In the season of 1844 the average price
+per 100 for sheep-shearing was 8s.; the highest price asked, 8s.
+6d.]</blockquote>
+
+<p>And the squatters, in order to keep a foothold in the country,
+had to seek markets for their stock over the sea. The first to
+export cattle was James McFarlane of Heyfield. He chartered the
+schooner 'Waterwitch' for 100 pounds a month for six months, and
+found her in everything. She arrived on March 2nd, 1842, but
+could not come up to the Port being too sharp in the bottom, and
+drawing (when loaded with cattle) thirteen feet six inches, so
+she lay down at the Oyster Beds. McFarlane borrowed the square
+punt from the 'Clonmel' wreckers, a weak stockyard of tea tree
+was erected, and the punt was moored alongside. A block was made
+fast to the bottom of the punt, and a rope rove through it to a
+bullock's head, and the men hauled on the rope. Sometimes a beast
+would not jump, and had to be levered and bundled into the punt
+neck and crop. Then the men got into a boat, and reached over to
+make the rope fast from the head of the bullock to one of the
+eyebolts which were fixed round the punt, and even then the
+bullock would sometimes go overboard. It took a week to load
+twenty fat bullocks and twenty cows with their calves. The
+schooner set sail for New Zealand on April 2nd, 1842, and at Port
+Nicholson the bullocks were sold for fifteen and the cows for
+twelve pounds each, cash. The 'Waterwitch' returned to Port
+Albert on April 29th, and took in another cargo of breeding
+cattle, which had to be sold on bills, the cash at Port Nicholson
+being exhausted. McFarlane next sought for a market at Hobarton,
+which was then supplied with beef from Twofold Bay. Forty
+bullocks were put on board the 'Waterwitch' in five days, and in
+forty-eight hours they were offered for sale in Hobarton, and
+fetched fourteen pounds ten shillings a head--all but one, a
+snail-horned brute, which was very wild. When he landed, a number
+of soldiers were at drill in the paddock, and he charged the
+redcoats at once. They prepared to receive cavalry, but he broke
+through the ranks, scattered the citizens the whole length of
+Liverpool Street, and reached the open country. Guisden, the
+auctioneer, sold the chance of him for eleven pounds.</p>
+
+<p>At this time, nobody in Hobarton had heard of such a place as
+Gippsland; but the fat cattle, which were far superior to those
+imported from Twofold Bay, soon made the new territory well
+known, and many enterprising men of various characters found
+their way to it from the island.</p>
+
+<p>McFarlane sent over another cargo of forty bullocks,
+thirty-seven of which averaged fourteen pounds; one was lost, and
+two belonging to Macalister, heavy weights, were sold for forty
+pounds ten shillings.</p>
+
+<p>McMillan took over the 'Waterwitch' for the next trip, and
+also chartered the schooners 'Industry' and 'Scotia', which were
+the first vessels brought up to the shipping place at Port Albert
+on August, 3rd, 1842. Each of these vessels took two cargoes to
+Hobarton, which sold well, and then Macalister chartered the brig
+'Pateena', which would hold sixty bullocks. The 'Clonmel' punt
+was now dispensed with; the cattle were roped, put in the water,
+and made to swim between the vessel and a boat. A piece of small
+ratline was fixed to the slings, with the handlead made fast to
+it so that it would sink. The mate had the slings, and a man in
+the boat held the other end of the line, and with it he hauled
+the slings under the bullocks, which were then made fast, and the
+animal was hoisted up. In this way forty bullocks were shipped in
+three hours.</p>
+
+<p>Oysters were obtained in great abundance at Clonmel, Snake
+Island, and in other parts of the inlets, and the cattle vessels,
+after receiving their loading, took bags of oysters on board for
+sale at Hobarton. In June, 1843, the cutter 'Lucy' took 700 dozen
+to Melbourne, and in July another 700 dozen. In August the 'Mary
+Jane' took 500 dozen, and the cutter 'Domain' 400 dozen. The
+oyster beds were soon destroyed, and when in course of a few
+years I was appointed inspector of fisheries at Port Albert I
+could never find a single dozen oysters to inspect, although I
+was informed that a certain reverend poacher near the Caledonian
+Canal could obtain a bucket full of them when so disposed.</p>
+
+<p>Gippsland enjoyed one year of prosperity, followed by seven
+years of adversity. The price of stock declined so rapidly that
+in April, 1843, the very best beasts only realized 6 pounds per
+head, and soon afterwards it was estimated that there were in New
+South Wales 50,000 fat bullocks which nobody would buy. Moreover,
+the government was grievously in want of money, and in addition
+to the fees for depasturing licenses, exacted half-yearly
+assessments on the unsaleable flocks and herds. But the law
+exacted payment on live cattle only, so the squatters in their
+dire distress resolved to kill their stock and boil them, the
+hides and the resulting tallow being of some value. The Hentys,
+in the Portland district, commenced boiling their sheep in
+January, 1844, and on every station in New South Wales the
+paddocks still called the "boiling down" were devoted to the
+destruction of sheep and cattle and to the production of tallow.
+It was found that one hundred average sheep would yield one ton
+of tallow, and ten average bullocks also one ton, the price in
+London ranging from 35 pounds to 42 pounds per ton. By this
+device of boiling-down some of the pioneers were enabled to
+retain their runs until the discovery of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The squatters were assisted in their endeavours to diminish
+the numbers of their live stock by their neighbours, both black
+and white. It is absurd to blame the aborigines for killing sheep
+and cattle. You might as well say it is immoral for a cat to
+catch mice. Hunting was their living; the land and every animal
+thereon was theirs; and after we had conferred on them, as usual,
+the names of savages and cannibals, they were still human beings;
+they were our neighbours, to be treated with mercy; and to seize
+their lands by force and to kill them was robbery and murder. The
+State is a mere abstraction, has neither body nor soul, and an
+abstraction cannot be sent either to heaven or hell. But each
+individual man will be rewarded according to his works, which
+will follow him. Because the State erected a flag on a bluff
+overlooking the sea, Sandy McBean was not justified in shooting
+every blackfellow or gin he met with on his run, as I know he did
+on the testimony of an eye-witness. This is the age of whitewash.
+There is scarcely a villain of note on whose character a new coat
+has not been laboriously daubed by somebody, and then we are
+asked to take a new view of it. It does not matter very much now,
+but I should prefer to whitewash the aboriginals.</p>
+
+<p>J. P. Fawkner wrote: "The military were not long here before
+the Melbourne district was stained with the blood of the
+aborigines, yet I can safely say that in the year in which there
+was neither governor, magistrate, soldier, nor policemen, not one
+black was shot or killed in the Melbourne district, except
+amongst or by the blacks themselves. Can as much be said of any
+year since? I think not."</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1844 Mr. Latrobe was required to send to the
+Council in Sydney a return of all blacks and whites killed in the
+Port Phillip district since its first settlement. He said forty
+whites had been killed by the blacks, and one hundred and
+thirteen blacks had been reported as killed by the whites; but he
+added, "the return must not be looked upon as correct with
+respect to the number of aborigines killed." The reason is plain.
+When a white man murdered a few blacks it was not likely that he
+would put his neck into the hangman's noose by making a formal
+report of his exploit to Mr. Latrobe. All the surviving
+blackfellow could say was: "Quamby dead --long
+time--white-fellow--plenty--shoot 'em."</p>
+
+<p>He related in eight words the decline and fall of his race
+more truly than the white man could do it in eight volumes.</p>
+
+<p>It is not so easy a task to justify the white men who assisted
+the squatters to diminish the numbers of their stock. They were
+principally convicts who had served their sentences, or part of
+them, in the island, and had come over to Gippsland in cattle
+vessels. Some of them lived honestly, about one hundred of them
+disappeared when the Commissioner of Crown Lands arrived with his
+black and white police, and a few of the most enterprising
+spirits adopted the calling of cattle stealers, for which
+business they found special facilities in the two special
+surveys.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.</h3>
+
+<p>A notice dated March 4th, 1841, was gazetted in Sydney to the
+following effect:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"Any Holder of a Land Receipt to the extent of not less than
+five thousand one hundred and twenty acres may, if he think fit,
+demand a special survey of any land not hereinafter excepted,
+within the district of Port Philip, whether such Land Receipt be
+obtained in the manner pointed out in the 'Government Gazette' of
+the 21st January last, or granted by the Land and Emigration
+Commissioners in London.</p>
+
+<p>"Not more than one mile of frontage to any river, watercourse,
+or lake to be allowed to every four square miles of area; the
+other boundaries to be straight lines running north and south,
+east and west.</p>
+
+<p>"No land to be taken up within five miles of the towns of
+Melbourne, Geelong, Williamstown, or Portland.</p>
+
+<p>"The right of opening roads through any part of the land to be
+reserved for the Crown, but no other reservation whatever to be
+inserted in the Deeds of Grant."</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The Port Albert Company took up land, under the above
+conditions, between the Albert and Tarra rivers. It was in Orr's
+name, and is still known as Orr's Special Survey. A surveyor was
+appointed to mark and plan the boundaries; he delegated the work
+to another surveyor. Next a re-survey was made, then a
+sub-divisional survey, and then other surveys went on for fifty
+years, with ever-varying results. It is now a well-established
+fact that Orr's Special Survey is subject to an alternate
+expansion and contraction of area, which from time to time
+vitiates the labour of every surveyor, and has caused much
+professional animosity. Old men with one foot in the grave, in
+this year 1895, are still accusing each other of embezzling acres
+of it; the devil of Discord, and Mercury the god of thieves,
+encamped upon it; the Port Albert Company fell into its Slough of
+Despond, which in the Court of Equity was known as "Kemmis v.
+Orr," and there all the members perished.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. John Reeve had a land receipt, and wanted land. After he
+had taken up the station known as Snake Ridge he looked about for
+a good Special Survey. He engaged Davy and his whaleboat for a
+cruise in Port Albert waters and McMillan, Sheridan, and Loughnan
+were of the party. They went up the narrow channel called the
+Caledonian Canal, examined the bluffs, shores, and islands of
+Shallow Inlet, and at night encamped on St. Margaret's Island.
+When shelter was required, Davy usually put up the mainsail of
+his boat for a tent; but that night was so fine and warm that it
+was decided to avoid the trouble of bringing the sail ashore and
+putting it up. After supper the men lay around the fire, and one
+by one fell asleep; but about midnight heavy rain began to fall,
+the sail was brought ashore, and they all crept under it to keep
+themselves as dry as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning was fair. On leaving the port it had been the
+intention of the party to return the same evening, and the boat
+was victualled for one day only. There was now nothing for
+breakfast but a little tea and sugar and a piece of damper: no
+flesh, fish, or fowl. Davy was anxious to entertain his
+passengers to the best of his ability, especially Mr. Reeve, who,
+though not of delicate health, was a gentleman of refined tastes,
+and liked to have his meals prepared and served in the best
+style. Fresh water was of the first necessity, and, after so much
+rain, should have been plentiful, but not a spoonful could
+anywhere be found: the soil of the island was sandy, and all the
+rain had soaked into it and disappeared. The damper having been
+exposed to the weather was saturated with water. There was in the
+boat a large three-legged iron pot, half filled with fat, a hard
+and compact dainty not liable to be spilled or wasted, and in it
+had been stewed many a savoury meal of sandpipers, parrots, rats,
+and quail. This pot had been fortunately left upright and
+uncoveredduring the night, and the abundant rain had filled it
+with fresh water. Davy, with the intuition of artistic genius, at
+once saw the means of producing a repast fit for the gods. He
+poured the water which covered the fat from the iron pot into the
+kettle, which he placed on the fire for the purpose of making
+tea. He cut the sodden damper into substantial slices, put them
+into the pot, and cooked them in the fat over the fire. When well
+done they tasted like fried bread, and gave entire satisfaction;
+Mr. Reeve observing, when the feast was finished, that he had
+never in all his life eaten a better breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>A start was made for the port, but the wind came dead ahead,
+and the men had to pull the whole way across the inlet, through
+the Caledonian Canal, and as far as Long Point. There they went
+ashore for a rest, and Mr. Reeve asked Davy if he could find the
+mouth of the Tarra River. Davy said he had never been there, but
+he had no doubt that he could find it, as he had seen the river
+when he was duck-shooting. It was then high water, and the wind
+still blowing strongly from the west, so a reef was taken in the
+lug, and the boat ran right into the Tarra as far as the site of
+the present court-house. There the party landed, and after
+looking at the country Mr. Reeve decided to take up his special
+survey there. It was partly open forest, but it contained, also,
+a considerable area of rich flats covered with luxuriant tea tree
+and myrtle scrub, which in course of time became mingled with
+imported blackberry bushes, whins, sweetbriar, and thistles. Any
+quantity of labour might be spent on it with advantage to the
+owner, so the following advertisement appeared in the public
+journals:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>TO CAPITALISTS AND THE INDUSTRIOUS LABOURING CLASS.</b></p>
+
+<p>GIPPSLAND--PORT ALBERT.</p>
+
+<p>An accurate plan of Mr. Reeve's Special Survey of Tarra Vale
+having been completed, notice is hereby given that farms of
+various sizes are now open for sale or lease. The proprietor
+chiefly desires the establishment of a Respectable Tenantry, and
+will let these farms at the moderate rent of one bushel of wheat
+per acre. The estate consists of 5,120 acres of rich alluvial
+flats; no part of the estate is more than two miles from the
+freshwater stream of Tarra. Many families already occupy
+purchased allotments in the immediate vicinity of the landing
+place and Tarra Ville. There is a licensed hotel, good stores and
+various tradesmen, likewise dray roads from Maneroo and Port
+Philip. Apply to F. Taylor, Tarra Ville, or John Brown,
+Melbourne.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>There were several doubtful statements in this notice, but, as
+the law says, "Buyer, beware."</p>
+
+<p>Joshua Dayton was not a capitalist, but he belonged to the
+Industrious Labouring Class, and he offered himself, and was
+accepted as a Respectable Tenant, at the rental of a bushel of
+wheat to the acre. He was a thief on principle, but simple Mr.
+Taylor, of Tarraville, put his trust in him, because it would be
+necessary to fence and improve the land in order to produce the
+bushel of wheat. The fee simple, at any rate, would be safe with
+Mr. Reeve; but we live and learn--learn that there are men
+ingenious enough to steal even the fee simple, and transmit it by
+will to their innocent children.</p>
+
+<p>The farm comprised a beautiful and rich bend of the Tarra,
+forming a spacious peninsula. Joshua erected a fence across the
+isthmus, leaving the rest of his land open to the trespass of
+cattle, which were, therefore, liable to be driven away. But he
+did not drive them away; he impounded them within his bend, and
+at his leisure selected the fattest for slaughter, thus living
+literally on the fat of the land. He formed his boiling-down
+establishment in a retired glade, surrounded with tea-tree, tall
+and dense, far from the prying eyes and busy haunts of men. His
+hut stood on a gentle rise above the highest flood mark, and in
+close proximity to the slip rails, which were jealously guarded
+by his Cerberus, Neddy, a needy immigrant of a plastic nature,
+whose mind succumbed under the strong logic of his employer.</p>
+
+<p>Neddy had so far led an honest life, and did not fall into
+habits of thievery without some feelings of compunction. When
+Joshua first drove cattle into the bend, he did not tell Neddy
+that he had stolen them. Oh, no! He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Here are a few beasts I have had running about for some time,
+and I think I'll kill one or two of the fattest and make tallow
+of them. Beef is worth next to nothing, and we must make a living
+somehow. And I know you would like a little fresh beef, Neddy; a
+change of diet is good for the health."</p>
+
+<p>But Neddy was not so much of a fool as to be able to shut his
+eyes to the nature of the boiling-down business. The brands were
+too various, and Joshua claimed them all. Neddy said one
+night:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think, Joshua, this game of yours is rather
+dangerous? Why, it's nothing better than cattle stealing; and
+I've heern folks say at one time it was a hanging matter. You may
+be found out some day by an unlucky chance, and then what will
+you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't call it cattle stealing, Neddy; that doesn't
+sound well," said Joshua. "I call it back pay for work and labour
+done. I have good reasons for it. I was sent out for stealing a
+horse, which I never did steal; I only bought it cheap for a
+couple of pounds. They sent me to the island, and I worked seven
+years for a settler for nothing. Now I put it to you, Neddy, as
+an honest and sensible man, Am I to get no pay for that seven
+years' work? And how am I to get it if I don't take it myself?
+The Government will give me no pay; they'd give me another seven
+years if they could. But you see, there are no peelers here, no
+beaks, and no blooming courts, so I intend to make hay while the
+sun shines, which means tallow in these times. All these settlers
+gets as much work out of Government men as they can get for
+nothing, and if you says two words to 'em they'll have you
+flogged. So while I does my seven years I says nothing, but I
+thinks, and I makes up my mind to have it out of 'em when my time
+comes. And I say it's fair and honest to get your back wages the
+best way you can. These settlers are all tarred with the same
+brush; they make poor coves like us work for 'em, and flog us
+like bullocks, and then they pretend they are honest men. I say
+be blowed to such honesty."</p>
+
+<p>"But if you are caught, Joshua, what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we must be careful. I don't think they'll catch me in a
+hurry. You see, I does my business quick: cuts out the brand and
+burns it first thing, and always turns out beasts I don't want
+directly."</p>
+
+<p>Other men followed the example of Joshua, so that between
+troubles with the black men, troubles with the white men, and the
+want of a market for his stock, the settler's days were full of
+anxiety and misery. And, in addition, the Government in Sydney
+was threatening him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name of
+a Commissioner of Crown Lands, to whom was entrusted the power of
+increasing or diminishing assessments at his own will and
+pleasure. The settler therefore bowed down before the lordly
+tax-gatherer, and entertained him in his hut with all available
+hospitality, with welcome on his lips, smiles on his face, and
+hatred in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>The fees and fines collected by the Commissioners all over New
+South Wales had fallen off in one year to the extent of
+sixty-five per cent; more revenue was therefore required, and was
+it not just that those who occupied Crown lands should support
+the dignity of the Crown? Then the blacks had to be protected, or
+otherwise dealt with. They could not pay taxes, as the Crown had
+already appropriated all they were worth, viz., their country.
+But they were made amenable to British law; and in that
+celebrated case, "Regina v. Jacky Jacky," it was solemnly decided
+by the judge that the aborigines were subjects of the Queen, and
+that judge went to church on the Sabbath and said his prayers in
+his robes of office, wig and all.</p>
+
+<p>Jacky Jacky was charged with aiding and abetting Long Bill to
+murder little Tommy. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Another one blackfellow killed him, baal me shoot him."</p>
+
+<p>The court received his statement as equivalent to a plea of
+"Not guilty."</p>
+
+<p>Witness Billy, an aboriginal, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I was born about twenty miles from Sydney. If I don't tell
+stories, I shall go to Heaven; if I do, I shall go down below. I
+don't say any prayers. It is the best place to go up to Heaven. I
+learnt about heaven and hell about three years ago at Yass plains
+when driving a team there. Can't say what's in that book; can't
+read. If I go below, I shall be burned with fire."</p>
+
+<p>Billy was sworn, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I knew Jacky Jacky and Cosgrove, the bullock driver. I know
+Fyans Ford. I know Manifolds. I went from Fyans Ford with
+Cosgrove, a drove of cattle, and a dray for Manifolds. I knew
+Little Tommy at Port Fairy. He is dead. I saw him dying. When
+driving the team, I fell in with a lot of blacks. They asked me
+what black boy Tommy was; told them my brother. They kept
+following us two miles and a half. Jacky Jacky said; 'Billy, I
+must kill that black boy in spite of you.'"</p>
+
+<p>Jacky Jacky said sharply, "Borack."</p>
+
+<p>"Jacky Jacky, who was the king, got on the dray, and Little
+Tommy got down; a blackfellow threw a spear at him, and hit him
+in the side; the king also threw a spear, and wounded him; a lot
+of blacks also speared him. Long Bill came up and shot him with a
+ball. Jacky Jacky said to Cosgrove: 'Plenty gammon; I must kill
+that black boy.' Little Tommy belonged to the Port Fairy tribe,
+which had always been fighting with Jacky Jacky's tribe."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all gammon," said Jacky Jacky, "borack me, its another
+blackfellow."</p>
+
+<p>"Jacky Jacky, when with the dray, spoke his own language which
+I did not understand. I was not a friend of Little Tommy. I was
+not afraid of the Port Fairy tribe. I am sometimes friend with
+Jacky Jacky's tribe. If I met him at Yass I can't say whether I
+should spear him or not; they would kill him at the Goulburn
+River if he went there. Blackfellow not let man live who
+committed murder."</p>
+
+<p>Are the aboriginals amenable to British law? Question argued
+by learned counsel, Messrs. Stawell and Barry.</p>
+
+<p>His Honor the Resident Judge said: "The aboriginals are
+amenable to British law, and it is a mercy to them to be under
+that control, instead of being left to seek vengeance in the
+death of each other; it is a mercy to them to be under the
+protection of British law, instead of slaughtering each
+other."</p>
+
+<p>Jacky Jacky was found guilty of "aiding and abetting." The
+principals in the murder were not prosecuted, probably could not
+be found. Before leaving the court, he turned to the judge and
+said, "You hang me this time?"</p>
+
+<p>He only knew two maxims of British law applicable to his race,
+and these he had learned by experience. One maxim was "Shoot 'em"
+and the other was "Hang him."</p>
+
+<p>There is abundant evidence to prove that an aboriginal legal
+maxim was, "The stranger is an enemy, kill him." It was for that
+reason Jacky Jacky killed Little Tommy, who was a stranger,
+belonging to the hostile Port Fairy tribe.</p>
+
+<p>Joshua and Neddy carried on the boiling down business
+successfully for some time, regularly shipping tallow to
+Melbourne in casks, until some busybody began to insinuate that
+their tallow was contraband. Then Joshua took to carrying goods
+up the country, and Neddy took to drink. He died at the first
+party given by Mother Murden at her celebrated hostelry.</p>
+
+<p>There were at this time about two hundred men, women, and
+children scattered about the neighbourhood of New Leith
+(afterwards called Port Albert), the Old Port, the New Alberton
+and Tarra Vale. Alberton, by the way, was gazetted as a township
+before the "village" of St. Kilda was founded. There were no
+licenses issued for the various houses of entertainment, vulgarly
+called "sly grog shops." There was no church, no school, no
+minister, and no music, until Mother Murden imported some. It was
+hidden in the recesses of a barrel organ; and, in order to
+introduce the new instrument to the notice of her patrons and
+friends, Mother Murden posted on her premises a manuscript
+invitation to a grand ball. She was anxious that everything
+should be carried out in the best style, and that the festive
+time should commence at least without intoxication. She therefore
+had one drunken man carried into the "dead room," another to an
+outside shed. Neddy, the third, had become one of her best
+customers, and therefore she treated him kindly. He was unsteady
+on his legs, and she piloted him with her own hands to the front
+door, expecting that he would find a place for himself somewhere
+or other. She gave him a gentle shove, said "Good night, Neddy,"
+and closed the door. She then cleared a space for the dancers in
+her largest room, placed the barrel-organ on a small table in one
+corner, and made her toilet.</p>
+
+<p>The guests began to arrive, and Mother Murden received them in
+her best gown at the front door. Neddy was lying across the
+threshold.</p>
+
+<p>"It's only Neddy," she said apologetically; "he has been
+taking a little nobbler, and it always runs to his head. He'll be
+all right by-and-by. Come in my dears, and take your things off.
+You'll find a looking-glass in the room behind the bar."</p>
+
+<p>The gentlemen stepped over Neddy, politely gave their hands to
+the ladies, and helped them over the human obstacle.</p>
+
+<p>When everything was ready, Mother Murden sat down by the
+barrel-organ, took hold of the handle, and addressed her
+guests:</p>
+
+<p>"Now boys, choose your girls."</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="bookbush-04"></a><img alt="" src="images/bookbush-04.jpg"></p>
+
+<p><b>"The biggest bully apropriated the belle of the
+ball."</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>The biggest bully, a "conditional pardon" man of the year
+1839, acted as master of the ceremonies, and called out the
+figures. He also appropriated the belle of the ball as his
+partner.</p>
+
+<p>The dancing began with great spirit, but as the night wore on
+the music grew monotonous. There were only six tunes in the
+organ, and not all the skill and energy of Mother Murden could
+grind one more out of it.</p>
+
+<p>Neddy lay across the doorway, and was never disturbed. He did
+not wake in time to take any part in the festive scene, being
+dead. Now and then a few of the dancers stepped over him, and
+remarked, "Neddy is having a good rest." In the cool night air
+they walked to and fro, then, returning to the ball-room, they
+took a little refreshment, and danced to the same old tunes,
+until they were tired.</p>
+
+<p>Mother Murden's first ball was a grand success for all but
+Neddy.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"No sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet,<br>
+To chase the glowing hours with flying feet."</blockquote>
+
+<p>But morn reveals unsuspected truths, and wrinkled invisible in
+the light of tallow candles. The first rays of the rising sun
+fell on Neddy's ghastly face, and the "conditional pardon" man
+said, "Why, he's dead and cold."</p>
+
+<p>Mother Murden came to the door with a tumbler in her hand,
+containing a morning nip for Neddy, "to kill the worm," as the
+Latins say; but the worm was dead already. The merry-makers stood
+around; the men looked serious and the ladies shivered. They said
+the air felt chilly, so they bade one another good morning and
+hurried home.</p>
+
+<p>It is hard to say why one sinner is taken and the other left.
+Joshua's time did not arrive until many years afterwards, when we
+had acquitted him at the General Sessions; but that is another
+story.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.</h3>
+
+<p>At this time there was no visible government in Gippsland. The
+authorities in Sydney and Melbourne must have heard of the
+existence of the country and of its settlement, but they were
+content for a time with the receipt of the money paid into the
+Treasury for depasturing licenses and for assessments on
+stock.</p>
+
+<p>In 1840 the Land Fund received in New South Wales amounted to
+316,000 pounds; in 1841 it was only 90,000 pounds; and in 1842
+Sir George Gipps, in his address to the Council severely
+reprimanded the colonists for the reckless spirit of speculation
+and overtrading in which they had indulged during the two
+preceding years. This general reprimand had a more particular
+application to Mr. Benjamin Boyd, the champion boomer of those
+days.</p>
+
+<p>Labourers out of employment were numerous, and contractors
+were informed by 'Gazette' notice that the services of one
+hundred prisoners were available for purposes of public utility,
+such as making roads, dams, breakwaters, harbours, bridges,
+watchhouses, and police buildings. Assignees of convicts were
+warned that if they wished to return them to the custody of the
+Government, they must pay the expense of their conveyance to
+Sydney, otherwise all their servants would be withdrawn, and they
+would become ineligible as assignees of prisoners in future.</p>
+
+<p>Between the first of July, 1840, and the first of November,
+1841, 26,556 bounty immigrants had been received in Sydney. The
+bounty orders were suspended in the autumn of the latter year,
+but in 1842 Lord Stanley was of opinion that the colony could
+beneficially receive ten thousand more immigrants during the
+current year.</p>
+
+<p>Many married labourers could find no work in Sydney, and in
+November, 1843, the Government requested persons sending
+wool-drays to the city to take families to inland districts
+gratis.</p>
+
+<p>A regular stream of half-pay officers also poured into the
+colony, and made Sir George's life a burden. They all wanted
+billets, and if he made the mistake of appointing a civilian to
+some office, Captain Smith, with war in his eye and fury in his
+heart, demanded an interview at once. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"I see by this morning's 'Gazette' that some fellow of the
+name of Jones has been made a police superintendent, and here am
+I, an imperial officer, used to command and discipline, left out
+in the cold, while that counter-jumper steps over my head. I
+can't understand your policy, Sir George. What will my friends of
+the club in London say, when they hear of it, but that the
+service is going to the dogs?"</p>
+
+<p>So Captain Smith obtained his appointment as superintendent of
+police, and with a free sergeant and six convict constables,
+taken, as it were, out of bond, was turned loose in the bush. He
+had been for twenty years in the preventive service, but had
+never captured a prize more valuable than a bottle of whisky. He
+knew nothing whatever about horses, and rode like a beer barrel,
+but he nevertheless lectured his troopers about their horses and
+accoutrements. The sergeant was an old stockrider, and he one day
+so far forgot the rules of discipline as to indulge in a mutinous
+smile, and say:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, captain, you may know something about a ship, but I'll
+be blowed if you know anything about a horse."</p>
+
+<p>That observation was not entered in any report, but the
+sergeant was fined 2 pounds for "insolence and insubordination."
+The sum of 60,899 pounds was voted for police services in 1844,
+and Captain Smith was paid out of it. All the revenue went to
+Sydney, and very little of it found its way to Melbourne, so that
+Mr. Latrobe's Government was sometimes deprived of the
+necessaries of life.</p>
+
+<p>Alberton was gazetted as a place for holding Courts of Petty
+Sessions, and Messrs. John Reeve and John King were appointed
+Justices of the Peace for the new district.</p>
+
+<p>Then Michael Shannon met James Reading on the Port Albert
+Road, robbed him of two orders for money and a certificate of
+freedom, and made his way to Melbourne. There he was arrested,
+and remanded by the bench to the new court at Alberton. But there
+was no court there, no lock-up, and no police; and Mr. Latrobe,
+with tears in his eyes, said he had no cash whatever to spend on
+Michael Shannon.</p>
+
+<p>The public journals denounced Gippsland, and said it was full
+of irregularities. Therefore, on September 13th, 1843, Charles J.
+Tyers was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district.
+He endeavoured to make his way overland to the scene of his
+future labours, but the mountains were discharging the
+accumulated waters of the winter and spring rainfall, every
+watercourse was full, and the marshes were impassable.</p>
+
+<p>The commissioner waited, and then made a fresh start with six
+men and four baggage horses. Midway between Dandenong and the
+Bunyip he passed the hut of Big Mat, a new settler from
+Melbourne, and obtained from him some information about the best
+route to follow. It began to rain heavily, and it was difficult
+to ford the swollen creeks before arriving at the Big Hill. At
+Shady Creek there was nothing for the horses to eat, and beyond
+it the ground became treacherous and full of crabholes. At the
+Moe the backwater was found to be fully a quarter of a mile wide,
+encumbered with dead logs and scrub, and no safe place for
+crossing the creek could be found. During the night the famishing
+horses tore open with their teeth the packages containing the
+provisions, and before morning all that was left of the flour,
+tea, and sugar was trodden into the muddy soil and hopelessly
+lost; not an ounce of food could be collected. There was no game
+to be seen; every bird and beast seemed to have fled from the
+desolate ranges. Mr. Tyers had been for many years a naval
+instructor on board a man-of-war, understood navigation and
+surveying, and, it is to be presumed, knew the distance he had
+travelled and the course to be followed in returning to Port
+Philip; but there were valleys filled with impenetrable scrub,
+creeks often too deep to ford, and boundless morasses, so that
+the journey was made crooked with continual deviations. If a
+black boy like McMillan's Friday had accompanied the expedition,
+his native instinct would, at such a time, have been worth all
+the science in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The seven men, breakfastless, turned their backs to Gippsland.
+The horses were already weak and nearly useless, so they and all
+the tents and camp equipage were abandoned. Each man carried
+nothing but his gun and ammunition. All day long they plodded
+wearily through the bush--wading the streams, climbing over the
+logs, and pushing their way through the scrub. Only two or three
+small birds were shot, which did not give, when roasted, a
+mouthful to each man.</p>
+
+<p>At night a large fire was made, and the hungry travellers lay
+around it. Next morning they renewed their journey, Mr. Tyers
+keeping the men from straggling as much as he could, and cheering
+them with the hope of soon arriving at some station. No game was
+shot all that day; no man had a morsel of food; the guns and
+ammunition seemed heavy and useless, and one by one they were
+dropped. It rained at intervals, the clothing became soaked and
+heavy, and some of the men threw away their coats. A large fire
+was again made at night, but no one could sleep, shivering with
+cold and hunger.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning one man refused to go any further, saying he
+might as well die where he was. He was a convict accustomed to
+life in the bush, and Mr. Tyers was surprised that he should be
+the first man to give way to despair, and partly by force and
+partly by persuasion he was induced to proceed. About midday
+smoke was seen in the distance, and the hope of soon obtaining
+food put new life into the wayfarers. But they soon made a long
+straggling line of march; the strongest in the front, the weakest
+in the rear.</p>
+
+<p>The smoke issued from the chimney of the hut occupied by Big
+Mat. He was away looking after his cattle, but his wife Norah was
+inside, busy with her household duties, while the baby was asleep
+in the corner. There was a small garden planted with vegetables
+in front of the hut, and Norah, happening to look out of the
+window during the afternoon, saw a strange man pulling off the
+pea pods and devouring them. The strange man was Mr. Tyers. Some
+other men were also coming near.</p>
+
+<p>"They are bushrangers," she said running to the door and
+bolting it, "and they'll rob the hut and maybe they'll murder me
+and the baby."</p>
+
+<p>That last thought made her fierce. She seized an old Tower
+musket, which was always kept loaded ready for use, and watched
+the men through the window. They came into the garden one after
+another, and at once began snatching the peas and eating them.
+There was something fearfully wild and strange in the demeanour
+of the men, but Norah observed that they appeared to have no
+firearms and very little clothing. They never spoke, and seemed
+to take no notice of anything but the peas.</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord preserve us," said Norah, "I wish Mat would
+come."</p>
+
+<p>Her prayer was heard, for Mat came riding up to the garden
+fence with two cattle dogs, which began barking at the strangers.
+Mat said:</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, you coves, is it robbing my garden ye are?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tyers looked towards Mat and spoke, but his voice was
+weak, his mouth full of peas, and Mat could not tell what he was
+saying. He dismounted, hung the bridle on to a post, and came
+into the garden. He looked at the men, and soon guessed what was
+the matter with them; he had often seen their complaint in
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor craythurs," he said, "it's hungry ye are, and hunger's a
+killing disorder. Stop ating they pays to wonst, or they'll kill
+ye, and come into the house, and we'll give ye something
+better."</p>
+
+<p>The men muttered, but kept snatching off the peas. Norah had
+unbolted the door, and was standing with the musket in her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Take away the gun, Norah, and put the big billy on the fire,
+and we'll give 'em something warm. The craythurs are starving. I
+suppose they are runaway prisoners, and small blame to 'em for
+that same, but we can't let 'em die of hunger."</p>
+
+<p>The strangers had become quite idiotic, and wou'd not leave
+the peas, until Mat lost all patience, bundled them one by one by
+main force into his hut, and shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>He had taken the pledge from Father Mathew before he left
+Ireland, and had kept it faithfully; but he was not strait-laced.
+He had a gallon of rum in the hut, to be used in case of
+snake-bite and in other emergencies, and he now gave each man a
+little rum and water, and a small piece of damper.</p>
+
+<p>Rum was a curse to the convicts, immigrants, and natives. Its
+average price was then about 4s. 3d. per gallon. The daily ration
+of a soldier consisted of one pound of bread, one pound of fresh
+meat, and one-seventh of a quart of rum. But on this day, to Mr.
+Tyers and his men, the liquor was a perfect blessing. He was
+sitting on the floor with his back to the slabs.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know me, Mat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Know ye, is it? Sure I never clapped eyes on ye before, that
+I know of. Are ye runaway Government men? Tell the truth, now,
+for I am not the man to turn informer agin misfortunate craythurs
+like yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Tyers. I passed this way, you may remember, not
+very long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"What! Mr. Tyers, the commissioner? Sure I didn't know you
+from Adam. So ye never went to Gippsland at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our horses got at the provisions and spoiled them; so we had
+to come back, and we have had nothing to eat for three days.
+There is one man somewhere behind yet; I am afraid he will lie
+down and die. Do you think you could find him?"</p>
+
+<p>"For the love of mercy, I'll try, anyway. Norah, dear, take
+care of the poor fellows while I go and look for the other man;
+and mind, only to give 'em a little food and drink at a time, or
+they'll kill their wake stomachs with greediness; and see you all
+do just as Norah tells you while I'm away, for you are no better
+than childer."</p>
+
+<p>Mat galloped away to look for the last man, while his wife
+watched over the welfare of her guests. She said:</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord save us, and be betune us and harm, but when I seen
+you in the garden I thought ye were bushrangers, and I took up
+the ould gun to shoot ye."</p>
+
+<p>Mat soon found the last man, put him on his horse, and brought
+him to the hut. Next morning he yoked his bullocks, put all his
+guests into the dray, and started for Dandenong. On December
+23rd, 1843, Mr. Tyers and his men arrived in Melbourne, and he
+reported to Mr. Latrobe the failure of his second attempt to
+reach Gippsland.</p>
+
+<p>While the commissioner and his men were vainly endeavouring to
+reach the new country, seven other men were suffering famine and
+extreme hardships to get away from it. They had arrived at the
+Old Port by sea, having been engaged to strip bark by Mr. P. W.
+Walsh, usually known in Melbourne as Paddy Walsh. He had been
+chief constable in Launceston. Many years before Batman or
+Fawkner landed in Port Philip, parties of whalers were sent each
+year to strip wattle bark at Western Port. Griffiths and Co. had
+found the business profitable, and Paddy Walsh came to the
+conclusion that there was money to be made out of bark in
+Gippsland. He therefore engaged seven men and shipped them by
+schooner, writing to a storekeeper at the Old Port to receive the
+bark, ship it to Melbourne, and supply the strippers with the
+requisite stores.</p>
+
+<p>The seven men landed at the Old Port and talked to the
+pioneers. They listened to their dismal accounts of starvation on
+roast flathead and mutton-birds' eggs, of the ferocity of the
+blacks, of the murder of Macalister, of the misfortunes of
+Glengarry. The nine-pounder gun still stood at the corner of the
+company's store, pointed towards the scrub, a silent warning to
+the new men of the dangers in store for them. They took their
+guns and went about the bush looking for wattle trees, but they
+could not find in any place a sufficient quantity to make the
+business profitable. There was no regular employment to be had,
+but fortunately the schooner 'Scotia', chartered by John King,
+went ashore in a gale, and four of the barkers, all Irishmen
+obtained a few days' work in taking out her mud ballast. But no
+permanent livelihood could be expected from shipwrecks, and the
+seven strippers resolved, if possible, to return to Melbourne.
+They wanted to see Paddy Walsh once more, but they had no money,
+and the storekeeper refused to pay their fare by sea. After much
+negotiation, they obtained a week's rations, and gave all the
+tools they had brought with them to Captain Davy in payment for
+his trouble in landing them at One Tree Hill. They were informed
+that Brodribb and Hobson had made Western Port in four days on
+foot, and of course they could do the same. Four of the men were
+named Crow, Sparrow, Fox, and Macnamara; of the other three two
+were Englishmen, Smith and Brown; the third, a native of London,
+named Spiller, installed himself in the office of captain on
+account of his superior knowledge. He guaranteed to lead the
+party in a straight line to Western Port. He said he could box
+the compass; he had not one about him, but that made no
+difference. He would lay out their course every morning; they had
+to travel westward; the sun rose in the east, everybody knew as
+much as that; so all he had to do was to turn his back to the
+rising sun, and march straight on to Western Port which was
+situated in the west. The men agreed that Spiller's theory was a
+very good one; they could not think of any objection to it.</p>
+
+<p>Each man carried his blanket and rations, his gun and
+ammunition. Every morning Spiller pointed out the course to be
+taken and led the way. From time to time, with a look of extreme
+wisdom, he took observations of the position of the sun, and
+studied the direction of his own shadow on the ground. For five
+days the men followed him with great confidence, and then they
+found that their rations were all consumed, and there was no sign
+of Western Port or any settlement. They began to grumble, and to
+mistrust their captain; they said he must have been leading them
+astray, otherwise they would have seen some sign of the country
+being inhabited, and they formed a plan for putting Spiller's
+knowledge of inland navigation to the test.</p>
+
+<p>A start was made next morning, the cockney as usual, taking
+the lead. One man followed him, but kept losing ground purposely,
+merely keeping the leader in sight; the others did the same.
+Before the last man had lost sight of the camp, he could see
+Spiller in the distance walking towards it. He then uttered a
+long coo-ee, which was answered by every man of the party. They
+thought some valuable discovery had been made. One by one they
+followed the call and were soon assembled at the still burning
+embers they had lately left.</p>
+
+<p>"A nice navigator you are, ain't you, Spiller? Do you know
+where you are now?" asked Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must say there seems to be some mistake," said
+Spiller. "I came along when I heard the coo-ee, and found myself
+here. It is most unaccountable. Here is where we camped last
+night, sure enough. It is most surprising."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is surprising," said Smith. "You know the compass,
+don't you, you conceited little beggar. You can box it and make a
+bee-line for Western Port, can't you? Here you have been
+circussing us round the country, nobody knows where, until we
+have not a morsel of food left; but if I am to be starved to
+death through you, you miserable little hound, I am not going to
+leave you alive. What do you say, mates? Let us kill him and eat
+him. I'll do the job myself if nobody else likes it. I say
+nothing could be fairer."</p>
+
+<p>Sparrow, one of the Irishmen, spoke. He was a spare man, six
+feet high, had a long thin face, a prominent nose, sloping
+shoulders, mild blue eyes, and a most gentle voice. I knew him
+after he returned to Gippsland and settled there. He was averse
+to quarrelling and fighting; and, to enable him to lead a
+peaceable life, he carried a short riding whip with a hammer
+handle, and kept the lash twisted round his hand. He was a
+conscientious man too, and had a strong moral objection to the
+proposal of killing and eating Spiller; but he did not want to
+offend the company, and he made his refusal as mild as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a think I wouldn't like to quarrel about with no man,"
+he said, "and the Lord knows I am as hungry as any of you; and if
+we die through this misleading little chap I couldn't say but he
+would be guilty of murdering us, and we might be justified in
+making use of what little there is of him. But for my part I
+couldn't take my share of the meat--not to-day at any rate,
+because you may disremember it's Friday, and it's agen the laws
+of the Church to ate meat this day. So I'd propose that we wait
+till to-morrow, and if we grow very wake with the hunger, we can
+make use of the dog to stay our stomachs a little while longer,
+and something better may turn up in the meantime."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it to cook my dog Watch you mean?" asked Crow. (Here Watch
+went to his master, and lay down at his feet, looking up in his
+face and patting the ground with his tail.) "I tell you what it
+is, Sparrow, you are not going to ate my dog. What has the poor
+fellow done to you, I'd like to know? You may cook Spiller if you
+like, to-day or to-morrow, it's all the same to me--and I grant
+he well deserves it --but if you meddle with Watch you'll have to
+deal with me."</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use going on this way, mates," said Brown. "We might
+as well be moving while we have strength enough to do so. Come
+along."</p>
+
+<p>The men began to rise to their feet. Macnamara suddenly
+snatched Spiller's gun, and fired off both barrels; he then said,
+"Now hand over your shot and powder." Spiller, half scared to
+death, handed them over.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Macnamara, "you are my prisoner. I am going to
+take care of you until you are wanted; and if I see you so much
+as wink the wrong way I'll blow your brains out, if you have any.
+Here's your empty gun. Now march."</p>
+
+<p>All the men followed. The country was full of scrub, and they
+walked through it in Indian file. Not a bird or beast was killed
+that day or the next. A consultation was held at night, and it
+was agreed to kill Watch in the morning if nothing else turned
+up, Crow by this time being too hungry to say another word in
+favour of his dog. But at daylight an eaglehawk was watching them
+from a tree, and Brown shot it. It was soon put in the ashes, and
+when cooked was divided among the seven.</p>
+
+<p>On the eighth day Macnamara said, "I can smell the ocean." His
+name means "sons of the sea," and he was born and reared on the
+shore of the Atlantic. Sand hummocks were soon seen, and the roar
+of the breakers beyond could be heard. Two redbills were shot and
+eaten, and Spiller and Watch were kept for future use. On the
+ninth day they shot a native bear, which afforded a sumptuous
+repast, and gave them strength to travel two days longer. When
+they camped at night a tribe of blacks made a huge fire within a
+short distance, howling their war songs, and brandishing their
+weapons. It was impossible to sleep or to pass a peaceful night
+with such neighbours, so they crawled nearer to the savages and
+fired a volley at them. Then there was silence, which lasted all
+night. Next morning they found a number of spears and other
+weapons which the blacks had left on the ground; these they threw
+into the fire, and then resumed their miserable journey. On this
+day cattle tracks were visible, and at last, completely worn out,
+they arrived at Chisholm's station, eleven days after leaving One
+Tree Hill. They still carried their guns, and had no trouble in
+obtaining food during the rest of their journey to Melbourne.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time that Mr. Tyers reported his failure to reach
+Gippsland, the seven men reported to Walsh their return from it.
+The particulars of these interviews may be imagined, but they
+were never printed, Mr. John Fawkner, with unusual brevity,
+remarking that "Gippsland appears to be sinking into
+obscurity."</p>
+
+<p>Some time afterwards it was stated that "a warrant had been
+issued for Mr P. Walsh, formerly one of our leading merchants, on
+a charge of fraud committed in 1843. Warrant returned 'non est
+inventus'; but whether he has left the colony, or is merely
+rusticating, does not appear. Being an uncertificated bankrupt,
+it would be a rather dangerous experiment, punishable by law with
+transportation for fifteen years."</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Tyers could not afford to allow Gippsland to sink into
+obscurity; his official life and salary depended on his finding
+it. A detachment of border and native police had arrived from
+Sydney by the 'Shamrock', and some of them were intended as a
+reinforcement for Gippsland, "to strengthen the hands of the
+commissioner in putting down irregularities that at present exist
+there."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Holmes was sending a mob of cattle over the mountains, and
+Mr. Tyers ordered his troopers to travel with them, arranging to
+meet them at the head of the Glengarry river. He avoided this
+time all the obstacles he had formerly encountered by making a
+sea voyage, and he landed at Port Albert on the 13th day of
+January, 1844.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.</h3>
+
+<p>As soon as it was known at the Old Port that a Commissioner of
+Crown Lands had arrived, Davy, the pilot, hoisted a flag on his
+signal staff, and welcomed the representative of law and order
+with one discharge from the nine-pounder. He wanted to be
+patriotic, as became a free-born Briton. But he was very sorry
+afterwards; he said he had made a mistake. The proper course
+would have been to hoist the flag at half-mast, and to fire
+minute guns, in token of the grief of the pioneers for the death
+of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tyers rode away with a guide, found his troopers at the
+head of the Glengarry, and returned with them over Tom's Cap. He
+camped on the Tarra, near the present Brewery Bridge, and his
+black men at night caught a number of blackfish, which were found
+to be most excellent.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the commissioner entered on his official duties, and
+began to put down irregularities. He rode to the Old Port, and
+halted his men in front of the company's store. All the
+inhabitants soon gathered around him. He said to the
+storekeeper:</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Tyers. I am the Commissioner of Crown Lands. I
+want to see your license for this store."</p>
+
+<p>"This store belongs to the Port Albert Company," replied John
+Campbell. "We have no license, and never knew one was required in
+such a place as this."</p>
+
+<p>"You are, then, in illegal occupation of Crown lands, and
+unless you pay me twenty pounds for a license I am sorry to say
+it will be my duty to destroy your store," said Mr. Tyers.</p>
+
+<p>There were two other stores, and a similar demand was made at
+each of them for the 20 pounds license fee, which was paid after
+some demur, and the licenses were signed and handed to the
+storekeepers.</p>
+
+<p>Davy's hut was the next visited.</p>
+
+<p>"Who owns this building?" asked Mr. Tyers.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Davy. "I put it up myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a license?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not. Never was asked for one since I came here,
+and I don't see why I should be asked for one now."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I ask you now. You are in illegal occupation of Crown
+lands, and you must pay me twenty pounds, or I shall have to
+destroy your hut."</p>
+
+<p>"I hav'nt got the twenty pounds," Davy said: "never had as
+much money in my life; and I wouldn't pay it to you if I had it.
+I would like to know what right the Government, or anybody else,
+has to ask me for twenty pounds for putting up a hut on this
+sandbank? I have been here with my family pretty nigh on to three
+years; sometimes nearly starved to death, living a good deal of
+the time on birds, and 'possums, and roast flathead; and what
+right, in the name of common sense, has the Government to send
+you here to make me pay twenty pounds? What has the Government
+done for me or anybody else in Gippsland? They have already taken
+every penny they could get out of the settlers, and, as far as I
+know, have not spent one farthing on this side of the mountains.
+They did not even know there was such a country till McMillan
+found it. It belonged to the blacks. There was nobody else here
+when we came, and if we pay anybody it should be the
+blackfellows. Besides, if I had had stock, and money enough to
+take up a run, I could have had the pick of Gippsland, twenty
+square miles, for ten pounds; and because I am a poor man you
+want me to pay twenty pounds for occupying a few yards of sand.
+Where is the sense of that, I'd like to know? If you are an
+honest Englishman, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for coming
+here with your troopers and carbines and pistols on such a
+business, sticking up a poor man for twenty pounds in the name of
+the Government. Why, no bushrangers could do worse than
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"You are insolent, my man. If you don't pay the money at once
+I'll give you just ten minutes to clear out, and then I shall
+order my men to burn down your hut. You will find that you can't
+defy the Government with impunity."</p>
+
+<p>"Burn away, if you like, and much good may it do you."
+Pointing to his whaleboat on the beach, "There's the ship I came
+here in from Melbourne, and that's the ship I shall go back in,
+and you daren't hinder me."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reeve was present, watching the proceedings and listening.
+He had influential friends in Sydney, had a station at Snake
+Ridge, a special survey on the Tarra, and he felt that it would
+be advisable to pour oil on the troubled waters. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"I must beg of you, Mr. Tyers, to excuse Davy. He is our
+pilot, and there is no man in Gippsland better qualified for that
+post, nor one whose services have been so useful to the settlers
+both here and at the lakes. We have already requested the
+Government to appoint him pilot at the port; we are expecting a
+reply shortly, and it will be only reasonable that he should be
+allowed a site for his hut."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Mr. Reeve, I must do my duty," said Mr. Tyers, "and
+treat all alike. I cannot allow one man to remain in illegal
+occupation, while I expel the others."</p>
+
+<p>"The settlers cannot afford to lose their pilot, and I will
+give you my cheque for the twenty pounds," said Mr. Reeve.</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve months afterwards the cheque was sent back from
+Sydney, and Mr. Reeve made a present of it to Davy.</p>
+
+<p>"At this time the public journals used very strong language in
+their comments on the action of Governors and Government
+officials, and complaint was made in the House of Commons that
+the colonial press was accustomed to use "a coarseness of
+vituperation and harshness of expression towards all who were
+placed in authority." But gentlemen were still civil to one
+another, except on rare occasions, and then their language was a
+strong as that of the journals, e.g.:</p>
+
+<p>"I, Arthur Huffington, surgeon, residing at the station of Mr.
+W. Bowman, on the Ovens River, do hereby publicly proclaim George
+Faithful, settler on the King River, to be a malicious liar and a
+coward.</p>
+
+<p>"Ovens River, March 6th, 1844.</p>
+
+<p>"You will find a copy of the above posted at every
+public-house between the Ovens and Melbourne, and at the corner
+of every street in the town."</p>
+
+<p>This defiance could not escape the notice of the lawyers, and
+they soon got the matter into their own hands.</p>
+
+<p>Huffington brought an action of trespass on the case for libel
+against Faithful, damages 2,000 pounds.</p>
+
+<p>It was all about branding a female calf; "duffing it" was the
+vulgar term, and to call a settler "duffer" was more offensive
+than if you called him a murderer.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stawell opened the pleadings, brushing up the fur of the
+two tiger cats thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Here you have Mr. Faithful--the son of his father--the pink
+of superintendents--the champion of Crown Lands
+Commissioners--the fighting man of the plains of Goulburn--the
+fastidious Beau Brummel of the Ovens River,"--and so on. Arthur
+and George were soon sorry they had not taken a shot at each
+other in a paddock.</p>
+
+<p>The calf was a very valuable animal--to the learned counsel.
+On January 30th, 1844, Davy became himself an officer of the
+Government he had denounced so fiercely, being appointed pilot at
+Port Albert by Sir George Gipps, who graciously allowed him to
+continue the receipt of the fee already charged, viz., three
+pounds for each vessel inwards and outwards.</p>
+
+<p>There were eight other huts on the sandbank, but as not one of
+the occupants was able to pay twenty pounds, their names are not
+worth mentioning. After making a formal demand for the money, and
+giving the trespassers ten minutes to take their goods away, Mr.
+Tyers ordered his men to set the buildings on fire, and in a
+short time they were reduced to ashes. The commissioner then rode
+back to his camp with the eighty pounds, and wrote a report to
+the Government of the successful inauguration of law and order
+within his jurisdiction, and of the energetic manner in which he
+had commenced to put down the irregularities prevalent in
+Gippsland.</p>
+
+<p>The next duty undertaken by the commissioner was to settle
+disputes about the boundaries of runs, and he commenced with
+those of Captain Macalister, who complained of encroachments. To
+survey each run with precision would take up much time and
+labour, so a new mode of settlement was adopted. By the
+regulations in force no single station was to consist of more
+than twenty square miles of area, unless the commissioner
+certified that more was required for stock possessed by
+applicant. This regulation virtually left everything to the
+goodwill and pleasure of the commissioner, who first decided what
+number of square miles he would allot to a settler, then mounted
+his horse, to whose paces he was accustomed, and taking his
+compass with him, he was able to calculate distances by the rate
+of speed of his horse almost as accurately as if he had measured
+them with a chain. These distances he committed to paper, and he
+gave to every squatter whose run he thus surveyed a description
+of his boundaries, together with a tracing from a chart of the
+district, which he began to make. He allotted to Captain
+Macalister all the country which he claimed, and a dispute
+between Mr. William Pearson and Mr. John King was decided in
+favour of the latter.</p>
+
+<p>It was reported in Sydney that Mr. Tyers was rather difficult
+of access, but it was believed he had given satisfaction to all
+and everyone with whom he had come in contact, except those
+expelled from the Old Port, and a few squatters who did not get
+as much land as they wanted. There were also about a hundred
+escaped prisoners in the country, but these never complained that
+the commissioner was difficult of access.</p>
+
+<p>The blacks were still troublesome, and I heard Mr. Tyers
+relate the measures taken by himself and his native police to
+suppress their irregularities. He was informed that some cattle
+had been speared, and he rode away with his force to investigate
+the complaint. He inspected the cattle killed or wounded, and
+then directed his black troopers to search for tracks, and this
+they did willingly and well. Traces of natives were soon
+discovered, and their probable hiding-place in the scrub was
+pointed out to Mr. Tyers. He therefore dismounted, and directing
+two of his black troopers armed with carbines to accompany him,
+he held a pistol in each hand and walked cautiously into the
+scrub. The two black troopers discharged their carbines. The
+commissioner had seen nothing to shoot at, but his blacks soon
+showed him two of the natives a few yards in front, both mortally
+wounded. Mr. Tyers sent a report of the affair to the Government,
+and that was the end of it.</p>
+
+<p>This manner of dealing with the native difficulty was adopted
+in the early days, and is still used under the name of "punitive
+expeditions." That judge who prayed to heaven in his wig and
+robes of office, said that the aborigines were subjects of the
+Queen, and that it was a mercy to them to be under her
+protection. The mercy accorded to them was less than Jedburgh
+justice: they were shot first, and not even tried afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>The settlers expelled from the sandbank at the Old Port
+required some spot on which they could put up their huts without
+giving offence to the superior powers. The Port Albert Company
+excised a township from their special survey, and called it
+Victoria; Mr. Robert Turnbull bought 160 acres, the present Port
+Albert, at 1 pound per acre, and offered sites for huts to the
+homeless at the rate of 1 pound per annum, on the condition that
+they carried on no business. The stores were removed from the Old
+Port to the new one, and the first settlement in Gippsland was
+soon again overgrown with scrub and ferns. Mr. Reeve offered
+farms to the industrious at the rental of one bushel of wheat to
+the acre. For some time the township of Tarraville was a
+favourite place of residence, because the swamps which surrounded
+Port Albert were impassable for drays during the winter months;
+the roads to Maneroo and Melbourne mentioned in Mr. Reeve's
+advertisement were as yet in the clouds. Captain Moore came from
+Sydney in the revenue cutter 'Prince George' to look for
+smugglers, but he did not find any. He was afterwards appointed
+collector for Gippsland, and he came down again from Sydney with
+a boat's crew of six prisoners, a free coxswain, and a portable
+house, in which he sate for the receipt of Customs.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the commissioner resided at Tarraville, and then he
+went to the lakes and surveyed a township at Flooding Creek, now
+called Sale. His black troopers were in some cases useful, in
+others they were troublesome; they indulged in irregularities;
+there was no doubt that they drank rum procured in some
+inexplicable manner. They could not be confined in barracks, or
+remain continually under the eye of their chief, and it was not
+always possible to discover in what manner they spent their
+leisure hours. But occasionally some evidence of their exploits
+came to light, and Mr. Tyers became aware that his black police
+considered themselves as living among hostile tribes, in respect
+of whom they had a double duty to perform, viz., to track cattle
+spearers at the order of their chief, and on their own account to
+shoot as many of their enemies as they could conveniently
+approach.</p>
+
+<p>There were now ladies as well as gentlemen in Gippsland, and
+one day the commissioner sailed away in his boat with a select
+party. After enjoying the scenery and the summer breezes for a
+few hours, he cast his eyes along the shore in search of some
+romantic spot on which to land. Dead wood and dry sticks were
+extremely scarce, as the blacks used all they could find at their
+numerous camps. He was at length so fortunate as to observe a
+brown pile of decayed branches, and he said, "I think we had
+better land over there; that deadwood will make a good fire"; and
+the boat was steered towards it. But when it neared the land the
+air was filled with a stench so horrible that Mr. Tyers at once
+put the boat about, and went away in another direction. Next day
+he visited the spot with his police, and he found that the dead
+wood covered a large pile of corpses of the natives shot by his
+own black troopers, and he directed them to make it a
+holocaust.</p>
+
+<p>The white men brought with them three blessings for the
+natives-- rum, bullets, and blankets. The blankets were a free
+gift by the Government, and proved to the eyes of all men that
+our rule was kind and charitable. The country was rightfully
+ours; that was decided by the Supreme Court; we were not obliged
+to pay anything for it, but out of pure benignity we gave the
+lubras old gowns, and the black men old coats and trousers; the
+Government added an annual blanket, and thus we had good reason
+to feel virtuous.</p>
+
+<p>We also appointed a protector of the aborigines, Mr. G. A.
+Robinson, at a salary of 500 pounds per annum. He took up his
+residence on the then sweet banks of the Yarra, and made
+excursions in various directions, compiling a dictionary. He
+started on a tour in the month of April, 1844, making Alberton
+his first halting-place, and intending to reach Twofold Bay by
+way of Omeo. But he found the country very difficult to travel;
+he had to swim his horse over many rivers, and finally he
+returned to Melbourne by way of Yass, having added no less than
+8,000 words to his vocabulary of the native languages. But the
+public journals spoke of his labours and his dictionary with
+contempt and derision. They said, "Pshaw! a few mounted police,
+well armed, would effect more good among the aborigines in one
+month than the whole preaching mob of protectors in ten
+years."</p>
+
+<p>When a race of men is exterminated somebody ought to bear the
+blame, and the easiest way is to lay the fault at the door of the
+dead; they never reply.</p>
+
+<p>When every blackfellow in South Gippsland, except old
+Darriman, was dead, Mr. Tyers explained his experience with the
+Government blankets. They were now no longer required, as
+Darriman could obtain plenty of old clothes from charitable white
+men. It had been the commissioner's duty to give one blanket
+annually to each live native, and thus that garment became to him
+the Queen's livery, and an emblem of civilisation; it raised the
+savage in the scale of humanity and encouraged him to take the
+first step in the march of progress. His second step was into the
+grave. The result of the gift of blankets was that the natives
+who received them ceased to clothe themselves with the skins of
+the kangaroo, the bear or opossum. The rugs which they had been
+used to make for themselves would keep out the rain, and in them
+they could pass the wettest night or day in their mia-mias, warm
+and dry. But the blankets we kindly gave them by way of saving
+our souls were manufactured for the colonial market, and would no
+more resist the rain than an old clothes-basket. The consequence
+was that when the weather was cold and wet, the blackfellow and
+his blanket were also cold and wet, and he began to shiver;
+inflammation attacked his lungs, and rheumatism his limbs, and he
+soon went to that land where neither blankets nor rugs are
+required. Mr. Tyers was of opinion that more blacks were killed
+by the blankets than by rum and bullets.</p>
+
+<p>Government in Gippsland was advancing. There were two justices
+of the peace, the commissioner, black and white police, a
+collector of customs, a pilot, and last of all, a parson--parson
+Bean--who quarrelled with his flock on the question of education.
+The sheep refused to feed the shepherd; he had to shake the dust
+off his feet, and the salvation of souls was, as usual, postponed
+to a more convenient season. At length Mr. Latrobe himself
+undertook to pay a visit to Gippsland. He was a splendid
+horseman, had long limbs like King Edward Longshanks, and was in
+the habit of making dashing excursions with a couple of troopers
+to take cursory views of the country. He set out in the month of
+May, 1844, and was introduced to the settlers in the following
+letter by "a brother squatter":</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Gentlemen, look out. The jackal of your oppressor
+has started on a tour. For what purpose? To see the isolated and
+miserable domiciles you occupy and the hard fare on which you
+subsist? No! but to see if the oppressor can further apply the
+screw with success and impunity. You have located yourselves upon
+lands at the risk of life and property, paying to the Government
+in license and assessment fees for protection which you have
+never received, and your quiesence under such a system of robbery
+has stimulated your oppressor to levy on you a still greater
+amount of taxation, not to advance your interests, but to
+replenish his exhausted treasury. Should you strain your
+impoverished exchequer to entertain your (in a family sense)
+worthy superintendent, depend upon it he will recommend a more
+severe application of the screw. Give him, therefore, your
+ordinary fare, salt junk and damper, or scabby mutton, with a pot
+of Jack the Painter's tea, in a black pot stirred with a greasy
+knife."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Latrobe and Sir George bore all the weight of public
+abuse, and it was heavy. Now it is divided among many Ministers,
+each of whom carries his share with much patience, while our
+Governor's days in the "Sunny South" are "days of pleasantness,
+and all his paths are peace."</p>
+
+<p>No gentleman could accept hospitality like that suggested by
+"a brother squatter," and Mr. Latrobe sought refuge at the Port
+Albert Hotel, Glengarry's imported house. Messrs. Tyers, Raymond,
+McMillan, Macalister, and Reeve were pitching quoits at the rear
+of the building under the lee of the ti-tree scrub. Davy, the
+pilot, was standing near on duty, looking for shipping with one
+eye and at the game with the other. The gentlemen paused to watch
+the approaching horsemen. Mr. Latrobe had the royal gift of
+remembering faces once seen; and he soon recognised all those
+present, even the pilot whom he had seen when he first arrived in
+Melbourne. He shook hands with everyone, and enquired of Davy how
+he was getting on with the piloting. He said: "Now gentlemen, go
+on with your game. I like quoits myself and I should be sorry to
+interrupt you." Then he went into the hotel and stayed there
+until morning. He no doubt obtained some information from Mr.
+Tyers and his friends, but he went no further into the country.
+Next morning he started with his two troopers on his return to
+Melbourne, and the other gentlemen mounted their horses to
+accompany him; but the "worthy superintendent" rode so fast that
+he left everyone behind and was soon out of sight, so his
+intended escort returned to port. Mr. Latrobe's view of Gippsland
+was very cursory.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbit Island was stocked with rabbits in 1839 by Captain
+Wishart, the whaler. In 1840 he anchored his barque, the
+'Wallaby', in Lady's Bay, and lanced his last whale off Horn
+Point. A great, grey shark happened to be cruising about the
+whaling ground, the taste of blood was on the sea, and he
+followed the wounded whale; until, going round in her flurry, she
+ran her nose against Wishart's boat and upset it. Then the shark
+saw strange animals in the water which he had never seen before.
+He swam under them and sniffed at their tarry trousers, until
+they landed on the rocks: all but one, Olav Pedersen, a strong
+man but a slow swimmer. A fin arose above the water between Olav
+and the shore. He knew what that meant, and his heart failed him.
+Three times he called for help and Wishart threw off his wet
+clothes and plunged into the sea. The shark was attracted to the
+naked captain, and he bit a piece out of one leg. Both bodies
+were recovered; that of Wishart was taken to Hobarton, and Olav
+was buried on the shore at the foot of a gum tree. His epitaph
+was painted on a board nailed to the tree, and was seen by one of
+the pioneers on his first voyage to the Old Port in 1841.</p>
+
+<p>Before Gippsland was brought under the law, Rabbit Island was
+colonised by two whalers named Page and Yankee Jim, and Page's
+wife and baby. They built a bark hut, fenced in a garden with a
+rabbit-proof fence, and planted it with potatoes. Their base of
+supplies for groceries was at the Old Port.</p>
+
+<blockquote>They were monarchs of all they surveyed,<br>
+From the centre all round to the sea.</blockquote>
+
+<p>They paid no rent and no taxes. Sometimes they fished, or went
+to the seal islands and brought back seal skins. In the time of
+the potato harvest, and when that of the mutton birds drew near,
+there were signs of trouble coming from the mainland. Fires were
+visible on the shore at night, and smoke by day; and Page
+suspected that the natives were preparing to invade the island.
+At length canoes appeared bobbing up and down on the waves, but a
+shot from the rifle sent them back to the shore. For three days
+and nights no fire or smoke was seen, and the two whalers ceased
+to keep watch. But early next morning voices were heard from the
+beach below the hut; the blacks were trying to launch the boat.
+Page and Jim shouted at them and went down the cliff; then the
+blacks ran away up the rocks, and were quickly out of sight.
+Presently Mrs. page came running out of the hut half dressed, and
+carrying her baby; she said she heard the blacks jabbering in the
+garden. In a short time the hut was in a blaze, and was soon
+burned to the ground. The two men then launched their boat and
+went to the Port. Davy shipped a crew of six men, and started in
+his whaleboat for the island; but the wind was blowing hard from
+the west, and they did not arrive at the island until next day.
+The blacks had then all disappeared; and, as the men wanted
+something to eat, Davy told them to dig up some potatoes, while
+he went and shot six rabbits. When he returned with his game, the
+men said they could not find any potatoes. He said, "That's all
+nonsense," and went himself to the garden; but he could not find
+one potato. The blackfellows had shipped the whole crop in their
+canoes, so that there was nothing but rabbit for breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner the reign of the Page dynasty came to an abrupt
+termination. The baby heir-apparent grew up to man's estate as a
+private citizen, and became a fisherman at Williamstown.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-21"></a></p>
+
+<h3>UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.</h3>
+
+<p>After Mr. Latrobe's short visit to Port Albert, Gippsland was
+for many years ruled by Mr. Tyers with an authority almost royal.
+Davy, after his first rebellious outburst at the burning of the
+huts, and his subsequent appointment as pilot, retired to the new
+Port Albert and avoided as much as possible the haunts of the
+commissioner. On the salt water he was almost as powerful and
+imperious as was his rival by land. He ruled over all ships and
+shipwrecks, and allowed no man to say him nay.</p>
+
+<p>Long Mason, the first overseer of Woodside Station, took over
+a cargo of fat cattle to Hobarton for his brother. After
+receiving the cash for the cattle he proceeded to enjoy himself
+after the fashion of the day. The shepherd knocked down his
+cheque at the nearest groggery and then returned to his sheep
+full of misery. Long Mason had nearly 300 pounds, and he acted
+the part of the prodigal brother. He soon made troops of friends,
+dear brethren and sisters, on whom he lavished his coin; he hired
+a band of wandering minstrels to play his favourite music, and
+invited the beauty an chivalry of the convict capital to join him
+in his revels. When his money was expended he was put on board a
+schooner bound for Port Albert, on which Davis (of Yarram) and
+his family were passengers. For two days he lay in his bunk sick
+and suffering. As the vessel approached the shore his misery was
+intense. He demanded drink, but no one would give him any. He
+began to search his pockets for coin, but of the 300 pounds only
+one solitary sixpence was left. With this he tried to bribe the
+cabin boy to find for him one last taste of rum; but the boy
+said, "All the grog is locked up, and the captain would welt me
+if I gave you a single drop."</p>
+
+<p>So Long Mason landed at the Port with his sixpence, was
+dismissed by his brother from Woodside Station, and became a
+wandering swagman.</p>
+
+<p>The next overseer for Woodside voyaged to Port Albert in the
+brig 'Isabella' in the month of June, 1844. This vessel had been
+employed in taking prisoners to Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur
+until the government built a barque called the 'Lady Franklin';
+then Captain Taylor bought the brig for the cattle trade. On this
+voyage he was anxious to cross the bar for shelter from a
+south-east gale, and he did not wait for the pilot, although the
+vessel was deeply laden; there was not water enough for her on
+the old bar; she struck on it, and the heavy easterly sea threw
+her on the west bank. It was some time before the pilot and his
+two men could get aboard, as they had to fight their way through
+the breakers to leeward. There was too much sea for the boat to
+remain in safety near the ship, and Davy asked the captain to
+lend him a hand to steer the boat back to Sunday Island. The
+second mate went in her, but she was capsized directly. The
+ship's boat was hanging on the weather davits, and it was no use
+letting her down to windward on account of the heavy sea. Davy
+ran out to the end of the jibboom with a lead line. He could see
+the second mate hanging on to the keel of the capsized boat, and
+his two men in the water. The ebb sea kept washing them out, and
+the heavy sea threw them back again, and whenever they could get
+their heads above water they shouted for help. Davy threw the
+lead towards them from the end of the jibboom, but they were too
+far away for the line to reach them. At length the ship's boat
+was launched to leeward, four men and the mate got into her, but
+by this time the two boatmen were drowned. While the ship's boat
+was running through the breakers past the pilot boat, the first
+mate grabbed the second mate by the collar, held on to him until
+they were in smooth water, and then hauled him in. It was too
+dangerous for the seamen to face the breakers again, so the pilot
+sang out to them to go to Snake Island.</p>
+
+<p>About two o'clock in the afternoon the vessel lay pretty quiet
+on the ebb tide; a fire was lighted in the galley, and all hands
+had something to eat. There was not much water in the cabin; but,
+as darkness set in, and the flood tide made, the seas began to
+come aboard. There was a heavy general cargo in the hold, six
+steerage passengers, four men and two women (one of whom had a
+baby), and one cabin passenger, who was going to manage Woodside
+Station in place of Long Mason, dismissed.</p>
+
+<p>The sea began to roll over the bulwarks, and the brig was fast
+filling with water. For some time the pumps were kept going, but
+the water gained on them, and all hands had to take to the
+rigging. The two women and the baby were first helped up to the
+foretop; then the pilot, counting the men, found one missing.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain," he said, "what has become of the new manager?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is lying in his bunk half-drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," replied Davy, "he'll be drowned!"</p>
+
+<p>He descended into the cabin and found the man asleep, with the
+water already on a level with his berth.</p>
+
+<p>"Why the blazes don't you get up and come out of this
+rat-hole?" he said. "Don't you see you are going to be
+drowned?"</p>
+
+<p>The manager looked up and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, don't be so unkind, my dear man," he replied. "Let me
+sleep a little longer, and then I'll go on deck."</p>
+
+<p>Davy standing with the water up to his belt, grew mad.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out of that, you confounded fool," he said.</p>
+
+<p>He dragged him out of his bunk into the water, and hauled him
+up the companion ladder, and with the help of the men took him up
+the rigging, and lashed him there out of reach of the
+breakers.</p>
+
+<p>All the rest of the men went aloft, and remained there during
+the night. Their clothing was soaked with water, and the weather
+was frosty and bitterly cold. Just before daylight, when the tide
+had ebbed, and the sea had gone down, the two women and the baby
+were brought below from the foretop, and all hands descended to
+the deck. They wanted to make a fire, but everything was wet, and
+they had to cut up some of the standing rigging which had been
+out of reach of the surf before they could find anything that
+would burn. With that a fire was made in the galley, and the
+women and baby were put inside. At sunrise it was found that the
+sea had washed up a ridge of sand near the ship, and, not wishing
+to pass another tide on board, all the crew and passengers went
+over the side, and waded through the shallow water until they
+came to a dry sand-pit. They were eleven in number, including the
+women and baby, and they waited until the boat came over from
+Snake Island and took them to the port. A little of the cargo was
+taken out of the 'Isabella', but in a few days she went to
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Taylor went to Hobarton, and bought from the insurers
+the schooner 'Sylvanus' which had belonged to him, and having
+been wrecked was then lying ashore on the coast. He succeeded in
+floating her off without much damage, and he ran her in the
+cattle trade for some time. He then sold her to Boys &amp; Hall,
+of Hobarton, went to Sydney, bought the schooner 'Alert', and
+sailed her in the same trade until the discovery of gold. All the
+white seamen went off to the diggings, and he hired four Kanakas
+to man his craft.</p>
+
+<p>On his last trip to Port Albert the pilot was on board,
+waiting for the tide. The pilot boat had been sent back to Sunday
+Island, the ship's boat was in the water, and was supposed to
+have been made fast astern by the crew. At break of day the pilot
+came on deck, and on taking a look round, he saw that the
+longboat had got away and was drifting towards Rabbit Island. He
+roared down the companion to Captain Taylor, "Your longboat's got
+adrift, and is off to Rabbit Island."</p>
+
+<p>In another minute Captain Taylor was on deck. He gazed at his
+distant longboat and swore terribly. Then he took a rope and went
+for his four Kanakas; but they did not wait for him; they all
+plunged into the sea and deserted. The captain and pilot stood on
+deck watching them as they swam away, hand over hand, leaving
+foaming wakes behind like vessels in full sail. They were making
+straight for the longboat, and Davy said, "They will go away in
+her and leave us here in the lurch." But the captain said, "I
+think not." He was right. The Kanakas brought back the boat
+within hail of the schooner, and after being assured by the
+captain that he would not ropes-end them, they climbed
+aboard.</p>
+
+<p>On returning to Hobarton Captain Taylor was seized with the
+gold fever. He laid up the 'Alert', went with his four men to
+Bendigo, and was a lucky digger. Then he went to New Zealand,
+bought a farm, and ploughed the waves no more.</p>
+
+<p>In January, 1851, some buoys were sent to Port Albert and laid
+down in the channel. The account for the work was duly sent to
+the chief harbour master at Williamstown, but he took no notice
+of it, nor made any reply to several letters requesting payment.
+There was something wrong at headquarters, and Davy resolved to
+see for himself what it was. Moreover, he had not seen Melbourne
+for ten years, and he yearned for a change. So, without asking
+leave of anyone, he left Port Albert and its shipping "to the
+sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, and takes care of the
+life of Poor Jack," and went in his boat to Yanakie Landing. Mrs.
+Bennison lent him a pony, and told him to steer for two bald
+hills on the Hoddle Ranges; he could not see the hills for the
+fog, and kept too much to port, but at last he found a track. He
+camped out that night, and next morning had breakfast at Hobson's
+Station. He stayed one night at Kilcunda, and another at Lyle's
+station, near the bay. He then followed a track which Septimus
+Martin had cut through the tea-tree, and his pony became lame by
+treading on the sharp stumps, so that he had to push it or drag
+it along until he arrived at Dandenong, where he left it at an
+inn kept by a man named Hooks. He hired a horse from Hooks at
+five shillings a day. The only house between Dandenong and
+Melbourne was once called the South Yarra Pound, kept by Mrs.
+Atkinson. It was near Caulfield, on the Melbourne side of
+"No-good-damper swamp." Some blackfellows had been poisoned there
+by a settler who wanted to get rid of them. He gave them a damper
+with arsenic in it, and when dying they said, "No good,
+damper."</p>
+
+<p>Davy landed in Melbourne on June 17th, 1851, put his horse in
+Kirk's bazaar, and stayed at the Queen's Head in Queen Street,
+where Sir William Clarke's office is now. The landlady was Mrs.
+Coulson, a widow. Next morning he was at the wharf before
+daylight, and went down the Yarra in the first steamer for
+Williamstown. He found that Captain Bunbury, the chief
+harbour-master, had gone away in the buoy-boat, a small schooner
+called the 'Apollo', so he hired a whale-boat, and overtook the
+schooner off the Red Bluff. When he went on board he spoke to
+Ruffles, master of the schooner, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Is the harbour-master aboard? I want to see him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but don't speak so loud, or you'll wake him up," replied
+Ruffles. "He is asleep down below."</p>
+
+<p>Davy roared out, "I want to wake him up. I have come two
+hundred miles on purpose to do it. I want to get a settlement
+about those buoys at Port Albert. I am tired of writing about
+them."</p>
+
+<p>This woke up Bunbury, who sang out:</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Ruffles? What's all that noise about?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's the pilot from Port Albert. He wants to see you, sir,
+about the buoys."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to come down below." Davy went.</p>
+
+<p>Bunbury was a one-armed naval lieutenant, the head of the
+harbour department, and drew the salary. He had subordinate
+officers. A clerk at Williamstown did his clerical work, and old
+Ruffles navigated the 'Apollo' for him through the roaring waters
+of Port Philip Bay, while he lay in his bunk meditating on
+something. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is that you, Pilot? Well, about those buoys, eh? That's
+all right. All you have to do is go to my office in Williamstown,
+tell my clerk to fill in a form for you, take it to the Treasury,
+and you will get your money."</p>
+
+<p>Davy went back to the office at Williamstown, had the form
+made out by the clerk, and took it to Melbourne in the steamer,
+the last trip she made that day. By this time the Treasury was
+closed. It was situated in William Street, where the vast Law
+Courts are now; and Davy was at the door when it was opened next
+morning, the first claimant for money. A clerk took his paper,
+looked over it, smiled, and said it was of no use whatever
+without Bunbury's signature. Davy started for Williamstown again
+in the second boat, found that Bunbury had gone away again in the
+'Apollo', followed him in a whale boat, overtook him off St.
+Kilda, obtained his signature, and returned to the Treasury.
+Captain Lonsdale was there, but he said it was too late to pay
+money that day, and also that the form should be signed by
+someone at the Public Works office.</p>
+
+<p>Then Davy's patience was gone, and he spoke the loud language
+of the sea. The frail building shook as with an earthquake. Mr.
+Latrobe was in a back room writing one of those gubernatorial
+despatches which are so painful to read. He had to suspend the
+pangs of composition, and he came into the front room to see what
+was the matter. Davy told him what was the matter in very
+unofficial words. Mr. Latrobe listened patiently and then
+directed Captain Lonsdale to keep the Treasury open until the
+account was paid. He also said the schooner 'Agenoria' had been
+wrecked on the day that Davy left Port Albert, and requested him
+to return to duty as soon as possible, lest other vessels might
+be wrecked for want of a pilot. "The sweet little cherub that
+sits up aloft" could not be depended on to pilot vessels over the
+bar.</p>
+
+<p>Davy took his paper to the Public Works office in Queen
+Street. Here he found another officer bursting with dignity, who
+said: "There is already one signature too many on this
+account."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you scratch it out, then?" said Davy.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't keep hens to scratch in this office," replied the
+dignified one, who took a ruler, and having drawn a line through
+the superfluous name, signed his own. When Davy went again to the
+Treasury with his account, Captain Lonsdale said he had not cash
+on hand to pay it, and deducted twenty pounds, which he sent to
+Port Albert afterwards, when the Government had recovered its
+solvency. His Honour the Superintendent might have assumed the
+classical motto, "Custos sum pauperis horti."</p>
+
+<p>Davy put the money in his pocket, went to the Queen's Head,
+and, as it was already dark, he hired a man for ten shillings to
+show him the road through the wet wilderness of Caulfield and
+round No-good-damper Swamp. It was half-past eleven when he
+arrived at Hook's Hotel, and, as his pony was still too lame to
+travel, he bought the horse he had hired, and set out with the
+Sale mailman. At the Moe he found Angus McMillan, William
+Montgomery, and their stockmen, afraid to cross the creek on
+account of the flood, and they had eaten all their provisions.
+Before dark a black gin came over in a canoe from the
+accommodation hut on the other side of the creek, having heard
+the travellers cooeying. They told her they wanted something to
+eat, but it was too dangerous for her to cross the water again
+that night. A good fire was kept burning but it was a wretched
+time. It rained heavily, a gale of wind was blowing, and trees
+kept falling down in all directions. Scott, the hut-keeper, sent
+the gin over in the canoe next morning with a big damper, tea,
+sugar, and meat, which made a very welcome breakfast for the
+hungry travellers.</p>
+
+<p>They stayed there two days and two nights, and as the flood
+was still rising, they resolved to try to cross the creek at all
+risks, preferring to face the danger of death by drowning rather
+than to die slowly of starvation. Each man took off his clothes,
+all but his flannel shirt and drawers, strapped them to the
+pommel of his saddle, threw the stirrup irons over the saddle,
+and stopped them with a string under the horse's belly to keep
+them from getting foul in the trees and scrub. In some places the
+horses had to climb over logs under water, sometimes they had to
+swim, but in the end they all arrived safely at the hut. They
+were very cold, and ravenously hungry; and while their clothes
+were drying before a blazing fire, they drank hot tea and ate up
+every scrap of food, so that Scott was obliged to accompany them
+to the next station for rations. He left the gin behind, having
+no anxiety about her. While he was away she could feed
+sumptuously on grubs, crabs, and opossums.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1852, when everybody was seized with the gold fever,
+Davy took it in the natural way. He again left Port Albert
+without a pilot and went to Melbourne to resign his office. But
+Mr. Latrobe promised to give him a salary of 500 pounds a year
+and a boat's crew of five men and a coxswain. The men were to
+have twelve-and-six a day and the coxswain fifteen shillings.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the gold fever had penetrated to the remotest
+parts of Gippsland, and from every squatting station and every
+lonely hut on the plains and mountains men gathered in troops.
+They were leaving plenty of gold behind them at Walhalla and
+other places. The first party Davy met had a dray and bullocks.
+They were slowly cutting a road through the scrub, and their team
+was the first that made its way over the mountains from Gippsland
+to Melbourne. Their captain was a lady of unbounded bravery and
+great strength--a model pioneeress, with a talent for governing
+the opposite sex.* When at home on her station she did the work
+of a man and a woman too. She was the one in a thousand so seldom
+found. She not only did the cooking and housework, but she also
+rode after stock, drove a team, killed fat beasts, chopped wood,
+stripped bark, and fenced. She did not hanker after woman's
+rights, nor rail against the male sex. She was not cultured, nor
+scientific, nor artistic, nor aesthetic. She despised all the
+ologies. All great men respected her, and if the little ones were
+insolent she boxed their ears and twisted their necks. She
+conquered all the blackfellows around her land with her own right
+arm. At first she had been kind to them, but they soon became
+troublesome, wanted too much flour, sugar, and beef, and refused
+to go away when she ordered them to do so. Without another word
+she took down her stockwhip, went to the stable, and saddled her
+horse. Then she rounded up the blackfellows like a mob of cattle
+and started them. If they tried to break away, or to hide
+themselves among the scrub, or behind tussocks, she cut pieces
+out of their hides with her whip. Then she headed them for the
+Ninety-mile Beach, and landed them in the Pacific without the
+loss of a man. In that way she settled the native difficulty. The
+Neills, with a bullock team, the Buckleys and Moores, with horse
+teams, followed the track of the leading lady. The station-owners
+stayed at home and watched their fat stock, which soon became
+valuable, and was no longer boiled.</p>
+
+<blockquote>[*Footnote: Mrs. Buntine; died 1896.]</blockquote>
+
+<p>On December 31st, 1851, there were in Tasmania twenty thousand
+and sixty-nine convicts. Six months afterwards more than ten
+thousand had left the island, and in three years forty-five
+thousand eight hundred and eighty-four persons, principally men,
+had left for the diggings. It was evident that Sir Wm. Denison
+would soon have nobody to govern but old women and children, a
+circumstance derogatory to his dignity, so he wrote to England
+for more convicts and immigrants, and he pathetically exclaimed,
+"To whom but convicts could colonists look to cultivate their
+lands, to tend their flocks, to reap their harvests?" In the
+month of May, 1853, Sir William wrote that "the discovery of gold
+had turned him topsy-turvy altogether," and he rejoiced that no
+gold had been discovered in his island. Then the Legislature
+perversely offered a reward of five thousand pounds to any man
+who would discover a gold field in Tasmania, but, as a high-toned
+historian observes, "for many years they were so fortunate as not
+to find it."</p>
+
+<p>The convicts stole boats at Launceston, and landed at various
+places about Corner Inlet. Some were arrested by the police and
+sent back to Tasmania. Many called at Yanakie Station for free
+rations. Mr. Bennison applied for police protection, and Old Joe,
+armed with a carbine, was sent from Alberton as a garrison. Soon
+afterwards a cutter of about fifteen tons burden arrived at
+Corner Inlet manned by four convicts, who took the mainsail
+ashore and used it as a tent. They then allowed the cutter to
+drift on the rocks under Mount Singapore, and she went to pieces
+directly. While trying to find a road to Melbourne, they came to
+Yanakie Station, and they found nobody at the house except Joe,
+Mrs. Bennison, and an old hand. It was now Joe's duty to overawe
+and arrest the men, but they, although unarmed, overawed and
+arrested Joe. He became exceedingly civil, and after Mrs.
+Bennison had supplied them with provisions he showed them the
+road to Melbourne. They were arrested a few days afterwards at
+Dandenong and sent back to the island prison.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-22"></a></p>
+
+<h3>A NEW RUSH.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"And there was gathering in hot haste."</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>When gold was first discovered at Stockyard Creek, Griffiths,
+one of the prospectors, came to me with the intention of
+registering the claim, under the impression that I was Mining
+Registrar. He showed me a very good sample of gold. As I had not
+then been appointed registrar, he had to travel sixty miles
+further before he could comply with the necessary legal
+formalities. Then the rush began. Old diggers came from all parts
+of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand; also
+men who had never dug before, and many who did not intend to
+dig--pickpockets, horse thieves, and jumpers. The prospectors'
+claim proved the richest, and the jumpers and the lawyers paid
+particular attention to it. The trail of the old serpent is over
+everything. The desire of the jumpers was to obtain possession of
+the rich claim, or of some part of it; and the lawyers longed for
+costs, and they got them. The prospectors paid, and it was a long
+time before they could extricate their claim from the clutches of
+the law. They found the goldfield, and they also soon found an
+unprofitable crop of lawsuits growing on it. They were called
+upon to show cause before the warden and the Court of Mines why
+they should not be deprived of the fruit of their labours. The
+fact of their having discovered gold, and of having pegged out
+and registered their claim, could not be denied; but then it was
+argued by counsel most learned in mining law that they had done
+something which they should have omitted to do, or had omitted to
+do something else which they should have done, frail human beings
+as they were, and therefore their claim should be declared to
+belong to some Ballarat jumper. I had to sit and listen to such
+like legal logic until it made me sick, and ashamed of my
+species. Of course, justice was never mentioned, that was out of
+the question; if law and justice don't agree, so much the worse
+for justice.</p>
+
+<p>Gold was next found at Turton's Creek, which proved one of the
+richest little gullies ever worked by diggers. It was discovered
+by some prospectors who followed the tracks which Mr. Turton had
+cut over the scrubby mountains, and so they gratefully gave his
+name to the gully, but I never heard that they gave him any of
+the gold which they found in it. A narrow track from Foster was
+cut between high walls of impenetrable scrub, and it soon became
+like a ditch full of mud, deep and dangerous. If the diggers had
+been assured that they would find heaven at the other end of it,
+they would never have tried to go, the prospect of eternal
+happiness having a much less attraction for them than the
+prospect of gold; but the sacred thirst made them tramp bravely
+through the slough. The sun and wind never dried the mud, because
+it was shut in and overshadowed by the dense growth of the bush.
+All tools and provisions were carried through it on the backs of
+horses, whose legs soon became caked with mud, and the hair was
+taken off them as clean as if they had been shaved with a razor.
+Most of them had a short life and a hard one.</p>
+
+<p>The digging was quite shallow, and the gully was soon rifled
+of the gold. At this time there was a mining registrar at Foster,
+as the new diggings at Stockyard Creek were named, and some men,
+after pegging out their claim at Turton's Creek, went back down
+the ditch to register them at Foster. It was a great mistake. It
+was neither the time nor the place for legal forms or ceremony.
+Time was of the essence of the contract, and they wasted the
+essence. Other and wiser men stepped on to their ground while
+they were absent, commenced at once to work vigorously, and the
+original peggers, when they returned, were unable to dislodge
+them. Peter Wilson pegged out a claim, and then rode away to
+register it. He returned next day and found two men on it who had
+already nearly worked it out.</p>
+
+<p>"This claim is mine, mates," said Peter; "I pegged it out
+yesterday, and I have registered it. You will have to come
+out."</p>
+
+<p>One of the men looked up at Peter and said, "Oh! your name is
+Peter, isn't it? I hear you are a fighting man. Well, you just
+come down off that bare-legged horse, and I'll kill you in a
+couple of minutes, while I take a spell."</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use your talking that way; you'll see I'll have the
+law on you, and you'll have to pay for it," replied Peter.</p>
+
+<p>"You can go, Peter, and fetch the law as soon as you like. I
+don't care a tinker's curse for you or the law; all I want is the
+profits, and I'm going to have them."</p>
+
+<p>This profane outlaw and his mate got the profits, cleared all
+the gold out of Peter's claim, and took it away with them.</p>
+
+<p>It was reported in Melbourne that there was no law or order at
+Turton's Creek; that the diggers were treating the mining
+statutes and regulations with contempt; that the gold went to the
+strong, and the weakest went to the wall. Therefore, six of the
+biggest policemen in Melbourne were selected, stretched out, and
+measured in Russell Street barracks, and were then ordered to
+proceed to Turton's Creek and vindicate the majesty of the law.
+They landed from the steamer on the wharf at Port Albert, and,
+being armed with carbines and revolvers, looked very formidable.
+They proceeded on their journey in the direction of Foster, and
+it was afterwards reported that they arrived at Turton's Creek,
+and finding everybody quiet and peaceable, they came back again,
+bringing with them neither jumpers nor criminals. It was said,
+however, that they never went any further than the commencement
+of the ditch. They would naturally, on viewing it, turn aside and
+camp, to recruit their energies and discuss the situation.
+Although they were big constables, it did not follow they were
+big fools. They said the Government ought to have asphalted the
+ditch for them. It was unreasonable to expect men, each six foot
+four inches in height, carrying arms and accoutrements, which
+they were bound by the regulations to keep clean and in good
+order, to plunge into that river of mud, and to spoil all their
+clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Turton's Creek was soon worked out, and before any
+professional jumpers or lawyers could put their fingers in the
+pie, the plums were all gone. The gully was prospected from top
+to bottom, and the hills on both sides were tunnelled, but no
+more gold, and no reefs were found. There was much speculation by
+geologists, mining experts, and old duffers as to the manner in
+which the gold had contrived to get into the creek, and where it
+came from; where it went to, the diggers who carried it away in
+their pockets knew well enough.</p>
+
+<p>The diggers dispersed; some went to Melbourne to enjoy their
+wealth; some stayed at Foster to try to get more; some died from
+the extreme enjoyment of riches suddenly acquired, and a few went
+mad. One of the latter was brought to Palmerston, and remained
+there a day or two on his way to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum.
+Having an inborn thirst for facts, I conversed with him from the
+wooden platform which overlooks the gaol yard. He was walking to
+and fro, and talking very cheerfully to himself, and to the world
+in general. He spoke well, and had evidently been well educated,
+but his ideas were all in pieces as it were, and lacked
+connection. He spoke very disrespectfully of men in high places,
+both in England and the Colonies; and remarked that Members of
+Parliament were the greatest rascals on the face of the earth. No
+man of sound mind would ever use such language as that.</p>
+
+<p>Some years afterwards, while I was Collector of Customs at
+Port Albert, I received a letter from Melbourne to the following
+purport:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"Yarra Bend Asylum,<br>
+---------- 188--</p>
+
+<p>"Strictly private and confidential</p>
+
+<p>"Sir,--You are hereby ordered to take possession of and detain
+every vessel arriving at Port Albert. You will immediately
+proceed on board each of them, and place the broad arrow abaft
+the foremast six feet above the deck. You will thus cut off all
+communication with the British Empire. I may state that I am the
+lawful heir to the title and estates of a Scottish dukedom, and
+am deprived of the possession and enjoyment of my rightful
+station and wealth by the machinations of a band of conspirators,
+who have found means to detain me in this prison in order to
+enjoy my patrimony. You will particularly observe that you are to
+hold no communication whatever with the Governor of this colony,
+as he is the paid agent of the conspirators, and will endeavour
+to frustrate all efforts to obtain my rights. You will also be
+most careful to withhold all information from the Duke of
+Dunsinane, who is a member of the junior branch of my family, and
+at the head of the conspiracy. You will proceed as soon as
+possible to enrol a body of men for the purpose of effecting my
+deliverance by force of arms. As these men will require payment
+for their services, you will enter the Bank of Victoria at Port
+Albert, and seize all the money you will find there, the amount
+of which I estimate at ten thousand pounds, which will be
+sufficient for preliminary expenses. You will give, in my name,
+to the manager of the bank, a guarantee in writing for repayment
+of the money, with current rate of interest added, when I recover
+the dukedom and estates. Be careful to explain to him that you
+take the money only as a loan, and that will prevent the bank
+from laying any criminal charge against you. Should anything of
+the kind be in contemplation, you will be good enough to report
+progress to me as soon as possible, and I will give you all
+necessary instructions as to your future proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>"I may mention that in seeking to obtain my title and estates,
+I am influenced by no mean or mercenary considerations; my sole
+desire is to benefit the human race. I have been employing all my
+leisure hours during the last nine years in perfecting a system
+of philosophy entirely new, and applicable to all times, to all
+nations, and to all individuals. I have discovered the true
+foundation for it, which, like all great inventions, is so simple
+that it will surprise the world it was never thought of before.
+It is this: "Posito impossibili sequitur quidlibet." My
+philosophy is founded on the firm basis of the Impossible; on
+that you can build anything and everything. My great work is
+methodical, divided into sections and chapters, perfect in style,
+and so lucid in argument that he who runs may read and be
+enlightened. I have counted the words, and they number so far
+seven hundred and two thousand five hundred and seventy-eight
+(702,578). Five years more will be required to complete the work;
+I shall then cause it to be translated into every language of the
+world, and shipped at the lowest rate of tonnage for universal
+distribution gratis. This will ensure its acceptance and its own
+beauty and intrinsic merits will secure its adoption by all
+nations, and the result will be human happiness. It will
+supersede all the baseless theories of science, religion, and
+morality which have hitherto confounded the human intellect.</p>
+
+<p><i>"Extract from my Magnum Opus.</i></p>
+
+<p>"We may reasonably suppose that matter is primordially
+self-existent, and that it imbued itself with the potentiality of
+life. It therefore produced germs. A pair of germs coalesced, and
+formed a somewhat discordant combination, the movements in which
+tended towards divergence. They attracted and enclosed other
+atoms, and, progressing through sleep and wakefulness, at last
+arrived at complete satisfaction, or perfect harmonic
+combination. This harmonic combination is death. We may say then,
+in brief, that growth is simply discordant currents progressing
+towards harmony. One question may be briefly noticed. It has been
+asked, when did life first appear on the earth? We shall
+understand now that the question is unnecessary. Life first
+appeared on the earth when the earth first appeared as an
+unsatisfied atom seeking combination. The question is rather,
+when did the inanimate first appear? It appeared when the first
+harmonic combination was effected. The earth is indeed to be
+considered as having grown up through the life that is inherent
+in it. Man is the most concentrated and differentiated outgrowth
+of that life. Mankind is, so to speak, the brain of the earth,
+and is progressing towards the conscious guidance of all its
+processes."</p>
+
+<p>"Dunsinane."</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was not clear on what ground this noble duke based his
+authority over me; but I had been so long accustomed to fulfil
+the behests of lunatics of low degree that I was able to receive
+those of an afflicted lord with perfect equanimity. But as I
+could not see that my obedience would be rewarded with anything
+except death or Pentridge, I refrained from action. I did not
+place the broad arrow abaft of anything or anybody, nor did I
+make a levy on the cash in the Bank of Victoria.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-23"></a></p>
+
+<h3>GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>"A pleasing land of drowsihed it was,<br>
+And dreams that wave before the half-shut eye."</blockquote>
+
+<p>For twelve years I did the Government stroke in Her Majesty's
+Court at Colac, then I was ordered to make my way to
+Gippsland.</p>
+
+<p>The sun of wisdom shone on a new ministry. They observed that
+many of their officers were destitute of energy, and they
+resolved to infuse new life into the service, by moving its
+members continually from place to place. But officials live long,
+and the most robust ministry dies early, and the wisdom of one
+cabinet is foolishness to the next.</p>
+
+<p>I took root so deeply in the soil of Gippsland that I became
+immoveable. Twice the Government tried to uproot me, but I
+remained there to the end of my official days.</p>
+
+<p>Little reliable information about the country or its
+inhabitants was to be had, so I fondly imagined that in such a
+land, secured from contamination by the wicked world outside, I
+should find a people of primeval innocence and simplicity, and
+the long-forgotten lines returned to my memory:</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Beatus ille qui procul negotils,<br>
+Ut prisca gens mortalium."</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was summer time, and the weather was serene and beautiful,
+when in the grey dusk of the evening we sailed through the Rip at
+Port Philip Heads. Then began the troubles of the heaving ocean,
+and the log of the voyage was cut short. It ran thus:</p>
+
+<p>"The ship went up, and the ship went down; and then we fell
+down, and then we was sick; and then we fell asleep; and then we
+was at Port Albert; and that's all I knows about it."</p>
+
+<p>I walked along the one street past the custom house, the
+post-office, and the bank, about three hundred yards and saw
+nothing beyond but tea-tree and swamps, through which ran a
+roughly-metalled road, leading apparently to the distant
+mountains. There was nothing but stagnation; it was the deadest
+seaport ever seen or heard of. There were some old stores, empty
+and falling to pieces, which the owners had not been enterprising
+enough to burn for the insurance money; the ribs of a wrecked
+schooner were sticking out of the mud near the channel; a
+stockyard, once used for shipping cattle, was rotting slowly
+away, and a fisherman's net was hanging from the top rails to
+dry. Three or four drays filled with pigs were drawn up near the
+wharf; these animals were to form part of the steamer's return
+cargo, one half of her deck space being allotted to pigs, and the
+other half to passengers. In case of foul weather, the deck
+hamper, pigs and passengers, was impartially washed
+overboard.</p>
+
+<p>An old man in a dirty buggy was coming along the road, and all
+the inhabitants and dogs turned out to look and bark at him, just
+as they do in a small village in England, when the man with the
+donkey-cart comes in sight. To allay my astonishment on observing
+so much agitation and excitement, the Principal Inhabitant
+introduced himself, and informed me that it was a busy day at the
+Port, a kind of market day, on account of the arrival of the
+steamer.</p>
+
+<p>I began sorrowfully to examine my official conscience to
+discover for which of my unatoned-for sins I had been exiled to
+this dreary land.</p>
+
+<p>Many a time in after years did I see a stranger leave the
+steamer, walk, as I had done, to the utmost extremity of the
+seaport, and stand at the corner of the butcher's shop, gazing on
+the swamps, the tea-tree, and the far-away wooded hills, the
+Strelezcki ranges. The dismal look of hopeless misery thatstole
+over his countenance was pitiful to behold. After recovering the
+power of speech, his first question was, "How is it possible that
+any man could ever consent to live in a hole like this?" Here the
+Principal Inhabitant intervened, and poured balm on the wounded
+spirit of the stranger. He gently reminded him that first
+impressions are not always to be relied on; and assured him that
+if he would condescend to take up his abode with us for two or
+three years, he would never want to live anywhere else. The
+climate was delicious, the best in the world; it induced a
+feeling of repose, and bliss, and sweet contentment. We had no
+ice or snow, or piercing blasts in winter; and the heat of summer
+was tempered by the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, which
+gently lapped our lovely shores. The land, when cleared, was as
+rich and fertile as the farmer's heart could wish, yielding
+abundant pasturage both in summer and winter. The mountains sent
+down to us unfailing supplies of the purest water; we wanted no
+schemes of irrigation, for</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Green are our fields and fair our flowers,<br>
+Our fountains never drumlie."</blockquote>
+
+<p>We had no plagues of locust, no animal or insect pests to
+destroy our crops or herbage. Rabbits had been introduced and
+turned loose at various times, but, instead of multiplying until
+they had become as numerous as the sand on the seashore, as had
+been the case in other parts of Australia, in Gippsland they
+invariably died; and it had been abundantly proved that rabbits
+had no more chance of living there than snakes in Ireland. And
+with regard to the salubrity of the climate, the first settlers
+lived so long that they were absolutely tired of life. Let him
+look at the cemetery, if he could find it. After thirty years of
+settlement it was almost uninhabited --neglected and overgrown
+with tussocks and scrub for want of use.</p>
+
+<p>It will be gathered from this statement of the Principal
+Inhabitant that Gippsland had really been discovered and settled
+about thirty years before; but mountains and sea divided it from
+the outside world, and, on account of the intense drowsiness and
+inactivity which the delicious air and even temperature of the
+climate produced, the land and its inhabitants had been forgotten
+and unnoticed until it had been rediscovered, and its praises
+sung by the enterprising Minister of the Crown before
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>Following the example of the cautious cat when introduced into
+a strange house, I investigated every corner of the district as
+far as the nature of the country would permit; and I found that
+it contained three principal corners or villages about three
+miles apart, at each of which the police magistrate and clerk had
+to attend on certain days, business or no business, generally the
+latter. It was, of course, beneath the dignity of a court to walk
+officially so far through the scrub; so the police magistrate was
+allowed sixty pounds per annum in addition to his salary, and the
+clerk whom I relieved fifty pounds, to defray the expense of
+keeping their horses.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Away went Gilpin, and away<br>
+Went Gilpin's hat and wig."</blockquote>
+
+<p>I bought a waggonette, and then began to look for a horse to
+draw it. As soon as my want became known it was pleasing to find
+so many of my neighbours willing to supply it. Cox, the gaoler,
+said he knew of a horse that would just suit me. It belonged to
+Binns, an ex-constable, who was spending a month in gaol on
+account of a little trouble that had come upon him. Cox invited
+me into his office, and brought Binns out of his cell.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Binns "I have a horse, and there's not another
+like him on the island," (these men always meant Van Diemen's
+Land when they said "the island," forgetting occasionally that
+they had crossed the straits, and were in a land of freedom) "as
+good a goer as ever carried a saddle, or wore a collar. I
+wouldn't sell him on no account, only you see I'm hard up just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"What is his age?" I enquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's just rising ten. He has been used a bit hard, but
+you won't overwork him, and he'll do all the law business you
+want as easy as winking. He's the best trotter on the island, and
+has won many a stake for me. When I took Johnny-come-lately to
+gaol in Melbourne for stealing him, he brought me back in less
+time than any horse ever did the distance before or since. And
+you can have him dirt cheap. I'll take ten pounds for him, and
+he's worth twenty pounds of any man's money."</p>
+
+<p>Lovers' vows and horsedealers' oaths are never literally true;
+it is safer to receive them as lies. I thought it would be
+prudent to try this trotter before buying him, so Binns signed an
+order, in a very shaky hand, to the man in charge of his farm, to
+let me have the horse on trial. When I harnessed and put him in
+between the shafts he was very quiet indeed. I took a whip, not
+for the purpose of using it, but merely for show; a horse that
+had won so many races would, of course, go without the lash.</p>
+
+<p>When I was seated and requested him to start, he began walking
+very slowly, as if he had a load of two tons weight behind him,
+and I never weighed so much as that. I had to use the whip, and
+at last after a good deal of reflection he began to trot, but not
+with any speed; he did not want to win anything that day. I
+remarked that his ears looked dead; no sound or sight of any kind
+disturbed the peace of his mind. He evidently knew this world
+well and despised it; nothing in it could excite his feelings any
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Halfway up the Water Road I met Bill Mills, a carrier. He
+stopped his team and looked at mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you bought that horse, Mister?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet; I am only trying him," I replied. "Do you know
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Know him? I should think I did. That's old Punch. I broke him
+into harness when he was three off. He nearly killed me; ran away
+with me and my dog-cart among the scrub at the racecourse swamp,
+and smashed it against a honeysuckle."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that long ago?" I enquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Long ago? Let me see. That horse is twenty year old if he's a
+day. He'll not run away with you now; no fear; he's quite safe.
+Good-day, Mister. Come on, Star;" and Bill touched his leader
+with his whip.</p>
+
+<p>When I arrived at the court-house, I made a search in the
+cause list book, and found that Johnny-come-lately had been sent
+to gaol just sixteen years before for stealing Old Punch, so I
+restored that venerable trotter to its owner.</p>
+
+<p>I had soon more horses offered to me for trial, every old
+screw within twenty miles being brought to me for inspection. The
+next animal I harnessed belonged to Andrew Jackson, and was
+brought by Andrew Jackson, junior, who said his father could let
+me have it for a month on trial. Jackson, junior, was anxious to
+go away without the horse, but I told him to wait a bit while I
+put on the harness. The animal was of a mouse colour, very tall,
+something like a giraffe; and by the time I got him between the
+shafts, I could see that he was possessed by a devil of some
+kind. It might be a winged one who would fly away with me; so, in
+order to have a clear course, I led him through the gateway into
+the middle of the road, and while Jackson, junior, held his head,
+I mounted carefully into the trap. I held the lines ready for a
+start, and after some hesitation the giraffe did start, but he
+went tail foremost. I tried to reverse the engine, but it would
+only work in one direction. He backed me into the ditch, and then
+across it on to the side path, then against the fence, bucking at
+it, and trying to go through and put me in the Tarra. I told
+Andrew, junior, to take the giraffe home to his parent, and
+relate what he had seen.</p>
+
+<p>My next horse was a black one from Sale, and he also was
+possessed of a devil, but one of a different species. He was
+named Gilpin, and the very name ought to have been a warning to
+me if I had had sense enough to profit by it. Just as I sat down,
+and took the reins, and was going to observe what he would do, he
+suddenly went away at full gallop. I tried to pull him in, but he
+put his chin against his chest, and the harder I pulled the
+faster he flew. The road was full of ruts, and I was bumped up
+and down very badly. My hat went away, but, for the present, my
+head kept its place. I managed to steer safely as far as the
+bridge across the Tarra but, in going over it, the horse's hoofs
+and whirling wheels sounded like thunder, and brought out the
+whole population of Tarraville to look at me. It was on a Sunday
+afternoon; some good people were singing hymns in the local
+chapel, and as I passed the turn of the road, they left the
+anxious benches, came outside in a body, and gazed at me, a
+bare-headed and miserable Sabbath-breaker going swiftly to
+perdition. I also was on a very anxious bench. But now there was
+a long stretch of good road before me, and I made good use of it.
+Instead of pulling the horse in, I let him go, and encouraged him
+with the whip to go faster, being determined to let him gallop
+until either he or the sun went down. Then the despicable wretch
+slackened his pace, and wanted to come to terms. So I wheeled him
+round and whipped him without mercy, making him gallop all the
+way home again. I did not buy him.</p>
+
+<p>But the next horse I tried was comparatively blameless, so I
+bought him, and at the end of the first month sent in a claim to
+the Law Department for the usual allowance. I was curtly informed
+that the amount had been reduced from fifty pounds to ten pounds
+for my horse, although sixty pounds was still allowed to the
+other horse for travelling the same distance, the calculation
+evidently being based on the supposition that the police
+magistrate's horse would eat six times as much as mine.
+Remonstrance was vain, and I found I had burdened myself with an
+animal, possessing no social or political influence whatever. I
+knew already that the world was governed without wisdom, and I
+now felt that it was also ruled with extreme meanness.</p>
+
+<p>And even after my horse was condemned to starve on ten pounds
+per annum, the cost of justice was still extravagant. Without
+reckoning the expense incurred in erecting and maintaining three
+court houses, and three police stations, and paying three
+policemen for doing next to nothing, I ascertained from the cause
+lists that it cost the Government fourteen pounds sterling every
+time we fined Terry, the cobbler, five shillings for being drunk;
+and Terry did not always pay the fines. What ails British law is
+dignity, and the insufferable expense attending it. The disease
+will never be cured until a strong-minded Chief Justice shall be
+found, who has sense enough to sit on the bench in his native
+hair, and to take off his coat when the thermometer rises to
+eighty degrees. It was in that manner Judge Winstanley kept court
+at Waterloo in Illinois, and we had there quicker justice,
+cheaper laws, and better manners than those which this southern
+hemisphere yet exhibits. As to the lawyers, if we did not like
+them, we could lynch them, so they were sociable and civil.
+Moreover, Prairie de Long was discovered and settled nearly
+twenty years before Australia Felix was heard of.</p>
+
+<p>The three villages had a life-long feud with, and a consuming
+jealousy of, each other. Until my arrival I was not aware that
+there were three such places as Palmerston, Alberton, and
+Tarraville, claiming separate and rival existences. I had a
+notion that they were merely straggling suburbs of the great city
+and seaport, Port Albert. But it was a grievous mistake. I asked
+a tall young lady at the hotel, who brought in some very salt
+fish that took the skin off the roof of my mouth, if she could
+recommend the society of these villages, and if she would favour
+me with her opinion as to which would be the best place to select
+as a residence, and she said, "The people there are an 'orrid
+lot." This was very discouraging; but, on making further
+enquiries, I found she only expressed the opinion which the
+inhabitants of these centres of population held of each other;
+and it was evident that I should have to demean myself with
+prudence, and show no particular affection for one place more
+than for another, or trouble would ensue. Therefore, as soon as
+occasion offered, I took a house and paddock within easy distance
+of all the three corners, so that when the Government allowance
+had reduced my horse to a skeleton, I might give him a spell on
+grass, and travel to the courts on foot. The house was on a
+gentle rise, overlooking a rich river flat. It had been built by
+a retainer of Lord Glengarry, who had declined to follow any
+further the fortunes of his chief when he had closed his dairying
+operations at Greenmount. A tragedy had been enacted in it some
+years before, and a ghost had often since been seen flitting
+about the house and grounds on moonlight nights. This gave an
+aristocratic distinction to the property, which was very
+pleasing, as it is well known that ghosts never haunted any
+mansions or castles except such as have belonged to ancient
+families of noble race. I bought the estate on very reasonable
+terms, no special charge being made for the ghost.</p>
+
+<p>The paddock had been without a tenant for some time, but I
+found it was not unoccupied. A friendly neighbour had introduced
+his flock of sheep into it, and he was fattening them cheaply. I
+said, "Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fayi, be good
+enough to round up your sheep and travel." Tityrus said that
+would be all right; he would take them away as soon as they were
+ready for the butcher. It would be no inconvenience to me, as my
+horse would not be able to eat all the grass. The idea of paying
+anything did not occur to him; he was doing me a favour. He was
+one of the simple natives. As I did not like to take favours from
+an entire stranger, the sheep and the shepherd sought other
+pastures beyond the winding Tarra.</p>
+
+<p>The dense tea-tree which bordered the banks of the river was
+the home of wild hogs, which spent the nights in rooting up the
+soil and destroying the grass. I therefore armed myself with a
+gun charged with buckshot, and went to meet the animals by
+moonlight. I lay in ambush among the tussocks. One shot was
+enough for each hog; after receiving it he retired hastily into
+the tea-tree and never came out again.</p>
+
+<p>After I had cleared my land from sheep and pigs, the grass
+began to grow in abundance; and passing travellers, looking
+pensively over the fence, were full of pity for me because I had
+not stock enough to eat the grass. One man had a team of bullocks
+which he was willing to put in; another had six calves ready to
+be weaned; and a third friend had a horse which he could spare
+for a spell. All these were willing to put in their stock, and
+they would not charge me anything. They were three more of the
+simple natives.</p>
+
+<p>I would rather buy forty cows than one horse, because, even
+allowing for the cow's horns, the horse has so many more points.
+I wanted a good cow, a quiet milker, and a farmer named Ruffy
+offered to sell me one. He was very rough indeed, both in words
+and work. He showed me the cow, and put her in the bail with a
+big stick; said she was as quiet as a lamb, and would stand to be
+milked anywhere without a leg-rope. "Here Tom," he roared to his
+son, "bring a bucket, and come and milk Daisy without the rope,
+and show the gentleman what a quiet beast she is." Tom brought a
+bucket, placed the stool near the cow, sat down, and grasped one
+of the teats. Daisy did not give any milk, but she gave instead
+three rapid kicks, which scattered Tom, the bucket, and the stool
+all over the stockyard. I could not think of anything that it
+would be safe to say under the circumstances, so I went away
+while the farmer was picking up the fragments.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-24"></a></p>
+
+<h3>GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>"Satan finds some mischief still<br>
+For idle hands to do."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Although I had to attend at three courts on three days of each
+week, my duties were very light, and quite insufficient to keep
+me out of mischief; it was therefore a matter of very great
+importance for me to find something else to do. In bush townships
+the art of killing time was attained in various ways. Mr. A. went
+on the street with a handball, and coaxed some stray idler to
+join him in a game. He was a young man of exceptional innocence,
+and died early, beloved of the gods. Mr. B. kept a pair of sticks
+under his desk in the court house, and made a fencing school of
+the space allotted to the public. Some of the police had been
+soldiers, and were quite pleased to prove their skill in arms,
+and show how fields were won. As a result there were more
+breaches of the peace inside the court than outside. Mr. C. tried
+to while away his lonely hours by learning to play on a violin,
+which he kept concealed in a corner between a press and the wall
+of his office. He executed music, and doubled the terrors of the
+law. Intending litigants stood transfixed with horror when they
+approached the open door of his office, and listened to the wails
+and long-drawn screeches which filled the interior of the
+building; and every passing dog sat down on its tail, and howled
+in sympathetic agony with the maddening sounds.</p>
+
+<p>But the majority of the officials condemned to live in the
+dreary townships tried to alleviate their misery by drinking and
+gambling. The Police Magistrate, the Surveyor, the Solicitor, the
+Receiver of Revenue, the Police Inspector, and the Clerk of
+Courts, together with one or two settlers, formed a little
+society for the promotion of poker, euchre, and other little
+games, interspersed with whiskies. It is sad to recall to mind
+the untimely end at which most of them arrived. Mr. D. was found
+dead on the main road; Mr. E. shot himself through the head; Mr.
+F. fell asleep in the bush and never woke; and Mr. G. was drowned
+in a waterhole. One officer was not quite so unfortunate as some
+of his friends. His score at the Crook and Plaid became so long
+that he began to pass that hotel without calling. Polly, the
+venerable landlady, took offence at such conduct, and was daily
+on the watch for him. When she saw him passing, which he always
+did at a rapid pace, she hobbled to the door, and called after
+him, "Hey, hey!" Then the gentleman twirled his cane, whistled a
+lively tune, looked up, first to the sky, and then to the right
+and left, but never stopped, or looked back to Polly behind him.
+At last his creditors became so troublesome, and his accounts so
+inexplicable, that he deserted the public service, and took
+refuge across the Murray.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. H. fell into the habit of borrowing his collections to pay
+his gambling debts. He was allowed a certain number of days at
+the beginning of each month to complete his returns, and send in
+his cash. So he made use of the money collected during the days
+of grace to repay any sums he had borrowed from the public cash
+during the preceding month. But the cards were against him. One
+morning an Inspector of Accounts from Melbourne appeared
+unexpectedly in his office.</p>
+
+<p>In those days there were no railways and no telegraphs. Their
+introduction was an offensive nuisance to us. The good old times
+will never come again, when we could regulate our own hours of
+attendance, take unlimited leave of absence, and relieve distress
+by having recourse to the Government cash. When Grimes was
+Auditor-General every officer was a gentleman and a man of
+honour. In the bush no bank account was kept, as there was no
+bank within fifty or a hundred miles; and it was an implied
+insult to expect a gentleman to produce his cash balance out of
+his pocket. As a matter of courtesy he expected to be informed by
+letter two or three weeks beforehand when it was intended to make
+an official inspection of his books, in order that he might not
+be absent, nor taken unawares.</p>
+
+<p>When the Inspector appeared, Mr. H. did not lose his presence
+of mind, or show any signs of embarrassment. He said he was glad
+to see him (which was a lie), hoped he had had a pleasant journey
+through the bush; asked how things were going on in Melbourne,
+and made enquiries about old friends there. But all the while he
+was calculating chances. He had acquired the valuable habit of
+the gambler and speculator, of talking about one thing while he
+was thinking about another. His thoughts ran on in this style:
+"This fellow (he could not think of him as a gentleman) wants to
+see my cash; haven't got any; must be near five hundred pounds
+short by this time; can't borrow it' no time to go round'
+couldn't get it if I did' deuced awkward; shall be given in
+charge; charged with larceny or embezzlement or something; can't
+help it' better quit till I think about it." So apologising for
+his absence for a few minutes on urgent business, he went out,
+mounted his horse, and rode away to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The inspector waited five minutes, ten minutes, twenty
+minutes. He made enquiries, and finding that Mr. H. had gone
+away, he examined the books and vouchers, and concluded that
+there should be a cash balance of more than four hundred pounds
+payable to revenue. He looked about the office for the cash, but
+did not find any. Then the police began to look for Mr. H., but
+week after week passed by, and Mr. H. was neither seen nor heard
+of.</p>
+
+<p>There were only two ways of leaving South Gippsland that could
+be considered safe; one was by sea from Port Albert, the other by
+the road over the mountains. If anyone ventured to desert the
+beaten track, and tried to escape unseen through the forest, he
+was likely to be lost, and to be starved to death. The only man
+ever known to escape was an eccentric farmer, a "wandering outlaw
+of his own dark mind," as Byron so darkly expressed it. He
+deserted his wife one morning in a most systematic manner, taking
+with him his horse and cart, a supply of provisions, and all the
+money he was worth. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and the
+police were on the look-out for him at all the stations from Port
+Albert to Melbourne, but they never found him. Many weeks passed
+by without any tidings of the man or his team, when one day he
+drove up to his own gate, unhitched his horse, and went to work
+as usual. On enquiry it was found that he had gone all the way to
+Sydney overland, on a visit to an old friend living not far from
+that city. It was supposed that he had some reason for his visit
+when he started, but if so, he lost it by the way, for when he
+arrived he had nothing particular to say. After a few days' rest
+he commenced his return journey to South Gippsland, and travelled
+the whole distance without being observed by the watchful police.
+When asked about his travels, his only remark was, "Splendid
+horse; there he is between the shafts; walked twelve hundred
+miles; never turned a hair; splendid horse; there he is."</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. H. lacked the intellect or the courage to perform a
+similar fool's errand successfully. He rode up to the police
+station at Alberton, and finding from the officer in charge that
+he was wanted on a warrant, he supplied that want. He stated that
+he had been on a visit, for the benefit of his health, to a
+friend in the mountains, a rail-splitter, who had given him
+accommodation in his hut on reasonable terms. He had lived in
+strict retirement. For a time he was in daily and nightly fear of
+the appearance of the police coming to arrest him; every sound
+disturbed him. In about ten days he began to feel lonely and
+disappointed because the police did not come; neither they or
+anybody else seemed to be looking for him, or to care anything
+about him. Heroic self-denial was not his virtue, and he felt no
+call to live the life of a hermit. He was treated with undeserved
+neglect, and at the end of four weeks he resolved that, as the
+police would not come to him, he would go to the police.</p>
+
+<p>He unburdened his mind, and made a confession to the officer
+who had him in charge. He explained how he had taken the money,
+how he had lost it, and who had won it. It relieved his mind, and
+the policeman kept the secret of confession until after the
+trial. Then he broke the seal, and related to me confidentially
+the story of his penitent, showing that he was quite as unfit for
+the sacerdotal office as myself.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. H. on his trial was found not guilty, but the department
+did not feel inclined to entrust him with the collection or
+custody of any more cash. In succeeding years he again served the
+Government as State school teacher, having received his
+appointment from a minister of merciful principles. A reclaimed
+poacher makes an excellent gamekeeper, and a repentant thief may
+be a better teacher of youth than a sanctimonious hypocrite.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-25"></a></p>
+
+<h3>SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>"Am I my brother's keeper?"</blockquote>
+
+<p>The islands in Bass' Straits, Hogan's Group, Kent's Group, the
+Answers, the Judgment Rocks, and others, are visited at certain
+seasons of the year by seals of three different kinds--viz., the
+hair seals, which are not of much value except for their oil; the
+grey seals, whose skins are valuable; and the black seals, whose
+furs always command the highest price. When these animals have
+not been disturbed in their resorts for some years they are
+comparatively tame, and it is not difficult to approach them.
+Great numbers of the young ones are sometimes found on the rocks,
+and if pushed into the water they will presently come out again,
+scramble back on to the rocks, and begin crying for their dams.
+But the old seals, when frequently disturbed, become shy, and, on
+the first alarm, take to the water. The flesh of the young seals
+is good to eat, and seamen who have been cast away on the islands
+have been sometimes saved from starvation by eating it.</p>
+
+<p>I once made the acquaintance of an old sealer. He had formerly
+been very sensitive on the point of honour; would resent an
+insult as promptly as any knight-errant; but by making an idol of
+his honour his life had been a grievous burden to him. And he was
+not even a gentleman, and never had been one. He was known only
+as "Jack."</p>
+
+<p>It was in the year 1854, when I had been cast ashore in Corio
+Bay by a gale of hostile fortune, and had taken refuge for a
+while at the Buck's Head Hotel, then kept by a man named
+McKenzie. One evening after tea I was talking to a carpenter at
+the back door, who was lamenting his want of timber. He had not
+brought a sufficient supply from Geelong to complete his
+contract, which was to construct some benches for a Presbyterian
+Church. Jack was standing near listening to the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of timber do you want?" he said. "There is a lot of
+planks down there in the yard, and if you'll be outside about
+eleven o'clock, I'll chuck over as many as you want."</p>
+
+<p>The contractor hesitated. "Whose planks are they?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whose they are, and I don't care," replied Jack.
+"Say the word, and you can have them, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>The contractor made no reply, at least in words, to this
+generous offer. It is not every man that has a friend like Jack;
+many men will steal from you, but very few will steal for you,
+and when such a one is found he deserves his reward.</p>
+
+<p>We adjourned to the bar parlour, and Jack had a glass of
+brandy, for which he did not pay. There was among the company a
+man from Adelaide, a learned mineralogist, who commenced a
+dissertation on the origin of gold. He was most insufferable;
+would talk about nothing but science. Darwin wrote a book about
+"The Origin of Species," and it has been observed that the origin
+of species is precisely what is not in the book. So we argued
+about the origin of gold, but we could get nowhere near it.</p>
+
+<p>When the rest of the company had retired, Jack observed to me:
+"You put down that Adelaide chap gradely; he had not a leg to
+stand on."</p>
+
+<p>I was pleased to find that Jack knew a good argument when he
+heard it, so I rewarded his intelligence with another glass of
+brandy, and asked him if he had been long in the colonies. He
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"My name's not Jack; that's what they call me, but it doesn't
+matter what my name is. I was brought up in Liverpool, but I
+wasn't born there; that doesn't matter either. I used to work at
+the docks, was living quite respectable, was married and had a
+little son about five years old. One night after I had had supper
+and washed myself, I said to th' missus, 'There's a peep-show i'
+Tithebarn Street, and if you'll wash Bobby's face I'll tek him
+there; its nobbut a penny.' You know it was one o' them shows
+where they hev pictures behind a piece o' calico, Paul Pry with
+his umbrella, Daniel i' th' lions' den, ducks swimming across a
+river, a giantess who was a man shaved and dressed in women's
+clothes, a dog wi' five legs, and a stuffed mermaid--just what
+little lads would like. There was a man, besides, who played on a
+flute, and another singing funny songs. When I went outside into
+the street there was little Billy Yates, as used to play with
+Bobby, so I says, 'Come along, Billy, and I'll tek thee to the
+show.' When we got there we set down on a bench, and, just as
+they began to show th' pictures, three black-fellows came in and
+set down on th' bench before us. They thowt they were big swells,
+and had on black coats, white shirts, stiff collars up to their
+ears, red and green neck-handkerchers, and bell-topper hats; so I
+just touched one of em on th' showder and said: 'Would you please
+tek your hats off to let th' lads see th' pictures?' Well, the
+nigger just turned his head half-round, and looked at me impudent
+like, but he kept his hat on. So I asked him again quite civil,
+and he called me a low fellow, towld me to mind my own business,
+and the other two niggers grinned. Well, you know, I could not
+stand that. I knew well enough what they were. They were stewards
+on the liners running between New York and Liverpool, and they
+were going round trying to pass for swells in a penny peep-show.
+I didn't want to make a row just then and spoil the show, so I
+said to th' lads, we mun go hooum, and I took 'em hooum, and then
+come back to th' show and waited at th' door. When the niggers
+come out I pitched into th' one as had given me cheek; but we
+couldn't have it out for th' crowd, and we were all shoved into
+th' street. I went away a bit, thinking no more about it, and met
+a man I knew and we went into a public house and had a quart o'
+fourpenny. We were in a room by ourselves, when the varra same
+three niggers come in and stood a bit inside the door. So I took
+my tumbler and threw it at th' head of th' man I wanted, and then
+went at him. But I couldn't lick him gradely because th' landlord
+come in and stopped us; so after a while I went hooum. Next
+morning I was going along Dale Street towards the docks to work,
+when who should I see but that varra same blackfellow: it looked
+as if th' devil was in it. He was by hisself this time, coming
+along at th' other side of th' street. So I crossed over and met
+him, and went close up to him and said, 'Well, what have you to
+say for yoursel' now?' and I gav him a lick under th' ear. He
+fell down on th' kerbstone and wouldn't get up-- turned sulky
+like. There was soon a crowd about, and they tried to wakken him
+up; but he wouldn't help hisself a bit--just sulked and wouldn't
+stir. I don't believe he'd ha' died but for that, because I
+nobbut give him but one hit. I thowt I'd better make mysel'
+scarce for a while, so I left Liverpool and went to Preston. Were
+you ever in Preston?" I said I was. "Well then, you'll remember
+Melling, the fish-monger, a varra big, fat man. I worked for him
+for about six months, and then come back to Liverpool, thinking
+there'd be no more bother about the blackfellow. But they took me
+up, and gev me fourteen year for it; and if it had been a white
+man I wouldn't ha' got more than twelve months, and I was sent
+out to Van Diemen's Land and ruined for ever, just for nowt else
+but giving a chance lick to a blackfellow. And now I hear they're
+going to war wi' Russia, and-- England, Scotland, Ireland, and
+Wales--I hope they'll all get blooming well licked. It don't mend
+a man much to transport him, nor a woman either for that matter:
+they all grow worse than ever. When I got my ticket I sometimes
+went working in th' bush, sometimes whaling and sealing, and
+sometimes stripping bark at Western Port and Portland Bay, before
+there was such a place as Melbourne. I was in a whaler for two
+years about Wilson's Promontory, until the whales were all killed
+or driven away. I never saved any money until nine years back; we
+always went on th' spree and spent every penny directly we were
+paid off. At that time I went with a man from Port Albert to the
+Seal Islands in a boat. I knew of a place where there was a cave,
+a big hollow under the rocks, where th' seals used to go to
+sleep, and a blow hole coming out of it to th' top of the island.
+We hired a boat and went there, and made a kind of a door which
+we could drop down with a rope to shut up the mouth of th' cave
+and catch the seals inside. We killed so many that we couldn't
+take th' skins away all at once in the boat to Port Albert; we
+had to come back again. I thowt to myself I'd be richer than ever
+I was in my life; th' skins were worth hundreds of pounds. I had
+agreed to go halves with th' Port Albert man, but, you see, he'd
+ha' never gotten a penny but for me, because he knew nothing
+whatever about sealing. It didn't look quite fair to give him
+half; and then I thowt what a lucky thing it would be for me if
+he were drowned; and he was drowned, but mind you, I didn't do
+it. It was this way. When we got back to th' blow-hole th'
+weather was bad. One o' them sou'east gales set in, and th' big
+waves dashed agen the rocks, roaring and sending spray right
+across th' island. We had packed away all th' seal-skins snug in
+th' boat and pulled th' door up from th' bottom of th' chimney
+before th' gale started. When we were taking down the rope and
+tackle and th' shears, th' water began to come boiling up th'
+blow hole and sinking down again. There was a big rush of wind,
+first up and then down sucking you in like. It was a ticklish
+time, and just as we were going to lower th' shears, th' Port
+Albert man made a kind of slip, and was sucked in with the wind,
+and went head first into the boiling water and out of sight. I
+took hold of the slack of a rope, thinking I'd throw it to him;
+he might get hold of it, and then I could pull him out. In about
+half a minute he was thrown up again by th' next wave right to
+the top of th' chimney. I could see his face within four feet of
+me. He threw up his hands for something to catch at and looked at
+me, and then gave a fearful scream. I didn't throw him the rope;
+something stopped me. He might not have got hold of it, you know,
+anyhow. He went down again among th' white water, and I never saw
+him no more--only when I am dreaming. I always dream about him. I
+can see his face come up above the boiling water, and when he
+screams I wake up. I can never get clear of him out of my head;
+and yet, mind you, I didn't drown him; he fell in of his self,
+and I just missed throwing him th' rope, that's all; and I wasn't
+bound to do it, was I?</p>
+
+<p>"As for the money I got for the seal skins, I could have lived
+comfortably on it all my life, but it never did me no good. I
+started drinking, trying to forget that Port Albert man, but it
+was no use. Every shilling was soon gone, and eversince I've been
+doing odd jobs and loafing about the publics. I've never done no
+good and never shall. Let's have just another nobbler afore we
+turn in."</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-26"></a></p>
+
+<h3>A HAPPY CONVICT.</h3>
+
+<p>"Thrice did I receive forty stripes, save one."</p>
+
+<p>It was court day at Palmerston, and there was an unusual
+amount of business that morning. A constable brought in a
+prisoner, and charged him with being a vagrant--having no lawful
+visible means of support. I entered the charge in the cause list,
+"Police v. John Smithers, vagrancy," and then looked at the
+vagrant. He was growing aged, was dressed in old clothes, faded,
+dirty, and ill-fitting; he had not been measured for them. His
+face was very dark, and his hair and beard were long and rough,
+showing that he had not been in gaol lately. His eyes wandered
+about the court in a helpless and vacant manner. Two boys about
+eight or nine years old entered the court, and, with colonial
+presumption, sat in the jury box. There were no other spectators,
+so I left them there to represent the public. They stared at the
+prisoner, whispered to each other, and smiled. The prisoner could
+not see anything to laugh at, and frowned at them. Then the
+magistrate came in, rubbing one of his hands over the other,
+glanced at the prisoner as he passed, and withered him with a
+look of virtuous severity. He was our Black Wednesday magistrate,
+and was death on criminals. When he had taken his seat on the
+bench, I opened the court, and called the first and only case. It
+was not often we had a man to sit on, and we sat heavily on this
+one. I put on my sternest look, and said "John Smithers"--here
+the prisoner instantly put one hand to his forehead and stood at
+"attention"-- "you are charged by the police with vagrancy,
+having no lawful visible means of support. What have you to say
+to that charge?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a blacksmith looking for work," said the prisoner; "I
+ain't done nothing, your worship, and I don't want nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"But you should do something," replied the magistrate; "we
+don't want idle vagabonds like you wandering about the country.
+You will be sent to gaol for three months."</p>
+
+<p>I stood up and reminded the justice respectfully that there
+was as yet no evidence against the prisoner, so, as a matter of
+form, he condescended to hear the constable, who went into the
+witness-box and proved his case to the hilt. He had found the man
+at nightfall sitting under the shelter of some tea-tree sticks
+before a fire; asked him what he was doing there; said he was
+camping out; had come from Melbourne looking for work; was a
+blacksmith; took him in charge as a vagrant, and locked him up;
+all his property was the clothes he wore, an old blanket, a tin
+billy, a clasp knife, a few crusts of bread, and old pipe, and
+half a fig of tobacco; could find no money about him.</p>
+
+<p>That last fact settled the matter. A man travelling about the
+bush without money is a deep-dyed criminal. I had done it myself,
+and so was able to measure the extent of such wickedness. I never
+felt really virtuous unless I had some money in my pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"You are sentenced to imprisonment for three months in
+Melbourne gaol," said the magistrate; "and mind you don't come
+here again."</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't done nothing, your worship," replied the prisoner;
+"and I don't want nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Take him away, constable."</p>
+
+<p>Seven years afterwards, as I was riding home about sundown
+through Tarraville, I observed a solitary swagman sitting before
+a fire, among the ruins of an old public house, like Marius
+meditating among the ruins of Carthage. There was a crumbling
+chimney built of bricks not worth carting away--the early bricks
+in South Gippsland were very bad, and the mortar had no visible
+lime in it--the ground was strewn with brick-bats, bottles,
+sardine tins, hoop iron, and other articles, the usual refuse of
+a bush shanty. It had been, in the early times, a place reeking
+with crime and debauchery. Men had gone out of it mad with
+drinking the poisonous liquor, had stumbled down the steep bank,
+and had ended their lives and crimes in the black Tarra river
+below. Here the rising generation had taken their first lessons
+in vice from the old hands who made the house their favourite
+resort. Here was planned the murder of Jimmy the Snob by
+Prettyboy and his mates, whose hut was near the end of the bridge
+across the river, and for which murder Prettyboy was hanged in
+Melbourne.</p>
+
+<p>In the dusk I mistook the swagman for a stray aboriginal who
+had survived the destruction of his tribe, but on approaching
+nearer, I found that he was, or at least once had been, a white
+man. He had gathered a few sticks, which he was breaking and
+putting on the fire. I did not recognise him, did not think I had
+ever seen him before, and I rode away.</p>
+
+<p>During the next twenty-four hours he had advanced about
+half-a-mile on his journey, and in the evening was making his
+fire in the Church paddock, near a small water-hole opposite my
+house. I could see him from the verandah, and I sent Jim to offer
+him shelter in an outbuilding. Jim was one of the two boys who
+had represented the public in the jury box at the Palmerston
+court seven years before. He came back, and said the man declined
+the offer of shelter; never slept under a roof winter or summer,
+if he could help it; had lived in the open air for twelve years,
+and never stayed a night in any building, except for three
+months, when he was in Melbourne gaol. He had been arrested by a
+constable near Palmerston seven years before, although he had
+done nothing, and a fool of a beak, with a long grey beard, had
+given him three months, while two puppies of boys were sitting in
+the jury box laughing at him.</p>
+
+<p>He also gave some paternal advice to the youth, which, like a
+great deal of other paternal advice, was rejected as of no
+value.</p>
+
+<p>"Never you go to Melbourne, young man," he said, "and if you
+do, never stop in any boarding-house, or public. They are full of
+vermin, brought in by bad characters, mostly Government officers
+and bank clerks, who have been in Pentridge. Don't you never go
+near 'em."</p>
+
+<p>This advice did not sound very respectful; however, I
+overlooked it for the present, as it was not unlikely I might
+have the advantage of seeing him again in custody, and I sent to
+him across the road some hot tea, bread, butter, and beef. This
+softened the heart and loosed the tongue of the old swagman. It
+appeared from his account of himself that he was not much of a
+blacksmith. He was ostensibly going about the colony looking for
+work, but as long as he could get food for nothing he did not
+want any work, and he always avoided a blacksmith's shop; as soon
+as he found himself near one he ceased to be a blacksmith.</p>
+
+<p>When asked about his former life, he said a gentleman had once
+advised him to write the particulars of it, and had promised him
+half-a-crown if he would do so. He had written some of them, but
+had never seen the gentleman again, so he did not get the
+half-crown; and now he would take sixpence for the copyright of
+his work. I gave him sixpence, and he drew out a manuscript from
+an inside pocket of his coat, and handed it to me. It was
+composed of small sheets of whitey-brown wrapping paper sewn
+together. He had ruled lines on it, and had written his biography
+with lead pencil. On looking over it I observed that, although he
+was deficient in some of the inferior qualifications of a great
+historian, such as spelling, grammar, and a command of words of
+seven syllables, yet he had the true instincts of a faithful
+chronicler. He had carefully recorded the names of all the
+eminent bad men he had met, of the constable who had first
+arrested him, of the magistrate who had committed him for trial,
+of the judge who had sentenced him, of the gaolers and warders
+who had kept him in prison, of the captain, doctor, and officers
+of the ship which conveyed him to Sydney, of the squatters who
+had forced him to work for them, and of the scourgers who had
+scourged him for not working enough. The names of all these
+celebrated men, together with the wicked deeds for which they
+were admired, were given in detail, after the true historic
+method. We all take a great interestin reading every particular
+relating to the lives of notorious tyrants and great sinners; we
+like to know what clothes they wore, and how they swore. But the
+lives of great and good men and women are very uninteresting;
+some young ladies even, when travelling by train, prefer, as I
+observe, French novels inspired by Cloacina to the "Lives of the
+Saints."</p>
+
+<p>Some people in the colonies are said to have had no
+grandfathers; but John Smithers was even more deficient in
+pedigree, for he had neither father nor mother, as far as he
+could recollect. He commenced life as a stable boy and general
+drudge in England, at a village inn owned and conducted by a
+widow named Cobbledick. This widow had a daughter named Jemima.
+The mischief wrought in this world by women, from Eve to Jemima
+downwards, is incalculable, and Smithers averred that it was this
+female, Jemima, who brought on his sorrow, grief, and woe. She
+was very advanced in wordly science, as young ladies are apt to
+be when they are educated in the retail liquor trade. When
+Smithers had been several years at the inn, and Jemima was
+already in her teens, she thought the world went slowly; she had
+no lover, there was nobody coming to marry her, nobody coming to
+woo. But at length she was determined to find a remedy for this
+state of things. She had never read the history of the loves of
+the great Catherine of Russia, nor of those of our own virgin
+Queen Elizabeth, but by an inborn royal instinct she was impelled
+to follow their high example. If lovers did not offer their
+adoration to her charms spontaneously, there was at any rate one
+whose homage she could command. One Sunday afternoon, while her
+mother was absent, she went to the stable and ordered Smithers to
+come and take a walk with her, directing him first to polish his
+shoes and put on his best clothes. She brought out a bottle of
+scented oil to sweeten him, and told him to rub it well into his
+hair, and stroke his head with his hands until it was sleek and
+shiny. She had put on her Sunday dress and best bonnet; she had
+four ringlets at each side of her face; and to crown her charms,
+had ventured to borrow her mother's gold watch and chain. Being
+now a perfect princess in stateliness and beauty, she took Jack
+by the arm--she called him Jack--and made him march away with
+her. He was rather abashed at the new duty imposed upon him, but
+he had been so well kicked and cuffed all his life that he never
+thought of disobeying orders. Love fooled the gods, and it gave
+him little trouble to fool so sorry a pair as Jack and his
+Jemima. They walked along Perkins' Lane where many of the
+neighbours were likely to see them, for Jemima was anxious that
+all the other girls, her dearest friends, should be filled with
+spite and envy at her good fortune in having secured a lover.</p>
+
+<p>When the happy youth and maid were returning with wandering
+steps and slow, Jemima saw her mother pass the end of the lane on
+her way homewards, much sooner than she had expected. The golden
+hours on angel wings had flown away too quickly for the lovers.
+Miss Cobbledick was filled with sudden alarm, and her brief day
+of glory was clouded. It was now impossible to reach home in time
+to avoid trouble. Her mother would be certain to miss the watch,
+and what was she to do with it? What with Jack, and what with
+herself? Self-preservation being the first law of nature, Jemima
+resolved to sacrifice Jack in order to shield herself from her
+mother's rage. He was not of much account in any respect; so she
+gave him the watch and chain, telling him to keep them safely
+till she asked for them, and to hurry round by the yard gate into
+the stable. This gave great relief to her conscience, and enabled
+her to meet her mother with a face of untroubled innocence.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had not a lively imagination; but during the night he had
+a clear and blissful vision of his future destiny, the only dream
+of fortune his life was ever blessed with. He was to be the
+landlord of the hotel, when Mrs. Cobbledick had gone to bliss,
+and Jemima was to be his bride, and the landlady.</p>
+
+<p>But early next morning there was trouble in the house. The
+watch was missing, and nobody knew anything about it. Jemima
+helped her mother to look for it, and could not find it. A
+constable was sent for, and he questioned everyone in and about
+the house, and searched everywhere without result. Last of all
+Jack was asked if he knew anything of the missing watch. He was
+faithful and true. How could he betray Jemima, his future partner
+in life? He said he "had never seen no watch, and didn't know
+nothing whatsomever about no watch," and the next instant the
+constable pulled the watch out of Jack's pocket.</p>
+
+<p>At his trial he was asked what he had to say in his defence,
+and then he told the truth, and said Jemima gave him the watch to
+keep until she should ask for it. But there is a time for all
+things; and Jack could never learn the proper time for telling
+the truth, or for telling a lie; he was always in the wrong. The
+judge, in passing sentence, said he had aggravated his crime by
+endeavouring to implicate an innocent young lady in his villany,
+and gave him seven years.</p>
+
+<p>He was taken on board a hulk, where he found two or three
+hundred other boys imprisoned. On the evening of his arrival a
+report was circulated among them that they were all to be sent to
+another ship, which was bound for Botany Bay, and that they would
+never see England again. They would have to work and sleep in
+chains; they would be yoked together, and whipped like bullocks;
+and if they escaped into the bush the blacks would kill and eat
+them. As this dismal tale went round, some of the boys, who were
+quite young and small, began to cry, and to call for their
+mothers to come and help them; and then the others began to
+scream and should and yell. The warders came below and tried to
+silence them, but the more they tried the louder grew the uproar,
+and it continued for many hours during the night.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Britons rarely swerve<br>
+ From law, however stern, which tends their strength to
+serve."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Discipline must be maintained; so next morning the poor little
+beggars were brought up on deck in batches, stripped, triced up,
+and severely flogged. Jack, and a number of other boys, said they
+had not cried at all, but the officer in charge thought it was
+better that a few of the innocent should suffer rather than that
+one of the guilty should escape, so they were all flogged alike,
+and soon after they were shipped for New South Wales.</p>
+
+<p>On his arrival n Sydney, Jack was assigned as a servant to a
+squatter, and taken into the bush a long way to the west. The
+weather had been very hot for a long time, all the grass had
+withered to dust, and the cattle were starving. The first work
+which he was ordered to do was to climb trees and cut off the
+branches, in order that the cattle might keep themselves alive by
+eating the leaves and twigs. Jack had never been used to handle
+an axe or tomahawk, so he found the labour of chopping very hard.
+He did his best, but that was not good enough for the squatter,
+who took him to a magistrate, and had him flogged by the official
+scourger.</p>
+
+<p>While serving his sentence of seven years he was flogged four
+times; three of the times he said he had "done nothing," and for
+the fourth flogging he confessed to me that he had "done
+something," but he did not say what the "something" was. In those
+days it seems that "doing nothing" and "doing something" were
+crimes equally meriting the lash.</p>
+
+<p>And now after a long life of labour the old convict had
+achieved independence at last. I don't think I ever met a richer
+man; he was richer than the whole family of the Rothschilds; he
+wanted scarcely anything. Food and clothing he obtained for the
+asking for them, and he was not particular as to their quality of
+the quantity was sufficient. Property to him was something
+despicable; he did not want any, and would not live inside of a
+house if he had one; he preferred the outside. He was free from
+family cares--never had father or mother, sister or brother, wife
+or children. No poor relatives ever claimed his hospitality; no
+intimate friends wanted to borrow half-a-crown; no one ever asked
+him to buy suburban lots, or to take shares in a limited
+liability company. He was perfectly indifferent to all danger
+from bush-rangers, burglars, pickpockets, or cattle stealers; he
+did not even own a dog, so the dogman never asked him for the dog
+tax. He never enquired about the state of the money market, nor
+bothered himself about the prices of land or cattle, wood, wine,
+or wheat. Every bank, and brewery, and building society in the
+world might go into liquidation at once for aught he cared. He
+had retired from the Government service, had superannuated
+himself on a pension of nothing per annum, and to draw it he
+required no voucher.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, I don't think
+there are many men who would voluntarily choose his lot. I
+watched him from the end of the verandah, and began speculating
+about him. What was he thinking about during his solitary watches
+in the night or while he tramped alone through the bush year
+after year in heat and cold, wind and rain? Did he ever think of
+anything--of his past life, or of his future lot? Did he believe
+in or hope for a heaven? or had he any fear of hell and eternal
+punishment? Surely he had been punished enough; in this life he
+had endured evil things in plenty, and might at least hope for
+eternal rest in the next.</p>
+
+<p>He was sitting with his back against a gum tree, and his feet
+towards the fire. From time to time he threw a few more sticks on
+the embers, and a fitful blaze lit up his dark weatherbeaten
+face.</p>
+
+<p>Then to my surprise he began to sing, and to sing well. His
+voice was strong, clear, and mellow, and its tones rose and fell
+in the silent night air with a pathetic and wonderful sweetness.
+The burden of his song was "We may be happy yet."</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Oh, smile as thou wert wont to smile,<br>
+Before a weight of care<br>
+Had crushed thine heart, and yet awhile<br>
+Left only sorrow there;<br>
+We may be happy yet."</blockquote>
+
+<p>He sang three stanzas, and was silent. Then someone said:
+"Poor old fellow; I hope he may be happy yet."</p>
+
+<p>Next morning he was sitting with his back against the gum
+tree. His fire had gone out, and he seemed to be late in awaking,
+and in no hurry to resume his journey. But his travels were
+finished; he never awoke. His body was quite cold, and he must
+have died soon after he had sung the last note of his song. He
+had only sixpence in his pocket--the sixpence I had given him for
+his biography. The police took him in charge once more and put
+him in his last prison, where he will remain until we shall all
+be called together by the dread blast of the Archangel's trumpet
+on the Judgment Day.</p>
+
+<h3>THE END</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Book of the Bush
+       Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial
+       Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others
+       Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned
+
+Author: George Dunderdale
+
+Illustrator: J. Macfarlane
+
+Release Date: July 24, 2005 [EBook #16349]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE BUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Amy Zellmer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+BOOK OF THE BUSH
+
+CONTAINING
+
+MANY TRUTHFUL SKETCHES OF THE
+EARLY COLONIAL LIFE OF SQUATTERS, WHALERS,
+CONVICTS, DIGGERS, AND OTHERS
+WHO LEFT THEIR NATIVE LAND AND
+NEVER RETURNED.
+
+
+By GEORGE DUNDERDALE.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY J. MACFARLANE.
+
+
+LONDON:
+WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED,
+WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
+NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.
+
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 1]
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+_____________
+
+PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.
+
+FIRST SETTLERS.
+
+WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA" ON KING'S ISLAND.
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.
+
+WHALING.
+
+OUT WEST IN 1849.
+
+AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.
+
+A BUSH HERMIT.
+
+THE TWO SHEPHERDS.
+
+A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.
+
+WHITE SLAVERS.
+
+THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.
+
+ON THE NINETY-MILE.
+
+GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.
+
+THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.
+
+GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.
+
+WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.
+
+TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.
+
+HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.
+
+GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.
+
+UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.
+
+A NEW RUSH.
+
+GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.
+
+GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.
+
+SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.
+
+A HAPPY CONVICT.
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+ILLUSTRATION 1.
+"Joey's out."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 2.
+"I'll show you who is master aboard this ship."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 3.
+"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse."
+
+ILLUSTRATION 4.
+"The biggest bully apropriated the belle of the ball."
+
+* * *
+
+
+"The best article in the March (1893) number of the 'Austral Light'
+is a pen picture by Mr. George Dunderdale of the famous Ninety-Mile
+Beach, the vast stretch of white and lonely sea-sands, which forms
+the sea-barrier of Gippsland."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1893.
+
+      *     *     *
+
+
+"The most interesting article in 'Austral Light' is one on Gippsland
+pioneers, by George Dunderdale."--'Review of Reviews', March, 1895.
+
+*     *     *
+
+"In 'Austral Light' for September Mr. George Dunderdale contributes,
+under the title of 'Gippsland under the Law,' one of those realistic
+sketches of early colonial life which only he can write."--'Review
+of Reviews', September, 1895.
+
+* * *
+
+
+THE BOOK OF THE BUSH.
+
+---------------------
+
+PURGING OUT THE OLD LEAVEN.
+
+While the world was young, nations could be founded peaceably.  There
+was plenty of unoccupied country, and when two neighbouring
+patriarchs found their flocks were becoming too numerous for the
+pasture, one said to the other:  "Let there be no quarrel, I pray,
+between thee and me; the whole earth is between us, and the land is
+watered as the garden of Paradise.  If thou wilt go to the east, I
+will go to the west; or if thou wilt go to the west, I will go to the
+east."  So they parted in peace.
+
+But when the human flood covered the whole earth, the surplus
+population was disposed of by war, famine, or pestilence.  Death is
+the effectual remedy for over-population.  Heroes arose who had no
+conscientious scruples.  They skinned their natives alive, or
+crucified them.  They were then adored as demi-gods, and placed among
+the stars.
+
+Pious Aeneas was the pattern of a good emigrant in the early times,
+but with all his piety he did some things that ought to have made his
+favouring deities blush, if possible.
+
+America, when discovered for the last of many times, was assigned by
+the Pope to the Spaniards and Portuguese.  The natives were not
+consulted; but they were not exterminated; their descendants occupy
+the land to the present day.
+
+England claimed a share in the new continent, and it was parcelled
+out to merchant adventurers by royal charter.  The adventures of
+these merchants were various, but they held on to the land.
+
+New England was given to the Puritans by no earthly potentate, their
+title came direct from heaven.  Increase Mather said:  "The Lord God
+has given us for a rightful possession the land of the Heathen People
+amongst whom we dwell;" and where are the Heathen People now?
+
+Australia was not given to us either by the Pope or by the Lord.  We
+took this land, as we have taken many other lands, for our own
+benefit, without asking leave of either heaven or earth.  A
+continent, with its adjacent islands, was practically vacant,
+inhabited only by that unearthly animal the kangaroo, and by black
+savages, who had not even invented the bow and arrow, never built a
+hut or cultivated a yard of land.  Such people could show no valid
+claim to land or life, so we confiscated both.  The British Islands
+were infested with criminals from the earliest times.  Our ancestors
+were all pirates, and we have inherited from them a lurking taint in
+our blood, which is continually impelling us to steal something or
+kill somebody.  How to get rid of this taint was a problem which our
+statesmen found it difficult to solve.  In times of war they
+mitigated the evil by filling the ranks of our armies from the gaols,
+and manning our navies by the help of the press-gang, but in times of
+peace the scum of society was always increasing.
+
+At last a great idea arose in the mind of England.  Little was known
+of New Holland, except that it was large enough to harbour all the
+criminals of Great Britain and the rest of the population if
+necessary.  Why not transport all convicts, separate the chaff from
+the wheat, and purge out the old leaven?  By expelling all the
+wicked, England would become the model of virtue to all nations.
+
+So the system was established.  Old ships were chartered and filled
+with the contents of the gaols.  If the ships were not quite
+seaworthy it did not matter much.  The voyage was sure to be a
+success; the passengers might never reach land, but in any case they
+would never return.  On the vessels conveying male convicts, some
+soldiers and officers were embarked to keep order and put down
+mutiny.  Order was kept with the lash, and mutiny was put down with
+the musket.  On the ships conveying women there were no soldiers, but
+an extra half-crew was engaged.  These men were called "Shilling-a-month"
+men, because they had agreed to work for one shilling a month for the
+privilege of being allowed to remain in Sydney.  If the voyage lasted
+twelve months they would thus have the sum of twelve shillings with
+which to commence making their fortunes in the Southern Hemisphere.
+But the "Shilling-a-month" man, as a matter of fact, was not worth
+one cent the day after he landed, and he had to begin life once more
+barefoot, like a new-born babe.
+
+The seamen's food on board these transports was bad and scanty,
+consisting of live biscuit, salt horse, Yankee pork, and Scotch
+coffee.  The Scotch coffee was made by steeping burnt biscuit in
+boiling water to make it strong.  The convicts' breakfast consisted
+of oatmeal porridge, and the hungry seamen used to crowd round the
+galley every morning to steal some of it.  It would be impossible for
+a nation ever to become virtuous and rich if its seamen and convicts
+were reared in luxury and encouraged in habits of extravagance.
+
+When the transport cast anchor in the beautiful harbour of Port
+Jackson, the ship's blacksmith was called out of his bunk at
+midnight.  It was his duty to rivet chains on the legs of the
+second-sentence men--the twice convicted.  They had been told on
+the voyage that they would have an island all to themselves, where
+they would not be annoyed by the contemptuous looks and bitter jibes
+of better men.  All night long the blacksmith plied his hammer and
+made the ship resound with the rattling chains and ringing manacles,
+as he fastened them well on the legs of the prisoners.  At dawn of
+day, chained together in pairs, they were landed on Goat Island;
+that was the bright little isle--their promised land.  Every
+morning they were taken over in boats to the town of Sydney, where
+they had to work as scavengers and road-makers until four o'clock in
+the afternoon.  They turned out their toes, and shuffled their feet
+along the ground, dragging their chains after them.  The police could
+always identify a man who had been a chain-gang prisoner during the
+rest of his life by the way he dragged his feet after him.
+
+In their leisure hours these convicts were allowed to make
+cabbage-tree hats.  They sold them for about a shilling each, and the
+shop-keepers resold them for a dollar. They were the best hats ever
+worn in the Sunny South, and were nearly indestructible; one hat
+would last a lifetime, but for that reason they were bad for trade,
+and became unfashionable.
+
+The rest of the transported were assigned as servants to those
+willing to give them food and clothing without wages.  The free men
+were thus enabled to grow rich by the labours of the bondmen--vice
+was punished and virtue rewarded.
+
+Until all the passengers had been disposed of, sentinels were posted
+on the deck of the transport with orders to shoot anyone who
+attempted to escape.  But when all the convicts were gone, Jack was
+sorely tempted to follow the shilling-a-month men.  He quietly
+slipped ashore, hurried off to Botany Bay, and lived in retirement
+until his ship had left Port Jackson.  He then returned to Sydney,
+penniless and barefoot, and began to look for a berth.  At the Rum
+Puncheon wharf he found a shilling-a-month man already installed as
+cook on a colonial schooner.  He was invited to breakfast, and was
+astonished and delighted with the luxuries lavished on the colonial
+seaman.  He had fresh beef, fresh bread, good biscuit, tea, coffee,
+and vegetables, and three pounds a month wages.  There was a vacancy
+on the schooner for an able seaman, and Jack filled it.  He then
+registered a solemn oath that he would "never go back to England no
+more," and kept it.
+
+Some kind of Government was necessary, and, as the first inhabitants
+were criminals, the colony was ruled like a gaol, the Governor being
+head gaoler.  His officers were mostly men who had been trained in
+the army and navy.  They were all poor and needy, for no gentleman of
+wealth and position would ever have taken office in such a community.
+They came to make a living, and when free immigrants arrived and
+trade began to flourish, it was found that the one really valuable
+commodity was rum, and by rum the officers grew rich.  In course of
+time the country was divided into districts, about thirty or
+thirty-five in number, over each of which an officer presided as
+police magistrate, with a clerk and staff of constables, one of whom
+was official flogger, always a convict promoted to the billet for
+merit and good behaviour.
+
+New Holland soon became an organised pandemonium, such as the world
+had never known since Sodom and Gomorrah disappeared in the Dead Sea,
+and the details of its history cannot be written.  To mitigate its
+horrors the worst of the criminals were transported to Norfolk
+Island.  The Governor there had not the power to inflict capital
+punishment, and the convicts began to murder one another in order to
+obtain a brief change of misery, and the pleasure of a sea voyage
+before they could be tried and hanged in Sydney.  A branch
+pandemonium was also established in Van Diemen's Land.  This system
+was upheld by England for about fifty years.
+
+The 'Britannia', a convict ship, the property of Messrs. Enderby &
+Sons, arrived at Sydney on October 14th, 1791, and reported that vast
+numbers of sperm whales were seen after doubling the south-west cape
+of Van Diemen's Land.  Whaling vessels were fitted out in Sydney, and
+it was found that money could be made by oil and whalebone as well as
+by rum.  Sealing was also pursued in small vessels, which were often
+lost, and sealers lie buried in all the islands of the southern seas,
+many of them having a story to tell, but no story-teller.
+
+Whalers, runaway seamen, shilling-a-month men, and escaped convicts
+were the earliest settlers in New Zealand, and were the first to make
+peaceful intercourse with the Maoris possible.  They built themselves
+houses with wooden frames, covered with reeds and rushes, learned to
+converse in the native language, and became family men.  They were
+most of them English and Americans, with a few Frenchmen.  They loved
+freedom, and preferred Maori customs, and the risk of being eaten, to
+the odious supervision of the English Government.  The individual
+white man in those days was always welcome, especially if he brought
+with him guns, ammunition, tomahawks, and hoes.  It was by these
+articles that he first won the respect and admiration of the native.
+If the visitor was a "pakeha tutua," a poor European, he might
+receive hospitality for a time, in the hope that some profit might be
+made out of him.  But the Maori was a poor man also, with a great
+appetite, and when it became evident that the guest was no better
+than a pauper, and could not otherwise pay for his board, the Maori
+sat on the ground, meditating and watching, until his teeth watered,
+and at last he attached the body and baked it.
+
+In 1814 the Church Missionary Society sent labourers to the distant
+vineyard to introduce Christianity, and to instruct the natives in
+the rights of property.  The first native protector of Christianity
+and letters was Hongi Hika, a great warrior of the Ngapuhi nation, in
+the North Island.  He was born in 1777, and voyaging to Sydney in
+1814, he became the guest of the Rev. Mr. Marsden.  In 1819 the rev.
+gentleman bought his settlement at Kerikeri from Hongi Hika, the
+price being forty-eight axes.  The area of the settlement was
+thirteen thousand acres.  The land was excellent, well watered, in a
+fine situation, and near a good harbour.  Hongi next went to England
+with the Rev. Mr. Kendall to see King George, who was at that time in
+matrimonial trouble.  Hongi was surprised to hear that the King had
+to ask permission of anyone to dispose of his wife Caroline.  He said
+he had five wives at home, and he could clear off the whole of them
+if he liked without troubling anybody.  He received valuable presents
+in London, which he brought back to Sydney, and sold for three
+hundred muskets and ammunition.  The year 1822 was the most glorious
+time of his life.  He raised an army of one thousand men, three
+hundred of whom had been taught the use of his muskets.  The
+neighbouring tribes had no guns.  He went up the Tamar, and at Totara
+slew five hundred men, and baked and ate three hundred of them.  On
+the Waipa he killed fourteen hundred warriors out of a garrison of
+four thousand, and then returned home with crowds of slaves.  The
+other tribes began to buy guns from the traders as fast as they were
+able to pay for them with flax; and in 1827, at Wangaroa, a bullet
+went through Hongi's lungs, leaving a hole in his back through which
+he used to whistle to entertain his friends; but he died of the wound
+fifteen months afterwards.
+
+Other men, both clerical and lay, followed the lead of the Rev. Mr.
+Marsden.  In 1821 Mr. Fairbairn bought four hundred acres for ten
+pounds worth of trade.  Baron de Thierry bought forty thousand acres
+on the Hokianga River for thirty-six axes.  From 1825 to 1829 one
+million acres were bought by settlers and merchants.  Twenty-five
+thousand acres were bought at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga in five
+years, seventeen thousand of which belonged to the missionaries.  In
+1835 the Rev. Henry Williams made a bold offer for the unsold
+country.  He forwarded a deed of trust to the governor of New South
+Wales, requesting that the missionaries should be appointed trustees
+for the natives for the remainder of their lands, "to preserve them
+from the intrigues of designing men."  Before the year 1839, twenty
+millions of acres had been purchased by the clergy and laity for a
+few guns, axes, and other trifles, and the Maoris were fast wasting
+their inheritance.  But the titles were often imperfect.  When a man
+had bought a few hundreds of acres for six axes and a gun, and had
+paid the price agreed on to the owner, another owner would come and
+claim the land because his grandfather had been killed on it.  He sat
+down before the settler's house and waited for payment, and whether
+he got any or not he came at regular intervals during the rest of his
+life and sat down before the door with his spear and mere* by his
+side waiting for more purchase money.
+
+[Footnote] *Axe made of greenstone.
+
+Some honest people in England heard of the good things to be had in
+New Zealand, formed a company, and landed near the mouth of the
+Hokianga River to form a settlement.  The natives happened to be at
+war, and were performing a war dance.  The new company looked on
+while the natives danced, and then all desire for land in New Zealand
+faded from their hearts.  They returned on board their ship and
+sailed away, having wasted twenty thousand pounds.  Such people
+should remain in their native country.  Your true rover, lay or
+clerical, comes for something or other, and stays to get it, or dies.
+
+After twenty years of labour, and an expenditure of two hundred
+thousand pounds, the missionaries claimed only two thousand converts,
+and these were Christians merely in name.  In 1825 the Rev. Henry
+Williams said the natives were as insensible to redemption as brutes,
+and in 1829 the Methodists in England contemplated withdrawing their
+establishment for want of success.
+
+The Catholic Bishop Pompallier, with two priests, landed at Hokianga
+on January 10th, 1838, and took up his residence at the house of an
+Irish Catholic named Poynton, who was engaged in the timber trade.
+Poynton was a truly religious man, who had been living for some time
+among the Maoris.  He was desirous of marrying the daughter of a
+chief, but he wished that she should be a Christian, and, as there
+was no Catholic priest nearer than Sydney, he sailed to that port
+with the chief and his daughter, called on Bishop Polding, and
+informed him of the object of his visit.  A course of instruction was
+given to the father and daughter, Poynton acting as interpreter; they
+were baptised, and the marriage took place.  After the lapse of sixty
+years their descendents were found to have retained the faith, and
+were living as good practical Catholics.
+
+Bishop Pompallier celebrated his first Mass on January 13th, 1838,
+and the news of his arrival was soon noised abroad and discussed.
+The Methodist missionaries considered the action of the bishop as an
+unwarrantable intrusion on their domain, and, being Protestants, they
+resolved to protest.  This they did through the medium of thirty
+native warriors, who appeared before Poynton's house early in the
+morning of January 22nd, when the bishop was preparing to say Mass.
+The chief made a speech.  He said the bishop and his priests were
+enemies to the Maoris.  They were not traders, for they had brought
+no guns, no axes.  They had been sent by a foreign chief (the Pope)
+to deprive the Maoris of their land, and make them change their old
+customs.  Therefore he and his warriors had come to break the
+crucifix, and the ornaments of the altar, and to take the bishop and
+his priests to the river.
+
+The bishop replied that, although he was not a trader, he had come as
+a friend, and did not wish to deprive them of their country or
+anything belonging to them.  He asked them to wait a while, and if
+they could find him doing the least injury to anyone they could take
+him to the river.  The warriors agreed to wait, and went away.
+
+Next day the bishop went further up the river to Wherinaki, where
+Laming, a pakeha Maori, resided.  Laming was an Irish-Protestant who
+had great influence with his tribe, which was numerous and warlike.
+He was admired by the natives for his strength and courage.  He was
+six feet three inches in height, as nimble and spry as a cat, and as
+long-winded as a coyote.  His father-in-law was a famous warrior
+named Lizard Skin.  His religion was that of the Church of England,
+and he persuaded his tribe to profess it.  He told them that the
+Protestant God was stronger than the Catholic God worshipped by his
+fellow countryman, Poynton.  In after years, when his converts made
+cartridges of their Bibles and rejected Christianity, he was forced
+to confess that their religion was of this world only.  They prayed
+that they might be brave in battle, and that their enemies might be
+filled with fear.
+
+Laming's Christian zeal did not induce him to forget the duties of
+hospitality.  He received the bishop as a friend, and the Europeans
+round Tatura and other places came regularly to Mass.  During the
+first six years of the mission, twenty thousand Maoris either had
+been baptised or were being prepared for baptism.
+
+Previous to the year 1828 some flax had been brought to Sydney from
+New Zealand, and manufactured into every species of cordage except
+cables, and it was found to be stronger than Baltic hemp.  On account
+of the ferocious character of the Maoris, the Sydney Government sent
+several vessels to open communication with the tribes before
+permitting private individuals to embark in the trade.  The ferocity
+attributed to the natives was not so much a part of their personal
+character as the result of their habits and beliefs.  They were
+remarkable for great energy of mind and body, foresight, and
+self-denial.  Their average height was about five feet six inches,
+but men from six feet to six feet six inches were not uncommon.
+Their point of honour was revenge, and a man who remained quiet while
+the manes of his friend or relation were unappeased by the blood of
+the enemy, would be dishonoured among his tribe.
+
+The Maoris were in reality loath to fight, and war was never begun
+until after long talk.  Their object was to exterminate or enslave
+their enemies, and they ate the slain.
+
+Before commencing hostilities, the warriors endeavoured to put fear
+into the hearts of their opponents by enumerating the names of the
+fathers, uncles, or brothers of those in the hostile tribe whom they
+had slain and eaten in former battles.  When a fight was progressing
+the women looked on from the rear.  They were naked to the waist, and
+wore skirts of matting made from flax.  As soon as a head was cut off
+they ran forward, and brought it away, leaving the body on the
+ground.  If many were slain it was sometimes difficult to discover to
+what body each head had belonged, whether it was that of a friend or
+a foe, and it was lawful to bake the bodies of enemies only.
+
+Notwithstanding their peculiar customs, one who knew the Maoris well
+described them as the most patient, equable, forgiving people in the
+world, but full of superstitious ideas, which foreigners could not
+understand.
+
+They believed that everything found on their coast was sent to them
+by the sea god, Taniwa, and they therefore endeavoured to take
+possession of the blessings conferred on them by seizing the first
+ships that anchored in their rivers and harbours.  This led to
+misunderstandings and fights with their officers and crews, who had
+no knowledge of the sea god, Taniwa.  It was found necessary to put
+netting all round the vessels as high as the tops to prevent
+surprise, and when trade began it was the rule to admit no more than
+five Maoris on board at once.
+
+The flax was found growing spontaneously in fields of inexhaustible
+extent along the more southerly shores of the islands.  The fibre was
+separated by the females, who held the top of the leaf between their
+toes, and drew a shell through the whole length of the leaf.  It took
+a good cleaner to scrape fifteen pounds weight of it in a day; the
+average was about ten pounds, for which the traders gave a fig of
+tobacco and a pipe, two sheets of cartridge paper, or one pound of
+lead.  The price at which the flax was sold in Sydney varied from 20
+pounds to 45 pounds per ton, according to quality, so there was a
+large margin of profit to the trader.  In 1828 sixty tons of flax
+valued at 2,600 pounds, were exported from Sydney to England.
+
+The results of trading with the foreigners were fatal to the natives.
+At first the trade was in axes, knives, and other edge-tools,
+beads, and ornaments, but in 1832 the Maoris would scarcely take
+anything but arms and ammunition, red woollen shirts, and tobacco.
+Every man in a native hapu had to procure a musket, or die.  If the
+warriors of the hapu had no guns they would soon be all killed by
+some tribe that had them.  The price of one gun, together with the
+requisite powder, was one ton of cleaned flax, prepared by the women
+and slaves in the sickly swamps.  In the meantime the food crops were
+neglected, hunger and hard labour killed many, some fell victims to
+diseases introduced by the white men, and the children nearly all
+died.
+
+And the Maoris are still dying out of the land, blighted by our
+civilization.  They were willing to learn and to be taught, and they
+began to work with the white men.  In 1853 I saw nearly one hundred
+of them, naked to the waist, sinking shafts for gold on Bendigo, and
+no Cousin Jacks worked harder.  We could not, of course, make them
+Englishmen--the true Briton is born, not made; but could we not
+have kept them alive if we had used reasonable means to do so?  Or is
+it true that in our inmost souls we wanted them to die, that we might
+possess their land in peace?
+
+Besides flax, it was found that New Zealand produced most excellent
+timber--the kauri pine.  The first visitors saw sea-going canoes
+beautifully carved by rude tools of stone, which had been hollowed
+out, each from a single tree, and so large that they were manned by
+one hundred warriors.  The gum trees of New Holland are extremely
+hard, and their wood is so heavy that it sinks in water like
+iron.  But the kauri, with a leaf like that of the gum tree, is the
+toughest of pines, though soft and easily worked--suitable for
+shipbuilding, and for masts and spars.  In 1830 twenty-eight vessels
+made fifty-six voyages from Sydney to New Zealand, chiefly for flax;
+but they also left parties of men to prosecute the whale and seal
+fisheries, and to cut kauri pine logs.  Two vessels were built by
+English mechanics, one of 140 tons, and the other of 370 tons burden,
+and the natives began to assist the new-comers in all their labours.
+
+At this time most of the villages had at least one European resident
+called a Pakeha Maori, under the protection of a chief of rank and
+influence, and married to a relative of his, either legally or by
+native custom.  It was through the resident that all the trading of
+the tribe was carried on.  He bought and paid for the flax, and
+employed men to cut the pine logs and float them down the rivers to
+the ships.
+
+Every whaling and trading vessel that returned to Sydney or Van
+Diemen's Land brought back accounts of the wonderful prospects which
+the islands afforded to men of enterprise, and New Zealand became the
+favourite refuge for criminals, runaway prisoners, and other lovers
+of freedom.  When, therefore the crew of the schooner 'Industry'
+threw Captain Blogg overboard, it was a great comfort to them to know
+that they were going to an island in which there was no Government.
+
+Captain Blogg had arrived from England with a bad character. He had
+been tried for murder.  He had been ordered to pay five hundred
+pounds as damages to his mate, whom he had imprisoned at sea in a
+hencoop, and left to pick up his food with the fowls.  He had been
+out-lawed, and forbidden to sail as officer in any British ship.
+These were facts made known to, and discussed by, all the whalers who
+entered the Tamar, when the whaling season was over in the year 1835.
+And yet the notorious Blogg found no difficulty in buying the
+schooner 'Industry', taking in a cargo, and obtaining a clearance for
+Hokianga, in New Zealand.  He had shipped a crew consisting of a
+mate, four seamen, and a cook.
+
+Black Ned Tomlins, Jim Parrish, and a few other friends interviewed
+the crew when the 'Industry' was getting ready for sea.  Black Ned
+was a half-breed native of Kangaroo Island, and was looked upon as
+the best whaler in the colonies, and the smartest man ever seen in a
+boat.  He was the principal speaker.  He put the case to the crew in
+a friendly way, and asked them if they did not feel themselves to be
+a set of fools, to think of going to sea with a murdering villain
+like Blogg?
+
+Dick Secker replied mildly but firmly.  He reckoned the crew were, in
+a general way, able to take care of themselves.  They could do their
+duty, whatever it was; and they were not afraid of sailing with any
+man that ever trod a deck.
+
+After a few days at sea they were able to form a correct estimate of
+their master mariner.  He never came on deck absolutely drunk, but he
+was saturated with rum to the very marrow of his bones.  A devil of
+cruelty, hate, and murder glared from his eyes, and his blasphemies
+could come from no other place but the lowest depths of the
+bottomless pit.  The mate was comparatively a gentle and inoffensive
+lamb.  He did not curse and swear more than was considered decent and
+proper on board ship, did his duty, and avoided quarrels.
+
+One day Blogg was rating the cook in his usual style when the latter
+made some reply, and the captain knocked him down.  He then called
+the mate, and with his help stripped the cook to the waist and triced
+him up to the mast on the weather side.  This gave the captain the
+advantage of a position in which he could deliver his blows downward
+with full effect.  Then he selected a rope's end and began to flog
+the cook.  At every blow he made a spring on his feet, swung the rope
+over his head, and brought it down on the bare back with the utmost
+force.  It was evident that he was no 'prentice hand at the business,
+but a good master flogger.  The cook writhed and screamed, as every
+stroke raised bloody ridges on his back; but Blogg enjoyed it.  He
+was in no hurry.  He was like a boy who had found a sweet morsel, and
+was turning it over in his mouth to enjoy it the longer.  After each
+blow he looked at the three seamen standing near, and at the man at
+the helm, and made little speeches at them.  "I'll show you who is
+master aboard this ship."  Whack!  "That's what every man Jack of you
+will get if you give me any of your jaw."  Whack!  "Maybe you'd like
+to mutiny, wouldn't you?"  Whack!  The blows came down with
+deliberate regularity; the cook's back was blue, black, and bleeding,
+but the captain showed no sign of any intention to stay his hand.
+The suffering victim's cries seemed to inflame his cruelty.  He was a
+wild beast in the semblance of a man.  At last, in his extreme agony,
+the cook made a piteous appeal to the seamen:
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 2]
+
+"Mates, are you men?  Are you going to stand there all day, and watch
+me being flogged to death for nothing?"
+
+Before the next stroke fell the three men had seized the captain; but
+he fought with so much strength and fury that they found it difficult
+to hold him.  The helmsman steadied the tiller with two turns of the
+rope and ran forward to assist them.  They laid Blogg flat on the
+deck, but he kept struggling, cursing, threatening, and calling on
+the mate to help him; but that officer took fright, ran to his cabin
+in the deckhouse, and began to barricade the door.
+
+Then a difficulty arose.  What was to be done with the prisoner?  He
+was like a raving maniac.  If they allowed him his liberty, he was
+sure to kill one or more of them.  If they bound him he would get
+loose in some way--probably through the mate--and after what had
+occurred, it would be safer to turn loose a Bengal tiger on deck then
+the infuriated captain.  There was but one way out of the trouble,
+and they all knew it.  They looked at one another; nothing was
+wanting but the word, and it soon came.  Secker had sailed from the
+Cove of Cork, and being an Irishman, he was by nature eloquent, first
+in speech, and first in action.  He reflected afterwards, when he had
+leisure to do so.
+
+"Short work is the best," he said, "over he goes; lift the devil."
+Each man seized an arm or leg, and Blogg was carried round
+the mast to the lee side.  The men worked together from training and
+habit. They swung the body athwart the deck like a pendulum, and with
+a "one!  two!  three!" it cleared the bulwark, and the devil went
+head foremost into the deep sea.  The cook, looking on from behind
+the mast, gave a deep sigh of relief.
+
+Thus it was that a great breach of the peace was committed on the
+Pacific Ocean; and it was done, too, on a beautiful summer's evening,
+when the sun was low, a gentle breeze barely filled the sails, and
+everybody should have been happy and comfortable.
+
+Captain Blogg rose to the surface directly and swam after his
+schooner.  The fury of his soul did not abate all at once.  He roared
+to the mate to bring the schooner to, but there was no responsive
+"Aye, aye, sir."  He was now outside of his jurisdiction, and his
+power was gone.  He swam with all his strength, and his bloated face
+still looked red as the foam passed by it. The helmsman had resumed
+his place, and steadied the tiller, keeping her full, while the other
+men looked over the stern.  Secker said:  "The old man will have a
+long swim."
+
+But the "old man" swam a losing race.  His vessel was gliding away
+from him:  his face grew pale, and in an agony of fear and despair,
+he called to the men for God's sake to take him on board and he would
+forgive everything.
+
+But his call came too late; he could find no sureties for his good
+behaviour in the future; he had never in his life shown any love for
+God or pity for man, and he found in his utmost need neither mercy
+nor pity now.  He strained his eyes in vain over the crests of the
+restless billows, calling for the help that did not come.  The
+receding sails never shivered; no land was near, no vessel in sight.
+The sun went down, and the hopeless sinner was left struggling alone
+on the black waste of waters.
+
+The men released the cook and held a consultation about a troublesome
+point of law.  Had they committed mutiny and murder, or only
+justifiable homicide?  They felt that the point was a very important
+one to them--a matter of life and death--and they stood in a
+group near the tiller to discuss the difficulty, speaking low, while
+the cook was shivering in the forecastle, trying to ease the pain.
+
+The conclusion of the seamen was, that they had done what was right,
+both in law and conscience.  They had thrown Blogg overboard to
+prevent him from murdering the cook, and also for their own safety.
+After they had done their duty by seizing him, he would have killed
+them if he could.  He was a drunken sweep.  He was an outlaw, and the
+law would not protect him.  Anybody could kill an outlaw without fear
+of consequences, so they had heard.  But still there was some doubt
+about it, and there was nobody there to put the case for the captain.
+The law was, at that time, a terrible thing, especially in Van
+Diemen's Land, under Colonel Arthur.  He governed by the gallows, to
+make everything orderly and peaceable, and men were peaceable enough
+after they were hanged.
+
+So Secker and his mates decided that, although they had done nothing
+but what was right in throwing Blogg over the side, it would be
+extremely imprudent to trust their innocence to the uncertainty of
+the law and to the impartiality of Colonel Arthur.
+
+Their first idea was to take the vessel to South America, but after
+some further discussion, they decided to continue the voyage to
+Hokianga, and to settle among the Maoris.  Nobody had actually seen
+them throw Blogg overboard except the cook, and him they looked upon
+as a friend, because they had saved him from being flogged to death.
+They had some doubts about the best course to take with the mate, but
+as he was the only man on board who was able to take the schooner to
+port, they were obliged to make use of his services for the present,
+and at the end of the voyage they could deal with him in any way
+prudence might require, and they did not mean to run any unnecessary
+risks.
+
+They went to the house on deck, and Secker called the mate, informing
+him that the captain had lost his balance, and had fallen overboard,
+and that it was his duty to take charge of the 'Industry', and
+navigate her to Hokianga.  But the mate had been thoroughly
+frightened, and was loth to leave his entrenchment.  He could not
+tell what might happen if he opened his cabin door:  he might find
+himself in the sea in another minute.  The men who had thrown the
+master overboard would not have much scruple about sending an
+inferior officer after him.  If the mate resolved to show fight, it
+would be necessary for him to kill every man on board, even the cook,
+before he could feel safe; and then he would be left alone in
+mid-ocean with nobody to help him to navigate the vessel--a master
+and crew under one hat, at the mercy of the winds and the waves, with
+six murdered men on his conscience; and he had a conscience, too, as
+was soon to be proved.
+
+The seamen swore most solemnly that they did not intend to do him the
+least harm, and at last the mate opened his door.  While in his
+cabin, he had been spending what he believed to be the last minutes
+of his life in preparing for death; he did his best to make peace
+with heaven, and tried to pray.  But his mouth was dry with fear, his
+tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, his memory of sacred things
+failed him, and he could not pray for want of practice.  He could
+remember only one short prayer, and he was unable to utter even that
+audibly.  And how could a prayer ever reach heaven in time to be of
+any use to him, when he could not make it heard outside the
+deck-house?  In his desperate straits he took a piece of chalk and
+began to write it; so when at last he opened the door of his cabin,
+the four seamen observed that he had nearly covered the boards with
+writing.  It looked like a litany, but it was a litany of only three
+words--"Lord, have mercy"--which were repeated in lines one above
+the other.
+
+That litany was never erased or touched by any man who subsequently
+sailed on board the 'Industry'.  She was the first vessel that was
+piloted up the channel to Port Albert in Gippsland, to take in a
+cargo of fat cattle, and when she arrived there on August 3rd, 1842,
+the litany of the mate was still distinctly legible.
+
+Nothing exalts a man so quickly in the estimation of his fellow
+creatures as killing them.  Emperors and kings court the alliance of
+the conquering hero returning from fields of slaughter. Ladies in
+Melbourne forgot for a time the demands of fashion in their struggles
+to obtain an ecstatic glimpse of our modern Bluebeard, Deeming; and
+no one was prouder than the belle of the ball when she danced down
+the middle with the man who shot Sandy M'Gee.
+
+And the reverence of the mate for his murdering crew was
+unfathomable.  Their lightest word was a law to him.  He wrote up the
+log in their presence, stating that Captain Blogg had been washed
+into the sea in a sudden squall on a dark night; vessel hove to, boat
+lowered, searched for captain all night, could see nothing of him;
+mate took charge, and bore away for Hokianga next morning.  When
+these untruthful particulars had been entered and read over to the
+four seamen, they were satisfied for the present.  They would settle
+among the Maoris, and lead a free and happy life.  They could do what
+they liked with the schooner and her cargo, having disposed of the
+master and owner; and as for the mate, they would dispose of him,
+too, if he made himself in any way troublesome.  What a wonderful
+piece of good luck it was that they were going to a new country in
+which there was no government!
+
+The 'Industry' arrived off the bar at Hokianga on November 30th,
+1835, and was boarded by a Captain Young, who had settled seven miles
+up the estuary, at One Tree Point, and acted as pilot of the nascent
+port.  He inquired how much water the schooner drew, noted the state
+of the tide, and said he would remain on board all night, and go over
+the bar next morning with the first flood.
+
+The mate had a secret and wanted to get rid of it.  While looking
+round at the shore, and apparently talking about indifferent
+subjects, he said to the pilot:  "Don't look at the men, and don't
+take any notice of them.  They threw Blogg, the master, overboard,
+when he was flogging the cook, and they would murder me, too, if they
+knew I told you; so you must pretend not to take any notice of them.
+What their plans may be, I don't know; but you may be sure they won't
+go back to the Tamar, if they can help it."
+
+If the pilot felt any surprise, he did not show it.  After a short
+pause he said:  "You go about your business, and don't speak to me
+again, except when the men can hear you.  I will think about what is
+best to be done."
+
+During the night Captain Young thought about it to some purpose.
+Being a master mariner himself he could imagine no circumstances
+which would justify a crew in throwing a master mariner overboard.
+It was the one crime which could not be pardoned either afloat or
+ashore.  Next day he took the vessel up the estuary, and anchored her
+within two hundred yards of the shore, opposite the residence of
+Captain McDonnell.
+
+It is true there was no government at that time at Hokianga, nor
+anywhere else in New Zealand; there were no judges, no magistrates,
+no courts, and no police.  But the British Angel of Annexation was
+already hovering over the land, although she had not as yet alighted
+on it.
+
+At this time the shores of New Zealand were infested with captains.
+There was a Captain Busby, who was called British Resident, and,
+unfortunately for our seamen, Captain McDonnell had been appointed
+Additional British Resident at Hokianga a few weeks previously.  So
+far he had been officially idle; there was no business to do, no
+chance of his displaying his zeal and patriotism.  Moreover, he had
+no pay, and apparently no power and no duties.  He was neither a
+Governor nor a Government, but a kind of forerunner of approaching
+empire--one of those harmless and far-reaching tentacles which the
+British octopus extends into the recesses of ocean, searching for
+prey to satisfy the demands of her imperial appetite.
+
+McDonnell was a naval lieutenant; had served under the East India
+Company; had smuggled opium to China; had explored the coasts of New
+Zealand; and on March 31st, 1831, had arrived at Hokianga from Sydney
+in the 'Sir George Murray', a vessel which he had purchased for 1,300
+pounds.  He brought with him his wife, two children, and a servant,
+but took them back on the return voyage.  He was now engaged in the
+flax and kauri pine trade.
+
+The 'Industry' had scarcely dropped her anchor before the Additional
+Resident boarded her.  The pilot spoke to him and in a few words
+informed him that Blogg, the master, had been pitched into the sea,
+and explained in what manner he proposed to arrest the four seamen.
+McDonnell understood, and agreed to the plan at once.  He called to
+the mate in a loud voice, and said:  "I am sorry to hear that you
+have lost the master of this vessel.  I live at that house you see on
+the rising ground, and I keep a list in a book of all vessels that
+come into the river, and the names of the crews.  It is a mere
+formality, and won't take more than five minutes.  So you will oblige
+me, mate, by coming ashore with your men at once, as I am in a hurry,
+and have other business to attend to."  He then went ashore in his
+boat.  The mate and seamen followed in the ship's boat, and waited in
+front of the Additional Resident's house.  He had a visitor that
+morning, the Pakeha Maori, Laming.
+
+The men had not to wait long, as it was not advisable to give them
+much time to think and grow suspicious.  McDonnell came to the front
+door and called the mate, who went inside, signed his name,
+re-appeared directly, called Secker, and entered the house with him.
+The Additional Resident was sitting at a table with the signature
+book before him.  He rose from the chair, told Secker to sit down,
+gave him a pen, and pointed out the place where his name was to be
+signed.  Laming was sitting near the table.  While Secker was signing
+his name McDonnell suddenly put a twisted handkerchief under his chin
+and tightened it round his neck.  Laming presented a horse-pistol and
+said he would blow his brains out if he uttered a word, and the mate
+slipped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.  He was then bundled out
+at the back door and put into a bullet-proof building at the rear.
+The other three seamen were then called in one after the other,
+garrotted, handcuffed, and imprisoned in the same way.  The little
+formality of signing names was finished in a few minutes, according
+to promise.
+
+If such things could be done in New Zealand, where there was neither
+law nor government, what might happen in Van Diemen's Land, where one
+man was both law and government, and that man was Colonel Arthur?
+The prisoners had plenty of time to make a forecast of their fate,
+while the mate engaged a fresh crew and took in a cargo of flax and
+timber.  When he was ready to sail, he reshipped his old crew in
+irons, returned with them to the Tamar, and delivered them to the
+police to be dealt with according to law.  For a long time the law
+was in a state of chaos.  Major Abbott was sent from England in 1814
+as the first judge.  The proceedings in his court were conducted in
+the style of a drum-head court martial, the accusation, sentences,
+and execution following one another with military precision and
+rapidity.
+
+He adjudicated in petty sessions as a magistrate, and dealt in a
+summary manner with capital offences, which were very numerous.  To
+imprison a man who was already a prisoner for life was no punishment;
+the major's powers were, therefore, limited to the cat and the
+gallows.  And as the first gallows had been built to carry only eight
+passengers, his daily death sentences were also limited to that
+number.  For twenty years torture was used to extort confession--
+even women were flogged if they refused to give evidence, and an
+order of the Governor was held to be equal to law.  Major Abbott died
+in 1832.
+
+In 1835 the court consisted of the judge-advocate and two of the
+inhabitants selected by the Governor, Colonel Arthur, who came out in
+the year 1824, and had been for eleven years a terror to evil-doers.
+His rule was as despotic as he could possibly make it.  If any
+officer appointed by the Home Government disagreed with his policy he
+suspended him from his office, and left him to seek redress from his
+friends in England--a tedious process, which lasted for years.
+Disagreeable common people he suspended also--by the neck.  If a
+farmer, squatter, or merchant was insubordinate, he stopped his
+supply of convict labour, and cruelly left him to do his own work.
+He brooked no discussion of his measures by any pestilent editor. He
+filled all places of profit with his friends, relatives, and
+dependents.  Everything was referred to his royal will and pleasure.
+His manners were stiff and formal, his tastes moral, his habits on
+Sundays religious, and his temper vindictive.  Next to the articles
+of war, the thirty-nine Articles claimed his obedience.  When his
+term of office was drawing to a close he went to church on a certain
+Sunday to receive the Lord's Supper.  While studying his prayer book
+he observed that it was his duty if his brother had anything against
+him to seek a reconciliation before offering his gift.  The
+ex-Attorney-General, Gellibrand, was present, a brother Christian who
+had had many things against him for many years.  He had other
+enemies, some living and some dead, but they were absent.  To be
+reconciled to all of them was an impossibility.  He could not ask the
+minister to suspend the service while he went round Hobart Town
+looking for his enemies, and shaking hands with them.  But he did
+what was possible.  He rose from his knees, marched over to
+Gellibrand, and held out his hand.  Gellibrand was puzzled; he looked
+at the hand and could see nothing in it.  By way of explanation
+Colonel Arthur pointed out the passage in the prayer-book which had
+troubled his sensitive conscience.  Gellibrand read it, and then
+shook hands.  With a soul washed whiter than snow, the colonel
+approached the table.
+
+Amongst the convicts every grade of society was represented, from
+King Jorgensen to the beggar.  One Governor had a convict private
+secretary.  Officers of the army and navy, merchants, doctors, and
+clergymen consorted with costermongers, poachers, and pickpockets.
+The law, it is sad to relate, had even sent out lawyers, who
+practised their profession under a cloud, and sometimes pleaded by
+permission of the court.  But their ancient pride had been trodden in
+the dust; the aureole which once encircled their wigs was gone, and
+they were often snubbed and silenced by ignorant justices.  The
+punishment for being found out is life-long and terrible.  Their
+clients paid the fees partly in small change and partly in rum.
+
+The defence of the seamen accused of murdering Captain Blogg was
+undertaken by Mr. Nicholas.  He had formerly been employed by the
+firm of eminent solicitors in London who conducted the defence of
+Queen Caroline, when the "first gentleman in Europe" tried to get rid
+of her, and he told me that his misfortunes (forgeries) had deprived
+him of the honour of sharing with Lord Brougham the credit of her
+acquittal.
+
+Many years had passed since that celebrated trial when I made the
+acquaintance of Nicholas.  He had by this time lost all social
+distinction.  He had grown old and very shabby, and was so mean that
+even his old friends, the convicts who had crossed the straits,
+looked down on him with contempt.  He came to me for an elector's
+right, as a vote in our electorate--the Four Counties--was
+sometimes worth as much as forty shillings, besides unlimited grog.
+We were Conservatives then, true patriots, and we imitated--feebly,
+it is true, but earnestly--the time-honoured customs of old England.
+
+Mr. Nicholas had been a man of many employments, and of many
+religions.  He was never troubled with scruples of conscience, but
+guided his conduct wholly by enlightened self-interest.  He was a
+Broad Churchman, very broad.  As tutor in various families, he had
+instructed his pupils in the tenets of the Church of England, of the
+Catholics, of the Presbyterians, and of the Baptists.  He always
+professed the religion of his employer for the time being, and he
+found that four religions were sufficient for his spiritual and
+temporal wants.  There were many other sects, but the labour of
+learning all their peculiar views would not pay, so he neglected
+them.  The Wesleyans were at one time all-powerful in our road
+district, and Nicholas, foreseeing a chance of filling an office of
+profit under the Board, threw away all his sins, and obtained grace
+and a billet as toll-collector or pikeman.  In England the pike-man
+was always a surly brute, who collected his fees with the help of a
+bludgeon and a bulldog, but Nicholas performed his duties in the
+disguise of a saint.  He waited for passengers in his little wooden
+office, sitting at a table, with a huge Bible before him, absorbed in
+spiritual reading.  He wore spectacles on his Roman nose, had a long
+grey beard, quoted Scripture to chance passengers, and was very
+earnest for their salvation.  He was atoning for the sins of his
+youth by leading the life of a hermit by praying and cheating.  He
+has had many followers. He made mistakes in his cash, which for a
+while were overlooked in so good a man, but they became at length so
+serious that he lost his billet.  He had for some time been spoken of
+by his friends and admirers as "Mr. Nicholas," but after his last
+mistakes had been discovered, he began to be known merely as "Old
+Nick the Lawyer," or "Old Nick the Liar," which some ignorant people
+look upon as convertible terms.  I think Lizard Skin, the cannibal,
+was a better Christian than old Nick the lawyer, as he was brave and
+honest, and scorned to tell a lie.
+
+The convict counsel for the four seamen defended them at a great
+expenditure of learning and lies.  He argued at great length:--
+"That there was no evidence that a master mariner named Blogg ever
+existed; that he was an outlaw, and, as such, every British subject
+had an inchoate right to kill him at sight, and, therefore, that the
+seamen, supposing for the sake of argument that they did kill him,
+acted strictly within their legal rights; that Blogg drowned himself
+in a fit of delirium tremens, after being drunk on rum three days and
+nights consecutively; that he fell overboard accidentally and was
+drowned; that the cook and mate threw him overboard, and then laid
+the blame on the innocent seamen; that Blogg swam ashore, and was now
+living on an unchartered island; that if he was murdered, his body
+had not been found:  there could be no murder without a corpse; and
+finally, he would respectfully submit to that honourable court, that
+the case bristled with ineradicable difficulties."
+
+The seamen would have been sent to the gallows in any case, but
+Nicholas' speech made their fate inevitable.  The court brushed aside
+the legal bristles, and hanged the four seamen on the evidence of the
+mate and the cook.
+
+The tragedy of the gallows was followed by a short afterpiece.  Jim
+Parrish, Ned Tomlins, and every whaler and foremast man in Hobart
+Town and on the Tamar, discussed the evidence both drunk and sober,
+and the opinion was universal that the cook ought to have sworn an
+oath strong enough to go through a three-inch slab of hardwood that
+he had seen Captain Blogg carried up to heaven by angels, instead of
+swearing away the lives of men who had taken his part when he was
+triced up to the mast.  The cook was in this manner tried by his
+peers and condemned to die, and he knew it.  He tried to escape by
+shipping on board a schooner bound to Portland Bay with whalers.  The
+captain took on board a keg of rum, holding fifteen gallons, usually
+called a "Big Pup," and invited the mate to share the liquor with
+him.  The result was that the two officers soon became incapable of
+rational navigation.  Off King's Island the schooner was hove to in a
+gale of wind, and for fourteen days stood off and on--five or six
+hours one way, and five or six hours the other--while the master
+and mate were down below, "nursing the Big Pup."  The seamen were all
+strangers to the coast, and did not know any cove into which they
+could run for refuge.  The cook was pitched overboard one dark night
+during that gale off King's Island, and his loss was a piece of
+ancient history by the time the master and mate had consumed the rum,
+and were able to enter up the log.
+
+Ex-Attorney-General Gellibrand sailed to Port Philip to look for
+country in Australia Felix, and he found it.  He was last seen on a
+rounded hill, gazing over the rich and beautiful land which borders
+Lake Colac; land which he was not fated to occupy, for he wandered
+away and was lost, and his bones lay unburied by the stream which now
+bears his name.
+
+When Colonel Arthur's term of office expired he departed with the
+utmost ceremony.  The 21st Fusiliers escorted him to the wharf.  As
+he entered his barge his friends cheered, and his enemies groaned, and
+then went home and illuminated the town, to testify their joy at
+getting rid of a tyrant.  He was the model Governor of a Crown
+colony, and the Crown rewarded him for his services.  He was made a
+baronet, appointed Governor of Canada and of Bombay, was a member of
+Her Majesty's Privy Council, a colonel of the Queen's Own regiment,
+and he died on September 19th, 1854, full of years and honours, and
+worth 70,000 pounds.
+
+Laming was left an orphan by the death of Lizard Skin.  The chief had
+grown old and sick, and he sat every day for two years on a fallen
+puriri near the white man's pah, but he never entered it.  His spear
+was always sticking up beside him.  He had a gun, but was never known
+to use it.  He was often humming some ditty about old times before
+the white man brought guns and powder, but he spoke to no one.  He
+was pondering over the future of his tribe, but the problem was too
+much for him.  The white men were strong and were overrunning his
+land.  His last injunction to his warriors was, that they should
+listen to the words of his Pakeha, and that they should be brave that
+they might live.
+
+When the British Government took possession of New Zealand without
+paying for it, they established a Land Court to investigate the
+titles to lands formerly bought from the natives, and it was decided
+in most cases that a few axes and hoes were an insufficient price to
+pay for the pick of the country; the purchases were swindles.  Laming
+had possession of three or four hundred acres, and to the surprise of
+the Court it was found that he had paid a fair price for them, and
+his title was allowed.  Moreover, his knowledge of the language and
+customs of the Maoris was found to be so useful that he was appointed
+a Judge of the Land Court.
+
+The men who laid the foundations of empire in the Great South Land
+were men of action.  They did not stand idle in the shade, waiting
+for someone to come and hire them.  They dug a vineyard and planted
+it.  The vines now bring forth fruit, the winepress is full, the must
+is fermenting.  When the wine has been drawn off from the lees, and
+time has matured it, of what kind will it be?  And will the Lord of
+the Vineyard commend it?
+
+
+
+FIRST SETTLERS.
+
+The first white settler in Victoria was the escaped convict Buckley;
+but he did not cultivate the country, nor civilise the natives.  The
+natives, on the contrary, uncivilised him.  When white men saw him
+again, he had forgotten even his mother tongue, and could give them
+little information.  For more than thirty years he had managed to
+live--to live like a savage; but for any good he had ever done he
+might as well have died with the other convicts who ran away with
+him.  He never gave any clear account of his companions, and many
+people were of opinion that he kept himself alive by eating them,
+until he was found and fed by the blacks, who thought he was one of
+their dead friends, and had "jumped up a white fellow."
+
+While Buckley was still living with the blacks about Corio Bay, in
+1827, Gellibrand and Batman applied for a grant of land at Western
+Port, where the whalers used to strip wattle bark when whales were
+out of season; but they did not get it.
+
+Englishmen have no business to live anywhere without being governed,
+and Colonel Arthur had no money to spend in governing a settlement at
+Western Port.  So Australia Felix was unsettled for eight years
+longer.
+
+Griffiths & Co., of Launceston, were trading with Sydney in 1833.
+Their cargo outward was principally wheat, the price of which varied
+very much; sometimes it was 2s. 6d. a bushel in Launceston, and 18s.
+in Sydney.  The return cargo from Port Jackson was principally coal,
+freestone, and cedar.
+
+Griffiths & Co. were engaged in whaling in Portland Bay.  They sent
+there two schooners, the 'Henry' and the 'Elizabeth', in June, 1834.
+They erected huts on shore for the whalers.  The 'Henry' was wrecked;
+but the whales were plentiful, and yielded more oil than the casks
+would hold, so the men dug clay pits on shore, and poured the oil
+into them.  The oil from forty-five whales was put into the pits, but
+the clay absorbed every spoonful of it, and nothing but bones was
+gained from so much slaughter.  Before the 'Elizabeth' left Portland
+Bay, the Hentys, the first permanent settlers in Victoria, arrived in
+the schooner 'Thistle', on November 4th, 1834.
+
+When the whalers of the 'Elizabeth' had been paid off, and had spent
+their money, they were engaged to strip wattle bark at Western Port,
+and were taken across in the schooner, with provisions, tools, six
+bullocks and a dray.  During that season they stripped three hundred
+tons of bark and chopped it ready for bagging.  John Toms went over
+to weigh and ship the bark, and brought it back, together with the
+men, in the barque 'Andrew Mack'.
+
+
+WRECK OF THE CONVICT SHIP "NEVA," ON KING'S ISLAND.
+
+She sailed from Cork on January 8th, 1835, B. H. Peck, master; Dr.
+Stevenson, R.N., surgeon.  She had on board 150 female prisoners and
+thirty-three of their children, nine free women and their twenty-two
+children, and a crew of twenty-six.  Several ships had been wrecked
+on King's Island, and when a vessel approached it the mate of the
+watch warned his men to keep a bright look out.  He said, "King's
+Island is inhabited by anthropophagi, the bloodiest man eaters ever
+known; and, if you don't want to go to pot, you had better keep your
+eyes skinned."  So the look-out man did not go to sleep.
+
+Nevertheless, the 'Neva' went ashore on the Harbinger reef, on May
+13th unshipped her rudder and parted into four pieces.  Only nine men
+and thirteen women reached the island; they were nearly naked and had
+nothing to eat, and they wandered along the beach during the night,
+searching amongst the wreckage.  At last they found a puncheon of
+rum, upended it, stove in the head, and drank.  The thirteen women
+then lay down on the sand close together, and slept.  The night was
+very cold, and Robinson, an apprentice, covered the women as well as
+he could with some pieces of sail and blankets soaked with salt
+water.  The men walked about the beach all night to keep themselves
+warm, being afraid to go inland for fear of the cannibal
+blackfellows.  In the morning they went to rouse the women, and found
+that seven of the thirteen were dead.
+
+The surviving men were the master, B. H. Peck, Joseph Bennet, Thomas
+Sharp, John Watson, Edward Calthorp, Thomas Hines, Robert Ballard,
+John Robinson, and William Kinderey.  The women were Ellen Galvin,
+Mary Stating, Ann Cullen, Rosa Heland, Rose Dunn, and Margaret Drury.
+
+For three weeks these people lived almost entirely on shellfish.
+They threw up a barricade on the shore, above high water mark, to
+protect themselves against the cannibals.  The only chest that came
+ashore unbroken was that of Robinson the apprentice, and in it there
+was a canister of powder.  A flint musket was also found among the
+wreckage, and with the flint and steel they struck a light and made a
+fire.  When they went down to the beach in search of shellfish, one
+man kept guard at the barricade, and looked out for the blackfellows;
+his musket was loaded with powder and pebbles.
+
+Three weeks passed away before any of the natives appeared, but at
+last they were seen approaching along the shore from the south.  At
+the first alarm all the ship-wrecked people ran to the barricade for
+shelter, and the men armed themselves with anything in the shape of
+weapons they could find.  But their main hope of victory was the
+musket.  They could not expect to kill many cannibals with one shot,
+but the flash and report would be sure to strike them with terror,
+and put them to flight.
+
+By this time their diet of shellfish had left them all weak and
+emaciated, skeletons only just alive; the anthropophagi would have
+nothing but bones to pick; still, the little life left in them was
+precious, and they resolved to sell it as dear as they could.  They
+watched the savages approaching; at length they could count their
+number.  They were only eleven all told, and were advancing slowly.
+Now they saw that seven of the eleven were small, only picaninnies.
+When they came nearer three out of the other four were seen to be
+lubras, and the eleventh individual then resolved himself into a
+white savage, who roared out, "Mates ahoy!"
+
+The white man was Scott, the sealer, who had taken up is abode on the
+island with his harem, three Tasmanian gins and seven children.
+
+They were the only permanent inhabitants; the cannibal blacks had
+disappeared, and continued to exist only in the fancies of the
+mariners.  Scott's residence was opposite New Year's Island not far
+from the shore; there he had built a hut and planted a garden with
+potatoes and other vegetables.  Flesh meat he obtained from the
+kangaroos and seals.  Their skins he took to Launceston in his boat,
+and in it he brought back supplies of flour and groceries.  He had
+observed dead bodies of women and men, and pieces of a wrecked vessel
+cast up by the sea, and had travelled along the shore with his
+family, looking for anything useful or valuable which the wreck might
+yield.  After hearing the story, and seeing the miserable plight of
+the castaways, he invited them to his home.  On arriving at the hut
+Scott and his lubras prepared for their guests a beautiful meal of
+kangaroo and potatoes. This was their only food as long as they
+remained on King's Island, for Scott's only boat had got adrift, and
+his flour, tea, and sugar had been all consumed.  But kangaroo beef
+and potatoes seemed a most luxurious diet to the men and women who
+had been kept alive for three weeks on nothing but shellfish.
+
+Scott and his hounds hunted the kangaroo, and supplied the colony
+with meat.  The liver of the kangaroo when boiled and left to grow
+cold is a dry substance, which, with the help of hunger and a little
+imagination, is said to be as good as bread.
+
+In the month of July, 1835, heavy gales were blowing over King's
+Island.  For fourteen days the schooner 'Elizabeth', with whalers for
+Port Fairy, was hove to off the coast, standing off and on, six hours
+one way and six hours the other.  Akers, the captain, and his mate
+got drunk on rum and water daily.  The cook of the 'Industry' was on
+board the 'Elizabeth', the man whom Captain Blogg was flogging when
+his crew seized him and threw him overboard.  The cook also was now
+pitched overboard for having given evidence against the four men who
+had saved him from further flogging.
+
+At this time also Captain Friend, of the whaling cutter 'Sarah Ann',
+took shelter under the lee of New Year's Island, and he pulled ashore
+to visit Scott the sealer.  There he found the shipwrecked men and
+women whom he took on board his cutter, and conveyed to Launceston,
+except one woman and two men.  It was then too late in the season to
+take the whalers to Port Fairy.  Captain Friend was appointed chief
+District Constable at Launceston; all the constables under him were
+prisoners of the Crown, receiving half a dollar a day.  He was
+afterwards Collector of Customs at the Mersey.
+
+In November, 1835 the schooner 'Elizabeth' returned to Launceston
+with 270 tuns of oil.  The share of the crew of a whaling vessel was
+one-fiftieth of the value of the oil and bone.  The boat-steerer
+received one-thirtieth, and of the headmen some had one-twenty-fifth,
+others one-fifteenth.  In this same year, 1835, Batman went to Port
+Phillip with a few friends and seven Sydney blackfellows.  On June
+14th he returned to Van Diemen's Land, and by the 25th of the same
+month he had compiled a report of his expedition, which he sent to
+Governor Arthur, together with a copy of the grant of land executed
+by the black chiefs.  He had obtained three copies of the grant
+signed by three brothers Jagga-Jagga, by Bungaree, Yan-Yan, Moorwhip,
+and Marmarallar.  The area of the land bought by Batman was not
+surveyed with precision, but it was of great extent, like infinite
+space, whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere.  And in
+addition he took up a small patch of one hundred thousand acres
+between the bay and the Barwon, including the insignificant site of
+Geelong, a place of small account even to this day.  Batman was a
+long-limbed Sydney native, and he bestrode his real estate like a
+Colossus, but King William was a bigger Colossus than Batman--he
+claimed both the land and the blacks, and ignored the Crown grant.
+
+Next, John Fawkner and his friends chartered the schooner
+'Enterprise' for a voyage across the Straits to Australia Felix.  He
+afterwards claimed to be the founder of Melbourne.  He could write
+and talk everlastingly, but he had not the 'robur' and 'as triplex'
+suitable for a sea-robber.  Sea-sickness nearly killed him, so he
+stayed behind while the other adventurers went and laid the
+foundation.  They first examined the shores of Western Port, then
+went to Port Philip Bay and entered the River Yarra.  They
+disembarked on its banks, ploughed some land, sowed maize and wheat,
+and planted two thousand fruit trees.  They were not so grasping as
+Batman, and each man pegged out a farm of only one hundred acres.
+These farms were very valuable in the days of the late boom, and are
+called the city of Melbourne.  Batman wanted to oust the newcomers;
+he claimed the farms under his grant from the Jagga-Jaggas.  He
+squatted on Batman's Hill, and looked down with evil eyes on the
+rival immigrants.  He saw them clearing away the scrub along Flinders
+Street, and splitting posts and rails all over the city from Spencer
+Street to Spring Street, regardless of the fact that the ground under
+their feet would be, in the days of their grandchildren, worth 3,000
+pounds per foot.  Their bullock-drays were often bogged in Elizabeth
+Street, and they made a corduroy crossing over it with red gum logs.
+Some of these logs were dislodged quite sound fifty years afterwards
+by the Tramway Company's workmen.
+
+
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER HOPKINS.
+
+"Know ye not that lovely river?
+Know ye not that smiling river?
+Whose gentle flood, by cliff and wood,
+With 'wildering sound goes winding ever."
+
+In January, 1836, Captain Smith, who was in charge of the whaling
+station at Port Fairy, went with two men, named Wilson and Gibbs, in
+a whale boat to the islands near Warrnambool, to look for seal.  They
+could find no seal, and then they went across the bay, and found the
+mouth of the river Hopkins.  In trying to land there, their boat
+capsized in the surf, and Smith was drowned.  The other two men
+succeeded in reaching the shore naked, and they travelled back along
+the coast to Port Fairy, carrying sticks on their shoulders to look
+like guns, in order to frighten away the natives, who were very
+numerous on that part of the coast.  On this journey they found the
+wreck of a vessel, supposed to be a Spanish one, which has since been
+covered by the drifting sand.  When Captain Mills was afterwards
+harbour master at Belfast, he took the bearings of it, and reported
+them to the Harbour Department in Melbourne.  Vain search was made
+for it many years afterwards in the hope that it was a Spanish
+galleon laden with doubloons.
+
+Davy was in the Sydney trade in the 'Elizabeth' until March, 1836; he
+then left her and joined the cutter 'Sarah Ann', under J. B. Mills,
+to go whaling at Port Fairy.  In the month of May, Captain Mills was
+short of boats, and went to the Hopkins to look for the boat lost by
+Smith.  He took with him two boats with all their whaling gear, in
+case he should see a whale.  David Fermaner was in one of the boats,
+which carried a supply of provisions for the two crews; in the other
+boat there was only what was styled a nosebag, or snack--a mouthful
+for each man.
+
+On arriving off the Hopkins, they found a nasty sea on, and Captain
+Mills said it would be dangerous to attempt to land; but his brother
+Charles said he would try, and in doing so his boat capsized in the
+breakers.  All the men clung to the boat, but the off-sea prevented
+them from getting on shore.  When Captain Mills saw what had
+happened, he at once pushed on his boat through the surf and
+succeeded in reaching the shore inside the point on the eastern side
+of the entrance.  He then walked round towards the other boat with a
+lance warp, waded out in the water as far as he could, and then threw
+the warp to the men, who hauled on it until their boat came ashore,
+and they were able to land.
+
+All the provisions were lost.  The water was baled out of the boat
+that had been capsized, and she was taken over to the west head.  All
+the food for twelve men was in the nosebag, and it was very little;
+each man had a mere nibble for supper.  In those days wombats were
+plentiful near the river, but the men could not catch or kill one of
+them.  Captain Mills had a gun in his boat which happened to be
+loaded, and he gave it to Davy to try if he could shoot anything for
+breakfast next morning.  There was only one charge, all the rest of
+the ammunition having been lost in the breakers.  Davy walked up the
+banks of the river early in the morning, and saw plenty of ducks, but
+they were so wild he could not get near them.  At last he was so
+fortunate as to shoot a musk duck, which he brought back to the camp,
+stuck up before the fire, and roasted.  He then divided it into
+twelve portions, and gave one portion to each of the twelve men for
+breakfast; but it was a mockery of a meal, as unsubstantial as an
+echo--smell, and nothing else.
+
+The two boats were launched, and an attempt was made to pass out to
+sea through the surf, but the wind was far down south, and the men
+had to return and beach the boats.  The sails were taken ashore and
+used as tents.  In the evening they again endeavoured to catch a
+wombat, but failed.
+
+On the next day they tried again to get out of the river, but the
+surf half filled the boats with water, and they were glad to reach
+the camp again.
+
+Captain Mills was a native of Australia, and a good bushman; he told
+the men that sow thistles were good to eat, so they went about
+looking for them, and having found a quantity ate them.  On the third
+day they tried once more to get out of the river, but without success.
+
+On the fourth day Mills decided to carry the boats and whaling gear
+overland to a bight in the bay to the west.  The gear was divided
+into lots among the men, and consisted of ten oars, two steer-oars,
+two tubs of whale line each 120 fathoms in length, two fifty-pound
+anchors, four harpoons, six lances, six lance warps, two tomahawks,
+two water kegs, two piggins for balers, two sheath knives, and two
+oil-stones for touching up the lances when they became dull.  These
+were carried for about a quarter of a mile, and then put down for a
+rest, and the men went back to the camp.  The boats were much lighter
+than the gear, being made of only half-inch plank.  One boat was
+capsized bottom up, and the men took it on their shoulders, six on
+each side, the tallest men being placed in the middle on account of
+the shear of the boat, and it was carried about half a mile past the
+gear.  They then returned for the other boat, and in this way brought
+everything to the bight close to the spot where the bathing house at
+Warrnambool has since been erected.  There they launched the boats,
+and got out to sea, pulling against a strong westerly breeze.
+
+The men were very weak, having had nothing to eat for four days but
+some sow thistles and a musk duck, and the pull to Port Fairy was
+hard and long.  They landed about four o'clock in the afternoon, and
+Captain Mills told them not to eat anything, saying he would give
+them something better.  At that time there was a liquor called "black
+strap," brought out in the convict ships for the use of the
+prisoners, and it was sold with the ships' surplus stores in Sydney
+and Hobarton.  Mills had some of it at Port Fairy.  He now put a
+kettle full of it on the fire, and when it was warmed gave each man a
+half a pint to begin with.  He then told them to go and get supper,
+and afterwards he gave each of them another half pint.
+
+Rum was in those days a very profitable article of commerce, and the
+trade in it was monopolised by the Government officers, civil and
+military.  Like flour in the back settlements of the United States,
+it was reckoned "ekal to cash," and was made to do the office of the
+pagoda tree in India, which rained dollars at every shake.
+
+The boat that was lost by Smith at the Hopkins was found in good
+condition, half filled with sand.  Joe Wilson went for it afterwards,
+and brought it back to Port Fairy.  He was a native of Sydney, and
+nephew of Raibey of Launceston, and was murdered not long afterwards
+at the White Hills.  He was sent by Raibey on horseback to Hobarton
+to buy the revenue cutter 'Charlotte', which had been advertised for
+sale.  He was shot by a man who was waiting for him behind a tree.
+He fell from his horse, and although he begged hard for his life, the
+man beat out his brains with the gun.  The murderer took all the
+money Wilson had, which was only one five-pound note, the number of
+which Raibey knew.  A woman tried to pass it in Launceston, and her
+statements led to the discovery and conviction of the murderer, who
+was hanged in chains at the White Hills, and the gibbet remained
+there for many years.
+
+
+
+WHALING.
+
+"I wish I were in Portland Bay,
+Oh, yes, Oh!
+Harpooning whales on a thirtieth lay,
+A hundred years ago."
+
+In the year 1837, J. B. Mills had charge of the Portland Fishery, and
+Davy went with him in the 'Thistle' schooner as mate and navigator,
+and they were over a month on the passage.  Charles Mills was second
+in command at the station at Portland, and Peter Coakley, an
+Irishman, was third; the remainder of the crew required for whaling
+was on board the 'Thistle'.  Among them was one named McCann, a
+Sydney native, a stonemason by trade, and father of the McCann who
+was afterwards member of Parliament for Geelong.  During a westerly
+gale the schooner ran to Western Port for shelter.  In sailing
+through the Rip, McCann, who was acting as steward, while going aft
+to the cabin, had to cross over a colonial sofa which was lashed on
+deck.  Instead of stepping over it gently, he made a jump, and the
+vessel lurching at the same time, he went clean overboard.  Davy, who
+was standing by the man at the helm, told him to put the helm down
+and let the vessel come to.  He then ran forward and got a steer-oar
+from underneath the boots, and threw it overboard.  McCann, being an
+expert swimmer, swam to the oar, a boat was launched, four men got
+into it, picked him up, and brought him aboard again none the worse.
+There was too much sea on to hoist in the boat, as there were no
+davits, and while she was being towed in she ran ahead of the vessel,
+which went over her and filled her with water.  On arriving in
+Western Port the boat was found to have been not much damaged.  There
+was on board the 'Thistle' an apprentice whom Davy had stolen in
+Sydney after he had served four years of his time to a boat-builder
+named Green.  This apprentice repaired the boat, which afterwards
+proved to be the fastest out of forty-one boats that went out whaling
+in Portland Bay every  morning.
+
+There were in 1837 eight parties of whalers in Portland Bay, and so
+many whales were killed that the business from that year declined and
+became unprofitable.  Mills' party in the 'Thistle' schooner, of
+which Davy was mate and navigator, or nurse to Mills, who was not a
+trained seaman, had their station at Single Corner; Kelly's party was
+stationed at the neck of land where the breakwater has been
+constructed.  Then there were Dutton's party, with the barque
+'African'; Nicholson's, with the barque 'Cheviot', from Hobarton;
+Chamberlain's, with the barque 'William the Fourth', of Hobarton; the
+'Hope' barque, and a brig, both from Sydney.  The Hentys also had a
+whaling station at Double Corner, and by offering to supply their men
+with fresh meat three times a week, obtained the pick of the whalers.
+Their head men were Johnny Brennan, John Moles, and Jim Long,
+natives of Sydney or Tasmania, and all three good whalers.
+
+When the 'Thistle' arrived at Portland Bay every other party had got
+nearly one hundred tuns of oil each, and Mills' party had none.  He
+started out next morning, choosing the boat which had picked up
+McCann at Western Port, and killed one whale, which turned out six
+tuns of oil.  He did not get any more for three weeks, being very
+unlucky.  After getting the schooner ready for cutting in, Davy went
+to steer the boat for Charles Mills, and always got in a mess among
+the whales, being either capsized or stove in among so many boats.
+At the end of three weeks Captain Mills got a whale off the second
+river, halfway round towards Port Fairy.  She was taken in tow with
+the three boats, and after two days' towing, she was anchored within
+half-a-mile of the schooner in Portland Bay, and the men went ashore.
+During the night a gale of wind came on from the south-west, and the
+whale, being a bit stale and high out of the water, drove ashore at
+the Bluff, a little way past Henty's house.
+
+In the morning Mills said he would go and see what he could get from
+her on the beach, and ordered his brother, Charles Mills, and Coakley
+to go out looking for whales.  All the boats used to go out before
+daylight, and dodge one another round the Bay for miles.  It was cold
+work sitting in the boats. The men stayed out until ten or eleven
+o'clock, and went ashore that day on the Convincing Ground, which was
+so-called because the whalers used to go down there to fight, and
+convince one another who was the best man.
+
+In the afternoon, about two o'clock, it was Davy's turn to go up a
+tree to look for whales.  In looking round the Bay towards the Bluff,
+he saw a boat with a whiff on.  He jumped down, and told Charles
+Mills, who said:  "Come on."  there was a great rush of all the
+boats, but Mills' boat kept well forward of the lot.  When they
+arrived off the Bluff they found Captain Mills had fastened to a
+whale, two other loose whales being near.  They pulled up alongside
+him, and he pointed out a loose whale, to which they fastened.
+Mansfield, of the Hobarton party, fastened to the third whale.  Davy
+came aft to the steer-oar, and Charles Mills went forward to kill his
+whale.  He had hardly got the lance in his hand when the whale threw
+herself right athwart the nose of the boat.  He then sent the lance
+right into her and killed her stone dead.  Mansfield, in hauling up
+his whale got on top of Captain Mills' whale, which stove in
+Mansfield's boat, and sent all his men flying in the air.  There was
+a rush then to pick up the men.  Charles Mills, finding his whale
+dead, struck a whiff in the lance-hole he had made when he killed
+her, cut the line that was fast to her, and bent it on to another
+spare iron.  Mansfield's whale then milled round and came right on to
+Charles Mills' boat, and he fastened to her.  This gave him a claim
+of one half of her, so that Mills and his men got two and a half out
+of the three whales.  The men were all picked up.  Mills' whales were
+anchored about half-a-mile from the schooner, and the boats went out
+next morning and took them in tow.
+
+The whales tow very easily when fresh killed, but if they are allowed
+to get stiff their fins stand out and hinder the towing.  When the
+two whales were brought alongside the schooner, the boats of Kelly's
+party were seen fast to a whale off Black Nose Point.  Charles Mills
+pulled over, and when he arrived he found a loose whale, Mansfield
+and Chase being fast to two other whales.  Mills fastened to the
+loose whale, and then the three whales fouled the three lines, and
+rolled them all together like a warp, which made it difficult to kill
+them.  After the men had pulled up on them for some time with the
+oars, two of them began spouting blood and sickened, and Chase's boat
+got on to them and capsized.  Then the whales took to running, and
+Mansfield cut his line to pick up Chase and his crew.  Mansfield's
+whale being sick, went in a flurry and died.  Mills' whale and
+Chase's worked together until Mills killed his whale; he then whiffed
+her and fastened to Chase's whale, which gave him a claim for half,
+and he killed her; so that his party got one and a-half out of the
+three whales.  Chase and his crew were all picked up.
+
+ From that day the luck of Mills and his party turned, and they could
+not try out fast enough.  In four months from the time the 'Thistle'
+left Launceston she had on board two hundred and forty tuns of oil.
+
+In the year 1836, the Hentys had a few cattle running behind the
+Bluff when Major Mitchell arrived overland from Sydney, and reported
+good country to the north.  They then brought over more cattle from
+Launceston, and stocked a station.
+
+The first beast killed by the Hentys for their whalers was a heifer,
+and the carcase, divided into two parts, was suspended from the
+flagstaff at their house.  It could be seen from afar by the men who
+were pulling across the bay in their boats, and they knew that
+Henty's men were going to feed on fresh meat, while all the rest were
+eating such awful stuff as Yankee pork and salt horse.  The very
+sight of the two sides of the heifer suspended at the flagstaff was
+an unendurable insult and mockery to the carnivorous whalers, and an
+incitement to larceny.  Davy Fermaner was steering one of the boats,
+and he exclaimed: "There, they are flashing the fresh meat to us.
+They would look foolish if they lost it to-night."
+
+There was feasting and revelry that night at Single Corner.  Hungry
+men were sharpening their sheath-knives with steel, and cutting up a
+side of beef.  A large fire was burning, and on the glowing coals,
+and in every frying-pan rich steaks were fizzing and hissing.  It was
+like a feast of heroes, and lasted long through the night.  They sang
+responsively, like gentle shepherds--shepherds of the ocean fields
+whose flocks were mighty whales:
+
+"Mother, the butcher's brought the meat,
+What shall I do with it?
+Fry the flesh, and broil the bones,
+And make a pudding of the su-et."
+
+Next morning the Hentys looked for the missing beef up the flagstaff,
+and along the shore of the ever-sounding ocean, but their search was
+vain.  They suspected that the men of Kelly's party were the thieves,
+but these all looked as stupid, ignorant, and innocent as the adverse
+circumstances would permit.  There was no evidence against them to be
+found; the beef was eaten and the bones were burned and buried.
+Mills' men were the beef lifters, and some of Kelly's men helped them
+to eat it.
+
+The whales killed at the Portland fishery were of two kinds, the
+right or black whale, and the sperm whale.  The right whale has an
+immense tongue, and lives by suction, the food being a kind of small
+shrimp.  When in a flurry--that is, when she has received her
+death-stroke with the lance--she goes round in a circle, working
+with her head and flukes.  The sperm whales feed on squid, which they
+bite, and when in a flurry they work with the head and flukes, and
+with the mouth open, and often crush the boats.
+
+After the crew of the 'Thistle' had spent their money, they were
+taken back to Port Fairy for the purpose of stripping bark, a large
+quantity of wattle trees having been found in the neighbouring
+country.  Sheep were also taken there in charge of Mr. J. Murphy, who
+intended to form a station.  John Griffiths also sent over his
+father, Jonathan, who had been a carpenter on board the first
+man-of-war that had arrived at Port Jackson, three old men who had
+been prisoners, four bullocks, a plough, and some seed potatoes.  A
+cargo of the previous season's bark was put into the 'Thistle', and
+on her return to Launceston, was transferred to the 'Rhoda' brig,
+Captain Rolls, bound for London.  More sheep and provisions were then
+taken in the 'Thistle', and after they were landed at Port Fairy,
+another cargo of bark was put on board.  For three days there was no
+wind, and a tremendous sea setting in from the south-east, the
+schooner could not leave the bay.  On the night of December 24th a
+gale of wind came on from the south-east; one chain parted, and after
+riding until three o'clock in the morning of Christmas Day, the other
+chain also parted.  The vessel drew eight feet, and was lying in
+between three and four fathoms of water.  As soon as the second chain
+broke, Davy went up on the fore-yard and cut the gaskets of the
+foresail.  The schooner grounded in the trough of sea, but when she
+rose the foresail was down, and she paid off before the wind.  The
+shore was about a mile, or a mile and a half distant, and she took
+the beach right abreast of a sheep yard, where her wreck now lies.
+The men got ashore in safety, but all the cargo was lost.
+
+A tent was pitched on shore near the wreck, but as there was no
+vessel in the bay by which they could return to Launceston, the four
+men, Captain Mills, D. Fermaner, Charles Ferris, and Richard
+Jennings, on December 31st, 1837, set sail in a whaleboat for Port
+Philip.  Davy had stolen Jennings from the 'Rhoda' brig at
+Launceston, when seamen were scarce.  He was afterwards a pilot at
+Port Philip, and was buried at Williamstown.
+
+The whaleboat reached Port Philip on January 3rd, 1838, having got
+through the Rip on the night of the 2nd. Ferris was the only man of
+the crew who had been in before, he having gone in with Batman, in
+the 'Rebecca' cutter, Captain Baldwin.  Baldwin was afterwards before
+the mast in the 'Elizabeth' schooner; he was a clever man, but fond
+of drink.
+
+The whaleboat anchored off Portsea, but the men did not land for fear
+of the blacks.
+
+At daylight Davy landed to look for water, but could not find any;
+and there were only three pints in the water-bag.  The wind being
+from the north, the boat was pulled over to Mud Island, and the men
+went ashore to make tea with the three pints of water.  Davy walked
+about the island, and found a rookery of small mackerel-gulls and a
+great quantity of their eggs in the sand.  He broke a number of them,
+and found that the light-coloured eggs were good, and that the dark
+ones had birds in them.  He took off his shirt, tied the sleeves
+together, bagged a lot of the eggs, and carried them back to the
+camp.  Mills broke the best of them into the great pot, and the eggs
+and water mixed together and boiled made about a quart for each man.
+
+After breakfast the wind shifted to the southward, and the 'Henry'
+brig, from Launceston, Captain Whiting, ran in, bound to Point Henry
+with sheep; but before Mills and his men could get away from Mud
+Island the brig had passed.  They pulled and sailed after her, but
+did not overtake her until she arrived off the point where Batman
+first settled, now called Port Arlington; at that time they called
+the place Indented Heads.
+
+When the whaleboat came near the brig to ask for water, two or three
+muskets were levelled at the men over the bulwarks, and they were
+told to keep off, or they would be shot.  At that time a boat's crew
+of prisoners had escaped from Melbourne in a whale boat, and the
+ship-wrecked men were suspected as the runaways.  But one of the crew
+of the 'Henry', named Jack Macdonald, looked over the side, and
+seeing Davy in the boat, asked him what they had done with the
+schooner 'Thistle', and they told him they had lost her at Port Fairy.
+
+Captain Whiting asked Macdonald if he knew them, and on being
+informed that they were the captain and crew of the schooner
+'Thistle', he invited them on board and supplied them with a good
+dinner.  They went on to Point Henry in the brig, and assisted in
+landing the sheep.
+
+Batman was at that time in Melbourne.  Davy had seen him before in
+Launceston.  After discharging the sheep the brig proceeded to
+Gellibrand's Point, and as Captain Whiting wanted to go up to
+Melbourne, the men pulled him up the Yarra in their whaleboat.
+Fawkner's Hotel at that time was above the site of the present
+customs House, and was built with broad paling.  Mills and Whiting
+stayed there that night, Davy and the other two men being invited to
+a small public-house kept by a man named Burke, a little way down
+Little Flinders Street, where they were made very comfortable.
+
+Next day they went back to the brig 'Henry', and started for Launceston.
+
+In May, 1838, Davy was made master of the schooner 'Elizabeth', and
+took in her a cargo of sheep, and landed them at Port Fairy.  The
+three old convicts whom Griffiths had sent there along with his
+father Jonathan, had planted four or five acres of potatoes at a
+place called Goose Lagoon, about two miles behind the township.  The
+crop was a very large one, from fifteen to twenty tons to the acre,
+and Davy had received orders to take in fifty tons of the potatoes,
+and to sell them in South Australia.  He did so, and after four days'
+passage went ashore at the port, offered the potatoes for sale, and
+sold twenty tons at 22 pounds 10 shillings per ton.  On going ashore
+again next morning, he was offered 20 pounds per ton for the
+remainder, and he sold them at that price.
+
+On the same day the 'Nelson' brig, from Hobarton, arrived with one
+hundred tons of potatoes, but she could not sell them, as Davy had
+fully stocked the market.  He was paid for the potatoes in gold by
+the two men who bought them.
+
+He went up to the new city of Adelaide.  All the buildings were of
+the earliest style of architecture, and were made of tea-tree and
+sods, or of reeds dabbed together with mud.  The hotels had no
+signboards, but it was easy to find them by the heaps of bottles
+outside.  Kangaroo flesh was 1s. 6d. a pound, but grog was cheap.
+Davy was looking for a shipmate named Richard Ralph, who was then the
+principal architect and builder in the city.  He found him erecting
+homes for the immigrants out of reeds and mud.  He was paid 10 pounds
+or 12 pounds for each building.  He was also hunting kangaroo and
+selling meat.  He was married to a lady immigrant, and on the whole
+appeared to be very comfortable and prosperous.  Davy gave the lady a
+five-shilling piece to go and fetch a bottle of gin, and was
+surprised when she came back bringing two bottles of gin and 3s.
+change.  In the settlement the necessaries of life were dear, but the
+luxuries were cheap.  If a man could not afford to buy kangaroo beef
+and potatoes, he could live sumptuously on gin.  Davy walked back to
+the port the same evening, and next day took in ballast, which was
+mud dug out among the mangroves.
+
+He arrived at Launceston in four days, and then went as coasting
+pilot of the barque 'Belinda', bound to Port Fairy to take in oil for
+London.  The barque took in 100 head of cattle, the first that were
+landed at Port Fairy.  He then went to Port Philip, and was employed
+in lightering cargo up the Yarra, and in ferrying between
+Williamstown and the beach now called Port Melbourne.  He took out
+the first boatman's licence issued, and has the brass badge, No. 1,
+still.  Vessels at that time had to be warped up the Yarra from below
+Humbug Reach, as no wind could get at the topsails, on account of the
+high tea-tree on the banks.
+
+
+
+OUT WEST IN 1849.
+
+I did not travel as a capitalist, far from it.  I went up the
+Mississippi as a deck passenger, sleeping at night sometimes on
+planks, at other times on bags of oats piled on the deck about six
+feet high.  The mate of a Mississippi boat is always a bully and
+every now and then he came along with a deck-hand carrying a lamp,
+and requested us to come down.  He said it was "agen the rules of the
+boat to sleep on oats"; but we kept on breaking the rules as much as
+possible.
+
+Above the mouth of the Ohio the river bank on the Missouri side is
+high, rocky, and picturesque. I longed to be the owner of a farm up
+there, and of a modest cottage overlooking the Father of Waters.  I
+said, "If there's peace and plenty to be had in this world, the heart
+that is humble might hope for it here," and then the very first
+village visible was called "Vide Poche."  It is now a suburb of St.
+Louis.
+
+I took a passage on another boat up the Illinois river.  There was a
+very lordly man on the lower deck who was frequently "trailing his
+coat."  He had, in fact, no coat at all, only a grey flannel shirt
+and nankeen trousers, but he was remarkably in want of a fight, and
+anxious to find a man willing to be licked.  He was a desperado of
+the great river.  We had heard and read of such men, of their
+reckless daring and deadly fights; but we were peaceful people; we
+had come out west to make a living, and therefore did not want to be
+killed.  When the desperado came near we looked the other way.
+
+There was a party of five immigrant Englishmen sitting on their
+luggage.  One of them was very strongly built, a likely match for the
+bully, and a deck-hand pointing to him said:
+
+"Jack, do you know what that Englishman says about you?"
+
+"No, what does he say?"
+
+"He says he don't think you are of much account with all your brag.
+Reckons he could lick you in a couple of minutes."
+
+Uttering imprecations, Jack approached the Englishman, and dancing
+about the deck, cleared the ring for the coming combat.
+
+"Come on, you green-horn, and take your gruel.  Here's the best man
+on the river for you.  You'll find him real grit."
+
+The stranger sat still, said he was not a fighting man, and did not
+want to quarrel with anybody.
+
+Jack grew more ferocious than ever, and aimed a blow at the peaceful
+man to persuade him to come on.  He came on suddenly.  The two men
+were soon writhing together on the guard deck, and I was pleased to
+observe the desperado was undermost.  The Englishman was full of
+fear, and was fighting for his life.  He was doing it with great
+earnestness.  He was grasping the throat of his enemy tightly with
+both hands, and pressing his thumbs on the wind-pipe.  We could see
+he was going to win in his own simple way, without any recourse to
+science, and he would have done so very soon had he not been
+interrupted.  But as Jack was growing black in the face, the other
+Englishmen began to pull at their mate, and tried to unlock his grip
+on Jack's throat.  It was not easy to do so.  He held on to his man
+to the very last, crying out:  "Leave me alone till I do for him.
+Man alive, don't you know the villain wants to murder me?"
+
+The desperado lay for a while gulping and gasping on his bed of
+glory, unable to rise.  I observed patches of bloody skin hanging
+loose on both sides of his neck when he staggered along the deck
+towards the starboard sponson.
+
+There was peace for a quarter of an hour.  Then Jack's voice was
+heard again.  He had lost prestige, and was coming to recover it with
+a bowie knife.  He said:
+
+"Where's that Britisher?  I am going to cut his liver out."
+
+The Englishman heard the threat, and said to him mates:
+
+"I told you so!  He means to murder me.  Why didn't you leave me
+alone when I had the fine holt of him?"
+
+He then hurried away and ran upstairs to the saloon.
+
+Jack followed to the foot of the ladder, and one wild-eyed young lady said:
+
+"Look at the Englishman [he was sitting on a chair a few feet
+distance].  Ain't he pale?  Oh! the coward!"
+
+She wanted to witness a real lively fight, and was disappointed.  The
+smell of blood seems grateful to the nostrils of both ladies and
+gentlemen in the States.  A butcher from St. Louis explained it thus:
+
+"It's in the liver.  Nine out of ten of the beasts I kill have liver
+complaint.  I am morally sartin I'd find the human livers just the
+same if I examined them in any considerable quantity."
+
+The captain came to the head of the stairs and descended to the deck.
+He was tall and lanky and mild of speech.  He said:
+
+"Now, Jack, what are you going to do with that knife?"
+
+"I am waiting to cut the liver out of that Englishman.  Send him
+down, Captain, till I finish the job."
+
+"Yes, I see.  He has been peeling your neck pretty bad, ain't he?
+Powerful claws, I reckon.  Jack, you'll be getting into trouble some
+day with your weepons."  He took a small knife out of his pocket.
+"Look here, Jack.  I've been going up and down the river more'n
+twenty years, and never carried a weepon bigg'n that, and never had a
+muss with nobody.  A man who draws his bowie sometimes gets shot.
+Let's look at your knife."
+
+He examined it closely, deciphered the brand, drew his thumb over the
+edge, and observed:
+
+"Why, blame me, if it ain't one of them British bowies--a
+Free-trade Brummagen. I reckon you can't carve anyone with a thing
+like this."  He made a dig at the hand-rail with the point, and it
+actually curled up like the ring in a hog's snout.  "You see, Jack, a
+knife like that is mean, unbecoming a gentleman, and a disgrace to a
+respectable boat."  He pitched the British article into the river and
+went up into the saloon.
+
+As Jack had not yet recovered his prestige, he went away, and
+returned with a dinner knife in one hand and a shingling hammer in
+the other.  He waited for his adversary until the sun was low and the
+deck passengers were preparing their evening meal.  Two of the
+Englishmen came along towards the stairs and ascended to the saloon.
+Presently they began to descend with their mate in the middle.  Jack
+looked at them, and for some reason or other he did not want any more
+prestige.  He sauntered away along the guard deck, and remained in
+retirement during the rest of the voyage.  He was not, after all, a
+very desperate desperado.
+
+During the next night our boat was racing with a rival craft, and one
+of her engines was damaged.  She had then to hop on one leg, as it
+were, as far as Peoria.  The Illinois river had here spread out into
+a broad lake; the bank was low, there were no buildings of any kind
+near the water; some of the passengers landed, and nobody came to
+offer them welcome.
+
+I stood near an English immigrant who had just brought his luggage
+ashore, and was sitting on it with his wife and three children.  They
+looked around at the low land and wide water, and became full of
+misery.  The wife said:
+
+"What are we boun' to do now, Samiul?  Wheer are me and the childer
+to go in this miserable lookin' place?"
+
+Samiul:  "I'm sure, Betsy, I don't know.  I've nobbut hafe a dollar
+left of o' my money.  They said Peoria was a good place for us to
+stop at, but I don't see any signs o' farmin' about here, and if I go
+away to look for a job, where am I to put thee and the childer, and
+the luggage and the bedding?"
+
+"Oh!" said Betsy, beginning to cry; "I'm sorry we ever left owd
+England.  But thou would come, Samiul, thou knows, and this is the
+end on it.  Here we are in this wild country without house or home,
+and wi' nothin' to eat.  I allus thowt tha wor a fool, Samiul, and
+now I'm sure and sartin on it."
+
+Samiul could not deny it. His spirit was completely broken; he hung
+down his head, and tears began to trickle down his eyes.  The three
+children--two sturdy little boys and a fair-haired little girl--
+seeing their dad and ma shedding tears, thought the whole world must
+be coming to an end, and they began howling out aloud without any
+reserve.  It was the best thing they could have done, as it called
+public attention to their misery, and drew a crowd around them.  A
+tall stranger came near looked at the group, and said:
+
+"My good man, what in thunder are you crying for?"
+
+"I was told Peoria was a good place for farmin'," Samuel said, "and
+now I don't know where to go, and I have got no money."
+
+"Well, you are a soft 'un,"  replied the stranger.  "Just dry up and
+wait here till I come back."
+
+He walked away with long strides.  Peoria was then a dreary-looking
+city, of which we could see nothing but the end of a broad road, a
+few frame buildings, two or three waggons, and some horses hitched to
+the posts of the piazzas.
+
+The stranger soon returned with a farmer in a waggon drawn by two
+fine upstanding horses, fit for a royal carriage.  The farmer at once
+hired the immigrant at ten dollars a month with board for himself and
+family.  He put the luggage into his waggon, patted the boys on the
+head and told them to be men; kissed the little girl as he lifted her
+into the waggon, and said:
+
+"Now, Sissy, you are a nice little lady, and you are to come along
+with me, and we'll be good friends."
+
+Never was sorrow so quickly turned into joy.  The man, his wife, and
+children, actually began smiling before the tears on their cheeks
+were dry.
+
+Men on every western prairie were preparing their waggons for the
+great rush to California; new hands were wanted on the lands, and the
+immigrants who were then arriving in thousands, took the place of the
+other thousands who went westward across the plains.  There was
+employment for everybody, and during my three years' residence on the
+prairies I only saw one beggar.  He was an Italian patriot, who said
+he had fought for Italy; he was now begging for it in English,
+badly-broken, so I said:
+
+"You are a strong, healthy man; why don't you go to work?  You could
+earn eight or ten dollars a month, with board, anywhere in these
+parts."
+
+But the Italian patriot was a high-class beggar; he was collecting
+funds, and had no idea of wasting his time in hard work.  He gave me
+to understand that I had insulted him.
+
+Besides this patriot, there were a few horse-thieves and hog duffers
+on the prairies, but these, when identified, were either stretched
+under a tree or sent to Texas.
+
+In those days the prairie farmers were all gentlemen, high-minded,
+truthful, honourable, and hospitable.  There were no poor houses, no
+asylums.  All orphans were adopted and treated as members of some
+family in the neighbourhood.
+
+I am informed that things are quite different now.  The march of
+empire has been rapid; many men have grown rich, to use a novel
+expression, beyond the dreams of avarice, and ten times as many have
+grown poor and discontented.
+
+The great question for statesmen now is, "What is to be done for the
+relief of the masses?" and the answer to it is as difficult to find
+as ever.
+
+But I have to proceed up the Illinois river.
+
+The steamboat stopped at Lasalle, the head of navigation, and we had
+then to travel on the Illinois and Michigan canal.  We went on board
+a narrow passenger boat towed by two horses, and followed by two
+freight barges.  We did not go at a breakneck pace, and had plenty of
+time for conversation, and to look at the scenery, which consisted of
+prairies, sloughs, woods, and rivers.  The picture lacked background,
+as there is nothing in Illinois deserving the name of hill.  But we
+passed an ancient monument, a tall pillar, rising out of the bed of
+the Illinois river.  It is called "Starved Rock."  Once a number of
+Indian warriors, pursued by white men, climbed up the almost
+perpendicular sides of the pillar.  They had no food, and though the
+stream was flowing beneath them, they could not obtain a drink of
+water without danger of death from rifle bullets.  The white men
+instituted a blockade of the pillar, and the red men all perished of
+starvation on the top of it.
+
+The conversation was conducted by the captain of the canal boat, as
+he walked on the deck to and fro.  He was full of information.  He
+said he was a native of Kentucky; had come down the Ohio river from
+Louisville; was taking freight to Chicago; reckoned he was bound to
+rake in the dollars on the canal; was no dog-gonned Abolitionist;
+niggers were made to work for white folks; they had no souls any more
+than a horse; he'd like to see the man who would argue the point.
+
+Mrs. Beecher Stowe was then writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," at too great
+a distance to hear the challenge, but a greenhorn ventured to argue
+the point.
+
+"What about the mulatto? Half black, half white.  His father being a
+white man had a whole soul; his mother being black had no soul.  Has
+the mulatto a whole soul, half a soul, or no soul at all?"
+
+The captain paused in his walk, with both hands in his pockets, gazed
+at the argumentative greenhorn, turned his quid, spat across the
+canal, went away whistling "Old Dan Tucker," and left the question of
+the mulatto's soul unsolved.
+
+When I arrived at Joliet there was a land boom at Chicago.  The canal
+company had cut up their alternate sections, and were offering them
+at the usual alarming sacrifice.  A land boom is a dream
+of celestial bliss.  While it lasts, the wisest men and the greatest
+fools walk with ecstatic steps through the golden streets of a New
+Jerusalem. I have been there three times.  It is dreadful to wake up
+and to find that all the gold in the street is nothing but moonshine.
+
+I proceeded to the Lake City to lay the foundation of my fortune by
+buying town lots.  I laid the foundation on a five-acre block in West
+Joliet, but had to borrow seven dollars from my nearest friend to pay
+the first deposit. Chicago was then a small but busy wooden town,
+with slushy streets, plank sidewalks, verandahs full of rats, and
+bedrooms humming with mosquitoes.  I left it penniless but proud, an
+owner of real estate.
+
+While returning to Joliet on the canal boat my nearest friend, from
+whom I had borrowed the seven dollars, kindly gave me his views on
+the subject of "greenhorns."  (The Australian equivalent of
+"greenhorn" is "new chum."  I had the advantage of serving my time in
+both capacities).  "No greenhorn," he observed, "ever begins to get
+along in the States until he has parted with his bottom dollar.  That
+puts a keen edge on his mind, and he grows smart in business.  A
+smart man don't strain his back with hard work for any considerable
+time.  He takes out a patent for something--a mowing machine, or
+one for sowing corn and pumpkins, a new churn or wash-tub, pills for
+the shakes, or, best of all, a new religion--anything, in fact,
+that will catch on and fetch the public."
+
+I had parted with my bottom dollar, was also in debt, and therefore
+in the best position for getting along; but I could not all at once
+think of anything to patent, and had to earn my daily bread some way
+or other.  I began to do it by hammering sheets of iron into the
+proper curves for an undershot water-wheel.  After I had worked two
+days my boss suggested that I should seek other employment--in a
+school, for instance; a new teacher was wanted in the common school
+of West Joliet.
+
+I said I should prefer something higher; a teacher was of no more
+earthly account than a tailor.
+
+The boss said:  "That might be so in benighted Britain, but in the
+Great United States our prominent citizens begin life as teachers in
+the common schools, and gradually rise to the highest positions in
+the Republic."
+
+I concluded to rise, but a certificate of competency was required,
+and I presented myself for examination to the proper official, the
+editor and proprietor of 'The True Democrat' whose office was across
+the bridge, nearly opposite Matheson's woollen factory. I found the
+editor and his compositor labouring over the next edition of the
+paper.
+
+The editor began the examination with the alphabet.  I said in
+England we used twenty-six letters, and I named all of them correctly
+except the last.  I called it "zed," but the editor said it was
+"zee," and I did not argue the point.
+
+He then asked me to pick out the vowels, the consonants, the flats,
+the sharps, the aspirates, the labials, the palatals, the dentals,
+and the mutes.  I was struck dumb; I could feel the very foundation
+of all learning sinking beneath me, and had to confess that I did not
+know my letters.
+
+Then he went on to spelling and writing.  My writing was barely
+passable, and my spelling was quite out of date.  I used superfluous
+letters which had been very properly abolished by Webster's
+dictionary.
+
+At last the editor remarked, with becoming modesty, that he was
+himself of no account at figures, but Mr. Sims would put me through
+the arithmetic.  Mr. Sims was the compositor, and an Englishman; he
+put me through tenderly.
+
+When the examination was finished, I felt like a convicted impostor,
+and was prepared to resume work on the undershot water-wheel, but the
+two professors took pity on me, and certified in writing that I was
+qualified to keep school.
+
+Then the editor remarked that the retiring teacher, Mr. Randal, had
+advertised in the 'True Democrat' his ability to teach the Latin
+language; but, unfortunately, Father Ingoldsby had offered himself as
+a first pupil; Mr. Randal never got another, and all his Latin oozed
+out.  On this timely hint I advertised my ability to teach the
+citizens of Joliet not only Latin, but Greek, French, Spanish, and
+Portuguese.  My advertisement will be found among the files of the
+'True Democrat' of the year 1849 by anyone taking the trouble to look
+for it.  I had carelessly omitted to mention the English language,
+but we sometimes get what we don't ask for, and no less than sixteen
+Germans came to night school to study our tongue.  They were all
+masons and quarrymen engaged in exporting steps and window sills to
+the rising city of Chicago.
+
+When Goldsmith tried to earn his bread by teaching English in
+Holland, he overlooked the fact that it was first necessary for him
+to learn Low Dutch.  I overlooked the same fact, but it gave me no
+trouble whatever.  There was no united Germany then, and my pupils
+disagreed continually about the pronunciation of their own language,
+which seemed, like that of Babel, intelligible to nobody.  I composed
+their quarrels by confining their minds to English solely, and
+harmony was restored each night by song.
+
+The school-house was a one-storey frame building on the second
+plateau in West Joliet, and was attended by about one hundred
+scholars.  In the rear was a shallow lagoon, fenced on one side by a
+wall of loose rocks, infested with snakes.  The track to the cemetery
+was near, and it soon began to be in very frequent use.  One day
+during recess the boys had a snake hunt, and they tied their game in
+one bunch by the heads with string, and suspended them by the
+wayside.  I counted them, and there were twenty-seven snakes in the
+bunch.
+
+The year '49 was the 'annus mirabilis' of the great rush for gold
+across the plains, and it was also an 'annus miserabilis' on account
+of the cholera.  In three weeks fourteen hundred waggons bound for
+California crossed one of the bridges over the canal.  I was desirous
+of joining the rush, but was, as usual, short of cash, and I had to
+stay at Joliet to earn my salary.  I met the editor of the 'True
+Democrat' nearly every day carrying home a bucket of water from the
+Aux Plaines river.  He did his own chores.  He sent two young men who
+wished to become teachers to my school to graduate.  One was named
+O'Reilly, lately from Ireland; I gave him his degree in a few weeks,
+and he kept school somewhere out on the prairie.  The other did not
+graduate before the cholera came.  He was a native of Vermont, and he
+played the clarionet in our church choir.  The instrumental music
+came from the clarionet, from a violin, and a flute.  The choir came
+from France and Germany, Old England and New England, Ireland,
+Alsace, and Belgium.  It was divided into two hostile camps, and the
+party which first took possession of the gallery took precedence in
+the music for that day only.  There was a want of harmony.  One
+morning when the priest was chanting the first words of the Gloria,
+the head of a little French bugler appeared at the top of the gallery
+stairs, and at once started a plaint chant, Gloria, we had never
+rehearsed or heard before.  He sang his solo to the end.  He was
+thirsting for glory, and he took a full draught.
+
+I don't think there was ever a choir like ours but one, and that was
+conducted by a butcher from Dolphinholm in the Anglican Church at
+Garstang.  One Sunday he started a hymn with a new tune.  Three times
+his men broke down, and three times they were heard by the whole
+congregation whispering ferociously at one another. At length the
+parson tried to proceed with the service, and said:  "Let us pray."
+But the bold butcher retorted:  "Pray be hanged.  Let us try again,
+lads; I know we can do it."  He then started the hymn for the fourth
+time, and they did it.  After the service the parson demanded
+satisfaction of the butcher, and got it in a neighbouring pasture.
+
+The cholera came, and we soon grew very serious.  The young man from
+Vermont walked with me after school hours, and we tried to be
+cheerful, but it was of no use. Our talk always reverted to the
+plague, and the best way to cure it or to avoid it.  The doctors
+disagreed.  Every theory was soon contradicted by facts; all kinds of
+people were attacked and died; the young and the old, the weak and
+the strong, the drunken and the sober.  Every man adopted a special
+diet or a favourite liquor--brandy, whiskey, bitters, cherry-bounce,
+sarsaparilla.  My own particular preventive was hot tea, sweetened
+with molasses and seasoned with cayenne pepper.  I survived, but that
+does not prove anything in particular.
+
+The two papers, the 'Joliet Signal' and the 'True Democrat', scarcely
+ever mentioned the cholera.  It would have been bad policy, tending
+to scare away the citizens and to injure trade.
+
+Many men suddenly found that they had urgent business to look after
+elsewhere, and sneaked away, leaving their wives and families behind
+them.
+
+On Sunday Father Ingoldsby advised his people to prepare their souls
+for the visit of the Angel of Death, who was every night knocking at
+their doors.  There were many, he said, whose faces he had never seen
+at the rails since he came to Joliet; and what answer would they give
+to the summons which called them to appear without delay before the
+judgment seat of God?  What doom could they expect but that of
+damnation and eternal death?
+
+The sermon needed no translation for the men of many nations who were
+present.  Irishmen and Englishmen, Highlanders and Belgians, French
+and Germans, Mexicans and Canadians, could interpret the meaning of
+the flashing eye which roamed to every corner of the church, singling
+out each miserable sinner; the fierce frown, the threatening gesture,
+the finger first pointing to the heaven above, and then down to the
+depths of hell.
+
+Some stayed to pray and to confess their sins; others hardened their
+hearts and went home unrepentant.  Michael Mangan went to Belz's
+grocery near the canal.  He said he felt pains in his interior, and
+drank a jigger of whisky.  Then he bought half-a-gallon of the same
+remedy to take home with him.  It was a cheap prescription, costing
+only twelve and a half cents, but it proved very effective.  Old Belz
+put the stuff into an earthenware bottle, which he corked with a
+corncob.  Michael started for home by the zigzag path which led up
+the steep limestone bluff, but his steps were slow and unsteady; he
+sat down on a rock, and took another dose out of his bottle.  He
+never went any further of his own motion, and we buried him next day.
+We were of different opinions about the cause of his death; some
+thought it was the cholera, others the pangs of conscience, some the
+whisky, and others a mixture of all three; at any rate, he died
+without speaking to the priest.
+
+Next day another neighbour died, Mr. Harrigan.  He had lost one arm,
+but with the other he wrote a good hand, and registered deeds in the
+County Court.  I called to see him.  He was in bed lying on his back,
+his one arm outside the coverlet, his heaving chest was bare, and his
+face was ghastly pale.  There were six men in the room, one of whom
+said:
+
+"Do you know me, Mr. Harrigan?"
+
+"Sure, divil a dog in Lockport but knows you, Barney," said the dying man.
+
+Barney lived in Lockport, and in an audible whisper said to us:  "Ain't
+he getting on finely?  He'll be all right again to-morrow, please
+God."
+
+"And didn't the doctor say I'd be dead before twelve this day?"
+asked Harrigan.
+
+I looked at the clock on the mantelshelf.  It was past ten.  He died
+an hour later.
+
+One day the young man from Vermont rose from his seat and looked at
+me across the schoolroom.  I thought he was going to say something.
+He took down his hat, went to the door, turned and looked at me
+again, but he did not speak or make any sign.  Next morning his place
+was vacant, and I asked one of the boys if he had seen the young man.
+The boy said:
+
+"He ain't a-coming to school no more, I calkilate.  He was buried
+this morning before school hours."
+
+That year, '49 was a dismal year in Joliet.
+
+Mr. Rogers, one of the school managers, came and sat on a bench near
+the door.  He was a New Englander, a carpenter, round-shouldered,
+tall and bony.  He said:
+
+"I called in to tell you that I can't vote for appinting you to this
+school next term.  Fact is the ladies are dead against you; don't see
+you at meeting on the Sabbath; say you go to the Catholic Church with
+the Irish and Dutch.  I a'n't a word to say agen you myself.  This is
+a free country; every man can go, for aught I care, whichever way he
+darn chooses--to heaven, or hell, or any other place.  But I want
+to be peaceable, and I can't get no peace about voting for you next
+term, so I thought I'd let you know, that you mightn't be
+disappointed."
+
+In that way Mr. Rogers washed his hands of me.  I said I was sorry I
+did not please the ladies, but I liked to hear a man who spoke his
+mind freely.
+
+Soon afterwards the Germans brought me word that the Yankees were
+calling a meeting about me.  I was aware by this time that when a
+special gathering of citizens takes place to discuss the demerits of
+any individual, it is advisable for that individual to be absent if
+possible; but curiosity was strong within me; hitherto I had never
+been honoured with any public notice whatever, and I attended the
+meeting uninvited.
+
+The Yankees are excellent orators; they are born without bashfulness;
+they are taught to speak pieces in school from their childhood; they
+pronounce each word distinctly; they use correctly the rising
+inflection and the falling inflection.   Moreover, they are always in
+deadly earnest; there is another miserable world awaiting their
+arrival.  Their humorists are the most unhappy of men.  You may smile
+when you read their jokes, but when you see the jokers you are more
+inclined to weep.  With pain and sorrow they grind, like Samson, at
+the jokers' mill all the days of their lives.
+
+The meeting was held in the new two-storey school-house.
+
+Deacon Beaumont took the chair--my chair--and Mr Curtis was
+appointed secretary.  I began to hate Deacon Beaumont, as also Mr.
+Curtis, who was the only other teacher present; it was evident they
+were going to put him in my place.
+
+Each speaker on rising put his left hand in the side pocket of his
+pants.  I was not mentioned by name, but nevertheless I was given
+clearly to understand that I had been reared in a land whose people
+are under the dominion of a tyrannical monarch and a bloated
+aristocracy; that therefore I had never breathed the pure air of
+freedom, and was unfitted to teach the children of the Great Republic.
+
+Mr. Tucker, an influential citizen, moved finally that the school
+managers be instructed to engage a Mr. Sellars, of Dresden, as
+teacher at the West Joliet School.  He said Mr. Sellars was a young
+man from New England who had been teaching for a term at Dresden, and
+had given great satisfaction.  He had the best testimony to the
+character and ability of the young man from his own daughter, Miss
+Priscilla Tucker, who had been school marm in the same school, and
+was now home on a visit.  She could give, from her own personal
+knowledge, any information the managers might require.
+
+Mr. Tucker's motion was seconded.  There was no amendment proposed,
+and all in favour of the motion were requested by Deacon Beaumont to
+stand up.  The Yankees all rose to their feet, the others sat still,
+all but old Gorges, a Prussian, who, with his two sons, had come to
+vote for me.  But the old man did not understand English.  His son
+John pulled him down, but Deacon Beaumont had counted his vote, and
+the motion was carried by a majority of one.  So I was, in fact, put
+out of the school by my best friend, old Gorges.
+
+I went away in a dudgeon and marked off a cellar on my real estate,
+30 feet by 18 feet, on the top of the bluff, near the edge of the
+western prairie.  The ground was a mixture of stiff clay and
+limestone rock, and I dug at it all through the month of September.
+Curious people came along and made various remarks; some said
+nothing, but went away whistling.  One day Mr. Jackson and Paul
+Duffendorff were passing by, and I wanted them to pass, but they
+stopped like the rest.  Mr. Jackson was reckoned one of the smartest
+men in Will county.  He had a large farm, well stocked, but he was
+never known to do any work except with his brains.  He was one of
+those men who increased the income of the State of Illinois by
+ability.  Duffendorf was a huge Dutchman, nearly seven feet in
+height.  He was a great friend of mine, great every way, but very
+stupid; he had no sense of refinement.  He said:
+
+"Ve gates, schoolmeister?  Py golly!  Here, Mr. Shackson, is our
+schoolmeister a vurkin mit spade and bick.  How vas you like dat
+kind of vurk, Mr. Shackson?"
+
+"Never could be such a darned fool; sooner steal," answered Jackson.
+
+Duffendorf laughed until he nearly fell into the cellar.  Now this
+talk was very offensive.  I knew Mr. Jackson was defendant in a case
+then pending.  He had been charged with conspiring to defraud; with
+having stolen three horses; with illegally detaining seventy-five
+dollars; and on other counts which I cannot remember just now.  The
+thing was originally very simple, even Duffendorff could understand
+it.
+
+Mr. Jackson was in want of some ready money, so he directed his hired
+man to steal three of his horses in the dead of night, take them to
+Chicago, sell them to the highest bidder, find out where the highest
+bidder lived, and then return with the cash to Joliet.  The hired man
+did his part of the business faithfully, returned and reported to his
+employer.  Then Mr. Jackson set out in search of his stolen horses,
+found them, and brought them home.  The man expected to receive half
+the profits of the enterprise.  The boss demurred, and only offered
+one-third, and said if that was not satisfactory he would bring a
+charge of horse-stealing.  The case went into court, and under the
+treatment of learned counsel grew very complicated.  It was
+remarkable as being the only one on record in Will county in which a
+man had made money by stealing his own horses.  It is, I fancy, still
+'sub judice'.
+
+Both the old school and the new school remained closed even after the
+cholera ceased to thin out the citizens, but I felt no further
+interest in the education of youth.  When winter came I tramped three
+miles into the forest, and began to fell trees and split rails in
+order to fence in my suburban estate.  For some time I carried a
+rifle, and besides various small game I shot two deer, but neither of
+them would wait for me to come up with them even after I had shot
+them; they took my two bullets away with them, and left me only a few
+drops of blood on the snow; then I left the rifle at home.  For about
+four months the ground was covered with snow, and the cold was
+intense, but I continued splitting until the snakes came out to bask
+in the sun and warm themselves.  I saw near a dead log eight coiled
+together, and I killed them all.  The juice of the sugar maples began
+to run.  I cut notches in the bark in the shape of a broad arrow,
+bored a hole at the point, inserted a short spout of bark, and on
+sunny mornings the juice flowed in a regular stream, clear and
+sparkling; on cloudy days it only dropped.
+
+One evening as I was plodding my weary way homeward, I looked up and
+saw in the distance a man inspecting my cellar.  I said, "Here's
+another disgusting fool who ain't seen it before."  It certainly was
+a peculiar cellar, but not worth looking at so much.  I hated the
+sight of it.  It had no building over it, never was roofed in, and
+was sometimes full of snow.
+
+The other fool proved to be Mr. Curtis, the teacher who had written
+the resolution of the meeting which voted me out of the school.  He
+held out his hand, and I took it, but reluctantly, and under secret
+protest.  I thought to myself, "This mine enemy has an axe to grind,
+or he would not be here.  I'll be on my guard."
+
+"I have been waiting for you some time," said Mr. Curtis.  "I was
+told you were splitting rails in the forest, and would be home about
+sundown.  I wanted to see you about opening school again.  Mr. Rogers
+won't have anything to say to it, but the other two managers, Mr.
+Strong and Mr. Demmond, want to engage you and me, one to teach in
+the upper storey of the school, the other down below, and I came up
+to ask you to see them about it."
+
+"How does it happen that Mr. Sellars has not come over from Dresden?"
+I said.
+
+"Joliet is about the last place on this earth that Mr. Sellars will
+come to.  Didn't you hear about him and Priscilla?"  asked Mr. Curtis.
+
+"No, I heard nothing since that meeting; only saw the school doors
+were closed every time I passed that way."
+
+"Well, I am surprised.  I thought everybody knew by this time, though
+we did not like to say much about it."
+
+I began to feel interested.  Mr. Curtis had something pleasant to
+tell me about the misfortunes of my enemies, so I listened
+attentively.
+
+It was a tale of western love, and its course was no smoother in
+Illinois than in any less enlightened country of old Europe.  Miss
+Priscilla reckoned she could hoe her own row.  She and Mr. Sellars
+conducted the Common School at Dresden with great success and
+harmony.  All went merry as a marriage bell, and the marriage was to
+come off by-and-by--so hoped Miss Priscilla.  During the recess she
+took the teacher's arm, and they walked to and fro lovingly.  All
+Dresden said it was to be a match, but at the end of the term Miss
+Priscilla returned to Joliet--the match was not yet made.
+
+It was at this time that the dissatisfaction with the new British
+teacher became extreme; Miss Priscilla fanned the flame of
+discontent.  She did not "let concealment like a worm i' th' bud feed
+on her damask cheek," but boldly proposed that Mr. Sellars--a
+true-born native of New England, a good young man, always seen at
+meetings on the Sabbath--should be requested to take charge of the
+West Joliet school.  So the meeting was held:  I was voted out, Mr.
+Sellars was voted in, and the daughters of the Puritans triumphed.
+
+Miss Priscilla wrote to Dresden, announcing to her beloved the
+success of her diplomacy, requesting him to come to Joliet without
+delay, and assume direction of the new school.  This letter fell into
+the hands of another lady who had just arrived at Dresden from New
+England in search of her husband, who happened to be Mr. Sellars.
+The letter which that other lady wrote to Miss Priscilla I did not
+see, but it was said to be a masterpiece of composition, and it
+emptied two schools.  Mr. Tucker went over to Dresden and looked
+around for Mr. Sellars, but that gentleman had gone out west, and was
+never heard of again.  The west was a very wide unfenced space,
+without railways.
+
+"The fact is," said Mr. Curtis, "we were all kinder shamed the way
+things turned out, and we just let 'em rip.  But people are now
+stirring about the school being closed so long, so Mr. Strong and Mr.
+Demmond have concluded to engage you and me to conduct the school."
+
+We were engaged that night, and I went rail-splitting no more.  But I
+fenced my estate; and while running the line on the western boundary
+I found the grave of Highland Mary.  It was in the middle of a grove
+of oak and hickory saplings, and was nearly hidden by hazel bushes.
+The tombstone was a slab about two feet high, roughly hewn.  Her
+epitaph was, "Mary Campbell, aged 7.  1827."  That was all.  Poor
+little Mary.
+
+The Common Schools of Illinois were maintained principally from the
+revenue derived from grants of land.  When the country was first
+surveyed, one section of 640 acres in each township of six miles
+square was reserved for school purposes.  There was a State law on
+education, but the management was entirely local, and was in the
+hands of a treasurer and three directors, elected biennally by the
+citizens of each school district.  The revenue derived from the
+school section was sometimes not sufficient to defray the salary of
+the teacher, and then the deficiency was supplied by the parents of
+the children who had attended at the school; those citizens whose
+children did not attend were not taxed by the State for the Common
+Schools; they did not pay for that which they did not receive.  In
+some instances only one school was maintained by the revenue of two
+school sections.  When the attendance in the school was numerous, a
+young lady, called the "school-marm," assisted in the teaching.
+Sometimes, as in the case of Miss Priscilla, she fell into trouble.
+
+The books were provided by the enterprise of private citizens, and an
+occasional change of "Readers" was agreeable both to teachers and
+scholars.  The best of old stories grow tiresome when repeated too
+often.  One day a traveller from Cincinnati brought me samples of a
+new series of "Readers," offering on my approval, to substitute next
+day a new volume for every old one produced.  I approved, and he
+presented each scholar with copies of the new series for nothing.
+
+The teaching was secular, but certain virtues were inculcated either
+directly or indirectly.  Truth and patriotism were recommended by the
+example of George Washington, who never told a lie, and who won with
+his sword the freedom of his country.  There were lessons on history,
+in which the tyranny of the English Government was denounced; Kings,
+Lords and Bishops, especially Bishop Laud, were held up to eternal
+abhorrence; as was also England's greed of gain, her intolerance,
+bigotry, taxation; her penal and navigation laws.  The glorious War
+of Independence was related at length.  The children of the Puritans,
+of the Irish and the Germans, did not in those days imbibe much
+prejudice in favour of England or her institutions, and the English
+teacher desirous of arriving at the truth, had the advantage of
+having heard both sides of many historical questions; of listening,
+as it were, to the scream of the American eagle, as well as to the
+roar of the British lion.
+
+Mr. Curtis was a good teacher, systematic, patient, persevering, and
+ingenious.  I ceased to hate him; Miss Priscilla's downfall cemented
+our friendship.  We kept order in the school by moral suasion, but
+the task was sometimes difficult.  My private feelings were in favour
+of the occasional use of the hickory stick, the American substitute
+for the rod of Solomon, and the birch of England.
+
+The geography we taught was principally that of the United States and
+her territories, spacious maps of which were suspended round the
+school, continually reminding the scholars of their glorious
+inheritance.  It was then full of vacant lots, over which roamed the
+Indian and the buffalo, species of animals now nearly extinct.  We
+did not pay much attention to the rest of the world.
+
+Elocution was inculcated assiduously, and at regular intervals each
+boy and girl had to come forth and "speak a piece" in the presence of
+the scholars, teachers, and visitors.
+
+Mental arithmetic and the use of fractions were taught daily.  The
+use of the decimal in the American coinage is of great advantage; it
+is easier and more intelligible to children than the clumsy old
+system of pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings.  It is a system
+which would no doubt have been long ago adopted by England, if it had
+not been humiliating to our national pride to take even a good thing
+from rebellious Yankees, and inferior Latin races.  We cling fondly
+to absurdities because they are our own.  In Australia wild rabbits
+are vermin, in England they are private property; and if one of the
+three millions of her miserable paupers is found with a rabbit in
+each of his coat pockets, he is fined 10s. or sent to gaol.  Pope
+Gregory XIII. demonstrated the error of the calendar then in use, and
+all Catholic nations adopted his correction.  But when the adoption
+of the calendar was proposed in Parliament, John Bull put his big
+foot down at once; he would receive no truth, not even a mathematical
+one, from the Pope of Rome, and it was only after the lapse of nearly
+200 years, when the memory of Gregory and his calendar had almost
+faded away from the sensitive mind of Protestantism, that an Act was
+passed, "equalising the style in Great Britain and Ireland with that
+used in other countries of Europe."
+
+A fugitive slave with his wife and daughter came to Joliet.  One day
+he was seized by three slave-hunters, who took him towards the canal.
+A number of abolitionists assembled to rescue the slave, but the
+three men drew their revolvers, and no abolitionist had the courage
+to fire the first shot.  The slave was put in a canal boat and went
+south; his wife remained in Joliet and earned her bread by weaving
+drugget; the daughter came to my school; she was of pure negro blood,
+but was taught with the white girls.
+
+The abolitionists were increasing in number, and during the war with
+the South the slaves were freed.  They are now like Israel in Egypt,
+they increase too rapidly.  If father Abraham had sent them back to
+Africa when they were only four millions, he would have earned the
+gratitude of his country.  Now they number more than eight millions;
+the Sunny South agrees with their constitution; they work as little
+and steal as much as possible.  In the days of their bondage they
+were addicted to petty larceny; now they have votes, and when they
+achieve place and power they are addicted to grand larceny, and they
+loot the public treasury as unblushingly as the white politicians.
+
+The nigger question has doubled in magnitude during the last thirty
+years, and there will have to be another abolition campaign of some
+kind.  The blacks are incapable of ruling the whites; no time was
+given to educate them for their new duties, if teaching them was
+possible; the Declaration of Independence was in their case a mockery
+from the beginning.  When all the old abolitionists and slave-holders
+are dead, another generation of men grown wiser by the failure of the
+policy of their forefathers may solve the black problem.
+
+Complaint is made that the American education of to-day is in a
+chaotic condition, due to the want of any definite idea of what
+education is aiming at.  There is evidence that the ancients of New
+England used to birch their boys, but after independence had been
+fought for and won, higher aims prevailed.  The Puritan then believed
+that his children were born to a destiny far grander than that of any
+other children on the face of the earth; the treatment accorded to
+them was therefore to be different.  The fundamental idea of American
+life was to be "Freedom," and the definition of "Freedom" by a
+learned American is, "The power which necessarily belongs to the
+self-conscious being of determining his actions in view of the
+highest, the universal good, and thereby of gradually realising in
+himself the eternal divine perfection."  The definition seems a
+little hazy, but the workings of great minds are often unintelligible
+to common people.  "The American citizen must be morally autonomous,
+regarding all institutions as servants, not as masters.  So far man
+has been for the most part a thrall.  The true American must worship
+the inner God recognised as his own deepest and eternal self, not an
+outer God regarded as something different from himself."
+
+Lucifer is said to have entertained a similar idea.  He would not be
+a thrall, and the result as described by the republican Milton was
+truly disastrous:
+
+"Him the Almighty Power
+Hurl'd headlong
+down
+to bottomless perdition
+Region of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
+And rest can never dwell."
+
+The manner in which the American citizen is to be made "morally
+autonomous, and placed beyond the control of current opinion," will
+require much money; his parents must therefore be rich; they must already
+have inherited wealth, or have obtained it by ability or labour.  The
+course of training to be given to youth includes travelling for six
+years in foreign countries under private tutors, studying human
+history, ethnic, social, political, industrial, aesthetic, religious;
+gems of poetry; the elements of geometry; mechanics; art, plastic,
+and graphic; reading Confucius, Sakya-muni, Themistocles, Socrates,
+Julius Caesar, Paul, Mahommed, Charlemagne, Alfred, Gregory VII., St.
+Bernard, St. Francis, Savonarola, Luther, Queen Elizabeth, Columbus,
+Washington, Lincoln, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Tennyson, and Lowell.
+
+The boys on the prairies had to earn their bread; they could not
+spend six years travelling around and studying all the writers above
+mentioned, making themselves morally autonomous, and worshipping
+their own deepest and eternal selves.  The best men America has
+produced were reared at home, and did chores out of school hours.
+
+When I was expelled from school by the Yankees, Mr. McEvoy, the
+leading Irish politician, called me aside and said:  "Whisper, you
+just hang round until next election, and we'll turn out the Yankee
+managers, and put you in the school again."  The Germans were slow in
+acquiring political knowledge as well as in learning the English
+language; but language, politics, and law itself are the birthright
+of the Irish.  By force of circumstances, and through the otherwise
+deplorable failure of Miss Priscilla, I resumed work in the school
+before the election, but Mr. McEvoy, true to his promise, organised
+the opposition--it is always the opposition--and ejected the
+Yankee managers, but in the fall of 1850 I resigned, and went a long
+way south.
+
+When I returned, Joliet was a city, and Mr. Rendel, one of my German
+night scholars, was city marshal.  I met him walking the streets, and
+carrying his staff of office with great dignity.  I took up my abode
+in an upper apartment of the gaol, then in charge of Sheriff
+Cunningham, who had a farm in West Joliet, near a plank road, leading
+on to the prairie.  I had known the Sheriff two years before, but did
+not see much of him at this time, though I was in daily communication
+with his son, Silas, the Deputy Sheriff.  It was under these
+favourable circumstancesthat I was enabled to witness a General Gaol
+Delivery of all the prisoners in Joliet.  One, charged with killing
+his third man, was out on bail.  I saw him in Matheson's
+boarding-house making love to one of the hired girls, and she seemed
+quite pleased with his polite attentions.  Matheson was elected
+Governor of the State of Illinois, and became a millionaire by
+dealing in railways.  He was a native of Missouri, and a man of
+ability; In '49 I saw him at work in a machine shop.
+
+The prisoners did not regain their freedom all at once, but in the
+space of three weeks they trickled out one by one.  The Deputy
+Sheriff, Silas, had been one of my pupils; he was now about seventeen
+years of age, and a model son of the prairies.  His features were
+exceedingly thin, his eyes keen, his speech and movements slow, his
+mind cool and calculating.  He never injured his constitution by any
+violent exertion; in fact, he seemed to have taken leave of active
+life and all its worries, and to have settled down to an existence of
+ease and contemplation.  If he had any anxiety about the safe custody
+of his prisoners he never showed it.  He had finished his education,
+so I did not attempt to control him by moral suasion, or by anything
+else, but by degrees I succeeded in eliciting from him all the
+particulars he could impart about the criminals under his care.
+There was no fence around the gaol, and Silas kept two of them always
+locked in.  He "calkilated they wer kinder unsafe."  They belonged to
+a society of horse thieves whose members were distributed at regular
+intervals along the prairies, and who forwarded their stolen animals
+by night to Chicago.  The two gentlemen in gaol were of an
+untrustworthy character, and would be likely to slip away.  About a
+week after my arrival I met Silas coming out of the gaol, and he said:
+
+"They're gone, be gosh."  Silas never wasted words.
+
+"Who is gone?" I inquired.
+
+"Why, them two horse thieves.  Just look here."
+
+We went round to the east side of the gaol, and there was a hole
+about two feet deep, and just wide enough to let a man through.  The
+ground underneath the wall was rocky, but the two prisoners had been
+industrious, had picked a hole under the wall and had gone through.
+
+"Where's the Sheriff?" I asked.  "Won't Mr. Cunningham go after the men?"
+
+"He's away at Bourbonnais' Grove, about suthin' or other, among the
+Bluenoses; can't say when he'll be back; it don't matter anyhow.  He
+might just as well try to go to hell backwards as catch them two
+horse thieves now."
+
+Silas had still two other prisoners under his care, and he let them
+go outside as usual to enjoy the fresh air.  They had both been
+committed for murder, but their crime was reckoned a respectable one
+compared to the mean one of horse stealing, so Silas gave them
+honourable treatment.
+
+One of the prisoners was a widow lady who had killed another lady
+with an axe, at a hut near the canal on the road to Lockport.  She
+seemed crazy, and when outside the gaol walked here and there in a
+helpless kind of way, muttering to herself; but sometimes an idea
+seemed to strike her that she had something to do Lockport way, and
+she started in that direction, forgetting very likely that she had
+done it already; but whenever Silas called her back, she returned
+without giving any trouble.  One day, however, when Silas was asleep
+she went clean out of sight, and I did not see her any more.  The
+Sheriff was still absent among the Bluenoses.
+
+The fourth prisoner was an Englishman named Wilkins who owned a farm
+on the prairie, in the direction of Bourbonnais' Grove.  A few weeks
+before, returning home from Joliet with his waggon and team of
+horses, he halted for a short time at a distillery, situated at the
+foot of the low bluff which bounded the bottom, through which ran the
+Aux Plaines River.  It was a place at which the farmers often called
+to discuss politics, the prices of produce, and other matters, and
+also, if so disposed, to take in a supply of liquor.  The corn whisky
+of Illinois was an article of commerce which found its way to many
+markets.  Although it was sold at a low price at home, it became much
+more valuable after it had been exported to England or France, and
+had undergone scientific treatment by men of ability.  The corn used
+in its manufacture was exceedingly cheap, as may be imagined when
+corn-fed pork was, in the winter of '49, offered for sale in Joliet
+at one cent per pound.  After the poison of the prairies had been
+exported to Europe, a new flavour was imparted to it, and it became
+Cognac, or the best Irish or Scotch whisky.
+
+Wilkins halted his team and went into the whisky-mill, where the
+owner, Robinson, was throwing charcoal into the furnace under his
+boiler with a long-handled shovel.  He was an enterprising Englishman
+who was wooing the smiles of fortune with better prospects of success
+than the slow, hard-working farmer.  I had seen him first
+in West Joliet in '49, when he was travelling around buying corn for
+his distillery.  He was a handsome man, about thirty years of age,
+five feet ten inches in height, had been well educated, was quite
+able to hold his own among the men of the West, and accommodated
+himself to their manners and habits.
+
+There were three other farmers present, and their talk drifted from
+one thing to another until it at last settled on the question of the
+relative advantages of life in England and the States.  Robinson took
+the part of England, Wilkins stuck to the States; he said:
+
+"A poor man has no chance at home; he is kept down by landlords, and
+can never get a farm of his own.  In Illinois I am a free man, and
+have no one to lord it over me.  If I had lived and slaved in England
+for a hundred years I should never have been any better off, and now
+I have a farm as good as any in Will County, and am just as good a
+man as e'er another in it."
+
+Now Wilkins was only a small man, shorter by four inches than
+Robinson, who towered above him, and at once resented the claim to
+equality.  He said:
+
+"You as good as any other man, are you?  Why there ain't a more
+miserable little skunk within twenty miles round Joliet."
+
+Robinson was forgetting the etiquette of the West.  No man--except,
+perhaps, in speaking to a nigger--ever assumed a tone of insolent
+superiority to any other man; if he did so, it was at the risk of
+sudden death; even a hired man was habitually treated with civility.
+The titles of colonel, judge, major, captain, and squire were in
+constant use both in public and private; there was plenty of humorous
+"chaff," but not insult.  Colonels, judges, majors, captains, and
+squires were civil, both to each other and to the rest of the
+citizens.  Robinson, in speaking to his fellow countryman, forgot for
+a moment that he was not in dear old England, where he could settle a
+little difference with his fists.  But little Wilkins did not forget,
+and he was not the kind of man to be pounded with impunity. He had in
+his pocket a hunting knife, with which he could kill a hog--or a
+man.  When Robinson called him a skunk he felt in his pocket for the
+knife, and put his thumb on the spring at the back of the buckhorn
+handle, playing with it gently.  It was not a British Brummagem
+article, made for the foreign or colonial market, but a genuine
+weapon that could be relied on at a pinch.
+
+"Oh, I dare say you were a great man at home, weren't you?" he said.
+"A lord maybe, or a landlord.  But we don't have sich great men here,
+and I am as good a man as you any day, skunk though I be."
+
+Robinson had just thrown another shovelful of charcoal into the
+furnace under his boiler, and he held up his shovel as if ready to
+strike Williams, but it was never known whether he really intended to
+strike or not.
+
+The three other men standing near were quite amused with the dispute
+of the two Englishmen, and were smiling pleasantly at their
+foolishness.  But little Wilkins did not smile, nor did he wait for
+the shovel to come down on his head; he darted under it with his open
+knife in the same manner as the Roman soldier went underneath the
+dense spears of the Pyrrhic phalanx, and set to work.  Robinson tried
+to parry the blows with the handle of the shovel, but he made only a
+poor fight; the knife was driven to the hilt into his body seven
+times, then he threw down his shovel, and tried to save himself
+behind the boiler, but it was too late; the dispute about England and
+the States was settled.
+
+Wilkins took his team home, then returned to Joliet and gave himself
+into the custody of the squire, Hoosier Smith.  At the inquest he was
+committed to take his trial for murder, and did not get bail.  His
+wife left the farm, and with her two little boys lived in an old log
+hut near the gaol.  She brought with her two cows, which Wilkins
+milked each morning as soon as Silas let him out of prison.  I could
+see him every day from the window of my room, and I often passed by
+the hut when he was doing chores, chopping wood, or fetching water,
+but I never spoke to him.  He did not look happy or sociable, and I
+could not think of anything pleasant to say by way of making his
+acquaintance.  After much observation and thought I came to the
+conclusion that Sheriff Cunningham wanted his prisoner to go away; he
+would not like to hang the man; the citizens would not take Wilkins
+off his hands; if two fools chose to get up a little difficulty and
+one was killed, it was their own look-out; and anyway they were only
+foreigners.  The fact was Wilkins was waiting for someone to purchase
+his farm.
+
+The court-house for Will County was within view of the gaol, at the
+other side of the street, and one day I went over to look at it.  The
+judge was hearing a civil case, and I sat down to listen to the
+proceedings.  A learned counsel was addressing the jury.  He talked
+at great length in a nasal tone, slowly and deliberately; he had one
+foot on a form, one hand in a pocket of his pants, and the other hand
+rested gracefully on a volume of the statutes of the State of
+Illinois.  He had much to say about various horses running on the
+prairie, and particularly about one animal which he called the
+"Skemelhorne horse."  I tried to follow his argument, but the
+"Skemelhorne horse" was so mixed up with the other horses that I
+could not spot him.
+
+Semicircular seats of unpainted pine for the accommodation of the
+public rose tier above tier, but most of them were empty.  There were
+present several gentlemen of the legal profession, but they kept
+silence, and never interrupted the counsel's address.  Nor did the
+judge utter a word; he sat at his desk sideways, with his boots
+resting on a chair.  He wore neither wig nor gown, and had not even
+put on his Sunday go-to-meeting clothes.  Neither had the lawyers.
+If there was a court crier or constable present he was indistinguishable
+from the rest of the audience.
+
+Near the judge's desk there was a bucket of water and three tumblers
+on a small table.  It was a hot day.  The counsel paused in his
+speech, went to the table, and took a drink; a juryman left the box
+and drank.  The judge also came down from his seat, dipped a tumbler
+in the bucket and quenched his thirst; one spectator after another
+went to the bucket.  There was equality and fraternity in the court
+of law; the speech about the Skemelhorne horse went on with the
+utmost gravity and decorum, until the nasal drawl of the learned
+counsel put me to sleep.
+
+On awakening, I went into another hall, in which dealings in real
+estate were registered.  Shelves fixed against the walls held huge
+volumes lettered on the back.  One of these volumes was on a table in
+the centre of the hall, and in it the registrar was copying a deed.
+Before him lay a pile of deeds with a lead weight on the top.  A
+farmer came in with a paper, on which the registrar endorsed a number
+and placed at the bottom of the pile.  There was no parchment used;
+each document was a half-sheet foolscap size, party printed and
+partly written.  Another farmer came in, took up the pile and
+examined the numbers to see how soon his deed was likely to be
+copied, and if it was in its proper place according to the number
+endorsed.  The registrar was not fenced off from the public by a wide
+counter; he was the servant of the citizens, and had to satisfy those
+who paid him for his labours.  His pay was a fixed number of cents
+per folio, not dollars, nor pounds.
+
+When I went back to gaol I found it deserted.  Wilkins had sold his
+farm and disappeared.  His wife remained in the hut.  Sheriff
+Cunningham was still away among the Bluenoses, and Silas was 'functus
+officio', having accomplished a general gaol delivery.  He did not
+pine away on account of the loss of his prisoners, nor grow any
+thinner--that was impossible.  I remained four days longer,
+expecting something would happen; but nothing did happen, then I left
+the gaol.
+
+I wrote out two notices informing the public that I was willing to
+sell my real estate; one of these I pasted up at the Post Office, the
+other on the bridge over the Aux Plaines River.  Next day a German
+from Chicago agreed to pay the price asked, and we called on Colonel
+Smith, the Squire.  The Colonel filled in a brief form of transfer,
+witnessed the payment of the money--which was in twenty-dollar gold
+pieces, and he charged one dollar as his fee.  The German would have
+to pay about 35 cents for its registration.  If the deed was lost or
+stolen, he would insert in a local journal a notice of his intention
+to apply for a copy, which would make the original of as little value
+to anybody as a Provincial and Suburban bank note.
+
+In Illinois, transfers of land were registered in each county town.
+To buy or sell a farm was as easy as horse-stealing, and safer.
+Usually, no legal help was necessary for either transaction.
+
+By this time California had a rival; gold had been found in
+Australia.  I was fond of gold; I jingled the twenty dollar gold
+pieces in my pocket, and resolved to look for more at the
+fountainhead, by way of my native land.  A railway from Chicago had
+just reached Joliet, and had been opened three days before.  It was
+an invitation to start, and I accepted it.
+
+Nobody ever loved his native land better than I do when I am away
+from it.  I can call to mind its innumerable beauties, and in fancy
+saunter once more through the summer woods, among the bracken, the
+bluebells, and the foxglove.  I can wander by the banks of the Brock,
+where the sullen trout hide in the clear depths of the pools.  I can
+walk along the path--the path to Paradise--still lined with the
+blue-eyed speedwell and red campion; I know where the copse is
+carpeted with the bluebell and ragged robin, where grow the alders,
+and the hazels rich with brown nuts, the beeches and the oaks; where
+the flower of the yellow broom blazes like gold in the noontide sun;
+where the stockdove coos overhead in the ivy; where the kingfisher
+darts past like a shaft of sapphire, and the water ouzel flies up
+stream; where the pheasant glides out from his home in the wood to
+feed on the headland of the wheat field; where the partridge broods
+in the dust with her young; where the green lane is bordered by the
+guelder-rose or wayfaring tree, the raspberry, strawberry, and
+cherry, the wild garlic of starlike flowers, the woodruff, fragrant
+as new-mown hay; the yellow pimpernel on the hedge side.  I see in
+the fields and meadows the bird's foot trefoil, the oxeye daisy, the
+lady smocks, sweet hemlock, butterbur, the stitchwort, and the
+orchis, the "long purpled" of Shakespeare.  By the margin of the pond
+the yellow iris hangs out its golden banners over which the dragon
+fly skims.  The hedgerows are gay with the full-blown dog-roses, the
+bells of the bilberries droop down along the wood-side, and the
+red-hipped bumble bees hum over them.  Out of the woodland and up
+Snaperake Lane I rise to the moorland, and then the sea coast comes
+in sight, and the longing to know what lies beyond it.
+
+I have been twice to see what lies beyond it, and when I return once
+more my own land does not know me.  There is another sea coast in
+sight now, and when I sail away from it I hope to land on some one of
+the Isles of the Blest.
+
+I called on my oldest living love; she looked, I thought, even
+younger than when we last parted.  She was sitting before the fire
+alone, pale and calm, but she gave me no greeting; she had forgotten
+me.  I took a chair, sat down beside her, and waited.  A strange lass
+with a fair face and strong bare arms came in and stared at me
+steadily for a minute or two, but went away without saying a word.  I
+looked around the old house room that I knew so well, with its floor
+of flags from Buckley Delph, scoured white with sandstone. There
+stood, large and solid, the mealark of black oak, with the date,
+1644, carved just below the heavy lid, more than 200 years old, and
+as sound as ever.  The sloping mirror over the chest of drawers was
+still supported by the four seasons, one at each corner.  Above it
+was Queen Caroline, with the crown on her head, and the sceptre in
+her hand, seated in a magnificent Roman chariot, drawn by the lion
+and the unicorn.  That team had tortured my young soul for years.  I
+could never understand why that savage lion had not long ago devoured
+both the Queen and the unicorn.
+
+My old love was looking at me, and at last she put one hand on my
+knee, and said:
+
+"It's George."
+
+"Yes," I said, "it's George."
+
+She gazed a while into the fire and said:
+
+"Alice is dead."
+
+"Yes, Alice is dead."
+
+"And Jenny is dead."
+
+"Yes, and Jenny.  They are at the bottom of the sea."
+
+In that way she counted a long list of the dead, which she closed
+by saying:
+
+"They are all gone but Joe."
+
+She had been a widow more than twenty-five years.  She was a young
+woman, tall and strong, before Bonaparte, Wellington, the United
+States, or Australia, had ever been heard of in Lancashire, and from
+the top of a stile she had counted every windmill and chimney in
+Preston before it was covered with the black pall of smoke from the
+cotton-mills.
+
+
+
+AMONG THE DIGGERS IN 1853.
+
+I.
+
+I lost a summer in 1853, and had two winters instead, one in England,
+the other in Australia.
+
+It was cold in the month of May as we neared Bendigo.  We were a
+mixed party of English,  Irish, and Scotch, twelve in number, and
+accompanied by three horse-teams, carrying tubs, tents, and
+provisions.  We also had plenty of arms wherewith to fight the
+bush-rangers, but I did not carry any myself; I left the fighting
+department to my mate, Philip, and to the others who were fond of
+war.  Philip was by nature and training as gentle and amiable as a
+lamb, but he was a Young Irelander, and therefore a fighter on
+principle.  O'Connell had tried moral suasion on the English
+Government long enough, and to no purpose, so Philip and his fiery
+young friends were prepared to have recourse to arms.  The arms he
+was now carrying consisted of a gleaming bowie knife, and two pistols
+stuck in his belt.  The pistols were good ones; Philip had tried them
+on a friend in the Phoenix Park the morning after a ball at the
+Rotunda, and had pinked his man--shot him in the arm.  It is
+needless to say that there was a young lady in the case; I don't know
+what became of her, but during the rest of her life she could boast
+of having been the fair demoiselle on whose account the very last
+duel was fought in Ireland.  Then the age of chivalry went out.  The
+bowie knife was the British article bought in Liverpool.  It would
+neither kill a man nor cut a beef-steak, as was proved by experience.
+
+We met parties of men from Bendigo--unlucky diggers, who offered to
+sell their thirty-shilling licenses.  By this time my cash was low;
+my twenty-dollar gold pieces were all consumed.  While voyaging to
+the new Ophir, where gold was growing underfoot, I could not see any
+sound sense in being niggardly.  But when I saw a regular stream of
+disappointed men with empty pockets offering their monthly licenses
+for five shillings each within sight of the goldfield, I had
+misgivings, and I bought a license that had three weeks to run from
+William Matthews.  Ten other men bought licenses, but William
+Patterson, a canny Scotchman, said he would chance it.
+
+It was about midday when we halted near Bendigo Creek, opposite a
+refreshment tent.  Standing in front of it was a man who had passed
+us on the road, and lit his pipe at our fire.  When he stooped to
+pick up a firestick I saw the barrel of a revolver under his coat.
+He was accompanied by a lady on horseback, wearing a black riding
+habit.  Our teamsters called him Captain Sullivan.  He was even then
+a man well known to the convicts and the police, and was supposed to
+be doing a thriving business as keeper of a sly grog shop, but in
+course of time it was discovered that his main source of profit was
+murder and robbery.  He was afterwards known as "The New Zealand
+Murderer," who turned Queen's evidence, sent his mates to the
+gallows, but himself died unhanged.
+
+While we stood in the track, gazing hopelessly over the endless heaps
+of clay and gravel covering the flat, a little man came up and spoke
+to Philip, in whom he recognised a fellow countryman.  He said:
+
+"You want a place to camp on, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Philip, "we have only just come up from Melbourne."
+
+"Well, come along with me," said the stranger.
+
+He was a civil fellow, and said his name was Jack Moore.  We went
+with him in the direction of the first White Hill, but before
+reaching it we turned to the left up a low bluff, and halted in a
+gully where many men were at work puddling clay in tubs.
+
+After we had put up our tent, Philip went down the gully to study the
+art of gold digging.  He watched the men at work; some were digging
+holes, some were dissolving clay in tubs of water by stirring it
+rapidly with spades, and a few were stooping at the edge of
+water-holes, washing off the sand mixed with the gold in milk pans.
+
+Philip tried to enter into conversation with the diggers.  He stopped
+near one man, and said:
+
+"Good day, mate.  How are you getting along?"
+
+The man gazed at him steadily, and replied "Go you to hell," so
+Philip moved on.  The next man he addressed sent him in the same
+direction, adding a few blessings; the third man was panning off, and
+there was a little gold visible in his pan.  He was gray, grim, and
+hairy.  Philip said:
+
+"Not very lucky to-day, mate?"
+
+The hairy man stood up, straightened his back, and looked at Philip
+from head to foot.
+
+"Lucky be blowed.  I wish I'd never seen this blasted place.  Here
+have I been sinking holes and puddling for five months, and hav'n't
+made enough to pay my tucker and the Government license, thirty bob a
+month.  I am a mason, and I threw up twenty-eight bob a day to come
+to this miserable hole.  Wherever you come from, young man, I advise
+you to go back there again.  There's twenty thousand men on Bendigo,
+and I don't believe nineteen thousand of 'em are earning their grub."
+
+"I can't well go back fifteen thousand miles, even if I had money to
+take me back," answered Philip.
+
+"Well, you might walk as far as Melbourne," said the hairy man, "and
+then you could get fourteen bob a day as a hodman; or you might take
+a job at stone breaking; the Government are giving 7s. 6d. a yard for
+road metal.  Ain't you got any trade to work at?"
+
+"No, I never learned a trade, I am only a gentleman."  He felt mean
+enough to cry.
+
+"Well, that's bad.  If you are a scholar, you might keep school, but
+I don't believe there's half-a-dozen kids on the diggin's.  They'd be
+of no mortal use except to tumble down shafts.  Fact is, if you are
+really hard up, you can be a peeler.  Up at the camp they'll take on
+any useless loafer wot's able to carry a carbine, and they'll give
+you tucker, and you can keep your shirt clean.  But, mind, if you do
+join the Joeys, I hope you'll be shot.  I'd shoot the hull blessed
+lot of 'em if I had my way.  They are nothin' but a pack of robbers."
+The hairy man knew something of current history and statistics, but
+he had not a pleasant way of imparting his knowledge.
+
+Picaninny Gully ended in a flat, thinly timbered, where there were
+only a few diggers.  Turning to the left, Philip found two men near a
+waterhole hard at work puddling.  When he bade them good-day, they
+did not swear at him, which was some comfort.  They were brothers,
+and were willing to talk, but they did not stop work for a minute.
+They had a large pile of dirt, and were making hay while the sun
+shone--that is, washing their dirt as fast as they could while the
+water lasted.  During the preceding summer they had carted their
+wash-dirt from the gully until rain came and filled the waterhole.
+They said they had not found any rich ground, but they could now make
+at least a pound a day each by constant work.  Philip thought they
+were making more, as they seemed inclined to sing small; in those
+days to brag of your good luck might be the death of you.
+
+While Philip was away interviewing the diggers, Jack showed me where
+he had worked his first claim, and had made 400 pounds in a few days.
+"You might mark off a claim here and try it," he said.  "I think I
+took out the best gold, but there may be a little left still
+hereabout."  I pegged off two claims, one for Philip, and one for
+myself, and stuck a pick in the centre of each.  Then we sat down on
+a log.  Six men came up the gully carrying their swags, one of them
+was unusually tall.  Jack said:  "Do you see that big fellow there?
+His name is McKean.  He comes from my part of Ireland.  He is a
+lawyer; the last time I saw him he was in a court defending a
+prisoner, and now the whole six feet seven of him is nothing but a
+dirty digger."
+
+"What made you leave Ireland, Jack?" I asked.
+
+"I left it, I guess, same as you did, because I couldn't live in it.
+My father was a fisherman, and he was drowned.  Mother was left with
+eight children, and we were as poor as church mice.  I was the
+oldest, so I went to Belfast and got a billet on board ship as cabin
+boy.  I made three voyages from Liverpool to America, and was boxed
+about pretty badly, but I learned to handle the ropes.  My last port
+there was Boston, and I ran away and lived with a Yankee farmer named
+Small.  He was a nigger driver, he was, working the soul out of him
+early and late.  He had a boat, and I used to take farm produce in it
+across the bay to Boston, where the old man's eldest son kept a
+boarding-house.  There was a daughter at home, a regular high-flier.
+She used to talk to me as if I was a nigger.  One day when we were
+having dinner, she was asking me questions about Ireland, and about
+my mother, sisters, and brothers.  Then I got mad, thinking how poor
+they were, and I could not help them.  'Miss Small,' I said, 'my
+mother is forty years old, and she has eight children, and she looks
+younger than you do, and has not lost a tooth.'
+
+"Miss Small, although quite young, was nearly toothless, so she was
+mad enough to kill me; but her brother Jonathan was at table, and he
+took my part, saying, 'Sarves you right, Sue;' why can't you leave
+Jack alone?'
+
+"But Sue made things most unpleasant, and I told Jonathan I couldn't
+stay on the farm, and would rather go to sea again.  Jonathan said
+he, too, was tired of farming, and he would go with me.  He could
+manage a boat across Boston Harbour, but he had never been to sea.
+Next time there was farm stuff to go to Boston he went with me; we
+left the boat with his brother, and shipped in a whaler bound for the
+South Seas.  I used to show him how to handle the ropes, to knot and
+splice, and he soon became a pretty good hand, though he was not
+smart aloft when reefing.  His name was Small, but he was not a small
+man; he was six feet two, and the strongest man on board, and he
+didn't allow any man to thrash me, because I was little.  After
+eighteen months' whaling he persuaded me to run away from the ship at
+Hobarton; he said he was tired of the greasy old tub; so one night we
+bundled up our swags, dropped into a boat, and took the road to
+Launceston, where we expected to find a vessel going to Melbourne.
+When we were half-way across the island, we called just before
+sundown at a farmhouse to see if we could get something to eat, and
+lodging for the night.  We found two women cooking supper in the
+kitchen, and Jonathan said to the younger one, 'Is the old man at
+home?'  She replied quite pertly:
+
+"'Captain Massey is at home, if that's what you mean by 'old man.'
+
+"'Well, my dear,' said Jonathan, 'will you just tell him that we are
+two seamen on our way to Launceston, and we'd like to have a word
+with him.'
+
+"'I am not your dear,' she replied, tossing her head, and went out.
+After a while she returned, and said:  'Captain Massey wanted to
+speak to the little man first.'  That was me.
+
+"I went into the house, and was shown into the parlour, where the
+captain was standing behind a table.  There was a gun close to his
+hand in a corner, two horse pistols on a shelf, and a sword hanging
+over them.  He said:  'Who are you, where from, and whither bound?'
+to which I replied:
+
+"'My name is John Moore; me and my mate have left our ship, a whaler,
+at Hobarton, and we are bound for Launceston.'
+
+"'Oh, you are a runaway foremast hand are you?  Then you know
+something about work on board ship.'  He then put questions to me
+about the work of a seaman, making sail, and reefing, about masts,
+yards, and rigging, and finished by telling me to box a compass.  I
+passed my examination pretty well, and he told me to send in the
+other fellow.  He put Jonathan through his sea-catechism in the same
+way, and then said we could have supper and a shake-down for the
+night.
+
+"After supper the young lady sat near the kitchen fire sewing, and
+Jonathan took a chair near her and began a conversation.  He said:
+
+"I must beg pardon for having ventured to address you as 'my dear,'
+on so short an acquaintance, but I hope you will forgive my boldness.
+Fact is, I felt quite attached to you at first sight.'  And so on.
+If there was one thing that Jonathan could do better than another it
+was talking.  The lady was at first very prim and reserved; but she
+soon began to listen, smiled, and even tittered.  A little boy about
+two years old came in and stood near the fire.  Having nothing else
+to do, I took him on my knee, and set him prattling until we were
+very good friends.  Then an idea came into my head.  I said:
+
+"'I guess, Jonathan, this little kid is about the same age as your
+youngest boy in Boston, ain't he?'
+
+"Of course, Jonathan had no boy and was not married, but the sudden
+change that came over that young lady was remarkable.  She gave
+Jonathan a look of fury, jumped up from her seat, snatched up her
+sewing, and bounced out of the kitchen.  The old man came in, and
+told us to come along, and he would show us our bunks.  We thought he
+was a little queer, but he seemed uncommonly kind and anxious to make
+us comfortable for the night.  He took us to a hut very strongly
+built with heavy slabs, left us a lighted candle, and bade us
+good-night.  After he closed the door we heard him put a padlock on
+it; he was a kindly old chap, and did not want anybody to disturb us
+during the night, and we soon fell fast asleep.  Next morning he came
+early and called us to breakfast.  He stayed with us all the time,
+and when we had eaten, said:
+
+"'Well, have you had a good breakfast?'
+
+"Jonathan spoke:
+
+"'Yes, old man, we have.  You are a gentleman; you have done yourself
+proud, and we are thankful, ain't we, Jack?  You are the best and
+kindest old man we've met since we sailed from Boston.  And now I
+think it's time we made tracks for Launceston.  By-bye, Captain.
+Come along, Jack.'
+
+"'No you won't, my fine coves,' replied the captain.  'You'll go back
+to Hobarton, and join your ship if you have one, which I don't
+believe.  You can't humbug an old salt like me.  You are a pair of
+runaway convicts, and I'll give you in charge as sich.  Here,
+constables, put the darbies on 'em, and take 'em back to Hobarton.'
+
+"Two men who had been awaiting orders outside the door now entered,
+armed with carbines, produced each a pair of handcuffs, and came
+towards us.  But Jonathan drew back a step or two, clenched his big
+fists, and said:
+
+"'No, you don't.  If this is your little game, captain, all I have to
+say is, you are the darndest double-faced old cuss on this side of
+perdition.  You can shoot me if you like, but neither you nor the
+four best men in Van Diemen's Land can put them irons on me.  I am a
+free citizen of the Great United States, and a free man I'll be or
+die.  I'll walk back to Hobarton, if you like, with these men, for I
+guess that greasy old whaler has gone to sea again by this time, and
+we'll get another ship there as well as at Launceston.'
+
+"Captain Massey did not like to venture on shooting us off-hand, so
+at last he told the constables to put up their handcuffs and start
+with us for Hobarton.
+
+"After we had travelled awhile Jonathan cooled down and began to talk
+to the constables.  He asked them how they liked the island, how long
+they had been in it, if it was a good country for farming, how they
+were getting along, and what pay they got for being constables.  One
+of them said:  'The island is pretty good in parts, but it's too
+mountaynyus; we ain't getting along at all, and we won't have much
+chance to do any good until our time is out.'
+
+"'What on airth do you mean by saying "until you time is out?"  Ain't
+your time your own?' asked Jonathan.
+
+"'No, indeed.  I see you don't understand.  We are Government men,
+and we ain't done our time.  We were sent out from England.'
+
+"'Oh!  you were sent out, were you?  Now, I see, that means you are
+penitentiary men, and ought to be in gaol.  Jack, look here.  This
+kind of thing will never do.  You and me are two honest citizens of
+the United States, and here we are, piloted through Van Diemen's Land
+by two convicts, and Britishers at that.  This team has got to be
+changed right away.'
+
+"He seized both carbines and handed them to me; then he handcuffed
+the constables, who were so taken aback they never said a word.  Then
+Jonathan said, 'This is training day.  Now, march.'
+
+"The constables walked in front, me and Jonathan behind, shouldering
+the guns.  In this way we marched until we sighted Hobarton, but the
+two convicts were terribly afraid to enter the city as prisoners;
+they said they were sure to be punished, would most likely be sent
+into a chain gang, and would soon be strangled in the barracks at
+night for having been policemen.  We could see they were really
+afraid, so we took off the handcuffs and gave them back the carbines.
+
+"Before entering the city we found that the whaler had left the
+harbour, and felt sure we would not be detained long, as nothing
+could be proved against us.  When we were brought before the beak
+Jonathan told our story, and showed several letters he had received
+from Boston, so he was discharged.  But I had nothing to show; they
+knew I was an Irishman, and the police asked for a remand to prove
+that I was a runaway convict.  I was kept three weeks in gaol, and
+every time I was brought to court Jonathan was there.  He said he
+would not go away without me.  The police could find out nothing
+against me, so, at last, they let me go.  We went aboard the first
+vessel bound for Melbourne, and, when sail was made, I went up to the
+cross-trees and cursed Van Diemen's Land as long as I could see it.
+Jonathan took ship for the States, but I went shepherding, and grew
+so lazy that if my stick dropped to the ground I wouldn't bend my
+back to pick it up.  But when I heard of the diggings, I woke up,
+humped my swag, and ran away--I was always man enough for that--
+and I don't intend to shepherd again."
+
+When Philip returned from his excursion down the gully, he gave me a
+detailed report of the results and said, "Gold mining is remarkable
+for two things, one certain, the other uncertain.  The certain thing
+is labour, the uncertain thing is gold."  This information staggered
+me, so I replied, "Those two things will have to wait till morning.
+Let us boil the billy."  Our spirits were not very high when we began
+work next day.
+
+We slept under our small calico tent, and our cooking had to be done
+outside.  Sometimes it rained, and then we had to kindle a fire with
+stringy bark under an umbrella   The umbrella was mine--the only
+one I ever saw on the diggings.  Some men who thought they were witty
+made observations about it, but I stuck to it all the same.  No man
+could ever laugh me out of a valuable property.
+
+We lived principally on beef steak, tea, and damper.  Philip cut his
+bread and beef with his bowie knife as long as it lasted.  Every man
+passing by could see that we were formidable, and ready to defend our
+gold to the death--when we got it.  But the bowie was soon useless;
+it got a kink in the middle, and a curl at the point, and had no edge
+anywhere.  It was good for nothing but trade.
+
+A number of our shipmates had put up tents in the neighbourhood, and
+at night we all gathered round the camp fire to talk and smoke away
+our misery.  One, whose name I forget, was a journalist,
+correspondent for the 'Nonconformist'.  Scott was an artist, Harrison
+a mechanical engineer.  Doran a commercial traveller, Moran an
+ex-policeman, Beswick a tailor, Bernie a clogger.  The first lucky
+digger we saw, after Picaninny Jack, came among us one dark night; he
+came suddenly, head foremost, into our fire, and plunged his hands
+into the embers.  We pulled him out, and then two other men came up.
+They apologised for the abrupt entry of their mate.  They said he was
+a lucky digger, and they were his friends and fellow-countrymen.  A
+lucky digger could find friends anywhere, from any country, without
+looking for them, especially if he was drunk, as was this stranger.
+They said he had travelled from Melbourne with a pack horse, and,
+near Mount Alexander, he saw a woman picking up something or other on
+the side of a hill.  She might be gathering flowers, but he could not
+see any.  He stopped and watched her for a while and then went
+nearer.  She did not take any notice of him, so he thought the poor
+thing had been lost in the bush, and had gone cranky.  He pitied her,
+and said:
+
+"My good woman, have you lost anything?  Could I help you to look for it?"
+
+"I am not your good woman, and I have not lost anything; so I don't
+want anybody to help me to look for it."
+
+He was now quite sure she was cranky.  She stooped and picked up
+something, but he could not see what it was.  He began to look on the
+ground, and presently he found a bright little nugget of gold.  Then
+he knew what kind of flowers the woman was gathering.  Without a word
+he took his horse to the foot of the hill, hobbled it, and took off
+his swag.  He went up the hill again, filled his pan with earth, and
+washed it off at the nearest waterhole.  He had struck it rich; the
+hill-side was sprinkled with gold, either on the surface or just
+below it.  For two weeks there were only two parties at work on that
+hill, parties of one, but they did not form a partnership.  The woman
+came every day, picking and scratching like an old hen, and went away
+at sundown.
+
+When the man went away he took with him more than a hundredweight of
+gold.  He was worth looking at, so we put more wood on the fire, and
+made a good blaze.  Yes, he was a lucky digger, and he was enjoying
+his luck.  He was blazing drunk, was in evening dress, wore a black
+bell-topper, and kid gloves.  The gloves had saved his hands from
+being burned when he thrust them into the fire.  There could be no
+doubt that he was enjoying himself.  He came suddenly out of the
+black night, and staggered away into it again with his two friends.
+
+One forenoon, about ten o'clock, while we were busy, peacefully
+digging and puddling, we heard a sound like the rumbling of distant
+thunder from the direction of Bendigo flat.  The thunder grew louder
+until it became like the bellowing of ten thousand bulls.  It was the
+welcome accorded by the diggers to our "trusty and well-beloved"
+Government when it came forth on a digger hunt.  It was swelled by
+the roars, and cooeys, and curses of every man above ground and
+below, in the shafts and drives on the flats, and in the tunnels of
+the White Hills, from Golden Gully and Sheep's Head, to Job's Gully
+and Eaglehawk, until the warning that "Joey's out" had reached to the
+utmost bounds of the goldfield.
+
+There was a strong feeling amongst the diggers that the license fee
+of thirty shillings per month was excessive, and this feeling was
+intensified by the report that it was the intention of the Government
+to double the amount.  As a matter of fact, by far the larger number
+of claims yielded no gold at all, or not enough to pay the fee.  The
+hatred of the hunted diggers made it quite unsafe to send out a small
+number of police and soldiers, so there came forth at irregular
+intervals a formidable body of horse and foot, armed with carbines,
+swords, and pistols.
+
+This morning they marched rapidly along the track towards the White
+Hills, but wheeling to the left up the bluff they suddenly appeared
+at the head of Picaninny Gully.  Mounted men rode down each side of
+the gully as fast as the nature of the ground would permit, for it
+was then honeycombed with holes, and encumbered with the trunks and
+stumps of trees, especially on the eastern side.  They thus managed
+to hem us in like prisoners of war, and they also overtook some
+stragglers hurrying away to right and left.  Some of these had
+licenses in their pockets, and refused to stop or show them until
+they were actually arrested.  It was a ruse of war.  They ran away as
+far as possible among the holes and logs, in order to draw off the
+cavalry, make them break their ranks, and thus to give a chance to
+the unlicensed to escape or to hide themselves.  The police on foot,
+armed with carbines and accompanied by officers, next came down the
+centre of the gully, and every digger was asked to show his license.
+I showed that of William Matthews.
+
+It was not that the policy of William Patterson was tried and found
+wanting.  He was at work on his claim a little below mine, and
+knowing he had no license, I looked at him to see how he would behave
+in the face of the enemy.  He had stopped working, and was walking in
+the direction of his tent, with head bowed down as ifin search of
+something he had lost.  He disappeared in his tent, which was a large
+one, and had, near the opening, a chimney built up with ironstone
+boulders and clay.  But the police had seen him; he was followed,
+found hiding in the corner of his chimney, arrested, and placed among
+the prisoners who were then halted near my tub.  Immediately behind
+Patterson, and carrying a carbine on his shoulder, stood a well-known
+shipmate named Joynt, whom poverty had compelled to join the enemy.
+He would willingly have allowed his friend and prisoner to escape,
+but no chance of doing so occurred, and long after dark Patterson
+approached our camp fire, a free man, but hungry, tired, and full of
+bitterness.  He had been forced to march along the whole day like a
+convicted felon, with an ever-increasing crowd of prisoners, had been
+taken to the camp at nightfall and made to pay 6 pounds 10s.--viz.,
+a fine of 5 pounds and 1 pound 10s. for a license.
+
+The feelings of William Patterson, and of thousands of other diggers,
+were outraged, and they burned for revenge.  A roll-up was called,
+and three public meetings were held on three successive Saturday
+afternoons, on a slight eminence near the Government camp.  The
+speakers addressed the diggers from a wagon.  Some advocated armed
+resistance.  It was well known that many men, French, German, and
+even English, were on the diggings who had taken part in the
+revolutionary outbreak of '48, and that they were eager to have
+recourse to arms once more in the cause of liberty.  But the majority
+advocated the trial of a policy of peace, at least to begin with.  A
+final resolution was passed by acclamation that a fee of ten
+shillings a month should be offered, and if not accepted, no fee
+whatever was to be paid.
+
+It was argued that if the diggers stood firm, it would be impossible
+for the few hundreds of soldiers and police to arrest and keep in
+custody nearly twenty thousand men.  If an attempt was made to take
+us all to gaol, digger-hunting would have to be suspended, the
+revenue would dwindle to nothing, and Government would be starved
+out.  It was, in fact, no Government at all; it was a mere assemblage
+of armed men sent to rob us, not to protect us; each digger had to do
+that for himself.
+
+Next day, Sunday, I walked through the diggings, and observed the
+words "No License Here" pinned or pasted outside every tent, and
+during the next month only about three hundred licenses were taken
+out, instead of the fourteen or fifteen thousand previously issued,
+the digger-hunting was stopped, and a license-fee of forty shillings
+for three months was substituted for that of thirty shillings per
+month.
+
+II.
+
+As no man who had a good claim would be willing to run the risk of
+losing it, the number of licenses taken out after the last meeting
+would probably represent the number of really lucky diggers then at
+work on Bendigo, viz., three hundred more or less, and of the three
+hundred I don't think our gully could boast of one.  All were finding
+a little gold, but even the most fortunate were not making more than
+"tucker."  By puddling eight tubs of washdirt I found that we could
+obtain about one pound's worth of gold each per day; but this was
+hardly enough to keep hope alive.  The golden hours flew over us, but
+they did not send down any golden showers.  I put the little that
+fell to my share into a wooden match-box, which I carried in my
+pocket.  I knew it would hold twelve ounces--if I could get so much
+--and looked into it daily and shook the gold about to see if I were
+growing rich.
+
+It was impossible to feel jolly, and I could see that Philip was
+discontented.  He had never been accustomed to manual labour; he did
+not like being exposed to the cold winds, to the frost or rain, with
+no shelter except that afforded by our small tent.  While at work we
+were always dirty, and often wet; and after we had passed a miserable
+night, daylight found us shivering, until warmth came with hard work.
+One morning Philip lost his temper; his only hat was soaked with
+rain, and his trousers, shirt, and boots were stiff with clay.  He
+put a woollen comforter on his head in lieu of the hat.  The
+comforter was of gaudy colours, and soon attracted public attention.
+A man down the gully said:
+
+"I obsarved yesterday we had young Ireland puddling up here, and I
+persave this morning we have an Italian bandit or a Sallee rover at
+work among us."
+
+Every digger looked at Philip, and he fell into a sudden fury; you
+might have heard him at the first White Hill.
+
+"Yesterday I heard a donkey braying down the gully, and this morning
+he is braying again."
+
+"Oh! I see," replied the Donkey.  "We are in a bad temper this morning."
+
+Father Backhaus was often seen walking with long strides among the
+holes and hillocks on Bendigo Flat or up and down the gullies, on a
+visit to some dying digger, for Death would not wait until we had all
+made our pile.  His messengers were going around all the time;
+dysentery, scurvy, or fever; and the priest hurried after them.
+Sometimes he was too late; Death had entered the tent before him.
+
+He celebrated Mass every Sunday in a tent made of drugget, and
+covered with a calico fly.  His presbytery, sacristy, confessional,
+and school were all of similar materials, and of small dimensions.
+There was not room in the church for more than thirty or forty
+persons; there were no pews, benches, or chairs.  Part of the
+congregation consisted of soldiers from the camp, who had come up
+from Melbourne to shoot us if occasion required.  Six days of the
+week we hated them and called "Joey" after them, but on the seventh
+day we merely glared at them, and let them pass in silence.  They
+were sleek and clean, and we were gaunt as wolves, with scarcely a
+clean shirt among us.  Philip, especially hated them as enemies of
+his country, and the more so because they were his countrymen, all
+but one, who was a black man.
+
+The people in and around the church were not all Catholics.  I saw a
+man kneeling near me reading the Book of Common Prayer of the Church
+of England; there was also a strict Presbyterian, to whom I spoke
+after Mass.  He said the priest did not preach with as much energy as
+the ministers in Scotland.  And yet I thought Father Backhaus' sermon
+had that day been "powerful," as the Yankees would say.  He preached
+from the top of a packing case in front of the tent.  The audience
+was very numerous, standing in close order to the distance of
+twenty-five or thirty yards under a large gum tree.
+
+The preacher spoke with a German accent, but his meaning was plain.
+
+He said:
+
+"My dear brethren' 'Beatus ille qui post aurum non abiit'.  Blessed
+is the man who has not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money or
+treasures.  You will never earn that blessing, my dear brethren.  Why
+are you here?  You have come from every corner of the world to look
+for gold.  You think it is a blessing, but when you get it, it is
+often a curse.  You go what you call 'on the spree'; you find the
+'sly grog'; you get drunk and are robbed of your gold; sometimes you
+are murdered; or you fall into a hole and are killed, and you go to
+hell dead drunk.  Patrick Doyle was here at Mass last Sunday; he was
+then a poor digger.  Next day he found gold, 'struck it rich,' as you
+say; then he found the grog also and brought it to his tent.
+Yesterday he was found dead at the bottom of his golden shaft, and he
+was buried in the graveyard over there near the Government camp."
+
+My conscience was quite easy when the sermon was finished.  It would
+be time enough for me to take warning from the fate of Paddy Doyle
+when I had made my pile.  Let the lucky diggers beware!  I was not
+one of them.
+
+After we had been at work a few weeks, Father Backhaus, before
+stepping down from the packing-case, said:
+
+"I want someone to teach in a school; if there is anyone here willing
+to do so, I should like to see him after Mass."
+
+I was looking round for Philip among the crowd when he came up, eager
+and excited.
+
+"I am thinking of going in to speak to the priest about that school,"
+he said.  "Would you have any objection?  You know we are doing no
+good in the gully, but I won't leave itif you think I had better not."
+
+Philip was honourable; he would not dissolve our short partnership,
+and leave me alone unless I was quite willing to let him go.
+
+"Have you ever kept school before?"
+
+"No, never.  But I don't think the teaching will give me much
+trouble.  There can't be many children around here, and I can surely
+teach them A B C and the Catechism."
+
+Although I thought he had not given fortune a fair chance to bless
+us, he looked so wistful and anxious that I had not the heart to say
+no.  Philip went into the tent, spoke to the priest, and became a
+schoolmaster.  I was then a solitary "hatter."
+
+Next day a man came up the gully with a sack on his back with
+something in it which he had found in a shaft.  He thought the shaft
+had not been dug down to the bedrock, and he would bottom it.  He
+bottomed on a corpse.  The claim had been worked during the previous
+summer by two men.  One morning there was only one man on it; he said
+his mate had gone to Melbourne, but he had in fact killed him during
+the night, and dropped him down the hole.  The police never hunted
+out that murderer; they were too busy hunting us.
+
+I was not long alone.  A beggarly looking young man came a few days
+later, and said:
+
+"I hear you have lost your mate Philip, and my mates have all gone
+away and taken the tent with them; so I want to ask you to let me
+stay in your tent until I can look round a bit."
+
+This young man's name was David Beswick, but he was known simply as
+"Bez."  He was a harmonious tailor from Manchester; he played the
+violoncello, also the violin; had a good tenor voice, and a talent
+for the drama.  He, and a man named Santley from Liverpool, had taken
+leading parts in our plays and concerts on shipboard.  Scott, the
+artist, admired Bez; he said he had the head, the features, and the
+talent of a Shakespeare.  He had a sketch of Bez in his portfolio,
+which he was filling with crooked trees, common diggers, and ugly
+blackamoors.  I could see no Shakespeare in Bez; he was nothing but a
+dissipated tailor who had come out in the steerage, while I had
+voyaged in the house on deck.  I was, therefore, a superior person,
+and looked down on the young man, who was seated on a log near the
+fire, one leg crossed over the other, and slowly stroking his
+Elizabethan beard.  I said:
+
+"Yes, Philip has left me, but I don't want any partner.  I understand
+you are a tailor by trade, and I don't think much of a tailor."
+
+"Well," replied Bez, "I don't think much of him myself, so I have
+dropped the business.  I am now a sailor.  You know yourself I sailed
+from Liverpool to Melbourne, and, anyhow, there's only the difference
+of a letter between a tailor and a sailor."
+
+There was a flaw somewhere in the argument, but I only said, "'Valeat
+quantum valere potest.'"  Bez looked solemn; a little Latin goes a
+long way with some people.  He was an object of charity, and I made
+him feel it.
+
+"In the first place this tent is teetotal.  No grog is to come inside
+it.  There is to be no mining partnership.  You can keep all the gold
+you get, and I shall do the same.  You must keep all trade secrets,
+and never confess you are a tailor.  I could never hold up my head
+among the diggers if they should discover that my mate was only the
+ninth part of a man.  You must carry to the tent a quantity of clay
+and rocks sufficient to build a chimney, of which I shall be the
+architect.  You will also pay for your own tucker, chop wood, make
+the fire, fetch water, and boil the billy."  Bez promised solemnly to
+abide by these conditions, and then I allowed him to deposit his swag
+in the tent.
+
+The chimney was built in three days, and we could then defy the
+weather, and dispense with the umbrella.  Bez performed his part of
+the contract well.  He adopted a rolling gait and the frown of a
+pirate; he swore naval oaths strong enough to still a hurricane.
+Among his digging outfit was a huge pick; it was a two-man pick, and
+he carried it on his shoulder to suggest his enormous strength.  He
+threw tailordom to the winds; when a rent appeared in his trousers he
+closed it with pins, disdaining the use of the needle, until he
+became so ragged that I ordered him into dock for repairs.
+
+One day in passing Philip's school I peeped in at the flap of the
+tent.  He had already acquired the awe-inspiring look of the
+schoolmaster.  He was teaching a class of little boys, whose
+wandering eyes were soon fixed on my face, and then Philip saw me.
+He smiled and blushed, and came outside.  He said he was getting
+along capitally, and did not want to try digging any more.  He had
+obtained a small treatise called "The Twelve Virtues of a Good
+Master," and he was studying it daily in order to qualify himself for
+his new calling.  He had undertaken to demonstrate one of Euclid's
+propositions every night by way of exercising his reasoning
+faculties.  He was also making new acquaintances amongst men who were
+not diggers--doctors, storekeepers, and the useful blacksmiths who
+pointed our picks with steel.  He had also two or three friends at
+the Governmnt camp, and I felt inclined to look upon him as a traitor
+to the diggers' cause but although he had been a member of the party
+of Young Irelanders, he was the most innocent traitor and the poorest
+conspirator I ever heard of.  He could keep nothing from me.  If he
+had been a member of some secret society, he would have burst up the
+secret, or the secret would have burst him.
+
+He had some friends among the diggers.  The big gum tree in front of
+the church tent soon became a kind of trysting place on Sundays, at
+which men could meet with old acquaintances and shipmates, and
+convicts could find old pals.  Amongst the crowd one Sunday were five
+men belonging to a party of six from Nyalong; the sixth man was at
+home guarding the tent.  Four of the six were Irish Catholics, and
+they came regularly to Mass every Sunday; the other two were
+Englishmen, both convicts, of no particular religion, but they had
+married Catholic immigrants, and sometimes went to church, but more
+out of pastime than piety.  One of these men, known as John Barton--
+he had another name in the indents--stood under the gum tree, but
+not praying; I don't think he ever thought of praying except the need
+of it was extreme.  He was of medium height, had a broad face, snub
+nose, stood erect like a soldier, and was strongly built.  His small
+ferrety eyes were glancing quickly among the faces around him until
+they were arrested by another pair of eyes at a short distance.  The
+owner of the second pair of eyes nudged two other men standing by,
+and then three pairs of eyes were fixed on Barton.  He was not a
+coward, but something in the expression of the three men cowed him
+completely.  He turned his head and lowered it, and began to push his
+way among the crowd to hide himself.  After Mass, Philip found him in
+his tent, and suspecting that he was a thief put his hand on a
+medium-sized Colt's revolver, which he had exchanged for his duelling
+pistols, and said:
+
+"Well, my friend, and what are you doing here?"
+
+"For God's sake speak low," whispered Barton.  "I came in here to
+hide.  There are three men outside who want to kill me."
+
+"Three men who want to kill you, eh?  Do you expect me to believe
+that anybody among the crowd there would murder you in broad
+daylight?  My impression is, my friend, that you are a sneaking
+thief, and that you came here to look for gold.  I'll send a man to
+the police to come and fetch you, and if you stir a step I'll shoot
+you."
+
+"For goodness' sake, mate, keep quiet. I am not a burglar, not now at
+any rate.  I'll tell you the truth.  I was a Government flagellator,
+a flogger, you know, on the Sydney side, and I flogged those three
+men.  Couldn't help it, it was my business to do it.  I know they are
+looking for me, and they will follow me and take the first chance to
+murder me.  They are most desperate characters.  One of them was
+insubordinate when he was assigned servant to a squatter, and the
+squatter, who was on horseback, gave him a cut with his stockwhip.
+Then this man jumped at his master, pulled him off his horse, dragged
+him to the wood-heap, held his head on the block, seized the axe, and
+was just going to chop his master's head off, when another man
+stopped him.  That is what I had to flog him for, and then he was
+sent back to Sydney.  So you can just think what a man like that
+would do.  When my time was up I went as a trooper to the Nyalong
+district under Captain Foster, the Commissioner, and after a while I
+settled down and married an immigrant woman from Tipperary, a
+Catholic.  That's the way I happened to be here at Mass with my
+mates, who are Catholics; but I'll never do it again; it's as much as
+my life is worth.  I daresay there are lots of men about Bendigo whom
+I flogged while I was in the business, and every single man-jack of
+them would kill me if he got the chance.  And so for goodness' sake
+let me stay here till dark.  I suppose you are an honest man; you
+look like it anyway, and you would not want to see me murdered, now,
+would you?"
+
+Barton was, in fact, as great a liar and rogue as you would meet with
+anywhere, but in extreme cases he would tell the truth, and the
+present case was an extreme one.  Philip was merciful; he allowed
+Barton to remain in his tent all day, and gave him his dinner.  When
+darkness came he escorted him to the tent of the men from Nyalong,
+and was introduced to them by his new friend.  Their names were
+Gleeson, Poynton, Lyons, and two brothers McCarthy.  One of these men
+was brother-in-law to Barton, and had been a fellow-trooper with him
+under Captain Foster.  Barton had entered into family relations as an
+honest man; he could give himself any character he chose until he was
+found out.  He was too frightened to stay another night on Bendigo,
+and he began at once to bundle up his swag.  Gleeson and Poynton
+accompanied him for some distance beyond the pillar of white quartz
+on Specimen Hill, and then he left the track and struck into the
+bush.  Fear winged his feet' he arrived safely at Nyalong, and never
+went to another rush.  The other five then stayed on Bendigo for
+several weeks longer, and when they returned home their gold was
+sufficient for a dividend of 700 pounds for each man.  Four of them
+bought farms, one kept a store, and Barton rented some land.  Philip
+met them again when he was promoted to the school at Nyalong, and
+they were his firm friends as long as he lived there.
+
+I went to various rushes to improve my circumstances.  Once I was
+nearly shot.  A bullet whizzed past my head, and lodged in the trunk
+of a stringy bark a little further on.  That was the only time in my
+life I was under fire, and I got from under it as quickly as
+possible.  Once I went to a rush of Maoris, near Job's Gully, and
+Scott came along with his portfolio, a small pick, pan, and shovel.
+He did not dig any, but got the ugliest Maori he could find to sit on
+a pile of dirt while he took his portrait and sketched the tattoos.
+That spoiled the rush; every man, black and white, crowded around
+Scott while he was at work with his pencil, and then every single
+savage shook hands with him, and made signs to have his tattoos
+taken, they were so proud of their ugliness.  They were all naked to
+the waist.
+
+Near the head of Sheep's Head Gully, Jack Moore and I found the cap
+of a quartz reef with visible gold in it.  We broke up some of it,
+but could not make it pay, having no quartz-crushing machinery.
+Golden Gully was already nearly worked out, but I got a little gold
+in it which was flaky, and sticking on edge in the pipeclay bottom.
+I found some gold also in Sheep's Head, and then we heard of a rush
+on the Goulburn River.  Next day we offered our spare mining plant
+for sale on the roadside opposite Specimen Hill, placing the tubs,
+cradles, picks and spades all in a row.  Bez was the auctioneer.  He
+called out aloud, and soon gathered a crowd, which he fascinated by
+his eloquence.  The bidding was spirited, and every article was sold,
+even Bez's own two-man pick, which would break the heart of a Samson
+to wield it.
+
+When we left Bendigo, Bez, Birnie, Dan, Scott, and Moses were of the
+party, and a one-horse cart carried our baggage.  When we came to a
+swamp we carried the baggage over it on our backs, and then helped
+the horse to draw the empty cart along.  Our party increased in
+number by the way, especially after we met with a dray carrying kegs
+of rum.
+
+Before reaching the new rush, afterwards known as Waranga, we
+prospected some country about twenty miles from the Goulburn river.
+Here Scott left us.  Before starting he called me aside, and told me
+he was going to the Melbourne Hospital to undergo an operation.  He
+had a tumour on one leg above the knee, for which he had been treated
+in Dublin, and had been advised to come to Australia, in the hope
+that a change of climate and occupation might be of benefit, but he
+had already walked once from Bendigo to Melbourne, and now he was
+obliged to go again.  He did not like to start without letting
+someone know his reason for leaving us.  I felt full of pity for
+Scott, for I thought he was going to his death alone in the bush, and
+I asked him if he felt sure that he could find his way.  He showed me
+his pocket compass and a map, and said he could make a straight
+course for Melbourne.  He had always lived and worked alone, but
+whenever we moved he accompanied us not wishing to be quite lost
+amongst strangers.  He arrived at the hospital, but he never came out
+of it alive.
+
+Dan gave me his money to take care of while he and Bez were living on
+rum from the dray, and I gave out as little cash as possible in order
+to promote peace and sobriety.  One night Dan set fire to my tent in
+order to rouse his banker.  I dragged Bez outside the tent and
+extinguished the fire.  There was bloodshed afterwards--from Dan's
+nose--and his account was closed.  After a while some policemen in
+plain clothes came along and examined the dray.  They found fourteen
+kegs of rum in it, which they seized, together with four horses and
+the dray.
+
+I worked for seven months in various parts of the Ovens district
+until I had acquired the value in gold of my vanished twenty-dollar
+pieces; that was all my luck.  During this time some of us paid the
+L2 license fee for three months.  We were not hunted by the military.
+Four or five troopers and officials rode slowly about the diggings
+and the cry of "Joey" was never raised, while a single unarmed
+constable on foot went amongst the claims to inspect licenses.  He
+stayed with us awhile, talking about digging matters.  He said the
+police were not allowed to carry carbines now, because a digger had
+been accidentally shot.  He was a very civil fellow, and his price,
+if I remember rightly was half-a-crown.  Yet the digger hunting was
+continued at Ballarat until it ended in the massacre of December 3rd
+1854.
+
+At that time I was at Colac, and while Dr. Ignatius was absent, I had
+the charge of his household, which consisted of one old convict known
+as "Specs," who acted in the capacity of generally useless, received
+orders most respectfully, but forgot them as much as possible.  He
+was a man of education who had gone astray in London, and had fallen
+on evil days in Queensland and Sydney.  When alone in  the kitchen he
+consoled himself with curses.  I could hear his voice from the other
+side of the slabs.  He cursed me, he cursed the Doctor, he cursed the
+horses, the cat, the dog, and the whole world and everything in it.
+It was impossible to feel anything but pity for the man, for his life
+was ruined, and he had ruined it himself.  I had also under my care a
+vegetable garden, a paddock of Cape barley, two horses, some guinea
+fowls, and a potato patch.  One night the potatoes had been
+bandicooted.  To all the early settlers in the bush the bandicoot is
+well known.  It is a marsupial quadruped which lives on bulbs, and
+ravages potato patches.  It is about eighteen inches in length from
+the origin of its tail to the point of its nose.  It has the habits
+of a pickpocket.  It inserts its delicate fore paws under the stalks
+of the potato, and pulls out the tubers.  That morning I had
+endeavoured to dig some potatoes; the stalks were there, but the
+potatoes were gone.  I stopped to think, and examined the ground.  I
+soon discovered tracks of the bandicoot, but they had taken the shape
+of a small human foot.  We had no small human feet about our
+premises, but at the other side of the fence there was a bark hut
+full of them.  I turned toward the hut suspiciously, and saw the
+bandicoot sitting on a top-rail, watching me, and dangling her feet
+to and fro.  She wore towzled red hair, a short print frock, and a
+look of defiance.  I went nearer to inspect her bandicoot feet.  Then
+she openly defied me, and said:
+
+"You need not look so fierce, mister.  I have as much right to sit on
+this rail as you have."
+
+"Lilias," I replied, "you won't sit there long.  You bandicooted my
+potatoes last night, and you've left the marks of your dirty feet on
+the ground.  The police are coming to measure your feet, and then
+they will take you to the lock-up."
+
+I gazed across the barley paddock for the police, and Lilias looked
+as well.  There was a strange man approaching rapidly, and the
+bandicoot's courage collapsed.  She slid from the fence, took to
+flight, and disappeared among the tussocks near the creek.
+
+The stranger did not go to the garden gate, but stood looking over
+the fence.  He said:  "Is Dr. Ignatius at home?"
+
+"No, he is away somewhere about Fiery Creek, and I don't think he'll
+return until Saturday."
+
+The stranger hung down his head and was silent.  He was a young man
+of small frame, well dressed for those days, but he had o luggage.
+He looked so miserable that I pitied him.  He was like a hunted
+animal.  I said:
+
+"Are you a friend of Dr. Ignatius?"
+
+"Yes, he knows me well.  My name is Carr; I have come from Ballarat."
+
+"I knew various men had left Ballarat.  One had arrived in Geelong on
+December 4th, and had consulted Dr. Walshe about a bullet between his
+knuckles, another was hiding in a house at Chilwell.*  He had lost
+one arm, and the Government were offering 400 pounds for him, so he
+took outdoor exercise only by night, disguised in an Inverness cape.
+
+"There was a chance for me to hear exciting news from the lips of a
+warrior fresh from the field of battle, so I said:
+
+"If you would like to stay here until the doctor returns you will
+be welcome."
+
+*[Footnote]  Peter Lalor.
+
+He was my guest for four days.  He said that he went out with the
+military on the morning of December 3rd, and was the first surgeon
+who entered the Eureka Stockade after the fight was over.  He found
+twelve men dead in it, and twelve more mortally wounded.  This was
+about all the information he vouchsafed to give me.  I was anxious
+for particulars.  I wanted to know what arms he carried to the fray,
+whether he touched up his sword on the grind-stone before sallying
+forth, how many men or women he had called upon to stand in the name
+of her gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, how many skulls he had
+cloven, how many diggers he had "slewed," and how many peaceful
+prisoners he had brought back to the Government camp.  On all these
+points he was silent, and during his stay with me he spoke as little
+as possible,  neither reading, writing, nor walking about.  But there
+was something to be learned from the papers.  He had been a witness
+at the inquest on Scobie, killed by Bentley and two others, and
+principally on his evidence Bentley was discharged, but was
+afterwards re-arrested and condemned to three years' imprisonment.
+Dr. Carr was regarded as a "colluding associate" with Bentley and
+Dewes, the magistrate, and the official condemnation of Dewes
+confirmed the popular denunciation of them.  At a dinner given to Mr.
+Tarleton, the American Consul, Dr. Otway, the Chairman said:
+
+"While I and my fellow-colonists are thoroughly loyal to our
+Sovereign Lady, the Queen, we do not, and will not, respect her men
+servants, her maid servants, her oxen, or her asses."
+
+A Commission was coming to Ballarat to report on wrong doings there,
+and they were looking for witnesses.  On Friday, December 8th, the
+camp surgeon and Dr. Carr had a narrow escape from being shot.  While
+the former gentleman was entering the hospital he was fired at by one
+of the sentries.  The ball passed close to the shoulder of Dr. Carr,
+who was reading inside, went through the lid of the open medicine
+chest, and some splinters struck him on the side.  There were in the
+hospital at that time seven diggers seriously wounded and six
+soldiers, including the drummer boy.  Troubles were coming in crowds,
+and the bullet, the splinters, and the Commission put the little
+doctor to flight.  He left the seven diggers, the five soldiers, and
+the drummer boy in the hospital, and made straight for Colac.  Fear
+dogged his footsteps wherever he went, and the mere sight of him had
+sent the impudent thief Lilias to hide behind the tussocks.
+
+I always hate a man who won't talk to me and tell me things, and the
+doctor was so silent and unsociable, that, by way of revenge, I left
+him to the care and curses of old "Specs."
+
+After four days he departed, and he appeared again at Ballarat on
+January 15th, giving evidence at an inquest on one Hardy, killed by a
+gunshot wound.  In the meantime a total change had taken place among
+the occupants of the Government camp.  Commissioner Rede had retired,
+Dr. Williams, the coroner, and the district surgeons had received
+notice to quit in twenty-four hours, and they left behind them
+twenty-four patients in and around the camp hospital.
+
+Dr. Carr left the colony, and the next report about him was from
+Manchester, where he made a wild and incoherent speech to the crowd
+at the Exchange.  His last public appearance was in a police-court on
+a charge of lunacy.  He was taken away by his friends, and what
+became of him afterwards is not recorded.
+
+Doctors, when there is a dearth of patients, sometimes take to war,
+and thus succeed in creating a "practice."  Occasionally they meet
+with disaster, of which we can easily call to mind instances, both
+ancient and modern.
+
+
+III.
+
+Diggers do not often turn their eyes heavenwards; their treasure does
+not lie in that direction.  But one night I saw Bez star-gazing.
+
+"Do you know the names of any of the stars in this part of the roof?"
+I asked.
+
+"I can't make out many of the Manchester stars," he replied.  "I knew
+a few when I was a boy, but there was a good deal of fog and smoke,
+and latterly I have not looked up that way much; but I can spot a few
+of them yet, I think."
+
+Bez was a rather prosy poet, and his eye was not in a fine frenzy rolling.
+
+"Let me see," he said; "that's the north; Charles' Wain and the North
+Pole ought to be there, but they have gone down somewhere.  There are
+the Seven Stars--I never could make 'em seven; if there ever were
+that number one of 'em has dropped out.  And there's Orion; he has
+somehow slipped up to the north, and is standing on his head, heels
+uppermost.  There are the two stars in his heels, two on his
+shoulders, three in his belt, and three in his sword.  There is the
+Southern Cross; we could never see that in our part of England, nor
+those two silvery clouds, nor the two black holes.  They look
+curious, don't they?  I suppose the two clouds are the Gates of
+Heaven, and the two black spots the Gates of Hell, the doors of
+eternity.  Which way shall we go?  That's the question."
+
+The old adage is still quite true--'coelum non animum mutant qui
+trans mare currunt'.  When a young gentleman in England takes to
+idleness and grog, and disgraces his family, he is provided with a
+passage to Australia, in order that he may become a reformed
+prodigal; but the change of climate does not effect a reform; it
+requires something else.
+
+Dan in Glasgow and Bez in Manchester had both been given to drink too
+much.  They came to Victoria to acquire the virtue of temperance, and
+they were sober enough when they had no money.
+
+Dan told me that when he awoke after his first week at sea, he sat
+every day on the topgallant forecastle thinking over his past
+wickedness, watching the foam go by, and continually tempted to
+plunge into it.
+
+After the rum, the dray, and the four horses were seized by the
+police.  Dan and Bez grew sober, and went to Reid's Creek, passing me
+at work on Spring Creek.  They came back as separate items.  Dan
+called at my tent, and I gave him a meal of damper, tea, and jam.  He
+ate the whole of the jam, which cost me 2s. 6d. per pound.   He then
+humped his swag and started for Melbourne.  On his way through the
+township, since named Beechworth, he took a drink of liquor which
+disabled him, and he lay down by the roadside using an ant-hill for a
+pillow.  He awoke at daylight covered with ants, which were stinging
+and eating him alive.
+
+Some days later Bez came along, passed my tent for a mile, and then
+came back.  He said he was ashamed of himself.  I gave him also a
+feed of damper, tea, and jam limited.  Dan had made me cautious in
+the matter of lavish hospitality.  The Earl of Lonsdale lately spent
+fifty thousand pounds in entertaining the Emperor of Germany, but it
+was money thrown away.  The next time the Kaiser comes to
+Westmoreland he will have to pay for his board and buy his preserves.
+Bez made a start for Melbourne, met an old convict, and with him took
+a job at foot-rotting sheep on a station owned by a widow lady.  Here
+he passed as an engraver in reduced circumstances.  He told lies so
+well, that the convict was filled with admiration, and said, "I'm
+sure, mate, you're a flash covey wot's done his time in the island."
+
+The two chums foot-rotted until they had earned thirty shillings
+each, then they went away and got drunk at a roadside shanty; at
+least, Bez did, and when the convict picked his pockets, he kindly
+put back three shillings and sixpence, saying, "That will give him
+another start on the wallaby track."
+
+Bez at last arrived at Flagstaff Hill, which was then bare, with a
+sand-hole on one side of it.  He had had nothing to eat for
+twenty-four hours, and had only one shilling and sixpence in his
+pocket, which he was loath to spend for fear of arriving in Melbourne
+a complete beggar.  He lay down famishing and weary on the top of the
+hill near Flagstaff, and surveyed the city, the bay, and the
+shipping.  He had  hoped by this time to have been ready to take a
+passage in one of those ships to Liverpool, and to return home a
+lucky digger.  But he had only eighteen pence, so he said, "I am
+afraid, Bez, you will never see Manchester again."
+
+There was at that time a small frame building at the west end of
+Flinders Street, with a hill behind it, on which goats were browsing;
+the railway viaduct runs now over the exact spot.  Many parties of
+hopeful diggers from England and California had slept there on the
+floor the night before they started for Ballarat, Mount Alexander, or
+Bendigo.  We called it a house of refuge, and Bez now looked for
+refuge in it.  There he met Dan and Moran, who had both found
+employment in the city, and they fed the hungry Bez.  Dan was
+labouring at his trade in the building business, and he set Bez to
+work roofing houses with corrugated iron.  They soon earned more
+money than they had ever earned by digging for gold, but on Saturday
+nights and Sundays they took their pleasure in the old style, and so
+they went to the dogs.  I don't know how Dan's life ended (his real
+name was Donald Fraser), but Bez died suddenly in the bar of a
+public-house, and he was honoured with an inquest and a short
+paragraph in the papers.
+
+Moran had saved a hundred pounds by digging in Picaninny Gully, and
+he was soon afterwards admitted to serve Her Majesty again in the
+police department.  On the Sunday after Price was murdered by the
+convicts at Williamstown I met Moran after Mass in the middle of
+Lonsdale Street.  I reproached him for his baseness in deserting to
+the enemy--Her Majesty, no less--and in self-defence he nearly
+argued my head off.  At last I threatened to denounce him as a "Joey"
+--he was in plain clothes--and have him killed by the crowd in the
+street.  Nothing but death could silence Moran.  The rest of his
+history is engraved on a monument in the Melbourne Cemetery; he, his
+wife, and all his children died many years ago.--R.I.P.  He was
+really a good man, with only one defect--most of us have many--he
+was always trying to divide a hair 'twixt West and South-West side.
+
+I met Santley after thirty years, sitting on a bench in front of the
+"Travellers' Rest" at Alberton, in Gippsland.  He had a wrinkled old
+face, and did not recognise my beautiful countenance until he heard
+my name.  He had half-a-dozen little boys and girls around him--his
+grandchildren, I believe--and was as happy as a king teaching them
+to sing hymns.  I don't think Santley had grown rich, but he always
+carried a fortune about with him wherever he went, viz., a kind heart
+and a cheerful disposition.  Nobody could ever think of quarrelling
+with Santlay any more than with George Coppin, or with that
+benevolent bandmaster, Herr Plock.  He told me that he was now
+related to the highest family in the world, his daughter having
+married the Chinese giant, whose brothers and sisters were all of the
+race of Anak.
+
+My mate, Philip, was so successful with his little school in the tent
+that he was promoted to another at the Rocky Waterholes, and then he
+went to the township at Lake Nyalong.  Philip had never travelled as
+far as Lake Nyalong, but Picaninny Jack told him that he had once
+been there, and that it was a beautiful country.  He tried to find it
+at another time, but got bushed on the wrong side of the lake; now he
+believed there was a regular track that way if Philip could only find
+it.  The settlers and other inhabitants ought to be well off; if not,
+it was their own fault, for they had the best land in the whole of
+Australia.
+
+Philip felt sure that he would find at least one friend at Nyalong--
+viz., Mr. Barton, whom he had harboured in his tent at Bendigo, and
+had sheltered from the pursuit of the three bloodthirsty convicts.
+Some people might be too proud to look forward to the friendship of a
+flagellator, but in those days we could not pick and choose our
+chums; Barton might not be clubable, but he might be useful, and the
+social ladder requires a first step.
+
+Thanks to such men as Dan and Bez, in Melbourne, and to other
+enterprising builders in various places, habitable dwellings of wood,
+brick, and bluestone began to be used, instead of the handy but
+uncomfortable tent, and, at the Rocky Waterholes, Philip had for some
+time been lodging in a weatherboard house with the respectable Mrs.
+Martin.  Before going to look for Nyalong he introduced his successor
+to her, and also to the scholars.  Her name was Miss Edgeworth.
+
+The first virtue of a good master is gravity, and Philip had begun at
+the beginning.  He was now graver even than usual while he briefly
+addressed his youthful auditors.
+
+"My dear children," he said, "I am going away, and have to leave you
+in the care of this young lady, Miss Edgeworth.  I am sure you will
+find her to be a better teacher than myself, because she has been
+trained in the schools of the great city of Dublin, and I,
+unfortunately, had no training at all; she is highly educated, and
+will be, I doubt not, a perfect blessing to the rising generation of
+the Rocky Waterholes.  I hope you will be diligent, obedient, and
+respectful to her.  Good-bye, and God bless you all."
+
+These words were spoken in the tone of a judge passing sentence of
+death on a criminal, and Miss Edgeworth was in doubt whether it would
+be becoming under the circumstances to laugh or to cry, so she made
+no speech in reply.  She said afterwards to Mrs. Martin, "Mr. Philip
+must have been a most severe master; I can see sternness on his
+brow."  Moreover, she was secretly aware that she did not deserve his
+compliments, and that her learning was limited, especially in
+arithmetic; she had often to blame the figures for not adding up
+correctly.  For this reason she had a horror of examinations, and
+every time the inspector came round she was in a state of mortal
+fear.  His name was Bonwick.  He was a little man, but he was so
+learned that the teachers looked forward to his visits with awe.  A
+happy idea came into Miss Edgeworth's mind.  She was, it is true, not
+very learned, nor was she perfect in the practice of the twelve
+virtues, but she had some instinctive knowledge of the weakness of
+the male man.  Mr. Bonwick was an author, a learned author who had
+written books--among others a school treatise on geography.  Miss
+Edgeworth bought two copies of this work, and took care to place them
+on her table in the school every morning with the name of the author
+in full view.  On his next visit Mr. Bonwick's searching eyes soon
+detected the presence of his little treatise, and he took it up with
+a pleased smile.  This was Miss Edgeworth's opportunity; she said, in
+her opinion, the work was a must excellent one, and extremely well
+adapted for the use of schools.
+
+The inspector was more than satisfied; a young lady of so much
+judgment and discrimination was a peerless teacher, and Miss
+Edgeworth's work was henceforward beyond all question.
+
+There were no coaches running to Nyalong, and, as Philip's poverty
+did not permit him to purchase a horse, and he had scruples about
+stealing one, he packed up his swag and set out on foot.  It may be
+mentioned as bearing on nothing in particular that, after Philip had
+taken leave of Miss Edgeworth, she stood at a window, flattened her
+little nose against one of the panes, and watched him trudging away
+as long as he was in sight.  Then she said to Mrs. Martin:
+
+"Ain't it a pity that so respectable a young man should be tramping
+through the bush like a pedlar with a pack?"
+
+"No, indeed, miss, not a bit of it," replied Mrs. Martin; "nearly
+every man in the country has had to travel with his swag one time or
+another.  We are all used to it; and it ain't no use of your looking
+after him that way, for most likely you'll never see him again."  But
+she did.
+
+About two miles from the Waterholes Philip overtook another swagman,
+a man of middle age, who was going to Nyalong to look for work.  He
+had tried the diggings, and left them for want of luck, and Philip,
+having himself been an unlucky digger, had a fellow feeling for the
+stranger.  He was an old soldier named Summers.
+
+"I am three and fifty years old," he said, "and I 'listed when I was
+twenty.  I was in all the wars in India for nineteen years, and never
+was hit but once, and that was on the top of my head.  Look here," he
+took off his hat and pointed to a ridge made by the track of a
+bullet, "if I had been an inch taller I shouldn't be here now.  And
+maybe it would have been all the better.  I have been too long at the
+fighting to learn another trade now.  When I 'listed I was told my
+pay would be a shilling a day and everything found.  A shilling a day
+is seven shillings a week, and I thought I should live like a
+fighting cock, plenty to eat and a shilling a day for drink or sport.
+But I found out the difference when it was too late.  They kept a
+strict account against every man; it was full of what they called
+deductions, and we had to pay for so many things out of that shilling
+that sometimes for months together I hadn't the price of a pint o'
+threepenny with a trop o' porter through it."
+
+"What was the biggest battle you ever were in?" enquired Philip.
+
+"Well, I had some close shaves, but the worst was when we took a
+stockade from the Burmans.  My regiment was the 47th, and one company
+of ours, sixty-five, rank and file, and two companies from other
+regiments were ordered to attack it.  Our officers were all shot down
+before we reached the stockade, but we got in, and went at the
+Burmans with the bayonet.  But such a crowd came at us from the rear
+of the stockade that we had to go out again, and we ran down the
+hill.  Our ranks were broken, and we had no time to rally before a
+lot of horsemen were among us.  My bayonet was broken, and I had
+nothing but my empty musket to fight with.  I warded off the sabre
+cuts with it right and left, so, dodging among the horses, and I was
+not once wounded.  It was all over in a hot minute or two, but, when
+the supports came up, and we were afterwards mustered, only five men
+of our company answered the roll-call.  Of course I was one of them,
+and the barrel of my musket was notched like a saw by all the strokes
+I had parried with it."  The last time Philip saw Summers he was
+hammering bluestone by the roadside.  The pomp and circumstance of
+glorious war had left him in hisold age little better than a beggar.
+
+Philip found Nyalong without much trouble, and renewed the
+acquaintance begun at Bendigo with Mr. Barton and the other diggers.
+To all appearance his promotion was not worth much; he might as well
+have stayed at the Waterholes.  Mr. McCarthy acted as school director
+--an honorary office--and he showed Philip the school.  He said:
+
+"It is not of much account, I must acknowledge; we were short of
+funds, and had to put it up cheap.  Most of the wall, you see, is
+only half a brick thick, and, during the sudden gusts that come
+across the lake, the north side bulges inward a good deal; so, when
+you hear the wind coming you had better send the children outside
+until the gale is over.  That is what Mr. Foy, the last teacher did.
+And, I must tell you also this school has gone to the dogs; there are
+some very bad boys here--the Boyles and the Blakes.  When they saw
+Mr. Foy was going to use his cane on them they would dart out of the
+school, the master after them.  Then there was a regular steeplechase
+across the paddocks, and every boy and girl came outside to watch it,
+screaming and yelling.  It was great fun, but it was not
+school-teaching.  I am afraid you will never manage the Boyles and
+the Blakes.  Mr. McLaggan, the minister, once found six of them
+sitting at the foot of a gum tree, drinking a bottle of rum.  He
+spoke to them, told them that they were young reprobates, and were
+going straight to hell.  Hugh Boyle held out the bottle, and said,
+'Here, Mr. McLaggan, wouldn't you like a nip yourself?'  The minister
+was on horseback, and always carried a whip with a heavy lash, and it
+was a beautiful sight the way he laid the lash on those Boyles and
+Blakes.  I really think you had better turn them out of the school,
+Mr. Philip, or else they will turn you out."
+
+Mr. Philip's lips closed with a snap.  He said, "It is my duty to
+educate them; turning them out of school is not education.  We will
+see what can be done."
+
+As everyone knows, the twelve virtues of a good master are Gravity,
+Silence, Humility, Prudence, Wisdom, Patience, Discretion, Meekness,
+Zeal, Vigilance, Piety, and Generosity.  I don't suppose any teacher
+was ever quite perfect in the practice of them, but a sincere
+endeavour is often useful.  On reflection, Philip thought it best to
+add two other virtues to the catalogue--viz., Firmness, and a Strap
+of Sole-Leather.
+
+There was a full attendance of scholars the first morning, and when
+all the names had been entered on the roll, Philip observed that the
+Boyles and the Blakes were all there; they were expecting some new
+kind of fun with the new master.  In order that the fun might be
+inside the school and not all over the paddocks, Philip placed his
+chair near the door, and locked it.  Then education began; the
+scholars were all repeating their lessons, talking to one another
+aloud and quarrelling.
+
+"Please, sir, Josh Blake's a-pinching me."  "Please, sir, Hugh Boyle
+is a-scroodgin."  "Please, sir, Nancy Toomey is making faces at me."
+
+It was a pandemonium of little devils, to be changed, if possible,
+into little angels.  The master rose from the chair, put up one hand,
+and said:  "Silence!"
+
+Every eye was on him, every tongue was silent, and every ear was
+listening, "Joseph Blake and Hugh Boyle, come this way."  They did so.
+
+"No one here is to shout or talk, or read in a loud voice.  If any of
+you want to speak to me you must hold up your hand, so.  When I nod
+you can come to me.  If you don't do everything I tell you, you will
+be slapped on the hand, or somewhere else, with this strap."
+
+He held it up to view.  It was eighteen inches long, three inches
+broad, heavy, and pliant.  The sight of it made Tommy Traddles and
+many other little boys and girls good all at once; but Joseph and
+Hugh went back to their seats grinning at one another.  Mr. Foy had
+often talked that way, but it always came to nothing.
+
+Hugh was the hero of the school, or rather the leading villain.  In
+about two minutes he called out, "Please, sir, Josh Blake is
+a-shoving me with his elbow."
+
+"Hugh Boyle, come this way."  He came.
+
+"Now, Hugh, I told you that there must be no speaking or reading
+aloud.  Of course you forgot what I said; you should have put up your
+hand."
+
+In the course of the day Hugh received two slaps, then three, then
+four.  He began to fear the strap as well as to feel it.  That was
+the beginning of wisdom.
+
+Nancy Toomey was naughty, and was sent into a corner.  She was sulky
+and rebellious when told to return to her seat.  She said, in the
+hearing of Tommy Traddles, "The master is a carroty-headed crawler."
+
+It is as well to remark that Philip's hair was red; a man with red
+hair is apt to be of a hasty temper, and, as a matter of fact, I had
+seen Philip's fist fly out very rapidly on several occasions before
+he began to practise the twelve virtues.
+
+Tommy put up his hand, and, at a nod, went up to the master.
+
+"Well, Tommy, what is the matter?"
+
+"Please, sir, Nancy Toomey has been calling you a carroty-headed crawler."
+
+Tommy's eyebrows were raised, his eyes and mouth wide open.  Philip
+looked over his head at Nancy, whose face was on fire.  He slowly
+repeated:
+
+"Nancy Toomey has been calling me a carroty-headed crawler, has she?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  That's what she called you.  I heard her."
+
+"Well, Tommy, go to your seat like a good boy.  Nancy won't call
+names any more."
+
+In a little more than a week perfect discipline and good order
+prevailed in the school.
+
+
+A BUSH HERMIT.
+
+It is not good for man to be alone, but Philip became a hermit.  Half
+a mile from the school and the main road there was an empty slab hut
+roofed with shingles.  It was on the top of a long sloping hill,
+which afforded a beautiful view over the lake and the distant hills.
+Half an acre of garden ground was fenced in with the hut, and it was
+part of the farm of a man from Hampshire, England, who lived with his
+wife near the main road.  A man from  Hampshire is an Englishman, and
+should speak English; but, when Philip tried to make a bargain about
+the hut, he could not understand the Hampshire language, and the
+farmer's wife had to interpret.  And that farmer lived to the age of
+eighty years, and never learned to speak English.  He was not a fool
+by any means; knew all about farming; worked twelve or fourteen hours
+a day all the year round, having never heard of the eight hours
+system; but he talked, and prayed, and swore all his life in the
+Hampshire dialect.  Whenever he spoke to the neighbours a look of
+pain and misery came over them.  Sometimes he went to meetings, and
+made a speech, but he was told to go and fetch a Chinaman to
+interpret.
+
+Philip entered into possession of the hut.  It had two rooms, and the
+furniture did not cost much.  At Adams' store he bought a camp oven,
+an earthenware stew-pot, a milk pan, a billy, two pannikins, two
+spoons, a whittle, and a fork.  The extra pannikin and spoon were for
+the use of visitors, for Philip's idea was that a hermit, if not
+holy, should be at least hospitable.  With an axe and saw he made his
+own furniture--viz., two hardwood stools, one of which would seat
+two men; for a table he sawed off the butt end of a messmate, rolled
+it inside the hut, and nailed on the top of it a piece of a pine
+packing case.  His bedstead was a frame of saplings, with strong
+canvas nailed over it, and his mattress was a sheet of stringy bark,
+which soon curled up at the sides and fitted him like a coffin.  His
+pillow was a linen bag filled with spare shirts and socks, and under
+it he placed his revolver, in case he might want it for unwelcome
+visitors.
+
+Patrick Duggan's wife did the laundry work, and refused to take
+payment in cash.  But she made a curious bargain about it.  A priest
+visited Nyalong only once a month; he lived fifty miles away; when
+Mrs. Duggan was in her last sickness he might be unable to administer
+to her the rites of the church.  So her bargain was, that in case the
+priest should be absent, the schoolmaster, as next best man, was to
+read prayers over her grave.  Philip thought there was something
+strange, perhaps simoniacal, about the bargain.  Twice Mrs. Duggan,
+thinking she was on the point of death, sent a messenger to remind
+him of his duty; and when at last she did die, he was present at the
+funeral, and read the prayers for the dead over her grave.
+
+Avarice is a vice so base that I never heard of any man who would
+confess that he had ever been guilty of it.  Philip was my best
+friend, and I was always loath to think unkindly of him, but at this
+time I really think he began to be rather penurious--not
+avaricious, certainly not.  But he was not a hermit of the holiest
+kind.  He began to save money and acquire stock.  He had not been
+long on the hill before he owned a horse, two dogs, a cat, a native
+bear, a magpie, and a parrot, and he paid nothing for any of them
+except the horse.  One day he met Mr. McCarthy talking to Bob Atkins,
+a station hand, who had a horse to sell--a filly, rising three.
+McCarthy was a good judge of horses, and after inspecting the filly,
+he said:  "She will just suit you, Mr. Philip, you ought to buy her."
+So the bargain was made; the price was ten pounds, Bob giving in the
+saddle, bridle, a pair of hobbles, and a tether rope.  He was proud
+of his deal.
+
+Two years afterwards, when Philip was riding through the bush, Bob
+rode up alongside, and after a while said:
+
+"Well, Mister, how do you like that filly I sold you?"
+
+"Very well indeed.  She is a capital roadster and stockhorse."
+
+"Does she ever throw you?"
+
+"Never.  What makes you ask?"
+
+"Well, that's queer.  The fact is I sold her to you because I could
+not ride her.  Every time I mounted, she slung me a buster."
+
+"I see, Bob, you meant well, didn't you?  But she never yet slung me
+a buster; she is quieter than a lamb, and she will come to me
+whenever I whistle, and follow me like a dog."
+
+Philip's first dog was named Sam.  He was half collie and half bull
+dog, and was therefore both brave and full of sagacity.  He guarded
+the hut and the other domestics during school hours, and when he saw
+Philip coming up the hill, he ran to meet him, smiling and wagging
+his tail, and reported all well.  The other dog was only a small pup,
+a Skye terrier, like a bunch of tow, a present from Tommy Traddles.
+Pup's early days were made very miserable by Maggie, the magpie.
+That wicked bird used to strut around Philip while he was digging in
+the garden, and after filling her crop with worms and grubs, she
+flapped away on one wing and went round the hut looking for
+amusement.  She jumped on Pup's back, scratched him with her claws,
+pecked at his skull, and pulled locks of wool out of it, the poor
+innocent all the while yelping and howling for mercy.  Sam never
+helped Pup, or drove Maggie away; he was actually afraid of her, and
+believed she was a dangerous witch.  Sometimes she pecked at his
+tail, and he dared not say a word, but sneaked away, looking sideways
+at her, hanging down his ears, and afraid to say his tail was his
+own.  Joey, the parrot, watched all that was going on from his cage,
+which was hung on a hook outside the hut door.  Philip tried to teach
+Joey to whistle a tune:  "There is na luck aboot the hoose, There is
+na luck at a'," but the parrot had so many things to attend to that
+he never had time to finish the tune.  He was, indeed, very vain and
+flighty, sidling along his perch and saying:  "Sweet pretty Joey, who
+are you, who are you?  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!"  wanting everybody to take
+notice and admire him.  When Maggie first attacked poor Pup,
+scratched his back, pecked at his head, and tore locks of wool out
+of him, and Pup screamed pitifully to all the world for
+help, Joey poked his head between the wires of his cage, turned one
+eye downwards, listened to the language, and watched the new
+performance with silent ecstacy.  He had never heard or seen anything
+like it in the whole course of his life.  Philip used to drive Maggie
+away, take up poor Pup and stroke him, while Maggie, the villain,
+hopped around, flapping her wings and giving the greatest impudence.
+
+It really gave Philip a great deal of trouble to keep order among his
+domestics.  One day, while hoeing in the garden, he heard the Pup
+screaming miserably.  He said, "There's that villain, Maggie, at him
+again," and he ran up to the hut to drive her away.  But when he reached
+it there was neither Pup nor Maggie to be seen, only Joey in his cage,
+and he was bobbing his head up and down, yelping exactly like the
+Pup, and then he began laughing at Philip ready to burst, "Ha!  Ha!
+Ha!  Who are you?  Who are you?  There is no luck aboot the hoose,
+There is na luck at a'."
+
+The native bear resided in a packing case, nailed on the top of a
+stump nearly opposite the hut door.  He had a strap round his waist,
+and was fastened to the stump by a piece of clothes line.  The boys
+called him a monkey-bear, but though his face was like that of a bear
+he was neither a monkey nor a bear.  He was in fact a sloth; his legs
+were not made for walking, but for climbing, and although he had
+strong claws and a very muscular forearm, he was always slow in his
+movements.  He was very silent and unsociable, never joined in the
+amusements of the other domestics, and when Philip brought him a
+bunch of tender young gum-tree shoots for his breakfast in the
+morning, he did not even say "thanks" or smile, or show the least
+gratitude.  He never spoke except at dead of night, when he was
+exchanging compliments with some other bear up a gum tree in the
+forty-acre paddock.  And such compliments!  Their voices were
+frightful, something between a roar and a groan, and although Philip
+was a great linguist he was never quite sure what they were saying.
+But the bear was always scheming to get away; he was like the Boers,
+and could not abide British rule.  Philip would not have kept him at
+all, but as he had taken him into the family circle when a cub he did
+not like to be cruel and turn him out along in a heartless world.
+Twice Bruin managed to untie the clothes line and started for the
+forty-acre.  He crawled along very slowly, and when he saw Philip
+coming after him, he stopped, looked behind him, and said, "Hoo,"
+showing his disgust.  Then Philip took hold of the end of the clothes
+line and brought him back, scolding all the time.
+
+"You miserable Bruin, you don't know what's good for you; you can't
+tell a light-wood from a gum-tree, and you'll die of starvation, or
+else the boys will find you, and they will kill you, thinking you are
+a wild bush bear, for you don't show any signs of good education,
+after all the trouble I have taken to teach you manners.  I am afraid
+you will come to a bad end."
+
+And so he did.  The third time Bruin loosed the clothes line he had a
+six hours' start before he was missed, and sure enough he hid himself
+in a lightwood for want of sense, and that very night the boys saw
+him by the light of the moon, and Hugh Boyle climbed up the tree and
+knocked him down with a waddy.
+
+Pussy, Philip's sixth domestic, had attained her majority; she had
+never gone after snakes in her youth, and had always avoided bad
+company.  She did her duty in the house as a good mouser, and when
+mice grew scarce she went hunting for game; she had a hole under the
+eaves near the chimney, through which she could enter the hut at any
+time of the night or day.  While Philip was musing after tea on the
+"Pons Asinorum" by the light of a tallow candle, Pussy was out
+poaching for quail, and as soon as she caught one she brought it
+home, dropped it on the  floor, rubbed her side against Philip's
+boot, and said, "I have brought a little game for breakfast."  Then
+Philip stroked her along the back, after which she lay down before
+the fire, tucked in her paws and fell asleep, with a good conscience.
+
+But many bush cats come to an unhappy and untimely end by giving way
+to the vice of curiosity.  When Dinah, the vain kitten, takes her
+first walk abroad in spring time, she observes something smooth and
+shiny gliding gently along.  She pricks up her ears, and gazes at the
+interesting stranger; then she goes a little nearer, softly lifting
+first one paw and then another.
+
+The stranger is more intelligent than Dinah.  He says to himself, "I
+know her sort well, the silly thing.  Saw her ages ago in the Garden.
+She wants mice and frogs and such things--takes the bread out of my
+mouth.  Native industry must be protected."  so the stranger brings
+his head round under the grass and waits for Dinah, who is watching
+his tail.  The tail moves a little and then a little more.  Dinah
+says, "It will be gone if I don't mind," and she jumps for it.  At
+that instant the snake strikes her on the nose with his fangs.
+Dinah's fur rises on end with sudden fright, she shakes her head, and
+the snake drops off.  She turns away, and says, "This is frightful;
+what a deceitful world!  Life is not worth living."  Her head feels
+queer, and being sleepy she lies down, and is soon a dead cat.
+
+That summer was very hot at Nyalong, one hundred and ten degrees in
+the shade.  Philip began to find his bed of stringy bark very hard,
+and as it grew older it curled together so much that he could
+scarcely turn in it from one side to the other.  So he made a
+mattress which he stuffed with straw, and he found it much softer
+than the stringy bark.  But after a while the mattress grew flat, and
+the stuffing lumpy.  Sometimes on hot days he took out his bed, and
+after shaking it, he laid it down on the grass; his blankets he hung
+on the fence for many reasons which he wanted to get rid of.
+
+The water in the forty-acre to the south was all dried up.  An old
+black snake with a streak of orange along his ribs grew thirsty.  His
+last meal was a mouse, and he said, "That was a dry mouthful, and
+wants something to wash it down."  He knew his way to the water-hole
+at the end of the garden, but he had to pass the hut, which when he
+travelled that way the summer before was unoccupied.  After creeping
+under the bottom rail of the fence, he raised his head a little, and
+looked round.  He said, "I see there's another tenant here"--Bruin
+was then alive and was sitting on the top of his stump eating gum
+leaves--"I never saw that fellow so low down in the world before; I
+wonder what he is doing here; been lagged, I suppose for something or
+other.  He is a stupid, anyway, and won't take any notice even if he
+sees me."
+
+Sam and Puss were both blinking their eyes in the shade of the
+lightwood, and whisking the flies from their ears.  Maggie was
+walking about with beak open, showing her parched tongue; the heat
+made her low-spirited.
+
+The snake had crept as far as Philip's mattress, which was lying on
+the grass, when Maggie saw him.  She instantly gave the alarm, "A
+snake, a snake!" for she knew he was a bad character.  Sam and Puss
+jumped up and began to bark; Joey said, "There is na luck aboot the
+hoose."  Bruin was too stupid to say anything.  The snake said, "Here
+is a terrible row all at once, I must make for a hole."  He had a
+keen eye for a hole, and he soon saw one.  It was a small one, in
+Philip's mattress, almost hidden by the seam, and had been made most
+likely by a splinter or a nail.  The snake put his head in it,
+saying, "Any port in a storm," then drew in his whole length, and
+settled himself comfortably among the straw.
+
+Beasts and birds have instincts, and a certain amount of will and
+understanding, but no memory worth mentioning.  For that reason the
+domestics never told Philip about the snake in his mattress, they had
+forgotten all about it.  If Sam had buried a bone, he would have
+remembered it a week afterwards, if he was hungry; but as for snakes,
+it was, "out of sight, out of mind."
+
+Philip took in his mattress and blanket before sundown and made his
+bed.  The snake was still in the straw; he had been badly scared, and
+thought it would be best to keep quiet until he saw a chance to creep
+out, and continue his journey down the garden.  But it was awfully
+dark inside the mattress, and although he went round and round
+amongst the straw he could not find any way out of it, so at last he
+said:  "I must wait till morning," and went to sleep.
+
+When Philip went to bed the snake was disturbed, and woke up.  There
+was so heavy a weight on him that he could scarcely move, and he was
+almost suffocated.  He said:  "This is dreadful; I have been in many
+a tight place in my time, but never in one so tight as this.
+Whatever am I to do? I shall be squeezed to death if I don't get away
+from this horrid monster on top of me."
+
+Philip fell asleep as usual, and by-and-by the snake began to flatten
+his ribs, and draw himself from under the load, until at last he was
+clear of it; then, heaving a deep sigh of relief he lay quiet for
+awhile to recover his breath.  He knew there was a hole somewhere if
+he could only find it and he kept poking his nose here and there
+against the mattress.
+
+After sleeping an  hour or two, Philip turned on his other side, and
+the snake had to move out of the way in a hurry for fear of being
+squeezed to death.  There was a noise as of something rustling in the
+straw, and after listening awhile, Philip said:  "I suppose it's a
+mouse," and soon fell fast asleep again, because he was not afraid of
+mice even when they ran across his nose.
+
+In the morning he took his blankets out again, and hung them on the
+fence, shook up his mattress and pillow, and then spread the sheets
+over them, tucking them in all round, and then he got ready his
+breakfast.
+
+The whole of that day was spent by the snake in trying to find a way
+out.  The sheets being tucked in  he was still in the dark, and he
+kept going round and round, feeling for the hole with his nose until
+he went completely out of his mind, just as a man does when he is
+lost in the bush.  So the day wore on, night and bedtime came again,
+and Philip lay down to rest once more right over the imprisoned
+snake.  Then that snake went raving mad, lost all control of himself,
+and rolled about recklessly.  Philip sat up in bed, and a cold sweat
+began to trickle down his face, and his hair stood on end.  He
+whispered to himself as if afraid the snake might hear him.  "The
+Lord preserve us, that's no mouse; it's a snake right under me.  What
+shall I do?"
+
+The first thing to do was to strike a light; the matches and candle
+were on a box at his bedside, and he slowly put out his hand to reach
+them, expecting every moment to feel the fangs in his wrist.  But he
+found the match-box, struck a light, carefully examined the floor as
+far as he could see it, jumped out of bed at one bound, and took
+refuge in the other room.  There he looked in every corner, and along
+every rafter for the other snake, for he knew that at this season
+snakes are often found in pairs, but he could not see the mate of the
+one he had left in bed.
+
+There was no sleep for Philip that night, and, by the light of the
+candle, he sat waiting for the coming day, and planning dire
+vengeance.  At sunrise he examined closely every hole, and crevice,
+and corner, and crack in both rooms, floor and floor, slabs,
+rafters, and shingles.  He said, at last:  "I think there is only
+one snake, and he is in the bed."
+
+Then he went outside, and cut a stick about five feet long, one end
+of which he pointed with his knife.  Returning to the bedroom, he
+lifted up with the point of his stick the sheets, blankets, and
+pillows, took them outside, and hung them on the fence.  Next he
+turned over the mattress slowly, but there was nothing to be seen
+under it.  He poked the mattress with the blunt end of his stick here
+and there, and he soon saw that something was moving inside.  "Ah!"
+he said, "there you are, my friend."  The thought of having slept two
+nights on a live snake made him shudder a little, but he was bent on
+vengeance.  He took hold of one end of the mattress with one hand,
+and holding the stick in the other, he carried it outside and laid it
+on the grass.  Looking carefully at every side of the mattress he
+discovered the hole through which the snake had entered.  It was so
+small that he could scarcely believe that a snake had gone through
+it, but no other hole was anywhere visible.  Philip said, "If the
+beast comes out it shall be through fire," so he picked up a few
+pieces of bark which he placed over the hole, and set on fire.  The
+straw inside was soon in a blaze, and the snake was lively.  His
+situation was desperate, and his movements could be traced by the
+rising and falling of the ticking.  Philip said, "My friend, you are
+looking for a hole, but when you find it it will be a hot one."  The
+snake at last made a dash for life through the fire, and actually
+came out into the open air.  But he was dazed and blinded, and his
+skin was wet and shining with oil, or perspiration, or something.
+
+Philip gave him a finishing stroke with his stick, and tossed him
+back into the fire.  Of course a new mattress was necessary, and a
+keen eye for snakes ever afterwards.
+
+The teaching in the school went on with regularity and success.
+There was, however, an occasional interruption.  Once a furious
+squall came over the lake, and shook the frail building so much that
+Philip threw open the door and sent out all the children, the little
+ones and girls first, and then the boys, remaining himself to the
+last like the captain of a sinking ship; but he was not so much of a
+fool to stay inside and brave destruction; he went out to a safe
+distance until the squall was over.
+
+Sometimes a visitor interfered with the work of the school, and
+Philip for that reason hated visitors; but it was his duty to be
+civil and patient.  Two inspectors called on two different occasions
+to examine the scholars.  One of them was scarcely sober, and he
+behaved in a manner so eccentric that the master had a strong
+temptation to kick him out.  However, he at last succeeded in seeing
+the inspector outside the door peaceably, and soon afterwards the
+department dispensed with that gentleman's services.
+
+He had obtained his office by favour of a minister at home for
+services rendered at an election.  His salary was 900 pounds per
+annum.  The next inspector received the same salary.  He was brother
+or brother-in-law to a bishop, and had many ancestors and relatives
+of high degree.  Philip foolishly showed him a few nuggets which he
+had picked up in Picaninny Gully, and the inspector showed Philip the
+letter by which he had obtained his appointment and 900 pounds a
+year.  It was only a couple of lines written and signed by a certain
+lord in London, but it was equivalent to an order for a billet on the
+government of Victoria.  Then the inspector said he would feel
+extremely obliged to Philip if he would give him one of his little
+nuggets that he might send it to my lord as a present, and Philip at
+once handed over his biggest nugget.  Little amenities of this kind
+make life so pleasant.  My lord would be pleased to receive the
+nugget, the inspector was pleased to send it, and Philip said "it
+cannot be bribery and corruption, but this inspector being a
+gentleman will be friendly.  When he mentions me and my school in his
+report he cannot possibly forget the nugget."
+
+Barney, the boozer, one day visited the school.  He opened the door
+and stood on the threshold.  His eyes seemed close together, and
+there was a long red scar on his bare neck, where he had on a former
+occasion cut his throat.  All the scholars were afraid of Barney, and
+the girls climbed up on the benches and began to scream.
+
+Philip went up to the Boozer and said:
+
+"Well, my friend, what do you want here?"
+
+"The devil knows," replied Barney.
+
+"Very likely, but he is not here, he has gone down the road."
+
+Then taking Barney by the arm he turned him round and guided him to
+the road.  Barney went about twenty yards until he came to a pool of
+water.  He stepped on to the fence and sat on the top rail gazing
+into the pool.  At last he threw his hat into it, then his boots,
+coat, shirt, and trousers.  When he was quite naked, he stamped on
+his clothes until they were thoroughly soaked and buried in mud.
+Barney then resumed his search for the devil, swinging his arms to
+and fro in a free and defiant manner.
+
+The school was also visited by a bishop, a priest, a squatter, and a
+judge.  The dress and demeanour of the judge were very impressive at
+so great a distance from any centre of civilization, for he wore a
+tall beaver hat, a suit of black broadcloth, and a white necktie.
+Philip received him with reverence, thinking he could not be anything
+less than a lord spiritual, such is the power of broadcloth and fine
+linen.  Nosey, the shepherd, was then living at Nyalong, having
+murdered the other shepherd, Baldy, about six months before, and this
+judge sent Nosey to the gallows seventeen years afterwards; but
+neither Nosey nor the judge knew what was to happen after seventeen
+years.  This is the story of Nosey and Baldy.
+
+
+THE TWO SHEPHERDS.
+
+By the men on the run they were known as Nosey and Baldy, but in a
+former stage of their existence, in the days of the Emperor Augustus
+Caesar, they were known as Naso and Balbus.  They were then rivals in
+love and song, and accused each other of doing things that were mean.
+And now, after undergoing for their sins various transmigrations into
+the forms of inferior animals, during two thousand years, as soon as
+shepherds are required in Australia Felix, they appear once more
+following their flocks and herds.  But they are entirely forgetful of
+all Greek and Roman civilization; their morals have not improved, and
+their quarrels are more bitter than ever.  In the old times they
+tootled on the tuneful reed, and sang in purest Latin the sweetest
+ditties ever heard, in praise of Galatea and Amyntas, Delia and
+Iolla.  But they never tootle now, and never sing, and when they
+speak, their tongue is that of the unmusical barbarians.  In their
+pagan days they stained their rustic altars with the blood of a kid,
+a sacrifice to Jupiter, and poured out libations of generous wine;
+but they offer up neither prayer nor sacrifice now, and they pour
+libations of gin down their throats.
+
+The Italian rustic is yet musical, and the Roman citizen has not lost
+the genius of his race.  He is still unrivalled in sculpture and
+architecture, in painting, in poetry, and philosophy; and in every
+handicraft his fingers are as deft as ever.  But empire has slipped
+from his grasp, and empire once lost, like time, never returns.  Who
+can rebuild Ninevah or Babylon, put new life into the mummies of the
+Pharoahs, and recrown them; raise armies from the dust of the
+warriors of Sesostris, and send them forth once more to victory and
+slaughter?  Julian the Apostate tried to rebuild the Holy City and
+Temple of Israel, to make prophecy void--apparently a small
+enterprise for a Roman Emperor--but all his labours were vain.
+Modern Julians have been trying to resuscitate old Rome, and to found
+for her a new empire, and have only made Italy another Ireland, with
+a starving people and a bankrupt government.  'Nos patriae fines, nos
+dulcia linquimus arva'.  The Italians are emigrating year after year
+to avoid starvation in the Garden of Europe.  In every city of the
+great empire on which the sun never sets they wander through the
+streets, clad in faded garments of olive green--the toga long since
+discarded and forgotten--making sweet music from the harp and
+violin, their melancholy eyes wandering after the passing crowd,
+hoping for the pitiful penny that is so seldom given.
+
+The two shepherds were employed on a station north of Lake Nyalong.
+It is a country full of dead volcanoes, whose craters have been
+turned into salt lakes, and their rolling floods of lava have been
+stiffened into barriers of black rocks; where the ashes belched forth
+in fiery blasts from the deep furnaces of a burning world have
+covered the hills and plains with perennial fertility.
+
+Baldy had been entrusted with a fattening flock, and Nosey had in his
+care a lambing flock.  From time to time the sheep were counted, and
+it was found that the fattening flock was decreasing in numbers.  The
+squatter wanted to know what had become of his missing sheep, but
+Baldy could give no account of them.  His suspicions, however, soon
+fell on Nosey.  The latter was his nearest neighbour, and although he
+had only the same wages--viz., thirty pounds a year and rations--
+he seemed to be unaccountably prosperous, and was the owner of a wife
+and two horses.  He had been transported for larceny when he was only
+fifteen years of age, and at twenty-eight he was suspected of being
+still a thief.  Girls of the same age were sent from Great Britain to
+Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land for stealing one bit of finery,
+worth a shilling, and became the consorts of criminals of the deepest
+dye.  You may read their names in the Indents to this day, together
+with their height, age, complexion, birthplace, and other important
+particulars.
+
+Baldy went over to Nosey's hut one evening when the blue smoke was
+curling over the chimney, and the long shadows of the Wombat Hills
+were creeping over the Stoney Rises.  Julia was boiling the billy for
+tea, and her husband was chopping firewood outside.
+
+"Good evening, Julia," said Baldy; "fine evening."
+
+"Same to you, Baldy.  Any news to-day?" asked Julia.
+
+"Well, there is," said Baldy, "and it's bad news for me; there's ten
+more of my fatteners missing"  (Nosey stopped chopping and listened)
+"and the master says I'll have to hump my swag if I can't find out
+what has become of them.  I say, Nosey, you don't happen to have seen
+any dingoes or blacks about here lately?"
+
+"I ain't seen e'er a one, neither dingo nor blackfellow.  But, you
+know, if they were after mischief they'd take care not to make a
+show.  There might be stacks of them about and we never to see one of
+them."
+
+Nosey was proud of his cunning.
+
+"Well," said Baldy, "I can hear of nobody having seen any strangers
+about the Rises, nor dingoes, nor black fellows.  And the dingoes,
+anyhow, would have left some of the carcases behind; but the thieves,
+whoever they are, have not left me as much as a lock of the wool of
+my sheep.  I have been talking about 'em with old Sharp; he is the
+longest here of any shepherd in the country, and knows all the
+blacks, and he says it's his opinion the man who took the sheep is
+not far away from the flock now.  What do you think about it, Nosey?"
+
+"What the----should I know about your sheep?" said Nosey.  "Do you
+mean to insinivate that I took 'em?  I'll tell you what it is, Baldy;
+it'll be just as well for you to keep your blasted tongue quiet about
+your sheep, for if I hear any more about 'em, I'll see you for it; do
+you hear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I hear.  All right, Nosey, we'll see about it," said Baldy.
+
+There would have been a fight perhaps, but Baldy was a smaller man
+than the other and was growing old, while Nosey was in the prime of
+life.
+
+Baldy went to Nyalong next day.  His rations did not include gin, and
+he wanted some badly, the more so because he was in trouble about his
+lost sheep.  Gin, known then as "Old Tom," was his favourite remedy
+for all ailments, both of mind and body.  If he could not find out
+what had become of his sheep, his master might dismiss him without a
+character.  There was not much good character running to waste on the
+stations, but still no squatter would like to entrust a flock to a
+shepherd who was suspected of having stolen and sold his last
+master's sheep.
+
+Baldy walked to Nyalong along the banks of the lake.  The country was
+then all open, unfenced, except the paddocks at the home stations.
+The boundary between two of the runs was merely marked by a ploughed
+furrow, not very straight, which started near the lake, and went
+eastward along the plains.  In the Rises no plough could make a line
+through the rocks, and the boundaries there were imaginary.  Stray
+cattle were roaming over the country, eating the grass, and the main
+resource of the squatters was the Pounds Act.  Hay was then sold at
+80 pounds per ton at Bendigo; a draft of fat bullocks was worth a
+mine of gold at Ballarat, and, therefore, grass was everywhere
+precious.  No wonder if the hardy bullock-driver became a cattle
+lifter after his team had been impounded by the station stockman when
+found only four hundred yards from the bush track.  Money, in the
+shape of fat stock, was running loose, as it were, on every run, and
+why should not the sagacious Nosey do a little business when Baldy's
+fat sheep were tempting him, and a market for mutton could be found
+no farther away than the Nyalong butcher's shop.
+
+Baldy left the township happier than usual, carrying under his arm
+two bottles of Old Tom.  He was seen by a man who knew him entering
+the Rises, and going away in the direction of Nosey's hut, and then
+for fifteen years he was a lost shepherd.  In course of time it was
+ascertained that he had called at Nosey's hut on his way home.  He
+had the lost sheep on his mind, and he could not resist the impulse
+to have another word or two with Nosey about them.  He put down the
+two bottles of gin outside the door of the hut, near an axe whose
+handle leaned against the wall.  Nosey and his wife, Julia, were
+inside, and he bade them good evening.  Then he took a piece of
+tobacco out of his pocket, and began cutting it with his knife.  He
+always carried his knife tied to his belt by a string which went
+through a hole bored in the handle.  It was a generally useful knife,
+and with it he foot-rotted sheep, stirred the tea in his billy, and
+cut beef and damper, sticks, and tobacco.
+
+"I have been to Nyalong," he said, "and I heern something about my
+sheep; they went to the township all right, strayed away, you know,
+followed one another's tails, and never came back, the O. K. bullocks
+go just the same way.  Curious, isn't it?"
+
+Nosey listened with keen interest.  "Well, Baldy," he said, "and what
+did you hear?  Did you find out who took 'em?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Baldy; "I know pretty well all about 'em now, both
+sheep and bullocks.  Old Sharp was right about the sheep, anyway.
+The thief is not far from the flock, and it's not me."  Baldy was
+brewing mischief for himself, but he did not know how much.
+
+"Did you tell the police about 'em?" asked Nosey.
+
+"Oh, no, not to-day!" answered Baldy.  "Time enough yet. I ain't in
+no hurry to be an informer."
+
+Nosey eyed him with unusual savagery, and said:
+
+"Now didn't I tell you to say no more about your blasted sheep, or
+I'd see you for it?  and here you are again, and you can't leave 'em
+alone.  You are no better than a fool."
+
+"Maybe I am a fool, Nosey.  Just wait till I get a light, and I'll
+leave your hut and trouble you no more."
+
+He was standing in the middle of the floor cutting his tobacco, and
+rubbing it between the palms of his hands, shaking his head, and
+eyeing the floor with a look of great sagacity.
+
+Nosey went outside, and began walking to and fro, thinking and
+whispering to himself.  It was a habit he had acquired while slowly
+sauntering after his sheep.  He seemed to have another self, an
+invisible companion with whom he discussed whatever was uppermost in
+his mind.  If he had then consulted his other self, Julia, he might
+have saved himself a world of trouble; but he did not think of her.
+He said to himself:  "Now, Nosey, if you don't mind, you are going to
+be in a hole.  That old fool inside has found out something or other
+about the sheep, and the peelers will have you, if you don't look
+out, and they'll give you another seven years and maybe ten.  You've
+done your time once, Nosey, and how would you like to do it again?
+Why couldn't you leave the cursed sheep alone and keep out of
+mischief just when you were settling down in life comfortable, and
+might have a chance to do better.  Baldy will be telling the peelers
+to-morrow all he knows about the sheep you stole, and then they'll
+fetch you, sure.  There's only one thing to stop the old fool's jaw,
+and you are not game to do it, Nosey; you never done a man yet, and
+you are not game to do it now, and you'll be damned if you do it, and
+the devil will have you, and you'll be hanged first maybe.  And if
+you don't do him you'll be lagged again for the sheep, and in my
+opinion, Nosey, you are not game.  Yes, by the powers, you are,
+Nosey, damned if you ain't.  Who's afeered?  And you'll do it quick
+--do it quick.  Now or never's your time."
+
+While talking thus to himself, Nosey was pacing to and fro, and he
+glanced at the axe every time he passed the door.  The weapon was
+ready to his hand, and seemed to be inviting him to use it.
+
+"Baldy is going to light his pipe, and while he is stooping to get a
+firestick, I'll do him with the axe."
+
+When Baldy turned towards the fire, Nosey grasped the axe and held it
+behind him.  He waited a moment, and then entered the hut; but Baldy
+either heard his step, or had some suspicion of danger, for he looked
+around before takingup a firestick.  At that instant the blow,
+intended for the back of the head, struck him on the jaw, and he fell
+forward among the embers.  For one brief moment of horror he must
+have realised that he was being murdered, and then another blow
+behind the head left him senseless.
+
+Nosey dragged the body out of the fireplace into the middle of the
+floor, intending, while he was doing a man, to do him well.  He
+raised the axe to finish his work with a third blow, but Julia gave a
+scream so piercing that his attention was diverted to her.
+
+"Oh, Nosey," she said, "what are you doing to poor Baldy?  You are
+murdering him."
+
+Nosey turned to his wife with upraised axe.
+
+"Hold your jaw, woman, and keep quiet, or I'll do as much for you."
+
+She said no more.  She was tall and stout, had small, sharp, roving
+eyes; and Nosey was a thick-set man, with a thin, prominent nose,
+sunken eyes, and overhanging brows.  He never had a prepossessing
+appearance, and now his look and attitude were so ugly and fierce
+that the big woman was completely cowed.  The pair stood still for
+some time, watching the last convulsive movements of the murdered
+Baldy.
+
+Nosey could now pride himself on having been "game to do his man,"
+but he could not feel much glory in his work just yet.  He had done
+it without sufficient forethought, and his mind was soon full of
+trouble.
+
+Murder was worse than sheep stealing, and the consequences of his new
+venture in crime began to crowd on his mind with frightful rapidity.
+He had not even thought of any plan for hiding away the corpse.  He
+had no grave ready, and could not dig one anywhere in the
+neighbourhood.  The whole of the country round his hut was rocky--
+little hills of bare bluestone boulders, and grassy hollows covered
+with only a few inches of soil--rocks everywhere, above ground and
+below.  He could burn the body, but it would take a long time to do
+it well; somebody might come while he was at the work, and even the
+ashes might betray his secret.  There were shallow lakes and swamps,
+but he could not put the corpse into any of them with safety:  search
+would be made wherever there was water, on the supposition that Baldy
+had been drowned after drinking too freely of the gin he had brought
+from Nyalong, and if the body was found, the appearance of the skull
+would show that death had been caused, not by drowning, but by the
+blows of that cursed axe.  Nosey began to lay all the blame on the
+axe, and said, "If it had not stood up so handy near the door, I
+wouldn't have killed the man."
+
+It was the axe that tempted him.  Excuses of that sort are of a very
+ancient date.
+
+Luckily Nosey owned two horses, one of which was old and quiet.  He
+told Julia to fasten the door, and to open it on no account whatever,
+while he went for the horse, which was feeding in the Rises hobbled,
+and with a bell tied round his neck.  When he returned he saddled the
+animal, and Julia held the bridle while he went into the hut for the
+body.  He observed Baldy's pipe on the floor near the fire-place, and
+he replaced it in the pocket in which it had been usually kept, as it
+might not be safe to leave anything in the hut belonging to the
+murdered man.  There was a little blood on the floor, but he would
+scrape that off by daylight, and he would then also look at the axe
+and put away the two bottles of gin somewhere; he could do all that
+next morning before Baldy was missed.  But the corpse must be taken
+away at once, for he felt that every minute of delay might endanger
+his neck.  He dragged the body outside, and with Julia's help lifted
+it up and placed it across the saddle.  Then he tried to steady his
+load with his right hand, and to guide the horse by the bridle with
+his left, but he soon found that a dead man was a bad rider; Baldy
+kept slipping towards the near side or the off side with every stride
+of the horse, and soon fell to the ground.
+
+Nosey was in a furious hurry, he was anxious to get away; he cursed
+Baldy for giving him so much trouble; he could have killed him over
+again for being so awkward and stubborn, and he begun to feel that
+the old shepherd was more dangerous dead than alive.  At last he
+mounted his horse, and called to Julia to come and help him.
+
+"Here, Julia, lift him up till I catch hold of his collar, and I'll
+pull him up in front of me on the saddle, and hold him that way."
+
+Julia, with many stifled moans, raised the body from the ground,
+Nosey reached down and grasped the shirt collar, and thus the two
+managed to place the swag across the saddle.  Then Nosey made a
+second start, carefully balancing the body, and keeping it from
+falling with his right hand, while he held the bridle with his left.
+
+The funeral procession slowly wound its way in a westerly direction
+among the black rocks over the softest and smoothest ground to avoid
+making any noise.  There was no telling what stockman or
+cattle-stealer the devil might send at any moment to meet the
+murderer among the lonely Rises, and even in the darkness his
+horrible burden would betray him.  Nosey was disturbed by the very
+echo of his horse's steps; it seemed as if somebody was following him
+at a little distance; perhaps Julia, full of woman's curiosity; and
+he kept peering round and looking back into the darkness.  In this
+way he travelled about a mile and a half, and then dismounting,
+lowered the body to the ground, and began to look for some suitable
+hiding place.  He chose one among a confused heap of rocks, and by
+lifting some of them aside he made a shallow grave, to which he
+dragged the body, and covered it by piling boulders over and around
+it.  He struck several matches to enable him to examine his work
+carefully, and closed up every crevice through which his buried
+treasure might be visible.
+
+The next morning Nosey was astir early.  He had an important part to
+act, and he was anxious to do it well.  He first examined the axe and
+cleaned it well, carefully burning a few of Baldy's grey hairs which
+he found on it.  Then he searched the floor for drops of blood, which
+he carefully scraped with a knife, and washed until no red spot was
+visible.  Then he walked to Baldy's and pretended to himself that he
+was surprised to find it empty.  What had happened the previous night
+was only a dream, an ugly dream.  He met an acquaintance and told him
+that Baldy was neither in his hut nor with his sheep.
+
+The two men called at old Sharp's hut to make enquiries.  The latter
+said, "I seen Baldy's sheep yesterday going about in mobs, and nobody
+to look after them."  Then the three men went to the deserted hut.
+Everything in it seemed undisturbed.  The dog was watching at the
+door, and they told him to seek Baldy.  He pricked up his ears,
+wagged his tail, and looked wistfully in the direction of Nosey's
+hut, evidently expecting his master to come in sight that way.
+
+The men went to the nearest magistrate and informed him that the
+shepherd was missing.  A messenger went to the head station.
+Enquiries were made at the township, and it was found that Baldy had
+been to Nyalong the previous day, and had left in the evening
+carrying two bottles of gin.  This circumstance seemed to account for
+his absence; he had taken too much of the liquor, was lying asleep
+somewhere, and would reappear in the course of the day.  Men both on
+foot and on horseback roamed through the Rises, examining the hollows
+and the flats, the margins of the shallow lakes, and peering into
+every wombat hole as they passed.  They never thought of turning over
+any of the boulders; a drunken man would never make his bed and
+blanket of rocks; he would be found lying on the top if he had
+stumbled amongst them.  One by one as night approached the searchers
+returned to the hut.  They had discovered nothing, and the only
+conclusion they could come to was, that Baldy was taking a very long
+sleep somewhere--which was true enough.
+
+Next day every man from the neighbouring stations, and some from
+Nyalong, joined in the search.  The chief constable was there, and as
+became a professed detector of crime, he examined everything minutely
+inside and outside the two huts, but he could not find anything
+suspicious about either of them.  He entered into conversation with
+Julia, but the eye of her husband was on her, and she had little to
+say.  Nosey, on the contrary, was full of suggestions as to what
+might have happened to Baldy, and he helped to look for him eagerly
+and actively in every direction but the right one.
+
+For many days the Rises were peopled with prospectors, but one by one
+they dropped away.  The chief constable was loath to leave the riddle
+unsolved; he had the instinct of the sleuth-hound on the scent of
+blood.  He had been a pursuer of bad works amongst the convicts for a
+long time, both in Van Diemen's Land and in Victoria, and had helped
+to bring many men to the gallows or the chain-gang.  He had once been
+shot in the back by a horse thief who lay concealed behind the door
+of a shepherd's hut, but he secured the horse thief.  He was a man
+without nerves, of medium height, strongly built, had a broad face,
+massive ears, wide, firm mouth, and strong jaws.
+
+One night after the searchers had departed to their various homes,
+the chief remained alone in the Rises, and leaving his horse hobbled
+at a distance, cautiously approached Nosey's hut.  He placed his ear
+to the outside of the weatherboards, and listened for some time to
+the conversation of Nosey and his wife, expecting to obtain by chance
+some information about the disappearance of the other shepherd.
+Nosey was in a bad temper, swearing and finding fault with
+everything.  Julia was prudent and said little; it was best not to
+say too much to a man who was so handy with the family axe.  But at
+last she made use of one expression which seemed to mean something.
+She said, "Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be
+hanged."  There was a prophetic ring in these words which delighted
+the chief constable, and he glued his great ear to the weatherboards,
+eagerly listening for more; but the wrangling pair were very
+disappointing; they would not keep to the point.  At last he walked
+round the hut, suddenly opened the door, and entered.  Nosey was
+struck dumb at once.  His first thought was that his plan had been
+sprung, and that the murder was out.  The chief addressed Julia in a
+tone of authority, imitating the counsel for the crown when examining
+a prevaricating witness.
+
+"Now, missus, remember you will be put on your oath.  You said just
+now, 'Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be
+hanged.'  Those were your very words.  Now what did you mean?  On
+your oath, mind; out with it at once."
+
+But Julia was not to be caught so easily.  She replied:
+
+"Oh, bad luck to him, he is always angry.  I don't know what to do
+with him.  I did not mean anything."
+
+"You did not mean anything about Baldy, I suppose, did you, now?"
+queried the constable, shamefully leading the witness, and looking
+hard at Nosey.
+
+Julia parried the question by heaving a deep sigh, and saying:  "Hi,
+ho, Harry, if I were a maid, I never would marry;" and then she began
+singing a silly old song.
+
+The constable was disgusted, and said:
+
+"My good woman, you'll find there will be nothing to laugh at in this
+job, when I see you again."
+
+As he left the hut, he turned at the door and gave one more look at
+Nosey, who had stood all the time rivetted to the ground, expecting
+every moment that the constable would produce the handcuffs.  Soon
+afterwards Julia went outside, walked round the hut, and stayed
+awhile, listening and looking in every direction.  When she returned,
+Nosey said, in a hoarse whisper:
+
+"Is he gan yet?"
+
+"I think," replied Julia, "he won't be coming again to-night.  He has
+thrown away his trouble this time, anyhow; but ye must hould your
+tongue, Nosey, if ye want to save your neck; he means to have you if
+he can."
+
+Nosey stayed on the run some weeks longer, following his sheep.  It
+would not be advisable to go away suddenly, and, moreover, he
+recollected that what the eye could not see might some time be
+discovered by another of the senses.  So he waited patiently,
+standing guard as it were over the dead, until his curiosity induced
+him to pay a farewell visit by daylight to the place where Baldy was
+buried.
+
+There had been hot weather since the body had been deposited in the
+shallow grave, and the crevices among the piles of bluestones had
+been filled by the wind with the yellow stalks of decayed grass.
+Nosey walked round his own particular pile, and inspected it closely.
+He was pleased to find that it showed no signs of having been touched
+since he raised it.  It was just like any of the other heaps of rocks
+around it.  He had, at any rate, given Baldy as good a funeral as
+circumstances would permit, better than that of many a man who had
+perished of hunger, heat, and thirst, in the shelterless wastes of
+the Never-Never Land, "beyond Moneygrub's farthest run."  Nosey and
+the weather had done their work so well that for the next fifteen
+years no shepherd, stockman, or squatter ever gave a second look at
+that unknown grave.  The black snake coiled itself beneath the
+decaying skeleton, and spent the winter in secure repose.  The native
+cat tore away bits of Baldy's clothing, and with them and the yellow
+grass made, year after year, a nest for its young among the whitening
+bones.
+
+Everything, so far, had turned out quite as satisfactorily as any
+murderer could expect.  Nosey had been game to do his man, and he had
+done him well.  Julia was prudent enough to hold her tongue for her
+own sake; it was unlikely that any further search would be made for
+the lost shepherd; he had been safely put out of sight, and not even
+Julia knew where he was buried.
+
+Nosey began to have a better opinion of himself than ever.  Neither
+the police nor the law could touch him.  He would never be called to
+account for putting away his brother shepherd, in this world at any
+rate; and as for the next, why it was a long way off, and there was
+time enough to think about it.  The day of reckoning was distant, but
+it came at last, as it always does to every sinner of us all.
+
+Nosey resigned his billet, and went to Nyalong.  He lived in a hut in
+the eastern part of the township, not far from the lake, and near the
+corner of the road coming down from the Bald Hill.  Here had been
+laid the foundation of a great inland city by a bush publican, two
+storekeepers, a wheelwright, and a blacksmith.  Another city had been
+started at the western side of Wandong Creek, but its existence was
+ignored by the eastern pioneers.
+
+The shepherd soon began to forget or despise the advice of his wife,
+Julia; his tongue grew loose again, and at the bar of the inn of the
+crossroads his voice was often heard loud and abusive.  He felt that
+he had become a person of importance, as the possessor of a secret
+which nobody could discover.  What he said and what he did was
+discussed about the township, and the chief constable listened to
+every report, expecting that some valuable information would
+accidentally leak out.
+
+One day a man wearing a blue jumper and an old hat came down the
+road, stepped on to the verandah of the inn, and threw down his swag.
+Nosey was there, holding forth to Bill the Butcher, Dick Smalley,
+Frank Barton, Bob Atkins, Charley Goodall, and George Brown the Liar.
+A dispute occurred, in which the presumptuous stranger joined, and
+Nosey promptly knocked him off the verandah into the gutter.  A valid
+claim to satisfaction was thus established, and the swagman showed a
+disposition to enforce it.  He did not attempt to regain his position
+on the boards, but took his stand on the broad stone of honour in the
+middle of the road.  He threw up his hat into the air, and began
+walking rapidly to and fro, clenched his fists, stiffened his sinews,
+and at every turn in his walk said:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+This man's action promised real sport, and true Britons as we all
+were we were delighted to see him.  Nosey stood on the verandah for a
+minute or two, watching the motions of the swagman; he did not seem
+to recollect all at once what the code of honour required, until Bill
+the Butcher remarked, "He wants you, Nosey," then Nosey went.
+
+The two men met in the middle of the road, and put up their hands.
+They appeared well-matched in size and weight.  The swagman said:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+Nosey began the battle by striking out with his right and left, but
+his blows did not seem to reach home, or to have much effect.
+
+The swagman dodged and parried, and soon put in a swinging blow on
+the left temple.  Nosey fell to the ground, and the stranger resumed
+his walk as before, uttering his war cry:
+
+"You'll find me as good a man as ever you met in your life."
+
+There were no seconds, but the rules of chivalry were strictly
+observed; the stranger was a true gentleman, and did not use his
+boots.
+
+In the second round Nosey showed more caution, but the result was the
+same, and it was brought about by another hard blow on the temple.
+The third round finished the fight.  Nosey lay on the ground so long
+that Bill, the Butcher, went over to look at him, and then he threw
+up the sponge--metaphorically--as there was no sponge, nor any
+need of one.
+
+The defeated Nosey staggered towards his hut, and his temper was
+afterwards so bad that Julia declined to stay with him any longer;
+she loosed the marriage bonds without recourse to law, and
+disappeared.  Her husband went away westward, but he did not stay
+long. He returned to Nyalong and lived awhile alone in his hut there,
+but he was restless and dissatisfied.  Everybody looked at him so
+curiously.  Even the women and children stood still as he passed by
+them, and began whispering to one another, and he guessed well enough
+why they were looking at him and what they were saying--"That's
+Nosey the murderer; he killed Baldy and hid him away somewhere; his
+wife said he ought to be hanged, and she has run away and left him."
+
+When the hungry hawk comes circling over the grove of crookedy gum in
+which two magpies are feeding their callow young, the bush is soon
+filled with cries of alarm.  The plump quail hides himself in the
+depths of a thick tussock; the bronze-winged pigeon dives into the
+shelter of the nearest scrub, while all the noisiest scolds of the
+air gather round the intruder.  Every magpie, minah, and wattle-bird
+within a mile joins in the clamour.  They dart at the hawk as he
+flies from tree to tree.  When he alights on a limb they give him no
+peace; they flap their wings in his face, and call him the worst of
+names.  Even the Derwent Jackass, the hypocrite with the shining
+black coat and piercing whistle, joins in the public outcry, and his
+character is worse than that of the hawk himself, for he has been
+caught in the act of kidnapping and devouring the unfledged young of
+his nearest neighbour.  The distracted hawk has at length to retreat
+dinnerless to the swampy margin of the river where the tallest
+tea-trees wave their feathery tops in the wind.
+
+In like manner the human hawk was driven from the township.  He
+descended in the scale of crime, stole a horse, and departed by night.
+
+Bill, the butcher, said next day:  "Nosey has gone for good this
+time.  He will ride that horse to death and then steal another."
+
+At this time I rode through the Rises and called at the two huts; I
+found them occupied by two shepherds not unlike the former tenants,
+who knew little and cared less what had become of their predecessors.
+Time empties thrones and huts impartially, and the king feels no
+pride in his monument of marble, nor the shepherd any shame beneath
+the shapeless cairn which hides his bones.
+
+At this time the old races both of men and animals were dying out
+around Lake Nyalong, and others were taking their places.  The last
+black child ever seen in the township was brought by its mother to
+the hut of a white woman.  It was naked and very dirty, and she laid
+it down on the clay floor.  The white woman's heart was moved with
+pity at the sight of the miserable little bairn.  She took it up,
+washed it with warm water and soap, wrapped it in flannel, and gave
+it back to the mother.  But the lubra was loath to receive it.  She
+said, "Black picaninny all die.  No good; white picaninny live."
+
+The kangaroo, wombat, and dingo were fast dying out, as well a the
+blackfellow.  We could all see well enough how the change was brought
+about.  Millions of years ago, new species may have been evolved out
+of the old species, but nothing of the kind happens now.  The white
+men of Australia were not evolved out of the black men.  There are no
+family ties, and never will be, between the kangaroo, the wombat and
+wallaby, and their successors, the cattle, the sheep, and the goats.
+We can kill species, but we can't create any.
+
+The rabbit, destined to bring Nosey to the gallows, was a favoured
+animal on Austin's station at the Barwon.  It was a privilege to
+shoot him--in small quantities--he was so precious.  But he soon
+became, as the grammar says, a noun of multitude.  He swarmed on the
+plains, hopped over the hills, burrowed among the rocks in the Rises,
+and nursed his multitudinous progeny in every hollow log of the
+forest.  Neither mountain, lake, or river ever barred his passage.
+He ate up all the grass and starved the pedigree cattle, the
+well-born dukes and duchesses, and on tens of thousands of fertile
+acres left no food to keep the nibbling sheep alive.  Every hole and
+crevice of the rocks was full of him.  An uninvited guest, he dropped
+down the funnel-shaped entrance to the den of the wombat, and made
+himself at home with the wild cat and snake.  He clothed the hills
+with a creeping robe of fur, and turned the Garden of the West into a
+wilderness.  Science may find a theory to account for the beginning
+of all things, but among all her triumphs she has been unable to put
+an end to the rabbit.  War has been made upon them by fire, dynamite,
+phosphorus, and all deadly poisons; by dogs, cats, weasels, foxes,
+and ferrets, but he still marches over the land triumphantly.
+
+For fifteen years Nosey roamed from station to station under various
+names, between Queensland and the Murray, but wherever he went, the
+memory of his crime never left him.  He had been taught in his
+boyhood that murder was one of the four sins crying to heaven for
+vengeance, and he knew that sooner or later the cry would be heard.
+Sometimes he longed to unburden his mind to a priest, but he seldom
+saw or heard of one.  The men with whom he worked and wandered were
+all like himself--lost souls who had taken the wrong turn in the
+beginning of their days, the failures of all trades and professions;
+thieves, drunkards, and gamblers; criminals who had fled from
+justice; men of pleasure and, therefore, of misery; youths of good
+family exported from England, Ireland, and Scotland to mend their
+morals, to study wool, and become rich squatters.  All these men get
+colonial experience, but it does not make them saintly or rich.  Here
+and there, all over the endless plains, they at last lie down and
+die, the dingoes hold inquests over them, and, literally, they go to
+the dogs, because they took the wrong turn in life and would not come
+back.
+
+In 1868 Nosey and his two mates were approaching a station on the
+Lachlan.  Since sunrise they had travelled ten miles without
+breakfast, and were both hungry and weary.  They put down their swags
+in the shade of a small grove of timber within sight of the station
+buildings.  Bob Castles said:
+
+"I was shearing in them sheds in '52 when old Shenty owned the run.
+He was a rum old miser, he was, would skin two devils for one hide;
+believe he has gone to hell; hope so, at any rate.  He couldn't read
+nor write much, but he could make money better'n any man I ever heard
+of.  Bought two runs on the Murray, and paid 180,000 pounds for 'em
+in one cheque.  He kept a lame schoolmaster to write his cheques and
+teach his children, gave him 40 pounds a year, the same as a
+shepherd.  Lived mostly on mutton all the year round; never killed no
+beef for the station, but now and then an old bullock past work,
+salted him down in the round swamp for a change o' grub.  Never grew
+no cabbage or wegetables, only a paddock of potatoes.  Didn't want no
+visitors, 'cos he was afraid they'd want to select some of his run.
+Wanted everything to look as poor and miserable as possible.  He put
+on a clean shirt once a week, on Sabbath to keep it holy, and by way
+of being religious.  Kept no fine furniture in the house, only a big
+hardwood table, some stools, and candle boxes.  After supper old
+Mother Shenty scraped the potato skins off the table into her apron
+--she always boiled the potatoes in their jackets--and then Shenty
+lay down on it and smoked his pipe till bedtime, thinking of the best
+way to keep down expenses.  A parson came along one day lifting a
+subscription for a church, or school, or something.  He didn't get
+anything out of old Shenty, only a pannikin of tea and some damper
+and mutton.  The old cove said:  'Church nor school never gave me
+nothing, nor do me no good, and I could buy up a heap o' parsons and
+schoolmasters if I wanted to, and they were worth buying.  Us
+squatters is the harrystockrisy out here.  The lords at home sends
+out their good-for-nothing sons to us, to get rich and be out of the
+way, and much good they does.  Why don't you parsons make money by
+your eddication if it's any good, instead of goin' round beggin'?
+You are all after the filthy lucre, wantin' to live on other folks.'
+I was holdin' the parson's horse, and when he got into the saddle, he
+turns to old Shenty, and says:  'From rottenness you sprung, and to
+rottenness you'll go.  Your money will drag you down to hell; you'll
+want to throw it away, but it will burn into your soul for all
+eternity.'
+
+"I am mortal hungry," continued Bob, "and they don't give no rations
+until about sundown, and we'll have to wait six hours.  It's hard
+lines.  I see there's an orchard there now, and most likely a
+wegtable garden--and cabbages.  I'd like some boiled beef and
+cabbage.  It wouldn't be no harm to try and get somethin' to eat,
+anyhow.  What do you say, Ned?  You was a swell cove once, and knows
+how to talk to the quality.  Go and try 'em."
+
+Ned went and talked to the "quality" so well that he brought back
+rations for three.
+
+Towards the end of the year Nosey arrived at Piney Station, about
+forty miles from the Murray, and obtained employment.  Baldy's bones
+had been lying under the rocks for nearly fifteen years.  It was
+absurd to suppose they could ever be discovered now, or if they were,
+that any evidence could be got out of them.  Nosey felt sure that all
+danger for himself was passed, but still the murder was frequently in
+his mind.  The squatter was often lonely, and his new man was
+garrulous, and one day Nosey, while at work, began to relate many
+particulars of life in the old country, in Van Diemen's Land, and in
+the other colonies, and he could not refrain from mentioning the
+greatest of his exploits.
+
+"I once done a man in Victoria," he said, "when I was shepherding; he
+found me out taking his fat sheep, and was going to inform on me, so
+I done him with an axe, and put him away so as nobody could ever find
+him."
+
+The squatter thought that Nosey's story was mostly blowing,
+especially that part of it referring to the murder.  No man who had
+really done such a deed, would be so foolish as to confess it to a
+stranger.
+
+Another man was engaged to work at the station.  As soon as he saw
+Nosey he exclaimed, "Hello, Nosey, is that you?"
+
+"My name is not Nosey."
+
+"All right; a name is nothing.  We are old chums, anyway."
+
+That night the two men had a long talk about old times.  They had
+both served their time in the island, and were, moreover, "townies,"
+natives of the same town at home.  Nosey began the conversation by
+saying to his old friend, "I've been a bad boy since I saw you last
+--I done a man in Victoria"; and then he gave the full particulars
+of his crime, as already related.  But the old chum could not believe
+the narrative, any more than did the squatter.
+
+"Well, Nosey," he said, "you can tell that tale to the marines."
+
+In the meantime the runs around Lake Nyalong had been surveyed by the
+government and sold.  In the Rises the land was being subdivided and
+fenced with stone walls, and there was a chance that Baldy's grave
+might be discovered if one of the surveyed lines ran near it, for the
+stonewallers picked up the rocks as near as possible to the wall they
+were building, and usually to about the distance of one chain on each
+side of it.
+
+A man who had a contract for the erection of one of these walls took
+with him his stepson to assist in the work.  In the month of August,
+1869, they were on their way to their work accompanied by a dog which
+chased a rabbit into a pile of rocks.  The  boy began to remove the
+rocks in order to find the rabbit, and in doing so uncovered part of
+a human skeleton.  He beckoned to his stepfather, who was rather
+deaf, to come and look at what he had found.  The man came, took up
+the skull, and examined it.
+
+"I'll be bound this skull once belonged to Baldy," he said.  "There
+is a hole here behind; and, yes, one jaw has been broken.  That's
+Nosey's work for sure' I wonder where he is now."
+
+No work was done at the wall that day, but information was given to
+the police.
+
+Mounted constable Kerry came over to the Rises.  The skeleton was
+found to be nearly entire; one jaw-bone was broken, and there was a
+hole in the back of the skull.  The feet were still encased in a pair
+of boots laced high above the ankles.  There were portions of a
+blue-striped shirt, and of a black silk necktie with reddish stripes.
+There was also the brim of an oiled sou'wester' hat, a pipe, and a
+knife.  The chin was very prominent, and the first molar teeth on the
+lower jaw were missing.  The remains were carefully taken up and
+conveyed to Nyalong; they were identified as those of Baldy; an
+inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was returned against
+Nosey and his wife.
+
+After the inquest mounted constable Kerry packed up the skeleton in a
+parcel with every small article found with it, placed it in a sack,
+put it under his bed, slept over it every night, and patiently waited
+for some tidings of the murderer.  In those days news travelled
+slowly, and the constable guarded his ghastly treasure for eighteen
+months.
+
+Nemesis was all the time on her way to Piney station, but her steps
+were slow, and she did not arrive until the seventeenth anniversary
+of the disapppearance of Baldy.
+
+On that day she came under the guise of constable, who produced a
+warrant, and said:
+
+"Cornelius Naso, alias Nosey, alias Pye, I arrest you under this
+warrant, charging you with having murdered a shepherd, named Thomas
+Balbus, alias Baldy, at Nyalong, in the colony of Victoria, on the
+28th day of February, 1854.  You need not say anything unless you
+like, but if you do say anything I shall take it down in writing, and
+it will be used as evidence against you at your trial."
+
+Nosey had nothing to say, except, "I deny the charge"; he had said
+too much already.
+
+He was handcuffed and taken to the police station at Albury.  In one
+of his pockets a letter was found purporting to be written by Julia,
+and disclosing her place of residence.
+
+Soon afterwards Nosey and his wife met in captivity after their long
+separation, but their meeting was not a happy one; they had no word
+of welcome for each other.
+
+The preliminary examination was held in the court house at Nyalong,
+and there was a large gathering of spectators when the proceedings
+commenced.  On a form below the witness box there was something
+covered with a white sheet.  Men craned their necks and looked at it
+over one another's shoulders.  The two prisoners eyed it intently.
+It was guarded by constable Kerry, who allowed no one to approach it,
+but with an authoritative wave of the hand kept back all impertinent
+intruders.  That day was the proudest in all his professional career.
+He had prepared his evidence and his exhibits with the utmost care.
+At the proper moment he carefully removed the white sheet, and the
+skeleton was exposed to view, with everything replaced in the
+position in which it had been found under the rocks in the Rises.
+Nosey's face grew livid as he eyed the evidence of his handiwork;
+Julia threw up both hands, and exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! there's poor Baldy that you murdered!"
+
+Nosey felt that this uncalled-for statement would damage his chance
+of escape, so, turning to the bench, he said:
+
+"Don't mind what the woman says, your lordship; she is not in her
+right senses, and always was weak-minded."
+
+The constable being sworn, related how, on information received, he
+had gone to the Stoney Rises, and had uncovered a skeleton which was
+lying on a broad flat stone.  The bones of the legs from the knees
+downward were covered with stones.  The boots were attached to the
+feet, and were pointing in such a direction as to show that the body
+must have rested on the right side.  Large stones, but such as one
+man could lift, had been placed over the feet and the legs.  The
+other bones were together, but had been disturbed.  With them he
+found the brim of an oiled sou'-westr' hat, a clay tobacco pipe, a
+rusty clasp-knife with a hole bored through the handle, fragments of
+a blue shirt; also pieces of a striped silk neckerchief, marked D. S.
+over 3; the marks had been sewn in with a needle.  There was a hole
+in the back of the skull, and the left jaw was broken.
+
+Just at this time a funeral procession, with a few attendants, passed
+the court-house on its way to the cemetery.  Julia's father was going
+to his grave.  He had come over the sea lately to spend the rest of
+his days in peace and comfort in the home of his daughter, and he
+found her in gaol under the charge of murder.  There was nothing more
+to live for, so he went out and died.
+
+The two prisoners were committed, but they remained in gaol for more
+than seven months longer, on account of the difficulty of securing
+the attendance of witnesses from New South Wales.
+
+But when the evidence was given it was overwhelming.  Every man who
+had known Baldy seemed to have been kept alive on purpose to give
+evidence against the murderer.  Every scrap of clothing which the
+wild cats had left was identified, together with the knife, the pipe,
+the hat brim, and the boots; and the prisoner's own confession was
+repeated.  Julia also took the side of the prosecution.  When asked
+if she had any questions to put, she said, "My husband killed the
+man, and forced me to help him to put the body on his horse."
+
+The jury retired to consider their verdict, and spent two hours over
+it.  In the meantime the two prisoners sat in the dock as far apart
+as possible.  They had never spoken to each other during the trial,
+and Nosey now said in a low voice:
+
+"You had no call, Julia, to turn on me the way you did.  What good
+could it do you?  Sure you might at least have said nothing against
+me."
+
+The pent-up bitterness of seventeen years burst forth.  The constable
+standing near tried to stop the torrent, but he might as well have
+tried to turn back a south-east gale with a feather.
+
+"I was to say nothing, indeed, was I?  And what call had I to say
+nothing?  Is that what you ask?  Was I to stand here all day and say
+never a word for myself until they were ready to hang me?  Tell me
+now, did I murder poor Baldy or did you?  Was it not you who struck
+him down with the axe without saying as much as 'by your leave,'
+either to me or to him?  Did you say a word to me until you finished
+your bloody work?  And then you threatened to cut me down, too, with
+the axe, if I didn't hold my tongue, and help you to lift the man on
+to your horse. It is this day you should have remembered before you
+began that night's work.  Sorrow's the day I ever met you at all,
+with the miserable life you led me; and you know I was always the
+good wife to you until you gave yourself entirely to the devil with
+your wicked ways.  Wasn't I always on the watch for you every evening
+looking for you, and the chop on the fire, and the hot tea, and
+everything comfortable?  And is it to hang me now you want to pay me
+back for the trouble I took for you and all the misery I suffered
+these long years?  And the death of my poor father, who found me in
+gaol, is at your door too, for he would have been alive and well this
+day but for the deed you done, which broke his poor old heart; the
+Lord have mercy on him.  And who is to blame but your own self for
+being in this place at all?  You not only done the man to death, but
+you must go about the bush bragging of it to strangers, and twisting
+the halter for your own neck like a born idiot; and that's what you
+are, in spite of your roguery and cunning."
+
+And so on for two hours of hell until the jury came back.  They
+acquitted Julia and found her husband guilty.  She left the court
+without once looking back, and he faced the jury alone.
+
+Judge Pohlman had never before sent a man to the gallows.  He made
+the usual little moral speech, and bewailed his own misfortune in
+having to perform so disagreeable a duty.  Then he put on the black
+cap and passed sentence.  At the concluding words, "May the Lord have
+mercy on your soul," the condemned man responded with a fervent
+"Amen," adding, "And that's the last of poor Nosey."  He seemed
+greatly relieved when the ceremony was over, but it was not quite the
+last, there was another to follow.
+
+For ten days he remained in his cell, and no one visited him except
+the priest.  His examination of conscience was not difficult, for he
+had often rehearsed it, and much of it had been done for him in
+public.
+
+He made his last journey between two priests, joining fervently in
+their prayers for the dying.  His step was firm, and he showed
+neither fear nor bravado.  The hangman quickly drew down the cap, but
+he seemed more flurried than his victim.  The sheriff, without
+speaking, motioned him to place the knot in the correct position
+under the ear.  Then the bolt was drawn and the story of "The Two
+Shepherds" was finished.
+
+
+The man whom Philip met at Bendigo had farms in the country thinly
+timbered.  North, south, east, and west the land was held under
+squatting licenses; with the exception of the home paddocks it was
+unfenced, and the stock was looked after by boundary riders and
+shepherds.  To the south, between Nyalong and the sea--a distance
+of fifty or sixty miles--the country was not occupied by either the
+white or the black men.  It consisted of ranges of hills heavily
+timbered, furrowed by deep valleys, through which flowed innumerable
+streams, winding their way to the river of the plains.  Sometimes the
+solitary bushman or prospector, looking across a deep valley, saw,
+nestled amongst the opposite hills, a beautiful meadow of grass.  But
+when he had crossed the intervening creek and scrubby valley, and
+continued his journey to the up-land, he found that the deceitful
+meadow was only a barren plain, covered, not with grass, but with the
+useless grass-tree.  There is a little saccharine matter in the roots
+of the grass-tree, and a hopeful man from Corio once built a
+sugar-mill near the stream, and took possession of the plain as a
+sugar plantation.  There was much labour, but very little sugar.
+
+In the dense forest, cattle had run wild, and were sometimes seen
+feeding in the thinly-timbered grass land outside; but whenever a
+horseman approached they dashed headlong into the scrub where no
+horseman could follow them.  Wild boars and their progeny also rooted
+among the tall tussocks in the marshes by the banks of the river,
+where it emerged from the ranges into the plains.
+
+Blackfish and eels were plentiful in the river, but they were of a
+perverse disposition, and would not bite in the day-time.  The bend
+nearest to Nyalong was twelve miles distant, and Philip once spent a
+night there with Gleeson and McCarthy.  A fire was kindled and some
+fish were caught, but Philip took none home.  Gleeson and McCarthy
+reserved their catches for their wives and families, and Philip's
+fish were all cooked on the fire at sunrise, and eaten for breakfast.
+Fishing was sport, certainly, but it was not profitable, nor
+exciting, except to the temper.  Sometimes an eel took the bait, and
+then twisted himself round the limb of a tree at the bottom of the
+river.  He then pulled all he was able until either the line or the
+hook was broken, or his jaw was torn into strips.
+
+After midnight Philip was drowsy, and leaned his back against a tree
+to woo sweet sleep.  But there were mosquitos in millions, bandicoots
+hopping close to the fire, and monkey-bears, night hawks, owls,
+'possums and dingoes, holding a corroboree hideous enough to break
+the sleep of the dead.
+
+After breakfast the horses were saddled for home.  Philip carried his
+revolver in his belt, and Gleeson had a shot-gun.  A kangaroo was
+seen feeding about a hundred yards distant, and Gleeson dismounted
+and shot at it, but it hopped away unharmed.  A few minutes
+afterwards, as the men were riding along at an easy walk, three other
+horsemen suddenly came past them at a gallop, wheeled about, and
+faced the fishermen.  One was Burridge, a station manager, the other
+two were his stockmen.  The six men looked at one another for a few
+moments without speaking.  Both Gleeson and McCarthy had the
+Tipperary temper, and it did not remain idle long.
+
+"Well," asked Gleeson, "is anything the matter?"
+
+"I dinna ken yet," said Burridge.  "Did na ye hear a gunshot just now?"
+
+"Yes, I fired at a kangaroo."
+
+"A kangaroo, eh?  Are you sure it was a kangaroo?"
+
+"Yes, it was a kangaroo.  What of that?  Oh, I see, you think we are
+after shooting your cattle.  Is that it?  Speak out like a man."
+
+"Sometimes a beast is shot about here, and I'd like to find out who
+does it."
+
+"Oh, indeed!  you'd like to know who does it, would you?  I can tell
+you, anyway, who is the biggest cattle duffer round here, if you'd
+like to know!"  Gleeson touched one flank of his horse with his heel,
+and rode close up to Burridge with the gun in his right hand.  "His
+name is Burridge, and that's yourself.  Everybody knows you, you old
+Scotch hound.  You have as many cattle on the run with your brand on
+them as your master has.  There is not a bigger cattle thief than old
+Burridge within a hundred miles, and you'll be taken off the run in
+irons yet.  Get out of my way, or I'll be tempted to send you to
+blazes before your time."
+
+Burridge did not go off the run in irons; he left it honourably for
+another run which he took up, and stocked with cattle bearing no
+brand but his own.  Evil tongues might tattle, but no man could prove
+that Burridge ever broke the law.
+
+One fishing excursion to the bend was enough for Philip, but a pig
+hunt was organised, and he joined it.  The party consisted of
+Gleeson, McCarthy, Bill the Butcher, Bob Atkins, and George Brown the
+Liar, who brought a rope-net and a cart in which all the game caught
+was to be carried home.  Five dogs accompanied the party, viz., Lion
+and Tiger, crossbred bull and mastiffs, experienced pig fighters, Sam
+as a reserve, and three mongrels as light skirmishers.
+
+The first animal met with was a huge old boar, the hero of a hundred
+fights, the great-grandfather of pigs.  He stood at bay among the
+tussocks, the dogs barking furiously around him.  Bill the Butcher
+said, "Keep back, you men, or he'll rip the guts out of your horses.
+I know him well.  He has only one tusk, but it's a boomer.  Look out
+sharp till the dogs tackle him, he might make a rush at some of us."
+
+The boar was a frightful-looking beast, long, tall, and slab-sided,
+in perfect condition for fight, all bone, muscle, and bristles, with
+not an ounce of lard in his lean body.  He stood still and stiff as a
+rock watching the dogs, his one white tusk, long and keen sticking
+out above his upper lip.  The loss of the other tusk left him at a
+disadvantage, as he could only strike effectively on one side.  Lion
+and Tiger had fought him before, and he had earned their respect.
+They were wary and cautious, and with good reason. Their best hold
+was by the ears, and these had been chewed away in former wars, till
+nothing was left of them but the ragged roots.  Bill the Butcher
+dismounted, dropped his bridle, and cheered on the dogs at a prudent
+distance, "Good dogs; seek him Lion; hold him Tiger."
+
+The dogs went nearer and nearer, jumping away whenever the boar made
+an attack.  At last they seized him by the roots of his ears, one on
+each side, and held on.  Bob Atkins and Bill approached the
+combatants, carrying some strong cord, of New Zealand flax.  A
+running noose was secured round the hind legs of the boar; he was
+then thrown on his side, and his forelegs were tied together.
+
+Lion and Tiger stood near panting, with blood dripping from their
+open jaws.  Philip could not imagine why Bill did not butcher the
+beast at once; it seemed impossible that a leathery old savage like
+that could ever be transformed into tender pork.  For the present he
+was left prone on the field of battle, and the pig hunt proceeded.
+There was soon much squealing of pigs, and barking of dogs among the
+tussocks.  Gleenson's dog pinned a young boar, and after its legs
+were tied Philip agreed to stand by and guard it, while Gleeson
+fetched the cart.  But the boar soon slipped the cord from his legs,
+and at once attacked his nearest enemy, rushing at Philip and trying
+to rip open his boots.  Philip's first impulse was to take out his
+revolver, and shoot; but he was always conscientious, and it occurred
+to him that he would be committing a breach of trust, as he had
+undertaken to guard the game alive until Gleeson came back with the
+cart.  So he tried to fight the pig with his boots, kicking him on
+the jaws right and left.  But the pig proved a stubborn fighter, and
+kept coming up to the scratch again and again, until Philip felt he
+had got into a serious difficulty.  He began to think as well as to
+kick quickly.
+
+"If I could only throw the animal to the ground I could hold him down."
+
+The dogs had shown him that the proper mode of seizing a hog was by
+the ears, so at the next round he seized both ears and held them.
+There was a pause in the fight, and Philip took advantage of it to
+address his enemy after the manner of the Greeks and Trojans.
+
+"I have got you at last, my friend, and the curse of Cromwell on you,
+I'd like to murder you without mercy; and if Gleeson don't come soon
+he'll find here nothing but dead pig.  I must try to throw you
+somehow."  After examining the pig narrowly he continued, "It will be
+done by the hind legs."
+
+He let go one ear and seized a hind leg instead, taking the enemy, as
+it were, both in front and rear.  For some time there was much
+kicking and squealing, until one scientific kick and a sudden twist
+of the hind quarters brought the quarry to earth.
+
+Philip knelt on the ribs of his foe, still holding one ear and one
+hind leg.  Then he proceeded with his speech, gasping for breath:
+
+"And this is what happens to a poor man in Australia!  Here have I
+been fighting a wild beast of a pig for half an hour, just to keep
+him alive, and all to oblige a cockatoo farmer, and small thanks to
+me for that same.  May all the curses--the Lord preserve us and
+give us patience; I am forgetting the twelve virtues entirely."
+
+Gleeson came at last with the cart and George Brown the Liar; the
+pig's legs were again tied together, he was lifted into the cart and
+covered with the rope net.  Four other pigs were caught, and then the
+hunters and dogs returned to the place in which the old boar had been
+left.  But he had broken or slipped his bonds, and had gone away.  He
+was tracked to the river, which was narrow but deep, so he had saved
+his bacon for another day.
+
+At the division of the game Philip declined to take any share.  He said:
+
+"Thanks, I have had pig enough for the present."
+
+So there were exactly five pigs for the other five men.
+
+Having been satiated with the pleasures of fishing and pig-hunting,
+Philip was next invited to try the pursuit of the kangaroo.  The
+first meet of men and hounds took place at Gleeson's farm.  McCarthy
+brought his dogs, and Philip brought Sam, his revolver, and a club.
+Barton was too proud to join in the sport; he despised inferior game.
+It might amuse new chums, but it was below the notice of the old
+trooper, whose business had been for many years to hunt and shoot
+bushrangers and black-fellows, not to mention his regular duty as
+flagellator.
+
+Gleeson that morning was cutting up his pumpkin plants with an axe.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Gleeson," said Philip.  "Is anything the matter?
+Is it a snake you are killing?"
+
+Gleeson began to laugh, a little ashamed of himself, and said, "Look
+at these cursed pumpkins.  I think they are bewitched.  Every morning
+I come to see if the fruit is growing, but this is what they do.  As
+soon as they get as big as a small potato, they begin to wither and
+turn yellow, and not a bit more will they grow.  So I'm cutting the
+blessed things to pieces."
+
+Philip saw that about half the runners had been already destroyed.
+He said, "Don't chop any more, Gleeson, and I'll show you how to make
+pumpkins grow."
+
+He picked up a feather in the fowl-yard, and went inside the garden.
+
+"Now look at these flowers closely; they are not all alike.  This
+flower will never turn into a pumpkin, but this one will if it gets a
+little of the dust from the first flower.  The bees or other insects
+usually take the dust from one flower to the other, but I suppose
+there are no bees about here just now?"
+
+Philip then dusted every flower that was open and said:  "Now, my
+friend, put away the axe, and you will have fruit here yet."  And the
+pumpkins grew and ripened.
+
+The two men then went towards the house, and Philip observed the
+fragments of a clock scattered about the ground in front of the
+verandah.
+
+"What happened to the clock?" said Philip.
+
+"Why," replied Gleeson, "the thing wasn't going right at all, so I
+took it to pieces just to examine it, and to oil the wheels, and when
+I tried to put it together again, the fingers were all awry, and the
+pins wouldn't fit in their places, and the pendulum swung crooked,
+and the whole thing bothered me so that I just laid it on the floor
+of the verandah, and gave it one big kick that sent it to
+smithereens.  But don't mind me or the clock at all, master; just
+come inside, and we'll have a bit o' dinner before we start."
+
+Gleeson was the kindest man in the world; all he wanted was a little
+patience.
+
+The kangaroo gave better sport than either the fish or the pig, and
+Philip enjoyed it.  His mare proved swift, but sometimes shied at the
+start, when the kangaroos were in full view.  She seemed to think
+that there was a kangaroo behind every tree, so she jumped aside from
+the trunks.  That was to kill Philip at last, but he had not the
+least idea what was to happen, and was as happy as hermits usually
+are, and they have their troubles and accidents just like other
+people.
+
+The kangaroos when disturbed made for the thick timber, and the
+half-grown ones, called "Flying Joeys," always escaped; they were so
+swift, and they could jump to such a distance that I won't mention
+it, as some ignorant people might call me a liar.  Those killed were
+mostly does with young, or old men.  Any horse of good speed could
+round up a heavy old man, and then he made for the nearest gum tree,
+and stood at bay with his back to it.  It was dangerous for man or
+dog to attack him in front, for with his long hind claws he could cut
+like a knife.
+
+Philip's family began to desert him.  Bruin, as already stated,
+sneaked away and was killed by Hugh Boyle.  Joey opened his
+cage-door, and flew up a gum tree.  When Philip came home from the
+school, and saw the empty cage, he called aloud, "Joey, Joey, sweet
+pretty Joey," and whistled.  The bird descended as far as the
+lightwood, but would not be coaxed to come any nearer.  He actually
+mocked his master, and said, "Ha, ha, ha! who are you?  Who are you?
+There is na luck aboot the hoose," which soon proved true, for the
+next bird Pussy brought into the house was Joey himself.
+
+Pup led a miserable life, and died early.  The coroner suspected that
+he had been murdered by Maggie, but there was no absolute proof.
+
+Maggie had really no conscience.  She began to gad about the bush.
+In her girlish days she wore short frocks, as it were, having had her
+wings clipped, but the next spring she went into society, was a
+debutante, wore a dress of black and white satin which shone in the
+sun, and she grew so vain and flighty, and strutted about so, that it
+was really ridiculous to watch her.  She began also to stay out late
+in the evening, which was very improper, and before going to bed
+Philip would go under the lightwood with a lighted candle, and look
+for her amongst the leaves,  saying, "Maggie, are you there?"  She
+was generally fast asleep, and all she could do was to blink her
+eyes, and say, "Peet, peet," and fall asleep again.  But one night
+she never answered at all.  She was absent all next day, and many a
+day after that.  October came, when all the scrub, the lightwood, and
+wattle were in full bloom, and the air everywhere was full of
+sweetness.  Philip was digging his first boiling of new potatoes,
+when all at once Maggie swooped down into the garden, and began
+strutting about, and picking up the worms and grubs from the soil
+newly turned up.
+
+"Oh, you impudent hussy!" he said.  "Where have you been all this
+time?"  He stooped, and tried to stroke her head as usual with his
+forefinger, but Maggie stuck her bill in the ground, turned a
+complete somersault, and caught the finger with both claws, which
+were very sharp.  She held on for a short time, then dropped nimbly
+to her feet, and said, "There, now, that will teach you to behave
+yourself."
+
+"Why, Maggie," said Philip, "what on earth is the matter with you?"
+
+"Oh, there's nothing the matter with me, I assure you.  I suppose you
+didn't hear the news, you are such an old stick-in-the-mud.  It was
+in the papers, though--no cards--and all the best society ladies
+knew it of course."
+
+"Why, Maggie, you don't mean to say you have got a mate?"
+
+"Of course I have, you horrid man, you are so vulgar.  We were
+married ages ago.  I didn't invite you of course, because I knew you
+would make yourself disagreeable--forbid the banns, or something,
+and scare away all the ladies and gentlemen, for you are a most awful
+fright, with your red hair and freckles, so I thought it best to say
+nothing about the engagement until the ceremony was over.  It was
+performed by the Rev. Sinister Cornix, and it was a very select
+affair, I assure you, and the dresses were so lovely.  There were six
+bridesmaids--the Misses Mudlark.  The Mudlarks, you know, have a
+good pedigree, they are come of the younger branch of our family.  We
+were united in the bonds under a cherry tree.  Oh! it was a lovely
+time, it was indeed, I assure you."
+
+"And where are you living now, Maggie?"
+
+"Oh, I am not going to tell you; you are too inquisitive.  But our
+mansion is on the top of a gum tree.  It is among the leaves at the
+end of a slender branch.  If Hugh Boyle tries to kidnap my babies,
+the branch will snap, and he will fall and break his neck, the
+wretch.  Oh, I assure you we thought of everything beforehand; for I
+know you keep a lot of boys bad enough to steal anything."
+
+"And what sort of a mate--husband, I mean--have you got?"
+
+"Oh, he is a perfect gentleman, and so attentive to me.  Latterly he
+has been a little crusty, I must admit; but you must not say a word
+against him.  If you do, I'll peck your eyes out.  A family, you
+know, is so troublesome, and it takes all your time to feed them.
+There are two of them, the duckiest little fluffy darlings you ever
+saw.  They were very hungry this morning, so when I saw you digging I
+knew you wouldn't begrudge them a breakfast, and I just flew down
+here for it.  But bless my soul, the little darlings will be
+screaming their hearts out with hunger while I am talking to you, and
+himself will be swearing like a Derviner.  So, by-by."
+
+Philip found Maggie's mansion easily enough; for, in spite of all her
+chatter, she had no depth of mind.  The tallest gum-tree was on
+Barlow's farm which adjoined the forty-acre on the east.  Barlow had
+been a stockman for several years on Calvert's run, and had saved
+money.  He invested his money in the Bank of Love, and the bank
+broke.  It happened in this way.
+
+A new shepherd from the other side was living with his wife and
+daughter near the Rises, and one day when Barlow was riding over the
+run, he heard some strange sounds, and stopped his horse to listen.
+There was nobody in sight in any direction, and Barlow said,
+"There's something the matter at the new shepherd's hut," and he rode
+swiftly towards it. As he approached the hut, he heard the screams of
+women and the voice of a blackfellow, who was hammering on the door
+with his waddy.  He was a tame blackfellow who had been educated at
+the Missionary Station.  He could write English, say prayers, sing
+hymns, read the Bible, and was therefore named Parson Bedford by the
+Derviners, after the Tasmanian Missionary.  He could box and wrestle
+so well that few white men could throw him.  He could also drink rum;
+so whenever he got any white money he knew how to spend it.  He was
+the best thief and the worst bully of all the blacks about Nyalong,
+because he had been so well educated.  I knew him well, and attended
+his funeral, walking in the procession with the doctor and twenty
+blackfellows. He had a white man's funeral, but there was no live
+parson present, so king Coco Quine made an oration, waving his hands
+over the coffin, "All same as whitefellow parson," then we all threw
+clods on the lid.
+
+So much noise was made by the women screaming and the Parson
+hammering, that the stockman was able to launch one crack of his
+stock-whip on the Parson's back before his arrival was observed.  The
+Parson sprang up into the air like a shot deer, and then took to his
+heels.  He did not run towards the open plains, but made a straight
+line for the nearest part of the Rises.  As he ran, Frank followed at
+an easy canter, and over and over again he landed his lash with a
+crack like a pistol on the behind of the black, who sprang among the
+rough rocks which the horse could not cross, and where the lash could
+not reach him.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 3.]
+
+Then there was a parley.  The Parson was smarting and furious.  He
+had learned the colonial art of blowing along with the language.  He
+threw down his waddy and said:
+
+"You stockman, Frank, come off that horse, drop your whip, and I'll
+fight you fair, same as whitefellow.  I am as good a man as you any
+day."
+
+"Do you take me for a blooming fool, Parson?  No fear.  If ever I see
+you at that hut again, or anywhere on the run, I'll cut the shirt off
+your back.  I shall tell Mr. Calvert what you have been after, and
+you'll soon find yourself in chokey with a rope round your neck."
+
+The Parson left Nyalong, and when he returned he was dying of rum and
+rheumatism.
+
+Frank rode back to the hut.  The mother and daughter had stood at the
+door watching him flog the Parson.  He was in their eyes a hero; he
+had scourged their savage enemy, and had driven him to the rocks.
+They were weeping beauties--at least the daughter was a beauty in
+Frank's eyes--but now they wiped away their tears, smoothed their
+hair, and thanked their gallant knight over and over again.  Two at a
+time they repeated their story, how they saw the blackfellow coming,
+how they bolted the door, and how he battered it with his club,
+threatening to kill them if they did not open it.
+
+Frank had never before been so much praised and flattered, at least
+not since his mother weaned him; but he pretended not to care.  He
+said:
+
+"Tut, tut, it's not worth mentioning.  Say no more about it.  I would
+of course have done as much for anybody."
+
+Of course he could not leave the ladies again to the mercy of the
+Parson, so he waited until the shepherd returned with his flock.
+
+Then Frank rode away with a new sensation, a something as near akin
+to love as a rough stockman could be expected to feel.
+
+Neddy, the shepherd, asked Mr. Calvert for the loan of arms, and he
+taught his wife and daughter the use of old Tower muskets.  He said,
+"If ever that Parson comes to the hut again, put a couple of bullets
+through him."
+
+After that Frank called at the hut nearly every day, enquiring if the
+Parson had been seen anywhere abroad.
+
+"No," said Cecily, "we haven't seen him any more;" and she smiled so
+sweetly, and lowered her eyes, and spoke low, with a bewitching
+Tasmanian accent.
+
+Frank was in the mud, and sinking daily deeper and deeper.  At last
+he resolved to turn farmer and leave the run, so he rented the land
+adjoining Philip's garden and the forty-acre.  There was on it a
+four-roomed, weather-board house and outbuildings, quite a bush
+palace.  Farming was then profitable.  Frank ploughed a large paddock
+and sowed it with wheat and oats.  Then while the grain was ripening
+he resolved to ask Cecily a very important question.  One Sunday he
+rode to the hut with a spare horse and side saddle.  Both horses were
+well groomed, the side saddle was new, the bits, buckles, and
+stirrup-irons were like burnished silver.  Cecily could ride well
+even without a saddle, but had never owned one.  She yielded to
+temptation, but with becoming coyness and modesty.  Frank put one
+hand on his knee, holding the bridle with the other; then Cicely
+raised one of her little feet, was lifted lightly on to the saddle,
+and the happy pair cantered gaily over the plain to their future home.
+
+Frank showed his bride-elect the land and the crops, the cows and the
+horses, the garden and the house.  Cecily looked at everything, but
+said next to nothing.  "She is shy," Frank thought, "and I must treat
+her gently."  But the opportunity must not be thrown away, and on
+their way over the plains Frank told his tale of love.  I don't know
+precisely what he said or how he said it, not having been present,
+but he did not hook his fish that day, and he took home with him the
+bait, the horse, and the empty side-saddle.  But he persevered with
+his suit, and before the wheat was ripe, Cecily consented to be his
+bride.
+
+He was so overjoyed with his success that instead of waiting for the
+happy day when he had to say "With this ring I thee wed, with all my
+worldly goods I thee endow," he gave Cecily the worldly goods
+beforehand--the horse, with the beautiful new side saddle and
+bridle--and nearly all his cash, reserving only sufficient to
+purchase the magic ring and a few other necessaries.
+
+The evening before the happy day the pair were seen walking together
+before sundown on a vacant lot in the township, discussing, it was
+supposed, the arrangements for the morrow.
+
+It was the time of the harvest, and Philip had been engaged to
+measure the work of the reapers on a number of farms.  I am aware
+that he asked and received 1 pound for each paddock, irrespective of
+area.  On the bridal morn he walked over Frank's farm with his chain
+and began the measurement, the reapers, most of them broken down
+diggers, following him and watching him.  Old Jimmy Gillon took one
+end of the chain; he said he had been a chainman when the railway
+mania first broke out in Scotland, so he knew all about land
+surveying.  Frank was absent, but he returned while Philip was
+calculating the wages payable to each reaper, and he said:  "Here's
+the money, master; pay the men what's coming to 'em and send 'em
+away."
+
+Frank looked very sulky, and Philip was puzzled.  He knew the
+blissful ceremony was to take place that day, but there was no sign
+of it, nor of any bliss whatever; no wedding garments, no parson, no
+bride.
+
+The bare matter of fact was, the bride had eloped during the night.
+
+"For young Lochinvar had come out of the West,
+And an underbred, fine-spoken fellow was he."
+
+He was a bullock-driver of superior manners and attractive
+personality, and was the only man in Australia who waxed and curled
+his moustaches.  Cecily had for some time been listening to
+Lochinvar, who was known to have been endeavouring to "cut out"
+Frank.  She was staying in the township with her mother preparing for
+matrimony, and her horse was in the stable at Howell's Hotel.
+
+When Frank rode away to his farm on that fateful evening, Lochinvar
+was watching him.  He saw Cecily going home to her mother for the
+last night, and while he was looking after her wistfully, and the
+pangs of despairing love were in his heart, Bill the Butcher came up
+and said:
+
+"Well, Lock, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, what can I do?  She is going to marry Frank in the morning."
+
+"I don't believe it:  not if you are half the man you ought to be."
+
+"But how can I help it?"
+
+"Help it?  Just go and take her.  Saddle your horse and her own, take
+'em up to the cottage, and ask her just to come outside for a minute.
+And if you don't persuade her in five minutes to ride away with you
+to Ballarat, I'll eat my head off.  I know she don't want to marry
+Frank; all she wants is an excuse not to, and it will be excuse
+enough when she has married you."
+
+These two worthy men went to the Hotel and talked the matter over
+with Howell.  The jolly landlord slapped his knee and laughed.  He
+said:  "You are right, Bill.  She'll go, I'll bet a fiver, and here
+it is, Lock; you take it to help you along."
+
+This base conspiracy was successful, and that was the reason Frank
+was so sulky on that harvest morning.
+
+He was meditating vengeance.  Love and hate, matrimony and murder,
+are sometimes not far asunder, but Frank was not by nature vengeful;
+he had that "foolish hanging of the nether lip which shows a lack of
+decision."
+
+I would not advise any man to seek in a law court a sovereign remedy
+for the wounds inflicted by the shafts of Cupid; but Frank tried it.
+During his examination in chief his mien was gloomy and his answers
+brief.
+
+Then Mr. Aspinall rose and said:  "I appear for the defendant, your
+Honour, but from press of other engagements I have been unable to
+give that attention to the legal aspects of this case which its
+importance demands, and I have to request that your Honour will be
+good enough to adjourn the court for a quarter of an hour."
+
+The court was adjourned for half an hour, and Mr. Aspinall and his
+solicitor retired to a room for a legal consultation.  It began thus:
+
+"I say, Lane, fetch me a nobbler of brandy; a stiffener, mind."
+
+Lane fetched the stiffener in a soda-water bottle, and it cleared the
+legal atmosphere.
+
+When the court resumed business, Frank took his stand in the witness
+box, and a voice said:  "Now, Mr. Barlow, look at me."
+
+Frank had been called many names in his time, but never "Mr. Barlow"
+before now.  He looked and saw the figure of a little man with a
+large head, whose voice came through a full-grown nose like the blast
+of a trumpet.
+
+"You say you gave Cecily some money, a horse, saddle, and bridle?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"And you bought a wedding ring?"
+
+"I've got it in my pocket."
+
+"I see.  Your Honour will be glad to hear that the ring, at any rate,
+is not lost.  It will be ready for another Cecily, won't it, Mr.
+Barlow?"
+
+Barlow, looking down on the floor of the court and shaking his head
+slowly from side to side, said:
+
+"No, it won't  No fear.  There 'ull be no more Cecilies for me."
+
+There was laughter in the court, and when Frank raised his eyes, and
+saw a broad grin on every face, he, too, burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+I saw Mr. Aspinall and Dr. Macadam walking together arm-in-arm from
+the court.  The long doctor and the little lawyer were a strange
+pair.  Everybody knew that they were sliding down the easy slope to
+their tragic end, but they seemed never to think of it.
+
+Frank returned to Nyalong, happier than either.  He related the
+particulars of the trial to his friends with the utmost cheerfulness.
+Whether he recovered all the worldly goods with which he had endowed
+Cecily is doubtful, but he faithfully kept his promise that "There
+'ull be no more Cecilies for me."
+
+There was a demon of mischief at work on Philip's hill at both sides
+of the dividing fence.  Sam was poisoned by a villainous butcher;
+Bruin had been killed by Hugh Boyle; Maggie had eloped with a wild
+native to a gum-tree; Joey had been eaten by Pussy; Barlow had been
+crossed in love, and then the crowning misfortune befell the hermit.
+
+Mrs. Chisholm was a lady who gave early tokens of her vocation.  At
+the age of seven she began to form benevolent plans for the colonies
+of Great Britain.  She built ships of broad beans, filled them with
+poor families of Couchwood, sent them to sea in a wash-basin, landed
+them in a bed-quilt, and started them growing wheat.  Then she loaded
+her fleet with a return cargo for the British pauper, one grain of
+wheat in each ship, and navigated it safely to Old England.  She made
+many prosperous voyages, but once a storm arose which sent all her
+ships to the bottom of the sea.  She sent a Wesleyan minister and a
+Catholic priest to Botany Bay in the same cabin, strictly enjoining
+them not to quarrel during the voyage.  At the age of twenty she
+married Captain Chisholm, and went with him to Madras.  There she
+established a School of Industry for Girls, and her husband seconded
+her in all her good works.
+
+Mr. Chamier, the secretary, took a great interest in her school; Sir
+Frederick Adams subscribed 20 pounds, and officers and gentlemen in
+Madras contributed in five days 2,000 rupees.  The school became an
+extensive orphanage.
+
+Mrs. and Captain Chisholm came to Australia in 1838 for the benefit
+of his health, and they landed at Sydney.  They saw Highland
+immigrants who could not speak English, and they gave them tools and
+wheelbarrows wherewith to cut and sell firewood.
+
+Captain Chisholm returned to India in 1840, but the health of her
+young family required Mrs. Chisholm to remain in Sydney.
+
+Female immigrants arriving in Sydney were regularly hired on board
+ship, and lured into a vicious course of life.  Mrs. Chisholm went on
+board each ship, and made it her business to protect and advise them,
+and begged the captain and agent to act with humanity.  Some place of
+residence was required in which the new arrivals could be sheltered,
+until respectable situations could be found for them, and in January,
+1841, she applied to Lady Gipps for help.  A committee of ladies was
+formed, and Mrs. Chisholm at length obtained a personal audience from
+the Governor, Sir George Gipps.  He believed she was labouring under
+an amiable delusion.  He wrote to a friend:
+
+"I expected to have seen an old lady in a white cap and spectacles,
+who would have talked to me about my soul.  I was amazed when my aide
+introduced a handsome, stately young woman, who proceeded to reason
+the question as if she thought her reason, and experience too, worth
+as much as mine."
+
+Sir George at last consented to allow her the use of a Government
+building, a low wooden one.  Her room was seven feet by seven feet.
+Rats ran about in it in all directions, and then alighted on her
+shoulders.  But she outgeneraled the rats.  She gave them bread and
+water the first  night, lit two candles, and sat up in bed reading
+"Abercrombie."  There came never less than seven nor more than
+thirteen rats eating at the same time.  The next night she gave them
+another feast seasoned with arsenic.
+
+The home for the immigrants given her by Sir George had four rooms,
+and in it at one time she kept ninety girls who had no other shelter.
+About six hundred females were then wandering about Sydney unprovided
+for.  Some slept in the recesses of the rocks on the Government
+domain.  She received from the ships in the harbour sixty-four girls,
+and all the money they had was fourteen shillings and three
+half-pence.
+
+She took them to the country, travelling with a covered cart to sleep
+in.  She left married families at different stations, and then sent
+out decent lasses who should be married.
+
+In those days the dead bodies of the poor were taken to the cemetery
+in a common rubbish-cart.
+
+By speeches and letters both public and private, and by interviews
+with influential men, Mrs. Chisholm sought help for the emigrants
+both in Sydney and England, where she opened an office in 1846.
+
+In the year 1856 Major Chisholm took a house at Nyalong, near
+Philip's school.  Two of the best scholars were John and David.  When
+David lost his place in the class he burst into tears, and the Blakes
+and the Boyles laughed.  The Major spoke to the boys and girls
+whenever he met them.  He asked John to tell him how many
+weatherboards he would have to buy to cover the walls of his house,
+which contained six rooms and a lean-to, and was built of slabs.
+John measured the walls and solved the problem promptly.  The Major
+then sent his three young children to the school, and made the
+acquaintance of the master.
+
+Mrs.  Chisholm never went to Nyalong, but the Major must have given
+her much information about it, for one day he read a portion of one
+of her letters which completely destroyed Philip's peace of mind.  It
+was to the effect that he was to open a school for boarders at
+Nyalong, and, as a preliminary, marry a wife.  The Major said that if
+Philip had no suitable young lady in view, Mrs. Chisholm, he was
+sure, would undertake to produce one at a very short notice.  She had
+the whole matter already planned, and was actually canvassing for
+  pupils among the wealthiest families in the colony.  The Major
+smiled benevolently, and said it was of no use for Philip to think of
+resisting Mrs. Chisholm; when she had once made up her mind,
+everybody had to give way, and the thing was settled.  Philip, too,
+smiled faintly, and tried to look pleased, dissembling his outraged
+feelings, but he went away in a state of indignation.  He actually
+made an attack on the twelve virtues, which seemed all at once to
+have conspired against  his happiness.  He said:  "If I had not kept
+school so conscientiously, this thing would never have happened.  I
+don't want boarders, and I don't want anybody to send me a wife to
+Nyalong.  I am not, thank God, one of the royal family, and not even
+Queen Victoria shall order me a wife."
+
+In that way the lonely hermit put his foot down and began a
+countermine, working as silently as possible.
+
+During the Christmas holidays, after his neighbour Frank had been
+jilted by Cecily, he rode away, and returned after a week's absence.
+The Major informed him that Mrs. Chisholm had met with an accident
+and would be unable to visit Nyalong for some time.  Philip was
+secretly pleased to hear the news, outwardly he expressed sorrow and
+sympathy, and nobody but himself suspected how mean and deceitful he
+was.
+
+At Easter he rode away again and returned in less than a week.  Next
+day he called at McCarthy's farm and dined with the family.  He said
+he had been married the previous morning before he had started for
+Nyalong, and had left his wife at the Waterholes.  McCarthy began to
+suspect that Philip was a little wrong in his head;  it was a kind of
+action that contradicted all previous experience.  He could remember
+various lovers running away together before marriage, but he could
+not call to mind a single instance in which they ran away from one
+another immediately after marriage.  But he said to himself, "It will
+all be explained by-and-by," and he refrained from asking any
+impertinent questions merely to gratify curiosity.
+
+After dinner Gleeson, Philip, and McCarthy rode into the bush with
+the hounds.  A large and heavy "old man" was sighted; and the dogs
+stuck him up with his back to a tree.  While they were growling and
+barking around the tree Gleeson dismounted, and, going behind the
+tree, seized the "old man" by the tail.  The kangaroo kept springing
+upwards and at the dogs, dragging Gleeson after  him, who was jerking
+the tail this way and that to bring his game to the ground, for the
+"old man" was so tall that the dogs could not reach his throat while
+he stood upright.  Philip gave his horse to McCarthy and approached
+the "old man" with his club.
+
+"Shoot him with your revolver," said Gleeson.  "If I let go his tail,
+he'll be ripping you with his toe."
+
+"I might shoot you instead," said Philip; "better to club him.  Hold
+on another moment."
+
+Philip's first blow was dodged by the kangaroo, but the second fell
+fairly on the skull; he fell down, and Ossian, a big and powerful
+hound, seized him instantly by the throat and held on.  The three men
+mounted their horses and rode away, but Philip's mare was, as usual,
+shying at every tree.  As he came near one which had a large branch,
+growing horizontally from the trunk, his mare spring aside, carried
+him under the limb, which struck his head, and threw him to the
+ground.  He never spoke again.
+
+After the funeral, McCarthy rode over to the Rocky Waterholes to make
+some enquiries.  He called at Mrs. Martin's residence, and he said:
+
+"Mr. Philip told us he was married the day before the accident, but
+it seemed so strange, we could not believe it; so I thought I would
+just ride over and enquire about it, for, of course, if he had a
+wife, she will be entitled to whatever little property he left behind
+him."
+
+"Yes, it's quite true," said Mrs. Martin.  "They were married sure
+enough.  He called here at Christmas, and said he would like to see
+Miss Edgeworth; but she was away on a visit to some friends.  I asked
+him if he had any message to leave for her, but he said, 'Oh, no;
+only I thought I should like to see how she is getting along.  That's
+all, thank you.  I might call again at Easter.'  So he went away.  On
+last Easter Monday he came again.  Of course I had told Miss
+Edgeworth, about his calling at Christmas and enquiring about her,
+and it made me rather suspicious when he came again.  As you may
+suppose, I could not help taking notice; but for two days, nor, in
+fact, for the whole week, was there the slightest sign of anything
+like lovemaking between them.  No private conversation, no walking
+out together, nothing but commonplace talk and solemn looks.  I said
+to myself, 'If there is anything between them, they keep it mighty
+close to be sure.'  On the Tuesday evening, however, he spoke to me.
+He said:
+
+"'I hope you won't mention it, Mrs. Martin, but I would like to have
+a little advice from you, if you would be so kind as to give it.
+Miss Edgeworth has been living with you for some time, and you must
+be well acquainted with her.  I am thinking of making a proposal, but
+our intercourse has been so slight, that I should be pleased first to
+have your opinion on the matter.'
+
+"'Mr. Philip,' I said, 'you really must not ask me to say anything
+one way or the other, for or against.  I have my own sentiments, of
+course; but nobody shall ever say that I either made a match or
+marred one.'
+
+"Nothing happened until the next day.  In the afternoon Miss
+Edgeworth was alone in this room, when I heard Mr. Philip walking
+down the passage, and stopping at the door, which was half open.  I
+peeped out, and then put off my slippers, and stepped a little
+nearer, until through the little opening between the door and the
+door-post, I could both see and hear them.  He was sitting on the
+table, dangling his boots to and fro just above the floor, and she
+was sitting on a low rocking-chair about six feet distant.  He did
+not beat about the bush, as the saying is; did not say, 'My dear,' or
+'by your leave, Miss,' or 'excuse me,' or anything nice, as one would
+expect from a gentleman on a delicate occasion of the kind, but he
+said, quite abruptly:
+
+"'How would you like to live at Nyalong, Miss Edgeworth?'
+
+"She was looking on the floor, and her fingers were playing with a
+bit of ribbon, and she was so nice and winsome, and well dressed, you
+couldn't have helped giving her a kiss.  She never raised her eyes to
+his face, but I think she just looked as high as his boots, which
+were stained and dusty.  The silly man was waiting for her to say
+something; but she hung down her head, and said nothing.  At last he
+said:
+
+"'I suppose you know what I mean, Miss Edgeworth?'
+
+"'Yes,' she said, in a low voice.  'I know what you mean, thank you.'
+
+"Then there was silence for I don't know how long; it was really
+dreadful, and I couldn't think how it was going to end.  At last he
+heaved a big sigh, and said:
+
+"'Well, Miss Edgeworth, there is no need to hurry; take time to think
+about it.  I am going to ride out, and perhaps you will be good
+enough to let me know your mind when I come back.'
+
+"Then he just shook her hand, and I hurried away from the door.  It
+was rather mean of me to be listening to them, but I took as much
+interest in Miss Edgeworth as if she were my own daughter.
+
+"'There is no need to hurry,' he had said, but in my opinion there
+was too much hurry, for they were married on the Saturday, and he
+rode away the same morning having to open school again on Monday.
+
+"Of course, Miss Edgeworth was a good deal put about when we heard
+what had happened, through the papers, but I comforted her as much as
+possible.  I said, 'as for myself, I had never liked the look of the
+poor man with his red hair and freckles.  I am sure he had a bad
+temper at bottom, for red-haired men are always hasty; and then he
+had a high, thin nose, and men of that kind are always close and
+stingy, and the stingiest man I ever knew was a Dublin man.  Then his
+manners, you must remember, were anything but nice; he didn't wasteany
+compliments on you before you married him, so you may just fancy what
+kind of compliments you would have had to put up with afterwards.
+And perhaps you have forgotten what you said yourself about him at
+Bendigo.  You were sure he was a severe master, you could see
+sternness on his brow.  And however you could have consented to go to
+the altar with such a man I cannot understand to this day.  I am sure
+it was a very bad match, and by-and-by you will thank your stars that
+you are well out of it.'
+
+"I must acknowledge that Miss Edgeworth did not take what I said to
+comfort her very kindly, and she 'gave me fits,' as the saying is;
+but bless your soul, she'll soon get over it, and will do better next
+time."
+
+Soon after the death of Philip, Major Chisholm and his family left
+Nyalong, and I was appointed Clerk to the Justices at Colac.  I sat
+under them for twelve years, and during that time I wrote a great
+quantity of criminal literature.  When a convict of good conduct in
+Pentridge was entitled to a ticket-of-leave, he usually chose the
+Western district as the scene of his future labours, so that the
+country was peopled with old Jack Bartons and young ones.  Some of
+the young ones had been Philip's scholars--viz., the Boyles and the
+Blakes.  They were friends of the Bartons, and Old John, the
+ex-flogger, trained them in the art of cattle-lifting.  His teaching
+was far more successful than that of Philip's, and when in course of
+time Hugh Boyle appeared in the dock on a charge of horse-stealing, I
+was pained but not surprised.  Barton, to whose farm the stolen horse
+had been brought by Hugh, was summoned as witness for the Crown, but
+he organised the evidence for the defence so well that the prisoner
+was discharged.
+
+On the next occasion both Hugh and his brother James were charged
+with stealing a team of bullocks, but this time the assistance of
+Barton was not available.  The evidence against the young men was
+overwhelming, and we committed them for trial.  I could not help
+pitying them for having gone astray so early in life.  They were both
+tall and strong, intelligent and alert, good stockmen, and quite able
+to earn an honest living in the bush.  They had been taught their
+duty well by Philip, but bad example and bad company out of school
+had led them astray.  The owner of the bullocks, an honest young boor
+named Cowderoy, was sworn and gave his evidence clearly.  Hugh and
+James knew him well.  They had no lawyer to defend them, and when the
+Crown Prosecutor sat down, there seemed no loophole left for the
+escape of the accused, and I mentally sentenced them to seven years
+on the roads, the invariable penalty for their offence.
+
+But now the advantages of a good moral education were brilliantly
+exemplified.
+
+"Have you any questions to put to this witness?" asked the Judge of
+the prisoners.
+
+"Yes, your Honour," said Hugh.  Then turning to Cowderoy, he said:
+"Do you know the nature of an oath?"
+
+The witness looked helplessly at Hugh, then at the Judge and Crown
+Prosecutor; stood first on one leg, then on the other; leaned down
+with his elbows on the edge of the witness-box apparently staggering
+under the weight of his own ignorance.
+
+"Why don't you answer the question?" asked the Judge sharply.  "Do
+you know the nature of an oath?"
+
+Silence.
+
+Mr. Armstrong saw his case was in danger of collapse, so he said:  "I
+beg to submit, your Honour, that this question comes too late and
+should have been put to the witness before he was sworn.  He has
+already taken the oath and given his evidence."
+
+"The question is a perfectly fair one, Mr. Armstrong," said the
+Judge:  and turning to the witness he repeated:  "Do you know the
+nature of an oath?"
+
+"No," said Cowderoy.
+
+The prisoners were discharged, thanks to their good education.
+
+
+
+A VALIANT POLICE-SERGEANT.
+
+Sergeant Hyde came to my office and asked me to accompany him as far
+as Murray Street.  He said there was a most extraordinary dispute
+between a white woman and a black lubra about the ownership of a
+girl, and he had some doubts whether it was a case within the
+jurisdiction of a police-court, but thought we might issue a summons
+for illegal detention of property.  He wanted me to advise him, and
+give my opinion on the matter, and as by this time my vast experience
+of Justices' law entitled me to give an opinion on any imaginable
+subject, I very naturally complied with his request.  He was,
+moreover, a man so remarkable that a request by him for advice was of
+itself an honour.  In his youth he had been complimented on the
+possession of a nose exactly resembling that of the great Duke of
+Wellington, and ever since that time he had made the great man the
+guiding star of his voyage over the ocean of life, the only saint in
+his calendar; and he had, as far as human infirmity would permit,
+modelled his conduct and demeanour in imitation of those of the
+immortal hero.  He spoke briefly, and in a tone of decision.  The
+expression of his face was fierce and defiant, his bearing erect, his
+stride measured with soldierly regularity.  He was not a large man,
+weighing probably about nine stone; but that only enhanced his
+dignity, as it is a great historical fact that the most famous
+generals have been nearly all small men.
+
+When he came into my office, he always brought with him an odour of
+peppermint, which experience had taught me to associate with the
+proximity of brandy or whisky.  I have never heard or read that the
+Iron Duke took pepperment lozenges in the morning, but still it might
+have been his custom to do so.  The sergeant was a Londoner, and knew
+more about the private habits of his Grace than I did.  If he had
+been honoured with the command of a numerous army, he would, no
+doubt, have led it onward, or sent it forward to victory.  His
+forces, unfortunately, consisted of only one trooper, but the way in
+which he ordered and manoeuvred that single horseman proved what
+glory he would have won if he had been placed over many squadrons.
+By a general order he made him parade outside the gate of the station
+every morning at ten o'clock.  He then marched from the front door
+with a majestic mien and inspected the horse, the rider, and
+accoutrements.  He walked slowly round, examining with eagle eye the
+saddle, the bridle, the bits, the girth, the sword, pistols, spurs,
+and buckles.  If he could find no fault with anything, he gave in
+brief the word of command, "Patrol the forest road," or any other
+road on which an enemy might be likely to appear.  I never saw the
+sergeant himself on horseback.  He might have been a gay cavalier in
+the days of his fiery youth, but he was not one now.
+
+As we passed the "Crook and Plaid Hotel," on our return to the
+court-house, after investigating the dispute in Murray Street, I
+observed a stranger standing near the door, who said:
+
+"Hello, Hyde!  is that you?"
+
+He was evidently addressing the sergeant, but the latter merely gave
+him a slight glance, and went away with his noble nose in the air.
+
+The stranger looked after him and laughed.  He said:
+
+"That policeman was once a shepherd of mine up in Riverina, but I see
+he don't know me now--has grown too big for his boots.  Cuts me
+dead, don't he?  Ha!  ha!  ha!  Well I never!"
+
+The stranger's name was Robinson; he had been selling some cattle to
+a neighbouring squatter, and was now on his way home.  He explained
+how he had, just before the discovery of gold, hired Hyde as a
+shepherd, and had given him charge of a flock of sheep.
+
+There were still a few native blacks about the run, but by this time
+they were harmless enough:  never killed shepherds, or took mutton
+without leave.  They were somewhat addicted to petty larceny, but felony
+had been frightened out of their souls long ago.  They knew all the
+station hands, and the station hands knew them.  They soon spotted a
+new chum, and found out the soft side of him; and were generally able
+to coax or frighten him to give them tobacco, some piece of clothing,
+or white money.
+
+When the new shepherd had been following his flock for a few days,
+Mr. Robinson, while looking out from the verandah of his house over
+the plains, observed a strange object approaching at some distance.
+He said to himself, "That is not a horseman, nor an emu, nor a native
+companion, nor a swagman, nor a kangaroo."  He could not make it out;
+so he fetched his binocular, and then perceived that it was a human
+being, stark naked.  His first impression was that some unfortunate
+traveller had lost his way in the wide wilderness, or a station hand
+had gone mad with drink, or that a sundowner had become insane with
+hunger, thirst, and despair.
+
+He took a blanket and went to meet the man, in order that he might
+cover him decently before he arrived too near the house.  It was
+Hyde, the new shepherd, who said he had been stripped by the blacks.
+
+ From information afterwards elicited by Robinson it appeared that the
+blacks had approached Hyde in silence while his back was turned to
+them.  The sight of them gave a sudden shock to his system.  He was
+totally unprepared for such an emergency.  If he had had time to
+recall to memory some historical examples, he might have summoned up
+his sinking courage, and have done a deed worthy of record.  There
+was David, the youthful shepherd of Israel, who slew a lion and a
+bear, and killed Goliath, the gigantic champion of the Philistines.
+There were the Shepherd Kings, who ruled the land of Egypt.  there
+was one-eyed Polyphemus, moving among his flocks on the mountain tops
+of Sicily; a monster, dreadful, vast, and hideous; able to roast and
+eat these three blackfellows at one meal.  And nearer our own time
+was the youth whose immortal speech begins, "My name is Norval; on
+the Grampian Hills my father fed his flocks."  Our shepherd had a
+stick in his hand and a collie dog at his command.  Now was the time
+for him to display "London Assurance" to some purpose; and now was
+the time for the example of the ever-victorious Duke to work a
+miracle of valour.  But the crisis had come on too quickly, and there
+was no time to pump up bravery from the deep well of history.  The
+unearthly ugliness of the savages, their thick lips, prominent cheek
+bones, scowling and overhanging brows, broad snub noses, matted black
+hair, and above all the keen, steady, and ferocious scrutiny of their
+deep-set eyes, extinguished the last spark of courage in the heart of
+Hyde.  He did not look fierce and defiant any more.  He felt inclined
+to be very civil, so he smiled a sickly smile and tried to say
+something, but his chin wobbled, and his tongue would not move.
+
+The blacks came nearer, and one of them said, "Gib fig tobacker,
+mate?"  Here was a gleam of hope, a chance of postponing his final
+doom.  When a foe cannot be conquered, it is lawful to pay him to be
+merciful; to give him an indemnity for his trouble in not kicking
+you.  The shepherd instantly pulled out his tobacco, his pipe, his
+tobacco-knife, and matches, and handed them over.  A second
+blackfellow, seeing him so ready to give, took the loan of his tin
+billy, with some tea and sugar in it, and some boiled mutton and
+damper.  These children of the plains now saw that they had come upon
+a mine of wealth, and they worked it down to the bed rock.  One after
+another, and with the willing help of the owner, they took possession
+of his hat, coat, shirt, boots, socks, trousers, and drawers, until
+the Hyde was completely bare, as naked, and, it is to be hoped, as
+innocent, as a new-born babe.  His vanity, which was the major part
+of his personality, had vanished with his garments, and the remnant
+left of body and soul was very insignificant.
+
+Having now delivered up everything but his life, he had some hope
+that his enemies might at least spare him that.  They were jabbering to
+one another at a great rate, trying on, putting off, and exchanging
+first one article and then another of the spoils they had won.  They
+did not appear to think that the new chum was worth looking after any
+longer.  So he began slinking away slowly towards his flock of sheep,
+trying to look as if nothing in particular was the matter; but he
+soon turned in the direction of the home station.  He tried to run,
+and for a short time fear winged his feet; but the ground was hard
+and rough, and his feet were tender; and though he believed that
+death and three devils were behind him, he could go but slowly.  A
+solitary eaglehawk sat on the top branch of a dead gum-tree, watching
+him with evil eyes; a chorus of laughing jackasses cackled after him
+in derision from a grove of young timber; a magpie, the joy of the
+morning, and most mirthful of birds, whistled for him sweet notes of
+hope and good cheer; then a number of carrion crows beheld him, and
+approached with their long-drawn, ill-omened "croank, croank," the
+most dismal note ever uttered by any living thing.  They murder sick
+sheep, and pick out the eyes of stray lambs.  They made short
+straggling flights, alighting on the ground in front of the miserable
+man, inspecting his condition, and calculating how soon he would be
+ready to be eaten.  They are impatient gluttons, and often begin
+tearing their prey before it is dead.
+
+Mr. Robinson clothed the naked, and then mounted his horse and went
+for the blacks.  In a short time he returned with them to the
+station, and made them disgorge the stolen property, all but the tea,
+sugar, mutton, and damper, which were not returnable.  He gave them
+some stirring advice with his stockwhip, and ordered them to start
+for a warmer climate.  He then directed Hyde to return to his sheep,
+and not let those blank blacks humbug him out of clothes any more.
+But nothing would induce the shepherd to remain another day; he
+forswore pastoral pursuits for the rest of his life.  His courage had
+been tried and found wanting; he had been covered--or, rather,
+uncovered--with disgrace; and his dignity--at least in Riverina
+--was gone for ever.  In other scenes, and under happier auspices,
+he might recover it, but on Robinson's station he would be subjected
+to the derision of the station hands as long as he stayed.
+
+How he lived for some time afterwards is unknown; but in 1853 he was
+a policeman at Bendigo diggings.  At that time any man able to carry
+a carbine was admitted into the force without question.  It was then
+the refuge of the penniless, of broken-down vagabonds, and unlucky
+diggers.  Lords and lags were equally welcomed without characters or
+references from their former employers, the Masters' and Servants'
+Act having become a dead letter.  Hyde entered the Government
+service, and had the good sense to stay there.  His military bearing
+and noble mien proclaimed him fit to be a leader of men, and soon
+secured his promotion.  He was made a sergeant, and in a few years
+was transferred to the Western District, far away, as he thought,
+from the scene of his early adventure.
+
+He lived for several years after meeting with and cutting his old
+employer, Robinson, and died at last of dyspepsia and peppermints,
+the disease and the remedy combined.
+
+
+
+WHITE SLAVES.
+
+Many men who had been prisoners of the Crown, or seamen, lived on the
+islands in Bass' Straits, as well as on islands in the Pacific Ocean,
+fishing, sealing, or hunting, and sometimes cultivating patches of
+ground.  The freedom of this kind of life was pleasing to those who
+had spent years under restraint in ships, in gaols, in chain-gangs,
+or as slaves to settlers in the bush, for the lot of the assigned
+servant was often worse than that of a slave, as he had to give his
+labour for nothing but food and clothing, and was liable to be
+flogged on any charge of disobedience, insolence, or insubordination
+which his master might choose to bring against him.  Moreover, the
+black slave might be sold for cash, for five hundred to a thousand
+dollars, according to the quality of the article and the state of the
+market, so that it was for the enlightened self-interest of the owner
+to keep him in saleable condition.  But the white slave was
+unsaleable, and his life of no account.  When he died another could
+be obtained for nothing from the cargo of the next convict ship.
+
+Some masters treated their men well according to their deserts; but
+with regard to others, the exercise of despotic authority drew forth
+all the evil passions of their souls, and made them callous to the
+sufferings of their servants.
+
+The daily fear of the lash produced in the prisoners a peculiar
+expression of countenance, and a cowed and slinking gait, which I
+have never seen in any other men, white or black.  And that gait and
+expression, like that of a dog crouching at the heels of a cruel
+master in fear of the whip, remained still after the prisoners had
+served the time of their sentences, and had recovered their freedom.
+They never smiled, and could never regain the feelings and bearing of
+free men; they appeared to feel on their faces the brand of Cain, by
+which they were known to all men, and the scars left on their backs
+by the cruel lash could never be smoothed away.  Whenever they met,
+even on a lonely bush track, a man who, by his appearance might be a
+magistrate or a Government officer, they raised a hand to the
+forehead in a humble salute by mere force of habit.  There were some,
+it is true, whose spirits were never completely broken--who fought
+against fate to the last, and became bushrangers or murderers; but
+sooner or later they were shot, or they were arrested and hanged.
+The gallows-tree on the virgin soil of Australia flourished and bore
+fruit in abundance.
+
+The trial of a convict charged with disobedience or insubordination
+was of summary jurisdiction.  Joe Kermode, a teamster, chanced to be
+present at one of these trials.  It was about ten o'clock in the
+morning when he saw near a house on the roadside a little knot of men
+at an open window.  He halted his team to see what was the matter,
+and found that a police magistrate, sitting inside a room, was
+holding a Court of Petty Sessions at the window.  It was an open
+court, to which the public were admitted according to law; a very
+open court, the roof of which was blue--the blue sky of a summer's
+morning.  A witness was giving evidence against an assigned servant,
+charged with some offence against his master.  His majesty, the
+magistrate, yawned--this kind of thing was tiresome.  Presently a
+lady came into the room, walked to the open window, clasped her hands
+together, and laid them affectionately on the shoulder of the court.
+After listening for a few moments to the evidence she became
+impatient, and said, "Oh, William, give him three dozen and come to
+breakfast."  So William gave the man three dozen and went to
+breakfast--with a good conscience; having performed the ordinary
+duty of the day extraordinarily well, he was on the high road to
+perfection.
+
+The sentence of the court was carried out by a scourger, sometimes
+called flagellator, or flogger. The office of scourger was usually
+held by a convict; it meant promotion in the Government service, and
+although there was some danger connected with it, there was always a
+sufficient number of candidates to fill vacancies.  In New South
+Wales the number of officers in the cat-o'-nine tails department was
+about thirty.  The danger attached to the office consisted in the
+certainty of the scourger being murdered by the scourgee, if ever the
+opportunity was given.
+
+Joe Kermode had once been a hutkeeper on a station.  The hut was
+erected about forty yards from the stockyard, to which the sheep were
+brought every evening, to protect them from attack by dingoes or
+blackfellows.  If the dingoes and blackfellows had been content with
+one sheep at a time to allay the pangs of hunger, they could not have
+been blamed very much; but after killing one they went on killing as
+many more as they could, and thus wasted much mutton to gratify their
+thirst for blood.
+
+Joe and the shepherd were each provided with a musket and bayonet for
+self-defence.
+
+The hut was built of slabs, and was divided by a partition into two
+rooms, and Joe always kept his musket ready loaded,  night and day,
+just inside the doorway of the inner room.  Two or three blacks would
+sometimes call, and ask for flour, sugar, tobacco, or a firestick.
+If they attempted to come inside the hut, Joe ordered them off,
+backing at the same time towards the inner door, and he always kept a
+sharp look-out for any movement they made; for they were very
+treacherous, and he knew they would take any chance they could get to
+kill him, for the sake of stealing the flour, sugar, and tobacco.
+Two of them once came inside the hut and refused to go out, until Joe
+seized his musket, and tickled them in the rear with his bayonet,
+under the "move on" clause in the Police Offences Statute.
+
+Early one morning there was a noise as of some disturbance in the
+stockyard, and Joe, on opening the door of his hut, saw several
+blacks spearing the sheep.  He seized his musket and shouted, warning
+them to go away.  One of them, who was sitting on the top rail with
+his back towards the hut, seemed to think that he was out of range of
+the musket, for he made most unseemly gestures, and yelled back at
+Joe in a defiant and contemptuous manner.  Joe's gun was charged with
+shot, and he fired and hit his mark, for the blackfellow dropped
+suddenly from the top rail, and ran away, putting his hands behind
+him, and trying to pick out the pellets.
+
+One day a white stockman came galloping on  his horse up to the door
+of the hut, his face, hands, shirt and trousers being smeared and
+saturated with blood.  Joe took him inside the hut, and found that he
+had two severe wounds on the left shoulder.  After the bleeding had
+been stanched and the wounds bandaged, the stranger related that as
+he was riding he met a blackfellow carrying a fire-stick.  He thought
+it was a good opportunity of lighting his pipe, lucifer matches being
+then unknown in the bush; so he dismounted, took out his knife, and
+began cutting tobacco.  The blackfellow asked for a fig of tobacco,
+and, after filling his pipe, the stockman gave him the remainder of
+the fig he had been cutting, and held out his hand for the firestick.
+The blackfellow seemed disappointed; very likely expecting to receive
+a whole fig of tobacco--and, instead of handing him the firestick
+he threw it on the ground.  At the first moment the stockman did not
+suspect any treachery, as he had seen no weapon in possession of the
+blackfellow.  He stooped to pick up the firestick; but just as he was
+touching it, he saw the black man's feet moving nearer, and becoming
+suddenly suspicious, he quickly moved his head to one side and stood
+upright.  At the same instant he received a blow from a tomahawk on
+his left shoulder.  This blow, intended for his head, was followed by
+another, which inflicted a second wound; but the stockman succeeded
+in grasping the wrist of his enemy.  Then began a wrestling match
+between the two men, the stakes two lives, no umpire, no timekeeper,
+no backers, and no bets.  The only spectator was the horse, whose
+bridle was hanging on the ground.  But he seemed to take no interest
+in the struggle, and continued  nibbling the grass until it was over.
+
+The black man, who had now dropped his rug, was as agile and nimble
+as a beast of prey, and exerted all his skill and strength to free
+his hand.  But the white man felt that to loose his hold would be to
+lose his life, and he held on to his grip of the blackfellow's wrist
+with desperate resolution.  The tomahawk fell to the ground, but just
+then neither of the men could spare a hand to pick it up.  At length,
+by superior strength, the stockman brought his enemy to the ground.
+He then grasped the thick, matted hair with one hand, and thus
+holding the black's head close to the ground, he reached with the
+other hand for the tomahawk, and with one fierce blow buried the
+blade in the savage's brain.  Even then he did not feel quite sure of
+his safety.  He had an idea that it was very difficult to kill
+blackfellows outright, that theywere like American 'possums, and were
+apt to come to life again after they had been killed, and ought to be
+dead.  So to finish his work well, he hacked at the neck with the
+tomahawk until he had severed the head completely from the body; then
+taking the head by the hair, he threw it as far as he could to the
+other side of the track.  By this time he began to feel faint from
+loss of blood, so he mounted his horse and galloped to Joe Kermode's
+hut.
+
+When Joe had performed his duties of a good Samaritan to the stranger
+he mounted his horse, and rode to the field of battle.  He found the
+headless body of the black man, the head at the other side of the
+track, the tomahawk, the piece of tobacco, the rug, and the
+firestick.  Joe and the shepherd buried the body; the white man
+survived.
+
+
+
+THE GOVERNMENT STROKE.
+
+"The Government Stroke" is a term often used in the colonies, and
+indicates a lazy and inefficient manner of performing any kind of
+labour.  It originated with the convicts.  When a man is forced to
+work through fear of the lash, and receives no wages, it is quite
+natural and reasonable that he should exert himself as little as
+possible.  If you were to reason with him, and urge him to work
+harder at, for instance, breaking road metal, in order that the
+public might have good roads to travel on, and show him what a great
+satisfaction it should be to know that his labours would confer a
+lasting benefit on his fellow creatures; that, though it might appear
+a little hard on him individually, he should raise his thoughts to a
+higher level, and labour for the good of humanity in general, he
+would very likely say, "Do you take me for a fool?"  But if you gave
+him three dozen lashes for his laziness he will see, or at least
+feel, that your argument has some force in it.  As a matter of fact
+men work for some present or future benefit for themselves.  The
+saint who sells all he has to give to the poor, does so with the hope
+of obtaining a reward exceedingly great in the life to come.  And
+even if there were no life to come, his present life is happier far
+than that of the man who grabs at all the wealth he can get until he
+drops into the grave.  The man who works "all for love and nothing
+for reward" is a being incomprehensible to us ordinary mortals; he is
+an angel, and if ever he was a candidate for a seat in Parliament he
+was not elected.  Even love--"which rules the court, the camp, the
+grove"--is given only with the hope of a return of love; for
+hopeless love is nothing but hopeless misery.
+
+I once hired an old convict as gardener at five shillings a day.  He
+began to work in the morning with a great show of diligence while I
+was looking on.  But on my return home in the evening it was
+wonderful to find how little work he had contrived to get through
+during the day; so I began to watch him.  His systematic way of doing
+nothing would have been very amusing if it cost nothing.  He pressed
+his spade into the ground with his boot as slowly as possible, lifted
+the sod very gently, and turned it over.  Then he straightened his
+back, looked at the ground to the right, then to the left, then in
+front of him, and then cast his eyes along the garden fence.  Having
+satisfied himself that nothing particular was happening anywhere
+within view, he gazed awhile at the sod he had turned over, and then
+shaved the top off with his spade.  Having straightened his back once
+more, he began a survey of the superficial area of the next sod, and
+at length proceeded to cut it in the same deliberate manner,
+performing the same succeeding ceremonies.  If he saw me, or heard me
+approaching, he became at once very alert and diligent until I spoke
+to him, then he stopped work at once.  It was quite impossible for
+him both to labour and to listen; nobody can do two things well at
+the same time.  But his greatest relief was in talking;  he would
+talk with anybody all day long if possible, and do nothing else; his
+wages, of course, still running on.  There is very little talk worth
+paying for.  I would rather give some of my best friends a fee to be
+silent, than pay for anything they have to tell me.  My gardener was
+a most unprofitable servant; the only good I got out of him was a
+clear knowledge of what the Government stroke meant, and the
+knowledge was not worth the expense.  He was in other respects
+harmless and useless, and, although he had been transported for
+stealing, I could never find that he stole anything from me.  The
+disease of larceny seemed somehow to have been worked out of his
+system; though he used to describe with great pleasure how his
+misfortunes began by stealing wall-fruit when he was a boy; and
+although it was to him like the fruit
+
+"Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
+Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
+
+it was so sweet that, while telling me about it sixty years
+afterwards, he smiled and smacked his lips, renewing as it were the
+delight of its delicious taste.
+
+He always avoided, as much as possible, the danger of dying of hard
+work, so he is living yet, and is eighty-six years old.  Whenever I
+see him he gives me his blessing, and says he never worked for any
+man he liked so well.  A great philosopher says, in order to be happy
+it is necessary to be beloved, but in order to be beloved we must
+know how to please, and we can only please by ministering to the
+happiness of others.  I ministered to the old convict's happiness by
+letting him work so lazily, and so I was beloved and happy.
+
+He had formerly been an assigned servant to Mr. Gellibrand,
+Attorney-General of Tasmania, before that gentleman went with Mr.
+Hesse on that voyage to Australia Felix from which he never returned.
+Some portions of a skeleton were found on the banks of a river, which
+were supposed to belong to the lost explorer, and that river, and
+Mount Gellibrand, on which he and Hesse parted company, were named
+after him.
+
+There was a blackfellow living for many years afterwards in the Colac
+district who was said to have killed and eaten the lost white man;
+the first settlers therefore call him Gellibrand, as they considered
+he had made out a good claim to the name by devouring the flesh.
+This blackfellow's face was made up of hollows and protuberances ugly
+beyond all aboriginal ugliness.  I was present at an interview
+between him and senior-constable Hooley, who nearly rivalled the
+savage in lack of beauty.  Hooley had been a soldier in the Fifth
+Fusiliers, and had been convicted of the crime of manslaughter,
+having killed a coloured man near Port Louis, in the Mauritius.  He
+was sentenced to penal servitude for the offence, and had passed two
+years of his time in Tasmania.  This incident had produced in his
+mind an interest in blackfellows generally, and on seeing Gellibrand
+outside the Colac courthouse, he walked up to him, and looked him
+steadily in the face, without saying a word or moving a muscle of his
+countenance.  I never saw a more lovely pair.  The black fellow
+returned the gaze unflinchingly, his deep-set eyes fixed fiercely on
+those of the Irishman, his nostrils dilated, and his frowning
+forehead wrinkled and hard, as if cast in iron.  The two men looked
+like two wild beasts preparing for a deadly fight.  At length, Hooley
+moved his face nearer to that of the savage, until their noses almost
+met, and between his teeth he slowly ejaculated:  "You eat white man?
+You eat me?  Eh?"  Then the deep frown on Gellibrand's face began
+slowly to relax, his thick lips parted by degrees, and displayed,
+ready for business, his sharp and shining teeth, white as snow and
+hard as steel.  A smile, which might be likened to that of a humorous
+tiger, spread over his spacious features, and so the interview ended
+without a fight.  I was very much disappointed, as I hoped the two
+man-slayers were going to eat each other for the public good, and I
+was ready to back both of them without fear, favour, or affection.
+
+There is no doubt that the blacks ate human flesh, not as an article
+of regular diet, but occasionally, when the fortune of war, or
+accident, favoured them with a supply.  When Mr. Hugh Murray set out
+from Geelong to look for country to the westward, he took with him
+several natives belonging to the Barrabool tribe.  When they arrived
+near Lake Colac they found the banks of the Barongarook Creek covered
+with scrub, and on approaching the spot where the bridge now spans
+the watercourse, they saw a blackfellow with his lubra and a little
+boy, running towards the scrub.  The Barrabool blacks gave chase, and
+the little boy was caught by one of them before he could find
+shelter, and was instantly killed with a club.  That night the
+picaninny was roasted at the camp fire, and eaten.
+
+And yet these blacks had human feelings and affections.  I once saw a
+tribe travelling from one part of the district to another in search
+of food, as was their custom.  One of the men was dying of
+consumption, and was too weak to follow the rest.  He looked like a
+living skeleton, but he was not left behind to die.  He was sitting
+on the shoulders of his brother, his hands grasping for support the
+hair on the head, and his wasted legs dangling in front of the
+other's ribs.  These people were sometimes hunted as if they were
+wolves, but two brother wolves would not have been so kind to each
+other.
+
+Before the white men came the blacks never buried their dead; they
+had no spades and could not dig graves.  Sometimes their dead were
+dropped into the hollow trunks of trees, and sometimes they were
+burned.  There was once a knoll on the banks of the Barongarook
+Creek, below the court-house, the soil of which looked black and
+rich.  When I was trenching the ground near my house for vines and
+fruit trees, making another garden of paradise in lieu of the one I
+had lost, I obtained cart loads of bones from the slaughter yards and
+other places, and placed them in trenches; and in order to fertilize
+one corner of the garden, I spread over it several loads of the
+rich-looking black loam taken from the knoll near the creek.  After a
+few years the vines and trees yielded great quantities of grapes and
+fruit, and I made wine from my vineyard.  But the land on which I had
+spread the black loam was almost barren, and yet I had seen fragments
+of bones mixed with it, and amongst them a lower jaw with perfect
+teeth, most likely the jaw of a young lubra.  On mentioning the
+circumstance to one of the early settlers, he said my loam had been
+taken from the spot on which the blacks used to burn their dead.
+Soon after he arrived at Colac he saw there a solitary blackfellow
+crouching before a fire in which bones were visible.  So, pointing to
+them, he asked what was in the fire, and the blackfellow replied with
+one word "lubra."  He was consuming the remains of his dead wife, and
+large tears were coursing down his cheeks.  Day and night he sat
+there until the bones had been nearly all burned and covered with
+ashes.  This accounted for the fragments of bones in my black loam;
+why it was not fertile, I know, but I don't know how to express the
+reason well.
+
+While the trenching of my vineyard was going on, Billy Nicholls
+looked over the fence, and gave his opinion about it.  He held his
+pipe between his thumb and forefinger, and stopped smoking in stupid
+astonishment.  He said--"That ground is ruined, never will grow
+nothing no more; all the good soil is buried;  nothing but gravel and
+stuff on top; born fool."
+
+Old Billy was a bullock driver, my neighbour and enemy, and lived,
+with his numerous progeny, in a hut in the paddock next to mine.  In
+the rainy seasons the water flowed through my ground on to his, and
+he had dug a drain which led the water past his hut, instead of
+allowing it to go by the natural fall across his paddock.  The floods
+washed his drain into a deep gully near his hut, which was sometimes
+nearly surrounded with the roaring waters.  He then tried to dam the
+water back on to my ground, but I made a gap in his dam with a
+long-handled shovel, and let the flood go through.  Nature and the
+shovel were too much for Billy.  He came out of his hut, and stood
+watching the torrent, holding his dirty old pipe a few inches from
+his mouth, and uttered a loud soliloquy:--"Here I am--on a
+miserable island--fenced in with water--going to be washed away
+--by that Lord Donahoo, son of a barber's clerk--wants to drown me
+and my kids--don't he--I'll break his head wi' a paling--blowed
+if I don't."  He then put his pipe in his mouth, and gazed in silence
+on the rushing waters.
+
+I planted my ground with vines of fourteen different varieties, but,
+in a few years, finding that the climate was unsuitable for most of
+them, I reduced the number to about five.  These yielded an unfailing
+abundance of grapes every year, and as there was no profitable
+market, I made wine.  I pruned and disbudded the vines myself, and
+also crushed and pressed the grapes.  The digging and hoeing of the
+ground cost about 10 pounds each year.  When the wine had been in the
+casks about twelve months I bottled it; in two years more it was fit
+for consumption, and I was very proud of the article.  But I cannot
+boast that I ever made much profit out of it--that is, in cash--
+as I found that the public taste for wine required to be educated,
+and it took so long to do it that I had to drink most of the wine
+myself.  The best testimony to its excellence is the fact that I am
+still alive.
+
+The colonial taste for good liquor was spoiled from the very
+beginning, first by black strap and rum, condensed from the steam of
+hell, then by Old Tom and British brandy, fortified with tobacco--
+this liquor was the nectar with which the ambrosial station hands
+were lambed down by the publicans--and in these latter days by
+colonial beer, the washiest drink a nation was ever drenched with.
+the origin of bad beer dates from the repeal of the sugar duty in
+England; before that time beer was brewed from malt and hops, and
+that we had "jolly good ale and old," and sour pie.
+
+A great festival was impending at Colac, to consist of a regatta on
+the lake, the first we ever celebrated, and a picnic on its banks.
+All the people far and near invited themselves to the feast, from the
+most extensive of squatters to the oldest of old hands.  The
+blackfellows were there, too--what was left of them.  Billy Leura
+walked all the way from Camperdown, and on the day before the regatta
+came to my house with a couple of black ducks in his hand.  Sissy,
+six years old, was present; she inspected the blackfellow and the
+ducks, and listened.  Leura said he wanted to sell me the ducks, but
+not for money; he would take old clothes for them.  He was wearing
+nothing but a shirt and trousers, both badly out of repair, and was
+anxious to adorn his person with gay attire on the morrow.  So I
+traded off a pair of old cords and took the ducks.
+
+Next day we had two guests, a Miss Sheppard, from Geelong, and
+another lady, and as my house was near the lake, we did our
+picnicking inside.  We put on as much style as possible to suit the
+occasion, including, of course, my best native wine, and the two
+ducks roasted.  Sissy sat at the table next to Miss Sheppard, and
+felt it her duty to lead the conversation in the best society style.
+She said:
+
+"You see dose two ducks, Miss Sheppard?"
+
+"Yes, dear; very fine ones."
+
+"Well, papa bought 'em from a black man yesterday.  De man said dey
+was black ducks, but dey was'nt black, dey was brown.  De fedders are
+in de yard, and dey are brown fedders."
+
+"Yes, I know, dear; they call them black ducks, but they are brown--
+dark brown."
+
+"Well, you see, de blackfellow want to sell de ducks to papa, but
+papa has no money, so he went into de house and bring out a pair of
+his old lowsers, and de blackfellow give him de ducks for de lowsers,
+and dems de ducks you see."
+
+"Yes, dear; I see," said Miss Sheppard, blushing terribly.
+
+We all blushed.
+
+"You naughty girl," said mamma; "hold your tongue, or I'll send you
+to the kitchen."
+
+"But mamma, you know its quite true," said Sissy.  "Didn't I show you
+de black man just now, Miss Sheppard, when he was going to de lake?
+I said dere's de blackfellow, and he's got papa's lowsers on, didn't
+I now?"
+
+The times seemed prosperous with us, but it was only a deceptive
+gleam of sunshine before the coming storm of adversity.  I built an
+addition to my dwelling; and when it was completed I employed a
+paperhanger from London named Taylor, to beautify the old rooms.  He
+was of a talkative disposition; when he had nobody else to listen he
+talked to himself, and when he was tired of that he began singing.
+The weather was hot, and the heat, together with his talking and
+singing, made him thirsty; so one day he complained to me that his
+work was very dry.  I saw at once an opportunity of obtaining an
+independent and reliable judgment on the quality of my wine; so I
+went for a bottle, drew the cork, and offered him a tumblerful,
+telling him it was wine which I had made from my own grapes.  As
+Taylor was a native of London, the greatest city in the world, he
+must have had a wide experience in many things, was certain to know
+the difference between good and bad liquor, and I was anxious to
+obtain a favourable verdict on my Australian product.  He held up the
+glass to the light, and eyed the contents critically; then he tasted
+a small quantity, and paused awhile to feel the effect.  He then took
+another taste, and remarked, "It's sourish."  He put the tumbler to
+his mouth a third time, and emptied it quickly.  Then he placed one
+hand on his stomach, said "Oh, my," and ran away to the water tap
+outside to rinse his mouth and get rid of the unpleasant flavour.
+His verdict was adverse, and very unflattering.
+
+Next day, while I was inspecting his work, he gave me to understand
+that he felt dry again.  I asked him what he would like, a drink of
+water or a cup of tea?  He said, "Well, I think I'll just try another
+glass of that wine of yours."  He seemed very irrational in the
+matter of drink, but I fetched another bottle.  This time he emptied
+the first tumbler without hesitation, regardless of consequences.  He
+puckered his lips and curled his nose, and said it was rather
+sourish; but in hot weather it was not so bad as cold water, and was
+safer for the stomach.  He then drew the back of his hand across his
+mouth, looked at the paper which he had been putting on the wall, and
+said, "I don't like that pattern a bit; too many crosses on it."
+
+"Indeed," I said, "I never observed the crosses before, but I don't
+see any harm in them.  Why don't you like them?"
+
+"Oh, it looks too like the Catholics, don't you see?  too popish.  I
+hate them crosses."
+
+"Really," I replied.  "I am sorry to hear that.  I am a Catholic myself."
+
+"Oh, lor!  Are you, indeed?  I always thought you were a Scotchman."
+
+Taylor finished that bottle of wine during the afternoon, and next
+day he wanted another.  He wanted more every day, until he rose to be
+a three-bottle man.  He became reconciled to the crosses on the
+wall-paper, forgave me for not being a Scotchman, and I believe the
+run of my cellar would have made him a sincere convert to popery--
+as long as the wine lasted.
+
+Soon after this memorable incident, the Minister and Secretary made
+an official pleasure excursion through the Western District.  They
+visited the court and inspected it, and me, and the books, and the
+furniture.  They found everything correct, and were afterwards so
+sociable that I expected they would, on returning to Melbourne,
+speedily promote me, probably to the Bench.  But they forgot me, and
+promoted themselves instead.  I have seen them since sitting nearly
+as high as Haman in those expensive Law courts in Lonsdale Street,
+while I was a despicable jury-man serving the Crown for ten shillings
+a day.  That is the way of this world; the wicked are well-paid and
+exalted, while the virtuous are ill-paid and trodden down.  At a
+week's notice I was ordered to leave my Garden of Eden, and I let it
+to a tenant, the very child of the Evil One.  He pruned the vines
+with goats and fed his cattle on the fruit trees.  Then he wrote to
+inquire why the vines bore no grapes and the fruit trees no fruit,
+and wanted me to lower the rent, to repair the vineyard and the
+house, and to move the front gate to the corner of the fence.  That
+man deserved nothing but death, and he died.
+
+In the summer of 1853, the last survivor of the Barrabool tribe came
+to Colac, and joined the remnant of the Colac blacks, but one night
+he was killed by them at their camp, near the site of the present
+hospital.  A shallow hole was dug about forty or fifty yards from the
+south-east corner of the allotment on which the Presbyterian manse
+was built, and the Colac tribe buried his body there, and stuck
+branches of trees around his grave.  About six months afterwards a
+Government officer, the head of a department, arrived at Colac, and I
+rode with him about the township and neighbouring country showing him
+the antiquities and the monuments, among others the mausoleum of the
+last of the Barrabools.  The leaves had by this time fallen from the
+dead branches around the sepulchre, and the small twigs on them were
+decaying.  The cattle and goats would soon tread them down and
+scatter them, and the very site of the grave would soon be unknown.
+
+The officer was a man of culture and of scientific tendencies, and he
+asked me to dig up the skull of the murdered blackfellow, and sent it
+to his address in Melbourne.  He was desirous of exercising his
+culture on it, and wished to ascertain whether the skull was
+bracchy-cephalous, dolichophalous, or polycephalous.  I think that
+was the way he expressed it.  I said there was very likely a hole in
+it, and it would be spoiled; but he said the hole would make no
+difference.  I would do almost anything for science and money, but he
+did not offer me any, and I did not think a six months' mummy was old
+enough to steal; it was too fresh.  If that scientist would borrow a
+spade and dig up the corpse himself, I would go away to a sufficient
+distance and close my eyes and nose until he had deposited the relic
+in his carpet bag.  But I was too conscientious to be accessory to
+the crime of body-snatching, and he had not courage enough to do the
+foul deed.  That land is now fenced in, and people dwell there.  The
+bones of the last of the Barrabools still rest under somebody's
+house, or fertilise a few feet of a garden plot.
+
+
+ON THE NINETY-MILE.
+
+A HOME BY A REMOTER SEA.
+
+The Ninety-Mile, washed by the Pacific, is the sea shore of
+Gippsland.  It has been formed by the mills of two oceans, which for
+countless ages have been slowly grinding into meal the rocks on the
+southern coast of Australia; and every swirling tide and howling gale
+has helped to build up the beach.  The hot winds of summer scorch the
+dry sand, and spin it into smooth, conical hills.  Amongst these, low
+shrubs with grey-green leaves take root, and thrive and flourish
+under the salt sea spray where other trees would die.  Strange
+plants, with pulpy leaves and brilliant flowers, send forth long
+green lines, having no visible beginning or end, which cling to the
+sand and weave over it a network of vegetation, binding together the
+billowy dunes.
+
+The beach is broken in places by narrow channels, through which the
+tide rushes, and wanders in many currents among low mudbanks studded
+with shellfish--the feeding grounds of ducks, and gulls, and swans;
+and around a thousand islands whose soil has been woven together by
+the roots of the spiky mangrove, or stunted tea-tree.  Upon the muddy
+flats, scarcely above the level of the water, the black swans build
+their great circular nests, with long grass and roots compacted with
+slime.  Salt marshes and swamps, dotted with bunches of rough grass,
+stretch away behind the hummocks.  Here, towards the end of the
+summer, the blacks used to reap their harvest of fat eels, which they
+drew forth from the soft mud under the roots of the tussocks.
+
+The country between the sea and the mountains was the
+happy-hunting-ground of the natives before the arrival of the
+ill-omened white-fellow.  The inlets teemed with flathead, mullet,
+perch, schnapper, oysters, and sharks, and also with innumerable
+water-fowl.  The rivers yielded eels and blackfish.  The sandy shores
+of the islands were honey-combed with the holes in which millions of
+mutton-birds deposited their eggs in the last days of November in
+each year.  Along many tracks in the scrub the black wallabiesand
+paddy-melons hopped low.  In the open glades among the great
+gum-trees marched the stately emu, and tall kangaroos, seven feet
+high, stood erect on their monstrous hind-legs, their little
+fore-paws hanging in front, and their small faces looking as innocent
+as sheep.
+
+Every hollow gum-tree harboured two or more fat opossums, which, when
+roasted, made a rich and savoury meal.  Parrots of the most brilliant
+plumage, like winged flowers, flew in flocks from tree to tree, so
+tame that you could kill them with a stick, and so beautiful that it
+seemed a sin to destroy them.  Black cockatoos, screaming harshly the
+while, tore long strips of bark from the messmate, searching for the
+savoury grub.  Bronzed-winged pigeons, gleaming in the sun, rose from
+the scrub, and flocks of white cockatoos, perched high on the bare
+limbs of the dead trees, seemed to have made them burst into
+miraculous bloom like Aaron's rod.
+
+The great white pelican stood on one leg on a sand-bank, gazing along
+its huge beak at the receding tide, hour after hour, solemn and
+solitary, meditating on the mysteries of Nature.
+
+But on the mountains both birds and beasts were scarce, as many a
+famishing white man has found to his sorrow.  In the heat of summer
+the sea-breeze grows faint, and dies before it reaches the ranges.
+Long ropes of bark, curled with the hot sun, hang motionless from the
+black-butts and blue gums; a few birds may be seen sitting on the
+limbs of the trees, with their wings extended, their beaks open,
+panting for breath, unable to utter a sound from their parched
+throats.
+
+"When all food fails then welcome haws" is a saying that does not
+apply to Australia, which yields no haws or fruit of any kind that
+can long sustain life.  A starving man may try to allay the pangs of
+hunger with the wild raspberries, or with the cherries which wear
+their seeds outside, but the longer he eats them, the more hungry he
+grows.  One resource of the lost white man, if he has a gun and
+ammunition, is the native bear, sometimes called monkey bear.  Its
+flesh is strong and muscular, and its eucalyptic odour is stronger
+still.  A dog will eat opossum with pleasure, but he must be very
+hungry before he will eat bear; and how lost to all delicacy of
+taste, and sense of refinement, must the epicure be who will make the
+attempt!  The last quadruped on which a meal can be made is the
+dingo, and the last winged creature is the owl, whose scanty flesh is
+viler even than that of the hawk or carrion crow, and yet a white man
+has partaken of all these and survived.  Some men have tried roasted
+snake, but I never heard of anyone who could keep it on his stomach.
+The blacks, with their keen scent, knew when a snake was near by the
+odour it emitted, but they avoided the reptile whether alive or dead.
+
+Before any white man had made his abode in Gippsland, a schooner
+sailed from Sydney chartered by a new settler who had taken up a
+station in the Port Phillip district.  His wife and family were on
+board, and he had shipped a large quantity of stores, suitable for
+commencing life in a new land.  It was afterwards remembered that the
+deck of the vessel was encumbered with cargo of various kinds,
+including a bullock dray, and that the deck hamper would unfit her to
+encounter bad weather.  As she did not arrive at Port Phillip within
+a reasonable time, a cutter was sent along the coast in search of
+her; and her long boat was found ashore near the Lakes Entrance, but
+nothing else belonging to her was ever seen.
+
+When the report arose in 1843 that a white woman had been seen with
+the blacks, it was supposed that she was one of the passengers of the
+missing schooner, and parties of horsemen went out to search for her
+among the natives, but the only white woman ever found was a wooden
+one--the figure-head of a ship.
+
+Some time afterwards, when Gippsland had been settled by white men, a
+tree was discovered on Woodside station near the beach, in the bark
+of which letters had been cut, and it was said they would correspond
+with the initials of the names of some of the passengers and crew of
+the lost schooner, and by their appearance they must have been carved
+many years previously.  This tree was cut down, and the part of the
+trunk containing the letters was sawn off and sent to Melbourne.
+There is little doubt that the letters on the tree had been cut by
+one of the survivors of that ill-fated schooner, who had landed in
+the long boat near the Lakes, and had made their way along the
+Ninety-Mile beach to Woodside.  They were far from the usual track of
+coasting vessels, and had little chance of attracting attention by
+signals or fires.  Even if they had plenty of food, it was impossible
+for them to travel in safety through that unknown country to Port
+Phillip, crossing the inlets, creeks, and swamps, in daily danger of
+losing their lives by the spears of the wild natives.  They must have
+wandered along the ninety-mile as far as they could go, and then,
+weary and worn out for want of food, reluctant to die the death of
+the unhonoured dead, one of them had carved the letters on the tree,
+as a last despairing message to their friends, before they were
+killed by the savages, or succumbed to starvation.
+
+"For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
+This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned,
+Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
+Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?"
+
+
+GIPPSLAND PIONEERS.
+
+AT THE OLD PORT.
+
+Most of them were Highlanders, and the news of the discovery of
+Gippsland must often have been imparted in Gaelic, for many of the
+children of the mist could speak no English when they landed.
+
+Year after year settlers had advanced farther from Sydney along the
+coastal ranges, until stations were occupied to the westward of
+Twofold Bay.  In that rugged country, where no wheeled vehicle could
+travel, bullocks were trained to carry produce to the bay, and to
+bring back stores imported from Sydney.  Each train was in charge of
+a white man, with several native drivers.  But rumours of better
+lands towards the south were rife, and Captain Macalister, of the
+border police, equipped a party of men under McMillan to go in search
+of them.  Armed and provisioned, they journeyed over the mountains,
+under the guidance of the faithful native Friday, and at length from
+the top of a new Mount Pisgah beheld a fair land, watered throughout
+as the Paradise of the Lord.  Descending into the plains, McMillan
+selected a site for a station, left some of his men to build huts and
+stockyards, and returned to report his discovery to Macalister.
+
+Slabs were split with which walls were erected, but before a roof was
+put on them the blacks suddenly appeared and began to throw their
+spears at the intruders; one spear of seasoned hardwood actually
+penetrated through a slab.  The men, all but one, who shall be
+nameless, seized their guns and fired at the blacks, who soon
+disappeared.  The white men also disappeared over the mountains; the
+rout was mutual.
+
+But the country was too good to be occupied solely by savages, and
+when McMillan returned with reinforcements he made some arrangements,
+the exact particulars of which he would never disclose.  He brought
+cattle to his run, and they quickly grew fat; but civilised man does
+not live by fat cattle alone, and a market had to be sought.  Twofold
+Bay was too far away, and young Melbourne was somewhere beyond
+impassable mountains.  McMillan built a small boat, which he launched
+on the river, and pulled down to the lakes in search of an outlet.
+He found it, but the current was so strong that it carried him out to
+sea.  He had to land on the outer beach, and to drag his boat back
+over the sands to the inner waters.
+
+He next rode westward with his man Friday to look for a port at
+Corner Inlet, and he blazed a track to the Albert River.  Friday was
+an inland black.  He gazed at the river, which was flowing towards
+the mountains, and said:
+
+"What for stupid yallock* yan along a bulga**?"
+
+[* Footnote: *Yallock, river. **Bulga, mountain.]
+
+McMillan tried to explain the theory of the tides.
+
+"One big yallock down there push him along, come back by-and-by."
+And Friday saw the water come back by-and-by.
+
+They reached the mouth of the river on February 1st, 1841, saw a
+broad expense of salt water, and McMillan concluded that he had found
+a port for Gippsland.
+
+Ten months afterwards Jack Shay arrived at the port.  He had first
+come to Twofold Bay from Van Diemen's Land, and nothing was known
+about his former life.  "That's nothing to nobody," he said.  He was
+a bushman, rough and weather-beaten, with only one peculiarity.  The
+quart pot which he slung to his belt would hold half a gallon of tea,
+while other pots only held a quart, and that was the reason why he
+was known all the way from Monaroo to Adelaide as "Jack of the Quart
+Pot."
+
+He had arrived rather late on the previous evening, and this morning,
+as he sat on a log contemplating the scenery, his first conclusion
+was that the port was not flourishing.  There was  not a ship within
+sight.  The mouth of the Albert River was visible on his right, and
+the inlet was spread out before him shining in the morning sun.
+About a mile away on the western shore was One Tree Hill.  Towards
+the south were mud banks and mangrove islands, through which the
+channel zigzagged like a figure of eight, and then the view was
+closed by the scrub on Sunday Island.  There was a boat at anchor in
+the channel about a mile distant, in which two men were fishing for
+their breakfast, for there was famine in the settlement, and the few
+pioneers left in it were kept alive on a diet of roast flathead.  On
+the beach three boats were drawn up out of reach of the tide, and
+looking behind him Jack counted twelve huts and one store of
+wattle-and-dab.  The store had been built to hold the goods of the
+Port Albert Company.  It was in charge of John Campbell, and
+contained a quantity of axes, tomahawks, saddles and bridles, a
+grindstone, some shot and powder, two double-barrelled guns, nails
+and hammers, and a few other articles, but there was nothing eatable
+to be seen in it.  If there was any flour, tea, or sugar left, it was
+carefully concealed from any of the famishing settlers who might by
+chance peep in at the door.  Outside the hut was a nine-pounder gun
+on wheels, which had been landed by the company for use in time of
+war; but until this day there had been no hostilities between the
+natives and the settlers.  From time to time numbers of black faces
+had been seen among the scrub, but so far no spear had been thrown
+nor hostile gun fired.  The members of the company were Turnbull,
+McLeod, Rankin, Brodribb, Hornden, and Orr.  Soon after they landed
+they cleared a semi-circular piece of ground behind their tents, to
+prevent the blacks from sneaking up to them unseen.  Near the beach
+stood two she-oak trees, marked, one with the letters M. M., 1 Feb.,
+1841, the other 2 Mar., 1841, and the initials of the members of the
+Port Albert Company.  Behind the huts three hobbled horses were
+feeding, two of which had been brought by Jack Shay.  A gaunt
+deerhound, with a shaggy coat, lame and lean, was lying in the sun.
+There was also an old cart in front of one of the huts, out of which
+two boys came and began to gather wood and to kindle a fire.  They
+were ragged and hungry, and looked shyly at Jack Shay.  One was Bill
+Clancy, and the other had been printer's devil to Hardy, of the
+'Gazette', and was therefore known as Dick the Devil.  They had been
+picked up in Melbourne by Captain Davy, who had brought them to Port
+Albert in his whaleboat.  Their ambition had been for "a life on the
+ocean wave, and a home on the rolling deep," as  heroic young
+pirates; but at present they lived on shore, and their home was
+George Scutt's old cart.
+
+A man emerged from one of the huts carrying a candle-box, which he
+laid on the ground before the fire.  Jack observed that the box was
+full of eggs, on the top of which lay two teaspoons.  The man was
+Captain David, usually known as Davy.  He said:
+
+"I am going to ask you to breakfast, Jack; but you have been a long
+time coming, and provisions are scarce in these parts."
+
+"Don't you make no trouble whatsomever about me," said Jack.  "Many's
+the time I've hadshort rations, and I can take pot-luck with any man."
+
+"You'll find pot-luck here is but poor luck," replied Davy.  "I've
+got neither grub nor grog, no meat, no flour, no tea, no sugar--
+nothing but eggs; but, thank God, I've got plenty of them.  There are
+five more boxes full of them in my hut, so we may as well set to at
+once."
+
+Davy drew some hot ashes from the fire, and thrust the eggs into
+them, one by one.  When they were sufficiently cooked, he handed one
+and a teaspoon to Jack and took another himself, saying, "We shall
+have to eat them just as they are; there is plenty of salt water, but
+I haven't even a pinch of salt."
+
+"Why, Davy, there's plenty of salt right before your face.  Did you
+never try ashes?  Mix a spoonful with your egg this way, and you'll
+find you don't want no better salt."
+
+"Right you are, Jack; it goes down grand," said Davy, after seasoning
+and eating one egg.  Then to the boys, "Here you kids, take some eggs
+and roast 'em and salt 'em with ashes, and then take your sticks and
+try if you can knock down a few parrots or wattle birds for dinner.
+But don't you go far from the camp, and keep a sharp look-out for the
+blacks; for you can never trust 'em, and they might poke their spears
+through you."
+
+"But, Davy," asked Jack, "where is the port and the shipping, and
+where are all the settlers?  There don't seem to be many people
+stirring about here this morning."
+
+"Port and shipping be blessed," said Davy; "and as for the settlers,
+there are only about half-a-dozen left, with these two boys and my
+wife, and Hannah Scutt.  We don't keep no regular watch, and
+meal-times is of little use unless there's something to eat. I landed
+here from that whale-boat on the 30th of last May, and I have been
+waiting for you ever since.  In a few weeks we had about a hundred
+and fifty people camped here.  They came mostly in cutters from
+Melbourne, looking for work or looking for runs.  They said men were
+working for half-a-crown a day without rations on the road between
+Liardet's beach and the town.  But there was no work for them here;
+and, as their provisions soon ran short, they had to go away or
+starve.  I stopped here, and have been starving most of the time.
+Some went back in the cutters and some overland.
+
+"Brodribb and Hobson came here over the mountains with four Port
+Phillip blacks, and they decided to look for a better way by the
+coast.  I landed them and their four blacks at the head of Corner
+Inlet.  They were attacked by the Western Port blacks near the River
+Tarwin, but they frightened them away by firing their guns.  The four
+Port Phillip blacks who were carrying the ammunition and provisions
+ran away too; and the two white men had nothing to eat for two or
+three days until they made Massey and Anderson's station on the Bass,
+where they found their runaway blacks.
+
+"William Pearson and his party were the next who left the Port.  They
+took the road over the mountains, and lived on monkey bears until
+they reached Massey and Anderson's.
+
+"McClure, Scott, Montgomery, and several other men started next.
+They had very little of their provisions left when I landed them one
+morning at One Tree Hill there over the water.  They were fourteen
+days tramping over the mountains, and were so starved that they ate
+their own dogs.  They came back in a schooner, but I think some of
+them will never get over that journey.  I tell you, Jack, it's hard
+to make a start in a new country with no money, no food, and no live
+stock, except Scott's old horse and that lame deerhound.  Poor Ossian
+was a good dog, and used to run down an old man kangaroo for us,
+until one of them gave him a terrible rip with his claw, and he has
+been lame ever since.  For eight weeks we were living on roast
+flat-head, and I grew tired of it, so on the 17th of last month I
+started down the inlet in my whaleboat, and went to Lady Bay to take
+in some firewood.  I knew the mutton-birds would be coming to the
+islands on the 23rd or 24th, but I landed on one of them on the 19th,
+four or five days too soon, and began to look for something to eat.  There
+were some pig-faces, but they were only in flower, no fruit on 'em.
+I could find nothing but penguin's eggs and I put some of those in a
+pot over the fire.  But they would never get hard if I boiled them
+all day.  There is something oily inside of them, and how it gets
+there I never could tell.  You might as well try to live on rancid
+butter and nothing else. However, on November 23rd the mutton-birds
+began to come in thousands, and then I was soon living in clover.  I
+had any quantity of hard-boiled eggs and roast fowl, for I could
+knock down the birds with a stick.
+
+"But, Jack, what have you been doing since I met you the year before
+last?  You had a train of pack bullocks and a mob of cattle, looking
+for a run about Mount Buninyong.  Did you start a station there for
+Imlay?"
+
+"No, I didn't.  I found a piece of good country, but Pettit and the
+Coghills hunted me out of it, so Imlay sold the cattle, and went back
+to Twofold Bay.  Then Charles Lynot offered me a job.  He was taking
+a mob of cattle to Adelaide, but he heard there was no price for them
+there, so he took up a station at the Pyrenees, seventeen miles
+beyond Parson Irvine's run at the Amphitheatre.  I was there about
+twelve months.  My hut was not far from a deep waterhole, and the
+milking yard was about two hundred yards from the hut.  The wild
+blacks were very troublesome; they killed three white men at
+Murdering Creek, and me and Francis, Clarke's manager, hunted them
+off the station two or three times.  The blacks were more afraid of
+Francis than of anybody else, as besides his gun he always carried
+pistols, and they never could tell how many he had in his pockets.
+Cockatoo Bill's tribe drove away a lot of Parson Irvine's sheep, and
+broke a leg of each sheep to keep them from going back.  The Parson
+and Francis went after them, and one of our stockmen named Walker,
+and another, a big fellow whose name I forget.  They shot some of the
+blacks, but the sheep were spoiled.
+
+"There was a tame blackfellow we called Alick, and two gins, living
+about our station, and he had a daughter we called picaninny
+Charlotte, ten or eleven years old, who was very quick and smart, and
+spoke English very well.  One morning, when I was in the milking
+yard, she came to me and said, 'You look out.  Cockatoo Bill got your
+axe under his rug--sitting among a lot of lubras.  Chop you down
+when you bring up milk in buckets.'
+
+"I had no gun with me, so I crept out of the yard, and sneaked
+through the scrub to get into the hut through the back door, keeping
+out of sight of Bill and the lubras, who were all sitting on the
+ground in front of the hut.  We had plenty of arms, and I always kept
+my double-barrelled gun loaded, and hanging over the fireplace.  I
+crept inside the hut, reached down for the gun, and peeped out of the
+front door, looking for Bill.  The lubras began yabbering, and in an
+instant Bill dropped his rug and the axe, leaped over the heads of
+the women, and was off like a deer.  I took a flying shot at him with
+both barrels.  His lubra went about afterwards among the stations
+complaining that Jack Quart Pot shot Cockatoo Bill, and Parker (the
+Government Protector) made enquiries about him.  I saw him coming
+towards my hut, and I said to piccaninny Charlotte, 'No talk, no
+English, no nothing;' and when Parker asked her if she knew anything
+about Cockatoo Bill she shammed stupid, and he couldn't get a word
+out of her.  Who is that cove with the spyglass?"
+
+"That's John Campbell, the company's storeman.  He is looking for a
+schooner every day.  He would have gone long ago like the rest, but
+he does not like to leave the stores behind.  Here, Mr. Campbell,
+wouldn't you like to take a roast egg or two for breakfast?  There's
+plenty for the whole camp."
+
+"I will, Davy, and thank you.  Who are the men in the boat down the
+channel?"
+
+"They are George Scutt and Pately Jim fishing for their breakfast.
+They were hungry, I reckon, and went away before I brought out the
+eggs, or they might have had a feed."
+
+While the men were roasting their eggs, their eyes wandered over
+everything within view, far and near.  On land and sea their lives had
+often depended on their watchfulness.  The sun was growing warm, and there
+was a quivering haze over the waters.  While glancing down the
+channel, Davy observed some dark objects appearing near a mangrove
+island.  He pointed them out to Campbell, and said:
+
+"What kind of birds are they?  Do you think they are swans?"
+
+"I can't think what else they can be," said Campbell; "but they have
+not got the shape of birds, and they don't swim smoothly like swans,
+but go jerking along like big coots.  Take a look through the glass,
+Davy, and see if you can make them out."
+
+Davy took a long and steady look, and said:  "I am blowed if they
+ain't blackfellows in their canoes.  They are poleing them along
+towards the channel, one, two, three--there's a dozen of 'em or
+more.  I can see their long spears sticking out, and they are after
+some mischief.  The tide is on the ebb, and they are going to drop
+down with it, and spear those two men in the boat; and they are both
+landlubbers, and haven't even got a gun with them.  We must bear a
+hand and help them.  Get your guns and we'll launch the whaleboat."
+
+John Campbell steered, and Shay and Davy pulled as hard as they could
+towards the canoes, which were already drifting down with the
+current.  The two fishermen were busy with their lines, every now and
+then pulling out a fish and baiting their hooks with a fresh piece of
+shark.  They never looked up the channel, nor guessed the danger that
+was every moment coming nearer, for the blacks as yet had not made
+the least noise.  At last Campbell saw several of them seizing their
+spears and making ready to throw them, so he fired one of his
+barrels; and Davy stood up in the boat and gave a cooee that might
+have been heard at Sunday Island, for when anything excited him on
+the water he could be heard shouting and swearing at an incredible
+distance.  He yelled at the fishermen, "Boat ahoy!  up anchor, you
+lubbers, and scatter.  Don't you see the blacks after you?"
+
+The natives began paddling away as fast as they could towards the
+nearest land, and Davy and Shay pulled after them; but the blacks
+soon reached the shore, and, taking their spears, ran into the
+nearest scrub.  When the whaleboat grounded, there was not one of
+them to be seen.  Davy said:
+
+"They are watching us not far off.  You two keep a sharp look-out,
+and if you see a black face fire at it.  I am going to cut out the
+fleet."
+
+He rolled up his trousers, took a fishing line, waded out to the
+canoes, and tied them together, one behind another, leaving a little
+slack line between each of them.  He then fastened one end of the
+line to the whaleboat, shoved off, and sprang inside.  The blacks
+came out of the scrub, yelling and brandishing their spears, a few of
+which they threw at the boat, but it was soon out of their reach.
+Thus a great naval victory had been gained, and the whole of the
+enemy's fleet captured without the loss of a man.  Nothing like it
+had been achieved since the days of the great Gulliver.
+
+The two fishermen had taken no part in the naval operations, and when
+the whaleboat returned with its train of canoes like the tail of a
+kite, Davy administered a sharp reprimand.
+
+"Why didn't you two lubbers keep your eyes skinned.  I suppose you
+were asleep, eh?  You ought to have up anchor and pulled away, and
+then the devils could never got near you.  Look here!" holding up a
+piece of bark, "that's all they've got to paddle with in deep water,
+and in the shallows they can only pole along with sticks."
+
+Pately Jim had been a prize runner in Yorkshire, and trifles never
+took away his breath.  He replied calmly:
+
+"Yo're o'reet, Davy.  We wor a bit sleepy, but we're quite wakken
+noo.  Keep yor shirt on, and we'll do better next time."
+
+When the canoes, which were built entirely with sheets of bark, were
+drawn up on the beach, nothing was found in them but a few sticks,
+bark paddles, and a gown--a lilac cotton gown.
+
+"That goon," said Campbell, "has belonged to some white woman thae
+deevils have murdered.  There is no settler nearer than Jamieson, and
+they maun ha brocht the goon a' the way frae the Bass."
+
+But Campbell was mistaken.  There had been another white woman in
+Gippsland.
+
+
+
+THE ISLE OF BLASTED HOPES.
+
+There is a large island where the Ninety-Mile Beach ends in a
+wilderness of roaring breakers.  It is the Isle of Blasted Hopes.
+Its enchanting landscape has allured many a landsman to his ruin, and
+its beacon, seen through the haze of a south-east gale, has guided
+many a watchful mariner to shipwreck and death.
+
+After the discovery of Gippsland, Pearson and Black first occupied
+the island under a grazing license, and they put eleven thousand
+sheep on it, with some horses, bullocks, and pigs.  The sheep began
+to die, so they sold them to Captain Cole at ten shillings a head,
+giving in the other stock.  They were of the opinion that they had
+made an excellent bargain, but when the muster was made nine thousand
+six hundred of the sheep were missing.  The pigs ran wild, but
+multiplied.  When the last sheep had perished, Cole sold his license
+to a man named Thomas, who put on more sheep, and afterwards
+exchanged as many as he could find with John King for cattle and
+horses.  Morrison next occupied the island until he was starved out.
+Then another man named Thomas took the fatal grazing license, but he
+did not live on the land.  He placed his brother in charge of it, to
+be out of the way of temptation, as he was too fond of liquor.  The
+brother was not allowed the use of a boat; he, with his wife and
+family, was virtually a prisoner, condemned to sobriety.  But by this
+time a lighthouse had been erected, and Watts the keeper of it had a
+boat, and was, moreover, fond of liquor.  The two men soon became
+firm friends, and often found it necessary to make voyages to Port
+Albert for flour, or tea, or sugar.  The last time they sailed
+together the barometer was low, and a gale was brewing.  When they
+left the wharf they had taken on board all the stores they required,
+and more; they were happy and glorious.  Next day the masthead of
+their boat was seen sticking out of the water near Sunday Island.
+The pilot schooner went down and hauled the boat to the surface, but
+nothing was found in her except the sand-ballast and a bottle of rum.
+Her sheet was made fast, and when the squall struck her she had gone
+down like a stone.  The Isle of Blasted Hopes was useless even as an
+asylum for inebriates.
+
+The 'Ecliptic' was carrying coals from Newcastle.  The time was
+midnight, the sky was misty, and the gale was from the south-east,
+when the watch reported a light ahead.  The cabin boy was standing on
+deck near the captain, when he held a consultation with his mate, who
+was also his son.  Father and son agreed; they said the light ahead
+was the one on Kent's Group, and then the vessel grounded amongst the
+breakers.  The seamen stripped off their heavy clothing, and went
+overboard; the captain and his son plunged in together and swam out
+of sight.  There were nine men in the water, while the cabin boy
+stood shivering on deck.  He, too, had thrown away his clothes, all
+but the wrist-bands of his shirt, which in his flurry he could not
+unbutton.  He could not make up his mind to jump overboard.  He heard
+the men in the water shouting to one another, "Make for the light."
+That course led them away from the nearest land, which they could not
+see.  At length a great sea swept the boy among the breakers, but his
+good angel pushed a piece of timber within reach, and he held on to
+it until he could feel the ground with his feet; he then let the
+timber go, and scrambled out of reach of the angry surge; but when he
+came to the dry sand he fainted and fell down.  When he recovered his
+senses he began to look for shelter; there was a signal station not
+far off, but he could not see it.  He went away from the pitiless sea
+through an opening between low conical hills, covered with dark
+scrub, over a pathway composed of drift sand and broken shells.  He
+found an old hut without a door. There was no one in it; he went
+inside, and lay down shivering.
+
+At daybreak a boy, the son of Ratcliff, the signal man, started out
+to look for his goats, and as they sometimes passed the  night in the
+old fowlhouse, he looked in for them.  But instead of the goats, he
+saw the naked cabin boy.  "Who are you?" he said, "and what are you
+doing here, and where did you come from?"
+
+"I have been shipwrecked," replied the cabin boy; and then he sat up
+and began to cry.
+
+Young Ratcliff ran off to tell his father what he had found; and the
+boy was brought to the cottage, put to bed, and supplied with food
+and drink.  The signal for a wreck was  hoisted at the flagstaff, but
+when the signallman went to look for a wreck he could not find one.
+He searched along the shore and found the dead body of the captain,
+and a piece of splintered spar seven or eight feet long, on which the
+cabin boy had come ashore.  The 'Ecliptic', with her cargo and crew,
+had completely disappeared, while the signalman, near at hand, slept
+peacefully, undisturbed by her crashing timbers, or the shouts of the
+drowning seamen.  Ratcliff was not a seer, and had  no mystical lore.
+He was a runaway sailor, who had, in the forties, travelled daily
+over the Egerton run, unconscious of the tons of gold beneath his
+feet.
+
+There was a fair wind and a smooth sea when the 'Clonmel' went ashore
+at three o'clock in the morning of the second day of January, 1841.
+Eighteen hours before she had taken a fresh departure from Ram's Head
+to Wilson's Promontory.  The anchors were let go, she swung to wind,
+and at the fall of the tide she bedded herself securely in the sand,
+her hull, machinery, and cargo uninjured.  The seventy-five
+passengers and crew were safely landed; sails, lumber, and provisions
+were taken ashore in the whaleboats and quarter-boats; tents were
+erected; the food supplies were stowed away under a capsized boat,
+and a guard set over them by Captain Tollervey.
+
+Next morning seven volunteers launched one of the whaleboats, boarded
+the steamer, took in provisions, made a lug out of a piece of canvas,
+hoisted the Union Jack to the mainmast upside down, and pulled safely
+away from the 'Clonmel' against a head wind.  They hoisted the lug
+and ran for one of the Seal Islands, where they found a snug little
+cove, ate a hearty meal, and rested for three hours.  They then
+pulled for the mainland, and reached Sealer's Cove about midnight,
+where they landed, cooked supper, and passed the rest of the night in
+the boat for fear of the blacks.
+
+Next morning three men went ashore for water and filled the breaker,
+when they saw three blacks coming down towards them; so they hurried
+on board, and the anchor was hauled up.
+
+As the wind was coming from the east, they had to pull for four hours
+before they weathered the southern point of the cove; they then
+hoisted sail and ran for Wilson's Promentory, which they rounded at
+ten o'clock a.m.  At eight o'clock in the evening they brought up in
+a small bay at the eastern extremity of Western Port, glad to get
+ashore and stretch their weary limbs.  After a night's refreshing
+repose on the sandy beach, they started at break of day, sailing
+along very fast with a strong and steady breeze from the east,
+although they were in danger of being swamped, as the sea broke over
+the boat repeatedly.  At two o'clock p.m. they were abreast of Port
+Philip Heads; but they found a strong ebb tide, with such a ripple
+and broken water that they did not consider it prudent to run over
+it.  They therefore put the boat's head to windward and waited for
+four hours, when they saw a cutter bearing down on them, which proved
+to be 'The Sisters', Captain Mulholland, who took the boat in tow and
+landed them at Williamstown at eleven o'clock p.m., sixty-three
+hours from the time they left the 'Clonmel'.
+
+Captain Lewis, the harbour master, went to rescue the crew and
+passengers and brought them all to Melbourne, together with the
+mails, which had been landed on the island since known by the name of
+the 'Clonmel'.
+
+For fifty-two years the black boilers of the 'Clonmel' have lain half
+buried in the sandspit, and they may still be seen among the breakers
+from the deck of every vessel sailing up the channel to Port Albert.
+
+The 'Clonmel', with  her valuable cargo, was sold in Sydney, and the
+purchaser, Mr. Grose, set about the business of making his fortune
+out of her.  He sent a party of wreckers who pitched their camps on
+Snake Island, where they had plenty of grass, scrub, and timber.  The
+work of taking out the cargo was continued under various captains for
+six years, and then Mr. Grose lost a schooner and was himself landed
+in the Court of Insolvency.
+
+While the pioneers at the Old Port were on the verge of starvation,
+the 'Clonmel' men were living in luxury.  They had all the blessings
+both of land and sea--corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, plum-duff,
+tea, sugar, coffee, wine, beer, spirits, and tobacco from the cargo
+of the 'Clonmel', and oysters without end from a neighbouring lagoon.
+They constructed a large square punt, which they filled with cargo
+daily, wind and weather permitting; at other times they rested from
+their labours, or roamed about the island shooting birds or hunting
+kangaroo.  They saw no other inhabitants, and believed that no black
+lucifer had as yet entered their island garden; but, though unseen,
+he was watching them and all their works.
+
+One morning the wreckers had gone to the wreck; a man named Kennedy
+was left in charge of the camp; Sambo, the black cook, was attending
+to his duties at the fire; and Mrs. Kennedy, the only lady of the
+party, was at the water hole washing clothes.  Her husband had left
+the camp with his gun in the hope of shooting some wattle birds,
+which were then fat with feeding on the sweet blossoms of the
+honeysuckle.  He was sitting on a log near the water-hole talking to
+his wife, who had just laid out to dry on the bushes three coloured
+shirts and a lilac dress.  She stood with her hands on  her hips,
+pensively contemplating the garments.  She had her troubles, and was
+turning them over in her mind, while her husband was thinking of
+something else quite different.  It is, I believe, a thing that often
+happens.
+
+"I am thinking, Flora," he said, "that this would be a grand island
+to live on--far better than Skye, because it has no rocks on it.  I
+would like to haf it for a station.  I could put sheep and cattle on
+it, and they could not go away nor be lifted, because there is deep
+water all round it; and we would haf plenty of beef, and mutton, and
+wool, and game, and fish, and oysters.  We could make a garden and
+haf plenty of kail, and potatoes, and apples."
+
+"It's all ferry well, Donald," she replied, "for you to be talking
+about sheep, and cattle, and apples; but I'd like to know wherefer we
+would be getting the money to buy the sheep and cattle?  And who
+would like to live here for efer a thousand miles from decent
+neebors?  And that's my best goon, and it's getting fery shabby; and
+wherefer I'm to get another goon in a country like this I'm thinking
+I don't know."
+
+Donald thought his wife was troubling herself about mere trifles, but
+before he had time to say so, a blackfellow snatched his gun from
+across his knees, another hit him on the head with a waddy, and a
+third did the same to Flora and the unfortunate couple lay senseless
+on the ground.  Their hopes and troubles had come to a sudden end.
+
+This onslaught had been made by four blacks, who now made a bundle of
+the clothes, and carried them and the gun away, going towards the
+camp in search of more plunder.  The tents occupied by the wreckers
+had been enclosed in a thick hedge of scrub to protect them from the
+drifting sand.  There was only one opening in the hedge, through
+which the blacks could see Sambo cooking the wreckers' dinner before
+a fire.  His head was bare, and he was enjoying the genial heat of
+early summer, singing snatches of the melodies of Old Virginny.
+
+The hearing of the Australian aboriginal is acute, and his talent for
+mimicry astonishing; he can imitate the notes of every bird and the
+call of every animal with perfect accuracy.
+
+Sambo's senseless song enchanted the four blacks.  It was first heard
+with tremendous applause in New Orleans, it was received with enthusiasm
+by every audience in the Great Republic, and it had been the delight
+of every theatre in the British Empire.  It may be said that "jim
+Crow" buried the legitimate drama and danced on its grave.  It really
+seemed to justify the severe judgment passed on us by the sage of
+Chelsea, that we were "sixteen millions, mostly fools."  No air was
+ever at the same time so silly and so successful as "Jim Crow."  But
+there was life in it, and it certainly prolonged that of Sambo, for
+as the four savages crouched behind the hedge listening to the
+
+"Turn about and wheel about, and do just so,
+And ebery time I turn about I jump Jim Crow,"
+
+they forgot their murderous errand.
+
+At last there was an echo of the closing words which seemed to come
+from a large gum tree beyond the tents, against which a ladder had
+been reared to the forks, used for the purpose of a look-out by
+Captain Leebrace.
+
+Sambo paused, looked up to the gum tree, and said, "By golly, who's
+dere?"  The echo was repeated, and then he wheeled about in real
+earnest, transfixed with horror, unable to move a limb.  The blacks
+were close to him now, but even their colour could not restore his
+courage.  They were cannibals, and were preparing to kill and eat
+him.  But first they examined their game critically, poking their
+fingers about him, pinching him in various parts of the body,
+stroking his broad nose and ample lips with evident admiration, and
+trying to pull out the curls on his woolly head.
+
+Sambo was usually proud of his personal appearance, but just now fear
+prevented him from enjoying the applause of the strangers.
+
+At length he recovered his presence of mind sufficiently to make an
+effort to avert his impending doom.  If the blacks could be induced
+to eat the dinner he was cooking their attention to  himself might be
+diverted, and their appetites appeased, so he pointed towards the
+pots, saying, "Plenty beef, pork, plum duff."
+
+The blacks seemed to understand his meaning, and they began to
+inspect the dinner; so instead of taking the food like sensible men,
+they upset all the pots with their waddies, and scattered the beef,
+pork, plum duff and potatoes, so that they were covered with sand and
+completely spoiled.
+
+Two of the blacks next peered into the nearest tent, and seeing some
+knives and forks, took possession of them.  But there was a sound of
+voices from the waterhole, and they quickly gathered together their
+stolen goods and disappeared.  In a few minutes Captain Leebrace and
+the wreckers arrived at the camp, bringing with them Kennedy and his
+wife, who had recovered their senses, and were able to tell what had
+happened.
+
+"Black debbils been heah, cappen, done spoil all de dinner, and run
+away wid de knives and forks," Sambo said.
+
+Captain Leebrace soon resolved on a course of reprisals.  He went up
+the ladder to the forks of the gum tree with his telescope, and soon
+obtained a view of the retreating thieves, appearing occasionally and
+disappearing among the long grass and timber; and after observing the
+course they were taking he came down the ladder.  He selected two of
+his most trustworthy men, and armed them and himself with
+double-barrelled guns, one barrel being smooth bore and the other
+rifled, weapons suitable for game both large and small.  During the
+pursuit the captain every now and then, from behind a tree, searched
+for the enemy with his telescope, until at last he could see that
+they had halted, and had joined a number of their tribe.  He judged
+that the blacks, if they suspected that the white men would follow
+them, would direct their looks principally towards the tents, so he
+made a wide circuit to the left.  Then he and his men crept slowly
+along the ground until they arrived within short range of the natives.
+
+Three of the blacks were wearing the stolen shirts, a fourth had put
+on the lilac dress, and they were strutting around to display their
+brave apparel just like white folks.  The savage man retains all
+finery for his own personal adornment, and never wastes any of it on
+his despicable wife, but still Captain Leebrace had some doubt in the
+matter.  He whispered to his men, "I don't like to shoot at a gown;
+there may be a lubra in it, but I'll take the middle fellow in the
+shirt, and you take the other two, one to the right, the other to the
+left; when I say one, two, three, fire."
+
+The order was obeyed and when the smoke cleared away the print dress
+was gone, but all the rest of the plunder was recovered on the spot.
+The shirts were stripped off the bodies of the blacks; and after they
+had been rinsed in a water-hole, they were found to have been not
+much damaged, each shirt having only a small bullet hole in it.  It
+was in this way that the lilac dress escaped, and was found in the
+canoe at the Old Port; the blackfellow who wore it had taken it off
+and put it under his knees in the bottom of his canoe, and when the
+white men's boat came after  him, he was in so great a hurry to hide
+himself in the scrub that he left the dress behind.
+
+Next day there was a sudden alarm in the camp at the Old Port.
+Clancy and Dick the Devil came running toward the beach, full of fear
+and excitement, screaming, "The blacks, the blacks, they are coming,
+hundreds of them, and they are all naked, and daubed over white, and
+they have long spears."
+
+The men who had guns--Campbell, Shay, and Davy--fetched them out
+of their huts and stood ready to receive the enemy; even McClure,
+although very weak, left his bed and came outside to assist in the
+fight.  The fringe of the scrub was dotted with the piebald bodies of
+the blacks, dancing about, brandishing their spears, and shouting
+defiance at the white men.  They were not in hundreds, as the boys
+imagined, their number apparently not exceeding forty; but it was
+evident that they were threatening death and destruction to the
+invaders of their territory.  None, however, but the very bravest
+ventured far into the cleared space, and they showed no disposition
+to make a rush or anything like a concerted attack.
+
+Campbell, after watching the enemy's movements for some time, said,
+"I think it will be better to give them a taste of the nine-pounder.
+Keep a look-out while I load her."
+
+He went into his store to get the charge ready.  He tied some powder
+tightly in a piece of calico and rammed it home.  On this he put a
+nine-pound shot; but, reflecting that the aim at the dancing savages
+would be uncertain, he put in a double charge, consisting of some
+broken glass and a handful of nails.
+
+He then thrust a wooden skewer down the touch-hole into the powder
+bag below, primed and directed the piece towards the scrub, giving
+it, as he judged, sufficient elevation to send the charge among the
+thickest of the foe.  As this was the first time the gun had been
+brought into action, and there was no telling for certain which way
+it would act, Campbell thought it best to be cautious; so he ordered
+all his men to take shelter behind the store.  He then selected a
+long piece of bark, which he lighted at the fire, and, standing
+behind an angle of the building, he applied the light to the
+touch-hole.  Every man was watching the scrub to see the effect of
+the discharge.  There was a fearful explosion, succeeded by shrieks
+of horror and fear from the blacks, as the ball and nails and broken
+glass went whistling over their heads through the trees.  Then there
+was a moment of complete silence.  Campbell, like a skilful general,
+ordered his men to pursue at once the flying foe, in order to reap to
+the full the fruits of victory, and they ran across the open ground
+to deliver a volley; but on arriving at the scrub no foe was to be
+seen, either dead or alive.  The elevation of the artillery had been
+too great, and the missiles had passed overhead; but the result was
+all that could be hoped for, for two months afterwards not a single
+native was visible.
+
+Two victories had been gained by the pioneers, and it was felt that
+they deserved some commemoration.  At night there was a feast around
+the camp fire; it was of necessity a frugal one, but each member of
+the small community contributed to it as much as he was able.
+Campbell produced flour enough for a large damper, a luxury unseen
+for the last eight weeks; McClure gave tea and sugar; Davy brought
+out a box full of eggs and a dozen mutton birds; Scutt and Pateley
+furnished a course of roast flathead; Clancy and Dick the Devil, the
+poor pirates, gave all the game they had that day killed, viz., two
+parrots and a wattle bird.  The twelve canoes, the spoils of victory,
+were of little value; they were placed on the camp fire one after
+another, and reduced to ashes.
+
+The warriors sat around on logs and boxes enjoying the good things
+provided and talking cheerfully, but they made no set speeches.
+Dinner oratory is full of emptiness and they had plenty of that every
+day.  They dipped pannikins of tea out of the iron pot.
+
+When Burke and Wills were starving at Cooper's Creek on a diet of
+nardoo, the latter recorded in his diary that what the food wanted
+was sugar; he believed that nardoo and sugar would keep him alive.
+The pioneers at the Old Port were convinced that their great want was
+fat; with that their supper would have been perfect.
+
+McClure was dying of consumption as everybody knew but himself; he
+could not believe that he had come so far from home only to die, and
+he joined the revellers at the camp fire.  He said to kindly
+enquirers that he felt quite well, and would soon regain his
+strength.  Before that terrible journey over the mountains he had
+been the life and soul of the Port.  He could play on the violin, on
+the bagpipes--both Scotch and Irish--and he was always so
+pleasant and cheerful, looking as innocent as a child, that no one
+could be long dispirited in his company, and the most impatient
+growler became ashamed of himself.
+
+McClure was persuaded to bring out his violin once more--it had
+been long silent--and he began playing the liveliest of tunes,
+strathspeys, jigs, and reels, until some of the men could hardly keep
+their heels still, but it is hard to dance on loose sand, and they
+had to be contented with expressing their feelings in song.  Davy
+sang "Ye Mariners of England," and other songs of the sea; and
+Pateley Jim gave the "Angel's Whisper," followed by an old ballad of
+the days of Robin Hood called "The Wedding of Aythur O'Braidley," the
+violin accompanying the airs and putting the very soul of music into
+every song.
+
+But by degrees the musician grew weary, and began to play odds and
+ends of old tunes, sacred and profane.  He dwelt some time on an
+ancient "Kyrie Eleeson," and at last glided, unconsciously as it
+were, into the "Land o' the Leal."
+
+I'm wearin' away, Jean,
+Like snaw wreaths in thaw, Jean,
+I'm wearin' awa, Jean,
+To the Land o' the Leal.
+
+There's nae sorrow there, Jean,
+There's nae caul or care, Jean,
+The days aye fair, Jean,
+I' the Land of the Leal.
+
+At last McClure rose from his seat, and said, "I'll pit awa the
+fiddle, and bid ye a good nicht.  I think I'll be going hame to my
+mither the morn."
+
+He went into his tent.  It was high tide, and there was a gentle
+swish of long low waves lapping the sandy beach.  The night wind
+sighed a soothing lullaby through the spines of the she-oak, and his
+spirit passed peacefully away with the ebb.  He was the first man who
+died at the Old Port, and he was buried on the bank of the river
+where Friday first saw its waters flowing towards the mountain.
+
+Thirty years afterwards I saw two old men, Campbell and Montgomery,
+pulling up the long grass which had covered his neglected grave.
+
+
+GLENGARRY IN GIPPSLAND.
+
+Jack Shay was not sorry to leave the Old Port.  The nocturnal feast
+made to celebrate the repulse of the blackfellows could not conceal
+the state of famine which prevailed, and he was pleased to remember
+that he had brought plenty of flour, tea, and sugar as far as the
+Thomson river.  Davy had no saddle, but John Campbell lent him one
+for the journey, and also sold him shot and powder on credit.  So
+early in the morning the two men took a "tightener" of roast eggs,
+and commenced their journey on McMillan's track, each man carrying
+his double-barrelled gun, ready loaded, in his hand.  By this time
+the sight of a gun was a sufficient warning to the blackfellows to
+keep at a safe distance; the discharge of the nine-pounder had proved
+to them that the white man possessed mysterious powers of mischief,
+and it was a long time before they could recover courage enough to
+approach within view of the camp at the Old Port.  On the second day
+of their journey Davy and Shay arrived at the Thomson, and found the
+mob of cattle and the men all safe.  They built a hut, erected a
+stockyard, and roughly fixed the boundaries of the station by blazed
+trees, the bank of the river, and other natural marks.
+
+There were three brothers Imlay in the Twofold Bay district--John,
+Alexander, and George--the latter residing at the Bay, where he
+received stores from Sydney, and shipped return cargoes of station
+produce and fat cattle for Hobarton.  Two stations on the mountains
+were managed by the other two brothers, and their brand was III.,
+usually called "the Bible brand."  When the station on the Thomson
+was put in working order, the Imlays exchanged it for one owned by P.
+P. King, which was situated between their two stations in the Monaro
+district.  The Gippsland station was named Fulham, and was managed by
+John King.  Jack Shay returned to the mountains, and Davy to the Old
+Port.
+
+Soon afterwards the steamer 'Corsair' arrived from Melbourne,
+bringing many passengers, one of whom was John Reeve, who took up a
+station at Snake Ridge, and purchased the block of land known as
+Reeve's Survey.  The new settlers also brought a number of horses,
+and Norman McLeod had twenty bullocks on board.  The steamer could
+not reach the port, and brought-to abreast of the Midge Channel. The
+cattle and horses were slung and put into the water, four at a time,
+and swam to land, but all the bullocks disappeared soon afterwards
+and fled to the mountains.
+
+Next the brig 'Bruthen' arrived from Sydney, chartered by the
+Highland chief Macdonnell, of Glengarry.  In the days of King William
+III. a sum of 20,000 pounds was voted for the purpose of purchasing
+the allegiance of the Glengarry of that day, and of that of several
+other powerful chiefs.  On taking the oath of loyalty to the new
+dynasty, they were to receive not more than 2,000 pounds
+each; or, if they preferred dignity to cash, they could have any
+title of nobility they pleased below that of earl.  Most of them took
+the oath and the cash.  It is not recorded that any chief preferred a
+title, but the Macdonnell of 1842 was Lord Glengarry to all the new
+settlers in Gippsland.  His father, Colonel Alexander Ronaldson
+Macdonnell, was the last genuine specimen of a Highland chief, and he
+was the Fergus McIvor of Walter Scott's "Waverley."  He always wore
+the dress of his ancestors, and kept sentinels posted at his doors.
+He perished in the year 1828, while attempting to escape from a
+steamer which had gone ashore.  His estate was heavily encumbered,
+and his son was compelled to sell it to the Marquis of Huntly.  In
+1840 it was sold to the Earl of Dudley for 91,000 pounds, and in 1860
+to Edward Ellice for 120,000 pounds.
+
+The landless young chief resolved to transfer his broken fortunes to
+Australia.  He brought with him a number of men and women, chiefly
+Highlanders, who were landed by Davy in his whaleboat.  For this
+service Glengarry gave a cheque on a Sydney bank for five pounds,
+which was entrusted to Captain Gaunson of the schooner 'Coquette' to
+purchase groceries.  On arriving in Sydney the Gaunsons went on a
+pleasure excursion about the harbour, the 'Coquette' was capsized in
+a squall, one or two of the family perished, and Davy's cheque went
+down with the vessel.  But when the schooner was raised and the water
+pumped out, the cheque was found, and the groceries on the next
+voyage arrived safely at the Old Port.
+
+Glengarry's head man and manager of the enterprise was a poor
+gentleman from Tipperary named Dancer, and his chief stockman was
+Sandy Fraser.
+
+By the regulations then in force in New South Wales, Glengarry was
+entitled, for a fee of 10 pounds per annum, to hold under a
+depasturing license an area of twenty square miles, on which he might
+place 500 head of cattle or 4,000 sheep.  He selected a site for his
+head station and residence on the banks of the Tarra.  The house was
+built, huts and stockyards were erected, 500 dairy cows were bought
+at 10 pounds each, and the business of dairy farming commenced.
+
+But the young chief and his men were unused to the management of a
+station in the new country; they had everything to learn, and at a
+ruinous cost.
+
+A number of young men bailed up the cows each morning, and put on the
+leg ropes; then they sat on the top rails of the stockyard fence and
+waited while the maids drew the milk.  Dancer superintended the
+labours of the men and the milkmaids.  He sat in his office in a
+corner of the stockyard, entering in his books the number of cattle
+milked, and examining the state of their brands, which were daubed on
+the hides with paint and brush. Some cheese was made, but it was not
+of much account, and all the milk and butter were consumed on the
+station.
+
+At this time the blacks had quite recovered from the fright
+occasioned by the discharge of the nine-pounder gun, and were again
+often seen from the huts at the Old Port.  Donald Macalister was sent
+by his uncle, Lachlan Macalister, of Nuntin, to make arrangements for
+shipping some cattle and sheep.  The day before their arrival Donald
+saw some blacks at a distance in the scrub, and without any
+provocation fired at them with an old Tower musket, charged with
+shot.  The next day the drovers and shepherds arrived with the stock,
+and drove them over Glengarry's bridge to a place between the Tarra
+and Albert rivers, called the Coal Hole, afterwards occupied by
+Parson Bean.  there was no yard there, and the animals would require
+watching at night; so Donald decided to send them back to Glengarry's
+yards.  Then he and the drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant
+time; there would be songs and whisky, the piper would play, and the
+men and maids would dance.  The arrangement suited everybody.  The
+drovers started back with the cattle, Donald helped the shepherds to
+gather the sheep, and put them on the way, and then he rode after the
+cattle.  The track led him past a grove of dense ti-tree, on the land
+now known as the Brewery Paddock, and about a hundred yards ahead a
+single blackfellow came out of the grove, and began capering about
+and waving a waddy.  Donald pulled up his horse and looked at the
+black.  He had a pair of pistols in the holsters of his saddle, but
+he did not draw them:  there was no danger from a blackfellow a
+hundred yards off.  But there was another behind him and much nearer,
+who came silently out of the ti-tree and thrust a spear through
+Donald's neck.  The horse galloped away towards Glengarry's bridge.
+
+When the drovers saw the riderless horse, they supposed that
+Macalister had been accidentally thrown, and they sent Friday to look
+for him.  He found him dead.  The blacks had done their work quickly.
+They had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers and boots,
+had mutilated him in their usual fashion, and had disappeared.  A
+messenger was sent to old Macalister, and the young man was buried on
+the bank of the river near McClure's grave.  The new cemetery now
+contained three graves, the second being that of Tinker Ned, who shot
+himself accidentally when pulling out his gun from beneath a
+tarpaulin.
+
+Lachlan Macalister had had a long experience in dealing with
+blackfellows and bushrangers; he had been a captain in the army, and
+an officer of the border police.  The murder of his nephew gave him
+both a professional and a family interest in chastising the
+criminals, and he soon organised a party to look for them.  It was,
+of course, impossible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the
+outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe.  The
+blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and
+those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said,
+of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an
+exaggeration.  At any rate, the black who capered about to attract
+young Macalister's attention escaped, and he often afterwards
+described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently
+considered a glorious act of revenge.  The gun used by old Macalister
+was a double-barrelled Purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon, which
+in its time had done great execution.
+
+The dairy business at Greenmount was carried on at a continual loss,
+and Glengarry resolved to return to Scotland.  He sold his cows and
+their increase to Thacker and Mason, of Sydney, for twenty-seven
+shillings and sixpence per head; his house was bought by John
+Campbell.  On the eve of his departure for Sydney in the schooner
+'Coquette' (Captain Gaunson), a farewell dinner was given by the
+Highlanders at the Old Port, and Long Mason, who had come from Sydney
+to take delivery of the cows on behalf of Thacker and Mason, was one
+of the guests.  But there was more of gloom than of gaiety around the
+festive board.  All wished well to the young chief, but the very best
+of his friends could think of nothing cheerful to say to him.  His
+enterprise had been a complete failure; the family tree of Clanranald
+the Dauntless had refused to take root in a strange land the glory
+had gone from it for ever, and there was nothing to celebrate in song
+or story.
+
+Other men from the Highlands failed to win the smiles of fortune in
+Gippsland.  At home, notwithstanding their tribal feuds, they held
+their own for two thousand years against the Roman and Saxon, the
+Dane and the Norman.  Only one hundred and fifty years ago (it seems
+now almost incredible) they nearly scared the Hanoverian dynasty from
+the throne of England, and even yet, though scattered throughout the
+British Empire, they are neither a fallen nor a falling race.
+
+Glengarry returned to his tent early, and then the buying and selling
+of the five hundred cows became the subject of conversation; the
+whisky circulated, and Long Mason observed that unfriendly looks
+began to be directed towards himself.  He was an Englishman, a
+Southron, and it was a foul shame and dishonour that such as he
+should pay a Highland chief only twenty-seven shillings and sixpence
+for beasts that had cost ten pounds each.  That was not the way in
+the good old days when the hardy men of the north descended from the
+mountains with broadsword and shield, lifted the cattle of the Saxon,
+and drove them to their homes in the glens.
+
+The fervid temper of the Gael grew hotter at the thought of the rank
+injustice which had been done, and it was decided that Long Mason
+should be drowned in the inlet.  He protested against the decision
+with vigour, and apparently with reason.  He said:
+
+"I did not buy the cattle at all.  Glengarry sold them to Thacker and
+my brother in Sydney, and I only came over to take delivery of them.
+What wrong have I done?"
+
+But the reasoning of the prosaic Englishman was thrown to the winds:
+
+"Ye've done everything wrong.  Ye should hae gin ten pund sterling
+apiece for the coos, and not twenty-sen and saxpence.  It's a pity
+yer brither, and Thacker, and MacFarlane are no here the nicht, and
+we'd droon them, too."
+
+Four strong men, shouting in Gaelic the war-cry of Sheriffmuir,
+"Revenge, revenge, revenge to-day, mourning to-morrow!" seized the
+long limbs of the unfortunate Mason, and in spite of his struggles
+bore him towards the beach.  The water near the margin was shallow,
+so they waded in until it was deep enough for their purpose.  There
+was a piercing cry, "Help! murder! murder!"  John Campbell heard it,
+but it was not safe for a Campbell to stand between a Macdonnell and
+his revenge.  However, Captain Davy and Pateley Jim came out of their
+huts to see what was the matter, and they waded after the
+Highlanders.  Each seized a man by the collar and downhauled.  There
+was a sudden whirlpool, a splashing and a spluttering, as all the
+five men went under and drank the brine.
+
+"I think," said Pateley, "that will cool 'em a bit," and it did.
+
+Long Mason was a university man, educated for the church, but before
+his ordination to the priesthood he had many other adventures and
+misfortunes.  After being nearly drowned by the Highlanders he was
+placed in charge of Woodside station by his elder brother; he tried
+to mitigate the miseries of solitude with drink, but he did so too
+much and was turned adrift.  He then made his way to New Zealand, and
+fought as a common soldier through the Heki war.  Captain Patterson,
+of the schooner 'Eagle', met him at a New Zealand port.  He was
+wearing a long, ragged old coat, such as soldiers wore, was out of
+employment, and in a state of starvation.  The captain took pity on
+him, brought him back to Port Albert, and he became a shepherd on a
+station near Bairnsdale.  While he was fighting the Maoris his
+brother had gone home, and had sent to Sydney money to pay his
+passage to England.  But he could not be found, and the money was
+returned to London.  At length Captain Bentley found out where he
+was, took him to Sydney, gave him an outfit, and paid his passage to
+England.  Long Mason, honest man that he was, sent back the passage
+money, was ordained priest, obtained a living near London, and roamed
+no more.
+
+He had a younger brother named Leonard Mason, who lived with Coady
+Buckley at Prospect, near the Ninety-Mile, and became a good bushman.
+In 1844 Leonard took up a station in North Gippsland adjoining the
+McLeod's run, but the Highlanders tried to drive him away by taking
+his cattle a long distance to a pound which had been established at
+Stratford.  The McLeods and their men were too many for Leonard.  He
+went to Melbourne to try if the law or the Government would give him
+any redress, but he could obtain no satisfaction.  The continued
+impounding of his cattle meant ruin to him, and when he returned to
+Gippsland he found his hut burned down and his cattle gone on the way
+to the pound.  He took a double-barrelled gun and went after them.
+He found them at Providence Ponds, which was a stopping place for
+drovers.  Next morning he rose early, went to the stockyard with his
+gun, and waited till McDougall, who was manager for the McLeods, came
+out with his stockmen.  When they approached the yard he said:
+
+"I shall shoot the first man who touches those rails to take my cattle
+out."
+
+McDougall laughed, and ordered one of his men to take down the
+slip-rails, but the man hesitated; he did not like the looks of
+Mason.  Then McDougall dismounted from his horse and went to the
+slip-rails, but as soon as he touched them Mason shot him.
+
+Coady Buckley spared neither trouble nor expense in obtaining the
+best counsel for Mason's defence at the trial in Melbourne.  He was
+found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years'
+imprisonment, but after a time was released on the condition of
+leaving Victoria, and when last heard of was a drover beyond the
+Murray.
+
+After the departure of Glengarry, Dancer could find no profitable
+employment in Gippsland, and lived in a state of indigence.  At last
+he borrowed sufficient money on a promissory note to pay his passage
+to Ireland.  In Tipperary he became a baronet and a sheriff, and
+lived to a good old age.
+
+
+WANTED, A CATTLE MARKET.
+
+It seemed incredible to the first settlers in North Gippsland that
+their new Punjaub, the land of the five rivers, which emptied their
+waters into immense lakes, should communicate with the sea by no
+channel suitable for ships, and an expedition was organised to
+endeavour to find an outlet.  McMillan had two boats at his station
+at Bushy Park, but he had no sails, so he engaged Davy as sailmaker
+and chief navigator on the intended voyage.  The two men rode
+together from the Old Port up the track over Tom's Cap, and shot two
+pigeons by the way, which was fortunate, for when they arrived at
+Kilmany Park William Pearson was absent, and his men were found to be
+living under a discipline so strict that his stock-keeper, Jimmy
+Rentoul, had no meat, and dared not kill any without orders; so
+McMillan and Davy fried the pigeons, and ate one each for supper.
+Next morning they shot some ducks for breakfast, and then proceeded
+on their journey.  They called at Mewburn Park, arrived at Bushy Park
+(McMillan's own station), and Davy began making the sails the same
+evening.  Next morning he crossed the river in a canoe, made out of a
+hollow log, to Boisdale, Lachlan Macalister's station, and went to
+the milking yard.  The management was similar to that of Dancer at
+Greenmount.  Eleven men and women were milking about one hundred and
+fifty cows, superintended by nine Highlanders, who were sitting on
+the toprails discoursing in Gaelic.  One of them was Jock Macdonald,
+who was over eighteen stone in weight, too heavy for any ordinary
+horse to carry; the rest were Macalisters, Gillies, and Thomsons.
+The stockmen were convicts, and they lived with the Highlanders in a
+big building like the barracks for soldiers.  Every man seemed to do
+just what he liked, to kill what he liked, and to eat what he liked,
+and it was astonishing to see so little discipline on a station owned
+by a gentleman who had seen service both in the army and in the
+border police.
+
+The blacks were at this time very troublesome about the new stations.
+They began to be fond of beef, and in order to get it they drove fat
+cattle into the morasses and speared them.  This proceeding produced
+strained relations between the two races, and the only effectual
+remedy was the gun.  But many of the settlers had scruples about
+shooting blackfellows except in self-defence, and it could hardly be
+called self-defence to shoot one or more of the natives because a
+beast had been speared by some person or persons unknown.  John
+Campbell, at Glencoe, tried a dog, a savage deerhound, which he
+trained to chase the human game.  This dog acquired great skill in
+seizing a blackfellow by the heel, throwing him, and worrying him
+until Campbell came up on his horse.  When the dog had thus expelled
+the natives from Glencoe, Campbell agreed to lend him to little
+Curlewis for three months in order to clear Holey Plains Station.
+Curlewis paid ten heifers for the loan of the dog, and Campbell
+himself went to give him a start in the hunt, as the animal would not
+own any other man as master.  But the blacks soon learned that
+Campbell and his dog had left Glencoe unprotected, and the second
+night after his departure they boldly entered the potato patch near
+his hut, and bandicooted the whole of his potatoes.
+
+When the sails were made, the two boats were provisioned with tea,
+sugar, flour, and a keg of whisky; the meat was carried in the shape
+of two live sheep, to be killed when required.  The party consisted
+of eight men, and each man was armed with a double-barrelled gun.
+McMillan, McLennan, Loughnan, and Davy went in one boat, and in the
+other boat were William Pearson, John Reeve, Captain Orr, and
+Sheridan, who was manager for Raymond at Stratford.  Sheridan was a
+musical man, and took his flute with him.  When everything was ready
+they dropped down the river to Lake Wellington, and took note of the
+soundings during the whole of the voyage as they went along.
+Wherever they approached either shore, they saw natives or found
+traces of them.  Every beach was strewn with the feathers of the
+ducks, swans, and other birds they had killed, and it was difficult
+to find sufficient dead wood near the water to make a fire, the
+blacks having used so much of it at their numerous camping places.
+
+The gins had an ingenious system of capturing the ducks.  They moved
+along under water, leaving nothing but their nostrils visible above
+the surface, and they were thus able to approach the unsuspecting
+birds.  As opportunity offered they seized them by the legs, drew
+them quickly under water, and held them until they were drowned.
+When they had secured as many as they could hold in one hand they
+returned to land.
+
+One of the explorers always kept guard while the others slept, the
+first watch of each night being assigned to Davy, who baked the
+damper for the next day.  One of the sheep was killed soon after the
+voyage commenced; and the duty of taking ashore, tethering, and
+guarding the other sheep at each landing place was taken in turn by
+Pearson and Loughnan.  At the lower end of the lakes the water was
+found to be brackish, so they went ashore at several places to look
+for fresh water.  They landed on a flat at Reeve's River, and Davy
+found an old well of the natives, but it required cleaning out, so he
+went back to the boat for a spade.  It was Loughnan's turn that day
+to tether the sheep on some grassy spot, and to look after it; the
+animal by this time had become quite a pet, and was called Jimmy.  On
+coming near the boats Davy looked about for Jimmy,  but could not see
+him and asked Loughnan where he was.
+
+"Oh, he is all right," said Loughnan, "I did not tether  him, but he
+is over there eating the reeds."
+
+"Then he's gone," replied Davy.
+
+Every man became seriously alarmed and ran down to the reeds, for
+Jimmy carried their whole supply of meat.  They found his tracks at
+the edge of the water, and followed them to the foot of a high bluff,
+which they ascended, calling as they went repeatedly for Jimmy.  They
+looked in every direction, scanning especially the tops of the reeds
+to see if Jimmy was moving amongst them, but they could see no sign
+of the sheep that was lost.  The view of land and river, mountain and
+sea, was very beautiful, but they were too full of sorrow for Jimmy
+to enjoy it.  On going away they agreed to call the bluff Jimmy's
+point, but other voyagers came afterwards who knew nothing of Jimmy,
+and they named it Kalimna, The Beautiful.  Near the shore a number of
+sandpipers were shot, and stewed for dinner in the large iron pot
+which was half full of mutton fat.  Then the party pulled down to the
+entrance of the lakes at Reeve's River, went ashore, and camped for
+the night.
+
+Next day they found an outlet to the ocean, and sounded it as they
+went along, finding six feet of water on the bar at low tide.  But
+the channel proved afterwards to be a shifting one; the strong
+current round Cape Howe, and the southerly gales, often filled it
+with sand, and it was not until many years had passed, and much money
+had been expended, that a permanent entrance was formed.  In the
+meantime all the trade of Gippsland was carried on first through the
+Old Port, and then through the new Port Albert.  For ten years all
+vessels were piloted without buoy or beacon; in one year one hundred
+and forty having been entered inwards and outwards.
+
+The party now started on the return voyage.  In going up the lakes a
+number of blacks were observed on the port beach, and the boats were
+pulled towards the land until they grounded, and some of the men went
+ashore.  The natives were standing behind a small sand hummock
+calling out to the visitors.  One of them had lost an eye, and
+another looked somewhat like a white man browned with the sun and
+weather, but only the upper part of his body could be seen above the
+sand.  One of the men on shore said, "Look at that white-fellow."
+That was the origin of the rumour which was soon spread through the
+country that the blacks had a white woman living with them, the
+result being that for a long time the blackfellows were hunted and
+harassed continually by parties of armed men.  When the natives
+behind the sand hummock saw that the white men had no arms, they
+began to approach them without their spears.  Sheridan took up his
+flute, and they ran back to the scrub, but after he had played a
+while they came nearer again and listened to the music.
+
+After pulling two or three miles, another party of natives was seen
+running along the sands, and the explorers went ashore again at a
+point of land where seven or eight men had appeared, but not one was
+now visible.  Davy climbed up a honeysuckle tree, and then he could
+see them hiding in the scrub.  Several of them were seized and held
+by the white men, who gave them some sugar and then let them go.
+
+The boats then sailed away with a nice easterly breeze, and in
+McLennan's Straits hundreds of blackfellows were seen up in the trees
+shouting and shaking their spears; but the boats were kept away in
+mid-stream, out of reach of the weapons.
+
+That night the camp was made at Boney Point, near the mouth of the
+River Avon; the name was given to it on account of the large quantity
+of human bones found there.  No watch was kept, as it was believed
+that all the blacks had been left behind in McLennan's Straits.
+There was still some whisky left in the keg; and, before going to
+sleep, Orr, Loughnan, and Sheridan sang and drank alternately until
+the vessel was empty.  At daylight they pulled up the Avon and landed
+at Clydebank, which was at that time one of Macalister's stations,
+but afterwards belonged to Thomson and Cunningham.  After breakfast
+they walked to Raymond's station at Stratford, and then to McMillan's
+at Bushy Park.
+
+The cattle brought over the mountains into Gippsland soon grew fat,
+and the first settlers sold some of them to other men who came to
+search for runs; but the local demand was soon supplied.  In two
+years and a half all the best land was occupied.  An intending
+settler, who had driven a herd of cattle seven hundred miles, had
+some bitter complaints to make about the country in June, 1843.  He
+said:  "The whole length of Gippsland, from the bore of the mountains
+in which the road comes, is 110 miles, and the breadth about fifteen
+miles, the whole area 1650 square miles, one-third of which is
+useless through scrub and morass, which leaves only 1,100 square
+miles come-at-able at all, and nearly a third of this is useless.  On
+this 1,100 square miles of land there are 45,000 sheep, 1,500 cattle,
+and 300 horses.  Other herds of cattle and about 2,000 sheep are
+expected daily.  The blacks are continuing their outrages, robbing
+huts and gardens and slaughtering cattle wholesale, Messrs. Pearson
+and Cunningham being the latest sufferers by the cannibals.  Sheep
+shearing is nearly completed, after paying a most exorbitant price to
+the shearers.*  The wool is much lighter than in any other part of
+the colony, and the skins much thicker than in hotter climates;" and
+lastly, "A collection has been made for the support of a minister."
+But the minister was not supported long, and he had to shake the dust
+of Gippsland off his feet.  From Dan to Beersheba--from the bore in
+the mountains to the shores of Corner Inlet, all was barren to this
+disappointed drover.
+
+
+[Footnote] *In the season of 1844 the average price per 100 for
+sheep-shearing was 8s.; the highest price asked, 8s. 6d.
+
+
+And the squatters, in order to keep a foothold in the country, had to
+seek markets for their stock over the sea.  The first to export
+cattle was James McFarlane of Heyfield.  He chartered the schooner
+'Waterwitch' for 100 pounds a month for six months, and found her in
+everything.  She arrived on March 2nd, 1842, but could not come up to
+the Port being too sharp in the bottom, and drawing (when loaded with
+cattle) thirteen feet six inches, so she lay down at the Oyster Beds.
+McFarlane borrowed the square punt from the 'Clonmel' wreckers, a
+weak stockyard of tea tree was erected, and the punt was moored
+alongside.  A block was made fast to the bottom of the punt, and a
+rope rove through it to a bullock's head, and the men hauled on the
+rope.  Sometimes a beast would not jump, and had to be levered and
+bundled into the punt neck and crop.  Then the men got into a boat,
+and reached over to make the rope fast from the head of the bullock
+to one of the eyebolts which were fixed round the punt, and even then
+the bullock would sometimes go overboard.  It took a week to load
+twenty fat bullocks and twenty cows with their calves.  The schooner
+set sail for New Zealand on April 2nd, 1842, and at Port Nicholson
+the bullocks were sold for fifteen and the cows for twelve pounds
+each, cash.  The 'Waterwitch' returned to Port Albert on April 29th,
+and took in another cargo of breeding cattle, which had to be sold on
+bills, the cash at Port Nicholson being exhausted.  McFarlane next
+sought for a market at Hobarton, which was then supplied with beef
+from Twofold Bay.  Forty bullocks were put on board the 'Waterwitch'
+in five days, and in forty-eight hours they were offered for sale in
+Hobarton, and fetched fourteen pounds ten shillings a head--all but
+one, a snail-horned brute, which was very wild.  When he landed, a
+number of soldiers were at drill in the paddock, and he charged the
+redcoats at once. They prepared to receive cavalry, but he broke
+through the ranks, scattered the citizens the whole length of
+Liverpool Street, and reached the open country.  Guisden, the
+auctioneer, sold the chance of him for eleven pounds.
+
+At this time, nobody in Hobarton had heard of such a place as
+Gippsland; but the fat cattle, which were far superior to those
+imported from Twofold Bay, soon made the new territory well known,
+and many enterprising men of various characters found their way to it
+from the island.
+
+McFarlane sent over another cargo of forty bullocks, thirty-seven of
+which averaged fourteen pounds; one was lost, and two belonging to
+Macalister, heavy weights, were sold for forty pounds ten shillings.
+
+McMillan took over the 'Waterwitch' for the next trip, and also
+chartered the schooners 'Industry' and 'Scotia', which were the first
+vessels brought up to the shipping place at Port Albert on August,
+3rd, 1842.  Each of these vessels took two cargoes to Hobarton, which
+sold well, and then Macalister chartered the brig 'Pateena', which
+would hold sixty bullocks.  The 'Clonmel' punt was now dispensed
+with; the cattle were roped, put in the water, and made to swim
+between the vessel and a boat.  A piece of small ratline was fixed to
+the slings, with the handlead made fast to it so that it would sink.
+The mate had the slings, and a man in the boat held the other end of
+the line, and with it he hauled the slings under the bullocks, which
+were then made fast, and the animal was hoisted up.  In this way
+forty bullocks were shipped in three hours.
+
+Oysters were obtained in great abundance at Clonmel, Snake Island,
+and in other parts of the inlets, and the cattle vessels, after
+receiving their loading, took bags of oysters on board for sale at
+Hobarton.  In June, 1843, the cutter 'Lucy' took 700 dozen to
+Melbourne, and in July another 700 dozen.  In August the 'Mary Jane'
+took 500 dozen, and the cutter 'Domain' 400 dozen.  The oyster beds
+were soon destroyed, and when in course of a few years I was
+appointed inspector of fisheries at Port Albert I could never find a
+single dozen oysters to inspect, although I was informed that a
+certain reverend poacher near the Caledonian Canal could obtain a
+bucket full of them when so disposed.
+
+Gippsland enjoyed one year of prosperity, followed by seven years of
+adversity.  The price of stock declined so rapidly that in April,
+1843, the very best beasts only realized 6 pounds per head, and soon
+afterwards it was estimated that there were in New South Wales 50,000
+fat bullocks which nobody would buy.  Moreover, the government was
+grievously in want of money, and in addition to the fees for
+depasturing licenses, exacted half-yearly assessments on the
+unsaleable flocks and herds.  But the law exacted payment on live
+cattle only, so the squatters in their dire distress resolved to kill
+their stock and boil them, the hides and the resulting tallow being
+of some value.  The Hentys, in the Portland district, commenced
+boiling their sheep in January, 1844, and on every station in New
+South Wales the paddocks still called the "boiling down" were devoted
+to the destruction of sheep and cattle and to the production of
+tallow.  It was found that one hundred average sheep would yield one
+ton of tallow, and ten average bullocks also one ton, the price in
+London ranging from 35 pounds to 42 pounds per ton.  By this device
+of boiling-down some of the pioneers were enabled to retain their
+runs until the discovery of gold.
+
+The squatters were assisted in their endeavours to diminish the
+numbers of their live stock by their neighbours, both black and
+white.  It is absurd to blame the aborigines for killing sheep and
+cattle.  You might as well say it is immoral for a cat to catch mice.
+Hunting was their living; the land and every animal thereon was
+theirs; and after we had conferred on them, as usual, the names of
+savages and cannibals, they were still human beings; they were our
+neighbours, to be treated with mercy; and to seize their lands by
+force and to kill them was robbery and murder.  The State is a mere
+abstraction, has neither body nor soul, and an abstraction cannot be
+sent either to heaven or hell.  But each individual man will be
+rewarded according to his works, which will follow him.  Because the
+State erected a flag on a bluff overlooking the sea, Sandy McBean was
+not justified in shooting every blackfellow or gin  he met with on
+his run, as I know he did on the testimony of an eye-witness.  This
+is the age of whitewash.  There is scarcely a villain of note on
+whose character a new coat has not been laboriously daubed by
+somebody, and then we are asked to take a new view of it.  It does
+not matter very much now, but I should prefer to whitewash the
+aboriginals.
+
+J. P. Fawkner wrote:  "The military were not long here before the
+Melbourne district was stained with the blood of the aborigines, yet
+I can safely say that in the year in which there was neither
+governor, magistrate, soldier, nor policemen, not one black was shot
+or killed in the Melbourne district, except amongst or by the blacks
+themselves.  Can as much be said of any year since?  I think not."
+
+In the year 1844 Mr. Latrobe was required to send to the Council in
+Sydney a return of all blacks and whites killed in the Port Phillip
+district since its first settlement.  He said forty whites had been
+killed by the blacks, and one hundred and thirteen blacks had been
+reported as killed by the whites; but he added, "the return must not
+be looked upon as correct with respect to the number of aborigines
+killed."  The reason is plain.  When a white man murdered a few
+blacks it was not likely that he would put his neck into the
+hangman's noose by making a formal report of his exploit to Mr.
+Latrobe.  All the surviving blackfellow could say was:  "Quamby dead
+--long time--white-fellow--plenty--shoot 'em."
+
+He related in eight words the decline and fall of his race more truly
+than the white man could do it in eight volumes.
+
+It is not so easy a task to justify the white men who assisted the
+squatters to diminish the numbers of their stock.  They were
+principally convicts who had served their sentences, or part of them,
+in the island, and had come over to Gippsland in cattle vessels.
+Some of them lived honestly, about one hundred of them disappeared
+when the Commissioner of Crown Lands arrived with his black and white
+police, and a few of the most enterprising spirits adopted the
+calling of cattle stealers, for which business they found special
+facilities in the two special surveys.
+
+
+
+-------------------------------------
+
+
+TWO SPECIAL SURVEYS.
+
+A notice dated March 4th, 1841, was gazetted in Sydney to the following
+effect:
+
+"Any Holder of a Land Receipt to the extent of not less than five
+thousand one hundred and twenty acres may, if he think fit, demand a
+special survey of any land not hereinafter excepted, within the
+district of Port Philip, whether such Land Receipt be obtained in the
+manner pointed out in the 'Government Gazette' of the 21st January
+last, or granted by the Land and Emigration Commissioners in London.
+
+"Not more than one mile of frontage to any river, watercourse, or lake
+to be allowed to every four square miles of area; the other
+boundaries to be straight lines running north and south, east and
+west.
+
+"No land to be taken up within five miles of the towns of Melbourne,
+Geelong, Williamstown, or Portland.
+
+"The right of opening roads through any part of the land to be
+reserved for the Crown, but no other reservation whatever to be
+inserted in the Deeds of Grant."
+
+The Port Albert Company took up land, under the above conditions,
+between the Albert and Tarra rivers.  It was in Orr's name, and is
+still known as Orr's Special Survey.  A surveyor was appointed to
+mark and plan the boundaries; he delegated the work to another
+surveyor.  Next a re-survey was made, then a sub-divisional survey,
+and then other surveys went on for fifty years, with ever-varying
+results.  It is now a well-established fact that Orr's Special Survey
+is subject to an alternate expansion and contraction of area, which
+from time to time vitiates the labour of every surveyor, and has
+caused much professional animosity.  Old men with one foot in the
+grave, in this year 1895, are still accusing each other of embezzling
+acres of it; the devil of Discord, and Mercury the god of thieves,
+encamped upon it; the Port Albert Company fell into its Slough of
+Despond, which in the Court of Equity was known as "Kemmis v. Orr,"
+and there all the members perished.
+
+Mr. John Reeve had a land receipt, and wanted land.  After he had
+taken up the station known as Snake Ridge he looked about for a good
+Special Survey.  He engaged Davy and his whaleboat for a cruise in
+Port Albert waters and McMillan, Sheridan, and Loughnan were of the
+party.  They went up the narrow channel called the Caledonian Canal,
+examined the bluffs, shores, and islands of Shallow Inlet, and at
+night encamped on St. Margaret's Island.  When shelter was required,
+Davy usually put up the mainsail of his boat for a tent; but that
+night was so fine and warm that it was decided to avoid the trouble
+of bringing the sail ashore and putting it up.  After supper the men
+lay around the fire, and one by one fell asleep; but about midnight
+heavy rain began to fall, the sail was brought ashore, and they all
+crept under it to keep themselves as dry as possible.
+
+The next morning was fair.  On leaving the port it had been the
+intention of the party to return the same evening, and the boat was
+victualled for one day only.  There was now nothing for breakfast but
+a little tea and sugar and a piece of damper:  no flesh, fish, or
+fowl.  Davy was anxious to entertain his passengers to the best of
+his ability, especially Mr. Reeve, who, though not of delicate
+health, was a gentleman of refined tastes, and liked to have his
+meals prepared and served in the best style.  Fresh water was of the
+first necessity, and, after so much rain, should have been plentiful,
+but not a spoonful could anywhere be found:  the soil of the island
+was sandy, and all the rain had soaked into it and disappeared.  The
+damper having been exposed to the weather was saturated with water.
+There was in the boat a large three-legged iron pot, half filled with
+fat, a hard and compact dainty not liable to be spilled or wasted,
+and in it had been stewed many a savoury meal of sandpipers, parrots,
+rats, and quail.  This pot had been fortunately left upright and
+uncoveredduring the night, and the abundant rain had filled it with
+fresh water.  Davy, with the intuition of artistic genius, at once
+saw the means of producing a repast fit for the gods.  He poured the
+water which covered the fat from the iron pot into the kettle, which
+he placed on the fire for the purpose of making tea.  He cut the
+sodden damper into substantial slices, put them into the pot, and
+cooked them in the fat over the fire.  When well done they tasted
+like fried bread, and gave entire satisfaction; Mr. Reeve observing,
+when the feast was finished, that he had never in all his life eaten
+a better breakfast.
+
+A start was made for the port, but the wind came dead ahead, and the
+men had to pull the whole way across the inlet, through the
+Caledonian Canal, and as far as Long Point.  There they went ashore
+for a rest, and Mr. Reeve asked Davy if he could find the mouth of
+the Tarra River.  Davy said he had never been there, but he had no
+doubt that he could find it, as he had seen the river when he was
+duck-shooting.  It was then high water, and the wind still blowing
+strongly from the west, so a reef was taken in the lug, and the boat
+ran right into the Tarra as far as the site of the present
+court-house.  There the party landed, and after looking at the
+country Mr. Reeve decided to take up his special survey there.  It
+was partly open forest, but it contained, also, a considerable area
+of rich flats covered with luxuriant tea tree and myrtle scrub, which
+in course of time became mingled with imported blackberry bushes,
+whins, sweetbriar, and thistles.  Any quantity of labour might be
+spent on it with advantage to the owner, so the following
+advertisement appeared in the public journals:
+
+TO CAPITALISTS AND THE INDUSTRIOUS LABOURING CLASS.
+
+GIPPSLAND--PORT ALBERT.
+
+An accurate plan of Mr. Reeve's Special Survey of Tarra Vale having
+been completed, notice is hereby given that farms of various sizes
+are now open for sale or lease.  The proprietor chiefly desires the
+establishment of a Respectable Tenantry, and will let these farms at
+the moderate rent of one bushel of wheat per acre.  The estate
+consists of 5,120 acres of rich alluvial flats; no part of the estate
+is more than two miles from the freshwater stream of Tarra.  Many
+families already occupy purchased allotments in the immediate
+vicinity of the landing place and Tarra Ville.  There is a licensed
+hotel, good stores and various tradesmen, likewise dray roads from
+Maneroo and Port Philip. Apply to F. Taylor, Tarra Ville, or John
+Brown, Melbourne.
+
+There were several doubtful statements in this notice, but, as the
+law says, "Buyer, beware."
+
+Joshua Dayton was not a capitalist, but he belonged to the
+Industrious Labouring Class, and he offered himself, and was accepted
+as a Respectable Tenant, at the rental of a bushel of wheat to the
+acre.  He was a thief on principle, but simple Mr. Taylor, of
+Tarraville, put his trust in him, because it would be necessary to
+fence and improve the land in order to produce the bushel of wheat.
+The fee simple, at any rate, would be safe with Mr. Reeve; but we
+live and learn--learn that there are men ingenious enough to steal
+even the fee simple, and transmit it by will to their innocent
+children.
+
+The farm comprised a beautiful and rich bend of the Tarra, forming a
+spacious peninsula.  Joshua erected a fence across the isthmus,
+leaving the rest of his land open to the trespass of cattle, which
+were, therefore, liable to be driven away.  But he did not drive them
+away; he impounded them within his bend, and at his leisure selected
+the fattest for slaughter, thus living literally on the fat of the
+land.  He formed his boiling-down establishment in a retired glade,
+surrounded with tea-tree, tall and dense, far from the prying eyes
+and busy haunts of men.  His hut stood on a gentle rise above the
+highest flood mark, and in close proximity to the slip rails, which
+were jealously guarded by his Cerberus, Neddy, a needy immigrant of a
+plastic nature, whose mind succumbed under the strong logic of his
+employer.
+
+Neddy had so far led an honest life, and did not fall into habits of
+thievery without some feelings of compunction.  When Joshua first
+drove cattle into the bend, he did not tell Neddy that he had stolen
+them.  Oh, no!  He said:
+
+"Here are a few beasts I have had running about for some time, and I
+think I'll kill one or two of the fattest and make tallow of them.
+Beef is worth next to nothing, and we must make a living somehow.
+And I know you would like a little fresh beef, Neddy; a change of
+diet is good for the health."
+
+But Neddy was not so much of a fool as to be able to shut his eyes to
+the nature of the boiling-down business.  The brands were too
+various, and Joshua claimed them all.  Neddy said one night:
+
+"Don't you think, Joshua, this game of yours is rather dangerous?
+Why, it's nothing better than cattle stealing; and I've heern folks
+say at one time it was a hanging matter.  You may be found out some
+day by an unlucky chance, and then what will you do?"
+
+"You mustn't call it cattle stealing, Neddy; that doesn't sound
+well," said Joshua.  "I call it back pay for work and labour done.  I
+have good reasons for it.  I was sent out for stealing a horse, which
+I never did steal; I only bought it cheap for a couple of pounds.
+They sent me to the island, and I worked seven years for a settler
+for nothing.  Now I put it to you, Neddy, as an honest and sensible
+man, Am I to get no pay for that seven years' work?  And how am I to
+get it if I don't take it myself?  The Government will give me no
+pay; they'd give me another seven years if they could.  But you see,
+there are no peelers here, no beaks, and no blooming courts, so I
+intend to make hay while the sun shines, which means tallow in these
+times.  All these settlers gets as much work out of Government men as
+they can get for nothing, and if you says two words to 'em they'll
+have you flogged.  So while I does my seven years I says nothing, but
+I thinks, and I makes up my mind to have it out of 'em when my time
+comes.  And I say it's fair and honest to get your back wages the
+best way you can.  These settlers are all tarred with the same brush;
+they make poor coves like us work for 'em, and flog us like bullocks,
+and then they pretend they are honest men.  I say be blowed to such
+honesty."
+
+"But if you are caught, Joshua, what then?"
+
+"Well, we must be careful.  I don't think they'll catch me in a
+hurry.  You see, I does my business quick:  cuts out the brand and
+burns it first thing, and always turns out beasts I don't want
+directly."
+
+Other men followed the example of Joshua, so that between troubles
+with the black men, troubles with the white men, and the want of a
+market for his stock, the settler's days were full of anxiety and
+misery.  And, in addition, the Government in Sydney was threatening
+him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name of a Commissioner of
+Crown Lands, to whom was entrusted the power of increasing or
+diminishing assessments at his own will and pleasure.  The settler
+therefore bowed down before the lordly tax-gatherer, and entertained
+him in his hut with all available hospitality, with welcome on his
+lips, smiles on his face, and hatred in his heart.
+
+The fees and fines collected by the Commissioners all over New South
+Wales had fallen off in one year to the extent of sixty-five per
+cent; more revenue was therefore required, and was it not just that
+those who occupied Crown lands should support the dignity of the
+Crown?  Then the blacks had to be protected, or otherwise dealt with.
+They could not pay taxes, as the Crown had already appropriated all
+they were worth, viz., their country.  But they were made amenable to
+British law; and in that celebrated case, "Regina v. Jacky Jacky," it
+was solemnly decided by the judge that the aborigines were subjects
+of the Queen, and that judge went to church on the Sabbath and said
+his prayers in his robes of office, wig and all.
+
+Jacky Jacky was charged with aiding and abetting Long Bill to murder
+little Tommy.  He said:
+
+"Another one blackfellow killed him, baal me shoot him."
+
+The court received his statement as equivalent to a plea of "Not
+guilty."
+
+Witness Billy, an aboriginal, said:
+
+"I was born about twenty miles from Sydney.  If I don't tell stories,
+I shall go to Heaven; if I do, I shall go down below.  I don't say
+any prayers.  It is the best place to go up to Heaven.  I learnt
+about heaven and hell about three years ago at Yass plains when
+driving a team there.  Can't say what's in that book; can't read.  If
+I go below, I shall be burned with fire."
+
+Billy was sworn, and said:
+
+"I knew Jacky Jacky and Cosgrove, the bullock driver.  I know Fyans
+Ford.  I know Manifolds.  I went from Fyans Ford with Cosgrove, a
+drove of cattle, and a dray for Manifolds.  I knew Little Tommy at
+Port Fairy.  He is dead.  I saw him dying.  When driving the team, I
+fell in with a lot of blacks.  They asked me what black boy Tommy
+was; told them my brother.  They kept following us two miles and a
+half.  Jacky Jacky said; 'Billy, I must kill that black boy in spite
+of you.'"
+
+Jacky Jacky said sharply, "Borack."
+
+"Jacky Jacky, who was the king, got on the dray, and Little Tommy got
+down; a blackfellow threw a spear at him, and hit him in the side;
+the king also threw a spear, and wounded him; a lot of blacks also
+speared him.  Long Bill came up and shot him with a ball.  Jacky
+Jacky said to Cosgrove:  'Plenty gammon; I must kill that black boy.'
+Little Tommy belonged to the Port Fairy tribe, which had always been
+fighting with Jacky Jacky's tribe."
+
+"It's all gammon," said Jacky Jacky, "borack me, its another
+blackfellow."
+
+"Jacky Jacky, when with the dray, spoke his own language which I did
+not understand.  I was not a friend of Little Tommy.  I was not
+afraid of the Port Fairy tribe.  I am sometimes friend with Jacky
+Jacky's tribe.  If I met him at Yass I can't say whether I should
+spear him or not; they would kill him at the Goulburn River if he
+went there.  Blackfellow not let man live who committed murder."
+
+Are the aboriginals amenable to British law?  Question argued by
+learned counsel, Messrs. Stawell and Barry.
+
+His Honor the Resident Judge said:  "The aboriginals are amenable to
+British law, and it is a mercy to them to be under that control,
+instead of being left to seek vengeance in the death of each other;
+it is a mercy to them to be under the protection of British law,
+instead of slaughtering each other."
+
+Jacky Jacky was found guilty of "aiding and abetting."  The
+principals in the murder were not prosecuted, probably could not be
+found.  Before leaving the court, he turned to the judge and said,
+"You hang me this time?"
+
+He only knew two maxims of British law applicable to his race, and
+these he had learned by experience.  One maxim was "Shoot 'em" and
+the other was "Hang him."
+
+There is abundant evidence to prove that an aboriginal legal maxim
+was, "The stranger is an enemy, kill him."  It was for that reason
+Jacky Jacky killed Little Tommy, who was a stranger, belonging to the
+hostile Port Fairy tribe.
+
+Joshua and Neddy carried on the boiling down business successfully
+for some time, regularly shipping tallow to Melbourne in casks, until
+some busybody began to insinuate that their tallow was contraband.
+Then Joshua took to carrying goods up the country, and Neddy took to
+drink.  He died at the first party given by Mother Murden at her
+celebrated hostelry.
+
+There were at this time about two hundred men, women, and children
+scattered about the neighbourhood of New Leith (afterwards called
+Port Albert), the Old Port, the New Alberton and Tarra Vale.
+Alberton, by the way, was gazetted as a township before the "village"
+of St. Kilda was founded.  There were no licenses issued for the
+various houses of entertainment, vulgarly called "sly grog shops."
+There was no church, no school, no minister, and no music, until
+Mother Murden imported some.  It was hidden in the recesses of a
+barrel organ; and, in order to introduce the new instrument to the
+notice of her patrons and friends, Mother Murden posted on her
+premises a manuscript invitation to a grand ball.  She was anxious
+that everything should be carried out in the best style, and that the
+festive time should commence at least without intoxication.  She therefore
+had one drunken man carried into the "dead room," another to an
+outside shed.  Neddy, the third, had become one of her best
+customers, and therefore she treated him kindly.  He was unsteady on
+his legs, and she piloted him with her own hands to the front door,
+expecting that he would find a place for himself somewhere or other.
+She gave him a gentle shove, said "Good night, Neddy," and closed the
+door.  She then cleared a space for the dancers in her largest room,
+placed the barrel-organ on a small table in one corner, and made her
+toilet.
+
+The guests began to arrive, and Mother Murden received them in her
+best gown at the front door.  Neddy was lying across the threshold.
+
+"It's only Neddy," she said apologetically; "he has been taking a
+little nobbler, and it always runs to his head.  He'll be all right
+by-and-by.  Come in my dears, and take your things off.  You'll find
+a looking-glass in the room behind the bar."
+
+The gentlemen stepped over Neddy, politely gave their hands to the
+ladies, and helped them over the human obstacle.
+
+When everything was ready, Mother Murden sat down by the
+barrel-organ, took hold of the handle, and addressed her guests:
+
+"Now boys, choose your girls."
+
+[ILLUSTRATION 4]
+
+The biggest bully, a "conditional pardon" man of the year 1839, acted
+as master of the ceremonies, and called out the figures.  He also
+appropriated the belle of the ball as his partner.
+
+The dancing began with great spirit, but as the night wore on the
+music grew monotonous.  There were only six tunes in the organ, and
+not all the skill and energy of Mother Murden could grind one more
+out of it.
+
+Neddy lay across the doorway, and was never disturbed.  He did not
+wake in time to take any part in the festive scene, being dead.  Now
+and then a few of the dancers stepped over him, and remarked, "Neddy
+is having a good rest."  In the cool night air they walked to and
+fro, then, returning to the ball-room, they took a little
+refreshment, and danced to the same old tunes, until they were tired.
+
+Mother Murden's first ball was a grand success for all but Neddy.
+
+"No sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet,
+To chase the glowing hours with flying feet."
+
+But morn reveals unsuspected truths, and wrinkled invisible in the
+light of tallow candles.  The first rays of the rising sun fell on
+Neddy's ghastly face, and the "conditional pardon" man said, "Why,
+he's dead and cold."
+
+Mother Murden came to the door with a tumbler in her hand, containing
+a morning nip for Neddy, "to kill the worm," as the Latins say; but
+the worm was dead already.  The merry-makers stood around; the men
+looked serious and the ladies shivered.  They said the air felt
+chilly, so they bade one another good morning and hurried home.
+
+It is hard to say why one sinner is taken and the other left.
+Joshua's time did not arrive until many years afterwards, when we had
+acquitted him at the General Sessions; but that is another story.
+
+
+
+HOW GOVERNMENT CAME TO GIPPSLAND.
+
+At this time there was no visible government in Gippsland.  The
+authorities in Sydney and Melbourne must have heard of the existence
+of the country and of its settlement, but they were content for a
+time with the receipt of the money paid into the Treasury for
+depasturing licenses and for assessments on stock.
+
+In 1840 the Land Fund received in New South Wales amounted to 316,000
+pounds; in 1841 it was only 90,000 pounds; and in 1842 Sir George
+Gipps, in his address to the Council severely reprimanded the
+colonists for the reckless spirit of speculation and overtrading in
+which they had indulged during the two preceding years.  This general
+reprimand had a more particular application to Mr. Benjamin Boyd, the
+champion boomer of those days.
+
+Labourers out of employment were numerous, and contractors were
+informed by 'Gazette' notice that the services of one hundred
+prisoners were available for purposes of public utility, such as
+making roads, dams, breakwaters, harbours, bridges, watchhouses, and
+police buildings.  Assignees of convicts were warned that if they
+wished to return them to the custody of the Government, they must pay
+the expense of their conveyance to Sydney, otherwise all their
+servants would be withdrawn, and they would become ineligible as
+assignees of prisoners in future.
+
+Between the first of July, 1840, and the first of November, 1841,
+26,556 bounty immigrants had been received in Sydney.  The bounty
+orders were suspended in the autumn of the latter year, but in 1842
+Lord Stanley was of opinion that the colony could beneficially
+receive ten thousand more immigrants during the current year.
+
+Many married labourers could find no work in Sydney, and in November,
+1843, the Government requested persons sending wool-drays to the city
+to take families to inland districts gratis.
+
+A regular stream of half-pay officers also poured into the colony,
+and made Sir George's life a burden.  They all wanted billets, and if
+he made the mistake of appointing a civilian to some office, Captain
+Smith, with war in his eye and fury in his heart, demanded an
+interview at once.  He said:
+
+"I see by this morning's 'Gazette' that some fellow of the name of
+Jones has been made a police superintendent, and here am I, an
+imperial officer, used to command and discipline, left out in the
+cold, while that counter-jumper steps over my head.  I can't
+understand your policy, Sir George.  What will my friends of the club
+in London say, when they hear of it, but that the service is going to
+the dogs?"
+
+So Captain Smith obtained his appointment as superintendent of
+police, and with a free sergeant and six convict constables, taken,
+as it were, out of bond, was turned loose in the bush.  He had been
+for twenty years in the preventive service, but had never captured a
+prize more valuable than a bottle of whisky.  He knew nothing
+whatever about horses, and rode like a beer barrel, but he
+nevertheless lectured his troopers about their horses and
+accoutrements.  The sergeant was an old stockrider, and he one day so
+far forgot the rules of discipline as to indulge in a mutinous smile,
+and say:
+
+"Well, captain, you may know something about a ship, but I'll be
+blowed if you know anything about a horse."
+
+That observation was not entered in any report, but the sergeant was
+fined 2 pounds for "insolence and insubordination."  The sum of
+60,899 pounds was voted for police services in 1844, and Captain
+Smith was paid out of it.  All the revenue went to Sydney, and very
+little of it found its way to Melbourne, so that Mr. Latrobe's
+Government was sometimes deprived of the necessaries of life.
+
+Alberton was gazetted as a place for holding Courts of Petty
+Sessions, and Messrs. John Reeve and John King were appointed
+Justices of the Peace for the new district.
+
+Then Michael Shannon met James Reading on the Port Albert Road,
+robbed him of two orders for money and a certificate of freedom, and
+made his way to Melbourne.  There he was arrested, and remanded by
+the bench to the new court at Alberton.  But there was no court
+there, no lock-up, and no police; and Mr. Latrobe, with tears in his
+eyes, said he had no cash whatever to spend on Michael Shannon.
+
+The public journals denounced Gippsland, and said it was full of
+irregularities.  Therefore, on September 13th, 1843, Charles J. Tyers
+was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district.  He
+endeavoured to make his way overland to the scene of his future
+labours, but the mountains were discharging the accumulated waters of
+the winter and spring rainfall, every watercourse was full, and the
+marshes were impassable.
+
+The commissioner waited, and then made a fresh start with six men and
+four baggage horses.  Midway between Dandenong and the Bunyip he
+passed the hut of Big Mat, a new settler from Melbourne, and obtained
+from him some information about the best route to follow.  It began
+to rain heavily, and it was difficult to ford the swollen creeks
+before arriving at the Big Hill.  At Shady Creek there was nothing
+for the horses to eat, and beyond it the ground became treacherous
+and full of crabholes.  At the Moe the backwater was found to be
+fully a quarter of a mile wide, encumbered with dead logs and scrub,
+and no safe place for crossing the creek could be found.  During the
+night the famishing horses tore open with their teeth the packages
+containing the provisions, and before morning all that was left of
+the flour, tea, and sugar was trodden into the muddy soil and
+hopelessly lost; not an ounce of food could be collected.  There was
+no game to be seen; every bird and beast seemed to have fled from the
+desolate ranges.  Mr. Tyers had been for many years a naval
+instructor on board a man-of-war, understood navigation and
+surveying, and, it is to be presumed, knew the distance he had
+travelled and the course to be followed in returning to Port Philip;
+but there were valleys filled with impenetrable scrub, creeks often
+too deep to ford, and boundless morasses, so that the journey was
+made crooked with continual deviations.  If a black boy like
+McMillan's Friday had accompanied the expedition, his native instinct
+would, at such a time, have been worth all the science in the world.
+
+The seven men, breakfastless, turned their backs to Gippsland.  The
+horses were already weak and nearly useless, so they and all the
+tents and camp equipage were abandoned.  Each man carried nothing but
+his gun and ammunition.  All day long they plodded wearily through
+the bush--wading the streams, climbing over the logs, and pushing
+their way through the scrub.  Only two or three small birds were
+shot, which did not give, when roasted, a mouthful to each man.
+
+At night a large fire was made, and the hungry travellers lay around
+it.  Next morning they renewed their journey, Mr. Tyers keeping the
+men from straggling as much as he could, and cheering them with the
+hope of soon arriving at some station.  No game was shot all that
+day; no man had a morsel of food; the guns and ammunition seemed
+heavy and useless, and one by one they were dropped.  It rained at
+intervals, the clothing became soaked and heavy, and some of the men
+threw away their coats.  A large fire was again made at night, but no
+one could sleep, shivering with cold and hunger.
+
+Next morning one man refused to go any further, saying he might as
+well die where he was.  He was a convict accustomed to life in the
+bush, and Mr. Tyers was surprised that he should be the first man to
+give way to despair, and partly by force and partly by persuasion he
+was induced to proceed.  About midday smoke was seen in the distance,
+and the hope of soon obtaining food put new life into the wayfarers.
+But they soon made a long straggling line of march; the strongest in
+the front, the weakest in the rear.
+
+The smoke issued from the chimney of the hut occupied by Big Mat.  He
+was away looking after his cattle, but his wife Norah was inside,
+busy with her household duties, while the baby was asleep in the
+corner.  There was a small garden planted with vegetables in front of
+the hut, and Norah, happening to look out of the window during the
+afternoon, saw a strange man pulling off the pea pods and devouring
+them.  The strange man was Mr. Tyers.  Some other men were also
+coming near.
+
+"They are bushrangers," she said running to the door and bolting it,
+"and they'll rob the hut and maybe they'll murder me and the baby."
+
+That last thought made her fierce.  She seized an old Tower musket,
+which was always kept loaded ready for use, and watched the men
+through the window.  They came into the garden one after another, and
+at once began snatching the peas and eating them.  There was
+something fearfully wild and strange in the demeanour of the men, but
+Norah observed that they appeared to have no firearms and very little
+clothing.  They never spoke, and seemed to take no notice of anything
+but the peas.
+
+"The Lord preserve us," said Norah, "I wish Mat would come."
+
+Her prayer was heard, for Mat came riding up to the garden fence with
+two cattle dogs, which began barking at the strangers.  Mat said:
+
+"Hello, you coves, is it robbing my garden ye are?"
+
+Mr. Tyers looked towards Mat and spoke, but his voice was weak, his
+mouth full of peas, and Mat could not tell what he was saying.  He
+dismounted, hung the bridle on to a post, and came into the garden.
+He looked at the men, and soon guessed what was the matter with them;
+he had often seen their complaint in Ireland.
+
+"Poor craythurs," he said, "it's hungry ye are, and hunger's a
+killing disorder.  Stop ating they pays to wonst, or they'll kill ye,
+and come into the house, and we'll give ye something better."
+
+The men muttered, but kept snatching off the peas.  Norah had
+unbolted the door, and was standing with the musket in her hand.
+
+"Take away the gun, Norah, and put the big billy on the fire, and
+we'll give 'em something warm.  The craythurs are starving.  I
+suppose they are runaway prisoners, and small blame to 'em for that
+same, but we can't let 'em die of hunger."
+
+The strangers had become quite idiotic, and wou'd not leave the peas,
+until Mat lost all patience, bundled them one by one by main force
+into his hut, and shut the door.
+
+He had taken the pledge from Father Mathew before he left Ireland,
+and had kept it faithfully; but he was not strait-laced.  He had a
+gallon of rum in the hut, to be used in case of snake-bite and in
+other emergencies, and he now gave each man a little rum and water,
+and a small piece of damper.
+
+Rum was a curse to the convicts, immigrants, and natives.  Its
+average price was then about 4s. 3d. per gallon.  The daily ration of
+a soldier consisted of one pound of bread, one pound of fresh meat,
+and one-seventh of a quart of rum.  But on this day, to Mr. Tyers and
+his men, the liquor was a perfect blessing.  He was sitting on the
+floor with his back to the slabs.
+
+"You don't know me, Mat?"
+
+"Know ye, is it?  Sure I never clapped eyes on ye before, that I know
+of.  Are ye runaway Government men?  Tell the truth, now, for I am
+not the man to turn informer agin misfortunate craythurs like
+yourselves."
+
+"My name is Tyers.  I passed this way, you may remember, not very long
+ago."
+
+"What!  Mr. Tyers, the commissioner?  Sure I didn't know you from
+Adam.  So ye never went to Gippsland at all?"
+
+"Our horses got at the provisions and spoiled them; so we had to come
+back, and we have had nothing to eat for three days.  There is one
+man somewhere behind yet; I am afraid he will lie down and die.  Do
+you think you could find him?"
+
+"For the love of mercy, I'll try, anyway.  Norah, dear, take care of
+the poor fellows while I go and look for the other man; and mind,
+only to give 'em a little food and drink at a time, or they'll kill
+their wake stomachs with greediness; and see you all do just as Norah
+tells you while I'm away, for you are no better than childer."
+
+Mat galloped away to look for the last man, while his wife watched
+over the welfare of her guests.  She said:
+
+"The Lord save us, and be betune us and harm, but when I seen you in
+the garden I thought ye were bushrangers, and I took up the ould gun
+to shoot ye."
+
+Mat soon found the last man, put him on his horse, and brought him to
+the hut.  Next morning he yoked his bullocks, put all his guests into
+the dray, and started for Dandenong.  On December 23rd, 1843, Mr.
+Tyers and his men arrived in Melbourne, and he reported to Mr.
+Latrobe the failure of his second attempt to reach Gippsland.
+
+While the commissioner and his men were vainly endeavouring to reach
+the new country, seven other men were suffering famine and extreme
+hardships to get away from it.  They had arrived at the Old Port by
+sea, having been engaged to strip bark by Mr. P. W. Walsh, usually
+known in Melbourne as Paddy Walsh.  He had been chief constable in
+Launceston.  Many years before Batman or Fawkner landed in Port
+Philip, parties of whalers were sent each year to strip wattle bark
+at Western Port.  Griffiths and Co. had found the business
+profitable, and Paddy Walsh came to the conclusion that there was
+money to be made out of bark in Gippsland.  He therefore engaged
+seven men and shipped them by schooner, writing to a storekeeper at
+the Old Port to receive the bark, ship it to Melbourne, and supply
+the strippers with the requisite stores.
+
+The seven men landed at the Old Port and talked to the pioneers.
+They listened to their dismal accounts of starvation on roast
+flathead and mutton-birds' eggs, of the ferocity of the blacks, of
+the murder of Macalister, of the misfortunes of Glengarry.  The
+nine-pounder gun still stood at the corner of the company's store,
+pointed towards the scrub, a silent warning to the new men of the
+dangers in store for them.  They took their guns and went about the
+bush looking for wattle trees, but they could not find in any place a
+sufficient quantity to make the business profitable.  There was no
+regular employment to be had, but fortunately the schooner 'Scotia',
+chartered by John King, went ashore in a gale, and four of the
+barkers, all Irishmen obtained a few days' work in taking out her mud
+ballast.  But no permanent livelihood could be expected from
+shipwrecks, and the seven strippers resolved, if possible, to return
+to Melbourne.  They wanted to see Paddy Walsh once more, but they had
+no money, and the storekeeper refused to pay their fare by sea.
+After much negotiation, they obtained a week's rations, and gave all
+the tools they had brought with them to Captain Davy in payment for
+his trouble in landing them at One Tree Hill.  They were informed
+that Brodribb and Hobson had made Western Port in four days on foot,
+and of course they could do the same.  Four of the men were named
+Crow, Sparrow, Fox, and Macnamara; of the other three two were
+Englishmen, Smith and Brown; the third, a native of London, named
+Spiller, installed himself in the office of captain on account of his
+superior knowledge.  He guaranteed to lead the party in a straight
+line to Western Port.  He said he could box the compass; he had not
+one about him, but that made no difference.  He would lay out their
+course every morning; they had to travel westward; the sun rose in
+the east, everybody knew as much as that; so all he had to do was to
+turn his back to the rising sun, and march straight on to Western
+Port which was situated in the west.  The men agreed that Spiller's
+theory was a very good one; they could not think of any objection to
+it.
+
+Each man carried his blanket and rations, his gun and ammunition.
+Every morning Spiller pointed out the course to be taken and led the
+way.  From time to time, with a look of extreme wisdom, he took
+observations of the position of the sun, and studied the direction of
+his own shadow on the ground.  For five days the men followed him
+with great confidence, and then they found that their rations were
+all consumed, and there was no sign of Western Port or any
+settlement.  They began to grumble, and to mistrust their captain;
+they said he must have been leading them astray, otherwise they would
+have seen some sign of the country being inhabited, and they formed a
+plan for putting Spiller's knowledge of inland navigation to the test.
+
+A start was made next morning, the cockney as usual, taking the lead.
+One man followed him, but kept losing ground purposely, merely
+keeping the leader in sight; the others did the same.  Before the
+last man had lost sight of the camp, he could see Spiller in the
+distance walking towards it.  He then uttered a long coo-ee, which
+was answered by every man of the party.  They thought some valuable
+discovery had been made.  One by one they followed the call and were
+soon assembled at the still burning embers they had lately left.
+
+"A nice navigator you are, ain't you, Spiller?  Do you know where you
+are now?" asked Brown.
+
+"Well, I must say there seems to be some mistake," said Spiller.  "I
+came along when I heard the coo-ee, and found myself here.  It is
+most unaccountable.  Here is where we camped last night, sure enough.
+It is most surprising."
+
+"Yes, it is surprising," said Smith.  "You know the compass, don't
+you, you conceited little beggar.  You can box it and make a bee-line
+for Western Port, can't you?  Here you have been circussing us round
+the country, nobody knows where, until we have not a morsel of food
+left; but if I am to be starved to death through you, you miserable
+little hound, I am not going to leave you alive.  What do you say,
+mates?  Let us kill him and eat him.  I'll do the job myself if
+nobody else likes it.  I say nothing could be fairer."
+
+Sparrow, one of the Irishmen, spoke.  He was a spare man, six feet
+high, had a long thin face, a prominent nose, sloping shoulders, mild
+blue eyes, and a most gentle voice.  I knew him after he returned to
+Gippsland and settled there.  He was averse to quarrelling and
+fighting; and, to enable him to lead a peaceable life, he carried a
+short riding whip with a hammer handle, and kept the lash twisted
+round his hand.  He was a conscientious man too, and had a strong
+moral objection to the proposal of killing and eating Spiller; but he
+did not want to offend the company, and he made his refusal as mild
+as possible.
+
+"It's a think I wouldn't like to quarrel about with no man," he said,
+"and the Lord knows I am as hungry as any of you; and if we die
+through this misleading little chap I couldn't say but he would be
+guilty of murdering us, and we might be justified in making use of
+what little there is of him.  But for my part I couldn't take my
+share of the meat--not to-day at any rate, because you may
+disremember it's Friday, and it's agen the laws of the Church to ate
+meat this day.  So I'd propose that we wait till to-morrow, and if we
+grow very wake with the hunger, we can make use of the dog to stay
+our stomachs a little while longer, and something better may turn up
+in the meantime."
+
+"Is it to cook my dog Watch you mean?" asked Crow.  (Here Watch went
+to his master, and lay down at his feet, looking up in his face and
+patting the ground with his tail.)  "I tell you what it is, Sparrow,
+you are not going to ate my dog.  What has the poor fellow done to
+you, I'd like to know?  You may cook Spiller if you like, to-day or
+to-morrow, it's all the same to me--and I grant he well deserves it
+--but if you meddle with Watch you'll have to deal with me."
+
+"It's no use going on this way, mates," said Brown.  "We might as
+well be moving while we have strength enough to do so.  Come along."
+
+The men began to rise to their feet.  Macnamara suddenly snatched
+Spiller's gun, and fired off both barrels; he then said, "Now hand
+over your shot and powder."  Spiller, half scared to death, handed
+them over.
+
+"Now," said Macnamara, "you are my prisoner.  I am going to take care
+of you until you are wanted; and if I see you so much as wink the
+wrong way I'll blow your brains out, if you have any.  Here's your
+empty gun.  Now march."
+
+All the men followed.  The country was full of scrub, and they walked
+through it in Indian file.  Not a bird or beast was killed that day
+or the next.  A consultation was held at night, and it was agreed to
+kill Watch in the morning if nothing else turned up, Crow by this
+time being too hungry to say another word in favour of his dog.  But
+at daylight an eaglehawk was watching them from a tree, and Brown
+shot it.  It was soon put in the ashes, and when cooked was divided
+among the seven.
+
+On the eighth day Macnamara said, "I can smell the ocean."  His name
+means "sons of the sea," and he was born and reared on the shore of
+the Atlantic.  Sand hummocks were soon seen, and the roar of the
+breakers beyond could be heard.  Two redbills were shot and eaten,
+and Spiller and Watch were kept for future use.  On the ninth day
+they shot a native bear, which afforded a sumptuous repast, and gave
+them strength to travel two days longer.  When they camped at night a
+tribe of blacks made a huge fire within a short distance, howling
+their war songs, and brandishing their weapons.  It was impossible to
+sleep or to pass a peaceful night with such neighbours, so they
+crawled nearer to the savages and fired a volley at them.  Then there
+was silence, which lasted all night.  Next morning they found a
+number of spears and other weapons which the blacks had left on the
+ground; these they threw into the fire, and then resumed their
+miserable journey.  On this day cattle tracks were visible, and at
+last, completely worn out, they arrived at Chisholm's station, eleven
+days after leaving One Tree Hill.  They still carried their guns, and
+had no trouble in obtaining food during the rest of their journey to
+Melbourne.
+
+At the same time that Mr. Tyers reported his failure to reach
+Gippsland, the seven men reported to Walsh their return from it.  The
+particulars of these interviews may be imagined, but they were never
+printed, Mr. John Fawkner, with unusual brevity, remarking that
+"Gippsland appears to be sinking into obscurity."
+
+Some time afterwards it was stated that "a warrant had been issued
+for Mr P. Walsh, formerly one of our leading merchants, on a charge
+of fraud committed in 1843.  Warrant returned 'non est inventus'; but
+whether he has left the colony, or is merely rusticating, does not
+appear.  Being an uncertificated bankrupt, it would be a rather
+dangerous experiment, punishable by law with transportation for
+fifteen years."
+
+But Mr. Tyers could not afford to allow Gippsland to sink into
+obscurity; his official life and salary depended on his finding it.
+A detachment of border and native police had arrived from Sydney by
+the 'Shamrock', and some of them were intended as a reinforcement for
+Gippsland, "to strengthen the hands of the commissioner in putting
+down irregularities that at present exist there."
+
+Dr. Holmes was sending a mob of cattle over the mountains, and Mr.
+Tyers ordered his troopers to travel with them, arranging to meet
+them at the head of the Glengarry river.  He avoided this time all
+the obstacles he had formerly encountered by making a sea voyage, and
+he landed at Port Albert on the 13th day of January, 1844.
+
+
+
+GIPPSLAND UNDER THE LAW.
+
+As soon as it was known at the Old Port that a Commissioner of Crown
+Lands had arrived, Davy, the pilot, hoisted a flag on his signal
+staff, and welcomed the representative of law and order with one
+discharge from the nine-pounder.  He wanted to be patriotic, as
+became a free-born Briton.  But he was very sorry afterwards; he said
+he had made a mistake.  The proper course would have been to hoist
+the flag at half-mast, and to fire minute guns, in token of the grief
+of the pioneers for the death of freedom.
+
+Mr. Tyers rode away with a guide, found his troopers at the head of
+the Glengarry, and returned with them over Tom's Cap.  He camped on
+the Tarra, near the present Brewery Bridge, and his black men at
+night caught a number of blackfish, which were found to be most
+excellent.
+
+Next day the commissioner entered on his official duties, and began
+to put down irregularities.  He rode to the Old Port, and halted his
+men in front of the company's store.  All the inhabitants soon
+gathered around him.  He said to the storekeeper:
+
+"My name is Tyers.  I am the Commissioner of Crown Lands.  I want to
+see your license for this store."
+
+"This store belongs to the Port Albert Company," replied John
+Campbell.  "We have no license, and never knew one was required in
+such a place as this."
+
+"You are, then, in illegal occupation of Crown lands, and unless you
+pay me twenty pounds for a license I am sorry to say it will be my
+duty to destroy your store," said Mr. Tyers.
+
+There were two other stores, and a similar demand was made at each of
+them for the 20 pounds license fee, which was paid after some demur,
+and the licenses were signed and handed to the storekeepers.
+
+Davy's hut was the next visited.
+
+"Who owns this building?" asked Mr. Tyers.
+
+"I do," said Davy.  "I put it up myself."
+
+"Have you a license?"
+
+"No, I have not.  Never was asked for one since I came here, and I
+don't see why I should be asked for one now."
+
+"Well, I ask you now.  You are in illegal occupation of Crown lands,
+and you must pay me twenty pounds, or I shall have to destroy your
+hut."
+
+"I hav'nt got the twenty pounds," Davy said:  "never had as much
+money in my life; and I wouldn't pay it to you if I had it.  I would
+like to know what right the Government, or anybody else, has to ask
+me for twenty pounds for putting up a hut on this sandbank?  I have
+been here with my family pretty nigh on to three years; sometimes
+nearly starved to death, living a good deal of the time on birds, and
+'possums, and roast flathead; and what right, in the name of common
+sense, has the Government to send you here to make me pay twenty
+pounds?  What has the Government done for me or anybody else in
+Gippsland?  They have already taken every penny they could get out of
+the settlers, and, as far as I know, have not spent one farthing on
+this side of the mountains.  They did not even know there was such a
+country till McMillan found it.  It belonged to the blacks.  There
+was nobody else here when we came, and if we pay anybody it should be
+the blackfellows.  Besides, if I had had stock, and money enough to
+take up a run, I could have had the pick of Gippsland, twenty square
+miles, for ten pounds; and because I am a poor man you want me to pay
+twenty pounds for occupying a few yards of sand.  Where is the sense
+of that, I'd like to know?  If you are an honest Englishman, you
+ought to be ashamed of yourself for coming here with your troopers
+and carbines and pistols on such a business, sticking up a poor man
+for twenty pounds in the name of the Government.  Why, no bushrangers
+could do worse than that."
+
+"You are insolent, my man.  If you don't pay the money at once I'll
+give you just ten minutes to clear out, and then I shall order my men
+to burn down your hut.  You will find that you can't defy the
+Government with impunity."
+
+"Burn away, if you like, and much good may it do you."  Pointing to
+his whaleboat on the beach, "There's the ship I came here in from
+Melbourne, and that's the ship I shall go back in, and you daren't
+hinder me."
+
+Mr. Reeve was present, watching the proceedings and listening.  He
+had influential friends in Sydney, had a station at Snake Ridge, a
+special survey on the Tarra, and he felt that it would be advisable
+to pour oil on the troubled waters.  He said:
+
+"I must beg of you, Mr. Tyers, to excuse Davy.  He is our pilot, and
+there is no man in Gippsland better qualified for that post, nor one
+whose services have been so useful to the settlers both here and at
+the lakes.  We have already requested the Government to appoint him
+pilot at the port; we are expecting a reply shortly, and it will be
+only reasonable that he should be allowed a site for his hut."
+
+"You see, Mr. Reeve, I must do my duty," said Mr. Tyers, "and treat
+all alike.  I cannot allow one man to remain in illegal occupation,
+while I expel the others."
+
+"The settlers cannot afford to lose their pilot, and I will give you
+my cheque for the twenty pounds," said Mr. Reeve.
+
+"Twelve months afterwards the cheque was sent back from Sydney, and
+Mr. Reeve made a present of it to Davy.
+
+"At this time the public journals used very strong language in their
+comments on the action of Governors and Government officials, and
+complaint was made in the House of Commons that the colonial press
+was accustomed to use "a coarseness of vituperation and harshness of
+expression towards all who were placed in authority."  But gentlemen
+were still civil to one another, except on rare occasions, and then
+their language was a strong as that of the journals, e.g.:
+
+"I, Arthur Huffington, surgeon, residing at the station of Mr. W.
+Bowman, on the Ovens River, do hereby publicly proclaim George
+Faithful, settler on the King River, to be a malicious liar and a
+coward.
+
+"Ovens River, March 6th, 1844.
+
+"You will find a copy of the above posted at every public-house
+between the Ovens and Melbourne, and at the corner of every street in
+the town."
+
+This defiance could not escape the notice of the lawyers, and they
+soon got the matter into their own hands.
+
+Huffington brought an action of trespass on the case for libel
+against Faithful, damages 2,000 pounds.
+
+It was all about branding a female calf; "duffing it" was the vulgar
+term, and to call a settler "duffer" was more offensive than if you
+called him a murderer.
+
+Mr. Stawell opened the pleadings, brushing up the fur of the two
+tiger cats thus:
+
+"Here you have Mr. Faithful--the son of his father--the pink of
+superintendents--the champion of Crown Lands Commissioners--the
+fighting man of the plains of Goulburn--the fastidious Beau Brummel
+of the Ovens River,"--and so on.  Arthur and George were soon sorry
+they had not taken a shot at each other in a paddock.
+
+The calf was a very valuable animal--to the learned counsel.  On
+January 30th, 1844, Davy became himself an officer of the Government
+he had denounced so fiercely, being appointed pilot at Port Albert by
+Sir George Gipps, who graciously allowed him to continue the receipt
+of the fee already charged, viz., three pounds for each vessel
+inwards and outwards.
+
+There were eight other huts on the sandbank, but as not one of the
+occupants was able to pay twenty pounds, their names are not worth
+mentioning.  After making a formal demand for the money, and giving
+the trespassers ten minutes to take their goods away, Mr. Tyers
+ordered his men to set the buildings on fire, and in a short time
+they were reduced to ashes.  The commissioner then rode back to his
+camp with the eighty pounds, and wrote a report to the Government of
+the successful inauguration of law and order within his jurisdiction,
+and of the energetic manner in which he had commenced to put down the
+irregularities prevalent in Gippsland.
+
+The next duty undertaken by the commissioner was to settle disputes
+about the boundaries of runs, and he commenced with those of Captain
+Macalister, who complained of encroachments.  To survey each run with
+precision would take up much time and labour, so a new mode of
+settlement was adopted.  By the regulations in force no single
+station was to consist of more than twenty square miles of area,
+unless the commissioner certified that more was required for stock
+possessed by applicant.  This regulation virtually left everything to
+the goodwill and pleasure of the commissioner, who first decided what
+number of square miles he would allot to a settler, then mounted his
+horse, to whose paces he was accustomed, and taking his compass with
+him, he was able to calculate distances by the rate of speed of his
+horse almost as accurately as if he had measured them with a chain.
+These distances he committed to paper, and he gave to every squatter
+whose run he thus surveyed a description of his boundaries, together
+with a tracing from a chart of the district, which he began to make.
+He allotted to Captain Macalister all the country which he claimed,
+and a dispute between Mr. William Pearson and Mr. John King was
+decided in favour of the latter.
+
+It was reported in Sydney that Mr. Tyers was rather difficult of
+access, but it was believed he had given satisfaction to all and
+everyone with whom he had come in contact, except those expelled from
+the Old Port, and a few squatters who did not get as much land as
+they wanted.  There were also about a hundred escaped prisoners in
+the country, but these never complained that the commissioner was
+difficult of access.
+
+The blacks were still troublesome, and I heard Mr. Tyers relate the
+measures taken by himself and his native police to suppress their
+irregularities.  He was informed that some cattle had been speared,
+and he rode away with his force to investigate the complaint.  He
+inspected the cattle killed or wounded, and then directed his black
+troopers to search for tracks, and this they did willingly and well.
+Traces of natives were soon discovered, and their probable
+hiding-place in the scrub was pointed out to Mr. Tyers.  He therefore
+dismounted, and directing two of his black troopers armed with
+carbines to accompany him, he held a pistol in each hand and walked
+cautiously into the scrub.  The two black troopers discharged their
+carbines.  The commissioner had seen nothing to shoot at, but his
+blacks soon showed him two of the natives a few yards in front, both
+mortally wounded.  Mr. Tyers sent a report of the affair to the
+Government, and that was the end of it.
+
+This manner of dealing with the native difficulty was adopted in the
+early days, and is still used under the name of "punitive
+expeditions."  That judge who prayed to heaven in his wig and robes
+of office, said that the aborigines were subjects of the Queen, and
+that it was a mercy to them to be under her protection.  The mercy
+accorded to them was less than Jedburgh justice:  they were shot
+first, and not even tried afterwards.
+
+The settlers expelled from the sandbank at the Old Port required some
+spot on which they could put up their huts without giving offence to
+the superior powers.  The Port Albert Company excised a township from
+their special survey, and called it Victoria; Mr. Robert Turnbull
+bought 160 acres, the present Port Albert, at 1 pound per acre, and
+offered sites for huts to the homeless at the rate of 1 pound per
+annum, on the condition that they carried on no business.  The stores
+were removed from the Old Port to the new one, and the first
+settlement in Gippsland was soon again overgrown with scrub and ferns.
+Mr. Reeve offered farms to the industrious at the rental of one bushel
+of wheat to the acre.  For some time the township of Tarraville was a
+favourite place of residence, because the swamps which surrounded
+Port Albert were impassable for drays during the winter months; the
+roads to Maneroo and Melbourne mentioned in Mr. Reeve's advertisement
+were as yet in the clouds.  Captain Moore came from Sydney in the
+revenue cutter 'Prince George' to look for smugglers, but he did not
+find any.  He was afterwards appointed collector for Gippsland, and
+he came down again from Sydney with a boat's crew of six prisoners, a
+free coxswain, and a portable house, in which he sate for the receipt
+of Customs.
+
+For a time the commissioner resided at Tarraville, and then he went
+to the lakes and surveyed a township at Flooding Creek, now called
+Sale.  His black troopers were in some cases useful, in others they
+were troublesome; they indulged in irregularities; there was no doubt
+that they drank rum procured in some inexplicable manner.  They could
+not be confined in barracks, or remain continually under the eye of
+their chief, and it was not always possible to discover in what
+manner they spent their leisure hours.  But occasionally some
+evidence of their exploits came to light, and Mr. Tyers became aware
+that his black police considered themselves as living among hostile
+tribes, in respect of whom they had a double duty to perform, viz.,
+to track cattle spearers at the order of their chief, and on their
+own account to shoot as many of their enemies as they could
+conveniently approach.
+
+There were now ladies as well as gentlemen in Gippsland, and one day
+the commissioner sailed away in his boat with a select party.  After
+enjoying the scenery and the summer breezes for a few hours, he cast
+his eyes along the shore in search of some romantic spot on which to
+land.  Dead wood and dry sticks were extremely scarce, as the blacks
+used all they could find at their numerous camps.  He was at length
+so fortunate as to observe a brown pile of decayed branches, and he
+said, "I think we had better land over there; that deadwood will make
+a good fire"; and the boat was steered towards it.  But when it
+neared the land the air was filled with a stench so horrible that Mr.
+Tyers at once put the boat about, and went away in another direction.
+Next day he visited the spot with his police, and he found that the
+dead wood covered a large pile of corpses of the natives shot by his
+own black troopers, and he directed them to make it a holocaust.
+
+The white men brought with them three blessings for the natives--
+rum, bullets, and blankets.  The blankets were a free gift by the
+Government, and proved to the eyes of all men that our rule was kind
+and charitable.  The country was rightfully ours; that was decided by
+the Supreme Court; we were not obliged to pay anything for it, but
+out of pure benignity we gave the lubras old gowns, and the black men
+old coats and trousers; the Government added an annual blanket, and
+thus we had good reason to feel virtuous.
+
+We also appointed a protector of the aborigines, Mr. G. A. Robinson,
+at a salary of 500 pounds per annum.  He took up his residence on the
+then sweet banks of the Yarra, and made excursions in various
+directions, compiling a dictionary.  He started on a tour in the
+month of April, 1844, making Alberton his first halting-place, and
+intending to reach Twofold Bay by way of Omeo.  But he found the
+country very difficult to travel; he had to swim his horse over many
+rivers, and finally he returned to Melbourne by way of Yass, having
+added no less than 8,000 words to his vocabulary of the native
+languages.  But the public journals spoke of his labours and his
+dictionary with contempt and derision.  They said, "Pshaw! a few
+mounted police, well armed, would effect more good among the
+aborigines in one month than the whole preaching mob of protectors in
+ten years."
+
+When a race of men is exterminated somebody ought to bear the blame,
+and the easiest way is to lay the fault at the door of the dead; they
+never reply.
+
+When every blackfellow in South Gippsland, except old Darriman, was
+dead, Mr. Tyers explained his experience with the Government
+blankets.  They were now no longer required, as Darriman could obtain
+plenty of old clothes from charitable white men.  It had been the
+commissioner's duty to give one blanket annually to each live native,
+and thus that garment became to him the Queen's livery, and an emblem
+of civilisation; it raised the savage in the scale of humanity and
+encouraged him to take the first step in the march of progress.  His
+second step was into the grave.  The result of the gift of blankets
+was that the natives who received them ceased to clothe themselves
+with the skins of the kangaroo, the bear or opossum.  The rugs which
+they had been used to make for themselves would keep out the rain,
+and in them they could pass the wettest night or day in their
+mia-mias, warm and dry.  But the blankets we kindly gave them by way
+of saving our souls were manufactured for the colonial market, and
+would no more resist the rain than an old clothes-basket.  The
+consequence was that when the weather was cold and wet, the
+blackfellow and his blanket were also cold and wet, and he began
+to shiver; inflammation attacked his lungs, and rheumatism his limbs,
+and he soon went to that land where neither blankets nor rugs are
+required.  Mr. Tyers was of opinion that more blacks were killed by
+the blankets than by rum and bullets.
+
+Government in Gippsland was advancing.  There were two justices of
+the peace, the commissioner, black and white police, a collector of
+customs, a pilot, and last of all, a parson--parson Bean--who
+quarrelled with his flock on the question of education.  The sheep
+refused to feed the shepherd; he had to shake the dust off his feet,
+and the salvation of souls was, as usual, postponed to a more
+convenient season. At length Mr. Latrobe himself undertook to pay a
+visit to Gippsland.  He was a splendid horseman, had long limbs like
+King Edward Longshanks, and was in the habit of making dashing
+excursions with a couple of troopers to take cursory views of the
+country.  He set out in the month of May, 1844, and was introduced to
+the settlers in the following letter by "a brother squatter":
+
+"Gentlemen, look out.  The jackal of your oppressor has started on a
+tour.  For what purpose?  To see the isolated and miserable domiciles
+you occupy and the hard fare on which you subsist?  No!  but to see
+if the oppressor can further apply the screw with success and
+impunity.  You have located yourselves upon lands at the risk of life
+and property, paying to the Government in license and assessment fees
+for protection which you have never received, and your quiesence
+under such a system of robbery has stimulated your oppressor to levy
+on you a still greater amount of taxation, not to advance your
+interests, but to replenish his exhausted treasury.  Should you
+strain your impoverished exchequer to entertain your (in a family
+sense) worthy superintendent, depend upon it he will recommend a
+more severe application of the screw.  Give him, therefore, your
+ordinary fare, salt junk and damper, or scabby mutton, with a pot of
+Jack the Painter's tea, in a black pot stirred with a greasy knife."
+
+Mr. Latrobe and Sir George bore all the weight of public abuse, and
+it was heavy.  Now it is divided among many Ministers, each of whom
+carries his share with much patience, while our Governor's days in
+the "Sunny South" are "days of pleasantness, and all his paths are
+peace."
+
+No gentleman could accept hospitality like that suggested by "a
+brother squatter," and Mr. Latrobe sought refuge at the Port Albert
+Hotel, Glengarry's imported house.  Messrs. Tyers, Raymond, McMillan,
+Macalister, and Reeve were pitching quoits at the rear of the
+building under the lee of the ti-tree scrub.  Davy, the pilot, was
+standing near on duty, looking for shipping with one eye and at the
+game with the other.  The gentlemen paused to watch the approaching
+horsemen.  Mr. Latrobe had the royal gift of remembering faces once
+seen; and he soon recognised all those present, even the pilot whom
+he had seen when he first arrived in Melbourne.  He shook hands with
+everyone, and enquired of Davy how he was getting on with the
+piloting.  He said:  "Now gentlemen, go on with your game.  I like
+quoits myself and I should be sorry to interrupt you."  Then he went
+into the hotel and stayed there until morning.  He no doubt obtained
+some information from Mr. Tyers and his friends, but he went no
+further into the country.  Next morning he started with his two
+troopers on his return to Melbourne, and the other gentlemen mounted
+their horses to accompany him; but the "worthy superintendent" rode
+so fast that he left everyone behind and was soon out of sight, so
+his intended escort returned to port.  Mr. Latrobe's view of
+Gippsland was very cursory.
+
+Rabbit Island was stocked with rabbits in 1839 by Captain Wishart,
+the whaler.  In 1840 he anchored his barque, the 'Wallaby', in Lady's
+Bay, and lanced his last whale off Horn Point.  A great, grey shark
+happened to be cruising about the whaling ground, the taste of blood
+was on the sea, and he followed the wounded whale; until, going round
+in her flurry, she ran her nose against Wishart's boat and upset it.
+Then the shark saw strange animals in the water which he had never
+seen before.  He swam under them and sniffed at their tarry trousers,
+until they landed on the rocks:  all but one, Olav Pedersen, a strong
+man but a slow swimmer.  A fin arose above the water between Olav and
+the shore.  He knew what that meant, and his heart failed him.  Three
+times he called for help and Wishart threw off his wet clothes and
+plunged into the sea.  The shark was attracted to the naked captain,
+and he bit a piece out of one leg.  Both bodies were recovered; that
+of Wishart was taken to Hobarton, and Olav was buried on the shore at
+the foot of a gum tree.  His epitaph was painted on a board nailed to
+the tree, and was seen by one of the pioneers on his first voyage to
+the Old Port in 1841.
+
+Before Gippsland was brought under the law, Rabbit Island was
+colonised by two whalers named Page and Yankee Jim, and Page's wife
+and baby.  They built a bark hut, fenced in a garden with a
+rabbit-proof fence, and planted it with potatoes.  Their base of
+supplies for groceries was at the Old Port.
+
+They were monarchs of all they surveyed,
+From the centre all round to the sea.
+
+They paid no rent and no taxes.  Sometimes they fished, or went to
+the seal islands and brought back seal skins.  In the time of the
+potato harvest, and when that of the mutton birds drew near, there
+were signs of trouble coming from the mainland.  Fires were visible
+on the shore at night, and smoke by day; and Page suspected that the
+natives were preparing to invade the island.  At length canoes
+appeared bobbing up and down on the waves, but a shot from the rifle
+sent them back to the shore.  For three days and nights no fire or
+smoke was seen, and the two whalers ceased to keep watch.  But early
+next morning voices were heard from the beach below the hut; the
+blacks were trying to launch the boat.  Page and Jim shouted at them
+and went down the cliff; then the blacks ran away up the rocks, and
+were quickly out of sight.  Presently Mrs. page came running out of
+the hut half dressed, and carrying her baby; she said she heard the
+blacks jabbering in the garden.  In a short time the hut was in a
+blaze, and was soon burned to the ground.  The two men then launched
+their boat and went to the Port.  Davy shipped a crew of six men, and
+started in his whaleboat for the island; but the wind was blowing
+hard from the west, and they did not arrive at the island until next
+day.  The blacks had then all disappeared; and, as the men wanted
+something to eat, Davy told them to dig up some potatoes, while he
+went and shot six rabbits.  When he returned with his game, the men
+said they could not find any potatoes.  He said, "That's all
+nonsense," and went himself to the garden; but he could not find one
+potato.  The blackfellows had shipped the whole crop in their canoes,
+so that there was nothing but rabbit for breakfast.
+
+In this manner the reign of the Page dynasty came to an abrupt
+termination.  The baby heir-apparent grew up to man's estate as a
+private citizen, and became a fisherman at Williamstown.
+
+
+
+UNTIL THE GOLDEN DAWN.
+
+After Mr. Latrobe's short visit to Port Albert, Gippsland was for
+many years ruled by Mr. Tyers with an authority almost royal.  Davy,
+after his first rebellious outburst at the burning of the huts, and
+his subsequent appointment as pilot, retired to the new Port Albert
+and avoided as much as possible the haunts of the commissioner.  On
+the salt water he was almost as powerful and imperious as was his
+rival by land.  He ruled over all ships and shipwrecks, and allowed
+no man to say him nay.
+
+Long Mason, the first overseer of Woodside Station, took over a cargo
+of fat cattle to Hobarton for his brother.  After receiving the cash
+for the cattle he proceeded to enjoy himself after the fashion of the
+day.  The shepherd knocked down his cheque at the nearest groggery
+and then returned to his sheep full of misery.  Long Mason had nearly
+300 pounds, and he acted the part of the prodigal brother.  He soon
+made troops of friends, dear brethren and sisters, on whom he
+lavished his coin; he hired a band of wandering minstrels to play his
+favourite music, and invited the beauty an chivalry of the convict
+capital to join him in his revels.  When his money was expended he
+was put on board a schooner bound for Port Albert, on which Davis (of
+Yarram) and his family were passengers.  For two days he lay in his
+bunk sick and suffering.  As the vessel approached the shore his
+misery was intense.  He demanded drink, but no one would give him
+any.  He began to search his pockets for coin, but of the 300 pounds
+only one solitary sixpence was left.  With this he tried to bribe the
+cabin boy to find for him one last taste of rum; but the boy said,
+"All the grog is locked up, and the captain would welt me if I gave
+you a single drop."
+
+So Long Mason landed at the Port with his sixpence, was dismissed by
+his brother from Woodside Station, and became a wandering swagman.
+
+The next overseer for Woodside voyaged to Port Albert in the brig
+'Isabella' in the month of June, 1844.  This vessel had been employed
+in taking prisoners to Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur until  the
+government built a barque called the 'Lady Franklin'; then Captain
+Taylor bought the brig for the cattle trade.  On this voyage he was
+anxious to cross the bar for shelter from a south-east gale, and he
+did not wait for the pilot, although the vessel was deeply laden;
+there was not water enough for her on the old bar; she struck on it,
+and the heavy easterly sea threw her on the west bank.  It was some
+time before the pilot and his two men could get aboard, as they had
+to fight their way through the breakers to leeward.  There was too
+much sea for the boat to remain in safety near the ship, and Davy
+asked the captain to lend him a hand to steer the boat back to Sunday
+Island.  The second mate went in her, but she was capsized directly.
+The ship's boat was hanging on the weather davits, and it was no use
+letting her down to windward on account of the heavy sea.  Davy ran
+out to the end of the jibboom with a lead line.  He could see the
+second mate hanging on to the keel of the capsized boat, and his two
+men in the water.  The ebb sea kept washing them out, and the heavy
+sea threw them back again, and whenever they could get their heads
+above water they shouted for help.  Davy threw the lead towards them
+from the end of the jibboom, but they were too far away for the line
+to reach them.  At length the ship's boat was launched to leeward,
+four men and the mate got into her, but by this time the two boatmen
+were drowned.  While the ship's boat was running through the breakers
+past the pilot boat, the first mate grabbed the second mate by the
+collar, held on to him until they were in smooth water, and then
+hauled him in.  It was too dangerous for the seamen to face the
+breakers again, so the pilot sang out to them to go to Snake Island.
+
+About two o'clock in the afternoon the vessel lay pretty quiet on the
+ebb tide; a fire was lighted in the galley, and all hands had
+something to eat.  There was not much water in the cabin; but, as
+darkness set in, and the flood tide made, the seas began to come
+aboard.  There was a heavy general cargo in the hold, six steerage
+passengers, four men and two women (one of whom had a baby), and one
+cabin passenger, who was going to manage Woodside Station in place of
+Long Mason, dismissed.
+
+The sea began to roll over the bulwarks, and the brig was fast
+filling with water.  For some time the pumps were kept going, but the
+water gained on them, and all hands had to take to the rigging.  The
+two women and the baby were first helped up to the foretop; then the
+pilot, counting the men, found one missing.
+
+"Captain," he said, "what has become of the new manager?"
+
+"Oh, he is lying in his bunk half-drunk."
+
+"Then," replied Davy, "he'll be drowned!"
+
+He descended into the cabin and found the man asleep, with the water
+already on a level with his berth.
+
+"Why the blazes don't you get up and come out of this rat-hole?" he
+said.  "Don't you see you are going to be drowned?"
+
+The manager looked up and smiled.
+
+"Please, don't be so unkind, my dear man," he replied.  "Let me sleep
+a little longer, and then I'll go on deck."
+
+Davy standing with the water up to his belt, grew mad.
+
+"Come out of that, you confounded fool," he said.
+
+He dragged him out of his bunk into the water, and hauled him up the
+companion ladder, and with the help of the men took him up the
+rigging, and lashed him there out of reach of the breakers.
+
+All the rest of the men went aloft, and remained there during the
+night.  Their clothing was soaked with water, and the weather was
+frosty and bitterly cold.  Just before daylight, when the tide had
+ebbed, and the sea had gone down, the two women and the baby were
+brought below from the foretop, and all hands descended to the deck.
+They wanted to make a fire, but everything was wet, and they had to
+cut up some of the standing rigging which had been out of reach of
+the surf before they could find anything that would burn.  With that
+a fire was made in the galley, and the women and baby were put
+inside.  At sunrise it was found that the sea had washed up a ridge
+of sand near the ship, and, not wishing to pass another tide on
+board, all the crew and passengers went over the side, and waded
+through the shallow water until they came to a dry sand-pit.  They
+were eleven in number, including the women and baby, and they waited
+until the boat came over from Snake Island and took them to the port.
+A little of the cargo was taken out of the 'Isabella', but in a few
+days she went to pieces.
+
+Captain Taylor went to Hobarton, and bought from the insurers the
+schooner 'Sylvanus' which had belonged to him, and having been
+wrecked was then lying ashore on the coast.  He succeeded in floating
+her off without much damage, and he ran her in the cattle trade for
+some time.  He then sold her to Boys & Hall, of Hobarton, went to
+Sydney, bought the schooner 'Alert', and sailed her in the same trade
+until the discovery of gold.  All the white seamen went off to the
+diggings, and he hired four Kanakas to man his craft.
+
+On his last trip to Port Albert the pilot was on board, waiting for
+the tide.  The pilot boat had been sent back to Sunday Island, the
+ship's boat was in the water, and was supposed to have been made fast
+astern by the crew.  At break of day the pilot came on deck, and on taking
+a look round, he saw that the longboat had got away and was drifting
+towards Rabbit Island.  He roared down the companion to Captain
+Taylor, "Your longboat's got adrift, and is off to Rabbit Island."
+
+In another minute Captain Taylor was on deck.  He gazed at his
+distant longboat and swore terribly.  Then he took a rope and went
+for his four Kanakas; but they did not wait for him; they all plunged
+into the sea and deserted.  The captain and pilot stood on deck
+watching them as they swam away, hand over hand, leaving foaming
+wakes behind like vessels in full sail.  They were making straight
+for the longboat, and Davy said, "They will go away in her and leave
+us here in the lurch."  But the captain said, "I think not."  He was
+right.  The Kanakas brought back the boat within hail of the
+schooner, and after being assured by the captain that he would not
+ropes-end them, they climbed aboard.
+
+On returning to Hobarton Captain Taylor was seized with the gold
+fever.  He laid up the 'Alert', went with his four men to Bendigo,
+and was a lucky digger.  Then he went to New Zealand, bought a farm,
+and ploughed the waves no more.
+
+In January, 1851, some buoys were sent to Port Albert and laid down
+in the channel.  The account for the work was duly sent to the chief
+harbour master at Williamstown, but he took no notice of it, nor made
+any reply to several letters requesting payment.  There was something
+wrong at headquarters, and Davy resolved to see for himself what it
+was.  Moreover, he had not seen Melbourne for ten years, and he
+yearned for a change.  So, without asking leave of anyone, he left
+Port Albert and its shipping "to the sweet little cherub that sits up
+aloft, and takes care of the life of Poor Jack," and went in his boat
+to Yanakie Landing.  Mrs. Bennison lent him a pony, and told him to
+steer for two bald hills on the Hoddle Ranges; he could not see the
+hills for the fog, and kept too much to port, but at last he found a
+track.  He camped out that night, and next morning had breakfast at
+Hobson's Station.  He stayed one night at Kilcunda, and another at
+Lyle's station, near the bay.  He then followed a track which
+Septimus Martin had cut through the tea-tree, and his pony became
+lame by treading on the sharp stumps, so that he had to push it or
+drag it along until he arrived at Dandenong, where he left it at an
+inn kept by a man named Hooks.  He hired a horse from Hooks at five
+shillings a day.  The only house between Dandenong and Melbourne was
+once called the South Yarra Pound, kept by Mrs. Atkinson.  It was
+near Caulfield, on the Melbourne side of "No-good-damper swamp."
+Some blackfellows had been poisoned there by a settler who wanted to
+get rid of them. He gave them a damper with arsenic in it, and when
+dying they said, "No good, damper."
+
+Davy landed in Melbourne on June 17th, 1851, put his horse in Kirk's
+bazaar, and stayed at the Queen's Head in Queen Street, where Sir
+William Clarke's office is now.  The landlady was Mrs. Coulson, a
+widow.  Next morning he was at the wharf before daylight, and went
+down the Yarra in the first steamer for Williamstown.  He found that
+Captain Bunbury, the chief harbour-master, had gone away in the
+buoy-boat, a small schooner called the 'Apollo', so he hired a
+whale-boat, and overtook the schooner off the Red Bluff.  When he
+went on board he spoke to Ruffles, master of the schooner, and said:
+
+"Is the harbour-master aboard?  I want to see him."
+
+"Yes, but don't speak so loud, or you'll wake him up," replied
+Ruffles.  "He is asleep down below."
+
+Davy roared out, "I want to wake him up.  I have come two hundred
+miles on purpose to do it.  I want to get a settlement about those
+buoys at Port Albert.  I am tired of writing about them."
+
+This woke up Bunbury, who sang out:
+
+"What's the matter, Ruffles?  What's all that noise about?"
+
+"It's the pilot from Port Albert.  He wants to see you, sir, about the
+buoys."
+
+"Tell him to come down below."  Davy went.
+
+Bunbury was a one-armed naval lieutenant, the head of the harbour
+department, and drew the salary.  He had subordinate officers.  A
+clerk at Williamstown did his clerical work, and old Ruffles
+navigated the 'Apollo' for him through the roaring waters of Port
+Philip Bay, while he lay in his bunk meditating on something.  He
+said:
+
+"Oh, is that you, Pilot?  Well, about those buoys, eh?  That's all
+right.  All you have to do is go to my office in Williamstown, tell
+my clerk to fill in a form for you, take it to the Treasury, and you
+will get your money."
+
+Davy went back to the office at Williamstown, had the form made out
+by the clerk, and took it to Melbourne in the steamer, the last trip
+she made that day.  By this time the Treasury was closed. It was
+situated in William Street, where the vast Law Courts are now; and
+Davy was at the door when it was opened next morning, the first
+claimant for money.  A clerk took his paper, looked over it, smiled,
+and said it was of no use whatever without Bunbury's signature.  Davy
+started for Williamstown again in the second boat, found that Bunbury
+had gone away again in the 'Apollo', followed him in a whale boat,
+overtook him off St. Kilda, obtained his signature, and returned to
+the Treasury.  Captain Lonsdale was there, but he said it was too
+late to pay money that day, and also that the form should be signed
+by someone at the Public Works office.
+
+Then Davy's patience was gone, and he spoke the loud language of the
+sea.  The frail building shook as with an earthquake.  Mr. Latrobe
+was in a back room writing one of those gubernatorial despatches
+which are so painful to read.  He had to suspend the pangs of
+composition, and he came into the front room to see what was the
+matter.  Davy told him what was the matter in very unofficial words.
+Mr. Latrobe listened patiently and then directed Captain Lonsdale to
+keep the Treasury open until the account was paid.  He also said the
+schooner 'Agenoria' had been wrecked on the day that Davy left Port
+Albert, and requested him to return to duty as soon as possible, lest
+other vessels might be wrecked for want of a pilot.  "The sweet
+little cherub that sits up aloft" could not be depended on to pilot
+vessels over the bar.
+
+Davy took his paper to the Public Works office in Queen Street.  Here
+he found another officer bursting with dignity, who said:  "There is
+already one signature too many on this account."
+
+"Can't you scratch it out, then?" said Davy.
+
+"We don't keep hens to scratch in this office," replied the dignified
+one, who took a ruler, and having drawn a line through the
+superfluous name, signed his own.  When Davy went again to the
+Treasury with his account, Captain Lonsdale said he had not cash on
+hand to pay it, and deducted twenty pounds, which he sent to Port
+Albert afterwards, when the Government had recovered its solvency.
+His Honour the Superintendent might have assumed the classical motto,
+"Custos sum pauperis horti."
+
+Davy put the money in his pocket, went to the Queen's Head, and, as
+it was already dark, he hired a man for ten shillings to show him the
+road through the wet wilderness of Caulfield and round No-good-damper
+Swamp.  It was half-past eleven when he arrived at Hook's Hotel, and,
+as his pony was still too lame to travel, he bought the horse he had
+hired, and set out with the Sale mailman.  At the Moe he found Angus
+McMillan, William Montgomery, and their stockmen, afraid to cross the
+creek on account of the flood, and they had eaten all their
+provisions.  Before dark a black gin came over in a canoe from the
+accommodation hut on the other side of the creek, having heard the
+travellers cooeying.  They told her they wanted something to eat, but
+it was too dangerous for her to cross the water again that night.  A
+good fire was kept burning but it was a wretched time.  It rained
+heavily, a gale of wind was blowing, and trees kept falling down in
+all directions.  Scott, the hut-keeper, sent the gin over in the
+canoe next morning with a big damper, tea, sugar, and meat, which
+made a very welcome breakfast for the hungry travellers.
+
+They stayed there two days and two nights, and as the flood was still
+rising, they resolved to try to cross the creek at all risks,
+preferring to face the danger of death by drowning rather than to die
+slowly of starvation.  Each man took off his clothes, all but his
+flannel shirt and drawers, strapped them to the pommel of his saddle,
+threw the stirrup irons over the saddle, and stopped them with a
+string under the horse's belly to keep them from getting foul in the
+trees and scrub.  In some places the horses had to climb over logs
+under water, sometimes they had to swim, but in the end they all
+arrived safely at the hut.  They were very cold, and ravenously
+hungry; and while their clothes were drying before a blazing fire,
+they drank hot tea and ate up every scrap of food, so that Scott was
+obliged to accompany them to the next station for rations.  He left
+the gin behind, having no anxiety about her.  While he was away she
+could feed sumptuously on grubs, crabs, and opossums.
+
+In March, 1852, when everybody was seized with the gold fever, Davy
+took it in the natural way.  He again left Port Albert without a
+pilot and went to Melbourne to resign his office.  But Mr. Latrobe
+promised to give him a salary of 500 pounds a year and a boat's crew
+of five men and a coxswain.  The men were to have twelve-and-six a
+day and the coxswain fifteen shillings.
+
+By this time the gold fever had penetrated to the remotest parts of
+Gippsland, and from every squatting station and every lonely hut on
+the plains and mountains men gathered in troops.  They were leaving
+plenty of gold behind them at Walhalla and other places.  The first
+party Davy met had a dray and bullocks.  They were slowly cutting a
+road through the scrub, and their team was the first that made its
+way over the mountains from Gippsland to Melbourne.  Their captain
+was a lady of unbounded bravery and great strength--a model
+pioneeress, with a talent for governing the opposite sex.*  When at
+home on her station she did the work of a man and a woman too.  She
+was the one in a thousand so seldom found.  She not only did the
+cooking and housework, but she also rode after stock, drove a team,
+killed fat beasts, chopped wood, stripped bark, and fenced.  She did
+not hanker after woman's rights, nor rail against the male sex.  She
+was not cultured, nor scientific, nor artistic, nor aesthetic.  She
+despised all the ologies.  All great men respected her, and if the
+little ones were insolent she boxed their ears and twisted their
+necks.  She conquered all the blackfellows around her land with her
+own right arm.  At first she had been kind to them, but they soon
+became troublesome, wanted too much flour, sugar, and beef, and
+refused to go away when she ordered them to do so.  Without another
+word she took down her stockwhip, went to the stable, and saddled her
+horse.  Then she rounded up the blackfellows like a mob of cattle and
+started them.  If they tried to break away, or to hide themselves
+among the scrub, or behind tussocks, she cut pieces out of their
+hides with her whip.  Then she headed them for the Ninety-mile Beach,
+and landed them in the Pacific without the loss of a man.  In that
+way she settled the native difficulty.  The Neills, with a bullock
+team, the Buckleys and Moores, with horse teams, followed the track
+of the leading lady.  The station-owners stayed at home and watched
+their fat stock, which soon became valuable, and was no longer boiled.
+
+[Footnote]  *Mrs. Buntine; died 1896.
+
+On December 31st, 1851, there were in Tasmania twenty thousand and
+sixty-nine convicts.  Six months afterwards more than ten thousand
+had left the island, and in three years forty-five thousand eight
+hundred and eighty-four persons, principally men, had left for the
+diggings.  It was evident that Sir Wm. Denison would soon have nobody
+to govern but old women and children, a circumstance derogatory to
+his dignity, so he wrote to England for more convicts and immigrants,
+and he pathetically exclaimed, "To whom but convicts could
+colonists look to cultivate their lands, to tend their flocks, to
+reap their harvests?"  In the month of May, 1853, Sir William wrote
+that "the discovery of gold had turned him topsy-turvy altogether,"
+and he rejoiced that no gold had been discovered in his island.  Then
+the Legislature perversely offered a reward of five thousand pounds
+to any man who would discover a gold field in Tasmania, but, as a
+high-toned historian observes, "for many years they were so fortunate
+as not to find it."
+
+The convicts stole boats at Launceston, and landed at various places
+about Corner Inlet.  Some were arrested by the police and sent back
+to Tasmania.  Many called at Yanakie Station for free rations.  Mr.
+Bennison applied for police protection, and Old Joe, armed with a
+carbine, was sent from Alberton as a garrison.  Soon afterwards a
+cutter of about fifteen tons burden arrived at Corner Inlet manned by
+four convicts, who took the mainsail ashore and used it as a tent.
+They then allowed the cutter to drift on the rocks under Mount
+Singapore, and she went to pieces directly.  While trying to find a
+road to Melbourne, they came to Yanakie Station, and they found
+nobody at the house except Joe, Mrs. Bennison, and an old hand.  It
+was now Joe's duty to overawe and arrest the men, but they, although
+unarmed, overawed and arrested Joe.  He became exceedingly civil, and
+after Mrs. Bennison had supplied them with provisions he showed them
+the road to Melbourne.  They were arrested a few days afterwards at
+Dandenong and sent back to the island prison.
+
+
+
+A NEW RUSH.
+
+----
+
+"And there was gathering in hot haste."
+
+When gold was first discovered at Stockyard Creek, Griffiths, one of
+the prospectors, came to me with the intention of registering the
+claim, under the impression that I was Mining Registrar. He showed me
+a very good sample of gold.  As I had not then been appointed
+registrar, he had to travel sixty miles further before he could
+comply with the necessary legal formalities.  Then the rush began.
+Old diggers came from all parts of Victoria, New South Wales,
+Queensland, and New Zealand; also men who had never dug before, and
+many who did not intend to dig--pickpockets, horse thieves, and
+jumpers.  The prospectors' claim proved the richest, and the jumpers
+and the lawyers paid particular attention to it.  The trail of the
+old serpent is over everything.  The desire of the jumpers was to
+obtain possession of the rich claim, or of some part of it; and the
+lawyers longed for costs, and they got them.  The prospectors paid,
+and it was a long time before they could extricate their claim from
+the clutches of the law.  They found the goldfield, and they also
+soon found an unprofitable crop of lawsuits growing on it.  They were
+called upon to show cause before the warden and the Court of Mines
+why they should not be deprived of the fruit of their labours.  The
+fact of their having discovered gold, and of having pegged out and
+registered their claim, could not be denied; but then it was argued
+by counsel most learned in mining law that they had done something
+which they should have omitted to do, or had omitted to do something
+else which they should have done, frail human beings as they were,
+and therefore their claim should be declared to belong to some
+Ballarat jumper.  I had to sit and listen to such like legal logic
+until it made me sick, and ashamed of my species.  Of course, justice
+was never mentioned, that was out of the question; if law and justice
+don't agree, so much the worse for justice.
+
+Gold was next found at Turton's Creek, which proved one of the
+richest little gullies ever worked by diggers.  It was discovered by
+some prospectors who followed the tracks which Mr. Turton had cut
+over the scrubby mountains, and so they gratefully gave his name to
+the gully, but I never heard that they gave him any of the gold which
+they found in it.  A narrow track from Foster was cut between high
+walls of impenetrable scrub, and it soon became like a ditch full of
+mud, deep and dangerous.  If the diggers had been assured that they
+would find heaven at the other end of it, they would never have tried
+to go, the prospect of eternal happiness having a much less attraction
+for them than the prospect of gold; but the sacred thirst made them
+tramp bravely through the slough.  The sun and wind never dried the
+mud, because it was shut in and overshadowed by the dense growth of
+the bush.  All tools and provisions were carried through it on the
+backs of horses, whose legs soon became caked with mud, and the hair
+was taken off them as clean as if they had been shaved with a razor.
+Most of them had a short life and a hard one.
+
+The digging was quite shallow, and the gully was soon rifled of the
+gold.  At this time there was a mining registrar at Foster, as the
+new diggings at Stockyard Creek were named, and some men, after
+pegging out their claim at Turton's Creek, went back down the ditch
+to register them at Foster.  It was a great mistake.  It was neither
+the time nor the place for legal forms or ceremony.  Time was of the
+essence of the contract, and they wasted the essence.  Other and
+wiser men stepped on to their ground while they were absent,
+commenced at once to work vigorously, and the original peggers, when
+they returned, were unable to dislodge them.  Peter Wilson pegged out
+a claim, and then rode away to register it.  He returned next day and
+found two men on it who had already nearly worked it out.
+
+"This claim is mine, mates," said Peter; "I pegged it out yesterday,
+and I have registered it.  You will have to come out."
+
+One of the men looked up at Peter and said, "Oh! your name is Peter,
+isn't it?  I hear you are a fighting man.  Well, you just come down
+off that bare-legged horse, and I'll kill you in a couple of minutes,
+while I take a spell."
+
+"It's no use your talking that way; you'll see I'll have the law on
+you, and you'll have to pay for it," replied Peter.
+
+"You can go, Peter, and fetch the law as soon as you like.  I don't
+care a tinker's curse for you or the law; all I want is the profits,
+and I'm going to have them."
+
+This profane outlaw and his mate got the profits, cleared all the
+gold out of Peter's claim, and took it away with them.
+
+It was reported in Melbourne that there was no law or order at
+Turton's Creek; that the diggers were treating the mining statutes
+and regulations with contempt; that the gold went to the strong, and
+the weakest went to the wall.  Therefore, six of the biggest
+policemen in  Melbourne were selected, stretched out, and measured in
+Russell Street barracks, and were then ordered to proceed to Turton's
+Creek and vindicate the majesty of the law.  They landed from the
+steamer on the wharf at Port Albert, and, being armed with carbines
+and revolvers, looked very formidable.  They proceeded on their
+journey in the direction of Foster, and it was afterwards reported
+that they arrived at Turton's Creek, and finding everybody quiet and
+peaceable, they came back again, bringing with them neither jumpers
+nor criminals.  It was said, however, that they never went any
+further than the commencement of the ditch.  They would naturally, on
+viewing it, turn aside and camp, to recruit their energies and
+discuss the situation.  Although they were big constables, it did not
+follow they were big fools.  They said the Government ought to have
+asphalted the ditch for them.  It was unreasonable to expect men,
+each six foot four inches in height, carrying arms and accoutrements,
+which they were bound by the regulations to keep clean and in good
+order, to plunge into that river of mud, and to spoil all their
+clothes.
+
+Turton's Creek was soon worked out, and before any professional
+jumpers or lawyers could put their fingers in the pie, the plums were
+all gone.  The gully was prospected from top to bottom, and the hills
+on both sides were tunnelled, but no more gold, and no reefs were
+found.  There was much speculation by geologists, mining experts, and
+old duffers as to the manner in which the gold had contrived to get
+into the creek, and where it came from; where it went to, the diggers
+who carried it away in their pockets knew well enough.
+
+The diggers dispersed; some went to Melbourne to enjoy their wealth;
+some stayed at Foster to try to get more; some died from the extreme
+enjoyment of riches suddenly acquired, and a few went mad.  One of
+the latter was brought to Palmerston, and remained there a day or two
+on his way to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum.  Having an inborn thirst
+for facts, I conversed with him from the wooden platform which
+overlooks the gaol yard.  He was walking to and fro, and talking very
+cheerfully to himself, and to the world in general.  He spoke well,
+and had evidently been well educated, but his ideas were all in
+pieces as it were, and lacked connection.  He spoke very
+disrespectfully of men in high places, both in England and the
+Colonies; and remarked that Members of Parliament were the greatest
+rascals on the face of the earth.  No man of sound mind would ever
+use such language as that.
+
+Some years afterwards, while I was Collector of Customs at Port
+Albert, I received a letter from Melbourne to the following purport:
+
+"Yarra Bend Asylum,
+----------188--
+
+"Strictly private and confidential
+
+"Sir,--You are hereby ordered to take possession of and detain
+every vessel arriving at Port Albert.  You will immediately proceed
+on board each of them, and place the broad arrow abaft the foremast
+six feet above the deck.  You will thus cut off all communication
+with the British Empire.  I may state that I am the lawful heir to
+the title and estates of a Scottish dukedom, and am deprived of the
+possession and enjoyment of my rightful station and wealth by the
+machinations of a band of conspirators, who have found means to
+detain me in this prison in order to enjoy my patrimony.  You will
+particularly observe that you are to hold no communication whatever
+with the Governor of this colony, as he is the paid agent of the
+conspirators, and will endeavour to frustrate all efforts to obtain
+my rights.  You will also be most careful to withhold all information
+from the Duke of Dunsinane, who is a member of the junior branch of
+my family, and at the head of the conspiracy.  You will proceed as
+soon as possible to enrol a body of men for the purpose of effecting
+my deliverance by force of arms.  As these men will require payment
+for their services, you will enter the Bank of Victoria at Port
+Albert, and seize all the money you will find there, the amount of
+which I estimate at ten thousand pounds, which will be sufficient for
+preliminary expenses.  You will give, in my name, to the manager of
+the bank, a guarantee in writing for repayment of the money, with
+current rate of interest added, when I recover the dukedom and
+estates.  Be careful to explain to him that you take the money only
+as a loan, and that will prevent the bank from laying any criminal
+charge against you.  Should anything of the kind be in contemplation,
+you will be good enough to report progress to me as soon as possible,
+and I will give you all necessary instructions as to your future
+proceedings.
+
+"I may mention that in seeking to obtain my title and estates, I am
+influenced by no mean or mercenary considerations; my sole desire is
+to benefit the human race.  I have been employing all my leisure
+hours during the last nine years in perfecting a system of philosophy
+entirely new, and applicable to all times, to all nations, and to all
+individuals.  I have discovered the true foundation for it, which,
+like all great inventions, is so simple that it will surprise the
+world it was never thought of before.  It is this:  "Posito
+impossibili sequitur quidlibet."  My philosophy is founded on the
+firm basis of the Impossible; on that you can build anything and
+everything.  My great work is methodical, divided into sections and
+chapters, perfect in style, and so lucid in argument that he who runs
+may read and be enlightened.  I have counted the words, and they
+number so far seven hundred and two thousand five hundred and
+seventy-eight (702,578).  Five years more will be required to
+complete the work; I shall then cause it to be translated into every
+language of the world, and shipped at the lowest rate of tonnage for
+universal distribution gratis.  This will ensure its acceptance and
+its own beauty and intrinsic merits will secure its adoption by all
+nations, and the result will be human happiness.  It will supersede
+all the baseless theories of science, religion, and morality which
+have hitherto confounded the human intellect.
+
+"Extract from my Magnum Opus.
+
+"We may reasonably suppose that matter is primordially self-existent,
+and that it imbued itself with the potentiality of life.  It
+therefore produced germs.  A pair of germs coalesced, and formed a
+somewhat discordant combination, the movements in which tended
+towards divergence.  They attracted and enclosed other atoms, and,
+progressing through sleep and wakefulness, at last arrived at
+complete satisfaction, or perfect harmonic combination.  This
+harmonic combination is death.  We may say then, in brief, that
+growth is simply discordant currents progressing towards harmony.
+One question may be briefly noticed.  It has been asked, when did
+life first appear on the earth?  We shall understand now that the
+question is unnecessary.  Life first appeared on the earth when the
+earth first appeared as an unsatisfied atom seeking combination.  The
+question is rather, when did the inanimate first appear?  It appeared
+when the first harmonic combination was effected.  The earth is
+indeed to be considered as having grown up through the life that is
+inherent in it.  Man is the most concentrated and differentiated
+outgrowth of that life.  Mankind is, so to speak, the brain of the
+earth, and is progressing towards the conscious guidance of all its
+processes."
+
+"Dunsinane."
+
+It was not clear on what ground this noble duke based his authority
+over me; but I had been so long accustomed to fulfil the behests of
+lunatics of low degree that I was able to receive those of an
+afflicted lord with perfect equanimity. But as I could not see that
+my obedience would be rewarded with anything except death or
+Pentridge, I refrained from action.  I did not place the broad arrow
+abaft of anything or anybody, nor did I make a levy on the cash in
+the Bank of Victoria.
+
+
+GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.
+
+"A pleasing land of drowsihed it was,
+And dreams that wave before the half-shut eye."
+
+For twelve years I did the Government stroke in Her Majesty's Court
+at Colac, then I was ordered to make my way to Gippsland.
+
+The sun of wisdom shone on a new ministry.  They observed that many
+of their officers were destitute of energy, and they resolved to
+infuse new life into the service, by moving its members continually
+from place to place.  But officials live long, and the most robust
+ministry dies early, and the wisdom of one cabinet is foolishness to
+the next.
+
+I took root so deeply in the soil of Gippsland that I became
+immoveable.  Twice the Government tried to uproot me, but I remained
+there to the end of my official days.
+
+Little reliable information about the country or its inhabitants was
+to be had, so I fondly imagined that in such a land, secured from
+contamination by the wicked world outside, I should find a people of
+primeval innocence and simplicity, and the long-forgotten lines
+returned to my memory:
+
+"Beatus ille qui procul negotils,
+Ut prisca gens mortalium."
+
+It was summer time, and the weather was serene and beautiful, when in
+the grey dusk of the evening we sailed through the Rip at Port Philip
+Heads.  Then began the troubles of the heaving ocean, and the log of
+the voyage was cut short.  It ran thus:
+
+"The ship went up, and the ship went down; and then we fell down, and
+then we was sick; and then we fell asleep; and then we was at Port
+Albert; and that's all I knows about it."
+
+I walked along the one street past the custom house, the post-office,
+and the bank, about three hundred yards and saw nothing beyond but
+tea-tree and swamps, through which ran a roughly-metalled road,
+leading apparently to the distant mountains.  There was nothing but
+stagnation; it was the deadest seaport ever seen or heard of.  There
+were some old stores, empty and falling to pieces, which the owners
+had not been enterprising enough to burn for the insurance money; the
+ribs of a wrecked schooner were sticking out of the mud near the
+channel; a stockyard, once used for shipping cattle, was rotting
+slowly away, and a fisherman's net was hanging from the top rails to
+dry.  Three or four drays filled with pigs were drawn up near the
+wharf; these animals were to form part of the steamer's return cargo,
+one half of her deck space being allotted to pigs, and the other half
+to passengers.  In case of foul weather, the deck hamper, pigs and
+passengers, was impartially washed overboard.
+
+An old man in a dirty buggy was coming along the road, and all the
+inhabitants and dogs turned out to look and bark at him, just as they
+do in a small village in England, when the man with the donkey-cart
+comes in sight.  To allay my astonishment on observing so much
+agitation and excitement, the Principal Inhabitant introduced
+himself, and informed me that it was a busy day at the Port, a kind
+of market day, on account of the arrival of the steamer.
+
+I began sorrowfully to examine my official conscience to discover for
+which of my unatoned-for sins I had been exiled to this dreary land.
+
+Many a time in after years did I see a stranger leave the steamer,
+walk, as I had done, to the utmost extremity of the seaport, and
+stand at the corner of the butcher's shop, gazing on the swamps, the
+tea-tree, and the far-away wooded hills, the Strelezcki ranges.  The
+dismal look of hopeless misery thatstole over his countenance was
+pitiful to behold.  After recovering the power of speech, his first
+question was, "How is it possible that any man could ever consent to
+live in a hole like this?"  Here the Principal Inhabitant intervened,
+and poured balm on the wounded spirit of the stranger.  He gently
+reminded him that first impressions are not always to be relied on;
+and assured him that if he would condescend to take up his abode with
+us for two or three years, he would never want to live anywhere else.
+The climate was delicious, the best in the world; it induced a
+feeling of repose, and bliss, and sweet contentment.  We had no ice
+or snow, or piercing blasts in winter; and the heat of summer was
+tempered by the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, which gently
+lapped our lovely shores.  The land, when cleared, was as rich and
+fertile as the farmer's heart could wish, yielding abundant pasturage
+both in summer and winter.  The mountains sent down to us unfailing
+supplies of the purest water; we wanted no schemes of irrigation, for
+
+"Green are our fields and fair our flowers,
+Our fountains never drumlie."
+
+We had no plagues of locust, no animal or insect pests to destroy our
+crops or herbage.  Rabbits had been introduced and turned loose at
+various times, but, instead of multiplying until they had become as
+numerous as the sand on the seashore, as had been the case in other
+parts of Australia, in Gippsland they invariably died; and it had
+been abundantly proved that rabbits had no more chance of living
+there than snakes in Ireland.  And with regard to the salubrity of
+the climate, the first settlers lived so long that they were
+absolutely tired of life.  Let him look at the cemetery, if he could
+find it.  After thirty years of settlement it was almost uninhabited
+--neglected and overgrown with tussocks and scrub for want of use.
+
+It will be gathered from this statement of the Principal Inhabitant
+that Gippsland had really been discovered and settled about thirty
+years before; but mountains and sea divided it from the outside
+world, and, on account of the intense drowsiness and inactivity which
+the delicious air and even temperature of the climate produced, the
+land and its inhabitants had been forgotten and unnoticed until it
+had been rediscovered, and its praises sung by the enterprising
+Minister of the Crown before mentioned.
+
+Following the example of the cautious cat when introduced into a
+strange house, I investigated every corner of the district as far as
+the nature of the country would permit; and I found that it contained
+three principal corners or villages about three miles apart, at each
+of which the police magistrate and clerk had to attend on certain
+days, business or no business, generally the latter.  It was, of
+course, beneath the dignity of a court to walk officially so far
+through the scrub; so the police magistrate was allowed sixty pounds
+per annum in addition to his salary, and the clerk whom I relieved
+fifty pounds, to defray the expense of keeping their horses.
+
+"Away went Gilpin, and away
+Went Gilpin's hat and wig."
+
+I bought a waggonette, and then began to look for a horse to draw it.
+As soon as my want became known it was pleasing to find so many of my
+neighbours willing to supply it.  Cox, the gaoler, said he knew of a
+horse that would just suit me.  It belonged to Binns, an
+ex-constable, who was spending a month in gaol on account of a little
+trouble that had come upon him.  Cox invited me into his office, and
+brought Binns out of his cell.
+
+"Yes," said Binns "I have a horse, and there's not another like him
+on the island," (these men always meant Van Diemen's Land when they
+said "the island," forgetting occasionally that they had crossed the
+straits, and were in a land of freedom) "as good a goer as ever
+carried a saddle, or wore a collar.  I wouldn't sell him on no
+account, only you see I'm hard up just now."
+
+"What is his age?" I enquired.
+
+"Well, he's just rising ten.  He has been used a bit hard, but you
+won't overwork him, and he'll do all the law business you want as
+easy as winking. He's the best trotter on the island, and has won
+many a stake for me.  When I took Johnny-come-lately to gaol in
+Melbourne for stealing him, he brought me back in less time than any
+horse ever did the distance before or since.  And you can have him
+dirt cheap.  I'll take ten pounds for him, and he's worth twenty
+pounds of any man's money."
+
+Lovers' vows and horsedealers' oaths are never literally true; it is
+safer to receive them as lies.  I thought it would be prudent to try
+this trotter before buying him, so Binns signed an order, in a very
+shaky hand, to the man in charge of his farm, to let me have the
+horse on trial.  When I harnessed and put him in between the shafts
+he was very quiet indeed.  I took a whip, not for the purpose of
+using it, but merely for show; a horse that had won so many races
+would, of course, go without the lash.
+
+When I was seated and requested him to start, he began walking very
+slowly, as if he had a load of two tons weight behind him, and I
+never weighed so much as that.  I had to use the whip, and at last
+after a good deal of reflection he began to trot, but not with any
+speed; he did not want to win anything that day.  I remarked that his
+ears looked dead; no sound or sight of any kind disturbed the peace
+of his mind.  He evidently knew this world well and despised it;
+nothing in it could excite his feelings any more.
+
+Halfway up the Water Road I met Bill Mills, a carrier.  He stopped
+his team and looked at mine.
+
+"Have you bought that horse, Mister?" he said.
+
+"Not yet; I am only trying him," I replied.  "Do you know him?"
+
+"Know him?  I should think I did.  That's old Punch.  I broke him
+into harness when he was three off.  He nearly killed me; ran away
+with me and my dog-cart among the scrub at the racecourse swamp, and
+smashed it against a honeysuckle."
+
+"Is that long ago?" I enquired.
+
+"Long ago?  Let me see.  That horse is twenty year old if he's a day.
+He'll not run away with you now; no fear; he's quite safe.  Good-day,
+Mister.  Come on, Star;" and Bill touched his leader with his whip.
+
+When I arrived at the court-house, I made a search in the cause list
+book, and found that Johnny-come-lately had been sent to gaol just
+sixteen years before for stealing Old Punch, so I restored that
+venerable trotter to its owner.
+
+I had soon more horses offered to me for trial, every old screw
+within twenty miles being brought to me for inspection.  The next
+animal I harnessed belonged to Andrew Jackson, and was brought by
+Andrew Jackson, junior, who said his father could let me have it for
+a month on trial.  Jackson, junior, was anxious to go away without
+the horse, but I told him to wait a bit while I put on the harness.
+The animal was of a mouse colour, very tall, something like a
+giraffe; and by the time I got him between the shafts, I could see
+that he was possessed by a devil of some kind.  It might be a winged
+one who would fly away with me; so, in order to have a clear course,
+I led him through the gateway into the middle of the road, and while
+Jackson, junior, held his head, I mounted carefully into the trap.  I
+held the lines ready for a start, and after some hesitation the
+giraffe did start, but he went tail foremost.  I tried to reverse the
+engine, but it would only work in one direction.  He backed me into
+the ditch, and then across it on to the side path, then against the
+fence, bucking at it, and trying to go through and put me in the
+Tarra.  I told Andrew, junior, to take the giraffe home to his
+parent, and relate what he had seen.
+
+My next horse was a black one from Sale, and he also was possessed of
+a devil, but one of a different species.  He was named Gilpin, and
+the very name ought to have been a warning to me if I had had sense
+enough to profit by it.  Just as I sat down, and took the reins, and
+was going to observe what he would do, he suddenly went away at full
+gallop.  I tried to pull him in, but he put his chin against his
+chest, and the harder I pulled the faster he flew.  The road was full
+of ruts, and I was bumped up and down very badly.  My hat went away,
+but, for the present, my head kept its place.  I managed to steer
+safely as far as the bridge across the Tarra but, in going over it,
+the horse's hoofs and whirling wheels sounded like thunder, and
+brought out the whole population of Tarraville to look at me.  It was
+on a Sunday afternoon; some good people were singing hymns in the
+local chapel, and as I passed the turn of the road, they left the
+anxious benches, came outside in a body, and gazed at me, a
+bare-headed and miserable Sabbath-breaker going swiftly to perdition.
+I also was on a very anxious bench.  But now there was a long stretch
+of good road before me, and I made good use of it.  Instead of
+pulling the horse in, I let him go, and encouraged him with the whip
+to go faster, being determined to let him gallop until either he or
+the sun went down.  Then the despicable wretch slackened his pace,
+and wanted to come to terms.  So I wheeled him round and whipped him
+without mercy, making him gallop all the way home again.  I did not
+buy him.
+
+But the next horse I tried was comparatively blameless, so I bought
+him, and at the end of the first month sent in a claim to the Law
+Department for the usual allowance.  I was curtly informed that the
+amount had been reduced from fifty pounds to ten pounds for my horse,
+although sixty pounds was still allowed to the other horse for
+travelling the same distance, the calculation evidently being based
+on the supposition that the police magistrate's horse would eat six
+times as much as mine.  Remonstrance was vain, and I found I had
+burdened myself with an animal, possessing no social or political
+influence whatever.  I knew already that the world was governed
+without wisdom, and I now felt that it was also ruled with extreme
+meanness.
+
+And even after my horse was condemned to starve on ten pounds per
+annum, the cost of justice was still extravagant.  Without reckoning
+the expense incurred in erecting and maintaining three court houses,
+and three police stations, and paying three policemen for doing next
+to nothing, I ascertained from the cause lists that it cost the
+Government fourteen pounds sterling every time we fined Terry, the
+cobbler, five shillings for being drunk; and Terry did not always pay
+the fines.  What ails British law is dignity, and the insufferable
+expense attending it.  The disease will never be cured until a
+strong-minded Chief Justice shall be found, who has sense enough to
+sit on the bench in his native hair, and to take off his coat when
+the thermometer rises to eighty degrees.  It was in that manner Judge
+Winstanley kept court at Waterloo in Illinois, and we had there
+quicker justice, cheaper laws, and better manners than those which
+this southern hemisphere yet exhibits.  As to the lawyers, if we did
+not like them, we could lynch them, so they were sociable and civil.
+Moreover, Prairie de Long was discovered and settled nearly twenty
+years before Australia Felix was heard of.
+
+The three villages had a life-long feud with, and a consuming
+jealousy of, each other.  Until my arrival I was not aware that there
+were three such places as Palmerston, Alberton, and Tarraville,
+claiming separate and rival existences.  I had a notion that they
+were merely straggling suburbs of the great city and seaport, Port
+Albert.  But it was a grievous mistake.  I asked a tall young lady at
+the hotel, who brought in some very salt fish that took the skin off
+the roof of my mouth, if she could recommend the society of these
+villages, and if she would favour me with her opinion as to which
+would be the best place to select as a residence, and she said, "The
+people there are an 'orrid lot."  This was very discouraging; but, on
+making further enquiries, I found she only expressed the opinion
+which the inhabitants of these centres of population held of each
+other; and it was evident that I should have to demean myself with
+prudence, and show no particular affection for one place more than
+for another, or trouble would ensue.  Therefore, as soon as occasion
+offered, I took a house and paddock within easy distance of all the
+three corners, so that when the Government allowance had reduced my
+horse to a skeleton, I might give him a spell on grass, and travel to
+the courts on foot.  The house was on a gentle rise, overlooking a
+rich river flat.  It had been built by a retainer of Lord Glengarry,
+who had declined to follow any further the fortunes of his chief when
+he had closed his dairying operations at Greenmount.  A tragedy had
+been enacted in it some years before, and a ghost had often since
+been seen flitting about the house and grounds on moonlight nights.
+This gave an aristocratic distinction to the property, which was very
+pleasing, as it is well known that ghosts never haunted any mansions
+or castles except such as have belonged to ancient families of noble
+race.  I bought the estate on very reasonable terms, no special
+charge being made for the ghost.
+
+The paddock had been without a tenant for some time, but I found it
+was not unoccupied.  A friendly neighbour had introduced his flock of
+sheep into it, and he was fattening them cheaply.  I said, "Tityre,
+tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fayi, be good enough to round up your
+sheep and travel."  Tityrus said that would be all right; he would
+take them away as soon as they were ready for the butcher.  It would
+be no inconvenience to me, as my horse would not be able to eat all
+the grass.  The idea of paying anything did not occur to him; he was
+doing me a favour.  He was one of the simple natives.  As I did not
+like to take favours from an entire stranger, the sheep and the
+shepherd sought other pastures beyond the winding Tarra.
+
+The dense tea-tree which bordered the banks of the river was the home
+of wild hogs, which spent the nights in rooting up the soil and
+destroying the grass.  I therefore armed myself with a gun charged
+with buckshot, and went to meet the animals by moonlight.  I lay in
+ambush among the tussocks.  One shot was enough for each hog; after
+receiving it he retired hastily into the tea-tree and never came out
+again.
+
+After I had cleared my land from sheep and pigs, the grass began to
+grow in abundance; and passing travellers, looking pensively over the
+fence, were full of pity for me because I had not stock enough to
+eat the grass.  One man had a team of bullocks which he was willing
+to put in; another had six calves ready to be weaned; and a third
+friend had a horse which he could spare for a spell.  All these were
+willing to put in their stock, and they would not charge me anything.
+They were three more of the simple natives.
+
+I would rather buy forty cows than one horse, because, even allowing
+for the cow's horns, the horse has so many more points.  I wanted a
+good cow, a quiet milker, and a farmer named Ruffy offered to sell me
+one.  He was very rough indeed, both in words and work.  He showed me
+the cow, and put her in the bail with a big stick; said she was as
+quiet as a lamb, and would stand to be milked anywhere without a
+leg-rope.  "Here Tom," he roared to his son, "bring a bucket, and
+come and milk Daisy without the rope, and show the gentleman what a
+quiet beast she is."  Tom brought a bucket, placed the stool near the
+cow, sat down, and grasped one of the teats.  Daisy did not give any
+milk, but she gave instead three rapid kicks, which scattered Tom,
+the bucket, and the stool all over the stockyard.  I could not think
+of anything that it would be safe to say under the circumstances, so
+I went away while the farmer was picking up the fragments.
+
+
+GOVERNMENT OFFICERS IN THE BUSH.
+
+"Satan finds some mischief still
+For idle hands to do."
+
+Although I had to attend at three courts on three days of each week,
+my duties were very light, and quite insufficient to keep me out of
+mischief; it was therefore a matter of very great importance for me
+to find something else to do.  In bush townships the art of killing
+time was attained in various ways.  Mr. A. went on the street with a
+handball, and coaxed some stray idler to join him in a game.  He was
+a young man of exceptional innocence, and died early, beloved of the
+gods.  Mr. B. kept a pair of sticks under his desk in the court
+house, and made a fencing school of the space allotted to the public.
+Some of the police had been soldiers, and were quite pleased to prove
+their skill in arms, and show how fields were won.  As a result there
+were more breaches of the peace inside the court than outside.  Mr.
+C. tried to while away his lonely hours by learning to play on a
+violin, which he kept concealed in a corner between a press and the
+wall of his office.  He executed music, and doubled the terrors of
+the law.  Intending litigants stood transfixed with horror when they
+approached the open door of his office, and listened to the wails and
+long-drawn screeches which filled the interior of the building; and
+every passing dog sat down on its tail, and howled in sympathetic
+agony with the maddening sounds.
+
+But the majority of the officials condemned to live in the dreary
+townships tried to alleviate their misery by drinking and gambling.
+The Police Magistrate, the Surveyor, the Solicitor, the Receiver of
+Revenue, the Police Inspector, and the Clerk of Courts, together with
+one or two settlers, formed a little society for the promotion of
+poker, euchre, and other little games, interspersed with whiskies.
+It is sad to recall to mind the untimely end at which most of them
+arrived.  Mr. D. was found dead on the main road; Mr. E. shot himself
+through the head; Mr. F. fell asleep in the bush and never woke; and
+Mr. G. was drowned in a waterhole.  One officer was not quite so
+unfortunate as some of his friends.  His score at the Crook and Plaid
+became so long that he began to pass that hotel without calling.
+Polly, the venerable landlady, took offence at such conduct, and was
+daily on the watch for him.  When she saw him passing, which he
+always did at a rapid pace, she hobbled to the door, and called after
+him, "Hey, hey!"  Then the gentleman twirled his cane, whistled a
+lively tune, looked up, first to the sky, and then to the right and
+left, but never stopped, or looked back to Polly behind him.  At last
+his creditors became so troublesome, and his accounts so
+inexplicable, that he deserted the public service, and took refuge
+across the Murray.
+
+Mr. H. fell into the habit of borrowing his collections to pay his
+gambling debts.  He was allowed a certain number of days at the
+beginning of each month to complete his returns, and send in his
+cash.  So he made use of the money collected during the days of grace
+to repay any sums he had borrowed from the public cash during the
+preceding month.  But the cards were against him.  One morning an
+Inspector of Accounts from Melbourne appeared unexpectedly in his
+office.
+
+In those days there were no railways and no telegraphs.  Their
+introduction was an offensive nuisance to us.  The good old times
+will never come again, when we could regulate our own hours of
+attendance, take unlimited leave of absence, and relieve distress by
+having recourse to the Government cash.  When Grimes was
+Auditor-General every officer was a gentleman and a man of honour.
+In the bush no bank account was kept, as there was no bank within
+fifty or a hundred miles; and it was an implied insult to expect a
+gentleman to produce his cash balance out of his pocket.  As a matter
+of courtesy he expected to be informed by letter two or three weeks
+beforehand when it was intended to make an official inspection of his
+books, in order that he might not be absent, nor taken unawares.
+
+When the Inspector appeared, Mr. H. did not lose his presence of
+mind, or show any signs of embarrassment.  He said he was glad to see
+him (which was a lie), hoped he had had a pleasant journey through
+the bush; asked how things were going on in Melbourne, and made
+enquiries about old friends there.  But all the while he was
+calculating chances.  He had acquired the valuable habit of the
+gambler and speculator, of talking about one thing while he was
+thinking about another.  His thoughts ran on in this style:  "This
+fellow (he could not think of him as a gentleman) wants to see my
+cash; haven't got any; must be near five hundred pounds short by this
+time; can't borrow it' no time to go round' couldn't get it if I did'
+deuced awkward; shall be given in charge; charged with larceny or
+embezzlement or something; can't help it' better quit till I think
+about it."  So apologising for his absence for a few minutes on
+urgent business, he went out, mounted his horse, and rode away to the
+mountains.
+
+The inspector waited five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes.  He
+made enquiries, and finding that Mr. H. had gone away, he examined
+the books and vouchers, and concluded that there should be a cash
+balance of more than four hundred pounds payable to revenue.  He
+looked about the office for the cash, but did not find any.  Then the
+police began to look for Mr. H., but week after week passed by, and
+Mr. H. was neither seen nor heard of.
+
+There were only two ways of leaving South Gippsland that could be
+considered safe; one was by sea from Port Albert, the other by the
+road over the mountains.  If anyone ventured to desert the beaten
+track, and tried to escape unseen through the forest, he was likely
+to be lost, and to be starved to death.  The only man ever known to
+escape was an eccentric farmer, a "wandering outlaw of his own dark
+mind," as Byron so darkly expressed it.  He deserted his wife one
+morning in a most systematic manner, taking with him his horse and
+cart, a supply of provisions, and all the money he was worth.  A
+warrant for his arrest was issued, and the police were on the
+look-out for him at all the stations from Port Albert to Melbourne,
+but they never found him.  Many weeks passed by without any tidings
+of the man or his team, when one day he drove up to his own gate,
+unhitched his horse, and went to work as usual.  On enquiry it was
+found that he had gone all the way to Sydney overland, on a visit to
+an old friend living not far from that city.  It was supposed that he
+had some reason for his visit when he started, but if so, he lost it
+by the way, for when he arrived he had nothing particular to say.
+After a few days' rest he commenced his return journey to South
+Gippsland, and travelled the whole distance without being observed by
+the watchful police.  When asked about his travels, his only remark
+was, "Splendid horse; there he is between the shafts; walked twelve
+hundred miles; never turned a hair; splendid horse; there he is."
+
+But Mr. H. lacked the intellect or the courage to perform a similar
+fool's errand successfully.  He rode up to the police station at
+Alberton, and finding from the officer in charge that he was wanted
+on a warrant, he supplied that want.  He stated that he had been on a
+visit, for the benefit of his health, to a friend in the mountains, a
+rail-splitter, who had given him accommodation in his hut on
+reasonable terms.  He had lived in strict retirement.  For a time he
+was in daily and nightly fear of the appearance of the police coming
+to arrest him; every sound disturbed him.  In about ten days he began
+to feel lonely and disappointed because the police did not come;
+neither they or anybody else seemed to be looking for him, or to care
+anything about him.  Heroic self-denial was not his virtue, and he
+felt no call to live the life of a hermit.  He was treated with
+undeserved neglect, and at the end of four weeks he resolved that, as
+the police would not come to him, he would go to the police.
+
+He unburdened his mind, and made a confession to the officer who had
+him in charge.  He explained how he had taken the money, how he had
+lost it, and who had won it.  It relieved his mind, and the policeman
+kept the secret of confession until after the trial.  Then he broke
+the seal, and related to me confidentially the story of his penitent,
+showing that he was quite as unfit for the sacerdotal office as
+myself.
+
+Mr. H. on his trial was found not guilty, but the department did not
+feel inclined to entrust him with the collection or custody of any
+more cash.  In succeeding years he again served the Government as
+State school teacher, having received his appointment from a minister
+of merciful principles.  A reclaimed poacher makes an excellent
+gamekeeper, and a repentant thief may be a better teacher of youth
+than a sanctimonious hypocrite.
+
+
+SEAL ISLANDS AND SEALERS.
+
+"Am I my brother's keeper?"
+
+The islands in Bass' Straits, Hogan's Group, Kent's Group, the
+Answers, the Judgment Rocks, and others, are visited at certain
+seasons of the year by seals of three different kinds--viz., the
+hair seals, which are not of much value except for their oil; the
+grey seals, whose skins are valuable; and the black seals, whose furs
+always command the highest price.  When these animals have not been
+disturbed in their resorts for some years they are comparatively
+tame, and it is not difficult to approach them.  Great numbers of the
+young ones are sometimes found on the rocks, and if pushed into the
+water they will presently come out again, scramble back on to the
+rocks, and begin crying for their dams.  But the old seals, when
+frequently disturbed, become shy, and, on the first alarm, take to
+the water.  The flesh of the young seals is good to eat, and seamen
+who have been cast away on the islands have been sometimes saved from
+starvation by eating it.
+
+I once made the acquaintance of an old sealer.  He had formerly been
+very sensitive on the point of honour; would resent an insult as
+promptly as any knight-errant; but by making an idol of his honour
+his life had been a grievous burden to him.  And he was not even a
+gentleman, and never had been one.  He was known only as "Jack."
+
+It was in the year 1854, when I had been cast ashore in Corio Bay by
+a gale of hostile fortune, and had taken refuge for a while at the
+Buck's Head Hotel, then kept by a man named McKenzie.  One evening
+after tea I was talking to a carpenter at the back door, who was
+lamenting his want of timber.  He had not brought a sufficient supply
+from Geelong to complete his contract, which was to construct some
+benches for a Presbyterian Church.  Jack was standing near listening
+to the conversation.
+
+"What kind of timber do you want?" he said.  "There is a lot of
+planks down there in the yard, and if you'll be outside about eleven
+o'clock, I'll chuck over as many as you want."
+
+The contractor hesitated.  "Whose planks are they?"  he asked.
+
+"I don't know whose they are, and I don't care," replied Jack.  "Say
+the word, and you can have them, if you like."
+
+The contractor made no reply, at least in words, to this generous
+offer.  It is not every man that has a friend like Jack; many men
+will steal from you, but very few will steal for you, and when such a
+one is found he deserves his reward.
+
+We adjourned to the bar parlour, and Jack had a glass of brandy, for
+which he did not pay.  There was among the company a man from Adelaide,
+a learned mineralogist, who commenced a dissertation on the origin of
+gold.  He was most insufferable; would talk about nothing but
+science.  Darwin wrote a book about "The Origin of Species," and it
+has been observed that the origin of species is precisely what is not
+in the book.  So we argued about the origin of gold, but we could get
+nowhere near it.
+
+When the rest of the company had retired, Jack observed to me:  "You
+put down that Adelaide chap gradely; he had not a leg to stand on."
+
+I was pleased to find that Jack knew a good argument when he heard
+it, so I rewarded his intelligence with another glass of brandy, and
+asked him if he had been long in the colonies.  He said:
+
+"My name's not Jack; that's what they call me, but it doesn't matter
+what my name is.  I was brought up in Liverpool, but I wasn't born
+there; that doesn't matter either.  I used to work at the docks, was
+living quite respectable, was married and had a little son about five
+years old.  One night after I had had supper and washed myself, I
+said to th' missus, 'There's a peep-show i' Tithebarn Street, and if
+you'll wash Bobby's face I'll tek him there; its nobbut a penny.'
+You know it was one o' them shows where they hev pictures behind a
+piece o' calico, Paul Pry with his umbrella, Daniel i' th' lions'
+den, ducks swimming across a river, a giantess who was a man shaved
+and dressed in women's clothes, a dog wi' five legs, and a stuffed
+mermaid--just what little lads would like.  There was a man,
+besides, who played on a flute, and another singing funny songs. When
+I went outside into the street there was little Billy Yates, as used
+to play with Bobby, so I says, 'Come along, Billy, and I'll tek thee
+to the show.'  When we got there we set down on a bench, and, just as
+they began to show th' pictures, three black-fellows came in and set
+down on th' bench before us. They thowt they were big swells, and had
+on black coats, white shirts, stiff collars up to their ears, red and
+green neck-handkerchers, and bell-topper hats; so I just touched one
+of em on th' showder and said:  'Would you please tek your hats off
+to let th' lads see th' pictures?'  Well, the nigger just turned his
+head half-round, and looked at me impudent like, but he kept his hat
+on.  So I asked him again quite civil, and he called me a low fellow,
+towld me to mind my own business, and the other two niggers grinned.
+Well, you know, I could not stand that.  I knew well enough what they
+were.  They were stewards on the liners running between New York and
+Liverpool, and they were going round trying to pass for swells in a
+penny peep-show.  I didn't want to make a row just then and spoil the
+show, so I said to th' lads, we mun go hooum, and I took 'em hooum,
+and then come back to th' show and waited at th' door.  When the
+niggers come out I pitched into th' one as had given me cheek; but we
+couldn't have it out for th' crowd, and we were all shoved into th'
+street.  I went away a bit, thinking no more about it, and met a man
+I knew and we went into a public house and had a quart o' fourpenny.
+We were in a room by ourselves, when the varra same three niggers
+come in and stood a bit inside the door.  So I took my tumbler and
+threw it at th' head of th' man I wanted, and then went at him.  But
+I couldn't lick him gradely because th' landlord come in and stopped
+us; so after a while I went hooum.  Next morning I was going along
+Dale Street towards the docks to work, when who should I see but that
+varra same blackfellow:  it looked as if th' devil was in it.  He was
+by hisself this time, coming along at th' other side of th' street.
+So I crossed over and met him, and went close up to him and said,
+'Well, what have you to say for yoursel' now?' and I gav him a lick
+under th' ear.  He fell down on th' kerbstone and wouldn't get up--
+turned sulky like.  There was soon a crowd about, and they tried to
+wakken him up; but he wouldn't help hisself a bit--just sulked and
+wouldn't stir.  I don't believe he'd ha' died but for that, because I
+nobbut give him but one hit.  I thowt I'd better make mysel' scarce
+for a while, so I left Liverpool and went to Preston.  Were you ever
+in Preston?"  I said I was.  "Well then, you'll remember Melling, the
+fish-monger, a varra big, fat man.  I worked for him for about six
+months, and then come back to Liverpool, thinking there'd be no more
+bother about the blackfellow.  But they took me up, and gev me
+fourteen year for it; and if it had been a white man I wouldn't ha'
+got more than twelve months, and I was sent out to Van Diemen's Land
+and ruined for ever, just for nowt else but giving a chance lick to a
+blackfellow.  And now I hear they're going to war wi' Russia, and--
+England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales--I hope they'll all get
+blooming well licked.  It don't mend a man much to transport him, nor
+a woman either for that matter:  they all grow worse than ever.  When
+I got my ticket I sometimes went working in th' bush, sometimes
+whaling and sealing, and sometimes stripping bark at Western Port and
+Portland Bay, before there was such a place as Melbourne.  I was in a
+whaler for two years about Wilson's Promontory, until the whales were
+all killed or driven away.  I never saved any money until nine years
+back; we always went on th' spree and spent every penny directly we
+were paid off.  At that time I went with a man from Port Albert to
+the Seal Islands in a boat.  I knew of a place where there was a
+cave, a big hollow under the rocks, where th' seals used to go to
+sleep, and a blow hole coming out of it to th' top of the island.  We
+hired a boat and went there, and made a kind of a door which we could
+drop down with a rope to shut up the mouth of th' cave and catch the
+seals inside.  We killed so many that we couldn't take th' skins away
+all at once in the boat to Port Albert; we had to come back again.  I
+thowt to myself I'd be richer than ever I was in my life; th' skins
+were worth hundreds of pounds.  I had agreed to go halves with th'
+Port Albert man, but, you see, he'd ha' never gotten a penny but for
+me, because he knew nothing whatever about sealing.  It didn't look
+quite fair to give him half; and then I thowt what a lucky thing it
+would be for me if he were drowned; and he was drowned, but mind you,
+I didn't do it.  It was this way.  When we got back to th' blow-hole
+th' weather was bad. One o' them sou'east gales set in, and th' big
+waves dashed agen the rocks, roaring and sending spray right across
+th' island.  We had packed away all th' seal-skins snug in th' boat
+and pulled th' door up from th' bottom of th' chimney before th' gale
+started.  When we were taking down the rope and tackle and th'
+shears, th' water began to come boiling up th' blow hole and sinking
+down again.  There was a big rush of wind, first up and then down
+sucking you in like.  It was a ticklish time, and just as we were
+going to lower th' shears, th' Port Albert man made a kind of slip,
+and was sucked in with the wind, and went head first into the boiling
+water and out of sight.  I took hold of the slack of a rope, thinking
+I'd throw it to him; he might get hold of it, and then I could pull
+him out.  In about half a minute he was thrown up again by th' next
+wave right to the top of th' chimney.  I could see his face within
+four feet of me.  He threw up his hands for something to catch at and
+looked at me, and then gave a fearful scream.  I didn't throw him the
+rope; something stopped me.  He might not have got hold of it, you
+know, anyhow.  He went down again among th' white water, and I never
+saw him no more--only when I am dreaming.  I always dream about
+him.  I can see his face come up above the boiling water, and when he
+screams I wake up.  I can never get clear of him out of my head; and
+yet, mind you, I didn't drown him; he fell in of his self, and I just
+missed throwing him th' rope, that's all; and I wasn't bound to do
+it, was I?
+
+"As for the money I got for the seal skins, I could have lived
+comfortably on it all my life, but it never did me no good.  I
+started drinking, trying to forget that Port Albert man, but it was
+no use.  Every shilling was soon gone, and eversince I've been doing
+odd jobs and loafing about the publics.  I've never done no good and
+never shall.  Let's have just another nobbler afore we turn in."
+
+
+
+A HAPPY CONVICT.
+
+"Thrice did I receive forty stripes, save one."
+
+It was court day at Palmerston, and there was an unusual amount of
+business that morning.  A constable brought in a prisoner, and
+charged him with being a vagrant--having no lawful visible means of
+support.  I entered the charge in the cause list, "Police v. John
+Smithers, vagrancy," and then looked at the vagrant.  He was growing
+aged, was dressed in old clothes, faded, dirty, and ill-fitting; he
+had not been measured for them.  His face was very dark, and his hair
+and beard were long and rough, showing that he had not been in gaol
+lately.  His eyes wandered about the court in a helpless and vacant
+manner.  Two boys about eight or nine years old entered the court,
+and, with colonial presumption, sat in the jury box.  There were no
+other spectators, so I left them there to represent the public.  They
+stared at the prisoner, whispered to each other, and smiled.  The
+prisoner could not see anything to laugh at, and frowned at them.
+Then the magistrate came in, rubbing one of his hands over the other,
+glanced at the prisoner as he passed, and withered him with a look of
+virtuous severity.  He was our Black Wednesday magistrate, and was
+death on criminals.  When he had taken his seat on the bench, I
+opened the court, and called the first and only case.  It was not
+often we had a man to sit on, and we sat heavily on this one.  I put
+on my sternest look, and said "John Smithers"--here the prisoner
+instantly put one hand to his forehead and stood at "attention"--
+"you are charged by the police with vagrancy, having no lawful
+visible means of support.  What have you to say to that charge?"
+
+"I am a blacksmith looking for work," said the prisoner; "I ain't
+done nothing, your worship, and I don't want nothing."
+
+"But you should do something," replied the magistrate; "we don't want
+idle vagabonds like you wandering about the country.  You will be
+sent to gaol for three months."
+
+I stood up and reminded the justice respectfully that there was as
+yet no evidence against the prisoner, so, as a matter of form, he
+condescended to hear the constable, who went into the witness-box and
+proved his case to the hilt.  He had found the man at nightfall
+sitting under the shelter of some tea-tree sticks before a fire;
+asked him what he was doing there; said he was camping out; had come
+from Melbourne looking for work; was a blacksmith; took him in charge
+as a vagrant, and locked him up; all his property was the clothes he
+wore, an old blanket, a tin billy, a clasp knife, a few crusts of
+bread, and old pipe, and half a fig of tobacco; could find no money
+about him.
+
+That last fact settled the matter.  A man travelling about the bush
+without money is a deep-dyed criminal.  I had done it myself, and so
+was able to measure the extent of such wickedness.  I never felt
+really virtuous unless I had some money in my pocket.
+
+"You are sentenced to imprisonment for three months in Melbourne
+gaol," said the magistrate; "and mind you don't come here again."
+
+"I ain't done nothing, your worship," replied the prisoner; "and I
+don't want nothing."
+
+"Take him away, constable."
+
+Seven years afterwards, as I was riding home about sundown through
+Tarraville, I observed a solitary swagman sitting before a fire,
+among the ruins of an old public house, like Marius meditating among
+the ruins of Carthage.  There was a crumbling chimney built of bricks
+not worth carting away--the early bricks in South Gippsland were
+very bad, and the mortar had no visible lime in it--the ground was
+strewn with brick-bats, bottles, sardine tins, hoop iron, and other
+articles, the usual refuse of a bush shanty.  It had been, in the
+early times, a place reeking with crime and debauchery.  Men had gone
+out of it mad with drinking the poisonous liquor, had stumbled down
+the steep bank, and had ended their lives and crimes in the black
+Tarra river below.  Here the rising generation had taken their first
+lessons in vice from the old hands who made the house their favourite
+resort.  Here was planned the murder of Jimmy the Snob by Prettyboy
+and his mates, whose hut was near the end of the bridge across the
+river, and for which murder Prettyboy was hanged in Melbourne.
+
+In the dusk I mistook the swagman for a stray aboriginal who had
+survived the destruction of his tribe, but on approaching nearer, I
+found that he was, or at least once had been, a white man.  He had
+gathered a few sticks, which he was breaking and putting on the fire.
+I did not recognise him, did not think I had ever seen him before,
+and I rode away.
+
+During the next twenty-four hours he had advanced about half-a-mile
+on his journey, and in the evening was making his fire in the Church
+paddock, near a small water-hole opposite my house.  I could see him
+from the verandah, and I sent Jim to offer him shelter in an
+outbuilding.  Jim was one of the two boys who had represented the
+public in the jury box at the Palmerston court seven years before.
+He came back, and said the man declined the offer of shelter; never
+slept under a roof winter or summer, if he could help it; had lived
+in the open air for twelve years, and never stayed a night in any
+building, except for three months, when he was in Melbourne gaol.  He
+had been arrested by a constable near Palmerston seven years before,
+although he had done nothing, and a fool of a beak, with a long grey
+beard, had given him three months, while two puppies of boys were
+sitting in the jury box laughing at him.
+
+He also gave some paternal advice to the youth, which, like a great
+deal of other paternal advice, was rejected as of no value.
+
+"Never you go to Melbourne, young man," he said, "and if you do,
+never stop in any boarding-house, or public.  They are full of
+vermin, brought in by bad characters, mostly Government officers and
+bank clerks, who have been in Pentridge.  Don't you never go near
+'em."
+
+This advice did not sound very respectful; however, I overlooked it
+for the present, as it was not unlikely I might have the advantage of
+seeing him again in custody, and I sent to him across the road some
+hot tea, bread, butter, and beef.  This softened the heart and loosed
+the tongue of the old swagman.  It appeared from his account of
+himself that he was not much of a blacksmith.  He was ostensibly
+going about the colony looking for work, but as long as he could get
+food for nothing he did not want any work, and he always avoided a
+blacksmith's shop; as soon as he found himself near one he ceased to
+be a blacksmith.
+
+When asked about his former life, he said a gentleman had once
+advised him to write the particulars of it, and had promised him
+half-a-crown if he would do so.  He had written some of them, but had
+never seen the gentleman again, so he did not get the half-crown; and
+now he would take sixpence for the copyright of his work.  I gave him
+sixpence, and he drew out a manuscript from an inside pocket of his
+coat, and handed it to me.  It was composed of small sheets of
+whitey-brown wrapping paper sewn together.  He had ruled lines on it,
+and had written his biography with lead pencil. On looking over it I
+observed that, although he was deficient in some of the inferior
+qualifications of a great historian, such as spelling, grammar, and a
+command of words of seven syllables, yet he had the true instincts of
+a faithful chronicler.  He had carefully recorded the names of all
+the eminent bad men he had met, of the constable who had first
+arrested him, of the magistrate who had committed him for trial, of
+the judge who had sentenced him, of the gaolers and warders who had
+kept him in prison, of the captain, doctor, and officers of the ship
+which conveyed him to Sydney, of the squatters who had forced him to
+work for them, and of the scourgers who had scourged him for not
+working enough.  The names of all these celebrated men, together with
+the wicked deeds for which they were admired, were given in detail,
+after the true historic method.  We all take a great interestin
+reading every particular relating to the lives of notorious tyrants
+and great sinners; we like to know what clothes they wore, and how
+they swore.  But the lives of great and good men and women are very
+uninteresting; some young ladies even, when travelling by train,
+prefer, as I observe, French novels inspired by Cloacina to the
+"Lives of the Saints."
+
+Some people in the colonies are said to have had no grandfathers; but
+John Smithers was even more deficient in pedigree, for he had neither
+father nor mother, as far as he could recollect.  He commenced life
+as a stable boy and general drudge in England, at a village inn owned
+and conducted by a widow named Cobbledick.   This widow had a
+daughter named Jemima.  The mischief wrought in this world by women,
+from Eve to Jemima downwards, is incalculable, and Smithers averred
+that it was this female, Jemima, who brought on his sorrow, grief,
+and woe.  She was very advanced in wordly science, as young ladies
+are apt to be when they are educated in the retail liquor trade. When
+Smithers had been several years at the inn, and Jemima was already in
+her teens, she thought the world went slowly; she had no lover, there
+was nobody coming to marry her, nobody coming to woo.  But at length
+she was determined to find a remedy for this state of things.  She
+had never read the history of the loves of the great Catherine of
+Russia, nor of those of our own virgin Queen Elizabeth, but by an
+inborn royal instinct she was impelled to follow their high example.
+If lovers did not offer their adoration to her charms spontaneously,
+there was at any rate one whose homage she could command.  One Sunday
+afternoon, while her mother was absent, she went to the stable and
+ordered Smithers to come and take a walk with her, directing him
+first to polish his shoes and put on his best clothes.  She brought
+out a bottle of scented oil to sweeten him, and told him to rub it
+well into his hair, and stroke his head with his hands until it was
+sleek and shiny.  She had put on her Sunday dress and best bonnet;
+she had four ringlets at each side of her face; and to crown her
+charms, had ventured to borrow her mother's gold watch and chain.
+Being now a perfect princess in stateliness and beauty, she took Jack
+by the arm--she called him Jack--and made him march away with
+her.  He was rather abashed at the new duty imposed upon him, but he
+had been so well kicked and cuffed all his life that he never thought
+of disobeying orders.  Love fooled the gods, and it gave him little
+trouble to fool so sorry a pair as Jack and his Jemima.  They walked
+along Perkins' Lane where many of the neighbours were likely to see
+them, for Jemima was anxious that all the other girls, her dearest
+friends, should be filled with spite and envy at her good fortune in
+having secured a lover.
+
+When the happy youth and maid were returning with wandering steps and
+slow, Jemima saw her mother pass the end of the lane on her way
+homewards, much sooner than she had expected.  The golden hours on
+angel wings had flown away too quickly for the lovers.  Miss
+Cobbledick was filled with sudden alarm, and her brief day of glory
+was clouded.  It was now impossible to reach home in time to avoid
+trouble.  Her mother would be certain to miss the watch, and what was
+she to do with it?  What with Jack, and what with herself?
+Self-preservation being the first law of nature, Jemima resolved to
+sacrifice Jack in order to shield herself from her mother's rage.  He
+was not of much account in any respect; so she gave him the watch and
+chain, telling him to keep them safely till she asked for them, and
+to hurry round by the yard gate into the stable.  This gave great
+relief to her conscience, and enabled her to meet her mother with a
+face of untroubled innocence.
+
+Jack had not a lively imagination; but during the night he had a
+clear and blissful vision of his future destiny, the only dream of
+fortune his life was ever blessed with.  He was to be the landlord of
+the hotel, when Mrs. Cobbledick had gone to bliss, and Jemima was to
+be his bride, and the landlady.
+
+But early next morning there was trouble in the house.  The watch was
+missing, and nobody knew anything about it.  Jemima helped her mother
+to look for it, and could not find it.  A constable was sent for, and
+he questioned everyone in and about the house, and searched
+everywhere without result.  Last of all Jack was asked if he knew
+anything of the missing watch.  He was faithful and true.  How could
+he betray Jemima, his future partner in life?  He said he "had never
+seen no watch, and didn't know nothing whatsomever about no watch,"
+and the next instant the constable pulled the watch out of Jack's
+pocket.
+
+At his trial he was asked what he had to say in his defence, and then
+he told the truth, and said Jemima gave him the watch to keep until
+she should ask for it.  But there is a time for all things; and Jack
+could never learn the proper time for telling the truth, or for
+telling a lie; he was always in the wrong.  The judge, in passing
+sentence, said he had aggravated his crime by endeavouring to
+implicate an innocent young lady in his villany, and gave him seven
+years.
+
+He was taken on board a hulk, where he found two or three hundred
+other boys imprisoned.  On the evening of his arrival a report was
+circulated among them that they were all to be sent to another ship,
+which was bound for Botany Bay, and that they would never see England
+again.  They would have to work and sleep in chains; they would be
+yoked together, and whipped like bullocks; and if they escaped into
+the bush the blacks would kill and eat them.  As this dismal tale
+went round, some of the boys, who were quite young and small, began
+to cry, and to call for their mothers to come and help them; and then
+the others began to scream and should and yell.  The warders came
+below and tried to silence them, but the more they tried the louder
+grew the uproar, and it continued for many hours during the night.
+
+"Britons rarely swerve
+ From law, however stern, which tends their strength to serve."
+
+Discipline must be maintained; so next morning the poor little
+beggars were brought up on deck in batches, stripped, triced up, and
+severely flogged.  Jack, and a number of other boys, said they had
+not cried at all, but the officer in charge thought it was better
+that a few of the innocent should suffer rather than that one of the
+guilty should escape, so they were all flogged alike, and soon after
+they were shipped for New South Wales.
+
+On his arrival n Sydney, Jack was assigned as a servant to a
+squatter, and taken into the bush a long way to the west.  The
+weather had been very hot for a long time, all the grass had withered
+to dust, and the cattle were starving.  The first work which he was
+ordered to do was to climb trees and cut off the branches, in order
+that the cattle might keep themselves alive by eating the leaves and
+twigs.  Jack had never been used to handle an axe or tomahawk, so he
+found the labour of chopping very hard.  He did his best, but that
+was not good enough for the squatter, who took him to a magistrate,
+and had him flogged by the official scourger.
+
+While serving his sentence of seven years he was flogged four times;
+three of the times he said he had "done nothing," and for the fourth
+flogging he confessed to me that he had "done something," but he did
+not say what the "something" was.  In those days it seems that "doing
+nothing" and "doing something" were crimes equally meriting the lash.
+
+And now after a long life of labour the old convict had achieved
+independence at last.  I don't think I ever met a richer man; he was
+richer than the whole family of the Rothschilds; he wanted scarcely
+anything.  Food and clothing he obtained for the asking for them, and
+he was not particular as to their quality of the quantity was
+sufficient.  Property to him was something despicable; he did not
+want any, and would not live inside of a house if he had one; he
+preferred the outside.  He was free from family cares--never had
+father or mother, sister or brother, wife or children.  No poor relatives
+ever claimed his hospitality; no intimate friends wanted to borrow
+half-a-crown; no one ever asked him to buy suburban lots, or to take
+shares in a limited liability company.  He was perfectly indifferent
+to all danger from bush-rangers, burglars, pickpockets, or cattle
+stealers; he did not even own a dog, so the dogman never asked him
+for the dog tax.  He never enquired about the state of the money
+market, nor bothered himself about the prices of land or cattle, wood,
+wine, or wheat.  Every bank, and brewery, and building society in the
+world might go into liquidation at once for aught he cared.  He had
+retired from the Government service, had superannuated himself on a
+pension of nothing per annum, and to draw it he required no voucher.
+
+And yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, I don't think there
+are many men who would voluntarily choose his lot.  I watched him
+from the end of the verandah, and began speculating about him.  What
+was he thinking about during his solitary watches in the night or
+while he tramped alone through the bush year after year in heat and
+cold, wind and rain?  Did he ever think of anything--of his past
+life, or of his future lot?  Did he believe in or hope for a heaven?
+or had he any fear of hell and eternal punishment?  Surely he had
+been punished enough; in this life he had endured evil things in
+plenty, and might at least hope for eternal rest in the next.
+
+He was sitting with his back against a gum tree, and his feet towards
+the fire. From time to time he threw a few more sticks on the embers,
+and a fitful blaze lit up his dark weatherbeaten face.
+
+Then to my surprise he began to sing, and to sing well.  His voice
+was strong, clear, and mellow, and its tones rose and fell in the
+silent night air with a pathetic and wonderful sweetness.  The burden
+of his song was "We may be happy yet."
+
+"Oh, smile as thou wert wont to smile,
+Before a weight of care
+Had crushed thine heart, and yet awhile
+Left only sorrow there;
+We may be happy yet."
+
+He sang three stanzas, and was silent.  Then someone said:  "Poor old
+fellow; I hope he may be happy yet."
+
+Next morning he was sitting with his back against the gum tree.  His
+fire had gone out, and he seemed to be late in awaking, and in no
+hurry to resume his journey.  But his travels were finished; he never
+awoke.  His body was quite cold, and he must have died soon after he
+had sung the last note of his song.  He had only sixpence in his
+pocket--the sixpence I had given him for his biography.  The police
+took him in charge once more and put him in his last prison, where he
+will remain until we shall all be called together by the dread blast
+of the Archangel's trumpet on the Judgment Day.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of the Bush, by George Dunderdale
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #16349 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16349)