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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43425 ***
+
+Our Little Australian Cousin
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+Little Cousin Series
+
+(TRADE MARK)
+
+    Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in
+    tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover,
+    per volume, 60 cents
+
+
+LIST OF TITLES
+
+BY MARY HAZELTON WADE
+
+(unless otherwise indicated)
+
+    =Our Little African Cousin=
+    =Our Little Alaskan Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Arabian Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little Armenian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Australian Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Brazilian Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Brown Cousin=
+    =Our Little Canadian Cousin=
+        By Elizabeth R. MacDonald
+    =Our Little Chinese Cousin=
+        By Isaac Taylor Headland
+    =Our Little Cuban Cousin=
+    =Our Little Dutch Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little Egyptian Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little English Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
+    =Our Little French Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little German Cousin=
+    =Our Little Greek Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Hindu Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little Hungarian Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Indian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Irish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Italian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Japanese Cousin=
+    =Our Little Jewish Cousin=
+    =Our Little Korean Cousin=
+        By H. Lee M. Pike
+    =Our Little Mexican Cousin=
+        By Edward C. Butler
+    =Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Panama Cousin=
+        By H. Lee M. Pike
+    =Our Little Persian Cousin=
+        By E. C. Shedd
+    =Our Little Philippine Cousin=
+    =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
+    =Our Little Russian Cousin=
+    =Our Little Scotch Cousin=
+        By Blanche McManus
+    =Our Little Siamese Cousin=
+    =Our Little Spanish Cousin=
+        By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+    =Our Little Swedish Cousin=
+        By Claire M. Coburn
+    =Our Little Swiss Cousin=
+    =Our Little Turkish Cousin=
+
+    L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+    New England Building,
+    Boston, Mass.
+
+[Illustration: JEAN.]
+
+
+
+
+JEAN
+
+Our Little Australian Cousin
+
+By
+
+Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+
+    _Author of "God, the King, My Brother," "Our
+    Little Spanish Cousin," "Our Little Alaskan
+    Cousin," "Our Little Grecian Cousin,"
+    "Our Little Brazilian Cousin," etc._
+
+
+    _Illustrated by_
+    Diantha W. Horne
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+    Boston
+    L. C. Page & Company
+    Publishers
+
+
+
+
+    _Copyright, 1908_
+    BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+    (INCORPORATED)
+
+    Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+    _All rights reserved_
+
+
+    First Impression, September, 1908
+    Second Impression, October, 1909
+
+
+
+
+    TO
+    Kirby McDonough
+    _A Little Texas Friend_
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Australia, though a continent, is a part of the Empire of Great Britain.
+A few years ago it was a wild country, where no white people lived,
+filled with Blacks, who were man-eating savages. These are fast dying
+out, but in this story you will learn something about them, and of the
+lives of your Australian Cousins.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+    CHAPTER                          PAGE
+       I. "LAND!"                      1
+      II. SAILING TO SYDNEY            8
+     III. A DRIVE                     20
+      IV. ON THE WAY TO THE "RUN"     32
+       V. LIFE AT DJERINALLUM         47
+      VI. "LOST!"                     60
+     VII. JEAN FINDS A FRIEND         76
+    VIII. IN THE BUSH                 90
+      IX. HOUSEKEEPING IN A CAVE     101
+       X. DANDY SAVES THE DAY        117
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+                                                              PAGE
+    JEAN                                                _Frontispiece_
+    "'I THOUGHT PACIFIC MEANT PEACEFUL,' SAID FERGUS"          11
+    "'THAT IS THE LYRE BIRD, ISN'T HE A HANDSOME FELLOW?'"     58
+    "'THAT WAS A PLATYPUS, OR WATER MOLE,' SAID MR.
+          MCDONALD"                                            66
+    "THE LEAVES PARTED AND A BLACK FACE PEERED THROUGH
+          THE BUSHES"                                          99
+    "THE BLACK BOY ON A PONY LED BY A WHITE CHILD"            128
+
+
+
+
+Our Little Australian Cousin
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+"LAND"
+
+
+FERGUS and Jean were very tired of the long voyage. They stood at the
+taffrail looking over the dancing waves, longing for the sight of land.
+
+"It seems as if we would never get there, Father," said Fergus. "How
+long it is since we left home!"
+
+"And how far away Scotland seems," sighed his mother, as she took little
+Jean on her lap and stroked her fair hair.
+
+"But Australia is to be our home now," said Mr. Hume cheerfully. "See,
+there is the very first glimpse of it," and he pointed across the water
+to a dim line, as the look-out called "Land!"
+
+"We are passing Port Phillip's Head," he said presently. "See the
+lighthouse! Soon we shall land and you will see a beautiful city."
+
+"Beautiful!" Fergus said in surprise. "Why, I thought Melbourne was a
+wild sort of a place. You have told us about the time you were here long
+ago, before you married my mother, and you had floods in the streets and
+had to climb up on top of some one's porch for fear of being drowned."
+
+"That was fifteen years ago, my son," said Mr. Hume with a smile.
+"Melbourne is very different now from what it was then, and then it was
+not at all like it was when its first settlers saw it.
+
+"It was in 1836 that Robert Russell came here to survey the shore near
+Port Phillip and find out whether boats could go up the River Yana. He
+felt this to be just the place for a city, planned Melbourne and laid
+out the streets. It seems strange to think that then the blacks owned
+all this land and the Wawoorong, Boonoorong, and Wautourong tribes
+roamed these shores, and that when Russell laid out his city there were
+native huts standing. The place was called Bear Grass, and in 1837 there
+were thirteen buildings, eight of which were turf huts. Now Melbourne is
+seven miles square and the principal street is a mile long. You will
+soon see how handsome the buildings are, for we are now making ready to
+land after our long journey."
+
+Fergus and Jean Hume had come from Scotland to live in Australia. Their
+father had been a farmer, but he had lost all his little fortune through
+the rascality of a friend, and had determined to try again in the
+colony.
+
+Australia is a colony of Great Britain just as Canada is, and though it
+is at the other side of the world, still it is British.
+
+Mrs. Hume had a sister in Sydney and they were to visit her before going
+to the Gold Country, where Mr. Hume intended to try his fortune.
+
+Fergus was a fine boy of twelve and Jean was eight, and both were much
+excited at the trip, while Mrs. Hume's sadness at leaving her old home
+was mixed with joy at the idea of seeing again the sister from whom she
+had been separated for years.
+
+The landing on the Melbourne quay proved interesting for the children,
+and they were very much impressed with their first glimpse of the city.
+
+"Why, Father," exclaimed Fergus, as they drove in a cab up Flinders
+Street, "Melbourne streets seem as busy as those of Glasgow!"
+
+"Indeed they are, my son," said his father, smiling. "Perhaps they are
+busier. You see Victoria is the busiest part of this country, although
+the people of New South Wales will tell you that their district is far
+superior and Sydney a much handsomer city than Melbourne."
+
+"If the wares one sees in the streets are any sign, Victoria must have a
+great variety of products," said Mrs. Hume. "The shops have all manner
+of things in the windows, and besides there are great drays of wood,
+coal and timber."
+
+"Victoria is called the Garden of Australia," said Mr. Hume. "You will
+see considerable of it if we go up to Sydney by rail instead of by sea."
+
+"Oh, Father!" cried Fergus, who loved the water, "are we going to do
+that?"
+
+"I haven't decided yet which would be the better plan," Mr. Hume
+answered. "I had thought of going by steamer and stopping at Hobart in
+Tasmania, but it will take a great deal longer and you will miss the
+trip through Victoria, which is said to be the prettiest part of this
+great continent."
+
+"I think the sooner we reach Aunt Mildred the better for all of us,"
+said Mrs. Hume. "The children are tired with the long voyage and winter
+will soon be here."
+
+"Winter!" exclaimed Jean.
+
+"Winter, why, Mother!" cried Fergus. "This is June!"
+
+"Yes, I know that," said his mother. "But don't you know that in the
+Southern Hemisphere, winter and summer change places? In Victoria,
+midwinter comes in July."
+
+"Will it be cold?" asked Jean.
+
+"No, dear, winter here is not like our nipping Scotch frost. It is not
+very cold here, and it rains in winter instead of snowing."
+
+"I don't think that is nice at all," said Fergus. "We'll have no
+sleighing."
+
+"There are many things we will miss here," said his mother sadly, but
+his father said cheerfully,
+
+"There are many things here we can't have at home, also. When I get to
+the Gold Fields you shall have all the gold you want, and that is
+something you never had in Scotland. Now, our fine drive is over and
+here we are at the hotel, where we shall have some luncheon. How have
+you enjoyed your first drive in an Australian city?"
+
+"Very much," cried both of the children.
+
+"It will be some time before you take another one, for I believe after
+all that we shall go by boat to Sydney. I understand that the sea trip
+is very pleasant and it is less expensive."
+
+"I am glad," said Fergus.
+
+"A boat sails this afternoon and there is nothing for us to do but have
+our luggage transferred from one boat to the other," said Mr. Hume, as
+they all went in to luncheon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SAILING TO SYDNEY
+
+
+THE travellers set sail for Sydney in a calm and beautiful afternoon
+when earth and sea seemed at peace. The sea sparkled in the sunlight as
+if set in diamonds and the vessel fairly danced over the waters as it
+sailed out of Bass Strait into the dark waters of the blue Pacific. The
+afternoon passed quietly and toward evening all gathered on deck to see
+the sunset, for Australia is noted as the land of wonderful sunsets, and
+from the sea these can be viewed in all their splendour.
+
+Gold, crimson, yellow, pink, from brilliant to soft, from light to dark,
+the clouds changed in countless colour schemes, bewilderingly beautiful.
+The whole sky was a dome of softest rose, then a flaming crimson, then
+pearly-tinted heliotrope; the sea, too, shone in varying shades of
+beauty, until all melted and blended into one exquisitely soft shade of
+deep-toned purple, and into this the smiling stars stole one by one, the
+countless stars of the southern night, and above all shone the glory of
+the Southern Cross.
+
+"Oh, Father," whispered Jean, "I have never seen anything so beautiful!
+Is the sunset always like this in Australia?"
+
+"This was a particularly fine one, daughter, but whenever the sun sets
+it is a thing worth looking at."
+
+"How quickly it has grown dark after all that splendour," said Mrs.
+Hume, looking at the sky over which the clouds were passing.
+
+"I don't like the look of the sky," said Mr. Hume. "I'm afraid there is
+a squall coming."
+
+"Worse than a squall, sir," said a sailor, hurrying by. "It looks to me
+like a hurricane."
+
+The air had grown suddenly warm and the sky was overhung with heavy
+clouds, while flashes of lightning blazed across the sky. Suddenly a
+great waterspout seemed to rise up like an inky-black pillar from sea to
+sky. The ship tossed about and pitched so badly that it was impossible
+to keep one's feet and Mr. Hume led his little party to the cabin.
+
+[Illustration: "'I THOUGHT PACIFIC MEANT PEACEFUL,' SAID FERGUS."]
+
+"Oh, Father! what shall we do?" cried Jean, frightened.
+
+"Go to sleep is the best thing to do if you can," he said, and the
+children were put to bed in their berths, in which they could hardly
+stay, so violent was the pitching of the ship.
+
+The wind howled and roared and, as the storm kept up all night, there
+was little sleep in the cabin. When the morning came it was little
+better. Sea and sky were dull gray, save where the foam-crested waves
+broke in sheets of spray against the sides of the vessel, sending the
+foam high into the air.
+
+"It is a cross sea," said the sailor on the look-out and the captain
+shook his head. "It's a bad outlook," he said. "I don't like the gray
+water."
+
+"I thought Pacific meant peaceful," said Fergus, who stood clinging to
+his father on deck, looking at the wonderful scene. "It doesn't seem
+peaceful to me," as a great wave broke over the deck and drenched him to
+the skin.
+
+"Like most peaceful things, it is terrible when it is roused," said Mr.
+Hume. "There is a strong current running up and down this eastern shore
+of Australia and it often sets vessels quite out of their course.
+Sometimes they are washed miles out of their way, and occasionally, in
+the darkness, run upon one of the little islands which dot this sea."
+
+"Is Tasmania one of them?" asked Fergus.
+
+"We have long since passed Tasmania," said his father. "But there are
+many little islands between here and Sydney. There! What is that?" he
+exclaimed. Suddenly it seemed as if land sprang at them through the fog
+and they were almost upon a rocky shore. So near to it was their steamer
+that there was barely time to put about and it was only by the quickest
+action that they escaped the rocks. The steamer lurched and rolled,
+pitched and tossed in the gale, but she passed the rocks in safety, and
+as afternoon waned and night drew on, the storm grew less, until by
+midnight the sea was quiet. The morning of the third day broke in a
+golden splendour, the air was fresh and cool, the sky and the sea were
+as blue as a sapphire, the children glad to be out of the stuffy cabin
+and up on deck.
+
+"If the weather continues like this we shall not be long in reaching
+Sydney," said Mr. Hume. "And I am sure we shall all be glad to get
+there."
+
+"What kind of a place is Sydney?" asked Fergus.
+
+"It is a fine city, my boy, and very different from what it was when
+Botany Bay was peopled with felons."
+
+"What are felons?" asked Jean.
+
+"Felons are people who have done wrong and must be kept in prison for
+punishment in the hope that they will learn to do right," answered Mr.
+Hume. "Botany Bay was named by the botanist Joseph Banks who was with
+Cook when he made his first voyage in 1770. It is an inlet near Sydney
+and the English sent their criminals there until 1840. Such men as
+behaved well when they reached the colony were allowed to leave the
+penal settlement upon tickets, and were called 'ticket of leave men.'
+They could be followed up and brought back if they misbehaved in any
+way. Many of them were good men who had been led into wrongdoing and
+were glad to have a chance to be good again. They went out into the
+'bush,' cleared farms or sheep stations, and many of them grew rich.
+Quite a number of the good citizens of Australia to-day, could, if they
+would, trace their descent back to 'ticket of leave' men."
+
+"I shouldn't think they would like to do that," said Fergus. "I wouldn't
+like any one to know that my people had done wrong."
+
+"Everybody does wrong," said Jean sagely.
+
+"Yes, but every one isn't found out," her brother answered. "When they
+are, it hurts."
+
+"But if it's found out that they're sorry and are going to do good for
+ever and ever," the little girl looked puzzled, "then does it matter?"
+
+"Dear little childish point of view," said her mother, with a smile, and
+her father added,
+
+"It would be a good thing if older people felt so."
+
+Sydney looked beautiful enough as their ship steamed into the bay to pay
+them for their troublesome voyage. The harbour is one of the handsomest
+in the world. The city is picturesquely situated upon the bold and
+rocky slopes which rise from the water's edge and is defended from any
+possible attack by bristling forts and batteries.
+
+"This narrow entrance to the harbour is called 'the Heads,'" said Mr.
+Hume to the children, who were dancing about asking a thousand
+questions, of which their father answered the most important. "The
+lighthouse is a guide to all storm-driven sailors, and also a good
+lookout, should any enemies of England hope to steal upon Australia
+unawares. I think Sydney one of the most delightfully situated cities I
+have ever visited. It is surrounded by parks and groves where grow
+bananas, orange trees, palms and all manner of tropical plants. Its
+climate is healthful and life here easy and pleasant."
+
+"The buildings seem very handsome," said Mrs. Hume, as the city came
+into view, gleaming white and beautiful in the morning sun.
+
+"The sandstone upon which the town is built gives fine building
+material," said her husband, "and while, in the older part of the city,
+streets are narrow and houses old-fashioned, the newer portion compares
+favourably with almost any of the modern European cities.
+
+"We are just about in now; the sailors are making ready to cast the
+hawser."
+
+"Oh, Fergus! There is Mildred!" cried Mrs. Hume to her husband, pointing
+to a sweet-faced little woman who stood beside a large, burly-looking
+man upon the wharf. "It is worth almost the long journey from home just
+to see her again!" and she stretched out her hands to the sister whom
+she had not seen for ten years.
+
+Soon they were landed and the two sisters greeted each other joyfully.
+
+"Elsie! How glad I am to welcome you to Australia," cried Mrs. McDonald,
+while her sister said,
+
+"Mildred, you don't look a day older than when you left Scotland!"
+
+"Life is easy out here," said Mr. McDonald genially. "Come, all of you.
+The carriage is waiting. We are glad to have a visit from you and want
+it to be as long a visit as possible. We have planned all manner of
+things to do during your stay."
+
+As they drove through the handsome streets, Mrs. McDonald said,
+
+"It is nearly time we went into the country, and after you are well
+rested and have seen Sydney, Angus is going to take us up to the station
+so you can see just what life is on an Australian 'run.'"[1]
+
+"I am sure we shall enjoy it," said Mrs. Hume. "But just now I can think
+of nothing to do but getting rested. The sea motion is still in my head,
+and I believe that if I could go to bed and think that Jean could sleep
+without danger of falling out of bed, I could sleep for two or three
+days without waking up."
+
+"We'll take care of the wee lassie and of this big boy, too," said Mr.
+McDonald kindly, laying an arm about Fergus' shoulder. "Sandy is up at
+the run and you will have fine times with him there, and your mother
+shall rest as long as she wants to.
+
+"But you are not seeing the sights as we pass. We think Sydney about the
+finest thing on this side of the world. These buildings are a part of
+the University. The College of St. Paul's there belongs to the Church of
+England, and St. John's is Roman Catholic."
+
+"It is all very handsome," said Mrs. Hume.
+
+"How Sydney has changed since I was here," said Mr. Hume. "It is not
+like the same place."
+
+"Its growth is simply wonderful," said Mr. McDonald. "We have now all
+manner of manufactories. Wagons are made here and sold all over
+Australia and New Zealand. There are fine glass and pottery works, boot
+and shoe factories, besides stove foundries and carriage works. Tobacco
+and fine liquors are manufactured here and Sydney is really the center
+of the British colonies in the South."
+
+"Here we are at home," said his wife. "So your interesting lecture must
+cease. I am sure Elsie would rather see a good cup of tea and a
+comfortable bed than hear your discourse on the beauties of Sydney when
+she's homesick for dear little Glasgow."
+
+"Tea and bed will do much to do away with homesickness, and the sight of
+you will do more," said her sister as they alighted from the carriage
+and went up the steps of a handsome house surrounded by fine trees and a
+garden radiant with flowers.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] Run is the name given to a ranch in Australia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A DRIVE
+
+
+A FEW days' rest made the travellers as good as new and Fergus and Jean
+were ready for any kind of an adventure. They went about the city
+interested in each and everything they saw, for they were bright little
+children, full of spirits to the brim.
+
+"We are to take a drive this afternoon," said Mrs. McDonald one morning.
+"Your Uncle Angus is going to show you Wuurna-wee-weetch, which means
+'home of the swallow.' It is the largest squatter station anywhere about
+here, and it is as handsome as any noble estate at home."
+
+"That will be jolly, Aunt Mildred," said Fergus, who loved driving.
+
+When luncheon was over they all seated themselves in Mr. McDonald's
+comfortable road-cart, and his fine span of horses pranced along the
+Sydney streets.
+
+"We are passing St. Andrew's Cathedral now," said Mrs. McDonald. "And
+there is St. Mary's Cathedral, which is equally fine. There is the
+Governor's Mansion, the Museum, the Art Gallery, and now we are entering
+Hyde Park. Isn't it beautiful? The water works of Sydney are excellent
+and the water supply never fails. It comes sixty-three miles from the
+Nepean River and is stored in a huge reservoir. Even in the hottest
+weather there is enough water to keep our parks green and beautiful."
+
+"You are very enthusiastic over your adopted country," said her sister,
+teasingly.
+
+"Indeed I am. I have learned to love Australia, the rural life better
+than the urban. You wait until we go up to the 'run' and see if the
+charm of the Bush country life doesn't hold you." Mrs. McDonald smiled.
+"Now we are entering the grounds of Wuurna-wee-weetch. Tell me, is the
+Duke of Argyle's place finer?"
+
+They drove over the estate, which was surpassingly beautiful.
+
+"I have heard so much of the Australian Bush and how wild and bare it
+is," said Fergus, "that I had no idea that there was anything here so
+fine as this."
+
+"What magnificent trees," said his mother.
+
+"Those are the eucalyptus, the gum trees for which Australia is famous,"
+said Mr. McDonald. "The eucalyptus grows to an enormous height, many of
+the trees are 150 feet high and eleven feet around the trunk. In some
+places they grow to be twenty feet in diameter. They are not good shade
+trees because the leaves, which are shaped like little lances, grow
+straight up and down, that is, with one edge toward the sun. But in
+spite of that, the tree is one of the most useful in the world. There
+are nearly 150 varieties of eucalyptus, and most of these are found in
+Australia. The lumber is used for all kinds of building purposes. Many
+of the trees contain a hard substance, 'manna,' from which we get a kind
+of sugar called _melitose_. Others give us _kino_, a resin used in
+medicine. The bark yields tannin, and from one variety with 'stringy
+bark' we get a fibre used for making rope, the manufacture of paper and
+for thatching roofs. From the leaves an oil is distilled which is much
+used in medicine, being particularly good to dress wounds and for the
+treatment of fevers."
+
+"It seems to me that these trees furnish almost everything you need,"
+said Mr. Hume.
+
+"If you include the birds who nest in them and the animals who climb in
+the branches," replied his brother-in-law, "I fancy the Blacks did not
+need to look beyond the eucalyptus for a living. The wood built their
+huts, and the bark thatched them. From the fibre they made mats for
+their floors and hats to keep off the sun, and clothes, which consisted
+of waist cloth and sandals. The leaves gave them medicine for the fever
+and salve for their wounds. The cockatoos nesting in the branches
+furnished them delicious food, while of the feathers the gins[2] made
+boas for their necks and wonderful Easter bonnets. It really would seem
+as if the gum trees were all they really needed. They have another use
+not to be slighted, for they take up the moisture rapidly and dry the
+soil in rainy seasons, thus reducing the malaria always found in such
+climates as these."
+
+"They are certainly useful," said Mrs. Hume. "Is this the station to
+which we are going?" as they drove through a fine gateway.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. McDonald. "Wuurna-wee-weetch is quite up to date in
+every way. The house cost £30,000 to build and the ranch has every
+modern improvement. The grazing land hereabouts is perfectly adapted to
+sheep raising. It is so rich that you may dig ten feet down and still
+find rich black dirt. The owner of this ranch has been most successful.
+He has recently put in new wool sheds, sheep pens, washing ponds, and
+the like, and you may, if you wish, see the whole process of sheep
+raising, shearing, pressing, packing and transporting the wool. You will
+see it at our station on a smaller scale." They drove for an hour about
+the magnificent place, and over all the estate was an air of wealth and
+prosperity.
+
+The gardens were blooming with gay, tropical flowers, and the songs of
+the birds were in the air, as they flitted hither and yon through the
+branches of the magnificent trees.
+
+"What is that noise, Aunt Mildred?" asked Jean as they drove through a
+beautiful grove of pines which scented the air deliciously. "It sounds
+like a far away church bell."
+
+"It is the bell bird, dear, one of the curiosities of Australia,"
+replied her Aunt. "Long, long before there was a church bell of any
+kind in Australia, this little, lonely bird made its curious bell-like
+note. There are some pretty verses by one of our poets about it."
+
+"Can you say them to us, Aunty?"
+
+"I will try,--they are really beautiful," she said.
+
+    "'Tis the bell bird sweetly singing,
+     The sad, strange, small-voiced bird,
+     His low sweet carol ringing,
+     While scarce a sound is heard,
+     Save topmost sprays aflutter,
+     And withered leaflets fall,
+     And the wistful oaks that utter
+     Their eerie, drearie, call.
+
+    "What may be the bell bird saying,
+     In that silvery, tuneful note?
+     Like a holy hermit's praying
+     His devotions seem to float
+     From a cavern dark and lonely,
+     Where, apart from worldly men,
+     He repeats one dear word only,
+     Fondly o'er and o'er again."
+
+"Is not that pretty?" said Mrs. Hume, as her sister's musical voice
+ceased. "I did not know you had such poets in Australia."
+
+"Indeed we have a literature of our own," said Mrs. McDonald, "and very
+beautiful things are written by Australians. You have much to learn
+about this great island continent of ours."
+
+"Now we must turn toward home," said Mr. McDonald, and his wife said,
+"Drive back past Tarnpin, it is so beautiful about there. Tarnpin, or
+Flowing Water, is a favourite spot hereabouts. The Blacks have a quaint
+story about its origin, and I will tell it to you as old Tepal, a black
+chief, told it to me.
+
+"It was the day time, and all the animals died of thirst. So many died
+that the Magpie, the Lark, and the Crane talked together, and tried to
+find water to drink.
+
+"'It is very strange,' said the Magpie, 'that the Turkey Buzzard is
+never hungry.'
+
+"'He must, then, have water to drink,' said the wise Crane.
+
+"'He flies away every morning, very early,' said the Lark.
+
+"'Let us rise before the sun and watch him,' said the Magpie, and they
+agreed.
+
+"Next morning the Turkey Buzzard rose early and crept from his
+wuurie.[3] He looked this way and that and saw no one. Then he flew
+away. He knew not that two bright eyes peeped at him through the leaves
+of the great gum tree. He did not hear the 'peep, peep' with which the
+Lark awoke his friends. The Lark, the Magpie and the Crane flew high to
+the sky. They flew so high that they looked as specks on the sun. The
+Turkey Buzzard saw them but thought they were small, dark clouds. He
+flew to a flat stone and lifted it up. And the water gushed from a
+spring in the rock and he drank and was satisfied. Then he put back the
+stone and flew away.
+
+"The three friends laughed and were glad. Quickly they flew to the
+stone, singing, 'We have caught him!' and drank of the fresh water.
+They bathed in the pool and flapped their wings until the waters rose
+and became a lake of clear water. Then they spread their wings and flew
+over the earth, and the waters dropped from their wings and fell to the
+thirsty earth. They made there water holes, and ever since there have
+been drinking places all over the land."
+
+"My but that's a jolly story," said Fergus, the irrepressible. "Did you
+really know the Blacks, Aunt Mildred? Are there any around here?"
+
+"None very near," said his aunt. "Indeed, they are mostly dying out.
+People who have lived here a long time used to know them and say they
+were a kindly people. They were very fond of children and I do not think
+they were cruel or quarrelsome unless roused to anger. They have nearly
+all buried themselves in the Bush, but you will be likely to see some of
+them at our station. There used to be a number around the 'run,' and
+when we first came out we had some rather curious experiences with
+them. We do not see many now, their experiences with white people were
+not always pleasant, I am sorry to say."
+
+"I hope we shall see some of them," said Fergus.
+
+"I like black people," said little Jean.
+
+"What does she know of Blacks?" asked her aunt, smiling, and her mother
+replied,
+
+"Some people from the States came to our farm one fall for the shooting
+and they had a black nurse for the baby. Jean took a great fancy to her,
+and we simply couldn't keep her from toddling after Dinah. She was a
+faithful soul, so good and kind."
+
+"Those who have lived here for many years say that if you once make a
+friend of a Black he will do anything for you," said Mr. McDonald. "I
+never had any trouble with them around my station, though other
+squatters did."
+
+"I think it's all in the way you treat them," said his wife. "Of course
+the Blacks near the 'run' are not the wild Blacks from the interior, the
+man-eating kind, but a gentler race."
+
+"Well, I hope we shall see some of them," said Fergus. "But I shouldn't
+care for cannibals."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Black women.
+
+[3] Hut.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ON THE WAY TO THE "RUN"
+
+
+IT was a bright morning when they left Sydney to go to the station,
+taking the train early in the day, for there was a railway ride of
+several hours before them, as well as a long drive.
+
+"Now you are going to see something of Australian life," said Mr.
+McDonald. "Life in Sydney or Melbourne is very little different from
+that in Liverpool or Glasgow. On the big stations it is much the same as
+on the country places at home, but my station is typical of Australia."
+
+"Is it in the Bush, Uncle?" asked Fergus.
+
+"Hear the laddie talking like an old squatter," laughed Mr. McDonald.
+"Yes and no. You see the Australians who live in the cities consider all
+the rest of the continent the Bush, but to those who live in the
+grazing and farming districts the country inland is the Bush or the
+'Back Country.' Our run is beautifully situated just on the edge of the
+Dividing Range, and we are lucky enough to have a river running through
+one side, so that the run is seldom dry."
+
+"What is the Dividing Range?" asked Fergus, who was determined to
+understand everything he heard. If he did not, it was not because he did
+not ask questions enough about it.
+
+"The Dividing Range is the high land which separates the east and west
+of the continent and runs from north to south along the coast. It is
+sometimes called the Australian Alps, and some of the peaks are 7,000
+feet high. The eastern part of Australia runs in a long strip of fertile
+ground along the coast. West of this are the mountains and beyond them
+is a high plateau which slopes down to the plains of Central Australia.
+This central portion is an almost unknown country. There are no great
+rivers and little rain. The land is terribly dry and very hot. Many who
+have gone to explore it have never returned and no one knows their fate.
+Perhaps they have died of thirst, perhaps they have been killed by the
+Blacks. This part of the country is called 'Never, Never Land.'"
+
+"Uncle Angus," asked Fergus, as his uncle paused. "When you came to your
+station were you a squatter?"
+
+His uncle's hearty laugh rang out. "No, my boy, but I bought my run from
+a squatter," he answered. "The days of squatters were about over when I
+came out. What do you know about squatters?"
+
+"I don't know anything," answered Fergus. "Only I have heard the name
+and thought maybe you would tell us about them."
+
+"In the old times, before Australia had started in the trade, the wool
+from the sheep on the runs was very important to her," said Mr.
+McDonald. "Men would come out to the country, and, not having very much
+money, they could perhaps buy a small homestead and stock it, but little
+more. They would have to have large tracts of land to pasture their
+sheep, but had not money enough to buy the land. They therefore settled
+down and took what they needed without permission, and so were called
+'squatters.' The Government did not interfere with them, because the
+wool from their sheep was needed and because the country was so big
+there seemed land enough for everyone. In time the matter was arranged
+by the Government's dividing the back country into grazing districts,
+which all the squatters might use by paying a yearly rent."
+
+"How did the squatters keep their sheep from other people?" Fergus
+inquired.
+
+"Every flock had its shepherd, who led it wherever food and water were
+to be found," was the answer. "The life of a shepherd was a lonely one.
+He had to watch the sheep and lambs and see that the dingoes[4] did not
+get at them. The shepherd never saw any other people except the man who
+brought his supplies from the station. His dogs were his only friends,
+and often these shepherd dogs are marvels of intelligence and loyalty.
+For a time the squatters prospered and some of them grew immensely
+wealthy. These were called 'Wool Kings' and lived on their stations
+extravagantly, building houses such as you saw at Wuurna-wee-weetch.
+
+"But sheep raising is not all plain sailing in Australia. Rabbits were
+brought into the country, and these proved to be a regular plague,
+destroying the grass, so that the Government passed a law that squatters
+must help to exterminate them, which put them to a great expense.
+
+"When I came here twenty years ago, I got my station from a squatter who
+had worked it for years and had made enough to sell out and go to
+Sydney, where it had always been his ambition to live. I have worked
+hard and been successful. When you see our station I think you will want
+to stay in this country instead of trying to find gold in 'Never, Never
+Land,'" he said to his brother-in-law.
+
+"Perhaps I shall, but I have no money to buy a station and I can't be a
+squatter now," said Mr. Hume.
+
+Their way lay through a beautiful semi-tropical country. The train moved
+through fertile valleys, fine woodland and green vales, and bridged cool
+mountain streams. When their stopping place was reached and they
+alighted from the train to find a comfortable cart and good horses
+awaiting them, Fergus exclaimed, "It doesn't seem to me that travelling
+in Australia is very hard work."
+
+"Wait till you get to the Bush," said his uncle. "And have to tramp it
+with your swag[5] upon your back, make your own supper over a twig
+fire, stir your tea in a billy[6] with a eucalyptus twig, and roll up in
+a blanket to sleep, waking up to find a dukite snake taking a nap on
+your breast,--that's real Australia for you."
+
+"I like your kind better," said Jean with a shudder, but Fergus said
+boastingly,
+
+"Well, I'm not afraid of the Bush."
+
+"Wait and see," said his father as they drove through the gate which led
+into Mr. McDonald's run.
+
+It was a beautiful station and well suited for the sheep farming from
+which the owner had made his money. The land lay in a triangle, on two
+sides of which was a considerable stream while the main road formed the
+third boundary. The land was fenced with stout rail fences while the
+paddocks were fenced with wire.
+
+The house was built of stone, of one story, with a broad veranda running
+around all four sides, shaded in vines and looking on a garden in which
+gorgeous-hued flowers bloomed in brilliant beauty. There was an air of
+great comfort about the place. Hammocks were slung in the porches and
+easy chairs were placed invitingly about.
+
+Long windows clear to the floor opened into the living rooms and a wide
+hallway ran through the middle of the house. On one side was a drawing
+room, at the other, dining room and living room. The guests caught
+glimpses of books and music as they were ushered into their cool
+bedrooms. These opened on to the veranda and were cool and pleasant,
+with gay chintz and white hangings. What a delightful visit the children
+had at the run! It was perhaps pleasanter for them than for the grown
+folk, for Sandy, Mr. and Mrs. McDonald's only child, a boy of ten, was a
+perfect imp of mischief, and he led his two cousins into everything that
+he could think of. Fergus was not far behind, and Jean trudged after
+the boys, growing strong and rosy in the Australian sunshine.
+
+"Australia is making the greatest change in Jean," said her mother to
+Mrs. McDonald one day, as they sat upon the veranda. "At home she was so
+shy she would scarcely look at any one. She seemed delicate and I was
+worried for fear she would never learn to take care of herself in this
+world."
+
+"She will grow up into the most self-reliant kind of a girl in the
+Bush," said her sister. "She is a dear little girl and I think there is
+plenty of strength of character under her shy little ways."
+
+"I wonder what the three are doing now," said Jean's mother. "It has
+been some time since we heard a shriek of any kind--oh--what is that?"
+for as she spoke there came a scream so loud and piercing from the
+shrubbery that both women sprang to their feet and rushed across the
+lawn.
+
+Midway between the house and the garden they met the three children,
+both boys holding Jean's hands and helping her to run to the house,
+while the little girl, her face covered with blood and tears, was trying
+not to cry.
+
+"Jean's hurt," cried Sandy.
+
+"So I should judge," said his mother, trying to keep calm, while both
+boys began to talk at once, so that no one could understand a word they
+said.
+
+Mrs. Hume gathered Jean in her arms and carried her quickly to the
+house, where she washed the little, tear-stained face. The child's lip
+was terribly cut and she was badly frightened, but not seriously hurt,
+and as she cuddled down in her mother's arms she sighed,
+
+"Nice mother! I don't mind being hurt when you are here to fix me up."
+
+"Tell me what happened, dear," said her mother, as she stroked the fair
+hair.
+
+"We were playing," Jean said. "The boys had sticks and we heard a queer
+rustle in the bushes. Sandy said it was a snake and beat the bushes to
+drive him out. It ran out just in front of Fergus and I thought it would
+bite him, and I didn't want anything to happen to my brother so I ran up
+behind him just as he swung his stick over his shoulder to hit the
+snake. He hit me in the mouth, but of course he didn't mean to, Mother.
+I screamed because it hurt me so, and then I tried not to cry because I
+knew it would worry you. It doesn't hurt so badly now, Mother."
+
+"I'm sorry it hurts at all, darling," her mother held her close. "You
+were a good child and brave not to cry. Crawl up in the hammock now and
+take a nap, and you will feel better when you wake up."
+
+"I hope Fergus and Sandy won't do anything very interesting while I am
+asleep," the little girl murmured drowsily, as she dropped off to
+sleep.
+
+Fergus and Sandy undoubtedly would. They were very kind to Jean, but
+there was no doubt that they found the little girl a clog upon their
+movements. Fergus was used to taking care of her, but Sandy had no
+sisters and he sometimes wished the little cousin would not tag quite so
+much.
+
+"You can't really do anything much when a girl is tagging around," he
+said to his mother, but that long-suffering woman proved strangely
+unsympathetic.
+
+"I think I shall keep Jean always if her being here keeps you out of
+mischief," she said with a smile, and Sandy answered,
+
+"Well, keep Fergus too, then."
+
+No sooner was Jean asleep than the boys decided the time had come for
+them to carry out a plan long since formed, but laid aside for a
+convenient season. At one side of the run was a little lake, formed
+where one of the boundary streams was dammed. A windmill carried water
+from this to a platform and upon this were iron tanks from which pipes
+carried water through the house. The boys had decided to climb to the
+top of the reservoir and slide down the pipes, which seemed to them
+would be an exciting performance. The climbing up was not difficult and
+Sandy took the first slide.
+
+"It's great fun," he shouted. "Let me have another!" as he clambered up
+again.
+
+"It's my turn," cried Fergus, astride of the pipe.
+
+"Let me. You wait," said Sandy, who was used to playing alone and not to
+having any-one dispute with him.
+
+"I tell you it's my turn!" Fergus' temper rose. "You don't play fair."
+
+There was a scramble and a cry, both boys lost their balance and fell,
+and the sound of breaking glass crashed through the air.
+
+Both mothers rushed to the scene to find two pairs of arms and legs
+waving wildly from the hot-bed, while broken glass was scattered hither
+and yon.
+
+"You dreadful boys, you have fallen right into the flower beds and
+broken the glass! Are you badly hurt?" cried Mrs. McDonald, as each
+mother dragged out a son.
+
+Very crestfallen were the boys as they stood up, their faces covered
+with scratches and Sandy's hand badly cut.
+
+"What were you doing?" asked both mothers sternly.
+
+"Sliding down the water pipe," said Sandy.
+
+"Quarrelling," said Fergus.
+
+"Nice way to spend the morning," said Mr. McDonald, who appeared at that
+moment from the stables. "Go and get washed up and we'll see if you have
+any broken glass in your cuts."
+
+When the damages were repaired neither boy was found to be much hurt,
+but Jean begged so hard that they should not be punished, that the two
+were let off for that time.
+
+"The next piece of mischief you get into you'll be sent to bed for a day
+to rest up and think it over," said Sandy's father, and the boys assured
+him that they would never, never do anything again as long as they
+lived.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] Wild dogs.
+
+[5] Name given to the pack carried on the back.
+
+[6] Bucket for water, carried by Australians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LIFE AT DJERINALLUM
+
+
+WHILE the children played happily together the grown folk had many an
+anxious consultation as to ways and means.
+
+"I wish I could persuade you to stay with us, Elsie," said her sister.
+"Let your husband go by himself, on his wild goose chase after gold."
+
+"Oh, I can't do that," said Mrs. Hume. "I can rough it, and it will do
+Fergus good, but I am afraid of it for Jeanie."
+
+"Let me keep her," said Mrs. McDonald eagerly. "Oh, do, Elsie! I have
+always wanted a little girl to pet and take care of and Jean will be
+ever so much safer with me than travelling through the wild country you
+are going into on your way to the Gold Fields."
+
+"It might be best," Mrs. Hume said thoughtfully. "I will talk it over
+with Fergus and leave Jean in your care, going with him, if he agrees."
+
+Mr. Hume, however, had very decided ideas as to what was best to be
+done.
+
+"Since your sister and her husband are so anxious to keep you, my dear,
+I am sure it will be best for you and Jean to stay here at the run. My
+trip to the Gold Fields is only an experiment. It will be a long, hard
+journey and an expensive one, and I may not find anything worth doing
+when I get there, and in that case will return and take up stock
+farming. McDonald offers me a chance now, but I feel as though I ought
+to make the trial before accepting help.
+
+"I will take Fergus with me. The trip will not hurt him and he would
+drive you distracted if left here with Sandy. I shall do better work
+feeling that you and the lassie are safe and well cared for here."
+
+"I hate to have you go without me, but I must do as you think best,"
+said his wife. So it was arranged, and with a heavy heart Jean saw her
+father and brother drive away from the run, starting on their long trip
+to the Gold Fields.
+
+"Why does father have to go away?" she asked her uncle, who had taken
+her before him for a ride on his big, black horse, "The Bruce."
+
+"He has gone to hunt for gold, lassie, so you can have fine clothes to
+wear," he answered.
+
+"I'd rather have father here and not have fine clothes," she said, her
+lip quivering. "How do they get gold in fields, Uncle? I didn't know it
+grew like flowers and grass."
+
+"It doesn't, lassie," he answered. "They just call the place they find
+it the Gold Fields. It is dug out of the earth, where it is found mixed
+with sand and stone."
+
+"Well, where are the Gold Fields and who found there was gold there?"
+asked Jean. She liked her burly uncle, who was always ready to talk to
+her and who explained everything about the run so pleasantly.
+
+"The Gold Fields extend all over Western Australia," said Mr. McDonald.
+"Gold was first discovered here in 1823 and people have gone mad with
+gold fever ever since. The precious metal has been found in Victoria,
+New South Wales and Queensland, but recently it has been discovered in
+Western Australia. The miners often strike a good lead and grow very
+rich, but it is a hard life and especially so in the districts where
+there is little water. In the old days men often died of thirst, but now
+they have ways of storing the rain which falls in the wet season so that
+they do not suffer much.
+
+"There are many interesting things about the gold regions if the life
+there is hard. Trains of camels carry the swag of the miners across the
+sandy deserts. These beasts were imported especially for this work,
+since they can go longer without water than any other animals, and
+often it is a long ways from one good water hole to another. The miners
+'peg out' their claims in the new places and set to work sifting the
+sands in which are found the grains of gold, sometimes as large as nuts.
+Soon there is a camp started. Little canvas huts dot the country. Then
+if the camp proves successful, houses are built and finally a city will
+grow up, almost as if by magic. One city, that of Ballarat, has grown in
+twenty-five years to be one of the handsomest in Australia. It has broad
+streets, fine houses, and a beautiful park. The swamp land near by has
+been made into a lake surrounded by velvet-turfed pleasure grounds,
+planted with wonderful trees and flowers. Kalgoorlie, in only ten years,
+is almost a golden city, to which water is brought two hundred miles in
+pipes, to drive the engines which extract the gold from the quartz."
+
+"Thank you, Uncle, for telling me all about it," said Jeanie. "I hope
+father will find a good mine and then sell it out quickly and come back
+to buy a run near you. That is what I should like best of anything."
+
+"So should I, child," her uncle smiled at her. "Here we are at the
+stables. Jump down and run and call Sandy for me and I'll take you both
+with me while I go over the sheds."
+
+"I've always wanted to know about these queer looking sheds," said Jean
+as she and Sandy trudged after her uncle.
+
+"This long building is the wool shed," he said. "Now it is empty and
+quiet, but when it is shearing time there is noise enough. At this end
+is the wool press, and the shearing board runs along the sides of the
+shed. Sheep used to be sheared by hand, but Lord Wesley's brother
+invented a machine for shearing which is a wonderful thing. Would you
+two youngsters like to ride around the run with me? I have to go over to
+the paddocks to-day."
+
+"Oh, Uncle, may I ride?" exclaimed Jean. "I had a little Shetland pony
+at home and I have missed him so much."
+
+"You may ride Sandy's pony, and he will take Wallace, while I will ride
+'The Bruce,'" said Mr. McDonald, and both the children fairly jumped
+with delight. They rode around the run, the master looking everything
+over carefully.
+
+"Every paddock has its own flock," he explained to Jean. "In one the
+ewes are kept, in another the wethers, and then there is a paddock for
+the horses and another for the cows."
+
+"How do you get so many animals fed," asked Jean.
+
+"They graze on the grass, and those great fields of alfalfa over there
+are grown to use as food. It has to be irrigated and is quite a little
+trouble, but it pays in the end. That house is where the manager lives,
+with his family and the jackaroos."
+
+"What is a jackaroo? Some kind of a bird?" asked Jean. Sandy shouted
+with laughter and his uncle smiled as he answered,
+
+"No, child, jackaroo is the name given to the young fellows who are new
+at the station and just learning Australian customs. All kinds of jokes
+are played on them by the old hands and they have a hard time at first.
+A story is told of some Englishmen who had just come out and were going
+hunting. They hadn't found any game and so they asked some station hands
+if they had seen any. 'There's a jackaroo down near the water hole,'
+said the cook, wickedly, so the two men hurried away to shoot the
+strange animal, and lo! it was a young man like themselves."
+
+"What do jackaroos do, Uncle?" asked Jean.
+
+"Well, they have to learn to do all the work there is to do at a
+station, so that some day they may get to be managers or even run
+stations of their own. They have to ride the boundary every day to see
+that there are not holes in the fences, and that the water holes are
+full. Only one man is needed to look after 7,500 sheep, so he is kept
+pretty busy."
+
+"There are so many buildings somebody must have to look after them. Do
+the jackaroos do that?" asked Jean.
+
+"No, all the repair work on the station is given to a set of men who dig
+water holes, build fences, and do any necessary carpenter work. These
+draw their groceries, meat, and so forth from the stores, but do not eat
+at our tables. I don't believe Wu Ling would stand it if he had to cook
+for them."
+
+"Isn't he funny?" said Jean, laughing. "He lets me come in the kitchen
+and watch him bake brownie, but he won't allow Fergus or Sandy there at
+all. Do all stations have Chinese cooks?"
+
+"Not all, but a great many do. The Chinese are the best cooks we can
+get. A great many people hate the yellow-skinned Celestials and raise a
+hue and cry about a 'White Australia,' but I don't know what we of the
+far stations would do without them."
+
+"Wu Ling cooks very good things," said Sandy. "But he got very angry
+when Fergus called him 'pig tail.'"
+
+"That wasn't nice of Fergus," said Jean. "What beautiful thistles and
+sweet briar, Uncle."
+
+"Not beautiful in our eyes," said her uncle, as they rode by a
+magnificent clump of sweet briar, the pink blossoms making a lovely spot
+of colour against the purple of the thistles. "Some patriotic Scot
+brought the first thistles to Australia, and an English family the
+roses, and many's the day I have wished they never came. The soil here
+is so rich that everything grows fast, and the thorny plants have spread
+all over the land, in some places growing so thick that they have
+ruined whole tracts of grazing land. They are nearly as bad as the
+foxes. These were brought to destroy the rabbits which ate up the crops,
+but Mr. Reynard likes chicken far better than hare, and he has increased
+so rapidly that it is almost impossible to get rid of him, though
+rewards are offered for his scalp and in one year over thirty thousand
+skins were brought in."
+
+"Do they scalp rabbits, too?" asked Jean.
+
+"Trapping rabbits is a regular Australian business," said her uncle. "A
+good trapper can make £4 a week catching them, and the fur is used to
+make felt hats."
+
+"There are lots and lots of interesting things in your country," said
+Jean brightly.
+
+"But shearing time will be the fun," said Sandy.
+
+"Oh, I'd like to see them shear. May I, Uncle?" cried Jean.
+
+"Yes, indeed, you may see anything you like. We'll make a regular
+station-hand of you before you are done," he laughed.
+
+"I'm only a little jackaroo now," she said. "What is that queer noise?
+It seemed to come from under those trees."
+
+[Illustration: "'THAT IS THE LYRE BIRD, ISN'T HE A HANDSOME FELLOW?'"]
+
+"That is the lyre bird, isn't he a handsome fellow? See, there he is
+beneath that bottle tree. We have a pair of them and never allow them to
+be touched, as they are quite rare in this part of the country, though
+found quite frequently in the scrub.
+
+"The tail of the male is just like an old-fashioned lyre, and it is one
+of the most interesting of our birds."
+
+"Did you say that was a bottle tree?" asked Jean.
+
+"Yes. Don't you see it is shaped just like a huge bottle, the branches
+growing out of the mouth? The stems have water in them, and if you are
+ever lost in the Bush and thirsty, find a bottle tree and get a drink.
+The Blacks eat the roots, which are full of a kind of gum."
+
+"I never heard of such a place as this," said Jean. "It seems as if
+everything in Australia was useful. Everything but little girls," she
+added.
+
+"Little girls are very useful in making other people happy," said her
+uncle kindly.
+
+"But I'd like to be really useful and learn to do something," said Jean.
+
+"You will when you are bigger," he answered. "You must get well and
+strong before you can do very much, lassie. But you will be useful
+enough as you grow older."
+
+"I don't see why you are in such a hurry to go to work," said Sandy. "I
+think you have a pretty fine time!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"LOST!"
+
+
+LIFE at the run proved pleasant to Jean and full of interesting
+happenings. She missed her father and Fergus, but she and Sandy soon
+grew to be great friends, and many were the thrilling bits of mischief
+into which he dragged her, sure that he would escape punishment if Jean
+were only to say, "Don't punish Sandy, Uncle Angus, I did it too."
+
+The little girl loved her Aunt Mildred, but more than any one at the
+station her uncle had won her heart. She grew to be his little shadow,
+driving and riding with him, sun-tanned and rosy, growing strong and
+healthy in the free Australian life.
+
+"You are getting as fat as a Chinaman's horse, lassie," said her uncle
+as they rode to the river one day.
+
+"Why do you say that?" she asked.
+
+"The Chinese are always very kind to their horses and keep them fat and
+slick, so that has grown to be a proverb, though some people say as 'fat
+as a larrikin's dog,' instead."
+
+"What is a larrikin?" Jean was growing as full of questions as Fergus.
+
+"Larrikin is a slang term applied to the idlers who lounge about the
+cities, a dog at their heels, like the 'Enery 'Awkins of London or
+Glasgow. There are many of them in Australia and they have formed a kind
+of secret society among themselves, which is not a very good thing. Here
+is a fine bit for a canter, Jeanie. I'll beat you to the big
+eucalyptus."
+
+"No, you won't." Jean chirruped to her pony and was off like a shot
+through the open paddock, jumping a fence as if on wings. She loved to
+gallop when the air was filled with the fragrance of the wattle and the
+gum, and she had grown to ride like a little centaur.
+
+"Well done," cried her uncle as she drew up at the gate, laughing and
+breathless, her horse half a head in advance of his. "We are so near to
+'Mason's run,' I think we'll have time to stop there. I want to see him
+about several things, so we'll ride on."
+
+"Very well, Uncle. Is it a sheep run?"
+
+"No, cattle. You have not seen one yet, so keep your eyes open and learn
+all you can. Mason breeds the long horns, sullen beasts, but good
+stock."
+
+"I shall be glad to see them," she said, and they cantered up to the
+homestead, which was very unlike her uncle's station.
+
+Built of wood, with a galvanized-iron roof, the house stood on piles,
+but between each pile and the house was a tin plate to keep the white
+ants from climbing into the rooms. Several gins[7] came out to see who
+the strangers were, the first that Jean had seen, and she looked at
+them curiously. Not more so, however, than they looked at her, for they
+stared at her and whispered together.
+
+"They don't know what to make of you, 'Lassie with the lint white
+locks,'" her uncle laughed. "The young gin wants to know if you are
+Great Baiame's golden child. It's your fair hair, I suppose."
+
+Jean's hair was light golden and floated all about her face like a halo.
+
+"Great Baiame is their god, good spirit, and they think you are a
+goddess. That gin wants to touch your hair. Better let her, she won't
+hurt you."
+
+Jean smilingly bent her head and let the black woman run her fingers
+over her shining tresses. The gin smiled and, seized by a sudden
+impulse, Jean said,
+
+"She may have a curl if she wants it, Uncle. I have plenty and mother
+won't care." He handed her his knife and she snipped off a silken
+strand, which the gin took with many expressions of delight.
+
+"You have certainly made a hit among the Blacks," said her uncle
+teasingly. "She will wear that as a charm and be the envy of all the
+tribe. Your hair is pretty.
+
+    "'The world to me knows no fairer sight
+    Than your long hair veiling your shoulders white,
+    As I tangle my hand in your hair my pet.'"
+
+he quoted as he stroked the shining mane.
+
+"Uncle, I don't think cattle runs are as nice as sheep runs. There
+aren't any wool sheds, but just open yards."
+
+"These are the stock and branding yards. You see the cattle roam the
+hills, some of the runs being as large as five thousand square miles, on
+which the cattle find their own food and water."
+
+"If they wander over all that distance, how do the owners ever tell
+their own cattle?" asked Jean.
+
+"Every beast is branded, that is, he has his owner's mark burnt into his
+hide," said her uncle. "So it is easy to draft out of the mobs the
+cattle which belong to other ranchmen. The young oxen are sent to the
+coast to be fattened for market, while the old cattle are sent to the
+rendering works, where they are made into tallow and beef extract. The
+stockman's life is harder than that of the shepherd, and dangerous
+because of the bullocks' stampedes, when they break loose and often run
+down horses and men in their frantic rush for freedom."
+
+"I like the sheep run much better," said Jean. "See that flying
+squirrel, Uncle! I think they are the cunningest little things. Who do
+you suppose is hiding behind that tree? I heard some one laughing."
+
+"Look and see," her uncle smiled. Jean jumped down from her horse and
+peered behind the tree. There she saw a little bird perched on one leg
+which sang a pretty little song, always breaking off with "H-ah-ha!
+Hoo-hoo-hoo!"
+
+"That's a laughing jackass, Jeanie," said her uncle. "He's a funny
+little fellow, isn't he?"
+
+"He isn't a bit pretty," said Jean.
+
+[Illustration: "'THAT WAS A PLATYPUS, OR WATER MOLE,' SAID MR.
+McDONALD."]
+
+"No, but he's very useful, for he eats snakes and lizards and all kinds
+of things, and there is a law forbidding any one to kill him."
+
+"You have so many queer things in Australia," said Jean. "Down by the
+river Sandy and I found the queerest thing. It looked part animal and
+part bird. It had a big flat bill like a duck and fur on its body like a
+rat, and it had webbed feet and a long bushy tail. Sandy said it was a
+beastie and was called a water mole, but we found its nest in a kind of
+tunnel running from the water's edge under ground, and in the nest were
+eggs."
+
+"That was a platypus, or water mole," said Mr. McDonald. "He is an
+animal but lays eggs like the birds. There is another animal in
+Australia which does too, the spiny ant-eater. He looks like a hedgehog
+but has a queer, long bill with a long tongue covered with sticky stuff
+with which he licks up the ants off the ground. He hasn't a nest, but
+carries his eggs around in a kind of a pocket until they are hatched."
+
+"It certainly is a queer place, with trees that shed their bark every
+year, pears that have hard wooden rinds, cherries with the stones
+outside, trees with flowers and seeds growing in the leaves and animals
+that lay eggs," said Jean.
+
+"And little girls that chatter and ride like monkeys," cried Sandy's
+teasing voice, as he rode up behind them. "I can pass you!"
+
+"No, you can't!" cried Jean, and she galloped off, her cousin after her,
+though he did not catch up with her till she rode up to the veranda and
+jumped off her pony, laughing heartily.
+
+Some weeks later all was hurry and bustle at the station. Shearing was
+to begin the next day and there was a great deal to be done to make
+ready for the great event. Shearers were coming in, some riding, some
+trudging along on foot, carrying their swags. There were huts for them
+to sleep in, and tents were being spread in the open. Mr. McDonald left
+all the details of this work to his manager, a young Australian who had
+been born and raised on a sheep run.
+
+At first Jean was much interested in seeing the shearing and stood in
+the shed watching, as the engine whistled to begin. The pens were full
+of sheep who did not at all know what they were there for, but who did
+know that they did not like it. They baa-ed and bawled, and with the
+noise of the machinery it was deafening in the sheds. As the machine
+starts every shearer grabs a sheep from the pen, choosing the one that
+looks the easiest to shear, he throws it with his knee and rapidly
+guides the little knife-like cutters of the machine over the fleece,
+which falls from the animal in one huge piece. The sheep is then
+released to run, pink and shivering, to the yard again. The "picker up"
+catches up the fleece and takes it to the wool bin, while the shearer
+turns to the pen to catch another victim. He has to be quick because the
+sharp eye of the overseer is upon him. He walks up and down, watching
+every one. The "penners-up" must not let a single pen be empty, "the
+pickers-up" must keep the floor clean, the shearers must shear evenly as
+well as closely. If they cut a ragged fleece the wool will grow badly
+the next year and some of it will be wasted.
+
+The shearers are paid by the number of sheep they shear, and they work
+very fast, every man trying to see if he cannot be the "ringer," as they
+call the man who has sheared the greatest number of sheep at the close
+of the shearing.
+
+The shearers earn five dollars for every hundred sheep sheared, and an
+ordinarily good workman will shear a hundred sheep in a day, while
+extra good ones have sheared three hundred in a day. As the shearers
+have no expenses, their food and lodging being given them, they can make
+a good deal of money during the season.
+
+The picker-up takes the fleece to the wool roller, who trims it and
+rolls it up to be inspected by the classer. He decides as to its quality
+and puts it in the proper bin. It is then baled, marked with the quality
+and the owner's brand, and taken by wagon to the nearest shipping
+station.
+
+The sheep are counted, branded and dipped to prevent their being covered
+with wood ticks, which bite so fiercely, and then are returned to their
+paddocks. There is no more attractive sight in the world than an immense
+flock of the long-wooled Australian sheep, and none more forlorn than
+the shivering droves of freshly-sheared animals.
+
+Jean watched until she was tired. The smell of the wool, the noise, the
+heat, the cries of the tormented sheep, all turned her sick, and she
+fled to the house. There things were little better. Everybody was busy.
+Aunt Mildred had no time to notice a little girl. Sandy was away, no one
+knew where, and, worst of all, her mother was laid low with one of her
+terrible headaches. Jean knew these of old, and that it was no use to
+expect to even speak to her mother before night. She felt forlorn and
+lonely and decided to take a ride.
+
+No one was at the stable to saddle Dandy, but she had learned to ride as
+well without a saddle as with, so she got on the pony's back and rode
+toward the river.
+
+Away from the noise of the shearing shed, how quiet and lovely it all
+seemed. The wind swayed gently the branches of the great she-oaks as a
+mopoke's mournful note came from the gum trees. Flying foxes flapped
+their wings and she came upon the playground of a satin-bower[8] bird,
+the first she had ever seen, although her uncle had told her about them.
+She rode farther into the wood than she intended and, feeling tired, she
+got off Dandy and, throwing the reins over a bush, sat down under a tree
+to rest.
+
+"I'm so tired," she said to herself, "I think I will take a little nap.
+This looks just the place for a fairy ring and perhaps the elves will
+come to dance while I am asleep."
+
+She lay down under the huge tree about which ferns grew so thickly as to
+form a green curtain. Dandy browsed in the grass near by, every now and
+then pricking up his dainty ears and working his velvety nose as if
+something he did not like was near. Then his reins pulled loose from the
+bush and he wandered away to nibble at a tempting bit of turf a little
+distance away. Another tempted him and he was soon out of sight, hidden
+by the great ferns which grew up above his pretty head.
+
+As he disappeared there was a little rustle in the bushes and two eyes
+peered at the sleeping child. Then a hand reached out and warily touched
+a fold of her little blue gingham frock. Jean stirred in her sleep and
+smiled. She was dreaming that her father had come back and that he took
+her in his strong arms and carried her away, away, and she never wanted
+him to put her down. The scent of the wild blooms was in her nostrils,
+and she did not wake when two arms cautiously raised her from the ground
+and holding her lightly yet carefully, so that no branch might brush
+against her, carried her far into the deep and lonely wood. It was
+perhaps an hour that the man carried her and she did not wake. Then she
+opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of a big Black. She screamed
+in fright, but he spoke gently to her.
+
+"Missa not 'fraid. Me not bad Black. Take Missa home."
+
+"Where is my pony. I would rather ride him," she cried, struggling, and
+the Black put her down.
+
+"Pony all gone," he said. "Missa very tired, me show Missa my gin. She
+very sick, want to see white baby, with gold for hair. Hear all about
+her from other gin. Then carry home. Black very much like Missa." He
+smiled again and his face looked kind. "Let me carry Missa or we not get
+there soon," he said coaxingly, and not knowing what else to do Jean
+allowed him to pick her up and carry her again. He walked fast, but she
+did not see the river or the house and she began to grow frightened. It
+grew dark and the air was full of flying things, so large as to seem
+like birds and so small as to seem like baby mice with wings. The bird
+songs were stilled; only the soft chirping of the tree insects were
+heard. Then those ceased and all was still and dark, and the silent
+forest so terrified the child that she began to cry.
+
+"No good for Missa to cry, Missa must go see gin," said the Black, and
+as he spoke they came in sight of a little group of native huts,
+bark-thatched and dimly seen through the darkness. Into the smallest of
+these the Black stumbled and set his burden before a couch on which lay
+a black woman wasted with fever.
+
+"Brought you white child," he said. The hut was full of Blacks, but Jean
+was too frightened and tired to think of any of them, and she covered
+her face with her hands and sobbed as if her heart would break.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] Black women.
+
+[8] This bird makes a play-ground before the tree in which it builds its
+nest. It has a floor of sticks, and over this is built a little bower
+into which are woven bright feathers, white shells, etc.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+JEAN FINDS A FRIEND
+
+
+JEAN stopped crying, for she found that it did no good. She curled up in
+the corner of the dark hut and waited to see what would happen. The
+Blacks talked and jabbered around her, but she could not at all
+understand what they said, and she was too little to understand that she
+was in any danger. She only wished with all her heart that she might see
+her mother. The Blacks talked together, and Jean at last was so tired
+that she curled up on the floor and went to sleep. When she awoke and
+opened her eyes she was surprised to find that the sun was shining.
+
+She was lying on the ground under a huge gum tree. A fire of the dry
+twigs of the gum tree burned brightly, as a young black boy whom she
+had seen the night before fanned it with a huge fern leaf.
+
+"Little Missa hungry," he said, smiling kindly down at her. "Kadok make
+eat. Be good little girl and lie still."
+
+He took a hatchet which hung on the belt around his waist and quickly
+cut off a piece of bark from the gum tree, then took some flour from a
+bag and piled it on the bark. Water from the water-hole he dipped up
+with a leaf cup and mixed with the flour, baking it on the bark over the
+fire. Kadok then dipped fresh water from the water-hole, around which
+ferns grew as high as Jean's head, and turned over the ashes of the fire
+to roast in them a turkey's egg which he had found in the bracken.
+
+"Now Missa eat," he said, giving Jean a piece of damper[9] and the egg,
+with a cup of water. "Little Missa not be afraid. Kadok take her to see
+Mother."
+
+The boy's face was kind and Jean tried to smile at him in return,
+finding courage to say,
+
+"Are you Kadok? How did I get here?"
+
+"I am Kadok, _yoia_.[10] Black man found little Missa asleep by the
+corral. Want to show her to his woman who had no girl, all die. He take
+little Missa and mean to bring her back. Then white police ride and
+hunt. Black man scared, hide Missa, hide selves. Some black men say kill
+little Missa. Kadok say 'No.' His father chief, and chief say, 'Take
+back white Missa to mother.' So Kadok will take."
+
+"Thank you, Kadok," said Jean simply, accepting all that he said. "How
+soon will I see my mother?"
+
+"Don't know. Missa come long way on man's back. Must go back on two
+feet. Take days and nights. Not cry," he said as her face clouded.
+"Kadok take one good care of little Missa. Eat plenty meal, then we
+start walk."
+
+Jean was a quiet child. Fergus had always been the talker and she had
+been content to listen to the big brother whom she thought the most
+wonderful boy in the world. So she did not say much in reply to Kadok,
+but obediently ate her queer breakfast, which tasted very good to the
+hungry little girl. When she had finished she said timidly to Kadok,
+
+"May I wash my hands and face at the water-hole?"
+
+"Come with me. I go see," said Kadok. She followed him to the water,
+always a precious thing in Australia, where the dry season makes it
+scarce. "Step right behind Kadok, maybe snakes," said the black boy, and
+she followed him close.
+
+Trees had been cut down and many lay about in the scrub, which grew
+thick and higher than Jean's head, so that Kadok had to hold it aside in
+many places for her to pass. The water-hole was clogged with weeds and
+leaves, but Kadok dug about under the ferns until he found a clean
+pool, then filled his flask with water, saying,
+
+"Little Missa wash quick." Jean dipped up the cool water in her hands,
+splashing it on her face. As she dried herself as best she could with
+her handkerchief, Kadok cried,
+
+"Jump back, Missa, quick! into the scrub!" She obeyed without stopping
+to ask why and stood trembling, as Kadok came hurriedly after her.
+
+"Missa one good little girl," he said. "Mind what Kadok say always so
+quick, then Missa get safe home. See there!" pointing as he spoke to
+something on the other side of the water-hole where Jean had just been
+washing. "What Missa see?"
+
+"I see a big black log," answered Jean.
+
+"What Missa see now," said Kadok, throwing a stick at the log. To the
+child's astonishment and horror the log rolled on its side, turned over
+and opened a huge pair of jaws, closing them again with a cruel snap.
+
+"_Yamin_,"[11] said Kadok briefly. He seldom wasted words. "Eat little
+Missa if she not jumped. Now we start take you home. Little Missa mind
+Kadok and she go long home all right. You not afraid?"
+
+"I will mind," said Jean, "and I am not very much afraid."
+
+"We go," said the boy, and he flung over his shoulder a bag in which he
+had put his water bottle and provisions and started through the scrub.
+"Come after me and tell Kadok when you too tired to walk," he said to
+the child, and she followed him obediently.
+
+She did not know why, but she was not at all afraid of Kadok. She felt
+he was telling her the truth when he said he would take her home if she
+was a good girl, and she put her whole mind upon following the difficult
+trail. The way at first led through a tangle of tropical vegetation,
+then the two struck into a forest of huge gum trees. Overhead the limbs
+made a lattice-work of interlacing boughs which gave no shade, as the
+leaves were vertical instead of horizontal.
+
+The sun grew hot and beat down upon Jean's bare head, for she had lost
+her hat. Her fair hair caught on the long festoons of gray moss which
+hung from the trees, the flying golden fleece stuck to the rough bark,
+which was red with gum and very sticky. Her tangled matted curls, which
+had been her mother's joy, hung about her face and into her eyes so that
+she could scarcely see where she was going. The spinifex prickles stuck
+her ankles and legs, and at last she stumbled over a hidden tree root
+and fell in a heap upon the ground. At her cry Kadok turned quickly,
+
+"Missa hurt," he said, coming back and helping her to her feet. "Not
+cry."
+
+"I won't," she said, choking back her sobs. "Please let me rest awhile."
+
+"Must go fast to get to water-hole for dinner," said Kadok. "Missa rest
+a little and then try go again."
+
+She lay down on the grass and shut her eyes. Some parrots chattered and
+screamed in the trees above her, but the sun was hot and most of the
+forest birds were still, except for little twitterings among the
+branches. Kadok sat silent beside her. Much was passing in the black
+boy's mind. He knew too well the need for haste. The trip was dangerous
+for him as well as for his little white friend; he understood the danger
+and she did not. She felt only the danger of the forest, reptiles,
+hunger, cold and thirst. But Kadok had to fear both Blacks and Whites.
+Should the two fugitives run into unfriendly Blacks they would be
+captured, and if the little girl was not killed by them she would be
+taken far inland, where as yet white people did not rule, and all hope
+of restoring her to her people would be at an end. On the other hand,
+were they to fall in with any of the mounted police or squatters, Kadok
+knew that his story would never be believed, and that he would be
+punished for stealing a white child. All this he knew, that Jean could
+not understand, but he felt that he must make her see the need for
+hurrying if possible.
+
+"Kadok," she spoke first. "How many miles is it to my mother?"
+
+"It is many hours," answered Kadok. "We must go fast."
+
+"I will go now," she said, getting up. "I can walk."
+
+"Why you hurry?" asked Kadok, surprised.
+
+"I want my mother," she answered. "She will be afraid for me. My father
+has gone away to find gold and she will be frightened for me." She spoke
+like a little old woman and the black boy's eyes shone. He saw that he
+had the way to manage her without frightening her with the dangers he
+dreaded.
+
+"We must go fast so little Missa's mother not get sick without her," he
+said, and the two started on again.
+
+By noon, slow as the little steps were, they had covered considerable
+ground, and they sat down near a tiny water-hole to eat and rest.
+
+"Missa wash feet and rest while I make eat," said Kadok, and Jean bathed
+her bruised feet, wrapping them in wet leaves, which Kadok told her
+would take out the pain. "Little Missa sit very still while I find eat,"
+he said. "I not go away." She was terribly frightened when he
+disappeared between the trees, but in a few minutes she heard the sound
+of chopping near by, and in a few moments more, Kadok returned carrying
+a dead bandicoot.
+
+"Me chop him out of hole in foot of tree," he said, grinning broadly.
+"Him make fine eat."
+
+He quickly made a fire, and cutting up the meat in pieces, put some of
+them on sharpened twigs, and held them over the fire to roast.
+
+"Eat plenty much," he said to Jean as he handed her several pieces. "We
+not know when we find another."
+
+She ate and found the meat very good. Some of it Kadok had rubbed with a
+little salt which he took from his provision bag, and a few bits he held
+over the smoke to dry. All this he wrapped in green leaves and put
+carefully with his provisions, getting Jean water in a leaf cup and
+making ready to start again.
+
+"You good little _wirawi_,"[12] he said approvingly. "We soon bring to
+Mother her good luck."
+
+The afternoon's walk was not quite so bad as the morning's had been.
+Kadok struck into a track which led through the Bush to the main road.
+Walking here was not so troublesome and Jean managed fairly well, though
+her feet hurt her cruelly and toward the last Kadok had to help her
+along.
+
+"Little more walk, Missa," he said encouragingly. "We find good camp for
+night. To-morrow we get long way to home."
+
+But Jean was almost past thinking of the morrow, almost past thinking of
+home. Her poor little body ached in every muscle, her face and hands
+were scratched and bleeding, and she was faint with hunger and fatigue.
+She stumbled on, Kadok holding her arm, until at last she could go no
+longer and would have fallen, had not the black boy picked her up and
+carried her. Laden as he was with his heavy swag, it was no easy task to
+carry a heavy child of eight, but he was a strong, muscular fellow, used
+to Bush life, and not tired as was his white charge. He carried her
+along the track some twenty rods, then paused and looked closely into
+the forest. It seemed a great wall to shut them off, but the keen eye of
+the Black caught an almost imperceptible opening amongst the leaves and
+he left the path once more to tread the mazes of the wood. Only a
+little distance and he came to a ruined hut overgrown with moss and
+creeping plants. It had once been a shepherd's hut and was a poor place,
+but at any rate it would serve as a shelter from the night and Kadok
+carried Jean within and laid her down on the floor.
+
+"Little Missa tired out," he said, pitying the child's white face, which
+looked unearthly in the light of the sunset which streamed through the
+open doorway. Jean was too tired to speak. She looked at him wearily for
+a moment and then closed her eyes. "Missa must eat. Not good to sleep
+too quick," he said.
+
+He made a fire at the door of the hut, partly for warmth, for with the
+sun's going down came the cool night dews, and partly to drive away
+mosquitoes, as well as to cook their supper. He then brought water from
+the trough, and made damper and forced bits of it between the child's
+teeth and gave her a drink of water. Little pieces of roasted meat he
+added to her meal, and at last she sat up and smiled her thanks at him.
+
+"Good Kadok," she said, "eat some yourself. You are tired too."
+
+"Not tired like little Missa," he said, showing his even white teeth in
+a smile. "Now must rub feet with wet leaves so they not be sore
+to-morrow."
+
+Jean bathed her feet and bound them up in cool green leaves, tying them
+on with long grasses which Kadok brought her. Then she wrapped herself
+in the blanket the black boy took from the swag and, lying down, was
+soon sound asleep. Kadok sat for some time at the door of the hut,
+feeding the fire, then he too rolled up in a blanket, and lying across
+the doorway, so that no one could come in without his knowledge, he too
+fell asleep.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] Kind of native bread made of flour and water.
+
+[10] Yes.
+
+[11] Crocodile.
+
+[12] Woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN THE BUSH
+
+
+THE sun was high in the heavens when Jean awoke and at first she did not
+know where she was. Then she sat and looked about her, calling "Kadok!"
+but there was no answer. She went to the door of the hut and looked
+about. The fire was still burning, but there was no sign of the black
+boy. Before she had time to be frightened, however, Kadok's black face
+peered from between the trees, across the little clearing which lay in
+front of the hut. He smiled when he caught sight of her.
+
+"Little Missa sleep good, feel good this morning," he said.
+"_Bujeri_,[13] Kadok make breakfast."
+
+"What have you for breakfast," she asked, hungry as she had never been
+at home.
+
+"Fine fruit, got it top of tree," he said, handing her a large purple,
+plum-like fruit which she ate and thought delicious. Kadok then roasted
+in the ashes some scrub turkey eggs he had found, and these too tasted
+good, and there was damper and cool water.
+
+"Missa must hurry start now," said Kadok. "We long way to go to-day to
+get to Mother."
+
+"First I must try to fix my hair," she said. "It catches in the branches
+so that it hurts."
+
+"Kadok help," he said briefly. He caught the golden mass in his hand and
+screwed it up in bunches on either side of her head, pinning it tight
+with some long thorns. Then he tied about her head a bright handkerchief
+which he had worn knotted around the open neck of his shirt, and rolling
+up the blankets and packing up the ration bag, he shouldered his swag,
+gave her a hand, and they were off for the day.
+
+As they walked Jean noticed that Kadok looked always to the right and
+left and that whenever they came near a hill or a hummock, he would go
+ahead before telling her to follow him.
+
+"Why do you always look around, Kadok," she asked curiously.
+
+"'Fraid Debil-debil get little Missa or _Buba_ or maybe _Yo-wi_ or
+_Ya-wi_," he answered briefly.
+
+"Who are they?" she asked.
+
+"Debil-debil bad god, enemy of _Baiame_,"[14] he said. "_Buba_ big
+kangaroo, very bad father of kangaroos, _Yo-wi_ is fever god, and
+_Ya-wi_ is snake god. All very bad for little Missa," and he shook his
+black head. He did not tell her there were others more to be feared than
+these monsters of the Blacks' demonology, but he was worried by tracks
+he saw in the sand, tracks of both Blacks and Whites. "Mounted police,
+been here," he muttered to himself. "Look for little Missa. See horse's
+tracks plain. Here black man's tracks. Think bad Blacks," and he knit
+his brows.
+
+Kadok was at a loss to know what to do. He did not want to take Jean
+into the Bush again, fearing that hard walking such as they had had the
+day before would make her too sick to go on, yet he was afraid to keep
+on the beaten track. They kept on till noon, however, and he drew her
+aside into the woods to rest and eat her dinner.
+
+He gave her damper, of which she began to be tired, bits of smoked meat,
+and some of the white larvae to be found in quantities on the tree
+roots, and which she thought delicious. She was hungry, but Kadok gave
+her some roots to chew as they walked, saying, "We eat 'gain before
+long, must walk some now. 'Fraid we have big storm," and he looked
+anxiously at the sky, over which heavy clouds were passing.
+
+Obediently she followed him again, and he walked quickly, peering
+through the bushes as if looking for something. The wind was so fierce
+that they made slow progress. It blew so that Jean was terribly
+frightened and at last Kadok stopped in his quick walk and took her
+hand.
+
+"Missa 'fraid Storm debil," he said. "I find place to hide from him.
+Come!" and he pulled her into the bushes which covered a high hill.
+Skirting round the hill, he pushed through a thicket which seemed almost
+like a wall, dragging Jean along as the storm broke with a sudden crash
+of thunder which frightened the child terribly.
+
+"Quick!" Kadok cried to her, "We find cave now!" and he pushed aside
+some close growing tree branches and showed her the entrance of a little
+cave hollowed out of the rock. "Here we be safe till storm go over," he
+said, and Jean gladly crouched in the shelter, watching with frightened
+eyes the play of the lightning. Kadok gave her more roots to chew and
+talked kindly to her to soothe her fears.
+
+"This not much storm," he said. "See many worse than this. Soon over and
+we go on. Think Missa see Mother to-morrow. Not many hours far now."
+
+"Kadok," said Jean, "why are you so good to me?"
+
+"What you mean?" asked Kadok.
+
+"Why do you take me home?" she asked.
+
+"Black boy not forget friend," he said. "Not forget enemy. Do mean to
+Kadok, Kadok do mean to you, if he has to wait five, ten years. Do Kadok
+good, he do good to you when he make chance."
+
+"But I never did you any good," said Jean, puzzled.
+
+"No, little Missa not. Missa McDonald do me heap good.[15] There was bad
+man at Station. He no like Blacks near his cattle camp. Blacks not bad,
+not hurt white man. White man very bad. He make feast and tell Blacks to
+eat. Black men all eat. Next day all black men dead, all but Kadok and
+his father, great Chief. They very sick, but they not had eat much of
+white man's pudding. Chief tell Missa McDonald they very sick
+here,"--putting his hand on his stomach--"She look very sorry and give
+them hot drink. It make them very sick and all white man's pudding come
+up. Think very strange that Kadok and Chief only ones not die, but like
+Missa McDonald very well for hot drink. Chief father say to me, 'Some
+day do kind to Missa McDonald,' and I say 'Yes.' When little Missa taken
+by bad Blacks, Chief say to me, 'Now time to pay Missa McDonald, take
+little Missa home!' I go, take," and the boy nodded his head.
+
+Jean did not understand all of his story, but she could take in enough
+to know that her Aunt Mildred had saved the life of Kadok and his
+father, and she felt that the boy would do all he could for her.
+
+The storm had ceased and the rain lay in sparkling drops upon bush and
+leaf.
+
+"Very wet," said Kadok as he peered out. "Missa sit here very still
+while Kadok go and see. Maybe we go on, maybe not." Jean did not want to
+stay alone in the cave. "Let me go with you," she said pleadingly, but
+Kadok shook his head.
+
+"Not good for Missa. Big snakes come out of holes. Too many. Kadok not
+go far away. Missa not come out of cave till Kadok come back. Missa
+'fraid, say prayers to white people's _Baiame_."
+
+[Illustration: "THE LEAVES PARTED AND A BLACK FACE PEERED THROUGH THE
+BUSHES."]
+
+Jean thought his advice good and said her prayers, sitting quietly for a
+time, looking through the cave door, though she could see but little,
+the screen of vines and bushes was so thick. She grew tired of sitting
+still, and moved about the little cave, finding little to interest her,
+however. It was hollowed out like a tunnel deep into the cliff, but was
+so dark, except right at the mouth, that she was afraid to explore it.
+She took off her shoes, washed her aching feet, and reaching to the
+bushes around the cave, pulled leaves to bind on them as Kadok had
+taught her to do. Then she took off the handkerchief he had tied about
+her head, let down her long hair and tried to smooth out the tangles
+with her fingers. It was no easy task, for the hair was long, fine and
+curly, and it was terribly matted down and snarled. She took a long
+thorn and tried to use it for a comb, and after working a long time had
+the locks smoothed out into a fluffy mass of gold on either side her
+face. She had been so interested in her work that she had not noticed
+how late it was getting until suddenly it seemed to be growing dark. She
+looked out of the cave and saw the gleams of the golden sunset through
+the leaves. She felt hungry. "Where can Kadok be?" she thought to
+herself. "He has been gone a long, long time. Oh, supposing something
+has happened to him! What shall I do?" But there was nothing for her to
+do but wait, and she sat at the door of the cave, too frightened to cry,
+fearing a thousand dangers the worse because they were imaginary. Then
+she heard a crackling of the branches near the cave and sprang to her
+feet joyfully, expecting to see Kadok's black face through the bushes.
+
+"Kadok!" she cried eagerly. The leaves parted and a black face peered
+through the bushes, fierce black eyes gazed at the child, as she stood
+speechless with astonishment, gazing at a perfectly strange Black. She
+did not speak, she was too frightened to scream, and the Black too was
+silent. With her floating, golden hair, her wide blue eyes, her fair
+cheek turned to gold by the rays of the setting sun, which shone full
+upon her, the rest of her body concealed by the branches with which
+Kadok had filled the mouth of the cave, she looked like a creature of
+air rather than earth, and so the Black thought her. With a wild cry of
+"_Kurru! Kurru!_"[16] he let go his hold of the branches, and Jean could
+hear him crashing through the bushes in mad haste to get away.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Expression of satisfaction.
+
+[14] Baiame is the chief god of the Blacks.
+
+[15] This story of the poisoning of nearly a whole tribe of Blacks at a
+Christmas feast is vouched for on good authority.
+
+[16] Kurru-kurru is the Dew Dropper or Mist Gatherer, Goddess of the
+Blacks and wife of Munuala, the water god.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HOUSEKEEPING IN A CAVE
+
+
+SHE heard Kadok's voice and called to him excitedly, "Oh, Kadok, come
+quick! I am so frightened!"
+
+"What matter, little Missa?" asked Kadok as he parted the bushes and
+looked at her with anxious face.
+
+"Oh, a strange Black looked at me and ran away!" she said, bursting into
+tears.
+
+"Little Missa not cry," said Kadok. "Brought little Missa meat for
+supper. What did black man say?"
+
+"A strange word something like curry curry," she said. "He looked
+frightened too."
+
+"That good," said Kadok. "He think little Missa not real child. Golden
+child. Think him not come again. Kadok glad, for we must stay here one,
+two days."
+
+"Oh, Kadok, why? Can't we go to Mother to-morrow?" her voice was full of
+tears and the boy's face clouded.
+
+"Kadok very sorry for little Missa," he said. "But no can help. Kadok
+got bad hurt on foot. No can walk one, two days. Little Missa help Kadok
+get well?"
+
+"Oh, Kadok, how did you hurt yourself?" she asked, as she saw that his
+foot was covered with blood.
+
+"Hurt in the scrub," said Kadok, who did not want to tell her the truth,
+that he had met a Black who had thrown his _nulla-nulla_[17] and struck
+him on the foot, though the boy had managed to get away from him.
+
+"Let me tie it up for you," said Jean. "I've often seen mother dress
+Fergus' wounds, for he was always doing things to himself. He always had
+at least one finger tied up in a rag."
+
+"Little Missa good," said Kadok as he sat wearily down beside her. He
+was worn out and even his brave spirit sank at this new trouble. It
+would be several days before he could walk well, he knew, and if the
+Black who had wounded him had discovered Jean he would certainly come
+back. Would they be safe even for a few hours, he wondered? His chief
+hope lay in the fact that if the Black had thought her a vision, he
+would fear to return.
+
+Jean scooped up water which stood in a pool at the door of the cave,
+washed her pocket-handkerchief and tore it into strips, then bathed
+Kadok's foot and tied it up as she had seen her mother do.
+
+"Thank little Missa," said Kadok. "Feel better, make eat now."
+
+"No, I shall make supper to-night," said Jean. "It is time I tried to do
+something for you."
+
+She gathered up sticks and bits of bark and laid the fire, which Kadok
+carefully lighted, taking one from a box of matches which he had in his
+swag, and which he kept tied up in the skin of an animal to keep them
+from getting damp. He had brought back a _yopolo_[18] from his hunt in
+the forest, and wild bee's honey, and he said to Jean,
+
+"Better not make damper to-night. Save meal for some day we have not
+meat."
+
+"I am tired of damper anyway," said Jean. "How shall I cook the meat?"
+
+"Put leaves over hot stones, set yopolo on, all in his skin, cover him
+over with earth and he cook very tender," said Kadok, and she followed
+his receipt. There was only a little water left in the water-hole, and
+that not fresh.
+
+"Where do you get water, Kadok?" asked Jean.
+
+"From the spring," he answered. "Not far, just ten steps in the bushes,
+straight ahead from cave, but not safe for little Missa go."
+
+"Why not? We are both so thirsty," she pleaded.
+
+"Little Missa's shoes make tracks. Bad Black come long, see tracks, know
+white child here, steal little Missa away."
+
+"Oh, if that's the trouble I can take my shoes off," she said, laughing,
+as she pulled off shoes and stockings. "I will be right back. I can find
+it, for you said it was only ten steps away," and she picked up the
+billy and hurried out of the cave in spite of Kadok's "Little Missa not
+go. Debil-debil get her!"
+
+She was back before Kadok thought she could have found the spring,
+saying brightly,
+
+"Now we have fresh water for our supper, afterwards I can tie up your
+foot again."
+
+"Kadok found cup for little Missa," he said, pulling from his belt a
+battered tin cup. "Think white man drop it, little Missa can have
+honey-water to drink." He cut a piece of the honeycomb and put it in the
+cup of water. Jean drank the sweet drink and almost smacked her lips.
+
+"It is ever so nice, Kadok," she said. "It tastes like the sugar-water
+the American children's black mammy used to give us."
+
+"Who was that?" he asked curiously.
+
+"There were three children of America came to stay at my uncle's place,
+oh, a long time ago before we came to Australia. They had a nurse, a
+black woman. She was ever so black, not brown like you, Kadok, and so
+good and nice. I used to like her very much. That was the reason I was
+not afraid, when the black man told me to come and see the gin who was
+sick. I thought he would be good like Dinah and bring me right back."
+
+"Black people very much like white people," said Kadok. "Some black face
+white heart, some black all way through. Some white face very black
+heart," and the boy shook his head.
+
+"Think yopolo cooked. Him smell fine," he said, sniffing the scent
+which came from the fire.
+
+The yopolo was indeed done and delicious. It was very tender and tasted
+like spring chicken. It was a queer supper for the little Scotch girl,
+seated cross-legged on the floor of the cave, as she drank honey-water
+and cut off bits of meat for herself and Kadok.
+
+The little housekeeper enjoyed her supper thoroughly. Having finished,
+she put fresh green wood on the fire that the smoke might keep off the
+mosquitos, and wrapped the rest of the meat in leaves to keep for
+breakfast. She bathed Kadok's foot, which was swollen and painful, and
+tied it up, and then, under the boy's directions, cut down some leafy
+branches and moss to make herself a bed, and wrapped herself in her
+blanket to sleep.
+
+When morning came it seemed as if the mother's desire that the little
+girl should have experiences to make her less childish was to be
+fulfilled, for Kadok's foot was so painful that he could not even drag
+himself about the cave and Jean had to wait on him as well as to care
+for herself. She made breakfast and gathered fresh leaves and branches
+and brought water enough to last all day. Then she made fresh damper and
+cut strips of the yopolo meat, drying it in the sun and smoke under
+Kadok's directions. There were provisions enough to last a day or two
+and she tried not to worry about things, but she wished she had
+something else to do.
+
+Kadok saw she was growing restless and tried to talk to her, afraid that
+she would cry. "Little Missa not see cave before, not have at home. Tell
+about home."
+
+"Oh, it's not at all like this," she said. "It's very cold, and the
+mountains are high and beautiful and there are no snakes nor wild
+things. It's all farms and sheep and not wild like Australia. And in the
+winter the snow is lovely."
+
+"What is snow?" asked Kadok.
+
+"Don't you know what snow is?" she laughed. "I hardly know how to tell
+you. It looks like soft, white feathers and it floats down from the sky
+when it's very cold and covers up the ground like a white blanket. Then
+it is lovely, but when the sun comes out and melts it, it's not nice.
+Didn't you ever see snow?"
+
+"Never did," said Kadok.
+
+"Oh, Kadok, what's that?" exclaimed Jean, as a mournful sound came
+through the forest.
+
+"That messenger of Muuruup, _Debill-debill_," said Kadok with a frown.
+"Muuruup lives under the ground. He make evil. He makes lightning and
+spoils trees and kills people. No like hear owl bird. Bring bad storm or
+bad luck."
+
+"Oh, I hope he won't bring a storm," said Jean. "We had storm enough
+yesterday to last for awhile. How does _Debil-debil_ make lightning?"
+
+"Don't know," said Kadok. "Old chief say he not make. Say Great Baiame
+make. He want to smoke big pipe up in sky, strike match to light pipe,
+throw match down to earth, while smoke--match make lightning."
+
+"If we are going to have another storm I am going to bring water from
+the spring while I can go out of the cave." She was getting very tired
+of sitting still.
+
+"Kadok not like little Missa to run round by herself," said Kadok, but
+Jean said wilfully,
+
+"I must go by myself if there is no one to go with me, mustn't I? We've
+got to have water," and she picked up the billy and started for the
+spring.
+
+It was cool and pleasant in the woods. She filled her billy and stopped
+to gather a handful of leaves which grew near-by and looked shiny and
+pretty, then went back to Kadok.
+
+"You see nothing happens to me," she said.
+
+"You go once too often. You not good little Missa. You not mind Kadok,"
+he grumbled.
+
+"I will be good, but really I can't sit still all day," she said. "See
+what pretty leaves."
+
+"Very good leaves," said Kadok. "When little Missa have no water, chew
+these, not be thirsty. White men call them hibiscus."
+
+"I'll remember that," said Jean. "Kadok, tell me a story about when you
+were a little boy. What did you used to do at home?"
+
+"Not do very much in wuuries,"[19] he said with a broad grin. "Blacks
+not have much home like white people. Like woods better than wuuries.
+Like hunt. Make many fine hunt, sometimes hunt animals, sometimes hunt
+other Blacks. Very good eat, before white man comes," he hastened to add
+as he saw Jean's expression of terror. "Not eat people now."
+
+"I should hope not," cried the child.
+
+"Little Missa keep quiet," said Kadok, raising himself on his elbow,
+grasping a stick he had and peering through the bushes. "Something
+coming. Think not black man. Don't move!" They sat so quiet it seemed to
+Jean that she could hear her heart beat, but heard nothing more. Just as
+she was about to speak, Kadok raised his stick quickly and brought it
+down with great force and Jean saw something black whirl and twist at
+the opening of the cave.
+
+"Missa help quick. This hard to hold," cried Kadok. "Take stick, hold
+very tight here," and he gave her the handle of the forked stick which,
+to her horror, she saw held down by its neck a large snake. She shut her
+eyes tight, but held the stick bearing down with all her might while
+Kadok struck the snake over and over with his stick.
+
+"Good Missa, let go stick, snake very dead now," and she looked with a
+shudder at the dead body of the serpent.
+
+"Him tree-python," said Kadok, calmly. "Him make very good supper for
+Missa."
+
+"Oh, I couldn't eat snake, really, I couldn't," she said, but Kadok
+laughed.
+
+"Make very good eat for black boy, save yopolo for Missa," he said.
+"Think dinner time now, Missa eat meat, Kadok eat snake."
+
+It made Jean feel very queer to see him cut off a piece of the tail,
+roast it and eat with great enjoyment, but before night she was to look
+upon the snake as her greatest friend.
+
+She dropped asleep after eating and did not waken until almost time for
+supper, when she found that Kadok had been sleeping too.
+
+"Foot very much better, think we go find Mother to-morrow," he said, as
+she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Little Missa not cry, be good Missa. We
+be all right. Time to eat again."
+
+"I'm not very hungry," she said, "but I want some fresh water to drink."
+
+"Little Missa not go to the spring. Kadok not like," he said so
+earnestly that she said,
+
+"Well, never mind, I can drink the old water and chew some hibiscus
+leaves."
+
+"Think I can go for Missa," said Kadok as he rose and tried his foot.
+"Not very bad."
+
+"Oh, never mind," she said, but he took the billy and his stick and
+limped through the bushes. He was gone only a moment or two when she
+felt a strange feeling as of some one looking at her, and she raised her
+head to see, staring through the bushes, the same savage eyes which had
+frightened her the day before.
+
+"Kadok!" she screamed, but the Black reached forth a long arm and tried
+to catch her. She drew back into the cave and screamed again. She had no
+weapon, but she grasped the dead snake by the tail and with all the
+strength she could muster threw it straight into the Black's face. The
+man gave a loud "Wouf!" as the reptile struck his face, and darted back
+just as Kadok came up behind and struck him on the head with his waddy.
+Attacked before and behind, the black man thought his enemies were many
+and he fled through the bushes as fast as he could go. Fear lent him
+wings and he did not stop until far from the scene of his terror. Kadok
+limped into the cave.
+
+"Little Missa hurt?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"No, but I was dreadfully frightened. It was the same Black I saw
+yesterday."
+
+"What little Missa do?" asked the boy.
+
+"I hadn't anything else, so I hit him with your snake and he ran away,"
+she said simply. The boy looked at her in astonishment and then laughed
+loud and long.
+
+"Baiame teach little Missa to be good Bush girl," he said. "One thing
+very much scare Black is snake in the face. Missa do just right thing."
+
+"I didn't know just what to do, but I had to do something," she said.
+"What shall we do now, Kadok?"
+
+"Not know," he said, frowning. "Think best eat, rest to-night. Go long
+early in morning before Black come back. Missa make eat, then sleep. Not
+be afraid. Kadok watch."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Big stick, like a shillalah.
+
+[18] Small animal.
+
+[19] Huts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DANDY SAVES THE DAY
+
+
+IT was early in the morning when the two set out and the stars were
+still shining.
+
+"I never saw so many stars in all my life," said Jean. "It seems to me
+there are more in Australia than I ever saw in Scotland."
+
+"Think great plenty, maybe eighty-eight,"[20] said Kadok.
+
+Their way lay through a less beautiful part of the country than any Jean
+had seen before. It was a wild and lonely land, close to the edge of the
+scrub, beyond them only sand and spinifex. A fire had swept over the
+wood and left the trees gaunt and bare. They waved and tossed their
+gray branches like demons, and Jean shuddered, as on every side the
+ghostly trees seemed to hem her in.
+
+They came to a clearing where the trees had been cut down, and these,
+bleached and white, lay on the ground in a thousand gnarled and twisted
+shapes, their interlacing branches seeming like writhing serpents. Many
+of the gum trees had been killed, for the cuts in the bark had been made
+too deep, and the bark hung down in long strips.
+
+No friendly animals or piping forest songsters chirruped a cheerful
+welcome to this scene of desolation. Only the solitary "widow bird"
+hopped about hunting for insects and piping her mournful little note.
+Then the sound of a curlew, like the gasp of a dying child, came to them
+through the dawn, as the sun rose, red and pitiless, over the sands.
+Beyond these were the mountains, rising straight up against the sky.
+Huge gray boulders made a wall at the base of the ridge and the whole
+place seemed so strange and eerie that Jean cried out,
+
+"Oh, Kadok, we don't have to cross these sands, do we? I'm afraid."
+
+"No, Missa," said Kadok wearily. His foot was hurting him cruelly and he
+felt discouraged. "We go another way, all through the wood. Missa not
+feel 'fraid. Where Missa's Baiame? Take care of black boy, not take care
+of white child?"
+
+"Yes, indeed He will," said Jean, feeling ashamed that the black boy
+should preach to her. "But I can't help being afraid. It seems as if we
+would never get to mother."
+
+"Little Missa get there some day, but Kadok not know how soon. Think
+best way now to hunt for road and Missa go long quick for herself. Kadok
+foot not let him go very fast."
+
+"Well, I think I won't," said Jean indignantly. "Do you suppose I'd do
+that when you have been so good to me? We'll go as slowly as you have
+to and I'll take care of your foot. I'm terribly hungry, Kadok, can we
+eat now?"
+
+"Not eat here," said Kadok, who liked the place as little as she did.
+"Walk little more round edge of sand, there find water-hole in the woods
+and eat."
+
+So they trudged on in silence for another hour, gradually leaving behind
+them the sandy scrub and coming to a pleasant wood where a carpet of
+maiden-hair and coral fern reached knee-deep in tenderest green.
+Velvet-brown tree ferns rose in the air, wearing a feathery coronet of
+fronds, and above them grew the sassafras and the myrtle. A thousand
+sweet scents were wafted through the air and a bubbling stream surprised
+them by gushing forth from a clump of bushes.
+
+"Little Missa rest and eat here," said Kadok. "Plenty water," as he
+explored the banks.
+
+"Oh, Kadok, how lovely it looks," she cried. "I'd like to bathe in that
+water, it's so clear and nice."
+
+"Very good thing," said the boy. "Kadok make eat, Little Missa go to the
+bushes let water run all over self. Keep her from being thirsty all day
+while we walk."
+
+So Jean splashed in the cool water and enjoyed her bath like a little
+nymph behind the thick screen of bushes. She smoothed up her hair and
+came forth refreshed and rested to find Kadok had made fresh damper and
+toasted some bits of meat, gathering also some of the sassafras leaves,
+making a kind of tea which was very good. She ate and rested while Kadok
+bathed his foot and filled his water bottle, and then they started off
+again, tramping this time over a hilly country. They had to take a long
+rest in the middle of the day while the sun was hot and both were very
+tired. There was nothing to eat but damper and some roots Kadok had
+found, and the delay and the scanty meal did not make Jean feel any more
+cheerful. The day seemed the longest she had ever spent and when
+twilight fell and they found no shelter, no friendly cave nor deserted
+hut, the little girl felt more forlorn than she had ever felt in her
+life. She tried hard not to show Kadok for she saw that the boy was
+suffering far worse than he would admit.
+
+"What are we going to have for supper?" she asked.
+
+"Not much eat," said he. "Damper all gone, no more flour. No meat."
+
+"There's plenty of water, anyway," said Jean, for they had followed the
+course of the stream all day and now camped beside its silvery ripples.
+As she spoke, a stir in the water caught her eye.
+
+"Oh, Kadok," she exclaimed, "why can't we have fish?"
+
+"No can catch," said the boy wearily. "Too bad foot to go hunt."
+
+"Watch me catch a fish," said Jean sturdily. "I used to catch trout at
+home. Let me see, what can I use for a line?" She thought a minute,
+then clapped her hands. "I know, you just rest, Kadok, and see what a
+good fisherman I am!"
+
+She took a pin from her belt, bent it and tied to it a strip of cotton
+torn from her skirt. This line she tied to a branch from which she
+stripped the leaves; on them she found some fuzzy caterpillars, one of
+which she used for bait. Then she threw her line and sat down where the
+stream turned at right angles and made a deep, quiet pool. She waited a
+long time. Three or four times she had a bite and failed to land her
+fish, but just as she was growing discouraged there was a jerk, then a
+long, steady pull at her line.
+
+"Come help me land him," she called to Kadok, and the boy hastened to
+her aid. Between them they pulled in their fish, a fine, speckled fellow
+which Kadok cleaned and roasted on a flat stone heated red hot. The fish
+was delicious, and there was plenty for both of them, so that they felt
+far more cheerful as they rolled up their blankets to sleep.
+
+It was Jean's first trial of sleeping in the open, and it was long
+before she could rest. She lay and watched the stars, of only a few of
+which she knew the names, though Orion seemed like an old friend and the
+cloudy path of the Milky Way a broad road to Heaven.
+
+"Little Missa not sleep," said Kadok. "Her 'fraid Debill-debill?"
+
+"No, Kadok, I'm not afraid," she answered.
+
+"Peruna heeal very good spirit, he big man spirit, lives 'bove clouds.
+He not let Debil-debil loose to-night. Too many twinkle lights.
+Debil-debil likes darkness. Missa try sleep."
+
+Toward morning Jean was awakened by a crackling in the bushes. "Kadok,"
+she whispered. "Wake up."
+
+"Kadok not asleep, little Missa," he whispered in return.
+
+"I hear something in the bushes," she said. "Is it one of those bad
+Blacks like I saw at the cave?"
+
+"Too far away for bad Black, think ghost, maybe," said the black boy,
+who, with all his courage, had the Black's fear of ghosts.
+
+"I don't think there are such things as ghosts," said Jean steadily.
+
+"Plenty ghosts," said Kadok. "One man of my tribe go to near tribe and
+he saw wuurie left alone with no life in it. Over door was crooked stick
+pointing to where family had gone. On ground were pieces of bark covered
+with white clay, so he knew some one dead. He follow tracks and found
+dead body in tree. It was bound with knees to chest, tied with cord made
+from acacia bark and was wrapped in rug of opossum skins. He turn back
+rug and saw face of friend. Then he wept and went away. He walked from
+place of death and heard a great chattering of magpies. He turned to see
+what made magpies make so much noise--saw ghost of dead friend. It had
+followed him from the tree. So I know there are ghosts, little Missa."
+
+"This ghost sounds to me as if it went on four feet," said Jean. "And as
+I don't hear it any more I'm going to sleep."
+
+She listened for awhile, but heard no more.
+
+In the early morning she was awakened by feeling something cool on her
+face. She sprang up with a cry of terror which promptly turned to one of
+delight.
+
+"Dandy, my own Dandy!" she cried, throwing her arms around the pony's
+neck.
+
+"Oh, Kadok, here is my pony. He has wandered away and we must be not far
+from Djerinallum!"
+
+The little pony seemed as pleased as she, and Kadok's face lighted up,
+
+"Little Missa take road with pony and ride safe now. Say good-bye to
+Kadok and run 'long home."
+
+Jean stamped her foot she was so angry.
+
+"You make me angry, Kadok," she cried. "Here you've taken care of me all
+these days and now you want me to run off and leave you! I don't think
+you're nice at all. You shall come with me to the run. You can ride when
+your foot is tired and I'll ride part of the time. It can't be far now.
+You go catch a fish and we'll have breakfast, then we'll start."
+
+Kadok looked astonished as the little fury scolded, but he obeyed, and
+soon a fine fish sizzled on the fire stone.
+
+They started off for the main road, which Kadok said was not far away
+through the bushes, Jean riding her pony and feeling bright and
+cheerful. When they reached the road after several hours riding, she saw
+that Kadok was limping painfully. She jumped off the pony and said,
+
+"You must ride now. I know your foot hurts and I'm tired of riding and
+want to walk awhile. Get on and I will walk along and hold Dandy's
+rein."
+
+[Illustration: "THE BLACK BOY ON A PONY LED BY A WHITE CHILD."]
+
+"Little Missa get very boss. Time Missa get back to white folks," he
+grumbled, as he climbed slowly on the horse's back. "Gin never say 'do'
+to Kadok," but Jean only laughed at him and trudged along.
+
+It was an odd picture on which the Australian sun shone, the black boy
+on a pony led by a white child in tattered gingham, and two travellers
+scanned the couple curiously as they urged their horses along. Catching
+up with the children they would have passed, but Jean suddenly cried,
+
+"Father! Fergus!"
+
+"Jeanie! What on earth!" but the rest of her father's sentence was lost
+as he clasped the child in his arms and Jean knew that her troubles were
+over.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There was a terrible hue and cry, lassie, when it was discovered that
+Dandy and you were lost," said her uncle that night as she lay, tired
+but happy, her mother beside her, in a corner of the big couch in the
+morning room at Djerinallum. "Scouts were sent everywhere, but you
+seemed to have dropped off the earth. Parties have been searching ever
+since, but no one has been successful in finding even a trail. We traced
+you to the place in the woods where you got off your pony, but beyond
+that there were no tracks. Kadok says that the Black who took you did
+not mean any harm. His gin was nearly crazy over the death of her child,
+a little girl younger than you, and he wanted to take you to her to see.
+They had heard of you from the gin to whom you gave a curl. The Blacks
+think that when a Black dies he returns to the earth as a white, and he
+wanted his gin to see you, thinking that you might be his own child come
+back."
+
+"Poor child, you have had a dreadful time," said her Aunt Mildred.
+
+"Oh, no, except that I was worried about Mother, because I knew she'd
+think I was killed," she said. Her mother held her close. "I would have
+been if it hadn't been for Kadok."
+
+"Good Kadok," said Mr. Hume. "His foot is being taken care of now and he
+shall have a good home for the rest of his life on our run--"
+
+"Oh Father, are you going to have a sheep run! I'm so glad!" cried Jean.
+
+"Yes, we got back from the Gold Country just in time to meet you. I made
+some money, but I am never going back there. Fergus has no end of
+adventures to tell you, but it is no place to take you and your mother,
+and I don't want to leave you again."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad, we'll be near Uncle and Aunt Mildred," said Jean.
+
+"Not me?" asked Sandy mischievously.
+
+"Oh, you, of course," said Jean. "We are going to be Australians
+ourselves, now, and of course we won't forget our Little Australian
+Cousin."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[20] The Blacks can count only as high as their ten fingers. Anything
+above this they call always "eighty-eight," though no one knows why.
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS
+
+(Trade Mark)
+
+_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_
+
+    _Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per vol._      $1.50
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The
+Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant
+Scissors," put into a single volume.
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING SCHOOL=
+           (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION=
+           (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOUR=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES RIDING=
+           (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =MARY WARE: THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM=
+           (Trade Mark)
+
+    _These ten volumes, boxed as a ten-volume set_      $15.00
+
+
+    =THE LITTLE COLONEL=
+          (Trade Mark)
+
+
+    =TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY=
+
+
+    =THE GIANT SCISSORS=
+
+
+    =BIG BROTHER=
+
+
+Special Holiday Editions
+
+    Each one volume, cloth decorative, small quarto, $1.25
+
+New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page drawings in
+color, and many marginal sketches.
+
+
+=IN THE DESERT OF WAITING=: THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN.
+
+
+=THE THREE WEAVERS=: A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS FOR
+THEIR DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+=KEEPING TRYST=
+
+
+=THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART=
+
+
+=THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME=: A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.
+
+
+=THE JESTER'S SWORD=
+
+    Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative      $0.50
+    Paper boards                                        .35
+
+There has been a constant demand for publication in separate form of
+these six stories, which were originally included in six of the "Little
+Colonel" books.
+
+
+=JOEL: A BOY OF GALILEE=: By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON. Illustrated by L.
+J. Bridgman.
+
+    New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel
+    Books, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative      $1.50
+
+A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author's best-known
+books.
+
+
+=THE LITTLE COLONEL GOOD TIMES BOOK=
+
+    Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series      $1.50
+    Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold                3.00
+
+Cover design and decorations by Amy Carol Rand.
+
+The publishers have had many inquiries from readers of the Little
+Colonel books as to where they could obtain a "Good Times Book" such as
+Betty kept. Mrs. Johnston, who has for years kept such a book herself,
+has gone enthusiastically into the matter of the material and format for
+a similar book for her young readers. Every girl will want to possess a
+"Good Times Book."
+
+
+=ASA HOLMES=: OR, AT THE CROSS-ROADS. A sketch of Country Life and
+Country Humor. By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON.
+
+With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery.
+
+    Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top      $1.00
+
+"'Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads' is the most delightful, most
+sympathetic and wholesome book that has been published in a long
+while."--_Boston Times._
+
+
+=THE RIVAL CAMPERS=: OR, THE ADVENTURES OF HENRY BURNS. By RUEL PERLEY
+SMITH.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+A story of a party of typical American lads, courageous, alert, and
+athletic, who spend a summer camping on an island off the Maine coast.
+
+
+=THE RIVAL CAMPERS AFLOAT=: OR, THE PRIZE YACHT VIKING. By RUEL PERLEY
+SMITH.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+This book is a continuation of the adventures of "The Rival Campers" on
+their prize yacht _Viking_.
+
+
+=THE RIVAL CAMPERS ASHORE=
+
+By RUEL PERLEY SMITH.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"As interesting ashore as when afloat."--_The Interior._
+
+
+=JACK HARVEY'S ADVENTURES=: OR, THE RIVAL CAMPERS AMONG THE OYSTER
+PIRATES. By RUEL PERLEY SMITH.
+
+    Illustrated         $1.50
+
+"Just the type of book which is most popular with lads who are in their
+early teens."--_The Philadelphia Item._
+
+
+=PRISONERS OF FORTUNE=: A TALE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. By RUEL
+PERLEY SMITH.
+
+    Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece      $1.50
+
+"There is an atmosphere of old New England in the book, the humor of the
+born raconteur about the hero, who tells his story with the gravity of a
+preacher, but with a solemn humor that is irresistible."--_Courier-Journal._
+
+
+=FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS.= By CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON.
+
+    Large 12mo. With 24 illustrations      $1.50
+
+Biographical sketches, with interesting anecdotes and reminiscences of
+the heroes of history who were leaders of cavalry.
+
+"More of such books should be written, books that acquaint young readers
+with historical personages in a pleasant informal way."--_N. Y. Sun._
+
+
+=FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.= By CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON.
+
+    Large 12mo, illustrated      $1.50
+
+In this book Mr. Johnston gives interesting sketches of the Indian
+braves who have figured with prominence in the history of our own land,
+including Powhatan, the Indian Cæsar; Massasoit, the friend of the
+Puritans; Pontiac, the red Napoleon; Tecumseh, the famous war chief of
+the Shawnees; Sitting Bull, the famous war chief of the Sioux; Geronimo,
+the renowned Apache Chief, etc., etc.
+
+
+=BILLY'S PRINCESS.= By HELEN EGGLESTON HASKELL.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated by Helen McCormick
+    Kennedy      $1.25
+
+Billy Lewis was a small boy of energy and ambition, so when he was left
+alone and unprotected, he simply started out to take care of himself.
+
+
+=TENANTS OF THE TREES.= By CLARENCE HAWKES.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated in colors      $1.50
+
+"A book which will appeal to all who care for the hearty, healthy,
+outdoor life of the country. The illustrations are particularly
+attractive."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+=BEAUTIFUL JOE'S PARADISE=: OR, THE ISLAND OF BROTHERLY LOVE. A sequel
+to "Beautiful Joe." By MARSHALL SAUNDERS, author of "Beautiful Joe."
+
+    One vol., library 12mo, cloth, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"This book revives the spirit of 'Beautiful Joe' capitally. It is fairly
+riotous with fun, and is about as unusual as anything in the animal book
+line that has seen the light."--_Philadelphia Item._
+
+
+='TILDA JANE.= By MARSHALL SAUNDERS.
+
+    One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50
+
+"I cannot think of any better book for children than this. I commend it
+unreservedly."--_Cyrus Townsend Brady._
+
+
+='TILDA JANE'S ORPHANS.= A sequel to 'Tilda Jane. By MARSHALL SAUNDERS.
+
+    One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50
+
+'Tilda Jane is the same original, delightful girl, and as fond of her
+animal pets as ever.
+
+
+=THE STORY OF THE GRAVELEYS.= By MARSHALL SAUNDERS, author of "Beautiful
+Joe's Paradise," "'Tilda Jane," etc.
+
+    Library 12mo, cloth decorative. Illustrated by E. B.
+    Barry      $1.50
+
+Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and triumphs, of a
+delightful New England family, of whose devotion and sturdiness it will
+do the reader good to hear.
+
+
+=BORN TO THE BLUE.= By FLORENCE KIMBALL RUSSEL.
+
+    12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.25
+
+The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on every page of this
+delightful tale. The boy is the son of a captain of U. S. cavalry
+stationed at a frontier post in the days when our regulars earned the
+gratitude of a nation.
+
+
+=IN WEST POINT GRAY=
+
+By FLORENCE KIMBALL RUSSEL.
+
+    12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"Singularly enough one of the best books of the year for boys is written
+by a woman and deals with life at West Point. The presentment of life in
+the famous military academy whence so many heroes have graduated is
+realistic and enjoyable."--_New York Sun._
+
+
+=FROM CHEVRONS TO SHOULDER STRAPS=
+
+By FLORENCE KIMBALL RUSSEL.
+
+    12mo, cloth, illustrated, decorative      $1.50
+
+West Point again forms the background of a new volume in this popular
+series, and relates the experience of Jack Stirling during his junior
+and senior years.
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN: HIS FARM STORIES=
+
+By WILLIAM J. HOPKINS. With fifty illustrations by Ada Clendenin
+Williamson.
+
+    Large 12mo, decorative cover      $1.50
+
+"An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of very small
+children. It should be one of the most popular of the year's books for
+reading to small children."--_Buffalo Express._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN: MORE FARM STORIES=
+
+By WILLIAM J. HOPKINS.
+
+    Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated      $1.50
+
+Mr. Hopkins's first essay at bedtime stories met with such approval that
+this second book of "Sandman" tales was issued for scores of eager
+children. Life on the farm, and out-of-doors, is portrayed in his
+inimitable manner.
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN: HIS SHIP STORIES=
+
+By WILLIAM J. HOPKINS, author of "The Sandman: His Farm Stories," etc.
+
+    Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated      $1.50
+
+"Children call for these stories over and over again."--_Chicago Evening
+Post._
+
+
+=THE SANDMAN, HIS SEA STORIES=
+
+By WILLIAM J. HOPKINS.
+
+    Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated      $1.50
+
+Each year adds to the popularity of this unique series of stories to be
+read to the little ones at bed time and at other times.
+
+
+=THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL=
+
+By MARION AMES TAGGART, author of "Pussy-Cat Town," etc.
+
+    One vol., library 12mo, illustrated      $1.50
+
+A thoroughly enjoyable tale of a little girl and her comrade father,
+written in a delightful vein of sympathetic comprehension of the child's
+point of view.
+
+
+=SWEET NANCY=
+
+THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL. By MARION AMES
+TAGGART.
+
+    One vol., library, 12mo, illustrated      $1.50
+
+In the new book, the author tells how Nancy becomes in fact "the
+doctor's assistant," and continues to shed happiness around her.
+
+
+=THE CHRISTMAS-MAKERS' CLUB=
+
+By EDITH A. SAWYER.
+
+    12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+A delightful story for girls, full of the real spirit of Christmas. It
+abounds in merrymaking and the right kind of fun.
+
+
+=CARLOTA=
+
+A STORY OF THE SAN GABRIEL MISSION. By FRANCES MARGARET FOX.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Ethelind Ridgway      $1.00
+
+"It is a pleasure to recommend this little story as an entertaining
+contribution to juvenile literature."--_The New York Sun._
+
+
+=THE SEVEN CHRISTMAS CANDLES=
+
+By FRANCES MARGARET FOX.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Ethelind Ridgway      $1.00
+
+Miss Fox's new book deals with the fortunes of the delightful Mulvaney
+children.
+
+
+=PUSSY-CAT TOWN=
+
+By MARION AMES TAGGART.
+
+    Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors      $1.00
+
+"Anything more interesting than the doings of the cats in this story,
+their humor, their wisdom, their patriotism, would be hard to
+imagine."--_Chicago Post._
+
+
+=THE ROSES OF SAINT ELIZABETH=
+
+By JANE SCOTT WOODRUFF.
+
+    Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Adelaide Everhart      $1.00
+
+This is a charming little story of a child whose father was caretaker of
+the great castle of the Wartburg, where Saint Elizabeth once had her
+home.
+
+
+=GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK=
+
+By EVALEEN STEIN.
+
+    Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Adelaide Everhart      $1.00
+
+Gabriel was a loving, patient, little French lad, who assisted the monks
+in the long ago days, when all the books were written and illuminated by
+hand, in the monasteries.
+
+
+=THE ENCHANTED AUTOMOBILE=
+
+Translated from the French by MARY J. SAFFORD
+
+    Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Edna M. Sawyer      $1.00
+
+"An up-to-date French fairy-tale which fairly radiates the spirit of the
+hour,--unceasing diligence."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+=O-HEART-SAN=
+
+THE STORY OF A JAPANESE GIRL. By HELEN EGGLESTON HASKELL.
+
+    Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated
+    in colors by Frank P. Fairbanks      $1.00
+
+"The story comes straight from the heart of Japan. The shadow of
+Fujiyama lies across it and from every page breathes the fragrance of
+tea leaves, cherry blossoms and chrysanthemums."--_The Chicago
+Inter-Ocean._
+
+
+=THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND=: OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ALLAN WEST. By BURTON E.
+STEVENSON.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+Mr. Stevenson's hero is a manly lad of sixteen, who is given a chance as
+a section-hand on a big Western railroad, and whose experiences are as
+real as they are thrilling.
+
+
+=THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER.= By BURTON E. STEVENSON.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"A better book for boys has never left an American press."--_Springfield
+Union._
+
+
+=THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER.= By BURTON E. STEVENSON.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"Nothing better in the way of a book of adventure for boys in which the
+actualities of life are set forth in a practical way could be devised or
+written."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+=CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER.= By WINN STANDISH.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+Jack is a fine example of the all-around American high-school boy.
+
+
+=JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS=: OR, SPORTS ON LAND AND LAKE. By WINN
+STANDISH.
+
+    Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"It is exactly the sort of book to give a boy interested in athletics,
+for it shows him what it means to always 'play fair.'"--_Chicago
+Tribune._
+
+
+=JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS=: OR, MILLVALE HIGH IN CAMP. By WINN STANDISH.
+
+    Illustrated      $1.50
+
+Full of just the kind of fun, sports and adventure to excite the healthy
+minded youngster to emulation.
+
+
+=JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE=: OR, THE ACTING CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM. By WINN
+STANDISH.
+
+    Illustrated      $1.50
+
+On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wrestling,
+tobogganing, but it is more of a _school_ story perhaps than any of its
+predecessors.
+
+
+=CAPTAIN JINKS=: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SHETLAND PONY. By FRANCES HODGES
+WHITE.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+The story of Captain Jinks and his faithful dog friend Billy, their
+quaint conversations and their exciting adventures, will be eagerly read
+by thousands of boys and girls. The story is beautifully written and
+will take its place alongside of "Black Beauty" and "Beautiful Joe."
+
+
+=THE RED FEATHERS.= By THEODORE ROBERTS.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"The Red Feathers" tells of the remarkable adventures of an Indian boy
+who lived in the Stone Age, many years ago, when the world was young.
+
+
+=FLYING PLOVER.= By THEODORE ROBERTS.
+
+    Cloth decorative. Illustrated by Charles Livingston
+    Bull      $1.00
+
+Squat-By-The-Fire is a very old and wise Indian who lives alone with her
+grandson, "Flying Plover," to whom she tells the stories each evening.
+
+
+=THE WRECK OF THE OCEAN QUEEN.= By JAMES OTIS, author of "Larry Hudson's
+Ambition," etc.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+"A stirring story of wreck and mutiny, which boys will find especially
+absorbing. The many young admirers of James Otis will not let this book
+escape them, for it fully equals its many predecessors in excitement and
+sustained interest."--_Chicago Evening Post._
+
+
+=LITTLE WHITE INDIANS.= By FANNIE E. OSTRANDER.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.25
+
+"A bright, interesting story which will appeal strongly to the
+'make-believe' instinct in children, and will give them a healthy,
+active interest in 'the simple life.'"
+
+
+=MARCHING WITH MORGAN.= HOW DONALD LOVELL BECAME A SOLDIER OF THE
+REVOLUTION. By JOHN L. VEASY.
+
+    Cloth decorative, illustrated      $1.50
+
+This is a splendid boy's story of the expedition of Montgomery and
+Arnold against Quebec.
+
+
+
+
+
+COSY CORNER SERIES
+
+
+It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall contain
+only the very highest and purest literature,--stories that shall not
+only appeal to the children themselves, but be appreciated by all those
+who feel with them in their joys and sorrows.
+
+      The numerous illustrations in each book are by
+      well-known artists, and each volume has a separate
+      attractive cover design.
+
+    Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth      $0.50
+
+
+_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_
+
+
+=THE LITTLE COLONEL= (Trade Mark.)
+
+The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small
+girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied
+resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and
+old family are famous in the region.
+
+
+=THE GIANT SCISSORS=
+
+This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France. Joyce is a
+great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes shares with her
+the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the "Holidays."
+
+
+=TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY=
+
+WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS.
+
+In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but
+with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of
+the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights."
+
+
+=MILDRED'S INHERITANCE=
+
+A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who comes to America
+and is befriended by a sympathetic American family who are attracted by
+her beautiful speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is enabled
+to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the use of her eyes, and
+thus finally her life becomes a busy, happy one.
+
+
+=CICELY AND OTHER STORIES FOR GIRLS=
+
+The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn
+of the issue of this volume for young people.
+
+
+=AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO AND OTHER STORIES=
+
+A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all boys
+and most girls.
+
+
+=BIG BROTHER=
+
+A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Stephen, himself a small
+boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale.
+
+
+=OLE MAMMY'S TORMENT=
+
+"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern
+life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells
+how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right.
+
+
+=THE STORY OF DAGO=
+
+In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey,
+owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account
+of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing.
+
+
+=THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT=
+
+A pleasant little story of a boy's labor of love, and how it changed the
+course of his life many years after it was accomplished.
+
+
+=FLIP'S ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE=
+
+A story of a boy's life battle, his early defeat, and his final triumph,
+well worth the reading.
+
+
+_By EDITH ROBINSON_
+
+
+=A LITTLE PURITAN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS=
+
+A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented
+by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her brother
+Sam.
+
+
+=A LITTLE DAUGHTER OF LIBERTY=
+
+The author introduces this story as follows:
+
+"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution,
+the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is
+another ride,--the ride of Anthony Severn,--which was no less historic
+in its action or memorable in its consequences."
+
+
+=A LOYAL LITTLE MAID=
+
+A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the
+child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George
+Washington.
+
+
+=A LITTLE PURITAN REBEL=
+
+This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the
+gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts.
+
+
+=A LITTLE PURITAN PIONEER=
+
+The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at
+Charlestown.
+
+
+=A LITTLE PURITAN BOUND GIRL=
+
+A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to
+youthful readers.
+
+
+=A LITTLE PURITAN CAVALIER=
+
+The story of a "Little Puritan Cavalier" who tried with all his boyish
+enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and ideals of the dead Crusaders.
+
+
+=A PURITAN KNIGHT ERRANT=
+
+The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who endeavored to carry
+out the high ideals of the knights of olden days.
+
+
+_By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramée)_
+
+
+=A DOG OF FLANDERS=
+
+A CHRISTMAS STORY
+
+Too well and favorably known to require description.
+
+
+=THE NURNBERG STOVE=
+
+This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price.
+
+
+_By FRANCES MARGARET FOX_
+
+
+=THE LITTLE GIANT'S NEIGHBOURS=
+
+A charming nature story of a "little giant" whose neighbors were the
+creatures of the field and garden.
+
+
+=FARMER BROWN AND THE BIRDS=
+
+A little story which teaches children that the birds are man's best
+friends.
+
+
+=BETTY OF OLD MACKINAW=
+
+A charming story of child life.
+
+
+=BROTHER BILLY=
+
+The story of Betty's brother, and some further adventures of Betty
+herself.
+
+
+=MOTHER NATURE'S LITTLE ONES=
+
+Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or "childhood,"
+of the little creatures out-of-doors.
+
+
+=HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO THE MULVANEYS=
+
+A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children with an
+unlimited capacity for fun and mischief.
+
+
+=THE COUNTRY CHRISTMAS=
+
+Miss Fox has vividly described the happy surprises that made the
+occasion so memorable to the Mulvaneys, and the funny things the
+children did in their new environment.
+
+
+_By MISS MULOCK_
+
+
+=THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE=
+
+A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of
+the magic gifts of his fairy godmother.
+
+
+=ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE=
+
+The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is
+a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him.
+
+
+=HIS LITTLE MOTHER=
+
+Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant source of
+delight to them, and "His Little Mother," in this new and attractive
+dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers.
+
+
+=LITTLE SUNSHINE'S HOLIDAY=
+
+An attractive story of a summer outing. "Little Sunshine" is another of
+those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly
+famous.
+
+
+_By MARSHALL SAUNDERS_
+
+
+=FOR HIS COUNTRY=
+
+A sweet and graceful story of a little boy who loved his country;
+written with that charm which has endeared Miss Saunders to hosts of
+readers.
+
+
+=NITA, THE STORY OF AN IRISH SETTER=
+
+In this touching little book, Miss Saunders shows how dear to her heart
+are all of God's dumb creatures.
+
+
+=ALPATOK, THE STORY OF AN ESKIMO DOG=
+
+Alpatok, an Eskimo dog from the far north, was stolen from his master
+and left to starve in a strange city, but was befriended and cared for,
+until he was able to return to his owner.
+
+
+_By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE_
+
+
+=THE FARRIER'S DOG AND HIS FELLOW=
+
+This story, written by the gifted young Southern woman, will appeal to
+all that is best in the natures of the many admirers of her graceful and
+piquant style.
+
+
+=THE FORTUNES OF THE FELLOW=
+
+Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm of "The Farrier's Dog
+and His Fellow" will welcome the further account of the adventures of
+Baydaw and the Fellow at the home of the kindly smith.
+
+
+=THE BEST OF FRIENDS=
+
+This continues the experiences of the Farrier's dog and his Fellow,
+written in Mr. Dromgoole's well-known charming style.
+
+
+=DOWN IN DIXIE=
+
+A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of Alabama children
+who move to Florida and grow up in the South.
+
+
+_By MARIAN W. WILDMAN_
+
+
+=LOYALTY ISLAND=
+
+An account of the adventures of four children and their pet dog on an
+island, and how they cleared their brother from the suspicion of
+dishonesty.
+
+
+=THEODORE AND THEODORA=
+
+This is a story of the exploits and mishaps of two mischievous twins,
+and continues the adventures of the interesting group of children in
+"Loyalty Island."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation repaired.
+
+Advertising page 15, "Ramee" changed to "Ramée" (Louise de la Ramée)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jean, Our Little Australian Cousin, by 
+Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43425 ***