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+                                  PALS
+
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost
+no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+
+Title: Pals
+       Young Australians in Sport and Adventure
+Author: Joseph Bowes
+Release Date: December 08, 2013 [EBook #44369]
+Language: English
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+        *[Frontispiece: With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy
+        managed to  pass his whip thong twice round the brute’s
+             neck—*_*See p.*_* 188.  (missing from book)]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  PALS
+
+                           YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
+                         IN SPORT AND ADVENTURE
+
+
+                                   BY
+
+                              JOSEPH BOWES
+
+
+
+              _WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
+                          BY JOHN MACFARLANE_
+
+
+
+                          LONDON: JAMES GLASS
+                           28 NEWGATE STREET
+                                  1910
+
+
+
+
+                               *CONTENTS*
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+      I. By Way of Introduction
+     II. The Bushrangers
+    III. A Desperate Encounter
+     IV. The Great Match
+      V. The Big Flood
+     VI. On the Face of the Waters
+    VII. The Death of the Forest Monarch
+   VIII. What the Tree held
+     IX. The Rescue
+      X. The Return
+     XI. The Breaking Up
+    XII. Down the River
+   XIII. Off for the Holidays
+    XIV. Christmas Fun and Frolic
+     XV. A Bush Ride and its Consequences
+    XVI. The Dingo Raid
+   XVII. Dingo *v.* Emu: A Fight to a Finish
+  XVIII. The Chase and its Sequel
+    XIX. Concerning Wild Horses
+     XX. The Brumby Hunt
+    XXI. The Warrigal’s Strategy
+   XXII. How Yellow Billy broke the Warrigal
+  XXIII. A Day’s Shoot
+   XXIV. The Corrobberie
+    XXV. In the Bushrangers’ Caves
+   XXVI. The Explorers
+  XXVII. A Respite
+ XXVIII. The Camp by the Sea
+   XXIX. At the Mercy of the Sea-Tiger
+    XXX. In and About the Camp
+   XXXI. Off to the Gold Diggings
+  XXXII. How they struck Gold
+ XXXIII. Bullion and Bushranger
+
+
+
+
+                        *LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*
+
+
+With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip thong
+twice round the brute’s neck (missing from book) . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with a
+mighty crash
+
+The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny
+boat with four slight figures
+
+The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring
+
+Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries
+
+The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a
+circle
+
+"We’ve struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman
+
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*" (missing from book)
+
+
+
+
+    The grey gums by the lonely creek
+      The star-crowned height,
+    The wind-swept plain, the dim blue peak,
+      The cold white light,
+    The solitude spread near and far
+    Around the camp-fire’s tiny star,
+    The horse-bell’s melody remote,
+    The curlew’s melancholy note,
+      Across the night.
+
+    GEORGE ESSEX EVANS
+
+
+
+
+                                 *PALS*
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER I*
+
+                        *BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION*
+
+
+"Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable
+barrier, and the sacred air cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean
+clay hamlets of reality; and man by his nature is yet infinite and
+free."—CARLYLE.
+
+
+"Comin’ over to-night, Tom?"
+
+"By jings!  I’d like to, Joe, but dad said this morning he was going to
+shell corn to-night.  You know what that means.  What’s on?"
+
+"Oh!  Sandy’s stayin’ in for the night; so I thought of gettin’ Jimmy
+Flynn an’ Yellow Billy so’s we could have bushrangers, an’ stick up the
+coach by moonlight.  If they can’t come, Sandy an’ I’ll go ’possumin’ in
+the slaughter-house paddock."
+
+"I say! what a jolly lark the bushranging’d be.  How’d you manage it,
+Joe?"
+
+"We’ve planned that out all right.  We’d get Jimmy Flynn’s billy-goat
+cart an’ the billies.  He’d be mailman, an’ it’d be gold-escort day.
+Yellow Billy’d be the trooper; he’s got a pistol, you know.  He’d ride
+the roan steer he’s broken in.  Then you, Sandy, an’ I’d be Ben Bolt’s
+gang.  We’d do a plant in a lonely spot along the road an’ surprise ’em.
+I’d tackle Billy, you’d look after Jimmy, Sandy ’d collar the mailbags
+and gold boxes, and then scoot with the loot.  I think it’d be better to
+shoot Billy, so’s to make it a bit more real; that’s what Ben Bolt’d
+do."
+
+"But, Joe, where’d we get the guns?"
+
+"I’d get father’s.  You’d have to make believe with a nulla-nulla.  We
+could stick a boomerang in our belts, it’d look like pistols in the
+dark."
+
+"But I say, Joe, ole chap, you wouldn’t really shoot Billy?" said Tom in
+a tone that savoured both of fear and scepticism.
+
+"You’re a precious muff, Hawkins!  I was just kidding you.  No, you
+stupid, it’s all gammon.  The noise the powder ’ll make ’ll scare the
+seven senses outer Billy."
+
+"By golly! it’ll be crummie enough.  Put it off till to-morrow, Joe, an’
+I’ll come."
+
+"Can’t be done, my boy.  Sandy’ll not be here, for one thing.  Besides,
+I have to pull father down to Yallaroi Bend to-morrow.  It’s his service
+night there.  Sorry you can’t come, Tom.  We’ll have to do our best
+without you."
+
+"Oh Moses! to think that I can’t join!" groaned Tom. "Look here, Joe,
+I—I’ll do a sneak.  I’ll be here somehow, you may bet your Sunday
+breeks," continued the eager lad, as he stepped into the little
+"flat-bottom" boat which had brought him over.
+
+"Joe!" he shouted when he had rowed some distance from the shore.  "I’ll
+give a cooee if I can get, an’ two cooees if the way’s blocked.  So
+don’t start till you hear."
+
+"Right-o!"
+
+The place where these boys lived, moved, and had their being was a
+district famed for its fertility, on one of the northern rivers in New
+South Wales.
+
+The river itself had many of the elements of nobility and beauty as,
+taking its rise in the snowy heights of the New England ranges, it clove
+its way eastward, finally debouching into the blue waters of the
+Pacific.  The river-flats formed magnificent stretches of arable lands;
+too rich, indeed, for such cereals as wheat and oats, for their rank
+growth rendered them liable to the fatal rust.
+
+Here, however, was the home of the maize, the pumpkin, the sweet potato,
+the orange, the lemon, the plantain.  Here too, the natural sequence, in
+a way, of the prolific corn and the multitudinous pumpkin, were reared
+and flourished the unromantic pig.
+
+Fed on pumpkins, with skim milk for beverage, topped off with corn, the
+Australian grunter—whether as delicious, crisp bacon, or posing as
+aristocratic ham—produces flesh with a flavour fit to set before a king.
+
+Away from the river-flats the land becomes undulating and ridgy, and
+well grassed for cattle runs.  In the scrub belts, running back from the
+river and its affluents into the hilly country, are to be found valuable
+timbers, hard and soft; especially that forest noble, the red cedar.
+
+Cattle runs of large extent exist in the back-blocks, formed in the
+early days by that class of men to whom Australia owes so much; the men
+who to-day are vilified by those not worthy to black their boots: the
+hardy, adventurous, courageous, indomitable pioneer, who more often than
+not laid down his life and his fortune in the interest of Colonial
+expansion and occupation.
+
+At intervals along the river-banks are small settlements, dignified by
+the name of townships.  Tareela, the principal village, skirted both
+sides of the river, and was connected by a ferry.  Here were located the
+Government offices for the district, together with the stores, hotels,
+school, etc.
+
+Joe Blain, the minister’s son, was the leader of the village lads.  He
+had two pals, who were inseparable from him: Sandy M’Intyre, the
+squatter’s son, whose father owned Bullaroi, a cattle station situated a
+few miles from the town, and Tom Hawkins, a farmer’s son, the youngest
+of the trio.  These boys gave tone and direction to the fun and frolic
+of the settlement.  Of them it is sufficient to say at present that they
+were not pedestal lads.
+
+At this time a noted bushranger and his mate were raiding the
+settlements.  All police pursuit was futile, owing to the
+resourcefulness of the ’rangers.  They had a keen knowledge of the open
+country and the mountain ranges.  Furthermore, they were generally
+mounted on blood horses, usually "borrowed" from the surrounding station
+studs.
+
+These men had many sympathisers among the lawlessly inclined, and,
+strange to say, among law-abiding settlers. The "bush-telegraph" was an
+institution in those days. Certain friends of the ’rangers kept them
+posted up in the movements of the police, sometimes by word of mouth, at
+others by writings on paper or bark, which were deposited in rock
+crevices or in tree hollows, known only to the initiated.  Sometimes a
+young lad, or even a girl, would ride scores of miles across country to
+give them warning.
+
+The police were not wanting in bush lore or courage, and in the end
+invariably ran their quarry to earth.  But an outlaw often had a long
+career in crime, owing to the aid given, ere he was trapped.  Thanks to
+closer settlement, the advance of education, and the general use of the
+electric telegraph, bushranging has become a matter of history.  The
+species is now to be found only in the stage melodrama, the itinerating
+waxwork show, or embalmed in literature.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER II*
+
+                           *"THE BUSHRANGERS*
+
+
+"_Poins_: Tut! our horses they shall not see.  I’ll tie them in the
+wood; our visors we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have
+cases of buckram for the nonce to immask our noted outward garments.
+
+"_Prince_: But I doubt they will be too hard for us."
+
+SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV.
+
+
+After leaving Tom Hawkins, or, to put it more correctly, after Tom had
+paddled away in his punt, Joe Blain proceeded to look up Jimmy Flynn,
+the blacksmith’s apprentice, and Yellow Billy, a half-caste youth, whose
+father followed the occupation of a timber-getter in the ranges.  Yellow
+Billy was generally employed as yard boy at the Travellers’ Best Inn,
+and a rough time he often had, especially when the timber-getters were
+dissolving their hard-earned gold in alcohol.
+
+One of Billy’s duties was to milk the cows and tend the calves.  Among
+the latter was a yearling steer, which he broke in and rode on the
+quiet.  Many an hour’s frolic the boys had in the moonlight in riding
+the steer.  This animal had a good slice of the rogue in its
+composition, with a propensity for buck-jumping.  When in a certain mood
+it would be as stubborn as a donkey and as savage as a mule.
+
+After standing, say for some minutes, never budging, in spite of
+thwackings and tail-twistings, it would suddenly take to buck-jumping.
+Oh, my, couldn’t it buck!  Woe betide the unlucky rider when it was in
+this mood.  Torn from his hold—a rope round its brisket—one moment
+behold him sprawling over its back, the next whirling through space,
+finally deposited with more force than elegance on the turf.  All this,
+however, was great fun for the boys, who encouraged the brute in its
+bucking moods, each mounting in turns, to lie prone sooner or later on
+mother earth, amid the uproarious laughter of his fellows.
+
+Billy was the exception.  He was a born rider.  Unable to shift him from
+its back, the brute became quite docile in his hands, and kept its
+tricks for the others.
+
+Jimmy and Billy were ready and willing to fill their parts in the bill.
+The former, at "knock off," went out to the town common to round his
+goats, and Billy promised to be ready, "steered," so to speak, by the
+time appointed.
+
+The road fixed upon was the track that led out from the township to a
+large sawmill, distant about six miles.  It was a solitary road, passing
+through a scrub-belt, crossing several minor creeks, threading its way
+over a rocky ridge, winding through a rather wild defile, and ending at
+the mill; the sort of place, indeed, to present numerous opportunities
+for the criminal enterprise on hand.  A spot where one could get "nice
+and creepy," as Joe said to Yellow Billy, much to that young man’s
+disquiet.
+
+The plan of campaign was simple enough.  Joe, Tom, and Sandy were to set
+out as soon as possible after sundown and choose their spot for attack;
+while Jimmy was to drive the Royal Billy-goat Mailcart, with Trooper
+Yellow Billy a little in advance, as per custom.
+
+The embryo bushrangers, unfortunately, had only one horse between them;
+the one Sandy rode to school.  Mr. Blain’s horse, on which the boys
+counted, was being used by the minister to take him to a moonlight
+service some distance out from the river.  It was settled, therefore,
+that the three boys should bestride Sandy’s stout cob, which was well
+able to carry these juvenile desperadoes.
+
+"Mother!" shouted Joe, as he strode into the house in the late
+afternoon, from the wood-pile, where he had been chopping the next day’s
+supply, "we’re going to have grand fun to-night."
+
+"What sort of fun, my son?"
+
+"Bushranging along the sawmill road.  Can I go mother?  We’ve got such a
+grand plot."
+
+"Well, I don’t mind; but don’t be out late."
+
+"S’pose I can have the gun?"
+
+"The g-u-n!"
+
+"Yes, mother.  No need to fear.  It’s all play."
+
+"Well, don’t load it."
+
+"Only with powder to make a bang."
+
+"I don’t like the idea, my boy.  Gun accidents often happen in play.
+You remember Jim Andrews——"
+
+"Oh yes, mother, but that’s different!  It was loaded."
+
+In the end, owing to the boy’s importunity, Mrs. Blain reluctantly
+consented.
+
+Early tea being duly dispatched, the boys made the necessary
+preparations for their dark deed.  Joe produced a pair of knee-boots,
+the some time property of his father.  He made them fit by sticking rags
+into the toes. He thrust his trousers’ legs into the boot-tops, and
+wound a red scarf round his waist, through which he stuck a boomerang
+and nulla-nulla.  A ’possum-skin cap adorned his head.  His final act
+was to fasten on a corn-tassel moustache, and to strap his gun across
+his back.  The broad effect of the costume was to make this youthful
+outlaw a cross, as it were, between Robinson Crusoe and a Greek brigand.
+
+Indeed he quite terrified his two sisters, as he suddenly entered the
+sitting-room to the accompaniment of a blood-curdling yell.  This the
+girls match with a shriek that wakes up the sleeping baby, bringing the
+mother in with a rush.
+
+For a moment Mrs. Blain, seeing Joe in the half-light, thought some
+ruffian had entered.
+
+"It’s very thoughtless and wrong of you, Joe, to frighten your sisters.
+I—I—I’m quite angry with you——"
+
+"Very sorry, mater," said Joe, with a serio-comic air.  "I only meant to
+give them a start."
+
+The girls, however, began to laugh, Joe looked such an oddity.  They
+turned the tables on him by quizzing him most unmercifully.  At last our
+young hero was very glad to beat a retreat to the backyard, where he
+found Sandy busy in saddling the horse.
+
+Joe’s confederate had roughened himself as much as circumstances
+permitted.  In lieu of a skin cap he tied a big handkerchief round his
+hat, and stuck a couple of turkey-tail feathers through it.  He had
+manufactured a brace of pistols out of short lengths of bamboo, with
+corn-cobs, stuck in bored holes at an angle, to form the stocks. These,
+with a boomerang and nulla-nulla slung at either side, and a short spear
+fixed in his belt at the back and standing over his head, made him in
+appearance more like a red Indian than a Colonial free-booter.
+
+"All ready, Hawkeye?"
+
+"Yes, ole pal.  The mustang is waiting, and the brave will vault into
+the saddle at Thundercloud’s word of command," answered Hawkeye in
+bastard Cooperese. Fenimore of that ilk was Sandy’s favourite author.
+
+"Hast thou heard the signal of Red Murphy?" said Joe, falling into the
+strain of speech.
+
+"No, Thundercloud.  No sound from our brither of the hither shore hath
+been borne on the wings of the wind across the——"
+
+"Oh, stow that rot, Sand—Hawkeye!  I wonder?——"
+
+"Yon’s the cry of the chiel," broke in the would-be brave, as at that
+moment the cooee of Tom Hawkins, alias Red Murphy, rose in the still
+air, faint from the distance, but distinct.
+
+"A single cooee!  Rippin! he’s comin’.  Let’s mount and wait at the
+landing."
+
+Hardly had the boys reached the river-bank ere Red Murphy appeared,
+attired much as the others, with the addition of an old blunderbuss
+belonging to his father.
+
+"It’s all right, boys!  Hurroar!  Dad broke the handle of the
+corn-sheller this evening, and sent me over with it to the blacksmith’s.
+I’m to wait till it’s mended. Wait a jiff an’ I’ll be with you," cried
+he, as he ran to the smithy, returning as fast as his legs could bring
+him, with the news that the broken handle could not be repaired under
+three hours owing to other urgent work.
+
+Joe rapidly detailed the plan, informing Tom, at the same time, that his
+name and character were to be that of Red Murphy, one of the
+blood-thirstiest and most rapacious cut-throats in the Colonies.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER III*
+
+                        *A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER*
+
+
+"_Falstaff_: I am a rogue if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of
+them two hours together.  I have ’scaped by miracle. I am eight times
+thrust through the doublet; four through the hose; my buckler cut
+through; my sword hacked like a handsaw _ecce signum_. I never dealt
+better since I was a man; all would not do."—SHAKESPEARE, _Henry IV_.
+
+
+Joe had barely made his explanations before the rumbling of the
+approaching cart was heard.  It was the Royal Mail starting on its
+adventurous trip.
+
+"Time to be off, pals!" cried the leader.  "Now then, Hawkeye, whip ’em
+up."
+
+Off started the trio, Thundercloud, Hawkeye, and Red Murphy; each
+delivering a blood-curdling yell which rang up and down the street, as
+they passed through it at a smart canter.  It had never fallen to the
+lot of horse, before, to bear upon its back at the same time three such
+ferocious outlaws, bent on so diabolical an errand. Behind them, and at
+a slower pace, came the Royal Mail goatcart, drawn by four strong
+billies, skilfully driven by coachman Jimmy, and attended by Trooper
+Billy astride his cud-chewing steed.
+
+After leaving the township the road skirted the river for a mile or so,
+then, crossing a plank bridge, bore away to the hills.  The silver moon
+shone from the clear sky through the pure air, making the tree shadows
+as they lay across the road to resemble fallen timber.  The nocturnal
+’possum, having ventured to the ground to feed upon the tender grass,
+scudded up the trees, frightened by the rumbling vehicle and the baaing
+steeds.  The thud of paddy-melon[#] and wallaby could be distinctly
+heard, as they smote the earth in their jumping movements; while from
+the heights of some lofty tree the mopoke[#] tolled his mournful cry.
+
+
+[#] "Paddy-melon," a small marsupial or pouch-bearing mammal.
+
+[#] "Mopoke," the Australian crested goat-sucker.
+
+
+The coach had now passed the three-mile creek, and still there was no
+sound of disturbing element.  The coachman and trooper, having
+intelligence to the effect that the ’rangers were "out," and had
+threatened to "stick" up the gold-escort, were on the _qui vive_.  They
+surmised that the attack would come in the scrub-belt, and about the
+spot where the creek intersected.  Here the tall, overhanging trees,
+interlaced as they were with a thick vinous growth, effectually barred
+the moon’s rays.
+
+It was the ideal spot for ambush, and the hearts of the boys beat
+faster, and a nervous apprehension amounting to fear seized them, as
+they passed among the shadows. Everything had a distorted appearance,
+and again and again they trembled, as it were, on the verge of attack.
+They had chatted freely until the darkness of the scrub closed in upon
+them.  Under its oppression, and by reason of the dread uncertainty,
+what had before seemed to be only a prime lark now presented itself as a
+grim reality.
+
+They drove on slowly now, conversing only in whispers, for the night
+silences, the deepening shadows, and the unseen before them, all
+contributed to the mental mood which affected the boys.  The creek banks
+and bed, save for a solitary moon-ray which silvered the rippling water,
+were enwrapped in thick darkness.  Pulling up at the brink, the boys
+held a short conversation.
+
+"Goin’ ter cross, Jimmy?"
+
+"I—I—s’pose so, Billy.  Measly black ahead, ain’t it?"
+
+"You’re not frightened, are you?"
+
+"Wot! me?  No fear!  Y’are yourself!"
+
+"I like that!  Wot’s to be frightened of?"
+
+Yet the boys, if truth be told, were a good deal alarmed by the unwonted
+darkness and stillness.
+
+"Well, s’pose we’d better be gettin’ on.  Don’t care how soon we git
+outer this hole.  You cross ahead, Billy, an’ do a bit o’ scoutin’.
+I’ll wait here till you git up the bank on the other side."
+
+Yellow Billy didn’t like the prospect, and would have proposed turning
+back, but was afraid of being called a coward.  Therefore, despite an
+apprehension of the darkness, accentuated by his aboriginal strain, and
+very much against his will, the half-caste plunged down the creek bed,
+and mounted the other side without let or hindrance, greatly to his
+surprise and relief.
+
+But where are the ’rangers?
+
+Of them the darkness gave no token and the silence is unbroken.  Jimmy
+had some difficulty in getting his leaders to tackle the creek.  It was
+only after he left the cart, seized their heads, and half-dragged them
+into the water that he effected his purpose.  The scrub thinned out
+shortly after passing the creek, and the spirits of the boys rose with
+the increasing moonlight.
+
+"They missed a grand charnce at the crick, Billy!"
+
+"By dad, they did that!  I wonder where they are. P’raps they’ve given
+us the slip."
+
+The road took a sudden turn just here, leading over a rocky ridge.  At a
+farther sharp turn, under the lee of a bank, a big log lay across the
+road.
+
+"Hello, here’s a go, Jimmy!  You’ll have to drive round.  No! you can’t
+do that.  Wait a moment an’ I’ll——"
+
+"Bail up!"
+
+The cry, crisp and startling, rang out, as three figures darted from the
+shadow of a huge tree which stood near. Thundercloud, the leader of the
+band of bushrangers, pointed his gun at the driver.  Hawkeye made a dash
+at the trooper, while Red Murphy seized hold of the leading billies.
+
+"Hands up!" cried Thundercloud in the highest style of bushranging.
+"Your money or your life!"
+
+Trooper Billy was not disposed to yield without a struggle, and at the
+first cry he whipped out his pistol, firing at his aggressor point
+blank, missing the leader but hitting his confederate, Hawkeye, who
+tumbled down with a loud squeal, as unlike an Indian war-whoop as it is
+possible to imagine.  Simultaneously, Thundercloud discharged his gun at
+Jimmy the coachman, who, instead of putting his hands up at the
+challenge, began to lash the billies, and had just turned them off the
+log, when—pop, crash! went the two weapons.
+
+And now the unforeseen occurred.  The steer and the billies bolted!
+Down the ridge and along the road they dashed at breakneck speed; the
+steer roaring and kicking, the four strong billies baaing, and neither
+driver nor rider could control the brutes.  Away they scurried along the
+rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over the ruts; every jump
+of the trap bringing a fresh bleat from the fear-stricken goats.
+
+After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his steed unmanageable,
+getting frightened too, Yellow Billy slipped over the stern, and by good
+luck dropped upon his feet.  It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly
+hung on to the billies.  The creek was what he most feared, and it was
+very close now.  He had, however, got a pull on the beasts, and they
+were slackening a little, but, as ill-luck would have it, on going down
+a gully one of the wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized
+the cart, sending the driver head over heels into a clump of bracken.
+
+The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who rushed on baaing;
+dashing at length down the steep incline of the creek, the cart righted
+itself as it tumbled adown the gradient.  They tore over the stream and
+up the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up in the
+scrub.
+
+After lying in a stunned condition for a few minutes, Jimmy scrambled
+up.  But the moment he put his weight on his right foot he let out a
+yell, caused by the terrific pain that shot through his ankle.  It was
+unbearable, and he tumbled down in an almost fainting condition.
+
+Meanwhile the outlaws stood aghast at the unexpected and startling turn
+of events.  Thundercloud was the first to recover his speech.
+
+"Great Cæsar! who would have dreamt of a bolt? Just listen to the
+brutes!" as the animals tore along, baaing and roaring in a way possible
+only to frightened billies and calves.
+
+"I—I—didn’t know he’d loaded his pistol.  I—I—I thought for sure I was a
+goon coon," gasped Hawkeye, who, after lying for a minute under the
+impression that he was mortally wounded, got up, rubbing his face and
+head, half terrified as his hands became wet with flowing blood, and
+only reassured after Joe had declared that the blood was from his nose.
+As a matter of fact, he had sustained a smart blow upon his prominent
+feature with the pistol wad; his cheeks, also, were scorched with the
+powder flare.
+
+Red Murphy, who had just grasped the billies’ heads when the guns were
+fired, was thrown down in their mad rush, and had his shins severely
+barked on the rocky ground.
+
+"Drat the brutes!  Oh, I say, here’s a go!  Listen to the beggars!
+Ain’t they footin’ it?"
+
+"To horse! to horse, pals!" cried Thundercloud, making hasty strides to
+a patch of scrub where they had tied up the horse.  In a few seconds the
+three were mounted and away with a swinging canter, adding their yells
+to the cries of the beasts.  They were soon up to the spot where Jimmy
+had come to grief, when, thundering down the gully, the horse made a shy
+at the prostrate coachman, shooting off Thundercloud and Red Murphy.
+They scrambled up quickly, none the worse for their spill. Hawkeye
+immediately reined in his steed and rejoined his dismounted companions.
+
+The boys were greatly concerned to find Jimmy in this condition.  The
+affair began to assume a serious aspect. They were no longer outlaws and
+police: they were pals, and Jimmy was suffering intense pain from his
+sprained ankle.  After a short consultation the boy was placed on the
+horse, which was led by Sandy.  The others followed behind, making a
+somewhat mournful spectacle.  In due course they reached the goatcart,
+now in possession of Yellow Billy, who had disentangled the team and was
+waiting for the others to come along.  The steer meanwhile continued his
+career at headlong speed, until he pulled up at the milking yards in an
+exhausted condition. Mrs. Blain, as the hours sped by, began to get
+concerned at the non-return of the boys.  Concern deepened into anxiety.
+She became a prey to evil imaginings, as do all our dear mothers.  They
+are lost! ... Some dreadful accident has happened! ... That gun! ...
+Their legs, arms, necks, are broken!  And so on and on, running over the
+whole gamut of catastrophy.
+
+She goes out to scan the streets, and listens with strained ears for
+some enheartening sound of footsteps. Lights are out in the village.
+Even the dogs are sleeping. No shuffle of advancing feet; no rattle of
+wheels as they grind in the ruts: no sound, indeed, is borne upon the
+night wind save the mystic noises of the flowing river, which fill the
+air with a deep undertone.  Above this, at intervals, come the splashing
+sounds of the jumping fish; the smooth splash of the falling mullet, the
+tail flutter of the rising perch.  The wood-duck’s soft quack-quack, and
+the red-bill’s chuckle, are to be heard as they move among the sedges.
+No landward sound!
+
+Stay! a dark shadow swiftly steals along the earth like a spirit of evil
+omen, and passes through the house, across the street, as it strikes the
+walls.  While from above comes a wail as that of a lost soul.
+
+The poor woman quivers and shivers at the unwonted sight and sound.  She
+knows not that the apparition is the shadow of a black swan, which is
+sailing high up in the heavens; it crosses the moon, and utters its
+melancholy note as it wings its flight to the feeding grounds.  The
+mother is now on the outskirts of the town, under the shadows of the
+trees.  Every leaf is a tongue; every tongue whispers—Something! which
+dries the throat and fills the ears with heart-thumps.  "Why did I? ...
+That gun! ... What will father? ... Why don’t they come? ... Which
+track? ... Hark!  Yes, ’tis the galloping hoofs ... Oh, God! it is the
+steer! ... Riderless! ... This way, then....  On, on, on! ... At last!
+..."
+
+"Cheer up, mother ... no harm done ... Jimmy had a bit of a buster an’
+sprained his ankle....  Scold us, mother, but—don’t cry!"
+
+The hour is verging on midnight as five weary lads, four billies, one
+horse, and one thankful woman straggled into the silent township.  All
+romance, for the moment, had gone out of bushranging.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IV*
+
+                           *THE GREAT MATCH*
+
+
+    "God bless the grilling days of cricket!
+    They’re gone but I shall bless them ever,
+    For good it is to guard a wicket
+    By sudden wrist and big endeavour."
+      NORMAN GALE.
+
+    "There’s a breathless hush in the close to night,
+    Ten to make and the match to win,
+    A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
+    An hour to play and the last man in."
+      HENRY NEWBOLT.
+
+
+"Hawkins, stand out!"
+
+"Please, sir, I wasn’t doin’ nothin’!"
+
+"No, you wasn’t doin’ nothin’, but you have been talking all morning,
+you tiresome boy!  Write out ’disobedient’ three hundred times after
+school."
+
+The fact is, Tom was relating the bushranging episode to a schoolmate,
+and, like Tom Sawyer, he "laid over" considerably in his recital.  While
+in the act of enlarging he was brought to book in this peremptory
+fashion by the master, and had to do penance with as little relish as
+most boys.
+
+"Sorry you can’t come out and play, Tom," said Joe Blain, poking his
+head into the empty schoolhouse after dismissal.
+
+"It’s a beastly shame!  What are you fellows up to?"
+
+"Goin’ to practise for the Dingdongla match.  After that we’ll have a
+swim."
+
+"Oh, rot it!" grunted the chagrined prisoner.
+
+"Say, Tom, don’t forget to come along to-night an’ help pick the team."
+
+"I’ll be there, never fret."
+
+"Well, so-long.  Wire in, and keep your pecker up."
+
+Dingdongla was an up-river settlement; Tareela a down-river town.  The
+latter named was the older and more substantial place, being the
+headquarters of the shipping.  As a consequence it was instinct with the
+superior air generally to be met with in places of metropolitan
+pretensions.  In schools, too, the down-river town had the advantage.
+Its school building was of sawn timber, with a shingle roof.
+Furthermore, it possessed two teachers, and pine desks.  While, on the
+other hand, the up-river academy was constructed of roughly adzed slabs
+and a bark roof.
+
+For the Dingdonglas to be thrashed in cricket by the Tareelians was not
+considered to be a disgrace.  _Per contra_, their victory was a splendid
+achievement, and a great humiliation to their opponents.  The latter was
+fairly beaten by the former last season, and naught would restore their
+prestige save the administration of an unmitigated licking.  So, at
+least, thought the match Committee, as they conned names, and analysed
+the merits of the candidates on the name list.
+
+Needless to say, Joe, Tom, and Sandy headed the list of certainties.
+Yellow Billy came next; for though a very irregular attendant at school,
+he was a tremendous swiper when he got his eye in.  Billy had dragged
+more than one match out of the fire.
+
+
+Saturday morning broke fair.  Shortly after an early breakfast a
+cavalcade of about twenty youthful horsemen, followed by two teachers in
+a gig, were scampering along the bush road to Dingdongla, distant about
+nine miles up the river.  Oh, the merry, merry days of youth!  Those are
+the days of the superlative mood.
+
+It was a merry, roaring, romping, racing crowd of youngsters that tore
+along the bush track.  They jumped fallen timber and gullies; chased the
+flying marsupial; and spurted in couples for short lengths.  There were
+minor accidents, ’tis true.  Pincher Putnan’s horse, in a fit of
+pig-jumping, broke a girth, sending Pincher and saddle to mother earth.
+Yellow Billy’s half-broken brumby fairly bolted in a race, cleared off
+the road, and rushed through a belt of timber at breakneck speed,
+towards his native haunts in the Nulla ranges.  It was only the superb
+horsemanship of the half-caste that saved him from being dashed against
+the trees in the headlong flight.
+
+In due time Dingdongla is reached.  The horses are turned out in a maize
+stubble paddock, where is a fine picking, and the boys stroll on to the
+ground to have a look at the pitch.
+
+"Whatyer think of the pitch, Joe?"
+
+"You’ll have to keep your eye skinned for shooters Rody.  The ball’ll
+keep very low.  Must keep a straight bat and forward play."
+
+The stumps, like much of the material, were home-made. The Dingdonglas
+had only one "spring handle"; the others were chopped out of beech
+boards.  The Tareelians were not much better off for material.  They, it
+is true, had two "spring handles,"—more or less battered,—and could
+boast a pair of wicket gloves, but for the rest were like their
+opponents, sans leggings and gloves. That, however, was a small item;
+for every boy who possessed boots doffed them, rolling his trouser legs
+to the knees and his shirt sleeves to the elbows.
+
+"Got all your men, Wilson?" said Joe to the Dingdonglas’ captain.
+
+"Yes, they’re all here.  May as well toss for innin’s, Joe."
+
+"Right you are," responds Joe, ejecting a jet of saliva on a piece of
+flat wood.  "Shall I toss, or you?"
+
+"You toss, Joe."
+
+"Call you!" cried Blain, tossing the board with a twirl skywards.  "Wet
+or dry?"
+
+"Wet!" called Wilson, as the wood spun in the air.
+
+"Dry!" exclaimed Joe, as it lay on the ground with its dry side
+uppermost.  "We’ve won, and go in."
+
+"Tom," said he a moment later, "you and Yellow Billy go in first, an’
+you take the strike."
+
+The batsmen were soon in their places, and the Dingdongs in the field.
+The innings opened fairly well for the Tareelians.  Yellow Billy got
+quickly to work, and laid on the wood to some purpose; Tom playing
+carefully the while.
+
+Facing the Dingdonglas’ swift bowler, after a smart short-hit run Billy
+sent a well-pitched ball for four, a rattling, straight-hit drive.  But
+in trying to repeat the stroke off the next ball he misjudged, and,
+skying the sphere, was easily caught.
+
+"One wicket for twenty!" of which the half-caste contributed fifteen.
+
+After this the troubles of the batsmen set in.  The Dingdongs were
+strong in bowling talent, and possessed a local Spofforth, whose
+lightning deliveries shot and kicked in a marvellous fashion.  Joe,
+going in fifth man, stayed the "rot" for a while, but was foolishly run
+out by his mate.
+
+The Tareelians were all out in an hour for the small total of
+forty-seven.  If the down-river boys were despondent over this score,
+the up-rivers were correspondingly jubilant.  Going to the wickets with
+plenty of confidence, they rattled up ninety-nine before the last wicket
+fell; the captain carrying out his bat for a well-earned forty-two.
+
+Adjournment for lunch was now made.  We call it lunch by courtesy.  It
+was a big bush feed.  This repast was served in the schoolhouse, the
+rough desks being converted into tables, which were literally covered
+with good things.
+
+The Dingdonglas’ mothers were determined that, whoever won, the boys of
+both sides should have a rippin’ feed. A stuffed sucking-pig, whose
+savoury odour filled the room, lay at one end.  Roast wild duck and a
+cold pigeon-pie balanced it at the other.  An immense round of spiced
+beef, standing in the centre of the long table, seemed to say: "You may
+cut and come again."  Potatoes and pumpkins smoked in big tin bowls, and
+all the available space was filled with cakes, puddings, and pies.
+Needless to say, the onslaught was terrific. They were all sloggers at
+tuck.  Meats, puddings, cakes, tea, and ginger-beer disappeared like
+magic.
+
+All good things mundane, however, come to an end; especially when the
+good thing happens to be a dinner. And now, after divers whisperings and
+nudgings, up stood Captain Joe, amid the cheers of his side.
+
+Joe was silent a moment, nervously looking up and down the board, and
+heartily wishing himself at the bottom of the deep blue sea.  "Mr.
+Chairman" (addressing the local schoolmaster), "I—we—that is—us fellows
+from Tareela asked me to tell you—I mean to say, that—that—that—a—it
+gives us much pleasure—er—er—oh, hang it all!—I—I mean—er—this is the
+jolliest blow in the way of tuck we’ve ever had."  Joe subsided to the
+rattle of the knives on the bare board.  As soon as the noise ceased,
+Tom Hawkins jumped up and called: "Three cheers for the Dingdonglas!"
+which were heartily given.
+
+Half an hour’s lounge, and the battle began afresh.
+
+"We’ve got fifty-two to wipe out before we start even, boys.  We can do
+it, and score plenty more to win the game, if we keep our heads.
+Anyway, we must have a big try.  Billy an’ I’ll go in first; Tom next,
+and then Pincher.  The order of the rest of you depends on the way
+things turn out."
+
+"Look here, Billy," continued the captain, as the two batsmen walked to
+the wickets.  "They’ve got two slashing bowlers, but if we can manage to
+knock ’em out they’ve no one else of much account.  Get your eye well in
+before you do any slogging."
+
+"All right, Joe!  Do me best."
+
+"Your best means steady play and a big score.  I’ll take the strike."
+
+If Joe was nervous in public speech it was not observable in action.  He
+played Ginger Smith’s fast deliveries with confidence, punishing the
+loose balls and blocking the straight ones.  Billy, too, was playing
+with unwonted caution, and the score, though slowly, was surely mounting
+up; until after half an hour’s play it stood at twenty-five, with no
+wickets down.  There were no boundaries, and every hit was run out.
+
+"Oh, glory, what a swipe!"
+
+Yellow Billy had got hold of one of Ginger’s leg balls with a mighty
+lunge.  The ball seemed as if it would go on for ever, and finally
+rolled into a gutter.  They ran six for it.
+
+There was great cheering among the Tareelians. Mr. Simpson, who umpired,
+forgot for a moment his impartial office.  Flinging his hat into the
+air, he cried, "Bravo, Billy!"
+
+"Thirty-one an’ none out.  Only twenty-one to get level!"
+
+The boys were now scoring faster; singles, twos, threes were coming with
+great rapidity.  Joe made his first four, a sweet, square cut.
+
+"Forty-nine an’ no wickets down!"
+
+Joe faced the new bowler.  The local demon had begun to bowl wildly, and
+was relieved.
+
+"They’ll never bowl them!" cried young Ben Wilde, as Joe took block for
+the new-comer—a lad with a reputation for slow left-hand twisters.  The
+first ball was pitched on the leg stump; just the ball for Joe’s
+favourite leg glance.
+
+It went for two.
+
+"Only one to make us even!" shouted Tom to his captain.  The second ball
+was pitched in exactly the same spot, and Joe proceeded to treat it in
+the same fashion.  The sphere, however, had a little more twist on it
+than its predecessor, and, breaking on to the left bail, flicked it off.
+
+There was a great chorus of disappointment among the Tareelians, and
+hearty cheers from their opponents, as the captain’s wicket fell.  His
+twenty-one, got by true cricket, was worth twice that number by reason
+of the spirit of confidence he had infused.
+
+Billy and Tom carried the score to seventy-three, when the latter was
+caught for ten.  Pincher fell a victim to a very simple ball from an
+under-hand lob bowler, after making seven.  Sandy gave the bowlers some
+trouble, and got into double figures before he retired.  All this while
+Billy was scoring well, and, when Sandy’s wicket fell, had made fifty
+runs.  All the boys scored less or more; and when the innings closed had
+compiled a total of one hundred and thirty-seven, of which Billy made
+seventy-one and not out.  This was a grand achievement, and the
+half-caste was carried off the ground amid great applause.
+
+This left the Dingdongs eighty-six runs to win, which they failed to do
+by seventeen runs, Sleepy Sam stumping no less than three off young
+Ben’s slow lobs.
+
+There was great cheering as the victorious cricketers rode in the dusk
+of the evening through the main street of Tareela, after a grand day’s
+fun.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER V*
+
+                            *THE BIG FLOOD*
+
+
+    "The day is cold and dark and dreary;
+    It rains, and the wind is never weary;
+    The vine still clings to the mouldering wall;
+    But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
+      And the day is dark and dreary."
+        LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+Drip, drip, drip!
+
+Croak, croak, c-r-o-a-k!
+
+Quack-quack, quack-quack!
+
+"Heigho!" grunted Tom Hawkins, as he turned over sleepily in bed.  "Is
+it ever goin’ to stop rainin’?"
+
+For some days a steady rain had been falling, soaking the ground.  Every
+gully was a rivulet, and every depression a lake.
+
+"Tom!" cried a feminine voice from an interior room. "Get up!"
+
+"Bother those frogs an’ ducks!" muttered the lad, full of sleep in the
+grey of the early morning.  "Like ter choke ’em! waking fler——"
+
+"Tom!" cried a masculine voice, as a hand rattled the door of the lad’s
+bedroom, and a boot gave a drum-like accompaniment on the lower panel.
+"Git up this minit an’ run the cows in, or I’ll——"
+
+But Tom had jumped out of bed as nimbly as one of the frogs, between
+whose croak and his father’s bass voice he seemed unable, in his sleepy
+condition, to discriminate.
+
+"All right, father!  I’m dressing," shouted Tom, as the word "dowsing"
+fell on his ear.  There had been times in master Tom’s past when a
+sudden application of cold water was deemed necessary to expedite his
+slow movements.
+
+"Dad’s too mighty smart!  Thought I’d nick him with that button,"
+growled Tom, as he stuck his legs into his pants; said button being an
+iron tee snip, fastened so as to act as a bolt.
+
+"Jemima!  ain’t it dark!  Must be very early," muttered the reluctant
+boy, as he strove to lace his boots. "Drat it!  Shan’t wear ’em; too
+wet."
+
+"My crikey!" cried he as he stood outside.  "Must have been rainin’ cats
+an’ dogs, an’ lakes an’ seas."
+
+His moleskins were rolled up to his thighs, while a cornsack, hooded at
+the bottom, and stuck on to his head like a nun’s veil, gave him fair
+protection from the driving showers.
+
+"I wonder if it’s goin’ to be a flood?"  The thought was not unpleasant
+to the lad.  It produced, indeed, a certain exaltation of spirits,
+forcibly expressed in Tom’s vernacular by, "Ge-willikins! but won’t we
+have fun!"
+
+Heavily laden clouds, in interminable succession, were drifting from the
+sea, forming, as they swung overhead in batches, an endless series of
+smart showers.  It had been an exceptionally wet week, and for the
+preceding twenty-four hours had rained without ceasing.
+
+The cows depastured in a paddock that ran back from a creek to the
+timbered country.  The creek itself was bank high and running strongly.
+It was only by climbing along the branches of a dead limb, which spanned
+the water, that Tom managed to reach the kine.
+
+It was no small task to get them to face the stream. Small as was the
+creek in width, it was deep enough to make a swim, and the roaring,
+turbid, and muddy stream frightened the creatures.  But for the fact
+that the calves were in a pen at the milking yard all Tom’s efforts
+would have been futile.  Their mooing and baaing, however, made a loud
+appeal to the maternal breast. Finally, when the old red poley, the
+mother of twins, made a plunge, the rest followed.
+
+During the morning the river rose steadily, and large quantities of
+drift-wood passed down the stream.  With the rubbish was a good deal of
+heavy timber, and—what Tom had predicted—pumpkins.  This was an
+indication that the river up-stream had overflowed its banks in places,
+and was sweeping the low-lying farm lands.  Tom spent the morning in
+fishing out the floating vegetables that came within reach of his hooked
+pole.  Meanwhile the rain continued, and looked as though it might last
+for forty days and nights.
+
+"I’ll pull over to the township this afternoon," remarked Mr. Hawkins at
+the midday meal.  "I’m anxious about this rise.  Looks as if we’re goin’
+to have an old man flood.  Might get some information about the state of
+things up-river.  If I leave it till to-morrow ’twill be a tough job
+gettin’ acrost, as the timber’s comin’ down pretty thick now, an’ll be
+worse by an’ by."
+
+"Be sure’n bring tea and flour back with you.  No knowing how long the
+rise’ll last."
+
+"Can I go with you, father?"
+
+"Yes; I’ll require you to steer.  It’ll be a pretty stiff job, I
+reckon."
+
+The crossing was not without peril.  The current ran fierce and strong.
+The landing-place on the other side was protected, in a measure, by a
+headland up-stream. Out from the influence of that, however, the boatmen
+felt the full force of the current.  The water seethed and foamed.  The
+violence of its rush created great whirlpools, which accentuated the
+difficulty of keeping the boat’s head up-stream.  Logs and driftwood
+patches had to be dodged, and, what with fighting the current and
+outflanking the timber, by the time the river was crossed the boat had
+drifted quite half a mile down-stream.  On gaining the other side they
+found a shore eddy, in which they were able to paddle up-stream with
+ease, until they came to a point of land about two hundred yards below
+the town wharf.  As they lost the eddy here, and would have to encounter
+the full force of the flood when round the point, Mr. Hawkins wisely
+determined to tie up the boat in the slack water.
+
+When Hawkins arrived at the store, where many of the townsfolk had
+congregated, he was informed that news had been brought down by the
+mailman that morning to the effect that heavy rains were falling at the
+head of the river, and that when the New England waters came down in
+full force the river might rise to the "high flood" marks.
+
+Cooees could now be heard from the settlers in the low-lying portions,
+adjacent to the township.  They proceeded from those who had neglected
+to move before being surrounded, and who were without boats.  The police
+were busily engaged in rescuing families by boat. Many townsfolk were
+engaged on the same merciful errand.
+
+All through the day the waters, fed by the flooded creeks, continued to
+rise, and as evening approached anxiety deepened.  Things were so
+serious that Mr. Hawkins, whose farm, be it said, was situated on
+comparatively low-lying lands, acting upon the advice of his friends,
+returned home almost at once.  After hoisting the most valuable of his
+possessions to the rafters, and securing them there, he returned to the
+township with his family; gaining it as dusk was deepening into dark.
+The family was distributed among neighbours, Tom and one of his sisters
+being quartered at Mr. Blain’s.
+
+A group of men and boys throughout the day had lined the bank of the
+river, in the vicinity of the Government wharf, which was submerged.
+They were engaged in gauging its rate of advance by pine laths scaled to
+inches.
+
+Towards evening the wind, veering from east to south-east, increased in
+violence.  Laden with torrential showers, it smote the earth in great
+gusts, streaming through roofs and walls, and taxing the ingenuity of
+housekeepers to find dry spots for beds.
+
+The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite directions, conflicted
+with great violence.  The roaring, boastful wind, as it lashed the
+racing, defiant waters into angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds
+of the seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with and
+overbore all opposing forces, made storm music, compared with which the
+artifices of man touch the infinitely puny.  Darkness and the blinding
+rain had driven most of the river watchers indoors.  A few, however,
+braved the elements, among them the minister and the lads.
+
+Whatever effect the flood may have had on others, the dominant feeling
+in Mr. Blain’s mind was that of solicitude. As the rain continued, deep
+concern merged into alarm. There were few on the river who knew as
+intimately as he the general havoc of a flood.  The executive head of
+the Flood-relief Committee for many years, he had been the chief
+instrument in administering doles to flood victims.  In many cases the
+utmost relief was as a drop of succour in the ocean of need.
+
+"If the rise continues for another twenty-four hours, as it is doing
+now, it will beat the ’sixty-four flood, and, if so, God help our
+down-river friends," remarked the minister after examining Joe’s gauge
+by the aid of a lantern.
+
+The ’64 flood was the highest known to white men up to the present.  The
+settlers still retained a vivid recollection of its disastrous effects.
+Luckily, the township covered a piece of high ground, and though the low
+parts were covered in a moderate flood, the higher portions were some
+feet above the highest flood-mark.  It was in the farming settlements
+that danger lurked.
+
+"If this yere flood beats ’sixty-four, it’ll be as you say, Parson;
+good-bye to many up-river an’ down-river folk."
+
+Mr. Blain’s words had impressed both men and boys. Suddenly Joe, who was
+in the midst of the group, sang out lustily—
+
+"Hurrah! wind’s changed!"
+
+"What’s that?" shouted back Mr. Blain excitedly.
+
+"Don’t you feel it?" cried the boy, as he swung his arms windmill
+fashion.
+
+"Yes; thank God!  The lad’s right," continued he. "The wind’s chopping.
+Don’t you feel it, men? Ah! there’s a decided puff from the north-east."
+
+"Take my word for it," said the ferryman, an old sailor, "the wind’ll be
+blowing west afore morning."
+
+"Pray God it may!" ejaculated the minister, and many a silent prayer was
+uttered.
+
+"Now, boys, let us return home.  We can do no good standing here.  We’ll
+come back in an hour or so."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Tom, as the boys splashed through the water on their
+way home.  Laying his hand on Joe’s shoulder, he cried, "Do you hear
+that?"
+
+"Don’t hear anything but the roar of the river," replied Joe, as he
+stood in a listening attitude.  "What was it?"
+
+"Hark! there it is again.  A cooee.  Seems to come from up the river,
+near the Bend.  Some un’s in trouble."
+
+"Now, boys, make haste and get in out of the rain," cried Mr. Blain, who
+had hurried along.
+
+"Some one’s crying out for help at the Bend," shouted Joe.
+
+The minister paused on hearing this.  A moment later the cry came out of
+the night: faint, because of the distance and the turmoil of sounds, yet
+clear and convincing.
+
+"Great God! some poor soul in dire straits, and no help possible before
+morning!"
+
+It would have been worse than madness to attempt any rescue till
+daylight.  To traverse the flood, even in daytime, anywhere near the
+Bend, were a hazardous experiment, owing to the enormous vortices caused
+by the current striking a high bluff on the near side, at the elbow.
+The waters whirled like a merry-go-round under full steam, and boiled
+with an upward heave, in a fashion similar to the mud springs of
+Tiketere.  None but the stoutest boat and most experienced rowers could
+dodge these seething cauldrons, which caught into their cold and cruel
+embrace trees, fencing, stock; anything material, in fact.  The heaviest
+logs and tree-lengths were as wisps of straw under the influence of the
+mighty suction.  To attempt the traverse at night were as foolhardy and
+impossible as that of shooting Niagara in an open boat.
+
+A little group stood with the Blains, listening to the weird cry.
+
+"Who d’yer think it c’d be, sir?" said one of the men, turning to the
+minister.
+
+"Not any of the Bend families.  We had word this afternoon saying that
+they had retreated to the high land before the waters reached them.  God
+help the poor soul, whoever it is, for vain is the help of man!"
+
+Throughout the live-long night the cry went up at intervals, like that
+of the minute-gun of a distressed vessel.  Shortly before daybreak it
+ceased.
+
+No man or woman in the township slept that night. A strict watch was
+kept on the river, so as to be ready for any emergency.  The waters
+continued to advance, but at a much slower rate.  Men and women
+cudgelled their brains to individualise the wailing cry.  Most were
+agreed that it was a woman’s cry, though some held it to be that of a
+child.  Sometimes the voice was ghoulish, and made the flesh to creep
+and the heart to flutter. Then an intensely human note would prevail,
+full of anguish and terror, and women wept and stopped their ears, while
+strong men choked in the throat.
+
+They would go out at intervals and send back a heartening cry; it was
+all that could be done.  There were many others throughout that fearful
+night who were engulfed in the flood, in various parts of the river,
+and, swan-like, wailed their death-song in the wild waste.
+
+Shortly after midnight the rain ceased, and the wind, which had been
+chopping and changing for the past few hours, settled finally in the
+west.  This proved a conspicuous advantage.  It no longer checked the
+flood-waters as when in the east, and there was now good hope that they
+would recede ere long, as the rise was almost imperceptible.
+
+[Illustration: "Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers
+and falls with mighty crash."—_See p._ 43.]
+
+When day had dawned a wild, weird scene was revealed. The town had
+become an island.  On all sides the flood-waters stretched out, covering
+gardens and farms, and completely blotting out the fair landscape.  On
+the riverside the turgid stream tore along in its hurry, bearing on its
+dirty, foam-crested bosom, as its spoils, the household gods, farm
+stock, and produce of many a settler. Horses, cattle, pigs, goats, dogs,
+fowls: these, swept off by the encroaching waters, and carried over
+fences into the stream, struggled, vainly for the most part, in the
+rapid, death-dealing current.  Haystacks, barns, wood-frame buildings
+intact, floated in the torrential waters, sooner or later crashing into
+the great trees that bore down-stream, making utter shipwreck.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER VI*
+
+                      *ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS*
+
+
+"The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
+voice; the floods lift up their waves."—Ps. xciii. 3.
+
+
+"Where’s the dad, girls?" shouted Joe Blain early in the morning, after
+the events recorded in the previous chapter, dashing into the room as he
+yelled.
+
+"Here!" came a voice from the back verandah. Running to the spot
+indicated by the monosyllable, the lad in breathless accents delivered
+himself to his paternal relative in this fashion—
+
+"Please, dad, can Tom, Billy, Jimmy, and I have the boat to paddle out
+on the back-water?"
+
+"Um—er—well, as long as you keep in the slack water I suppose you may;
+but be very careful, my boy."
+
+"Yes, dad; we’ll be careful enough.  It’s all slack water you know,
+’cept where the river water comes in; but that’s a long way up, an’
+we’ll be paddlin’ mostly about this end of the slack."
+
+An explanation is needed here in order that the reader may intelligently
+follow the course of events (some of them dramatic enough, and even
+tragic) which transpired in the course of this eventful cruise.
+
+It has already been stated that the flood waters so surrounded Tareela
+as to convert the township into an island.  It was so practically.
+Accurately speaking it formed a peninsula, with the narrowest of necks.
+On the river side there was a broad expanse of boiling, foaming,
+hurrying waters, narrowing here and there, where the banks rose above
+their usual height, but stretching far and wide where the river-flats
+intervened; sometimes touching the horizon, as it were.  On the other
+side lay a body of water, as far removed from motion as the tumultuous
+stream was instinct with it.  There it lay, a wide extent of placid,
+coffee-coloured water, broken at its surface by fence tops, belts of
+trees, and partially submerged houses.  This great stretch was almost
+currentless, and the débris that floated on its bosom appeared
+stationary; though, as a matter of fact, there was a slight outward
+drift.
+
+The secret of its placidity lay in the fact that the river waters, when
+they reached a certain height, backed up a blind gully that ran almost
+parallel with the stream for some distance, then swerved from the river,
+and widened out till it became a depression of considerable magnitude.
+This, in turn, merged into a swamp, contiguous to the township on its
+western side.  Low-lying and occupied lands surrounded the swamp for
+some distance.  The town end of these flats, which the river water
+backing up through the gully had submerged, making a long reach of
+stagnant waters, formed the area of the boys’ row.
+
+The minister’s boat was a light yet staunchly built vessel, and belonged
+to the skiff variety.  Her capabilities were to be put to the utmost
+test.  Several of the town boats were moving on the face of the still
+waters, their occupants busily engaged in capturing the flotsam.  The
+owners of houses, in particular, were anxiously conning their submerged
+property, or gathering together floating domestic articles.  In this way
+a good deal of house property was recovered.
+
+The boys found enjoyment in the novelty of the cruise. They pulled two
+oars, taking turns at the rowing.  Of the non-rowers, one acted as
+steersman and the other as bowman for the capture of the flood spoils.
+Several melons and pumpkins were picked up, but they were not troubling
+about these.  For one reason, they did not want to be encumbered with
+spoil of that kind, and for another they were keen on pulling about the
+flooded houses. Their chief and most interesting rescue was a cat and
+two kittens, which had found an ark of refuge on a barn door.
+
+"I say, boys, we’ll have a go at these oranges," said Joe, who was
+steering, as they were passing a small orangery which was half
+submerged.  This proposal received hearty and unanimous assent.
+Accordingly Joe selected the most promising tree, and deftly ran
+alongside its outer branches.
+
+"Look out for snakes!" cried he.
+
+There was abundant cause for warning, for each tree contained a number
+of serpents, some of which are very deadly.  These reptiles were flooded
+out of their holes in the ground, and from hollow logs and stumps, and
+made for the trees or any floating timber that offered refuge.
+Fortunately the snakes were more or less benumbed with the cold,
+consequently they were the reverse of lively. Had it been otherwise, to
+have made fast to the tree would have been foolhardy to a degree.
+
+Agreeably to Joe’s warning, every eye was skinned and on the look out.
+Indeed, the tree was fairly swarming with snakes of many sorts and
+sizes; though for the most part they consisted of "tree" and "carpet"
+varieties; one of the latter, lying across the top, being fully ten feet
+in length.  These two mentioned varieties are not venomous. The farmers,
+for the most part, look with a friendly eye upon the carpet species; so
+called by reason of its tawny and black markings.  The carpet snake in
+summer time is the best of all mousers and ratters.  It winds its
+sinuous way into places impossible to even puss or terrier; and is
+always a welcome visitor to settlers’ barns.  There it becomes a pet,
+and will live on terms of friendship with its primal foe.
+
+There were snakes of a very different order in the orange tree.  Among
+them the "tiger," most aggressive and poisonous of all the genus.  There
+were also specimens of the black and the brown snakes.  All these are
+cobras, and therefore very deadly.
+
+The snakes, as related, were all more or less torpid with cold, and not
+pugnaciously inclined.  The boys, however, were very careful not to
+disturb them.  There was plenty of golden fruit upon the tree, and it
+was in prime condition.  The fruit was neatly cut off the stems by
+strokes of the paddle blade.  When a sufficient quantity was thus
+plucked, and lay bobbing in the water, they were poked out from the tree
+by the same means, and secured.  The boat lay off a little distance from
+the tree while the crew indulged in a feed of the luscious fruit.  A
+visit was then paid to a plantain grove, and a quantity, both of green
+and ripe fruit, was secured.
+
+"Where away now, Joe?" said Tom Hawkins, who was crouched in the bow.
+
+"I vote," replied the one addressed, who in this, as in everything else,
+was leader of the band,—"I vote we pull up opposite Commodore Hill and
+have a look at the river."  The boy forgot for the moment the promise
+made to his father to keep mainly about the town end of the back-water.
+
+Commodore Hill was well up the river, and on the other side.  The
+flooded gully by which the water obtained entrance, it has been
+explained, ran parallel with the river for some distance; in some places
+being not more than a few yards therefrom.  The boys were curious to see
+the river stretch above the Bend; also to note the numbers of
+flooded-out settlers who might be camped in that vicinity.  Accordingly
+the boat’s bow is turned, and her course shaped in that direction.  By
+this time the river had fallen several feet, and, as a consequence,
+there was an outward drift of the slack waters, making a gentle current.
+
+"’Member, Joe, what your dad said about takin’ the boat into the
+stream."
+
+"Think I’ve forgot, stupid!"
+
+"Thought I’d remind you, anyhow," replied the bowman.  As a matter of
+fact, Tom had an uneasy feeling that his mate would not be content when
+they got to the mouth to remain there without having a dash at the
+stream.
+
+"Listen to me; I ain’t goin’ to run any risks.  We won’t go to the mouth
+entrance.  What we’ll do is this: work up to the swamp end, have a look
+round, and come back again."
+
+With this defined object in view the boat continued its voyage, helped
+by the current, which, the farther up they proceeded, became stronger,
+as was to be expected.
+
+But one thing had happened of which the boys were in entire ignorance.
+And this particular happening was to produce startling and unexpected
+effects.  At a certain spot in the gully, and at a point where it began
+to deviate from the general stream, there was a branch gully, which bore
+inwards to within a few yards of the river’s brink.  When the water was
+at its highest in the river, that in the lagoon was much higher at this
+point, inasmuch as the back-water was at the same level as at the
+entrance, some two miles higher up; the difference in height being the
+river’s fall in that distance.  Roughly speaking, the water there was
+about ten feet higher than that in the river.
+
+The rush of the stream on the river side had caused the bank to give way
+about this point during the night, and the lagoon, or back-waters,
+forced themselves into the river through the new channel, which widened
+considerably as a consequence.  On nearing this place the boys became
+conscious of a quickening of the current.
+
+"My golly, Joe! this big current," said Yellow Billy, who, with Jimmy,
+was at the oars.  "Must be goin’ twenty mile."
+
+"Twenty mile! you goose.  We’re goin’ six or seven and that’s mighty
+fast."
+
+"I say, Joe," called Jimmy a second later, the boys having ceased
+rowing, for there was no further need, "bes’ run her ashore, or we’ll be
+carried out.  By gosh, she’s tearing away!"
+
+"All right, mates, keep cool.  There’s the old mahogany ahead, we’ll tie
+up there; we’ll be there in a minute."
+
+Yes, the boys would need all their coolness, for Joe was reckoning
+without up-to-date knowledge, and that made all the difference in the
+world.  Rounding a clump of trees at this moment, or ever they were
+aware the boat fairly sucked into the channel of furiously rushing and
+tumultuously heaping waters that were finding their level by the newly
+made short-cut.
+
+"Oh! oh!  I—I say!" shouted Tom.  "We’re being swept into the river!
+Back water!"
+
+Joe, quicker than the others, had hit the situation, and turned the
+boat’s nose to a clump of bushes, but before the rowers could pick up
+their oars to help him the boat had swept past.  Tom, it is true, made a
+frantic grasp at the bough, but the way on the boat was so strong that
+the branch, when the full force of the current bore on her at her
+momentary check, snapped like a pipe-stem, and the little craft was fair
+in the turgid stream, which had now the velocity of a water-race.  The
+incident of the half-arrest, however, had turned her head up-stream,
+which was a providential thing.  The river break-away was at most three
+hundred yards away.  To turn the boat into the perpendicular sides of
+the channel was to court destruction; for, be it said, the maddened
+waters had excavated the banks until they rose sheer from the water’s
+edge.
+
+The necessities of the case came like an inspiration to Joe.  The boat
+was drifting, as we have said, stern first, the advantage of which will
+be seen.  Save Joe, whom the sense of responsibility braced to immediate
+action, the boys were speechless with consternation. One look at their
+blanched faces was sufficient.  They were certainly alive to the dangers
+of the situation.
+
+"Pull, boys! pull with all your might!  We’ll keep her head up.  This’ll
+check her speed a bit.  It’ll give her steerage way too, and save her
+gettin’ broadside on."
+
+The pullers put every ounce of strength into their strokes, and this was
+very helpful.  The final rush into the cross-current was a most critical
+moment, and might easily have resulted in disaster.  This was averted
+only by Joe’s coolness and dexterity.
+
+"Oars out!" cried he as the boat swept into the angry and turbulent
+river.  Save for shipping some water, and drenching the crew with spray,
+the little craft weathered the river plunge.  An involuntary "Oh!" came
+from the boys as the boat shot the rapids and soused into the river.
+Immediately she came under the influence of two currents; that going
+outward from the chute, and the swift down-river stream.
+
+This effect was to take them instantly well out toward the centre of the
+flood, with a strong drift which carried the boat into the vicinity of
+the Bend.  The river bend gave the current a direction which set across
+to the other side.  This diagonal movement was accelerated by the chute
+waters, which retained their impetus, in a measure, for a considerable
+distance.
+
+Downward then, and cross-wise to the northern bank, the frail craft
+sped, the sport and play of the watery element.  Dangers stood, or
+rather, drifted thick around the adventurers.  Picture for a moment a
+tiny vessel, some fifteen feet over all, whose timbers are of the
+proverbial egg-shell thickness, shot into an angry, bubbling cauldron,
+whose tumultuous waters heaved and swirled, hissed and roared, in
+inarticulate sound and motion.
+
+That, in itself, were an experience of sufficient magnitude to quicken
+the blood, test the nerves, and try the courage of the hardiest
+waterman.  Add to the perils of that situation a thousand floating
+dangers, any one of which might crush that tiny, drifting cockle-shell
+out of existence, and you have the position which faced and surrounded
+the affrighted lads on the demon-ridden waters.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VII*
+
+                   *THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH*
+
+
+    "There’s the white-box and pine on the ridges afar,
+    Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;
+    There’s many another, but dearest to me,
+    And king of them all is the stringy-bark tree."
+      HENRY LAWSON.
+
+
+As several years had intervened between the present and the last flood
+of considerable dimension, every creek, gully, and river-flat of the
+upper reaches were contributing their quota of fallen timber, which in
+the interval had encumbered the earth.  In addition, the flood-waters
+had torn many a giant eucalyptus, roots and all, from its earthhold, and
+had borne it on its heaving and rebellious bosom, a mere plaything of
+its vengeful humour.
+
+Up to the present a monarch of the forest, whose rugged bole bears
+indubitable evidence of its antiquity, stands skywards with its head in
+the clouds.  The Philistines are upon it.  Its innumerable roots,
+lateral and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as it
+grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe.  But the earth, which for years
+innumerable has mothered the forest lord, furnishing his daily portion
+of meat and drink, nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth
+and height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in every tussle
+with wind and flood heretofore, now turns traitor.  The soil dissolves
+in the swirling waters as they ravish the earth.  Above and underneath
+the roots it melts, and is carried away in the thickening stream.  The
+hold of the old monarch is weakening.  His limbs are trembling.  His
+strong body, that has withstood the pressure of a thousand fights with
+the hereditary foe, vibrates and sways now, as his remorseless
+antagonist grips him in cruel embrace.
+
+His old comrades higher up, who have fallen earlier in this battle of
+giants, come drifting along, battered and torn; veritable shipwrecks,
+dismantled and broken.  One floating leviathan, flood-driven, sweeps
+onward full upon his writhing form ... a violent shock and shudder that
+runs from root to topmost leaf ... a last wrestle, strong, heroic, and
+pitiful! ... Then, betrayed and spent, under the last straw, as it were,
+of the fateful impact of his wrecked mate—now converted into a
+battering-ram—the grand old hero-king yields.  His foe has sought and
+found, like one in the olden time, his vulnerability in his heel.
+Overborne at last, but not yet broken, he shakes his lofty head in the
+quiver of mortal spasm.  Suddenly he topples, lurches, staggers, and
+falls with a mighty crash, which is, indeed, a resounding death-cry.
+Striking the enemy with a last, concentrated, savage blow, he splits her
+bosom, and sends great spurts of her muddy blood, spray-like, a hundred
+feet in air.  But the wound heals as speedily as delivered, and from
+thence he passes quickly, in company with his defeated brothers, an
+inert mass of strewn wreckage, to form, farther down upon the skurrying
+waters, a floating barricade of death-dealing timbers.  And so on and
+on, till the blue sea is reached, where it is heaved to and fro, a
+rudderless hulk upon the bosom of the ocean; until it is stranded at
+last as flotsam and jetsam upon the beach.
+
+
+By skilful manipulation of oars and rudder the boys managed to evade the
+timber masses.  The numerous whirlpools constituted a great danger.
+Once or twice they were almost sucked under as they circled in a vortex.
+Their position was extremely perilous.  The greatest danger lay from
+contact with the isolated logs and tree-trunks that sped down with great
+velocity, appearing and disappearing in the vicious eddies, rotating
+with the swirling stream, and popping up porpoise-like in unexpected
+quarters.  On one occasion, in dodging a mass of driftwood, they ran
+right on to a big tree.  Fortunately the tree was sinking at the time of
+impact under the influence of an under-current, and, at Joe’s sharp
+command, the rowers rushed the boat across the submerged tree-bole.
+Scarcely had they crossed the line ere the submarine monster rolled
+upward, till at least half its length was out of the water.  It was a
+narrow squeak. To have been caught on its rising movement would have
+meant utter shipwreck.
+
+It has been stated that owing to the river bend, and from other causes,
+the current set diagonally across to the other side.  Drawing thus
+towards the farther shore, the boat’s crew neared a timbered point,
+below which the water expanded over the low-lying country for miles. So
+far only the thickly fringed timber belts could be seen.  It was
+questionable if they could find any dry earth.  In all likelihood,
+however, even should there not be any landing-place, they would find
+protection from the current behind the thick wood.  As they got close in
+to the scrubby portion the boys saw, to their great disappointment, that
+the land was still submerged.  They had hoped to find a patch of earth.
+All they can do now is to shelter behind the timber.
+
+"Pull, boys, pull hard!" cried Joe, the while he turned the boat’s nose
+towards a rear clump.  His quick eye discerned an eddy formed by a point
+higher up.  Rowing into this, the boat was eased in its downward track,
+and after getting well in behind the clump they were able to make
+headway against the stream, finally fastening to a big she-oak almost in
+still water.  Here they were out of the tract of the current and the
+perils of the driftwood.
+
+What a relief to the half-dazed and frightened boys!
+
+Captain Joe, be it said, though fearful enough while in the roaring
+waters, kept all his wits about him.  Often as his heart jumped into his
+mouth he as quickly swallowed it again.  More than once his
+resourcefulness saved the boat from certain disaster.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed he, as Tom tied the painter to a strong limb, and
+the boat rode easy.
+
+"It was a touch and go, lads.  Don’t cry, Jimmy!" as that lad, yielding
+to a feeling of reaction, burst into tears. Tom was not much better, and
+furtively wiped his eyes under the pretence of blowing his nose.  In a
+few minutes the boys were themselves again.  The roar and rush of the
+waters filled their oars and souls as they lay at anchor. So deafening
+were the sounds that it was only by shouting they could hear one
+another.
+
+Stretching inland, and reaching to the distant hills, nothing was to be
+seen but a waste of waters, with here and there a bushy hillock, a
+miniature island.  What remained of the settlers’ houses looked like so
+many Noah’s arks.  Moving figures could be seen on one which lay a long
+way off.  They were the unfortunate owners, who, by delaying their
+retreat until too late, were driven on to the very ridge pole for
+safety.  Fortunately they were in still water; so at least it seemed
+from the distance; consequently their position was not alarming. Tree
+marks showed the river to be falling at a fairly rapid rate.
+
+"Now then, boys, let’s hold a council of war!"
+
+"Wot’s that, Joe?"
+
+"It’s what they say in soldiering when the generals get into a fix,"
+chipped in Tom.
+
+"Oh, gollies! let us get home as quick as possible.  If we don’t they’ll
+think we’re drownded an’——"
+
+"Look here, Jimmy, stow that rot!  If we start talking in that fashion,
+we’ll get unnerved.  Billy, you first!  Tell us what you think about the
+situation."
+
+"Long’s we’re here we’re safe.  There’s a ’possum in the spout above us.
+I’ll climb up and get ’im for tucka."
+
+"We can’t cook ’possum in the boat, Billy.  No dry wood; no matches.
+You’re right enough about safety, though.  These trees have borne the
+brunt of the flood stream at its highest, and things are getting easier.
+Jimmy, what do you think of it?"
+
+"I—I—I dunno.  Oh, my poor m-other!" cried Jimmy, whose emotions again
+overpowered him.
+
+"Didn’t I tell you to stow that water-cart business? Dry up, or I’ll
+jolly well tan your hide for you, you soft milksop!"
+
+Joe’s severity was partly assumed.  He was fighting himself about home
+thoughts.  He knew the folly of giving way at this crisis to such a
+natural sentiment.
+
+"You, Tom!  You’ve a notion, I’m sure," said Joe to his chum.
+
+"My opinion, chaps, is that we ought to be very thankful for bein’ where
+we are, an’ stay here a bit anyways. It’d be madness to attempt to
+recross the river.  What’s to prevent us pullin’ over there?" pointing
+to a hillock nearly a mile away inland.
+
+"Tom’s right, boys.  We must make up our minds, hard as it is, to camp
+on this side to-day.  It’d be easy enough to do as Tom says, row over to
+that island. Supposin’, though, the water went down a lot during the
+night; we might have to drag the boat over a lot of mud to get to the
+river-bank to-morrow.  Bes’ stay where we——"
+
+"S-s-h!  Listen a moment, Joe," interjected Tom from the bow of the
+boat.  "What noise’s that?"
+
+"Don’t hear anythin’ ’cept the river.  What sort o’ noise, Tom?"
+
+"I heered it, Joe," said Yellow Billy.  "Bear cryin’, I bin thinkin’.
+Heer it now."
+
+All the boys could hear the sounds now, faint enough, yet distinct above
+the flood roar.
+
+"Bear, I ’speck!  Have a good look round, boys."
+
+All eyes were bent in the direction of the sound.  They scanned the
+trees for that strange, pouch-bearing—half bear, half sloth—animal
+called the native bear.  Strictly speaking, it is neither bear nor
+sloth, being a perfectly harmless, tailless marsupial of the koala
+genus.  Its cry is intensely, and often pathetically, human.
+
+For some time the search was unrewarded; while ever and anon a cry,
+strangely like an infant’s wail, came to the ears of the searchers.
+
+"P’r’aps, after all, it’s only the wind in the river oaks; or is it a——"
+
+"Look, boys!  look, look!" cried Tom excitedly.  "What’s that over at
+the edge of the timber, up there in a fork?"
+
+"Whereaway, Tom?"
+
+"See the clump beyond the back-water, out in the stream?"
+
+"M—y-e-s, I see.  Why, yes, my word!  I do believe it’s a——"
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VIII*
+
+                          *WHAT THE TREE HELD*
+
+
+    "Thereafter grew the wind; and chafing deaths
+    In distant waters, sent a troubled cry
+    Across the slumbrous forest; and the chill
+    Of coming rain was on the sleeper’s brow."
+      HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"James!" exclaimed Mrs. Blain to her husband during this eventful
+morning, "it’s dinner-time and those lads are not back.  I hope nothing
+has happened."
+
+"What do you expect could have happened, you dear old fidget?  I’m going
+to the post, however, and I’ll have a look round."
+
+Could Mr. Blain have beheld the lads at this particular time, the calm
+of his deep nature would have been broken up in a fashion rare to his
+experience; for at this moment the boat and its occupants are being
+borne on the rapids, presently to be flung upon the riotous and
+foam-crested waves of the river.
+
+In moving along the street the minister met several persons who had been
+out on the back-water during the morning.  All had seen the boys at one
+time or another. One of the latest in, who had been farther up than most
+of the others, had passed the boys on his return not long before.  They
+were then heading up the swamp way.
+
+"Don’t fear, Mr. Blain, the boys know how to take care of themselves.
+Dinner’s calling ’em loudly enough by this time, I wager ye."
+
+Dinner-time came and went, but no boys.  As the afternoon wore on the
+mother’s fears deepened until they became well-nigh unendurable.  The
+minister, rowed by two of the neighbours, set out to find the truants
+and fetch them back.
+
+"Don’t lose faith, dear!  They’re up to some prank, the thoughtless
+scamps!  I’ll fetch them home none the worse, to laugh at your fears."
+
+
+Following Tom’s index-finger, the boys fastened their eyes upon a clump
+of river oaks that stood on the edge of the woods.
+
+High up in a fork of one of the largest trees, they could see what
+looked at first like a huge bundle of clothes fluttering in the wind.
+After a short while the bundle seemed to take a somewhat definite shape.
+
+"What in the name of goodness is it all?  Seems like a lot of old
+clothes jammed in the tree forks.  Are you sure that the squall, or
+squeak, or squeal, or whatever it was, came from that direction?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," replied Tom.  "Listen, there it’s again!"  A thin,
+treble cry rose faintly above the din of the flood waters.
+
+"See a woman’s foot!"
+
+The speaker was the half-caste, whose eyesight, owing to his half-wild
+nature, was much keener than his fellows’.
+
+"A woman’s foot, Billy!  What do you mean?  You don’t mean to say
+really, that——!"
+
+"See hand too!  Look along bark.  See fingers!"
+
+Thus directed, the three boys looked, and saw, though but indistinctly,
+what appeared to be a hand grasping the tree-trunk, a foot, also, was
+revealed at intervals by the fluttering garment.
+
+After a short, staring silence, a flood of mental light broke upon Joe.
+"I see now.  Why, it’s the poor soul we heard cooeeing last night!"
+
+Yes, there had been plenty of speculation in the village as to who it
+could be, and exactly where the voice came from.  None of those who
+heard the piteous wail that was borne across the floods in the black and
+wild darkness of that night would forget it for many a long day to come.
+
+The mystery is now solved.  The boys are horror-stricken at the sight
+and its sequent thought.  They are now convinced that a woman is fixed
+in the tree.  Without reasoning the matter out, they identify her as the
+one whose cry over night produced such a sensation in the township, and
+to locate which the police boat with a strong crew had started out at
+daybreak, but without success.
+
+_Is she alive or dead_?  The strange cry did not seem to be that of a
+woman.  There was something so eerie, so shocking in the thought, that
+the lads were fear-possessed for some moments.  Joe, as usual, recovered
+himself first.
+
+"It’s a woman sure enough!  It’s a human being, at any rate.  An’, boys,
+we’ve got to rescue her if she is alive. The cry can only come from her,
+I’m sure, so that there must be some life left still.  How to do it I
+can’t just see at this moment.  We must think a bit."
+
+Think a bit they did.  Camped as they were at the lower end of the
+timber, it would be a matter of comparative ease to work up through the
+trees in the slack water, till they arrived opposite to the clump that
+stood out in the stream.  There the real difficulties would begin.  The
+rush of waters was still so strong, and the space for the play of the
+boat so small, that it became evident the rescue would be accompanied by
+some alarming risks.
+
+One of two things must be done: either wait until the waters receded
+sufficiently to enable the rescuers to wade to the clump, or make an
+immediate dash.
+
+"How long d’you think it’d be before we could wade across, Joe?"
+
+"Dunno, Billy.  Beckon there’s eight or nine foot of water out there.
+Might be less.  At any rate it’d be hours."
+
+"Hours!" cried Tom.  "An’ s’posin’ that poor creature’s still alive?"
+
+"That settles it!" exclaimed Joe, rising in his seat in excitement.
+"Boys, what’s to be done must be done quickly."
+
+Seemingly all were agreed.  At least no objection was offered to this
+proposal, or, rather, mandate.  So it was resolved, after some
+cogitation, to pull the boat through the timber to a point some distance
+higher up than the isolated clump.  From thence the course would be
+outwards until the river current was met; an estimated distance of a
+hundred yards.  The boat was to be headed against the current when in
+the stream influence.  A vigorous row would be necessary to neutralise
+the current, to be modified so as to allow the craft to drift slowly
+down-stream.  Then, when opposite the clump, a dash for the tree whereon
+the unfortunate woman was lying was to be made.
+
+Inasmuch as this tree was almost in the centre of the group, and the
+stream still ran with violence, it was easy to see that without skilful
+management, and some luck, the boat might be stove in against a
+tree-bole; or, worse still, might be impaled upon a submerged snag.  Any
+accident, such as missing way at a critical moment, or the snapping of
+an oar blade, might be fraught with the most disastrous consequences.
+
+During the short conference Jimmy Flynn had kept silence.  Towards the
+end, as Joe set forth the attendant dangers, he became considerably
+perturbed.  After sundry wrigglings and contortions, rubbing of hands
+and licking of lips, these visual twistings found voice.
+
+"I say, Joe! don’t—er—yer think that—er—we’d better wait a bit?"
+
+"Why?" chorused the boys.
+
+"Oh—I—I dunno.  Well—er—p’raps some other boat’ll come over from the
+township d’reckly an’—an’——"
+
+"And s’pose no boat comes along?"
+
+"Well, then, I—I—er—vote—that we—er——"
+
+"By jing!  Jimmy," interposed Tom, with a jeer, "who’d ’a’ thought you’d
+’a’ showed the white feather!"
+
+"White feather yourself, Hawkins!" returned the fearful but now angry
+boy.
+
+"Jimmy!" broke in Yellow Billy unexpectedly, for as a rule the
+half-caste was taciturn—the taciturnity of modesty in his case.  Billy,
+while carrying some of the defects of aboriginal descent, was a
+kind-hearted and easily contented lad.  "Jimmy!" said he, in a soft,
+quiet tone, "s’pose your mother was over there?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who was sitting with a sullen, hang-dog expression,
+quivered as though he had received an electric shock.  There was within
+him a consciousness of the truth of Tom’s term.  He was a coward, and
+the very notion of it angered him, and at the same time made him
+resentful.  He shrank from the undertaking.  None of the boys were in
+love with it, for that matter.  Jimmy only, among the four, allowed his
+fear to overmaster him.
+
+These few words of Billy, uttered in a quiet, even tone, went straight
+to the boy’s heart.  His sullen brows lifted. The angry resentment which
+had disfigured his face vanished.  Straightening his bent figure, he
+seized the oar lying by his side.  Then, squaring his shoulders, as he
+inclined forward to grip the water, he said quietly, "Let her go."
+
+Immediately on releasing the boat Joe steered her in a semicircular
+course, keeping out back where the standing timber was thinnest.  The
+boys pulled slowly, for there was always the danger of snags.  They were
+in fairly slack water, and so had no need to exert themselves; besides
+which, it were wise to husband their strength for the supreme moment.
+
+Tom and Jimmy, both expert oarsmen, were the rowers. Yellow Billy was
+stationed in the bow, with instructions to keep a keen look out for
+snags.  He was armed with a stout pole in order that he might fend the
+boat on any critical occasion, or when the rudder might be inoperative.
+It formed a very useful instrument in Billy’s practised hands, and
+enabled him to ward off the craft from many dangers that did not appear
+until the boat was almost upon them.  As it was there were several
+ominous scrapes, as the boat rasped over submerged branches. Fortunately
+they reached the point determined upon without any accident.
+
+They paused here a moment before leaving the slack water for the swiftly
+running stream.
+
+"Now, boys," said Joe, after a brief survey, "sit steady, and pull for
+all you’re worth.  Mind you, no flurry. Keep an even stroke.  Got the
+painter coiled, Billy?"
+
+"All right, Joe."
+
+"Pull then, boys, and stick to it like grim death to a diseased nigger."
+
+The boat having got good way on, Joe headed her out a little, when she
+immediately encountered the current.
+
+"Lay to it, my lads, lay to it!"
+
+The boys "lay to" with such vigour that the rapid current was
+counterbalanced, and she hung in the stream, neither making headway nor
+drifting.
+
+"Easy a little, my hearties!  We must let her drift down gradually.
+Mustn’t let her get out of hand, though."
+
+In swinging the boat into the channel Joe kept her nose up-stream, and
+as near the slack water as possible. The boys easing a trifle at Joe’s
+command, the current became the stronger of the two forces, and the
+little craft drifted slowly.  Blain eagerly scanned the clump for an
+opening.  This cluster, it may be remarked, was about two hundred yards
+long and fifty or so wide.  In some parts the timber was thickly
+scattered, in others the trees were bunched together.
+
+The boat is now about fifty yards above the tree containing the supposed
+woman.
+
+"That’s right, chaps, keep up as you’re doin’!  We must drift very
+slowly lest we miss the chance of popping in.  It’s too thick to venture
+in here.  It’s thinnin’ out, though," exclaimed Joe, as the boat neared
+the point abreast the tree.
+
+"Here’s an opening, I do believe.  Be ready, Billy! Pull, lads! pull,
+pull!  Look out all!"
+
+The boat lay anglewise, so that the current worked upon her quarter.
+Seeing a fair opening, Joe urged the rowers to do their utmost.  So hard
+did they pull that the current, playing upon her quarter as she hung a
+few minutes stationary, forced her through the gap and towards the tree.
+The manoeuvre was splendidly executed. The boat was now within five
+yards or so of the tree, the boys putting every ounce of strength into
+their strokes. A minute or less now and they will either be fast to the
+tree or drifting down on to a solid block of timber just below.
+
+Yellow Billy, who had crouched in the bow, now rose up quietly, rope in
+hand, ready to act promptly in the decisive moment.  By good fortune a
+limb projected about five feet above the water, and branched out some
+distance from the tree.  Joe worked the boat straight up-stream, and
+then called on the rowers to ease the barest trifle.  The craft swung
+very slowly down, until she was fairly under the limb.
+
+"Sling the painter over the branch an’ make fast, Billy!" cried Joe, as
+the stern drifted under.  "Pull now, you beggars, a last spurt!"
+
+Billy whipped the rope round the limb, and made fast in a flash; the
+rowers, by a few desperate strokes, keeping the boat stationary.
+
+"Hold her there a second.  Let the loop lie loose an’ edge it to the
+trunk, Billy!"
+
+Joe thus worked the boat over until she was just at the rear of the
+tree.
+
+"Ease her off gently now, boys.  Steady still!  A wrench might snap the
+painter."
+
+The boys accordingly eased off gradually, and finally stopped.
+
+"Two of you come aft, it’ll ease the strain."
+
+This done, the boat, which by burying her nose deep in the water was
+straining heavily on the rope, trimmed herself, and offered but the
+minimum resistance to the racing waters.
+
+The tree-bole, which presented a somewhat broad surface, divided the
+waters, creating a narrow zone of neutral water in its wake.  In this
+eddying area the boat rode securely, making it an easy matter for the
+bowman to keep her nose up against the tree.
+
+And now each boy bent an upward glance to the fork.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IX*
+
+                              *THE RESCUE*
+
+
+    "Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me—
+    Death closes all: but something ere the end,
+    Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
+    Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."
+      TENNYSON’S _Ulysses_.
+
+
+Fortunately the she-oak was one of the largest of its kind, and forked
+out into four branches twenty feet or so from the ground.  This formed a
+rough cage, in which one could be held very securely if not comfortably.
+
+In this fork, partially covered with a blanket, was huddled the form of
+a human creature, presumably a woman; one hand stretched along the trunk
+as in a painful grip, the legs hanging loosely.  There was no movement
+of limb or body.  What if she were dead?
+
+A sudden chill accompanied this thought.  The situation was decidedly
+uncanny, and bred awesome, not to say fearsome, feelings.
+
+Four boys in a boat!  Out on the flood-wastes, and in a particularly
+perilous position!  The insistent noises of the rushing tide; the hollow
+moan of the wind in the foliage of the she-oaks; shut out from all help;
+missed now at home, and _that thing above_!
+
+All these combined to create a creeping chill in each boy, which in a
+manner half-paralysed them.
+
+Joe, as usual, recovered more quickly than the others. Gazing at the
+object above awhile, and then examining the trunk of the tree with his
+eyes, he broke the spell of silence.
+
+"Take my place, Tom.  Some un’s got to go at once to that poor soul
+aloft.  Pray God we’re in time to save her. Keep her up tight against
+the trunk, Jimmy, an’ I’ll swing on to the limb."
+
+Suiting his action to the word, Joe clambered on to the limb, and from
+thence proceeded to climb the tree.
+
+The woman was fixed at the junction of the forks, and her feet and legs
+hung loosely down on each side of a minor fork.  One arm, as before
+described, was wound round the main limb, while the other firmly grasped
+her breast.  Her head was supported in the V of a branch.
+
+On mounting to the spot, Joe raised himself higher by grasping two of
+the tree-forks, and, twisting his legs round the trunk, steadied himself
+while he gazed into the face of the dead.  It was the first time in his
+life that he had looked upon death.  The set expression that met his
+gaze, so full of anguish, so pitifully pleading, fairly shocked him out
+of his self-possession.  Little wonder at his turning sick and faint.
+He clutched the branch frantically as he swayed a moment, and beads of
+cold sweat stood thick upon his forehead.  Indeed, so near fainting was
+he that his sight began to fade, and the whole world receded from him.
+Strange noises buzzed in his ears.  Bringing all the reserve forces of
+his will to the front, he was beginning to gain the ascendency over his
+weakness, when a strange cry startled him into full consciousness.
+
+"Why! she’s not dead after all, thank God!"  The thought of life made
+all the difference to Joe.  In a moment his vision is as clear as ever,
+and his spirits rise high at the sounds of life.  "Yes, see!" whispered
+the lad, "there’s a movement of the breast.  Hurrah, boys!"
+
+cried he to his comrades, looking down and waving with one hand at the
+same time.  "She’s not dead after all!"
+
+The boys at this set up a hearty shout indicative of their relief and
+joy.
+
+"Oh yes!" he muttered reassuringly to himself as he took the second
+look, "the poor creature’s alive.  Her eyes are half open.  Her chest is
+heaving.  Wake up, ma’am!  Rescue is at hand.  Me an’ the boys in the
+boat below are goin’ to take you down an’ row you across to the
+township."
+
+The woman made no response to this appeal and plan of salvation.  "Is
+she really alive?"  The eyes are half closed and seemingly peering; the
+form is rigid, the face immobile.  There was naught of that expression
+in this countenance that Joe, from hearsay, was wont to associate with
+death—the peace that passeth understanding.  Yet as the lad gazed at
+this apparently inanimate object there was a movement of the body.  The
+blanket, bunched into many folds across the breast, stirred visibly.
+
+Again that eerie, inarticulate cry!
+
+Disengaging one hand from the tree, the boy stretched it forth to the
+woman’s breast, which, covered as it was with the clothes, had all the
+seeming of life and movement.
+
+Joe was in the very act of removing a fold of the blanket, when
+suddenly, and without the slightest warning, there rose up into the
+lad’s face an angry, hissing, venomous snake, the deadliest of its kind.
+Its beady eyes glittered; its forked tongue shot in and out with
+inconceivable rapidity; its sibilant hiss was accompanied with a musky
+odour, sickening in the extreme; its head and body for half its length
+were erect, and bent forward from the neck, vibrating and swaying in a
+rhythmic movement.  The reptile was within striking distance.  In
+another second that almost invisible death-stroke will be dealt;
+invisible, that is, by reason of its lightning-like speed.
+
+But this deadly intention is defeated by an involuntary movement on
+Joe’s part.  This young man, for the briefest of brief moments, clung to
+the tree with a rigid grasp; eyes staring in amazement and terror, with
+mouth wide open in automatic gape.  Any attempt to defend himself were
+useless in the most absolute sense of that term.  In another tick,
+before he can move a hand, these poison fangs will be deep buried in his
+horror-stricken face, so temptingly near.  The only hope for the lad lay
+in doing a disappearing trick.  And this happened.  Had it been
+premeditated, however swiftly, the time taken to make up his mind, and
+to telegraph the resolution formed in the brain to the nerve cells and
+muscles, would have been sufficient for the lightning stroke to fall.
+
+What really happened was this: the apparition of the red-bellied, black
+snake simply petrified Joe.  An awful, blood-curdling, hair-raising,
+galvanic shock of abject terror, contradictory as it may seem, paralysed
+the lad. Simultaneously with that he is falling through space, an inert
+mass, to be soused into the water with a splash that sent the spray
+flying over the boat’s crew.
+
+At the moment of the splash, Joe’s mind, will, and nerve were restored
+to their normal activity.  The instinct of self-preservation, so strong
+in all healthy natures, especially boys’, did for the lad in an
+infinitesimal fraction of time as much and as effectively as though he
+had taken, say, half an hour to plan his procedure.
+
+He had, however, in escaping Scylla fallen into Charybdis.  As soon as
+Joe reached the water he made for the boat.  Fortunately he did not fall
+into it, or this story might never have been told.  He fell into the
+stream, some two or three yards away from the skiff. Quickly as he was
+carried down-stream he managed by violent efforts to reach the boat at
+the stern.  Tom clutched him frantically by the shirt collar, enabling
+the swimmer to get his hands on the gunwale.  Joe, thus helped,
+clambered into the boat or ever the boat’s crew had recovered from their
+consternation.
+
+"Oh, Moses!" exclaimed, or rather gasped, he, "that—was—a go.  Whew!"
+
+"My goodness!  How’d yer come to fall kersplosh like that?"
+
+"Why!" pointing up.  "See! there’s the beast.  See him crawling out
+there?"
+
+The boys, looking up, descried the snake winding its sinuous way along a
+lateral bough that grew up above the forks.  The disturbed and excited
+snake, having reached the limb, wound its course till it reached a clump
+of bushy branches on the limb’s extremity.  On this it coiled itself,
+save the head and neck, which stood erect in vigilant attitude.
+
+"Oh, crikey! was that _there_ on—in the body’s—the woman’s body?"
+
+"Yes, Jimmy; right in the blanket on her breast. ’Twas that brute moving
+under the blanket that I thought was _her_ breathing.  Oh, my!" again
+exclaimed the youth, with a shudder, as he thought of the imminence of
+the danger which confronted him a moment before.
+
+"Is—it—her—dead, Joe?" asked Tom after an interval of silence.
+
+"No doubt of it, boys."
+
+"Wonder if the snake bit her?"
+
+"May have.  Anyway the poor thing is dead all right."
+
+"What’s bes’ thing to do now?"
+
+"W-e-ll, I d-o-n’t know——"
+
+Again that shrill wailing cry!
+
+"_Can’t_ be the woman!" said Joe excitedly.  "Why, she’s as dead as a
+herrin’!"
+
+"I have it, boys!" shouted Tom, as he jumped up excitedly and cut a
+caper.  "It’s the darned ole cat!"
+
+A look of great relief passed over each countenance at the thought.
+
+Tom, meanwhile, lifted up the locker lid, disclosing the rescued cat,
+which, together with her two bairns, were stowed in the locker shortly
+after being saved from the flood.  The animals were snuggled together on
+a cornsack, and looked the very picture of contentment. The kittens were
+dining baby fashion, and the mother’s purr declared the very excess of
+maternal rapture.
+
+On seeing the boys, pussy gave a low, affectionate miaow, and made a
+sympathetic movement of the tail, as if to say: "Thank you a thousand
+times, young gentlemen, for the good deed which we never, never shall
+forget."  And then, motherlike, proceeded to "lick" her offspring.
+
+"It’s not the cat, Tom."
+
+"Well, what on earth, water, or air is it?"
+
+The mystery is insoluble.  As the boys look down upon the happy and
+contented felines, they one and all reject Tom’s confident affirmation
+of a moment before. If not the cat, what then?
+
+Again the tiny, shrill cry arose, but not from the cat’s mouth.  It came
+from the tree above, and as the startled youths looked up they saw the
+overhanging end of the blanket agitated.
+
+"Why, why—the poor thing must really be alive after all, chaps.  There’s
+something more up there than I’ve discovered; so here’s up again!"
+
+Acting on this impulse, Joe again ascended the tree. Those below watched
+intently, their feelings strained to the utmost tension.  As soon as our
+hero got to his former position in the forks, he received another shock.
+It was sudden as the other, but not so disastrous.  An inarticulate and
+involuntary cry brought fresh alarm to his pals, who all the while were
+staring up, too frightened to ask any questions.  The boy, despite the
+second shock, still clung to the tree.  The woman was dead beyond all
+doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life.  A brief and astonished
+survey, and the boy leans over the limb and speaks quietly to those
+below—
+
+"The woman’s dead, boys, but _there’s a baby here_.  It’s tied to her
+breast.  It’s alive!"
+
+Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement, the
+babe lifted up its voice once more in a feeble cry.  The scene in that
+tree Joe never will forget; the like he will not see again though he
+rival Methuselah in age.  The only thing he can yet see is a little hand
+and arm, which have wriggled from the covering.  Moving cautiously along
+the branch to the converging point, leaning on one fork, and placing his
+feet against another so as to stiffen himself, the boy was able to use
+his two hands.  He first, and not without an inward tremor, removed the
+dead hand which lay upon the blanket, the stiffened fingers still
+clutching the clothes and holding them to the breast.  The last thought
+and the last act of the exhausted and dying woman was to succour and to
+defend her little one.
+
+Straightening the arm so that it lay by her side, Joe opened the blanket
+from where the little hand stuck up.  There, on the breast of the dead,
+she lay, a sweet-faced baby girl!  The little one’s face was puckered
+up, ’tis true, and there were tears upon her pale cheeks. The cries and
+tears were not the symbols of pain, they were those of hunger.  Joe
+could plainly see that all the mother’s thoughts were for the child.  It
+was snugly folded in the blanket end; then tied to her waist by a
+handkerchief passed round the body.  The remainder of the blanket was
+then arranged so as to thoroughly protect the child from the inclement
+weather.
+
+Untying the handkerchief, the lad folded it in a peculiar fashion like
+as he had seen the black gins do. Carefully lifting the babe, he laid it
+in the widest part, made it secure to the body under the arms, and
+placed it on his back, bringing the ends of the wrapper together. round
+his neck.
+
+This done, he prepared for the descent.  It was easily accomplished,
+even with the incumbrance of the child. Landing safely in the boat,
+which was kept well up to the tree, Joe placed her in the stern on the
+locker seat, where the little one lay squirming and crying piteously.
+
+The news of the baby variously affected the boys. Jimmy Flynn, whose
+baby sister had died a few months before, looked very tenderly upon this
+nameless waif.
+
+"Make a place on the floor for it, Joe," said he.  "It’ll lie there more
+comfortably, an’ it’ll be more like a cradle."
+
+The advice was good.  The coats, which the boys shed soon as they
+entered upon the expedition in the morning, made a soft bed for the
+little one.  The wee mite was evidently about nine months old.  For all
+its adventure and exposure it seemed to have suffered little, and now in
+its cry is only voicing the pleadings of its empty stomach.  It was
+adequately, though very plainly dressed, and through all the rain of the
+preceding night had kept dry.  Fortunately, too, the snake which had
+been curled up in one of the blanket folds had not come into actual
+contact with the child.  There were only two things required to bring it
+to a condition of happy contentment: nursing and feeding.
+
+Capable as this quartet of Australian lads were in many ways, in this
+they were novices.  So it was with a look of ashamed helplessness that
+they gazed at the new passenger, as she lay in the bottom of the boat on
+her back, kicking her heels in the air at a great rate, and doubling her
+dimpled hands first into her eyes and then into her mouth.  The cry went
+forth without ceasing, its only variation being the peculiar noise
+caused by an intermittent sucking of her diminutive fists.
+
+By a happy thought of Jimmy the hunger difficulty was overcome.  The
+boys had picked up a fine lot of oranges, as well as some dozens of
+plantains, in the back-water. After they had eaten a quantity they
+stowed the balance away in the bow locker, and completely forgot them in
+the exciting events which followed.  Jimmy suddenly remembered the
+fruit.  Selecting a fine specimen, he quickly peeled and quartered it.
+Then, seeding some of the quarters, he put one in baby’s fist, guiding
+the same to her mouth.  The sweet, juicy orange was simply nectar to the
+famished child.  It sucked as only a hunger-bitten baby can.  The boys
+were highly amused at the way in which she mouthed the skin, and the
+difficulty Jimmy encountered in unlocking her little fingers order to
+substitute a full for an empty quarter.  It indeed a happy solution; an
+admirable recipe for tears and squalls.  As long as baby had an orange
+quarter it was peaceful.  After a little while Jimmy took the little one
+on his knee, giving furtive glances towards the others as he did so.
+The boys, however, under all the sad circumstances forebore to chaff.
+Substituting, at length, a ripe plantain for an orange section, the babe
+was taken to the seventh heaven of gastronomic bliss.
+
+[Illustration: "The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn
+waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."—_See p._ 69]
+
+And the while above them in the she-oak, whose thread-like leaves make
+mournful music to the wind, lies the mother who has sacrificed her life
+for that of the babe. There is no doubt of this.  The poor woman must
+have been exposed to the winds and waves long before she reached the
+tree refuge.  How she got there was never known.  She had almost denuded
+herself to protect the babe.  Little wonder that at some moment of that
+awful night vigil the vital spark should have quitted its terror-haunted
+tenement.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER X*
+
+                              *THE RETURN*
+
+
+    "See the conquering hero comes!
+    Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."
+
+
+After baby’s hunger was satisfied the boys’ attention was given to their
+immediate surroundings.
+
+"What are we goin’ to do about _her_?" asked Tom, pointing upward as he
+spoke.
+
+"It’s simply impossible for us to do anything.  If she were alive we
+would take any risk.  But as things are it is beyond our power to shift
+the body, it is jammed so tightly.  The only thing left for us to do is
+to inform the police when we get to the other side."
+
+"What’ll we do now, Joe?"
+
+"Get back to our former anchorage first.  River’s goin’ down pretty
+fast, I reckon; and it’ll be all dry about here before morning if it
+recedes at the same rate.  The current is not nearly so strong as it was
+when we came over, and that will make it easier for us to get out of the
+clump. There’s no need for us to go back by the same course. We can take
+a slant across to that red gum, and when we’re there we’re out of the
+stream."
+
+The exit from the cluster of trees was very well managed, and in a few
+minutes from the time of casting adrift from the she-oak the boat was
+out of the clump and across the narrow stream into the slack water.
+They continued on to their former camping place, and hitched on to the
+tree.
+
+This gallant attempt at rescue, though not accomplishing what was in the
+minds of the boys, was not altogether a failure.  Indeed, it was the
+reverse of that. Though but little time is consumed in reading the
+account of this episode, it covered a goodly portion of the day.  By the
+time the boys had made fast to their former anchorage, the slanting
+sun-rays proclaimed the advance of eventide.
+
+"Let’s have a confab, chaps, on what’s best to be done. I don’t s’pose
+any of us is wanting to stick here all night. What d’you say, Tom?"
+
+"I say pull over to the hillock on the other side of the slack.  See!
+the water’s retreated from the high ground. We could camp there, I dare
+say, easy enough, and get home early to-morrow morning.  I don’t think
+we ought to tackle the river to-night.  I bet you it’d be a measly,
+tricky trip.  So I vote to do as I said."
+
+"What d’you say, Billy?"
+
+"I say same as Tom.  Plenty dry land over there. Might get matches in
+that house behind the hill.  I’ll pull ’possum outa spout, an’ we’ll
+roast ’im an’ make bully feed."
+
+Billy, as indeed were all the boys, was beginning to feel desperately
+hungry.
+
+"What have you got to say, Jimmy?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who had been gazing wistfully across the flood waters,
+turned round slowly as Joe put the question to him.  "Oh, Joe! can’t we
+get home to-night? The river isn’t so bad as when we crost up at the
+Bend. There’s not nearly so much timber goin’ down now.  ’Sides, it’s
+easier crossing down here to what it was above.  I give a straight vote
+for—home!"
+
+"Bravo!  Well done, Jimmy!  You’re a brick.  It’s just the word, an’
+we’re the coves to do it.  It’s my vote too, my hearties.  We’ve half an
+hour of sun left: say an hour before it’s right dark.  I reckon ’twill
+be about two mile an’ a half from here to Tareela.  It won’t be near as
+difficult as up by the Bend.  Yes, we’ll do it, boys; an’ the sooner the
+better.  Then there’s the blessed little baby, you know!  Some of us
+would have to mind her in the night, an’ what about your beauty sleep
+then?  I reckon the kiddie would be too much for the whole boilin’ of
+us.  And I’ve a notion that too much fruit’ll be worse for her than none
+at all.  S’pose she gets the jim-jams! And, lastly, as father says when
+he’s preaching, what about the old folks at home?"
+
+There was no need to say anything further.
+
+"I’m game, for one," said Tom.
+
+"I’m game, for two," said Billy.
+
+"I’m game, for three," said Jimmy.
+
+"Put me down for the fourth," said Joe.
+
+"Now, boys, that’s settled.  We’ll tackle the river straight away; for
+better or for worse, as dad says in the marriage ceremony.  And I say,
+chaps, let’s ask God to help us."
+
+Though there was no audible form of expression, the spirit of prayer was
+in each boy’s heart.  He who sat above the floods heard and answered.
+
+"Billy and Jimmy are to take the oars.  We want the best men at the
+paddles.  Now then, Tom, let the painter go an’ keep the pole handy for
+driftwood."
+
+The painter is slipped, and the boat’s head is turned riverwards.  She
+is soon out of the slack, and feels the full force of the flood.  The
+starting-point was nearly a mile and a half above the township, so that
+there was a liberal margin for drift.  The river was quite a mile wide.
+There was still a quantity of driftwood, and many difficulties beset
+them which made delicate steering and skilful management incumbent.
+When they had travelled about half the distance, Tom, who was eagerly
+conning the other shore, gave a shout, pointing at the same time to a
+headland above the village.
+
+"Some ’un’s waving!  See ’em, over there!"
+
+Mrs. Blain was the first to spy the advancing boat. The boys’ mothers
+had been trapsing the lagoon shore and river-side for hours, in a
+semi-demented manner.  The minister and the others had returned after a
+fruitless errand.  The police, with a strong crew in the Government
+whale-boat, were scouring the shores in the vicinity of the Bend, and
+had not returned.  The disappearance of the boys had seemed most
+mysterious until the break-away was discovered.  Then the accident as it
+really happened was immediately conjectured.  The profoundest sensation
+was created in the village, for the boys were dearly loved by all.
+
+The feelings of the poor parents may be but faintly imagined.  Great was
+the relief, therefore, when Mrs. Blain, whose eyes were devouring the
+flood waters in her frantic eagerness to discover some hopeful sign,
+suddenly screamed out in an alarming manner, gesticulating wildly as she
+did so, and acting to outward seeming in a frenzied fashion.  Other
+searchers, scattered along the river-bank, hearing the piercing cry, and
+seeing the untoward gestures of the joy-possessed woman, came running
+towards her, thinking for the moment that she had lost her reason.
+
+"See, see!" screamed she, pointing to a distant spot on the waters.
+"They’re saved, they’re saved!  God be praised, our lovely boys are
+returning all safe; yes, one, two, three, four—the darlings."
+
+Looking in the direction indicated, the neighbours saw, far out on the
+wild, impetuous, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight
+figures running the blockade; threading their course between the
+thousand objects which intervene and threaten destruction.
+
+The good news is now shouted from end to end of the township, and in a
+few minutes the river-bank is lined with exultant and yet anxious
+spectators.  For the joy of the discovery of the lads is almost quenched
+at times by sights of the perils of the passage.
+
+The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped together, wrought up to
+such a pitch of anxiety as to be well-nigh silent.  They noted every
+danger and counted every oar-stroke.  The gallant rowers lifted their
+blades in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing waters.
+Beyond a landward look the boys had no time to bestow upon the excited
+spectators.  Eye and mind, in close conjunction, are continuously
+engaged in evading danger and maintaining the boat’s position.
+
+"We’ll make the point," exclaimed Joe, after an interval of silence.
+"We’ll make the point, all right. Keep her steady, lads," turning the
+boat’s nose, as he spoke, well up stream, at an angle inclining
+shorewards. "Now, pull like a prize crew for five minutes an’ we’re
+there.  We’re out of the driftwood as it is."
+
+The rowers needed no further stimulus.  They bent to the oars like old
+salts.
+
+"Capital! just the stroke!  Keep it up!  Hear ’em cheering!"
+
+The cheering spurred on the boys, and in less than five minutes they
+landed in the midst of a wildly excited and loud-cheering crowd.  And
+wasn’t there a hugging and kissing, and hand-shaking and back-slapping!
+
+Just as the women were up to their necks in it, to use a homely figure,
+some one happened to glance at the boat. The glance extorted a scream.
+
+"A baby, a darling baby!  See, see, see! a little baby in the boat!"
+
+A moment’s dazed surprise, and every one crowded to the boat.  Joe, who
+had not moved far from the boat’s nose, and who only waited for the
+violence of the welcome to abate a little that he might call attention
+to the precious freight, waved the jostling crowd back, and in a few
+words related the incident of the rescue.
+
+A great wave of feeling passed over the crowd as he spoke.  The women
+wept copiously as the scene was conjured us, and strong men
+unconsciously shed briny tears as the story reached its culminating
+point of the discovery of the helpless and orphaned babe, bound to the
+dead breast of her who had thus made the great sacrifice of motherhood.
+
+While Joe was reciting the story of the rescue, Jimmy Flynn held on to
+his mother’s arm and whispered excitedly into her ear.  The narrator had
+hardly finished ere Mrs. Flynn stepped forward to his side and faced the
+crowd. Ordinarily, this woman was undemonstrative and shy. Now she is
+unconscious of any timidity.  The moment was an inspired one; to produce
+which Jimmy’s whisperings had played an important part.
+
+"Mr. Blain, and friends all, give me the darling baby. It’ll take the
+place of the one God took from me last month.  The clothes’ll fit——"
+
+The bereft mother could get no further.  Any woman who has lost a child
+will tell you why.
+
+"My friends, you all know Mrs. Flynn, as I know her. If it were a matter
+of choosing between you, I should still say that no one in the town is
+better fitted for the sacred duty of mothering this little flood-driven
+stranger. None of us can say to whom the child belongs; whether there is
+a father or near relations.  But until it is claimed by those who can
+prove the right to do so, the very best of all possible arrangements,
+and one I regard as providential, will be for Mrs. Flynn to take this
+baby to nourish and cherish it."
+
+The murmurs of assent were unanimous.  Joe, without any more delay,
+stepped into the boat, and, picking up the child—which all this time
+looked round, wondering in its baby way at this ado—put the little one
+into its foster-mother’s hands.
+
+The river baby was evidently delighted beyond measure to receive a warm
+motherly embrace; judging, at any rate, by the way it gooed and crowed.
+
+As soon as she could get through the admiring throng, Mrs. Flynn
+hastened home, and before long the baby, washed and dressed anew, was
+filling its "little Mary" with sweet new milk.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XI*
+
+                           *THE BREAKING-UP*
+
+
+    "With trumping horn and juvenile huzzas,
+    At going home to spend their Christmas days,
+    And changing Learning’s pains for Pleasure’s toys."
+      TOM HOOD.
+
+
+Out through the gateway of the National School, on one sultry afternoon
+in late December, tumbled a pack of noisy boys and scarcely less noisy
+girls; the while they kicked up a fine dust, yelling in an uproarious
+fashion.  Were you, a stranger, to ask the cause of this demonstration
+of voice and capering limbs, you would be answered by a score of voices
+in rousing chorus—
+
+    "Hip, hip, hurray for Christmas Day!
+    School’s broke up, hip, hip, hurray!"
+
+
+However strongly one might be disposed to question the quality of the
+couplet as he listened to the trumpetings of this cluster of children,
+he would cheerfully admit the gusto of the proceedings as the juveniles
+issued pell-mell.
+
+If truth be told, the master was no less pleased than the youngsters
+when the actual moment of dismissal came. Like all schools, this
+particular one was infected for weeks previously with a spirit of
+restlessness, which made it well-nigh impossible to secure the undivided
+attention of the children.  There was no disposition for serious study,
+and Simpson, who was a wise teacher, attempted no coercive measures.
+Natural history was presented in its most attractive forms.  Grammar and
+arithmetic were for the most part tabooed, and instead of puzzling
+refractory brains with arithmetical and grammatical abstractions, the
+children lived in the jungles of India, crossed Sahara, took a trip to
+the Booties, wandered into Arctic circles, or, what was equally
+exciting, made transcontinental trips in company with Sturt, Burke and
+Wills, Leichhardt, and other great Australian explorers.
+
+Many were the schemes unfolded and plans laid by the boys during the
+last schooldays.  The holidays would not be an undiluted playtime to any
+one of the boys.  Many of the lads would work hard on the farms; their
+parents, bearing in mind the old adage of Satan and idle hands, will
+take good care to anticipate the sinister designs of that interfering
+old gentleman.  The wood pile stood as an unfailing object of labour.
+Sheds were awaiting the whitewash brush.  Fowl houses loomed expectant.
+Fences demanded attention.  These, and many other duties about house and
+farm, were put off till the "holidays."
+
+There were other anticipations, however, far more highly coloured and
+bewitching than these.  Charm the schoolboy never so wisely, his
+thoughts, with a dogged obstinacy or triumphant breakaway, return to the
+delectable things of the groves, streams, mountains, and plains.  Horse,
+gun, dog, rod, bat, duck, quail, pigeon; perch, bream, mullet; kangaroo,
+wallaby, dingo, brumby, scrubber!  These are the sources and instruments
+of pleasure; things that people the imagination, and make an earthly
+paradise.
+
+Sobering down, after an unusual indulgence in larks to mark the
+auspicious event, Joe, Tom, and Sandy, separating from the others,
+sauntered to the slip-rail entrance of the school horse-paddock.  Joe
+and Tom, at the express request of Mrs. M’Intyre, are to spend the
+holidays with Sandy on the station.  Here all kinds of fun and alluring
+adventure are promised the lads.  How well that promise was redeemed let
+the sequel bear witness.
+
+"Now then, you fellows, don’t forget that you are to be at Bullaroi on
+the morning of Christmas Eve without fail."
+
+"I say, ole boss, what does eve mean?"
+
+"Eve!  Why, a—er—short for evening, I s’pose.  What makes you ask, Joe?"
+
+"Well, if Christmas Eve is evening, how can we be there in the
+mornin’?—you savee?"
+
+"You’re mighty smart, Blain, but did you ever know an evening that
+didn’t have a morning to it?"
+
+"Oh—ah—yes, I see.  We’re to come out on the morning of the evening.
+Sure it’s an Irishie ye ought to be instead of a Scotchie."
+
+"Scotchie or no Scotchie," replied Sandy, who was the essence of
+good-humour, "ye’re not to be later than ten o’clock of the forenoon of
+the day before Christmas. There!  Will that fit you, you pumpkin-headed
+son of a bald-bellied turnip?"
+
+"Thanks, M’Intyre; I’m sure my father’ll be delighted when I tell him
+the respectful titles you’ve given him," returned Joe, with mock
+sarcasm.
+
+"He’ll no dispute the title of his son’s head, anyhow," flung back the
+Scotch lad, as, bridle in hand, he strolled on to round up his steed.
+
+This parthian shot nettled Joe, but the answer he would have given
+remained unuttered, for at this moment his eldest sister appeared and
+beckoned to him in an emphatic manner, at the same time calling upon him
+to hurry.  So, contenting himself with levelling Midshipman Easy’s
+masonic sign at the retreating lad, he hurried along towards his sister.
+
+"Father wants you to go down the river with him in the boat."
+
+"Where’s it to?"
+
+"Down to Beacon Point.  Tom Tyler’s had a bad accident, and they’ve sent
+for the doctor; but he’s away. He was called out to a bad case at Dingo
+Creek head station, and is not expected to be back till midday
+to-morrow.  So they’ve asked father to go down, and you’ve to hurry
+along.  Father’s waiting down at the boat for you."
+
+Mr. Blain was waiting at the boat with everything that was required for
+the trip.  As soon as the lad was in, he pushed off, and, taking the
+stern oar, with Joe at the bow, father and son started on their
+twelve-mile pull.
+
+In answer to the boy’s question the minister gave some details of the
+accident, and, further, informed the lad that it was his intention to
+call at Mrs. Robinson’s, distant about five miles from Tareela.
+
+They had now settled down to a steady stroke, and as the sun was on its
+westering wheel, and the sting out of its slanting rays, the row became
+enjoyable.  Mr. Blain was a sort of newsletter to the settlers, and in
+his trips up-stream and down-stream was frequently hailed and made the
+target of questioning from the riverbank.
+
+Robinsons’ was reached a little before sunset, where they were made
+abundantly welcome.  Some years previously Mr. Robinson met his death by
+one of those accidents all too common in new settlements.  Felling scrub
+timber is a risky performance.  It so happened that in felling a stout
+fig tree, Robinson failed to notice some lawyer vines that, hanging from
+the high branches, had attached themselves to the bare limbs of an
+adjacent dead tree.
+
+Standing at the base and watching the toppling fig tree, as it slowly
+swayed preparatory to its final crash, he was unaware that the
+cable-like vines were retarding its progress.  Gathering way, however,
+the falling tree brought a strain upon the vine, and tore away a heavy
+limb of the dead tree.  This falling upon the axe-man, killed him
+instantly.
+
+The widow was blest with a family of boys and girls who were true grit.
+Misfortune breaks some people—it makes others.  The latter was the truth
+in this case.
+
+In all the trying times Mrs. Robinson underwent, the minister was her
+friend and counsellor.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XII*
+
+                            *DOWN THE RIVER*
+
+
+    "When the full moon flirts with the perigee tide,
+    On a track of silver away we ride,—
+    Oh, glorious times we have together,
+    My boat and I in the summer weather."
+      ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+
+The boat was sighted from Robinsons’ some time before its nose grated on
+the shingle at the landing-place.
+
+Isaac, the younger son, a giant in stature and a prime favourite with
+Joe, was at the landing-stage.  Seizing the bow what time it touched
+land, he half lifted, half dragged the boat two-thirds of her length out
+of the water, and made her fast to an old stump.
+
+"Mother’s so glad you’ve come, sir.  She wants to talk with you about
+that boy of Maguire’s, who’s bin givin’ us a lot of trouble."
+
+"Won’t be able to stay long, Ike.  We’ve got to be at Beacon Point to
+night.  We just put in for a cup of tea and a bite.  Mother’s inside, I
+suppose?  I’ll go in and have a chat with her."
+
+"You’ll find her in the kitchen, sir.  When we saw you roundin’
+Piccaniny Point we knew you’d be here for tea, and mother’s lookin’
+after things."
+
+"I hope she won’t go to any trouble.  A mouthful is all we want."
+
+"Well, you know mother, sir.  She feels that nothin’ is near good
+enough."
+
+"Any pancakes for tea, Ike?"
+
+"Pancakes!  Why, of course.  That’s what mother’s makin’ now.  She knew
+that’d be the first thing you’d be askin’ fur, Joe."
+
+"Rather, Ike!" said Joe, pursing his mouth and drawing in his breath
+with the peculiar, half-whistling, unwriteable sound which boys
+instinctively make when visions of goodies arise.  More especially when
+such goodies come within measurable distance of consumption.
+
+Master Joe had a healthy boy’s appetite.  The rowing exercise gave
+additional spice to his hunger.  Pancake was at that moment the gate of
+entry to the boy’s very material heaven.
+
+"Tea won’t be ready fur a few minutes, Joe.  Let’s go down to the barn.
+I was just goin’ to rub some more mixture inter the skins when I seen
+your boat roundin’ the point.  Sorry you’re goin’ on, my son.  When I
+seen you on the river I ses to meself, ses I, ’By George!  Joey an’ I’ll
+have a great night at the ’possums.’  I wish to goodness you’d been
+stayin’.  There’ll be a grand moon ter night, an it’s very temptin’."
+
+"By gum, ain’t it just!  It’d be simply, rippin’. ’Member last time I
+was down?  That was a grand bit of sport we had.  Forty-seven was it, or
+forty-nine?  I know it took a dashed long time to skin ’em."
+
+"Forty-seven it was.  We’d do over fifty to-night."
+
+"Well, as mother says, ’What can’t be cured must be endured.’  By dad!
+that’s a grand wallaby skin!  Where’d you get it?"
+
+"Got it larst night."  Ike had the Colonial drawl to perfection.  "I was
+up at the top end of the scrub cultivation paddick, mooseying around
+after some cockatoos that’d bin skinnin’ the corn.  It was just about
+dusk, an’ I was waitin’ in the corner for the cockies, as I knew they’d
+soon be leavin’ fur their roosts, an’ my bes’ charnse at ’em was on the
+wing.  They’re so ’tarnal cute, yer know, yer carn’t git ’em on the
+corn."
+
+"I know.  Didn’t I try my best to stalk ’em the last time I was down,
+Ike!  I got three altogether, you ’member, an’ you said it’d be a crest
+apiece to take home to the girls."
+
+"Waal, as I was sayin’, I’d sarcumvented the ole boss cockie, which was
+keeping watch in the dead gum-tree that stood in the middle of the
+patch, an’ was posted in the middle of the corner expectin’ them ter fly
+over every minit.  But ole Pincher, who was chevyin’ about, starts this
+ere boss outer the pumpkin vines; they’re death on pumpkins, yer know.
+The dorg made a dash at ’im, an’, by jings! he did streak.  Greased
+lightnin’ wasn’t in it with ’im.  I tried to draw a bead on ’im, but,
+what with the dusk an’ the bushes an’ stumps, I couldn’t get a good
+line.  I banged away one barril, but was yards off, I reckon.
+
+"Pincher, he disappeared in a brace of shakes, an’ I made sure the
+vermin ud get through a ’ole in the fence. I was makin’ for ’ome, ’cause
+the cockies, yer know, ’ad all gone.  All of a suddent I heers a yelp,
+an’ knew ole Pinch ’ad somehow ’eaded ’im.  Reckon ’e missed the ’ole,
+or the dorg’d never got near ’im.  Anyhow, ’e was a-streakin’ a bit now,
+an’ Pinch at ’is ’eels.  He was makin’ fur the maize agen.  I lined ’im
+this time all right, though it was a longish shot; about sixty-five I
+reckon; an’ dropped ’im clean at the very edge."
+
+"It’s a prime pelt, anyway."
+
+"Yaas, ’e was a grand ole buck fur a wally; about the biggest I’ve got
+this season."
+
+"How many skins have you taken, Ike?"
+
+"Two more’n I’d ’ave six dozen."
+
+"Gettin’ a good price for ’em?"
+
+"Waal, Jack Croft, ’e offered me nine shillin’ a dozen fur ’em.  There
+are about twenty kangaroos among ’em. Jack reckoned it was a stiff
+price, an’ ’e sed ’e’d not offer anythin’ near it but fur the kangaroo
+skins, which ’e ’ad a fancy fur."
+
+"Old Jack can put it on, you know."
+
+"Oh, I know Jack all right!  Me an’ ’im’s ’ad dealin’ afore.  Jacky’s
+not too bad, but ’e knows ’ow to draw the long bow.  Anyway, ole Eb
+Dowse’s boat’ll be along nex’ week.  He’s sent word ter say as ’e’d do a
+deal with me fur ’em."
+
+"Better wait an’ see what Eb’ll shell out for ’em, Ike, I reckon.
+German Harry, up the river, says he can always knock a shillin’ a dozen
+more out of Eb than Jack."
+
+"I ain’t hurryin’, Joe."
+
+Just then the welcome supper cooee reached their ears. The boys lost no
+time in getting to the supper-table. Joe instinctively eyed the
+contents.  Cold streaky bacon; a big dish of fried pumpkin and potatoes;
+a mountain of home-made bread, sliced; a basin of prime butter; Cape
+gooseberry jam galore, and amber-tinted honey in the comb.  What more
+could any hungry lad desire?
+
+Mary Robinson, a great tease, caught Joe’s glance, and said, with an
+amused smile, "No pancakes to-night, Joe."
+
+Joe was abashed for the fraction of a second.  Quickly rallying, he
+laughingly said, "Tell another, Mary, while your mouth’s hot."
+
+"Very well, my boy!  If you don’t believe me ask our black tom-cat.  He
+chased a mouse into the batter and upset the bowl; so there!"
+
+"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson.  "There’s only a grain of
+truth in the pound of fiction she’s giving you, Joe.  The cat, it is
+true, did chase a mouse; but it did not jump into the batter, nor was
+the bowl upset.  The pancakes are cooked, with currans in ’em; just the
+sort you like; and they’re keeping hot by the fire."
+
+"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe _you_ anyway. As for Mary,
+she’s like Sandy M’Intyre’s old, toothless sheep-dog."
+
+"How’s that, Joe?" interjected Ike.
+
+"Bark’s worse than her bite."
+
+"My stars! what originality, what refinement! Sandy’s razor is not in it
+with master Joe Blain for sharpness.  I’ll remember this, though, the
+next time you ask me to go out to the scrub with you for passion fruit.
+Anyhow, there’s no resemblance between you and Sandy’s wonderful
+barker."
+
+"_Indeed!_"
+
+"No; your bark’s noisy enough, but your bite’s a hundred times
+worse—especially when pancakes are about."
+
+With this "Roland" Mary ran out to the kitchen to get the teapot.
+
+Joe made a royal repast, topping off with the hot pancakes at a rate
+which caused his father to dryly remark: "Too much pancake won’t help
+the boat along, my boy."
+
+Tea finished, the visitors prepare to continue their voyage.  With Ike’s
+powerful assistance the boat is shoved into the water, and her nose
+pointed down-stream. In due time Beacon Point is reached.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIII*
+
+                        *OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS!*
+
+
+"Boyhood is the natural time for abundant play and laughter, without
+which rarely does high health touch young cheeks with its rose-bloom, or
+knit bones strongly for the fighting and the toiling that awaits
+them."—JOSEPH H. FLETCHER.
+
+
+"Now then, Norah, look slippy with breakfast!  It’s half-past six, an’
+Sandy’s to be here at seven.  Said he’d leave the station at five with
+the spare horse for me."
+
+"Begorrah! at the rate breakfast’s cookin’ it’ll be midnight before it’s
+ready.  ’Tis the bastliest wood that niwer was."
+
+"Time the fish was fryin’, Norah."
+
+"Fish, bedad!  For two pins ye wuddent have anny fish.  The thrubble
+Oi’ve had wid thim!  Phwat for did youse lave thim in the bag all night?
+If ye’d put thim out on the dish, ye spalpeen, Oi’d have seen thim and
+claned thim long ba-fore Oi wint to bed.  ’Sted of which it’s tuk me two
+morchial hours to scale the brutes, they was that dry and hard.  Be
+Saint Pathrick, they scales was loike porky-pine’s pricklies!"
+
+"Sorry, Norah; my fault as usual," remarked Joe good-humouredly.
+"Father called out to turn the horse from the lucerne just as I reached
+the back door.  So I threw the bag down on the steps to chase the moke,
+an’ clean forgot ’em when I came back."
+
+"Well, Oi’ll forgive ye wanst more, which makes about a million
+tousandth toime; but, moind ye, ’tis——"
+
+"All serene, Norah!  Oh, I say, Norry, I’d nearly forgotten it!  Paddy
+Lacey asked me yesterday to tell you that they want you to go to the
+Hibernian picnic on Boxing Day.  They’ve chartered the _Firefly_, an’
+are goin’ down to the Bar."
+
+"God’s truth! ’tis only gammoning me ye are, Masther Joe.  It’s a young
+thrick ye be, indade, with yure Hayburnion picnacs."
+
+"It’s as true as true, Norah.  No make-up this time. An’ oh!  I say,
+d’you know what Jimmy Flynn tole Tom Hawkins?"
+
+"Nawthin’ good, bedad!"
+
+"Ain’t it!  Well, opinions differ.  At any rate he was goin’ to set a
+line on Friday night, an’ as he was roundin’ the point he hears
+somewheres ahead of him a noise between a smack an’ a crack.  Then comes
+a bit of a squeal, an’ a woman’s voice sings out: ’Don’t, stop it!’
+Then there was another smack-crack, an’ just as he got round the corner
+he sees a couple, for all the world like you and Paddy, sittin’ on a
+log. No, ’twas Paddy that was on the log, an’ you were on Paddy’s——"
+
+"Ye loi-in spalpeen!  Oi’ll pull yure tongue from betune yure teeth,"
+screamed Norah, as, blushing furiously, she chased the nimble Joe out of
+the kitchen right into the arms of Sandy M’Intyre, as he was coming up
+the back doorstep.
+
+"Hello, Sandy!"
+
+"Hello, Joe!  What’s row inside?  Norah givin’ you the rounds of the
+kitchen as usual, eh?"
+
+"Only jiggin’ her about Paddy Lacey, an’ got her _paddy_ up a bit.
+You’re up to time, Sandy, ole man.  By jing! I see you’ve brought Curlew
+in.  Am I to ride him?  My word! it is good of your governor to let me.
+I thought you’d a brought the piebald."
+
+"So I intended, but he was limpin’ when he was run into the stockyard;
+so father says, ’Take Curlew.’"
+
+Curlew was Mr. M’Intyre’s favourite horse, and Joe was highly honoured
+in being allowed to ride this mettlesome but lovely paced steed.
+
+Just then breakfast appeared.  After a substantial meal Joe brought out
+his father’s valise and strapped it to the saddle.
+
+"All ready, Sandy?  Good-bye, mother.  Good-bye, father.  Good-bye,
+girls!"
+
+And so, with kisses and cautions from the family, the boys mounted their
+steeds and cantered down the street to the punt, on their way to
+Bullaroi, as Mr. M’Intyre’s station was called.
+
+Across the river the boys were joined by Tom Hawkins, who was to
+accompany them.  Tom, who was mounted on a brisk pony, greeted them with
+a cheery cry as the punt reached the shore.  A jollier trio of young
+Australians could not be found than this chattering, capering band, who
+on that brilliant morning raced along the bush track.
+
+Plans of fun and frolic were projected during the ride, including
+astounding adventures that would have taken half a year to carry out.
+In anticipation the lads were already having tip-top fun.  Tom’s riotous
+imagination, especially, made the spoils of the gun, the rod, and the
+chase to assume brobdingnagian proportions.
+
+In due course they pulled up at the slip-rails marking the Bullaroi
+boundary line.  Thence to the white gate seen in the distance, and which
+fronted the homestead, a mad race ensued.  In this Curlew was first, the
+rest nowhere.  Indeed, Curlew became so excited by the gallop and the
+shrill shoutings of the riders that Joe, who had made no attempt to pull
+him till the horse was almost on the gate, found it impossible to stop
+his steed, which was full of running.  Before the boy fully realised it,
+Curlew was soaring through the air, clearing the gate by at least a
+couple of feet.  Joe, parting from the "pigskin," was sailing through
+space on his own account, leaving a foot or two between his sit-down and
+the saddle seat.
+
+Joe, though a fair rider, was not a practised steeple-chaser.  He was
+not a horseman, as were Sandy and Tom, who were to the manner born.
+Little wonder, then, that his heart rose with the horse and his rider,
+and for some brief moments palpitated furiously in his mouth.  That
+mysterious and natural law of the universe called gravitation was on
+hand, however, and saved the situation.
+
+Curlew’s hoofs struck the ground on the descending curve as lightly as a
+cat.  Joe’s legs, which in this aerial flight had assumed the shape of
+an inverted V, came plop into the saddle at the right moment.  But his
+body was thrown forward, his hands clutching frantically at the horse’s
+neck and mane.  In this condition, unable to recover his equilibrium,
+with but the loss of his hat, the rider is carried over the intervening
+distance to the stables, amid loud laughter from the station people, who
+had been attracted by the shouting of the boys.
+
+Sandy cleared the gate in pursuit of Joe, but failed to catch him.  Tom
+was obliged to haul up and open the gates, as the jump was too high for
+his pony.  Thus the rider of Curlew came in a winner, and all three
+dismounted amid laughter and teasings.
+
+"Weel, Joseph, my lad," said Mr. M’Intyre, who possessed a pawky humour,
+"Johnny Gilpin couldna hae done the trick better.  You kep’ up wi’
+Curlew, anyway. I thocht he was goin’ to leave ye behind.  Ma certie
+it’s deeficult to say which is the winner, you or the horse. We’ll juist
+ca’ it neck an’ neck."
+
+"Take no heed to him, Joe," said Mrs. M’Intyre.  She saw through the
+lad’s apparent good-humour a sense of humiliation at his unhorsemanlike
+entry.  "You did well to stick to him, not knowing his intention.  But
+come away in, boys; ye’ll be ready for something to eat after that ride.
+We’re right glad to see you.  Sandy was so excited last night at the
+prospect of your coming that I am sure he didn’t sleep a wink.  Why, he
+had the horses saddled at dawn, and was off without a bite if I hadn’t
+stopped him and made him drink a cup of coffee."
+
+The day was a busy one on the station.  Every one was engaged in
+finishing off jobs and cleaning up.  For during Christmas week, and
+until after New Year’s Day, only that which was absolutely necessary in
+the way of work was expected.
+
+During the previous week drafting and mustering had been the all
+absorbing work on the run.  That finished, and a mob of "fats"
+despatched overland to Maitland to catch the Christmas market, the last
+few days were occupied in culling "boilers" and in branding calves. On
+this particular day all the available hands were engaged in tidying up;
+the whitewash bucket being in great request.
+
+Willy and Jacky, the aboriginal boys, together with an Irish
+lad,—Norah’s brother, in fact,—were enrolled as whitewash artists.
+Their special work consisted in converting dingy looking hen-roosts,
+dog-kennels, pigsties, milking sheds, and the like into a brilliant
+white.  Meanwhile two of the men, with rough brooms made of stiff
+brushes, were sweeping the ground within a fair radius of the house.
+
+Inside, the housework was prosecuted with great vigour. Two gins were
+set to work with the scrubbing brush; while in the kitchen, where Mrs.
+Mac and the two elder daughters were domiciled, Christmas cooking went
+on apace.  There was, indeed, such a weighing of flour and raisins, such
+a slicing of candied peel, such a dressing of flesh and fowl as to make
+Ah Fat, the cook, fairly amazed, and to wonder how in the name of
+Confucius the oven was to stand the cooking strain that was being
+brought upon it.  While from the kitchen an odoriferous perfume was
+wafted across the yard, assaulting all noses, and breeding high
+anticipation, most pleasurable from the standpoint of creature comforts.
+
+Mr. M’Intyre, no patron of idleness either in man or boy, took the lads
+early in the day into the harness room, and set them to the task of
+cleaning the saddle and harness ware.  Saddles, girths, bridles, various
+sets of light and heavy harness, required attention.  All leather was to
+be well cleaned and oiled, stirrups and bits to be burnished, and broken
+straps to be repaired.
+
+The pals threw themselves, _con amore_, into the work. It was hard to
+say which moved the more briskly, tongues or hands.  The afternoon was
+well advanced before the last piece of steel and electro silver was
+polished, the last girth and surcingle refitted, and the whole placed on
+their respective brackets.  This task finished, the boys felt that they
+had earned the promised reward—a glorious swim. Within a couple of hours
+of sunset the whole of the outside work was accomplished, and, for the
+time being, each employé was a free agent.
+
+The homestead faced a large affluent of the river, which was known as
+Crocodile Creek.  Why the creek was so named was a sort of a mystery.
+No species of the saurian tribe was ever known to infest its waters.
+The name may have been given to it through some fancied resemblance in
+its course to the aforesaid reptile.
+
+Crocodile Creek formed a fine frontage to Bullaroi run, being distant
+from the homestead about a quarter of a mile.  Immediately opposite, the
+creek widened out into a fine sheet of water some three miles long, and
+varying in width from one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards.  There
+was a particular spot which stood about seven or eight feet above the
+water.  Here Mr. M’Intyre had a spring-board constructed.  The water was
+fully twelve feet deep at the jump off, and, added to other advantages,
+formed an ideal spot for bathing purposes.
+
+Having finished their allotted tasks, the lads came bounding out of the
+harness-room and across the yard to the house, shouting, as they
+capered, "Who’s for a swim?"  The stockmen certainly looked, and no
+doubt felt, that the one thing above all others necessary for their ease
+and comfort after the stable and the house-yard cleaning operations was
+a plunge into the cool, sweet waters of the creek.  If they were
+semi-black by reason of their employment, it was no less true that the
+black boys, Willy and Jacky, were semi-white.
+
+Dennis Kineavy, the Irish lad, was the "broth of a bhoy," and all three
+were cram full of impishness.  No sooner were the finishing touches of
+whitewash decoration given, than Denny, sneaking up behind Willy and
+Jacky, who stood off a little from the hen-roost admiring their artistic
+handicraft—with capacious brush well charged with the sediment of his
+bucket—smote them in quick succession across the bare shoulders and
+breech, and then, with an Irish yell, darted round the stable.
+
+Surprised for the moment, but nothing loath, the black boys snatched
+their buckets, wielded their brushes, and, shouting their native
+war-cry, dashed off in hot pursuit; Denny dodged them successfully for a
+while, but was at length outflanked, and then ensued a battle royal
+which only ceased when the supplies of ammunition (whitewash) were
+exhausted.
+
+It was at the tail-end of the fray that Sandy and his mates came racing
+along with the cry of, "Swim O!  Swim O!"
+
+Boys and men, black and white, were all ready and willing, nay, eager,
+for a jolly bogey.[#]  There was a rush by the whites for towels; then,
+in quick procession, the motley band made for the water.
+
+
+[#] "Bogey," native name for bathe.
+
+
+After a plunge and a short swim to get rid of the dust and muck, an
+impromptu carnival was arranged.  First of all came the long dive.  This
+meant a run along the spring-board and a dive straight out.  The diver
+in each case, when reaching the surface, had to tread water, keeping as
+nearly as possible to the spot of emergence.
+
+Tom Hawkins led off, the others followed in order at twenty seconds’
+interval.  The blacks, by reason of their native abilities in this
+direction, were made to do the dive with arms interlocked, Siamese twin
+fashion.  The darkies were the whippers-in of this diving procession.
+Tom, who led off, faltered in his stride when leaving the spring-board.
+He rose to the surface at about thirty feet from the bank.  Joe, who
+followed, dived a good ten feet farther out than Tom.  Sandy, however,
+when he shot up through the water, was fully fifty feet from the shore.
+Both of the stockmen beat Joe, but were behind Sandy.
+
+Then came the blacks, side by side.  With an even, measured, and springy
+stride they raced down the board, which was wide enough to admit of this
+manoeuvre.  They took the water without a splash, like a pair of frogs,
+leaving scarce a ripple.  It was naturally thought that by being coupled
+in this way matters would be evened.  It was the general opinion that
+they would fail to reach Sandy’s limit, and probably not get beyond
+Joe’s.  The boys eagerly awaited their reappearance, watching the water
+closely for some sign.  After what appeared to be an interminable period
+they were startled by a double cooee, and, lo! the twins, so to speak,
+had risen at least twenty feet beyond Sandy, or seventy feet from the
+shore.
+
+Somersault diving followed the long distance trial. In thia Harry the
+stockman, who had been a circus rider and acrobat in his youthful days,
+outshone all the others.
+
+Then came the exciting game of "catch the devil."  Willy was chosen
+devil.  It was his business to dive off the spring-board and run the
+gauntlet, the others being scattered in the water.  To catch the
+aboriginal seemed a comparatively easy matter, all things considered.
+He was, however, a superb swimmer and trickster, diving and dodging like
+a cormorant.  A dozen times surrounded, he marvellously eluded his
+pursuers.  The game was at its height, and there was no knowing how long
+the "devil" would remain at large, when the station bell rang out a
+lusty summons to supper.
+
+This brought the carnival to an instant conclusion. And now each swimmer
+scrambled for the shore, and soon the whole company, with clean bodies
+and healthy appetites, were hieing along the track.  When the boys
+reached home they found a new arrival in the person of a young
+Englishman.  This gentleman was out on a business tour, and, being
+anxious to see something of station life, was recommended to Mr.
+M’Intyre by a mutual friend. Mrs. M’Intyre’s hospitality was proverbial,
+and Neville, for such was the "new chum’s" name, was heartily made
+welcome.
+
+The day had been a long one, and, supper ended, the boys were quite
+resigned to go to bed, or at least to the bedroom.  The noises
+therefrom, after their retirement, were very suggestive of prime larks,
+and continued long after lights were out.  The pals were domiciled, to
+their great delight, in a big spare room, which contained a double bed
+and a single one.  Joe and Tom shared the former, while Sandy camped on
+the latter, which was, indeed, his stretcher brought in for the
+occasion.
+
+Silence reigned supreme at length within, and without was broken only by
+the hoarse croaking of the frogs, an occasional call from a night owl,
+and the weird wail of the curlew.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIV*
+
+                       *CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC*
+
+
+    "It was the time when geese despond
+      And turkeys make their wills;
+    The time when Christians to a man
+      Forgive each other’s bills.
+    It was the time when Christmas glee
+      The heart of childhood fills."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+Daylight had barely broken.  The only stir in the household is that
+produced by Joe, whose slumber had been disturbed by the persistent
+crawling of flies across his face.
+
+There are three things in animated nature which run each other very
+closely for the supremacy in downright tenacity to purposeful
+cussedness.  Pig, Hen, Fly—these three!  And of the three, the cussedest
+and most exasperatingly tenacious to its rooted purpose of squeezing in
+between one’s eyelids, sinking a well in the corner of one’s eye, or
+climbing the inside walls of one’s nose, is the Australian species of
+the common house-fly.
+
+It is possible at times to circumvent the "gintilman wot pays the rint,"
+and persuade him to return through the same hole in the fence which gave
+him escape, by appearing to be anxious to drive him out on to the plain.
+That is pig strategy; or rather, strategy with a pig.  He is beaten, so
+to speak, by the law of contrairy.  When all resources fail in
+persuading the hen that the flour-bin, or the linen basket, is not
+specially constructed to suit her convenience in the daily duty of egg
+producing, one can at the last resort requisition the services of Madame
+la Guillotine.
+
+But neither strategy nor tactics, neither force nor fraud, avail
+anything when the early fly, with recruited energies and fiendish
+intent, starts on her mission of seeking whom and what she may annoy.
+She—it is quite safe to put the insect in the feminine gender—can be
+neither coaxed, persuaded, shoo’d, deceived, frightened, nor driven from
+her prey.  The fly always wins—in the end.
+
+Driven from Blanket Bay on this eventful Christinas morning by the
+incorrigible fly, Joe proceeded at once to reverse the Golden Rule, and
+promptly made war upon his mates on that morning which, of all the days
+in the year, makes for peace and goodwill among men.
+
+Tom had sought refuge from the fly in the bed-clothes, and muffled nasal
+monotones made a sonorous chorale. On the other hand, Sandy, impervious
+to all impious fly assaults, lay on his back, mouth wide open, breathing
+heavily and steadily.  Sandy was of the pachydermatous order.  Neither
+mosquito nor fly troubled him.  The flies evidently found his eyes to be
+a dry patch, while they were unable to obtain a permanent foothold at
+his nostrils owing to the intermittent, horse-like snorts which blew
+them as from the mouth of a blunderbuss.  But they heavily fringed his
+mouth, eating with manifest relish their bacilli breakfast.
+
+In a jiffy the bed-clothes are whipped off the slumbering lads, and in
+less than no time the latter, pillows in hand, make common cause against
+the aggressor.  Joe puts up a gallant fight, but the odds are too much
+for him; he is driven into a corner at last and unmercifully pelted.
+
+This prelude to the day’s enjoyment concluded, the pals jump into their
+clothes and proceed to execute the second item on the day’s programme,
+namely, a horseback scamper through the bush before breakfast.
+
+Oh, the glory of it!  Out from the confines of four walls into the open
+spaces of the world when night is merging into day; to move in the dawn
+of a new day; to stand enwrapped in its pearl-grey mantle ere the
+mounting sun has turned its soft shades to rosy brilliance; to inhale
+the spicy breeze which, during the night watches, having extracted the
+perfumes of the forest flowers, comes heavily freighted o’er gully and
+range, and diffuses the sweet odours as the reward of the early riser.
+And then—to watch the daily miracle of sunrise!
+
+    "See! the dapple-grey coursers of the morn
+    Beat up the light with their bright silver hoofs
+      And chase it through the sky."
+
+
+Sandy, on old Rufus, kept for that work, soon rounds-up and yards
+several steeds from the horse-paddock. From these three are picked and
+saddled; and ere the rising sun has walked "o’er the dew of yon high
+eastern hills," the lads are scampering through bush and brake, o’er
+dale and hill.  They chivy the silent kangaroo through the lush grass;
+have a glorious burst after a belated dingo; rouse screaming parrots and
+paroquets from their matutinal meal off the honey blossoms of box and
+apple trees; pulling up at last on the summit of a dome-shaped, treeless
+hill, from whence, with the bloom of the morning still upon it, the
+landscape extends in a vast stretch of undulation, broken at irregular
+intervals by silver ribbons of creek and river.
+
+Belts of scrub and forest, rich pasturages and arable lands, are dotted
+here and there, with minute spots from which rise slender threads of
+smoke indicating settlers’ houses; while away in the background are the
+purple hills and the blue mountains.
+
+Boys are not usually considered to be impressionable creatures on the
+æsthetic side of things.  Herein we wrong them.  They may not
+attitudinise, nor spout poetry when under the supreme touches of nature,
+for the boy is too natural to be theatrical.  But, without doubt, the
+morning and evening glories of dear old mother earth do touch their
+sense of beauty; and though these impressions may seem to be effaced by
+other and more sordid things, nevertheless they linger through the long
+years, called up from time to time in sweet association with days that
+are no more.
+
+The lads, while they rested their steeds, stood in silent and wondering
+gaze, broken at last by Tom, who, pointing across the intervening spaces
+to the broadest of the many silver threads, exclaimed, "Tender’s
+Tareela!"  Many miles away, as the crow flies, lay the river village, a
+small cluster of dots, a few of which glistened in the sunlight.  These
+shining spots indicated the "superior" houses that sported corrugated
+iron roofs, new in those days.  For the most part the "roof-trees" were
+shingle or bark.
+
+And now, homeward bound, the horsemen slither down the hillside, plunge
+into a pine scrub, to emerge therefrom on the border of a small plain,
+and chase a mob of brumbies grazing thereon.  They, with snorting
+nostrils and waving manes, headed by a notorious grey stallion—of whom
+more anon—dash up a ravine into the fastnesses of the scrub, and, though
+followed some distance by the reckless riders, vanish from sight with a
+celerity possible only to wild bush-horses.
+
+Skirting now the banks of the Crocodile, they disturb flocks of teal,
+widgeon, water-hen, and other aquatic birds.  At length they give a view
+halloo, for the old homestead is in sight.  This scares a flock of
+cockatoos that are camping in the river gums, after an early morning’s
+poaching expedition to the adjacent maize-fields, and brings out the
+station dogs with a babble of barking, as they pound up the track with a
+final spurt.
+
+"Breakfast ready, Ah Fat?" sings out Sandy, as the boys come rushing
+into the kitchen from the stables.
+
+"Leddy?  Tes, allee globble upee!  Missee say no kleep anyling for bad
+boy.  Lockee allee glub."  Ah Fat’s twinkling, humorous eyes redeemed
+his hatchet face and stolid countenance.
+
+"It’s all right, fellows.  He’s only pokin’ borak at us," said Sandy,
+giving the Celestial a familiar slap.  "Come along, I’m as hungry as a
+hunter.  They’ve only started, I know."
+
+The family were seated, heads were bent, and Mr. M’Intyre was saying the
+long Scotch grace, when the boys burst into the room with a fine
+clatter.  The rude intrusion brought a severe remonstrance from that
+gentleman when the exercise was concluded. Mrs. M’Intyre—always ready to
+defend the boys and to champion them, to condone their faults and to
+extol their virtues, in which she was wise or otherwise, as the reader
+may decide—broke in with a Christmas greeting. For a minute there was a
+fusillade of "Merry Christmas to you and many of them!"
+
+"Now, boys, take your seats before breakfast’s cold."
+
+On proceeding to their places the boys stood stock still, for there,
+resting against their respective chairs, stood three brand-new,
+double-barrel shot-guns.
+
+"Weel, bairns!" exclaimed Mr. M’Intyre, with quiet amusement, surveying
+the amazed boys as they gazed at the weapons.  "What are ye frichtened
+at?  Is it snakes y’re lukin’ upon?  Why dinna ye sit doon to yure
+food?"
+
+"Oh, father! mother!" cried Sandy at last, picking up his gun, pleasure
+beaming from his face.  "This is what Harry meant when he said last
+night he’d brought out a parcel from the town that’d come by steamer."
+Then with a rush, Joe and Tom at his heels, he danced round the abashed
+Scotchman, and gave him a hug, repeating the dose with interest on Mrs.
+M’Intyre.  It was hard for the boys to settle down to breakfast and
+dislodge their eyes from the weapons.  What their souls coveted most was
+a gun.  The clamant claims of hunger, however, are not to be
+disregarded; so, stacking their guns in a corner, the boys did ample
+justice to a generous meal.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning, boys?" inquired Mrs.
+M’Intyre.  "You’ve not been out on the run before, Tom, have you?"
+
+"No, ma’am.  We’d a good time, though!"
+
+"How far did you go, Sandy?"
+
+"To the top of Bald Hummock, mother."
+
+"Splendid view from the top, is it not, Joe?"
+
+"Not bad, Mrs. M’Intyre."
+
+"That’s a negative descreeption o’ ane o’ the graundest sichts the hale
+deestric’ can boast," said Mr. M’Intyre, with emphasis.
+
+Joe became conscious of the banality.
+
+"An’ why did ye no’ tak’ Mr. Neville wi’ you, boys? Ye did wrang no’ to
+invite him to ride wi’ you.  I think ye owe him an apologee, Saundy."
+
+"I’m very sorry," said the lad, turning in some confusion to Mr.
+Neville.  "If I’d thought——"
+
+"Oh, I shouldn’t have dreamed of going out at such an early hour, my
+lad," replied Neville loftily.  He had a somewhat affected accent and a
+superior air.  "I nevvah exert myself before breakfast.  Besides, I am
+not sure that I should find a safe escort in a parcel of—er—schoolboys.
+With the young ladies, now," he continued, fixing his monocle and
+bestowing a patronising stare upon Sandy’s sisters, Maggie and Jessie,
+"I—I—should be delighted to go for a bush ride, as I think these
+equestrian expeditions are called in Awestralia, in the cool of the
+afternoon."
+
+"We don’t call them even bush rides out here, Mr. Neville," answered
+Jessie saucily.  She resented patronage.  "We call ’em spins.  Boys, I
+vote we all go for a spin this afternoon.  Let’s ride as far as Ben
+Bolt’s cave. It’ll be something interesting to show Mr. Neville. Ben
+Bolt’s a famous bushranger hereabouts, you know, and the cave is a
+favourite rendezvous for his gang, as well as a safe hiding-place.  At
+least, it was so until a few months ago, when the police and black
+trackers discovered it, and nearly nabbed him.  Fancy having a
+bushranger’s camp on the Bullaroi boundary!  But Ben never uses it now.
+So let’s ride out to it.  Are you game, boys?"
+
+"Game!" snorted Sandy.  "What’s to be game about? The main thing is,
+will Mr. Neville care for an eighteen-mile spin?  If not, we could go
+for a short ride down the Crocodile."
+
+"Please don’t question my ability, boy!" retorted the new chum, who
+resented the implication contained in Sandy’s remark.  "I find,"
+continued he, addressing his host, "you good people out heah seem to
+think that Awestralia is the only place where horseback riding is
+indulged in——"
+
+"We ride steers also, an’ billies too," slyly interjected Joe, with a
+wink at the girls.
+
+"And we read that they ride donkeys and—er—hobby-horses in England,"
+chipped in Jessie, whose eyes sparkled with mischief.
+
+"Good for you, ole Jess!  Let ’em bring out their English fox-hunters
+an’ steeple-chasers that they brag so much about, and we’ll give ’em a
+dingo run, or a go at cutting out scrubbers,[#] an’ see how they’d be
+with their pretty coats an’ breeches, at the tail of the hunt!"
+
+
+[#] Wild, unbranded cattle, frequenting scrub country,
+
+
+"Are ye addressing the English nation or oor guest, Saundy?"
+
+M’Intyre could be caustic when he willed.  He had no liking for
+Australian blow, and hit at it as he would hit at a snake, whenever
+occasion arose.  He now turned the laugh against his son, Jess laughing
+loudest of all.
+
+"It’s settled, then, that we ride out to the cave this afternoon?" said
+Maggie, with an inquiring eye on Neville.
+
+"I’m shore ’twill be a pleasant jaunt, Miss M’Intyre," replied the
+Englishman.  "I shall have pleasure in acting as your escort.  But
+this—er—famous—er—notorious—er—highwayman, is it—er—safe?  I mean—er—I’m
+thinking of the—er—ladies, you know."
+
+"What’s to be afraid of?" quoth Jessie.  To her, risk meant spice, an
+added zest.  Her whole heart went out to the life of the open air and
+the pleasures of the chase. Her greatest delight was in a mad scamper
+through the bush behind the dogs, in the kangaroo hunt.
+
+"Don’t be alarmed, Mr. Neville; Mag and I’ll protect you should
+the—er—famous—notorious—bushranger—highwayman turn up," went on the
+audacious minx.  "I’d dearly love to see Ben Bolt.  I think he’s a lot
+better than many who run him down.  Oh my! wouldn’t it be fun if we
+surprised him in the cave?  I’d——"
+
+"Stop, Jess; cease your blether!" said Mr. M’Intyre sternly.  "The mon
+may no’ be as black as he’s pented, but he’s no’ an honest mon.
+Misguided he may be to an extent, and no’ a’thegither answerable for
+some of the steps in his doonward career, but a creeminal for a’ that,
+whom the country were weel rid o’.  But as for the reesk, there’s na
+reesk in ridin’ to the cave.  The Sub-Inspector telt me a few days ago
+that Ben Bolt’s gone o’er the border.  News is to hand to the effect
+that he stuck up a Chinaman on the Brisbane road.  So the cave’s safe
+enough."
+
+"That’s settled, then," broke in Maggie.  "If we leave here about four
+o’clock ’twill be early enough, and will give us plenty of time to get
+back by dark."
+
+"Maidie, my pet," said Mrs. M’Intyre to her little three-year-old, a
+dainty, precocious miss, "what are you staring at?  It’s rude to stare
+at any one like that."
+
+"Oh, muzzer!" exclaimed the child, turning her bright eyes mother-wards
+for a moment and then fixing them with a fascinated gaze upon the
+Englishman.
+
+"What is it that interests you, little girl?" remarked Neville in a
+patronising tone.  "Is it the colour of my tie?"
+
+Maidie shook her curly head, and, without removing her eyes from Mr.
+Neville’s face, leaned towards Jessie, who sat next to her, and
+whispered, "The genkilmun’s got somesin’ on his fevvers."
+
+Suspended from the tip of one of Neville’s incipient moustaches was a
+yellow string of egg-yolk.  Jess had observed this for some time, with a
+tendency to hilarity whenever it caught her eye.  Maidie’s comical
+description added fuel to the fire of the girl’s merriment, sending her
+into convulsive laughter.  She answered looks of interrogation by
+pointing to the dangling egg thread, and saying as well as circumstances
+permitted, "Maidie says—ha—ha—ha!—that Mr. Fevv—he—he—he!—Mr. Neville’s
+got egg on his—fev—feathers."  This explanatory and ludicrous mixture
+created a general explosion among the young folk.  The situation,
+however, was promptly ended by Mrs. M’Intyre, who discreetly rose on
+seeing that the guest did not join in the general laugh.
+
+There was nothing much for the men-folk to do; but the boys were burning
+to try their new fowling-pieces, The squatter, seeing their intent,
+directed them to use their skill on the cockatoos and king parrots that
+were devastating the maize crop.
+
+These birds, especially the former, proved wily customers, so that not
+many opportunities offered for testing the guns.  Enough was done,
+though, to prove that the guns were no "slouches," and great things were
+predicted when the lads should "know" their respective weapons.
+
+"Whatyer think of the new chum, Joe?" said Sandy to Blain, as they sat
+on a log under a low-spreading wattle tree, on the look out for a flying
+shot.
+
+"Goes thirteen to the dozen, ole man, don’t he? Knows a lot more’n us,
+he reckons, and can’t help showin’ it."
+
+"Yes, he can’t stand us chaps at no price.  By George! Jess’s got his
+measure, and Mag too, for that matter. They’ll take his nibs down a peg
+or two before he goes, I bet tuppence."
+
+"Little Maidie fitted him all right," chipped in Tom.
+"Fevvers—ha—ha!—yes, goose feathers."
+
+It was evident that the visitor was not in favour with the young people.
+He had struck a false note.  No one can be quicker than boys to detect
+superciliousness and to resent it.  The patronising air is to them the
+unforgivable sin.  Henceforth Neville went by the name of "Fevvers"
+among the boys, to the great amusement of the girls, who, unfortunately
+for the Englishman, had assigned him a place in prig-dom.
+
+Neville, it must be confessed, was a bit of a prig; but at heart he was
+not at all a bad fellow, and there came a time not far ahead when
+respect supplanted contempt in the pals, and the ridiculous nickname was
+dropped; while he on his part discontinued the use of the irritating
+comparison, "the way we do things in England," which at the beginning he
+was for ever introducing.
+
+The household was enjoying a siesta after the typical Christmas dinner
+which was partaken of at midday.  Stillness reigned within the house,
+save the cracking of house timbers under the influence of the heat.
+This seductive calm and the sweet sleep of the girls was at length
+rudely broken by Sandy, who in the exercise of a brother’s privilege
+shook the door violently as he shouted, "Now then, lazies, get up and
+dress!  It’s half-past three."
+
+"Bother you, Sandy, you _are_ a nuisance!" sleepily complained Jessie.
+"I—I—was having _such_ a lovely dream.  Neptune was just on the heels of
+a blue flyer,[#] and I was galloping alongside him.  The chase led us to
+Blind-fall Gully, and we three took the jump together, and were almost
+landed on the other side when you thumped the door.  I thought at first
+it was the thud of Kangie’s tail, but no! there she was flying
+through——"
+
+
+[#] Maiden kangaroo, a very fast runner.
+
+
+"That comes of eating too much plum-duff an’ mince-pie, my girl.  But I
+say, you two, look slippy, or you’ll be too late.  I told Jacky to
+saddle Nigger for you, Jess. What’ll you take, Mag?  Rainbow or Sultan?
+They’re both up."
+
+"Don’t care, Sandy.  I’ll take Sultan, I think.  No, I’ll take Rainbow.
+Wait a moment, p’r’aps——"
+
+"Oh! stop your silly nonsense.  I’ll put the saddle on Sultan," shouted
+the impatient boy, as he made off through the house to the stockyard.
+
+"Say, Sandy!" cried out Jess, who was now wide awake.  "Have you roused
+Mr.—er—Fevvers yet?"
+
+"’Ssh! mother’ll hear you," exclaimed the boy warningly, as he returned
+to the door.  "He didn’t have a snooze. Says it’s unbusinesslike to
+sleep in the daytime.  Says they never do that in England.  England be
+blowed, say I.  An’ whatyer think?  Harry offered him the loan of his
+leggin’s, but he wouldn’t have ’em.  Says they smell of the stockyard,
+ha—ha!  Says they don’t wear ’em in England.  Listen!  He’s got on a
+pair of white duck britches, an’ my crikey! they won’t be white any
+longer.  He asked Harry for his fourteen-foot stockwhip. Says he was
+told an ’Awestralian’ horse would never budge without one.  Only dad was
+there I’d ’a’ put his saddle on Dick Swiveller, an’ by jing! we’d ’a’
+had some sport.  We’ll knock fun out of him as it is, I reckon. But look
+alive, girls, or y’ll be left behind."
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XV*
+
+                   *A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES*
+
+
+    "Then hey for boot and horse, lad!
+      And round the world away;
+    Young blood will have its course, lad!
+    And every dog his day."
+        KINGSLEY.
+
+
+The weather in Australia at Christmas is not ideal for riding parties.
+Midsummer heat and dust, together with hordes of flies, largely
+countervail the delights of the saddle.
+
+The enthusiastic party that cantered along the tracks leading from the
+Bullaroi homestead on this particular Christmas, with one exception,
+made small bones about either dust or heat.  Neville, however, was
+irritated by the dust which the horses’ feet knocked up.  Nor would he
+seek alleviation as did the others by leaving the track at every
+opportunity.  The victim of prejudice and conventionality, expressed in
+terms of cussedness, he obstinately stuck to the dusty track.  The boys
+and Jessie frisked here and there, making short cuts, jumping gullies
+and logs, and generally enjoying themselves. They raised, it is true,
+clouds of dust, to the annoyance of the new chum, as they pounded along
+the track on their return to the others, after having forged ahead some
+distance; behaving, in short, like gambolling dogs. Mag would have
+dearly loved the frolic, but hospitality’s demands made it imperative
+that she—the eldest—should partner the guest.
+
+Neville was no rider.  His knowledge of the ways of the horse was of the
+most elementary kind.  Had he had the common sense to have admitted that
+palpable fact, many of his painful experiences, and indeed tortures,
+would have been minimised, if not altogether avoided.
+
+Like all inexperienced riders, he responded to every movement of the
+horse.  He had no sense of balance. He held the reins shoulder high, and
+was for ever jerking them.  When his body was not stiffly straight it
+inclined forward.  The inevitable result was made abundantly manifest in
+chafed limbs and aching bones.  With Neville, as with most new-chum
+riders, the trousers legs _would_ work up from the bottom, displaying a
+section of calf, to the great amusement of the boys, who baa’d most
+vehemently at such times.
+
+This, however, must be reckoned for grace in Neville: he made no
+complaint, nor admitted any discomfort.  He was forward in his
+criticisms of the boys’ style of riding: their seats were un-English and
+cowboy.
+
+No greater contrast between the riders could well be imagined than that
+which the new chum and the pals presented.  Theirs was to the manner
+born, to be confounded neither with cowboy nor military.  While there is
+an utter absence of stiffness in the Australian style, there is at the
+same time nothing bordering on the truculent as affected by the cowboy.
+The movements are willowy and rhythmic.  Horse and man are one and
+indivisible.  This means to both the minimum of work with the maximum of
+ease.
+
+How far removed from this attainment was poor Neville!  His figure was
+of the ramrod pattern for the first few miles—ultra military, so to
+speak.  His feet, well through the stirrups, inclined outwards at a
+sharp angle; his left arm, held at right angle as rigid as a semaphore,
+gripped the reins; while his right clutched the stockwhip with tenacious
+grasp.  The steed, a fair pacer in experienced hands, in his became a
+veritable jogger.  He rose and fell in springless fashion with every
+motion of the horse.
+
+It was not in Neville’s power to maintain that iron rigidity, and so he
+gradually inclined forward.  His back became bowed, and his nose at
+times was in imminent danger of the horse’s head.  His arms, too, hung
+listlessly at either side, until at last his appearance resembled
+nothing so much as a doubled-up Guy Fawkes perched on a rail.  Yet his
+dogged spirit, essentially British, half courage, half cussedness, bore
+him up.
+
+Nearing the caves, the party, with the exception of Neville and his
+companion, raced ahead, and by the time that the latter arrived were
+cooling off beneath the shade of some coolibahs.
+
+And now disaster of such a character as to shake from him the last
+remains of superiority and propriety, overwhelming him in the depths of
+humiliation, overtook poor Neville.  These mortifying results were
+brought about by his attempted gallantry.
+
+The selected camp, as related, was beneath the grateful shade of a
+cluster of coolibah[#] trees that grew on the banks of a mountain
+stream, close to the mouth of the caves.  Seeing that Maggie was about
+to dismount unassisted, the youth exclaimed in eager tones, "Wait a
+moment, Miss M’Intyre!" and so saying, threw himself from his horse in
+order to do the gallant by helping his companion down, "as they do in
+England."
+
+
+[#] Water gum trees.
+
+
+Sad to say, however, so cramped and stiff were his limbs, especially his
+nether extremities, that the instant he touched ground his legs doubled
+in a powerless condition, and he fell prone to the earth.
+Unfortunately, the ground at the spot where he tumbled down began to
+slope towards the creek.  In his frantic efforts to rise quickly to his
+feet he overbalanced himself, and began to roll down the incline.  He
+saved himself for a second, and the impending disaster might have been
+averted but for the confounded stockwhip, which led to his undoing in a
+most effectual way.  This weapon, which he still held in his clenched
+right hand, got entangled with his legs by some means, lasso fashion,
+bringing him smartly to the ground again in a fresh attempt to rise.
+The sloping bank at this point became almost precipitous: with a rapid
+turn over-and-over, he rolled down the steep gradient, crashed through
+an undergrowth of bushes and bracken that fringed the perpendicular bank
+of the creek, and shot out into its clear, deep waters.
+
+This unrehearsed performance, taking less time to act than to relate,
+brought a powerful shriek from Maggie, who, arrested in her intention to
+dismount unaided by Neville’s proffered aid, beheld from her horse the
+undignified collapse of her escort, with its quickly succeeding acts of
+comedy and tragedy.
+
+The others, who were witnesses of this performance, hugely enjoyed it,
+giving a loud hurrah as the new chum splashed into the creek.  There was
+one exception. Sandy, who was on his way to the creek with the billy
+can, and who realised in a moment that the discomfited Englishman had
+fallen into a deep pool,—the very spot where he had often fished for big
+perch,—threw away the billy and rushed to the spot where the unfortunate
+man had fallen in.  Only that day had Neville declared that "my water
+exercises have been confined to the house bath."
+
+Beyond the agitated surface there were no signs of their visitor in the
+water.  Without pause, the lad took a header to the bottom, which was at
+least ten feet from the top, discerned the sunken man kicking and
+clawing, hauled him to the surface, and towed him to the bank. Here
+willing hands were ready to grip the victim of this misadventure and
+pull him to land.
+
+As soon as he was dragged to safety, the cause of his abject
+helplessness in the water was revealed.  The stockwhip had so encircled
+his legs as to prevent the free use of them, besides which the shock of
+the whole accident had to an extent numbed his senses.
+
+In sooth he was a sorry sight as he lay on the turf. The immersion did
+not cover more than half a minute; it was long enough, though, to take
+him to the verge of unconsciousness and to fill his lungs and stomach
+with water.  The boys speedily unwound the whip, and subjected Neville
+to some rough but wholesome treatment, during which process the water
+was rapidly ejected from his interior regions.
+
+The girls, as soon as Neville was landed, discreetly withdrew.
+Merriment had dissolved into pity.
+
+"Poor Mr. Neville!  I’m _so_ sorry.  Isn’t it a shame, Mag?"
+
+"Seems like a dream; it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly.  I’m
+afraid father’ll be very angry about it. The poor fellow was going to be
+so gallant, too.  ’Permit me to assist you,’ he said, and the next
+moment——"
+
+Here the whole scene comes up so vividly and comically that, strive as
+she may, Maggie cannot withhold laughter of a somewhat hysterical kind.
+And so, between laughter and tears, the two girls superintended the
+billy-boiling and tea-making business.
+
+Meanwhile the lads, stripping Neville under the lee of the bank, wrung
+his clothes, and then re-dressed him, bringing him up to the fire little
+the worse for his cold douche.  The girls quickly recognised the finer
+qualities of Neville’s character, which broke through the crust of his
+artificiality in the hour of adversity.
+
+"I’m very sorry to have caused this trouble, Miss M’Intyre.  No one’s to
+blame but myself.  Your brother and his mates have been exceedingly kind
+to me.  Indeed, I owe a debt to your brother that I can never repay, for
+without doubt he saved my life.  I was utterly helpless with that
+wretched whip curled around me."
+
+Indeed, it was true.  The accident might easily have had a fatal
+termination, and the thought of it (for all that Neville cut such a
+grotesque figure in his shrunken clothes) drove the last remains of
+latent hilarity away. Maggie assured the forlorn-looking youth that no
+thanks were due to any one; that all deplored the accident, and were
+thankful that the finale inclined rather to the comic than the tragic.
+
+"Take this pannikin of hot tea, Mr. Neville.  Father says that whisky’s
+not in it with tea for recruiting one’s jaded energies."
+
+As there was no need for starting on the return ride awhile, the three
+boys, leaving the girls and Neville at the camp, proceeded to the caves.
+
+The caves, three in number, were connected with one another by narrow
+entrances.  The outermost one had an inlet through a narrow crevice.
+This opening was concealed from the casual eye by a sentinel-like
+boulder which stood directly opposite, and about eighteen inches in
+advance of the wall of rock.  It was a squeeze for any one above the
+average size to get through.
+
+Before its occupation by the bushrangers the outer cave, by evident
+signs, formed a favourite wallaby haunt.  These had been disturbed and
+hunted by the bushrangers, who from time to time, according to police
+report, used it as a hiding-place.  They had often lain there when the
+district was filled with troopers. On one occasion, as was afterwards
+known, Ben Bolt and his mate, a youth of eighteen years, lay concealed
+for weeks.  The boy had been badly wounded in the thigh during a brush
+with the police in the New England ranges.  Ben Bolt, who was
+passionately attached to him, by incredible labour and consummate
+skill—for the pursuing police were on their tracks all the time—brought
+his wounded mate to the caves in order that he might lie in safety until
+his sores were healed.
+
+Sandy was the only one of the lads who knew anything about the caves.
+In company with his father he had visited them a few weeks previously.
+He therefore acted as a guide to the party.
+
+The fissure, a mere crack in the limestone rock, extended in tortuous
+fashion for some distance. Lengthening out and making a curve, it
+suddenly broadened into a chamber of respectable dimensions. At the
+entrance of the crevice Sandy had lit a candle, one being sufficient for
+the cramped passage.  Before entering the cave proper, all three candles
+brought for that purpose were lit.
+
+The cave was bat-inhabited.  Large numbers of these uncanny creatures,
+which were clinging to the roof and sides, disturbed and dazzled by the
+light, flew about in aimless fashion, often striking the boys in their
+uncertain flight.  Numbers of them fastened on to their clothes and
+limbs with their claw-like pinions.
+
+Joe and Tom, to whom this was a new experience, were uneasy and a good
+bit scared.  Their nervousness increased when the fluttering nocturnals
+more than once extinguished the lights.
+
+"You must do as I do, boys!" sang out Sandy, who was in advance, as they
+walked cautiously over the uneven and stone-littered floor.  Sandy had
+removed his hat and held it over the candle.  This, while it darkened
+all above, gave ample light on the floor space, and protected the candle
+from the nocturnals. The others thereupon followed suit, and soon
+reached the opening on the opposite side that led to the second chamber.
+
+This narrow passage made a stiff ascent for some yards, inclining to the
+left, and then extending like a funnel.  Sandy was proceeding very
+cautiously, for the opening into the interior cave was made at about ten
+feet from its floor.  A rough ladder of lawyer vines hung from the
+opening in the wall to the basement.  Down this the boys speedily
+slipped, and found themselves in a dome-like space, bigger by far than
+any room, barn, or church that they had seen. The atmosphere was very
+chill, and the continual drip of falling water made a monotonous sound.
+A narrow, clear stream of running water flowed along one side,
+disappearing in a floor crack near the far corner.
+
+Contrary to what one would have expected, the lime crystals were few,
+and for the most part small; not to be mentioned in the same breath with
+the matchless statuary of the far-famed Jenolan Caves. On the ground,
+however, were some interesting stalagmites, whose grotesque figures
+highly amused the boys.  At the first sight, though, a fearsome feeling
+possessed them.  They were children of the sun, and this new and cryptic
+experience in the cold, dark, vaulted chamber quickened their pulses and
+shortened their breaths.
+
+Everything seemed to have a ghostly appearance to the pals.  It was a
+fitting abode for spectral creatures, and they had a feeling that at any
+moment such might appear.  This sensation, however, was of short
+duration. A few minutes’ familiarity with their surroundings dissipated
+it, and the lads moved freely in their investigations.
+
+"Didn’t you say there was another cave adjoining this, Sandy?"
+
+"Yes, I’ll show it to you in a few minutes."
+
+While the question was being asked and answered, Sandy was peering into
+a crevice immediately behind a huge stalagmite, and in a dark corner of
+the cave.
+
+"This looks as if it might open out somewhere, but the opening’s jammed
+with a big limestone boulder."
+
+"Let’s have a pull at it," said Tom, as he leaned forward to take hold
+of a projecting point.
+
+"No go, Tom.  Look at its weight!  See how tightly it’s wedged!  You’ll
+never budge that.  It’ll need a crowbar to shift it.  Come along, boys,
+and we’ll take a peep at the other cave, just to say we’ve seen it; then
+we must make tracks back."
+
+Sandy, however, bore in mind this sealed chamber which was destined
+later to yield important and far-reaching results.  He made for a low,
+narrow aperture in the wall, at a far corner, which opened directly into
+a vault-like ceil—a small bedroom or pantry, as the case might be.
+
+"Here’s where the rangers camped," said Sandy, when the boys had
+struggled through.  "Here’s their beds, an’ there’s where they had their
+fire."
+
+A couple of sheets of stringy-bark, placed stretcher-fashion on crossed
+sapling frames, formed the sleeping-bunks of the outlaws.  On these were
+placed a quantity of bracken which made a comfortable resting-place for
+men who more often than not slept upon the ground.
+
+"I say, Sandy," remarked Joe, after standing a moment in deep thought,
+"this is an all-right place for hidin’ in, but where’d they keep the
+mokes?  That’s what beats me."
+
+"It beats more’n you.  It beats father.  It beats the police.  Yes, they
+can’t get a clue.  Must have had the horses handy, too; for when the
+police got into the cave the time they tracked ’em here, the rangers
+couldn’t have been gone more’n a few minutes, ’cause a fire was still
+burning in Ben Bolt’s room, as they call it.  The bobbies have searched
+inside and outside and all over the ridge for another opening, but can’t
+find it."
+
+"They’ve clean bunged the p’lice, the cute beggars!" exclaimed Tom, with
+a grin.  "Wonder if they’ll ever come back again.  Ole Ben’s a game un.
+They say he wears a reversible suit of different colours.  An’ sometimes
+he straps up a leg an’ fastens a wooden peg on it an’ stumps along, led
+by a dog on a string like a blind beggar."
+
+"He’s always bluffin’ the police, anyway," said Joe. "The Sub-Inspector
+was at our place about a month ago, telling father how he an’ the others
+were fooled not so long ago."
+
+"Tell us, Joe."
+
+"Well, ’twas like this.  A bushman on a piebald horse rode up to the
+police camp out Kean’s swamp way, bearing a note from Sub-Inspector
+Garvie, ordering them to cross the ranges an’ get into Walcha secretly,
+as he possessed reliable information to the effect that Ben Bolt
+intended to stick up the bank two days later.
+
+"It appears this same man called at the Sub’s quarters earlier in the
+day, who was laid up with a sprained leg. This chap told how he’d been
+in Ben Bolt’s company two nights previously.  The ranger and his
+mate—the same boy as was wounded—came upon him as he lay by his fire in
+the evening, and asked permission to camp alongside.  They pretended to
+be stockmen in search of strayed heifers, and made out that they had
+come across their tracks just at nightfall.  As it was a goodish way to
+the station, they would be glad to sleep by his fire and get after the
+cattle at dawn.
+
+"The man said that as soon as he spotted ’em he knew ’em, but he was too
+frightened to let on.  He gave ’em some grub, an’ then lay down in his
+blanket.  As soon as they had scoffed the prog they lay down too, on the
+off side of the fire.
+
+"The man didn’t go to sleep, though he pretended to.  By an’ by the two
+men began to talk in low tones. He could hear ’em, though, pretty well,
+and found out that they were goin’ to stick up the Walcha bank.  The
+date they named was four days from that night. Although the chap lay as
+if he were dead he didn’t sleep a wink.  Just before daylight the coves
+saddled their horses, which had been short-hobbled, and singing out,
+’So-long,’ they galloped off.
+
+"’And what prompted you to bring this information?’ said the Sub.
+
+"’Well, if you cop the rangers,’ he answered, ’I shall expect something
+substantial for supplying these particulars.’
+
+"’As for that, you’ll get your share.  And now you can do something
+further that’ll help you in the matter of reward.  Take this note to
+Sergeant Henessey, who is camping with four police and a tracker in the
+foothills, at the head of Kean’s swamp.’
+
+"The Sub-Inspector, who had hastily written a note of instruction to the
+Sergeant, handed it to the man, who said his name was Sam Kelly.  Sam
+promised to deliver it by daybreak; which he did.  As soon as the
+Sergeant read it, he roused up the men, and after a hasty meal it was
+’Saddle up.’  A few minutes later the troopers were on their way to cop
+the rangers.  Now listen: that very day, towards evening, the Port
+Macquarie mail was stuck up!"
+
+"My eye!" said Sandy, "weren’t the p’lice sold!  Fancy ole Ben goin’
+into the lion’s den with his information an’ then takin’ the letter out
+to the camp, an’ none of ’em cute enough to twig ’im!  He’s a downy cove
+is Ben. Ain’t he, Joe?"
+
+"They say," concluded Joe, "that the piebald he rode was his favourite
+horse, the blood-bay he calls Samson."
+
+"But how was it he turned him piebald?"
+
+"_Painted patches of pipeclay on him!_"
+
+"Now, then," exclaimed Sandy, pulling out his watch, "we’ve only a few
+minutes left, an’ we mustn’t be late, as Mr. Neville won’t be able to
+ride fast."
+
+"Poor old Fevvers!" exclaimed Tom reminiscently. "This hasn’t been much
+of a treat for him."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVI*
+
+                            *THE DINGO RAID*
+
+
+    "What’s up, old horse?  Your ears you prick,
+        And your eager eyeballs glisten.
+    ’Tis the wild dog’s note, in the tea-tree thick,
+        By the river to which you listen.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Let the dingo rest, ’tis all for the best;
+        In this world there’s room enough
+    For him and you and me and the rest,
+        And the country is awful rough."
+          ADAM LINDSAY GORDON.
+
+
+"Here’s a fine how-d’ye-do!" exclaimed Mr. M’Intyre wrathfully, as he
+strode into the house, one hot morning shortly after the events recorded
+in the previous chapter. "Why sic rubbish were ever created passes
+understanding!"
+
+The irate squatter, contrary to his usual habit, clattered through the
+hall and out on to the front verandah, slamming the door most vigorously
+as he made his exit.
+
+"Whatever’s stung dad this morning, Jess?" remarked Maggie to her
+sister, as their excited parent made his noisy intrusion.
+
+"Something bad, you may be sure, to cause dad to parade in that fashion.
+I expect the blacks have been performing.  They madden father at times
+by their ’want o’ intellect,’ as he calls it."
+
+"I’ll—I’ll cut the livers out o’ them, the sneakin’ hounds!  Rot ’em,
+I’ll pizen every faither’s son o’ the dirty vermin!"
+
+"Oh, father!" cried Jessie, "you surely are not going to poison the poor
+things?"
+
+"Pizen ’em, that am I!  Pizen’s ower guid for them, thieving brutes that
+they are!  ’Puir things,’ as you ca’ the wretches," continued he
+sarcastically, "I’ll hae the life o’ the hale o’ them, if it tak’s a’
+the pizen in Tareela!" barked the exasperated man.
+
+"Then you’re no father of mine!" blazed out Jessie. "What have the poor
+boys done that you should threaten such dreadful——"
+
+"W-h-a-t!"
+
+"Why, poor Willy and Jacky: what have they done that you should——"
+
+"What on earth is the lassie haverin’ aboot?" roared Mr. M’Intyre to
+Maggie.
+
+"The blacks, father.  Didn’t you say that you were going to poison them?
+But I don’t believe it for a——"
+
+"The blacks!  Wha’s talkin’ o’ blacks?  It’s the reds, the blessed
+dingoes, wha’ve been playin’ havoc wi’ the calves.  The blacks?  Ma
+certie!" continued he, as the humour of the situation seized him,
+forcing a smile. Turning to his daughter, he exclaimed, "Ye’re a fine
+bairn, I maun say, to be accusin’ yer ain faither o’ _black_ murder!"
+
+"Forgive me, dad!" cried the impulsive girl, as she threw her arms round
+his neck; "I never thought of the dingoes.  I—I—I made sure the black
+boys had been up to tricks, and never dreamed——"
+
+"There, there, that’s enough, my lassie!  It’s a case of
+’misunderconstumbling,’ as Denny Kineavy would say. But it’s enough to
+make ane feel wild and gingery.  Eleeven fine yearlin’s killed!  It’s
+the wantonness mair than the actual loss that vexes me: though the
+latter is bad enough, for some o’ the best, of course, are sacrificeed
+to their slaughterin’ instincts."
+
+That evening, in conference with his chief stockman, Mr. M’Intyre laid
+his plans for the extermination of the pack of dingoes which had just
+given an exhibition of their destructive powers.  In this particular
+instance the brutes had driven a number of yearling calves, weaners,
+into a blind gully.  Having boxed them up in this _cul de sac_, the
+rapacious dogs found them an easy prey.
+
+The Australian wild dog is a combination of several very excellent
+qualities—from the canine standpoint, that is.  He possesses more
+sagacity than any other wild thing of the bush.  Keen of sight, quick at
+scent, subtle of wit, noiseless in tread and bark, tenacious to rooted
+purpose, he pursues and stalks his quarry, whether bird or beast, with
+all the odds in his favour.
+
+There he stands, this indigenous dog, with a great, broad forehead, his
+eyes narrowing in sinister expression; well set in body, showing big
+sinews and a good muscular development; strong jaws, with teeth like
+ivory needles; white in paw and tail-tip, bright yellow everywhere else,
+save the chocolate-coloured streak running along the spine from neck to
+tail.  There he stands: but that is a figure of speech, for a more
+restless animal than this same dog does not exist.
+
+Australian cattle-dogs have a world reputation, and the very best are
+they which by crossing inherit a strain of dingo nature.  That which
+makes the dingo so hated by stock owners—who pursue him relentlessly—is
+the killing lust which possesses him.  Were he to simply kill for food,
+and be satisfied with a victim that would furnish enough for present
+needs, settlers would be far more tolerant of him.  The plain truth
+about him is that his predatory instinct is so strong as to practically
+intoxicate him.  The sight of a flock of sheep or a bunch of calves
+makes him "see red," and then he simply runs amok. One snap—he does not
+bite in the ordinary sense—of his steel-like jaws is enough.  The
+mouthful of flesh and muscle is torn out in an instant, and the victim
+invariably dies of shock.  One dingo in a sheepfold will kill fifty
+sheep in a few minutes.
+
+These dogs are more troublesome in bad than in good seasons.  When the
+cattle get low in condition and weak, they become a comparatively easy
+prey, then the cunning of the dingoes becomes manifest.  They will
+select their victim and drive it towards a water-hole or swamp.  In dry
+times these are mere puddles and exceedingly boggy.  The object of the
+canine drovers is to reduce the bullock to helplessness by bogging it.
+The drive will sometimes take hours, and no experienced drover could do
+the work more cleverly.  Finally, when their quarry is down in the mire
+and practically helpless, he is tackled and bitten to death.  In good
+seasons, when the cattle are strong, Mr. Dingo, save for an occasional
+foray on the calves, has to content himself with his natural
+diet—kangaroos, ’possums, and emus.
+
+Fortunately, there was at the station at this time an eccentric bushman
+who combined the work of horse-breaking and dingo-trapping.  Nosey
+George was reputed to have a sense of smell equal to that of the dingo
+itself. Certainly, his slouching gait made it often appear as if he were
+"nosing" the tracks of the game.  But in truth he owed his prowess as a
+trapper to a pair of eyes that knew no dimness.  At first sight of
+Nosey, one saw nothing but his nose.  But when you noticed his eyes you
+forgot the nose, and lived in the presence of a pair of eyes that
+sparkled like diamonds, or as searchlights that permitted nothing to
+escape their scrutiny.
+
+Nosey’s feats of tracking were really marvellous.  On one occasion he
+got on to the trail of a dingo bitch which had raided his hen-roost, and
+followed it for twelve miles, mostly through scrubby and rocky country
+that was criss-crossed with innumerable tracks of bush vermin. For all
+that, this human sleuth-hound tracked Mrs. Dingo to a cave in the
+mountains where she had five pups, and returned with six scalps.
+
+The dingo trapper rode out early the next morning in company with Harry
+the stockman and the boys to the scene of the slaughter, there to devise
+means, for which he had received _carte blanche_ from Mr. M’Intyre, for
+the capture of the raiders.
+
+The weaners’ paddock was about three miles from the house, and had an
+area of five thousand acres.  Most of the enclosure consisted of plain,
+but a corner of it contained a belt of scrub; and it was in this corner,
+where the weaners camped for warmth in the night-time, that the drive
+and slaughter had been made.  The beasts, most of them, lay huddled,
+showing evidence of mangling; others had struggled out of the gully into
+the scrub. After gazing awhile at the slain, Tom Hawkins broke the
+silence—
+
+"I say, Nosey, ain’t this a go?  Poor brutes!"
+
+"Here, you kid," cried the trapper, turning sharply on Tom, "who gave
+you leave to call me names?  Like yer blessed cheek!  How’d yer like me
+ter call yer monkey-face?  If yer had a decent nose, I’d tweak it fer
+yer."
+
+Nosey, who was very sensitive on this question of nickname, and had had
+many a fight over the same, made such a menacing move towards Tom that
+the lad shrank back in fear.
+
+"That’ll do, George," said Sandy.  "Leave the boy alone.  He didn’t mean
+anything.  It’s what everybody calls you."
+
+"I’m not goin’ to let brats of boys miscall me, anyhow. Don’t know why
+the boss sent you blokes, for all the good y’are!" growled the grumpy,
+cross-grained, but not really bad-hearted old man.  "Youse better be
+keepin’ quiet, anyways, till me an’ Harry has a look round."
+
+"Let him be," whispered Harry.  "If you get his dander up he’s as likely
+as not to chuck the whole blame thing.  He always jibs at that name;
+carn’t stand it from kids nohow."
+
+Nosey, or to be respectful, George, now proceeded to examine the
+surroundings of the carcasses.  Bending forward until his protuberant
+nose almost touched the earth, the trapper moved his eyes swiftly, now
+concentrating on twig or grass-blades, now wildly roving and
+all-comprehensive.  The rest of the party were following at his heels,
+when he turned round and fiercely waved them back.
+
+"All right, Nos—George!" sang out Joe.  "I see; you want to keep the
+tracks clear.  We’ll stay here till you’ve finished."
+
+Drawing on one side, the group watched the proceedings with great
+interest.  The ground was hard and stony; quite unimpressionable and
+barren of sign to the pals’ untutored sight, yet to this man of the
+woods, who was ignorant of the alphabet, the rough earth surface was
+all-revealing, and made known to him in unmistakable characters the
+story of the attack.
+
+Having at length concluded his investigations, the trapper straightened
+his back and moved to where the others stood.  Producing his knife and a
+plug of tobacco, he began to shred a pipeful, making no remark to the
+expectant onlookers.
+
+"Reckon we’ll have to drag it out o’ the old un," said Harry to Joe in a
+low tone.  Then raising his voice, the stockman began to question the
+man.
+
+"Had a good look round, George?"
+
+Nod.
+
+"Ain’t missed anything worth seeing, I bet?"
+
+Head-shake.
+
+"Whatyer make of it?"
+
+"Razorback pack," replied the old man of frugal speech, as he cleaned
+out his pipe.
+
+"Razorback pack?  You surely don’t mean it!  Why, that is a matter of
+twelve mile or so!"
+
+"Suppose it is; what of that?"
+
+"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Harry dubiously, yet not wishful to offend the
+old man’s susceptibilities.  "Of course you know best, George.  How many
+of ’em do you consider they’d be?"
+
+"Five dorgs an’ two bitches."
+
+"Good gracious, Nosey!" cried Tom the unlucky, the next moment beating a
+rapid retreat as the dog-trapper made a vicious dart at his caudal
+appendage, finally coming to grief over a fallen log which lay in the
+line of retreat.  The pursuing foe, even, had to stop and join in the
+laugh raised at the ludicrous figure which Tom cut as he lay, head down,
+heels up.
+
+"Beg pardon, George!" he cried breathlessly the next moment, as he
+recovered his original position.  "It slipped out, old fellow.  I—I
+didn’t mean it."
+
+"Come, now, George, that’s handsome.  You must accept the apology,"
+interjected Joe.
+
+The trapper nodded assent, and the incident passed.
+
+"How _do_ you know what pack it is, George?  Blest if I can understand
+how you find out all these things!  First you tell us the sex an’ then
+where they come from."
+
+"Tell it by their paws."
+
+"By their paws!  How on earth can you tell they’ve come all the way from
+Razorback by their paw marks? Mightn’t it be the turkey scrub lot?"
+
+"It carn’t be, an’ isn’t, ’cause I knows the pack."
+
+"How’s that?"
+
+"Got two of the vermin in the traps six months ago over at the
+mountains, an’ a cove wot got away left two toe nails of his near
+hind-foot in the trap."
+
+"Too fly for poison, eh?"
+
+"’Twould be a waste of good strychnine over the rubbage," replied the
+trapper, waxing more communicative. "They know a bait better than a
+Christun. ’Sides, I tried them over at Razorback.  Got plenty o’ cats,
+gohanners, an’ crows; an’, be gosh! laid out one of my own cattle
+puppies, but ne’er a dingo."
+
+"The traps’ll fetch ’em, won’t they, George?"
+
+George returned no answer, but "smoled" a cryptic smile.  Mounting their
+steeds, the party turned in the direction of home.  Mr. M’Intyre
+received the trapper’s report without interruption, and then consulted
+as to the best way to work their destruction.
+
+"Hunting them is out of the question," said the squatter in reply to a
+remark of his son that it would be grand sport hunting them.  "We’d only
+ruin the horses in that country and miss most o’ the dingoes. Na! the
+traps are the best an’ safest.  If ony ane can catch ’em in that
+fashion, George is the mon.  I leave the hale matter in his hands.  He
+kens best what to do to circumvent the brutes; so go your own way to
+work, George.  What aboot traps?  Have ye enough?"
+
+"Got seven or eight, dunno for sure.  Ought to have a dozen."
+
+"Varra weel; ane o’ the laddies will ride to Tareela and get ither
+fower."
+
+Accordingly, Joe and Tom mounted their horses and rode into the store
+for the additional traps.
+
+A dog-trap, it should be explained, is simply an enlarged spring
+rat-trap, with extra strong jaws and saw-like teeth.  These instruments
+of capture weigh about ten pounds, and are planted in likely spots.  The
+native dog is an exceedingly suspicious animal.  His reasoning faculty
+is large.  A mere glance at his head will convince one as to his
+capacity, and those who have had to do with him count him as the
+slimmest of the slim. Hence, only by outmatching him in cunning may his
+adversary succeed.  In this Nosey George was an adept, and Mr. M’Intyre
+did not overstate the facts when he declared no one to be capable of
+matching the dog-trapper in the art of setting lures.
+
+The pals readily obtained leave to accompany the trapper next morning to
+watch the proceedings, on the understanding that they were in no way to
+interfere with him.  Each lad had a pair of traps slung across his
+horse’s withers, and George carried the balance on the neck and croup of
+his steed.  They made their way to the weaners’ paddock, and after a
+brief inspection of the carrion the trapper declared that there had been
+no return of the dogs.
+
+"I didn’t expect them larst night," remarked George. "They’re like the
+blacks, can eat enough at one meal to do ’em fur days.  A gorge is
+Chrismus to ’em."
+
+"What do you intend doing with the dead beasts, George?"
+
+"Leave ’em be, o’ course.  They’ll help me more than anythin’ else.
+Dogs’ll come again to get another feed or two; an’ as boss’s took the
+weaners away to a safe paddock, they’ll go fur these dead uns like
+winkie—likes ’em a bit high, in fact.  Supposin’ we burn these wretches,
+the vermin’ll keep about their own haunts.  They’re out of their beat
+when they come over here, while they knows every stick an’ stone of
+their run.  Consequently, it gives me a better charnse with ’em on
+unfamiliar ground."
+
+So saying, the cunning hunter proceeded to carry out his plan.  The
+dingo has a well-defined method of carving his veal, so to speak.  The
+hide of the animal is not uniformly thick.  The softest and tenderest
+part is that underneath and between the thighs.  The ravager, therefore,
+attacks this tenderest and most susceptible part.  He tears a big hole
+through the skin and into the flesh in a short time, and literally eats
+his way into the body; until, when he and his fellow-feasters have
+finally finished, and cleaned paws and jaws with that self-provided
+serviette the tongue, nothing of the animal remains but the skin and
+bones—always providing that no foe appears to stay proceedings against
+the gourmands. This finish, of course, entails several feasts when the
+course happens to be a bullock, or, as in the present case, toothsome
+veal.
+
+The trapper proceeded to lay a trap facing the torn portion of each
+carcass—that, of course, being the place of attack on each occasion of
+the canines’ visits.  After a careful consideration of the ground
+surrounding each beast, he dug a hole in the earth and then placed a
+trap in it.  He next produced some sheets of the inner bark of the ti
+tree, which is as flexible as paper and softer. A sheet of this is laid
+over the gaping jaws of the trap, which is, of course, properly set.
+The "jaws" are now level with the ground.  Over this fine earth is
+sprinkled until all appearance of the trap is hidden.  The superfluous
+soil is now removed with care, and the surroundings are made to look as
+natural as possible.  This in itself is a work of art; for the slightest
+appearance of disturbance or make-up alarms the wary dingo, and
+nullifies the trapper’s design.
+
+There is one thing, however, that Nosey George had not reckoned upon
+when starting his operations—the number of carcasses to be treated.  It
+will be remembered that eleven animals were slaughtered in the dingo
+raid. This would mean the use of eleven traps, were every animal to be
+used as a lure.  But it is contrary to the design of the trapper to use
+up all his traps in the vicinity of the beasts.  Some are to be set
+along the line of approach.  A number of carcasses, therefore, must be
+removed.  With the help of the boys, five of the beasts are dragged
+about two hundred yards away, put in a heap, covered with dry wood, and
+then burned.
+
+This left the trapper with several traps to use in other directions.
+Having laid six traps in the vicinity of the calves, he proceeded to
+follow up the tracks of the dogs. The first gin was laid in a soft patch
+of ground directly in their footmarks.  This he continued at intervals,
+until the last one was placed at a spot about two miles distant.
+
+"How many dingoes do you think you’ll nab, George?" exclaimed Tom, as
+the party rode homewards in the late afternoon.
+
+"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."
+
+"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.
+
+"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.
+
+"I say the whole bloomin’ lot," loudly proclaimed the sanguine Tom.
+
+"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.
+
+The trapper’s prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to the traps in
+the early morning by the expectant and impatient boys, in the company of
+Nosey George, to the surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not
+a trap was sprung.
+
+The trapper, who while examining the ground had maintained a sphinx-like
+attitude, broke silence at length under a fusillade of questions.
+
+"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog’s copp’d?  Simple
+enough.  Dogs didn’t come."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVII*
+
+               *DINGO *_*V.*_* EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH*
+
+
+    "Afar I mark the emu’s run;
+      The bustard slow, in motley clad;
+    And, basking in his bath of sun,
+      The brown snake on the cattle-pad,
+        And the reddish black
+        Of a dingo’s back
+    As he loit’ring slinks on my horse’s track."
+          GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+The next morning’s visit told another tale.
+
+The dingoes, having recovered from their surfeit, hunger-induced, made a
+second nocturnal trip to the feeding-grounds.  Cunning and wary as they
+habitually are, they fell, some of them at least, before the wiles of
+the trapper.  Four of their number paid the death penalty.  Two female
+dogs were caught in the traps set about the calves.  The trapped animals
+had not moved any great space.
+
+It should be said that the traps are not fastened to the spot whereon
+they are laid; because, were they stationary, the dingo, especially the
+dog dingo, in his frantic efforts to escape, and by reason of his great
+strength, will frequently save his life at the expense of his paw.  That
+dog, it is safe to say, will never be trapped again; as on the principle
+of, once bitten twice shy, he will ever eschew the most deftly
+constructed device of man.
+
+[Illustration: "The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."—_See
+p._ 134.]
+
+On the other hand, should there be no fastening, a strong dog will carry
+a trap for miles, especially if caught by the hind-leg.  In order to
+remedy this, a device, similar to that which sailors use, called a sea
+anchor, is attached.  A block of wood not too heavy is tied to the trap
+by a chain or a piece of wire.  This acts as a check to the animal,
+besides leaving a broad trail that is easily followed up.
+
+When the trapped dingoes were approached they set up a dismal howling,
+which turned to a vigorous snapping with their teeth; the while they
+tore the earth with their paws in vain efforts to escape.
+
+"Put the poor wretches out of their pain," cried Sandy, after watching
+the agonised efforts of the canines for a few seconds.
+
+The trapper, armed with a heavy "nulla-nulla," dispatched the brutes,
+and scalped them; for the district Stock Board, to induce their
+extermination, gave £1 per scalp, and experienced trappers like Nosey
+George did well at times.  They concluded that there was at the least
+one other victim; for while the bitches were snapping and howling,
+answering howls of rage and sympathy could be heard in the distance
+along the trail.
+
+The next act was to cremate the slain, which was speedily done.  After
+this the group proceeded to follow the track along which the other
+snares were secreted. The very first trap contained a dog.  It was set
+in the centre of a soft depression, at the edge of the scrub belt on the
+farther side.  The dog had dragged the trap about three hundred yards,
+when the "anchor," fouling in some saplings, his retreat was stopped.
+The beast was immediately brained and scalped, and the body flung into a
+clump of bushes.
+
+There was still another victim.  The farthest out trap was gone.
+Nothing was to be seen but the trap-hole. George, however, was soon upon
+the trail.  The country here was fairly open, and offered little
+obstruction to the determined dog.  The track led on and on with little
+deviation until a course of three miles or so had been traversed.  It
+now curved outward and down toward a patch of scrub.  Nosey suddenly
+stopped and pointed to the ground.
+
+"What’s up, George?" exclaimed Joe, who stood nearest the trapper.
+
+"Look an’ see fur y’reself."
+
+Bending over, Joe saw in a sandy patch the deep impress of the toes of a
+large bird.
+
+"I can’t make it out.  What in thunder is it?  Far too big for a crow;
+bigger even than an eagle or a bustard."
+
+"As big as two eagles, young mutton-head," declared the old tough.
+"Tell ’im, Sandy."
+
+"Why, you greeney; that’s an emu track!"
+
+"Emu!" shouted Joe in great excitement.  "It’s the first time I ever saw
+an emu track.  What an enormous foot he must have."
+
+"Ye’d know it, me boy, if ivver ye got a kick," grunted the trapper.
+"I’ve seen them break a dog’s leg like a carrot."
+
+"Blest if I don’t think he’s follerin’ up the dingo!" continued Joe.
+
+"Just wot ’e _is_ a-doin’ of," answered the man.  "These ’ere emus is
+more curious nor a woman."
+
+Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father used to lure the emu he
+was stalking within shot of his fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly
+waving his handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even doubling
+his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating his hat on the foot
+thus raised.  With slow and hesitating yet irresistible steps,
+fascinated by the mysterious object, or a victim to curiosity, the bird
+would approach to its undoing.
+
+This particular emu was no stranger to the dingoes, nor they to him.
+Never before, though, had he beheld a dingo with such an appendage, or
+in such difficulties. The unwonted appearance of the canine furnishes
+the bird with an unusual sensation, and queries in rapid succession flit
+through its brain.  "What on earth is the matter with the limping,
+whimpering brute?  What is that object trailing behind the horrid
+creature?  Let me draw near and behold this great sight!"  Fate has
+delivered his old-time enemy into his hands.  That lolling, swollen
+tongue, those blood-shot eyes, that painful whimper, the wild despairing
+glances; all these loudly proclaim his downfall.  "Well, what matter!
+He’s getting his punishment now.  What is there to prevent me wiping out
+old scores?"
+
+And so, with cautious yet confident step the huge bird, second in size
+only to the ostrich, strode on at a short distance behind his enemy; and
+in a few minutes both are swallowed up in the scrub.  The huntsmen
+follow well on the heels of the animals.
+
+"I wonder if the bird’s still following?" asked Tom.
+
+"Soon see," answered the trapper, carefully examining the ground.  "Not
+a quarter of an hour since he passed this spot: must be in the scrub
+still."
+
+A minute or so brought them to the edge of the scrub. Pushing along,
+they were soon enwrapped in its gloom. Following the advice of George,
+the boys tied their horses to saplings at the outskirts of the belt, and
+proceeded on foot.  Suddenly the trapper, who was leading, stopped dead
+in his tracks, and uttered a warning note in a low voice. Motioning the
+pals to remain where they were, he noiselessly moved forward, and was
+soon lost in the thick foliage ahead.
+
+"Wonder why ole Nosey made us stay back?" muttered Tom, after the lads
+had stood silently awhile.  "What can be in the air, now?"
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed Sandy in a whisper; "he’s returning."
+
+At this moment the trapper reappeared.
+
+"Follow as quiet as mice, an’ ye’ll see summat like wot ye’ve ne’er seed
+afore."  There was an unusual gleam in the man’s eye as he made this
+deliverance.
+
+Cautiously and silently the party moved Indian fashion through the wood.
+After going in this way a hundred paces or so the hunter stopped again,
+and beckoned the boys, indicating a stealthy approach.  Very gingerly
+they trod until they were abreast the man.  Following his muttered
+directions and example, they quietly parted the intervening brushwood.
+
+It was an unique sight on which their eyes fastened; one they would not
+readily forget.  Beyond them was a small natural clearing, such as often
+occurs in the densest scrub.
+
+It was circular in form, and about fifty yards in diameter.  Here,
+almost in the centre of the clearing, the bird had bailed up the beast.
+Curiosity in the emu had grown into anger, and was at a white heat,
+judging from the manner in which it pirouetted and menaced the dog,
+keeping up the while an incessant gabble.  The gabble, rightly
+interpreted, declared that the time of vengeance was at hand.  The fates
+were thanked for being so kind as to furnish this fitting opportunity
+for paying off old scores: "Here, you sneaking thief and flying
+murderer, stop!  It’s you and I for it now; so, off with your coat and
+roll up your sleeves!"
+
+Nor was Master Dingo disinclined to accept the challenge thrown down by
+the strutting bird.  Weary as he was and full of pain, he was in no
+humour to eat humble-pie, or to fly before another foe.  His warring
+instincts rose to the gage of his hereditary enemy.  Many of his kind
+were scarred with wounds from the terrible emu kick, or deep score made
+by the horny toe of this formidable antagonist.
+
+Nor could he retreat, if so inclined: behind him, to a certainty, was
+the monstrous biped; far more to be feared than this animated piece of
+impertinence, whose wicked eye squinted and winked in defiance.
+
+Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the visible bird or the
+invisible pursuers.  Handicapped as he is, and goaded by his pain and
+shameful condition, the dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by
+making a sudden jump at the emu’s throat, narrowly missing it, and still
+more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it made its
+counter-stroke.
+
+Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and devices of animal
+warfare.  Each knows the tactics of the other.  But for the disability
+of the dog through the tenacious trap the chances would be in his
+favour; but his exhaustion and encumbrance give the odds to the other.
+Still, he makes a gallant fight, and the bird needs all its wits and
+agility to escape his savage snaps, one of which, had he been able to
+lay hold, would tear out the neck from throat to breast.
+
+The combat was at its height between these gladiators when the pursuers
+sighted them.  The boys hold their breath in fair amazement as they
+eagerly watch the two figures in the sunlit arena struggling for the
+mastery.  So engrossed are the combatants that the spectators may come
+out into the open and surround them, for all the notice that will be
+taken of them.  As it is, the boys’ astonishment is quickly transmuted
+into animal excitement and battle-lust.  They take sides, and cheer, now
+the beast and now the bird.
+
+But the end comes quickly and tragically enough.  The pace of the
+conflict tells terribly upon the dingo.  He is now weakening fast; can
+hardly see, so bloodshot are his eyes.  Yes, he can hold out but little
+longer.  Realising this, he fights purely on the defence for breath.
+Then, concentrating all his energies in one last irresistible stroke, he
+springs, arrow-like, and this time strikes fair on the bullseye—the neck
+of his adversary.  The emu had failed to elude the panther-like spring.
+But now the counter-stroke!
+
+When the dingo’s fangs close vice-like upon the emu’s throat the bird’s
+fate is irrevocably sealed.  The jugular vein is torn out with a
+mouthful of flesh and muscle, and the skin is stripped to the bosom.
+What time this savage and fatal stroke is given the vengeful bird, by
+one terrific downward blow of its powerful leg and toes, disembowels the
+hanging dog; and then with a lightning side-stroke, delivered full on
+the forehead of the prone beast, smashes in its skull.  A vain attempt
+to crow a note of victory; a few short, uncertain, rotatory movements,
+life-blood gushing the while from its severed jugular, then a collapse,
+falling across the body of its slain adversary!
+
+Which of the two is the victor?
+
+The surprise of the boys, at the sudden and bloody termination of the
+fight, may be better imagined than described.  They stared aghast for
+some moments at the spectacle, too dazed to move or speak.  Even the
+hardened bushman, George, was moved.
+
+"Well, of all the fights I ever seed, this licks creation; it’s better
+nor cock-fightin’.  Be gosh, ’twas a grand fight to a finish!"
+
+The trapper now busies himself with the scalping-knife, and, as the boys
+stand around, a feeling of sadness rises within as they contemplate the
+slain.
+
+"Poor brutes!" said Sandy feelingly, "I’ve a notion, lads, that they
+deserved a better fate."
+
+"The boss wouldn’t agree to that as fur as the dorgs is concerned.  As
+fer the emu, he’s neither good nor bad," grunted the old man.
+
+"Well, after all," broke in Joe, "it’s their nature, as old Simpson is
+always preaching to us in school.  They’re not to blame for following
+their instincts.  By jings! there’s no coward’s blood in these poor
+brutes,—they’re as brave as brave."
+
+But such moralising was beyond Nosey George.
+
+"Emus is sight enough in a way, an’ only eats grass an’ roots,—but
+dingos! they’re vermin, an’ any death’s good enough fur them.  By the
+hokey!" exclaimed he as he looked at the trap; "I’m blamed if here isn’t
+the blessed paw!"
+
+It was true.  The wretched beast’s foot was evidently so lacerated and
+broken by its efforts to escape, and in dragging the trap, that when it
+made the last and fatal spring the imprisoned paw parted from the leg in
+the very act, and that severance enabled it to reach the emu’s neck.
+Having secured the trap and the scalp, the group retraced their steps to
+where they had hitched the horses.
+
+The haul proved successful beyond measure.  To secure four dingoes in
+one scoop was a great stroke of luck.  Not so much luck, on reflection,
+as skilful management.  An amateur might have set a hundred traps with
+seeming skill and not have bagged a dog.  No one save a trapper like
+George could trap with any degree of certainty.
+
+"I s’pose you’ll bag the balance to-night," remarked Tom to the trapper
+when they had remounted.
+
+"No jolly fear!  Never catch any more along this line."
+
+"How’s that?"
+
+"Why, d’yer think a dingo’s no sense?  Be gosh! all the calves in
+creation wuddent tempt what’s left of the vermin to come along this
+track again.  Wish we’d a’ got the old dog, though."
+
+"What are you going to do next?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Fust an’ foremost thing is to collect the traps, then we’ll burn the
+weaners."
+
+"Won’t you try for the other dogs?"
+
+"My oath, won’t I?"
+
+"Give us your programme, George, there’s a good fellow."
+
+"I’ll try ’em about Razorback with the traps, as soon as they’ve
+quietened down a bit.  They’ve been scared out of their precious wits by
+this ’ere business."
+
+In due time the party arrived at the homestead. Mr. M’Intyre expressed
+his gratification at the result of the trapper’s work, and praised his
+skill.  He further bade George continue his work until the beasts were
+exterminated, promising him a liberal reward should he achieve this end.
+
+The boys related with great gusto, to an almost incredulous household,
+the particulars of the fight to a finish.
+
+The trapper fixed his camp in the hills, and employed his best
+endeavours to trap the remaining dingoes with but partial success,
+securing one only.  The old dingo, which on a former occasion had left
+two of his claws in a trap, and now had received this additional fright
+through the ensnarement of his comrades, was not to be lured by any
+device, however crafty.  George, who knew their run intimately,
+surrounded them with traps.  ’Twas all in vain, set them never so
+wisely.
+
+This defiance and immunity irritated the old man beyond endurance, and
+he swore by all the dignities to get their scalps, if it took him till
+the crack of doom.
+
+As he was camped on the ranges, in the vicinity of Razorback, his weekly
+ration was taken out to him by the boys, who were keen on this matter.
+They had been out twice with the rations, and now were being sent out
+the third time.  What befel them on that trip will be related in the
+next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XVIII*
+
+                      *THE CHASE, AND ITS SEQUEL*
+
+
+    "A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,
+      Proclaim a hunting morn;
+    Before the sun rises away we go,—
+      The sleep of the sluggard we scorn."
+        OLD SONG.
+
+
+"Now then, sleepies,—up you get!" cried Sandy in the early morning, as
+he performed his usual preliminary of whipping off the bed-clothes from
+the sleepy-headed Joe and Tom.
+
+"Sun’s laughing at you through the windows.  Come, Master Hawkins!"
+cried he with a grin as he tumbled that grunting individual on to the
+floor, piling the bed-clothes on top of him, and then seating himself on
+the wriggling pile.  "If soft measures won’t avail I am prepared to
+adopt severe ones."
+
+Tom, now thoroughly aroused, and as peppery as you like, shouted and
+yelled and writhed, getting his arm at last round his persecutor, the
+laughing Sandy, and by a violent effort pulling him on to the broad of
+his back, thus reversing their positions.
+
+"You red-headed Scotchman, I’ll teach you meddle with—" pommel—"me
+again"—pommel, pommel.
+
+Here a cold douche arrested the uplifted arm of the irate Tom, and took
+his breath for a moment, as it descended upon the prone bodies,
+accompanied by sundry "ouchs" and shrill yells.  As the boys scrambled
+to their feet they joined forces and rushed the dodging Joe, who, after
+a few ineffectual dives, was caught and jolly well punched.
+
+The usual early morning diversion ended, the lads, rosy with health and
+brimming over with animal spirits—the essence of good nature for all
+their rough play—dressed with haste and made for the stockyard, to pick
+their steeds.
+
+This occupied their time till the seven o’clock breakfast, after which
+they secured from the storeman the rations for the trapper.
+
+"Now Sandy, my boy, ye’ll no forget to tell George what I named at
+breakfast."
+
+"M-yes, about the dingoes, father?"
+
+"No, stupid.  Didna I ask you to tell him that, dingoes or no dingoes,
+he is to come next week at the latest, to handle the colts?"
+
+"Oh yes, dad, I won’t forget.  I expect he’ll growl a bit, as he’s mad
+on getting the dogs and the reward.  He’s quite cranky over it."
+
+"He’ll come richt enough if ye gie him my order."
+
+The trapper’s camp, as previously stated, was situated about eleven
+miles from the homestead.  Four miles or so from home the track
+roughened, and became what is known as broken country, all hills and
+gullies, for the most part very rocky, and heavily wooded in places.
+
+The boys’ progress was but slow, owing to the nature of the ground, and
+it took them nearly three hours to reach the camp, which they found
+unoccupied.  After cooeeing in vain for the absentee, they proceeded to
+light a fire in order to boil the billy, spreading the substantial lunch
+which Mrs. M’Intyre had furnished them.
+
+"Bother old Nosey; wish he’d turn up!" exclaimed Sandy, when the boys
+had finished their repast.  "We can’t go till he comes.  There’d be no
+end of a row if we went home without delivering the message."
+
+"Oh, he’ll be here before long," interjected Joe.  "I vote we do a camp
+in the shade for an hour or two; it’s hot enough to fry a steak."
+
+This was good advice, and the boys made themselves as comfortable as
+circumstances permitted under the shade of the trees.  So the hours
+passed without any sign of the trapper.
+
+"Well, I declare," exclaimed Tom for the twentieth time in the course of
+the last hour, "it’s too bad of Nosey. I’m full up of waitin’ here with
+nothing to do.  Can’t you leave a message somehow for the ole cuss?"
+
+"How is it to be done, Hawkins?"
+
+"Oh bother! write a note, of course."
+
+"Well, you are a greeney, Tom.  Where’s the pen, ink, and paper to come
+from?"
+
+"Why, hasn’t ole Nosey——?"
+
+"Old Nosey, be hanged!  Of course he hasn’t, any more than he’s got a
+dress suit and a toilet mirror."
+
+"I’ve got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.
+
+"No good in the world; where’s the paper to come from; an’ supposin’ we
+had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads, writing desks, and whatever else
+you like to name in the scribbling line, what good ’ud it all be?"
+
+"Meaning——?"
+
+"Meanin’ this, you dunderheads—it’s got to be read."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well!—of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns, hodges, and
+idiots that ever I came across——!"
+
+"Here, draw it mild, young porridge-pot.  There’s two to one against
+you: mind that, you red herring!"
+
+"I’ll _mind_ more than that, if I am the son of a Scot, which is no
+great disgrace, after all," replied Sandy jeeringly. "But look here and
+listen, chiels.  I’ll tell you a story—
+
+"Once upon a time, when pigs were called swine an’ monkeys chewed
+tobacco, there lived a bully English captain, the commander of a man o’
+war.  This frigate, sailing up the channel on her return from foreign
+parts, sighted a French ship, not more’n about twice her size. Instead
+of closing with the Frenchy slap bang, an’ givin’ her what-for, she
+turned tail an’ showed her a clean pair of heels.  This outrageous
+proceeding on the part of a British sea-dog demanded instant
+investigation, and so the jolly captain was promptly court-martialled.
+After the case had been put by the prosecuting officer, and not denied
+by the prisoner, he was asked by the president of the court why he did
+not engage the enemy.  The captain, in reply, said that he had ten
+reasons.  ’Name them,’ says the boss officer.  ’The first is: I had no
+powder; it was all used up.’  ’Enuf sed,’ sings out the judge. ’We don’t
+want the other nine.  You’re discharged, my man, without a stain on your
+character.’"
+
+"Oh, that’s all right for a yarn," cried Joe; "but I want to know what
+it’s got to do with your father’s message to Nosey?"
+
+"Just as much as it’s got to do with the grass of a duck in a forty-acre
+paddock," jeered Sandy.
+
+"It’s a story with a moral, boys; and as Captain Kettle—no, I mean
+Cuttle, says in that book of Dickens, the moral of the story lies in the
+application."
+
+"Apply it, my wise man."
+
+"Here then: old Nosey has ten reasons for not gettin’ a written
+message."
+
+"Name the first!"
+
+"He can’t read."
+
+"Now then, Joe," said Tom, turning to that worthy, "what’s the verdict
+of the court?"
+
+"I s’pose we’ll have to discharge the prisoner without a character,"
+replied Joe with a wink.
+
+"Blow these bally flies!" cried Tom, after an interval. "They’re here in
+millions.  Faugh!—splutter—there’s one down my jolly throat.  Say, Joe,
+what are you goin’ to do?"
+
+"Boil the billy," replied that youth laconically.  "May as well do
+something, an’ kill time."
+
+So the hours sped until the sun was well on its descending curve in the
+late afternoon.  Their patience was now thoroughly exhausted in waiting
+for the trapper.  They canvassed the reasons for his non-appearance,
+until they were mortally sick of discussing the subject.
+
+"Tell you what, boys, message or no message, Nosey or no Nosey," cried
+Sandy at last, "we must make tracks for home.  We are not to blame for
+old George’s absence. They’ll be wondering what’s become of us.  It’ll
+take us all our time to get there before dark as it is.  At the worst,
+we’ll have to come out to-morrow."
+
+It took but a few minutes after this to secure the horses, saddle them,
+call the dog which had accompanied them to heel, and set out on the
+return journey.
+
+After jogging briskly for a couple of miles or so the cattle dog, a
+strong wiry hound and a noted warrior among his species, began to sniff
+about, uttering a series of low, short barks.
+
+"Hello, Brindle, what’s up?  Got ’possum scent? Bandicoot, I ’spect.
+Fetch him, boy!"
+
+Just at this moment Brindle made a dash forward, what time a big
+dog-dingo started out from under an old log a hundred yards or so ahead.
+The route taken by the chase lay up a long gully.  This gully was, more
+correctly speaking, a depression, lacking abrupt and precipitous sides,
+and was comparatively free from rocks.
+
+The boys hesitated a moment, but the temptation was too strong.  Joe,
+clapping his spurs to his steed’s sides, started off with a clatter, the
+others following pell-mell. The gully was long and winding, and to this,
+for some reason, the dingo stuck.  The hunters now began to gain a
+little on the beast, and were in full sight, the cattle dog just holding
+his distance.  At length the gully petered out at the base of a ridge,
+over which the quarry sped, the dog and boys in full chase.  The other
+side of the ridge was more precipitous, and covered with bracken and
+stunted bushes.  Down this the pursuit thundered, Joe in the lead and
+well to the cattle dog’s heels: the dingo leading by not more than
+seventy yards.  So absorbed was the boy in the hunt that he remained in
+ignorance of a calamity that was even now happening to one of his mates.
+
+Tom’s horse, in bounding down the ridge, and when close to the bottom,
+put his foot in a wombat’s[#] hole that was hidden by bracken.  Over
+came horse and rider, Tom striking the ground on head and shoulder,
+while Sandy, who was about a length behind, narrowly averted collision
+with the fallen steed and boy.  As quickly as possible he pulled up his
+galloping animal, shouting out as he did so to Joe, who was too far away
+and too much engrossed in the chase to hear the call.
+
+
+[#] Wombat—-a burrowing marsupial.
+
+
+Returning to the collapsed pair, Sandy jumped off and lifted Tom’s head,
+for the lad lay stiff.  His appearance frightened the boy as he lay
+still and death-like.  To his great joy, however, on feeling Tom’s
+wrist, Sandy detected a feeble pulse-beat.  Laying his stricken mate
+gently down in the bracken, he made a hasty examination of his head.  It
+bore no trace of wound, save some gravel scratches and a nasty bruise
+under the left eye.  The relieved boy hurried to the bottom of the
+ridge, where by good hap was a rill of water.  Filling his hat he
+returned and laved the brow and wrists of his companion.  After some
+twenty minutes or so Tom began to stir, and quickly regained
+consciousness.  No bones were broken, but the boy was badly shaken, and
+all thoughts of further pursuit were out of the question.  The horse, by
+a miracle, was without hurt.
+
+"You’re a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few minutes.  "From
+the way you crashed down I made sure every blessed bone in your body was
+broken.  How do you feel now, ole boss?"
+
+"Oh, I’m all right," replied Tom feebly.  "Shoulder’s the worst.  It’s
+not dislocated, but it pains a lot.  Phew! but it does hurt when I move
+it.  I expect it felt the full force of the tumble.  But—where’s Joe?"
+
+"Joe’s ahead.  Goodness only knows where he’s got to by now.  He hasn’t
+a ghost’s show of getting the dingo if he makes for the hills."
+
+"I tell you what," continued the boy; "we’ll get off home as soon as you
+feel fit.  It’s no use waiting for Joe. He can easily catch us.  You’ll
+have to go slow, old man, you know."
+
+This was true, for Tom’s shoulder was in an agony of ache, which the
+movement of the horse, after they had mounted, intensified to an almost
+unbearable degree.
+
+It was long after dark ere the pair sighted the homestead lights.  They
+had not been overtaken by Joe, much to their surprise.  They were met at
+the slip-rails by Harry and Jacky, who had just been dispatched to look
+for them, as the family were getting uneasy at their prolonged absence.
+The men returned with the lads to the house.  Beyond a severe word to
+Sandy for being tempted to pursue the impossible when on the homeward
+track, the squatter justified their act of returning from the camp; also
+in not waiting for Joe.
+
+"I expect the rascal will turn up in a few minutes.  His horse would
+soon be knocked up in that country, and he would therefore be unable to
+catch you after he abandoned the dingo.  The cheek of you boys, to think
+you could run it down in that country!"
+
+The minutes sped without sight or sound of the huntsman. Anxiety
+deepened in the women; the men, too, became uneasy.
+
+"Some one ought to go after the lad," broke in the perturbed mother, at
+length.  "The poor laddie must have met trouble.  His horse has knocked
+up.  Perhaps he has lost himself.  Perhaps he——!"
+
+"Perhaps nothing of the kind has happened, except that the horse may
+have knocked up.  You women will always jump to the worst conclusions.
+Willy, you and I’ll ride back a bit; come you too Sandy, if you’re not
+too tired."
+
+Mr. M’Intyre feared more than he showed.  It would be easy enough after
+all, he reflected, for a boy who was ignorant of the lay of the country
+and who had no experience in bush travelling, to lose his way.  He
+determined, therefore, to take his son with him, so that he might lead
+them to the spot where the accident occurred, if it were necessary.
+Accordingly the three set off on the track.  Fortunately it was
+moonlight and clear, so that they were able to make good headway through
+the bush.
+
+
+It is time, however, to return to Joe.  That ardent hunter had followed
+the chase for some distance ere he missed his pals.  What with the
+severity of the pace and the increasing roughness of the course, its
+twistings and turnings, all his attention was focussed on the quarry. If
+he did think at all of his companions, it was to picture them following
+close behind.  But in the heat of the chase he had little thought for
+others.  When it did dawn upon him that he had outdistanced his
+companions, as happened eventually, he attributed little importance to
+that.  They, no doubt, had good reason for slackening their pace.  His
+horse, as he well knew, had a dash of speed denied to theirs.  Maybe
+their steeds had caved in.  Anyhow, he was having a glorious time, and
+"the finish" was touched with roseate hues to his imagination.
+
+His horse was justifying the reputation given of him to Joe by Harry,
+the stockman, one day when they were discussing the relative merits of
+their mounts.
+
+"For a hack," that worthy had remarked, "there’s nothing on the run
+equal to the little thing you’re ridin’. With a light weight up like
+yourself she can show a dash of foot an’ staying powers that’ll take a
+tremendous lot of lickin’."
+
+This was a just criticism, as events were proving. Still, the pace was
+beginning to tell, and Joe was forced to ease the mare somewhat, even at
+the risk of losing sight of the quarry.  The rough ridges, too, made the
+going to be precarious.
+
+Things were as bad with Master Dingo, however.  The pursuit was hot
+enough to extend him to the fullest.  He was always in view, and could
+not shake off the foe.  As long as he remained in sight it was
+impossible to resort to any trick by which he might gain time or wind.
+The ordinary pace of the dingo when on the chase may be described as a
+lope.  This can be kept up the live-long day, and thus wear down the
+fleetest victim.  To keep extended at full gallop in this unwonted
+fashion is not at all to the dingo’s liking, and the sooner he can reach
+the distant scrub, which is his objective, the better pleased he will
+be.  The cattle dog, though not ordinarily a hunter, is strong and
+tough, and possessed of a good pair of bellows.  He started the game
+with the utmost alacrity, and now continues it with the greatest vim and
+determination.
+
+So the chase continues, and is now but little more than a mile from the
+scrub belt which fringes the base of the hills.  To this ark of safety,
+therefore, the dingo strains every muscle, and seizes every small
+advantage which his instinct discerns.  No less strenuous is the cattle
+dog. He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs to win.  In
+this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry over bush and brake, over
+stony ridges and across intersecting gullies.
+
+Within half a mile of the scrub the country flattens out, and this gives
+an advantage to the cattle dog, who closes up.  Joe’s horse is now in
+distress.  The course has been long and rough, the pace severe, and the
+grass-fed steed is weakening, can make no headway, is indeed losing in
+the race.  The lad sees this, and chevies the dog on, for he can plainly
+mark now that unless the chase be ended on this side of the scrub all
+hope must be abandoned, Oh, to win!  A supremely glorious thing were he
+to achieve the impossible!  There are chances.  Lots of things might
+happen yet.  On, on, good doggie!  Catch him, Brindle!  Hurrah, Brindle
+is closing; is surely creeping up!
+
+They are now about three hundred yards from the timber belt, and the
+dingo is slowly but surely being overhauled.  Visions of the scalp as a
+proud trophy fill the boy’s imagination.  If only Brindle may seize his
+victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute its quietus
+with the stirrup iron!  Brindle is now not more than four lengths
+behind, and the beasts are still a hundred yards from the scrub.
+
+"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe across the widely
+intervening distance.  The voice is borne faintly to the dog’s ears, and
+nerves him to heroic effort in this the final stage of the struggle, the
+last lap, so to speak.  Breath is too precious to be wasted in answering
+cry, but the spurt of the hound speaks volumes: "I shall catch him,
+master, never fear: I am gaining; but ’’twill be on the post."
+
+Both dogs, wild and domestic, are stretched to their fullest extent.  It
+is the crowning burst.  They are labouring heavily, staggering, and
+rolling in their stride. The pace is slow but hard.  It is a question of
+endurance. Every ounce of strength in each body is laid under
+contribution.  Once within the scrub the chances in favour of the dingo
+will immediately increase a hundredfold, for in doubling and dodging
+through the densely timbered belts the native dog has no equal.
+
+Only thirty yards now lie between the dingo and his salvation—the good
+thick scrub that will swallow him up; but—the breath of the pursuer
+blows hot upon him. Throwing his head over his shoulder for the fraction
+of a second, the desperate beast sees that only by a miracle can he
+escape.  The adversary is upon his quarters, and in another second the
+brute’s fangs will be buried in his back.  It is a supreme moment.  Now
+or never!  Making a super-canine effort, the fear-stricken thing draws
+away from its enemy in the last dozen strides.  Saved, saved! Alas,
+alas!  Right at the very fringe, and within a single step of safety, he
+tumbles in a heap, and with a convulsive gasp rolls over and gives up
+the ghost: the prolonged exertions have broken his heart.
+
+You can work your will on the hunted one now, Brindle: no need to fear
+the vicious snap that was reserved for you should the worst happen.  But
+the dog’s instincts inform him that all power of resistance has gone
+from that mute and still form; indeed, he has no strength to worry
+should the call be made: the last spurt has left him without a vestige
+of strength.  And so, when Joe appeared upon the scene a few minutes
+later, it was to behold the motionless dingo, and by his side, with
+lolling tongue and cavernous mouth, the panting and exhausted Brindle.
+
+In a moment the boy has slid from his horse, and is dancing a grotesque
+fandango, expressive of his unbounded joy.  But, when in a calmer moment
+he understood the tragedy of it from the dingo’s side of things, a
+feeling of compassion possessed him, yet joy persisted.  "He’s a noble
+fellow, and has given me the grandest sport I’ve ever had.  I’m sorry,
+and yet I’m glad," quoth the lad. "What’ll old Nosey say to this!  My
+stars, ain’t the boys out of it!  Wonder where the poor beggars have got
+to. Hope nothing’s happened to them.  Poor beast!" apostrophising the
+dingo, "you made a royal struggle and deserved to escape, but the fates
+were against you.  And you, good old Brindle; my word, you’ve covered
+yourself with glory, sir!  Poor fellow, you are done up; can only blink
+your pleasure; can’t wag even the tip of your tail. Good doggie, I’m
+proud of you!"
+
+"I’m blest if I don’t skin the dingo," exclaimed he, after a moment’s
+pause.  "I’ll keep it as a trophy.  Something to look at in after years
+when I’m a grey-beard," chuckled the youth.  So saying, he whipped out
+his knife.  Joe had never before skinned a dingo, but as he had
+performed that office on many a wallaby and ’possum he was fairly
+expert, and in a few minutes had achieved his object.  Rolling the pelt
+in the approved manner, the youth bound it with a stout piece of cord
+which he extracted from his pocket, and fastened it to the saddle ring.
+
+"Next thing’s to get some water.  My word!  I’m as dry as leather, an’
+could drink a tank dry.  The animals, too, are clean done up, an’ I’ll
+get nothing out of them unless they have water.  Good gracious! why—the
+sun’s down, an’ it’ll soon be dark."
+
+Not until this moment did the young hunter realise his position.  "Must
+be miles and miles off the track," muttered he as he took a brief survey
+of his surroundings. "I’ll have to make tracks with a vengeance!  Won’t
+do to be nipped here.  Let’s see; yes, the way back is across that flat
+for a certainty, and then over yon stony ridge. Beyond that we bend to
+the right till we reach a rocky creek."  In this way the hunter strove
+to recall the innumerable bends and curves taken in the chase.  "Ah,
+here’s the moon rising: good old moon!"
+
+Joe had plenty of heart, nerve, and resource.  His good spirits were
+proverbial.  Yet the situation was not at all inviting.  Fourteen miles
+or so from home on the eve of night.  A complete stranger to this rough
+and trackless region, and his horse badly used up!  These were things
+calculated to try the nerves and tax the courage of the benighted youth.
+
+He made small bones of these, however, and started off at a slow pace on
+his return.  The dog had recovered sufficiently to drag himself along at
+the horse’s heels. The boy eagerly scanned the country for signs of
+water for this would afford the greatest relief to man and beasts: all
+of whom felt an intolerable thirst.  At last they dropped across a small
+pool in a stony creek, to their great delight.
+
+Both horse and dog drank as if they would never stop. This, the boy
+felt, would be bad for the animals, and he sought to stay them.  He with
+difficulty checked the horse, but the dog would not quit lapping until
+he was as tight as the proverbial drum.  Joe himself drank sparingly,
+and then moved onward.  The dog soon began to vomit, and appeared to be
+on the verge of collapse. So after vain waiting and entreaty the lad was
+forced to leave it behind, in the hope that it would recover during the
+night, when he had small doubt as to its ability to find its way home.
+The horse went easier, now that she had assuaged her thirst.  All light
+had vanished save that of the moon, which shed an uncertain light,
+making puzzling shadows on the rough ground.
+
+"It’s time I was at the head of the long gully," muttered the lad.
+"From there it’s only a mile or so to the home track.  Get up Jill, and
+moosey along.  The other chaps are home by this time I expect, and
+they’re wondering what’s become of me."
+
+Strange to say, the long gully refused to appear, until it dawned on Joe
+at last that he was off the track.  None but those who have experienced
+it can understand the weird feeling that possesses one in the dawn of
+that consciousness.  To be in the lonely Australian bush, where the
+silence is an oppression, is something like being cast adrift in
+mid-ocean on a raft, with nothing in sight save the wild waste of
+waters.
+
+That he had lost his bearings became increasingly evident to the
+wanderer as he moved along.  He became a prey to disquieting qualms and
+the creeping chill of apprehension.  Gruesome accounts of the fate of
+lost travellers had often been related at the home fireside, and these
+memories awoke in his mind.
+
+"I’m off the track all right; still, I’m sure to cut across the
+Razorback trail; it’ll lie over in that direction."  After a pause he
+determined to adhere to the way that he had been pursuing for some
+little while.  On then "breast forward."  There is no semblance of a
+track, and presently the lad gets into very difficult country. It would
+be bad enough to travel through in daylight, but now the trouble is
+accentuated; yet the boy, with strong faith in his ultimate emergence
+from this chaos, bravely faces the situation.  Up hill, down dale,
+across gullies, forcing the patches of scrub, slithering down ridges,
+going on hands and knees, ever and anon, to feel for the hoof-prints on
+what appeared to be the longed-for track—an unceasing march goes on.
+
+At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief over a tree root,
+and tumbles to mother earth.  The rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare,
+who has strained her fetlock.  What is to be done now?  It is a serious
+mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation. The only
+thing to be done is to relieve his steed of saddle and bridle, cache his
+accoutrements, and trudge along on foot.
+
+"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad. "Poor Jill!  I
+don’t like leaving you; but it won’t be for long, my beauty.  Your
+master will send some one to look after you to-morrow.  To-morrow!—Why,
+it must be past midnight now!  Good-bye, Jill."
+
+On speeds the gallant youth, whistling and singing snatches as he tramps
+the interminable bush.  "Might be worse," he reiterates in thought.
+There’s a chill in the midnight air, and the walk will warm him nicely.
+On, then, through the still hours!  Not even the hollow note of the
+night-owl or the familiar thump made by the feeding marsupial breaks the
+monotony of silence. No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the
+traveller’s boots on the rough ground.  How long drawn out the day has
+been.  It seems an eternity since he dowsed Tom and Sandy on the bedroom
+floor.  Lucky beggars, they are snug and sound under the blankets,
+dreaming the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is tramp,
+tramp, tramping.  At length the thought of his comrades’ sweet repose
+fills him with longing for rest and sleep.
+
+"How long ago it is since I broke my fast?  Must be eight, ten, twelve
+hours; yes, twelve mortal hours! Eat!  Oh, for a slice of damper and
+salt junk!  That were a feed if you like.  Puddings, tarts, cakes!  Bah!
+Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey’s damper, an’ a slab of that corn-beef."
+
+What a sinking seems to fill his being!  How heavy his boots have grown!
+How steep those everlasting ridges have become!  How lovely to crouch
+down on that patch of bracken—for five minutes only!  He must stop and
+rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get his wind and ease his
+tired limbs.  Shall he——?  But no! he must first cut the track—then!
+His limbs are trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall.  On,
+on—to the station track!  Onward, then, creeps the tottering, stumbling
+lad.  Whistle and song have long ceased.  Fatigue reigns supreme, and
+sheer weariness confuses his brain, and bears heavily on will.
+Mechanically now, the dear lad staggers over the pathless waste.
+
+But see!  Yes, there is a change.  What is that line ahead?  Is it on
+the ground or in the air?  It rises and falls in the moonlight, but
+still persists.  The ground, too, is getting smoother.  The ridges have
+disappeared. Hurrah!  Is not this the end?  A few steps more now,
+and—the station track!
+
+On trudges the lost boy with rising hope.  But, alas! the line thickens,
+darkens, deepens, until it stands out solid, an impregnable scrub.  How
+weird it all is; how awful!  In a moment the benighted lad is stripped
+of hope.  He is frightened beyond words.  With a momentary strength born
+of despair the wretched youth coasts the dismal scrub, seeking an
+opening in vain.  Suddenly he stumbles over a soft, dark mass, and falls
+to the ground.  Putting out a hand instinctively, he touches the
+substance.  Great Cæsar, it is the dingo!  Yes, it has happened to poor
+Joe Blain as it has to many a one more experienced in the ways of the
+bush—he has circled!
+
+This shock is the last blow.  Nature is drained of her resources and can
+hold out no longer.  The lad sinks back into a half-swoon, which
+presently merges into a dreamless sleep.
+
+                     *      *      *      *      *
+
+"Joe, old fellow, wake up!  Wake up, I say; Joe—Joe—d’ye hear?"
+
+"W-w-w-what is it?  Drat you, lemme lone.  ’Snot mornin’.  There’s
+goo-good fler, so s-s-sleep——"
+
+Joe Blain, eyes sealed, dead with sleep, rolls over on the ground, and
+never was any creature more gently rocked in the arms of Morpheus than
+he.
+
+Another voice now breaks the silence, sharp and penetrating.
+
+"Hi! hi! there, you sleepy lubber.  Are ye going to lie there all day?
+Rouse up, laddie!"
+
+This imperative speech was accompanied by vigorous shakings and
+rollings.
+
+"Well, well," grunted the half-awakened boy, "sounds like Mr. M’Intyre’s
+voice.  Never knew him to come into the room be-before.  Wish they’d
+leave us alone. Can’t open"—and the next moment Joe had relapsed into
+sleep.  Only for a moment, though.  The next he was taken neck and crop,
+lifted to his feet, and shaken violently, what time a voice rasped his
+ear drum: "Wake up, wake up, ye young Rip Van Winkle!"
+
+Opening his eyes, the dazed Joe starts at the unwonted scene.  He is not
+in his bedroom, then!  What on earth has happened?  Who are these that
+surround him? Why—he’s in the bush!  And then the truth dawns upon the
+weary and weakened lad; he was really lost, and—thank God he is found!
+
+He greets the squatter with a wan smile, and, with the grace
+characteristic of the boy, begins to thank him. But Mr. M’Intyre,
+patting him affectionately on the back while supporting him with his
+arm, extracts the cork of a pocket flask with his teeth, and puts it to
+the lad’s mouth.
+
+"Tak’ a pu’ at this, ma laddie; it’ll revive ye wonderfu’."
+
+The brandy worked wonders on the boy, so unaccustomed to it.
+
+"We—we ran the dingo down, sir—Jill and Brin—why, here’s ole Brindle!
+Left him at the water-hole; too sick to follow.  The horse too——"
+
+"Horse’s all right, Joe.  We picked her up at the water-hole, where
+we’ll leave her for a few days, as she’s limping badly.  Can you sit on
+the saddle before me?"  Joe is sure he can, and no time is lost in
+starting homewards.  M’Intyre, to whom the country was an open book,
+knew a short cut that would take them home in ten miles.
+
+During the ride Joe recited his experiences to the squatter, who in
+return related how Willie had picked up the tracks, sighting first the
+horse and then the dog, and followed the trail till they came upon the
+sleeping lad.
+
+It was a weary but not unhappy boy who reached the homestead at length.
+The household, duly apprised by Willy, who had ridden on ahead, were in
+readiness to cheer the conquering hero.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIX*
+
+                        *CONCERNING WILD HORSES*
+
+
+    "Now welcome, welcome, master mine,
+      Thrice welcome to the noble chase:
+    Nor earthly sport, nor sport divine,
+      Can take such honourable place."
+        _Ballad of the Wild Huntsmen._
+
+
+"Where’s Floss and Jeannie, Harry?  Don’t see ’em in the yard this
+morning."
+
+"No, sir, they didn’t come in with the others."
+
+"Hoo’s that, mon?"
+
+"I harsk’d Jacky about ’em when he yarded the others, an’ he said they
+wasn’t with the rest.  Too lazy, I bet, to look after ’em."
+
+"But I dinna see Tallboy or Dolly, eyther," said the squatter as he
+peered through the rails at the horses.
+
+"I speck they’re with the mares down by the dam, or p’raps campin’ on
+the box ridge."
+
+"Weel, see that they’re no missed the morn.  Here you, Jacky," to the
+black boy; "come along here."
+
+"What’s matter, Boss?"
+
+"What for you bin no yard all yarraman?"[#]
+
+
+[#] Yarraman—native name for horse.
+
+
+"Bail me see some, Boss."
+
+"You bin getting lazy.  I’ll hae to gie you a taste o’ the stock whip."
+
+"Me no ’fraid you, Boss," replied the black with a grin. "You not like
+my ole boss, Cap’n White.  Him murry quick with whip.  Sandy bin tellin’
+me you only gammon."
+
+"See that you drive in every hoof to-morrow morning, or, Sandy or no
+Sandy, ye’ll get a surprise, my boy."
+
+"I cam across some brumby tracks yesterday aifternoon in the springers’
+paddock," continued the squatter to Harry, the head stockman.  "Meant to
+hae spoken aboot it afore."
+
+"They’re a rare nuisance, they brutes!  There maun be a gap in the
+dog-leg fence at the far side for ’em to ha’e got in.  You’d better tak’
+Jacky and Denny at once, and mak’ the fence secure.  That pack o’
+rubbage’ll be doing a lot o’ mischief among the springers wi’ their
+galloping.  Ye’d better go across by the horse-paddock, an’ see if ye
+can get a sicht o’ the mares.  It’s almost as near as the other track."
+
+"All right, Boss.  Jacky, you go to Ah Fat an’ tell ’im to put up some
+grub.  Git the billy an’ tots, an’ bring ’em along.  Tell Denny I want
+’im.  He’s working in the garden."
+
+"Oh, I say," bawling after the retreating boy; "tell Denny to git the
+small cross-cut, an’ a couple o’ tommies, an’ a bit o’ wire to do the
+mendin’ with.  Slither away, now, ye son of a black buck!"
+
+In a few minutes the men are on their way through the horse-paddock to
+the slip-rails in the far corner, to carry on the repairing work in the
+springers’ enclosure.
+
+It may be explained to the uninitiated that the horse-paddock is that
+nearest the homestead, where the station horses in use are kept; a
+larger or smaller mob according to requirements.  These are yarded at
+daylight every morning.  When the horses required for the day’s work are
+selected the balance are turned loose for the day. The springers’
+paddock, reserved for the breeding cows, was a large one; one of the
+best on the run, in fact. The men as they rode along kept a sharp
+look-out for the missing steeds.  Separating as they neared the
+dam—which was a large sheet of water backing up in the gullies for a
+mile or so—they rode on either side, coming together at the box-tree
+ridge where the slip-rails were located.  No sign of the horses!
+
+"Strange, chaps!  Wonder where they can be.  Floss an’ Dolly are fair
+terrors for hidin’.  But—hello! there’s the slip-rails down!"
+
+Sure enough, the two topmost rails were down.  Who could have done it?
+
+The mystery is soon solved; the ground on the outside being trampled
+with horse hoofs.  It told its tale of cause and effect quickly enough
+to these bushmen.
+
+"The blessed brumbies hev got in an’ coaxed ’em out, sure enough.  It’s
+the warrigal’s[#] mob for a quid.  Fifty of ’em, if there’s a hoof.
+
+[#] Warrigal—wild, savage; applied indifferently by the natives to
+animals and men.
+
+"How d’yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"
+
+The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum at this kind of work.
+
+"Why, it’s the ole warrigal’s work o’ course.  Trust ’im fur findin’ out
+a way o’ gettin’ up a flirt with the ladies.  He’s the cutest cuss in
+Australia, bar none.  Full o’ blood he is too.  New Warrior strain outer
+a great arab mare of Kurnel Dumaresque.  I know ’im well, fur I was with
+Captain White just after he’d bought both dam an’ foal from the ole
+Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque swopped ’em fur a stud
+Hereford ’e was terribly struck on.
+
+"Yes; he was allus a wild un.  My word, you should ’a’ seen ’im as a
+yearling!  Allus leadin’ the other youngsters into mischief; breakin’
+into the lucem paddocks, an’ chasin’ the dorgs till they was in mortial
+terror of ’im; gettin’ mad fits among the horses; kickin’ an’ squealin’
+an’ chiveyin’ em’, till one day the Captain gits in a towerin’ rage an’
+says to me an’ one-eyed Bob, who was workin’ fur ’im then: ’Run in that
+dad-busted, bloomin’ brute an’ fix ’im; it’s the only way ter take the
+divvil outer ’im.’
+
+"You see, ’e was a grand, upstandin’ beast as a colt, an’ the Captain
+wunst thought to have ’im fur stud purposes, fur all ’e was a mix breed;
+but ’e soon seed that was outer the question.
+
+"Well, as I was sayin’, the Captain orders me an’ one-eyed Bob to yard
+’im.  ’Twarn’t no easy job nuther, I tell you; for the brute soon
+cottoned what we was up to.  At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards
+’im, and with ’im a couple o’ colts an’ a lot er fillies.  Bob threw the
+lasso a dozen times afore ’e noosed ’im, cause ’e kept dodgin’ in an’
+out among the fillies.  It was the deuce’s own job to separate ’em.
+
+"At larst, I say, Bob fixed ’im, an’ didn’t ’e perform. Howe’er, Bob
+’olds ’im, an’ I gits ’old of the slack to give a turn round the post,
+so’s ter bring ’im up.  But all of a suddent ’e makes a mad rush at Bob,
+sendin’ ’im sprawlin’ with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer my
+hands, an’ streaked fur the slip-rails—six on ’em there wor—an’ by
+’evans! jumps like a cat at ’em; comin’ down with ’is belly on top,
+smashin’ the rail, but fallin’ on the outside; never, of course,
+breakin’ ’is bloomin’ neck—an’ galloped orf like mad.
+
+"Must ’a’ bin red mad sure enuff, fur ’e broke through the wire fence
+the Cap had round ’is ’orse-paddock; and that’s the larst we seen of ’im
+fur months.
+
+"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin’ after some steers, when
+I come acrost ’im in a mob of brumbies he’d chummed up with.  ’E was
+’aving a pretty rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o’
+stallions in the mob as wasn’t agreeable fur ’is company in the ’arem;
+an that’s ’ow we come ter git ’im a few years after, I ’spect."
+
+"Thin you did git hould iv th’ grey divvil?" exclaimed Denny.
+
+"Yes; we got ’im all right.  But, look here, chaps, no time’s to be
+lost.  These beggars may be still in the paddock.  If not, they’ve got
+out the way they came in, an’ are ’eadin’ fur the ranges.  We’ll cut
+across to the north end where the fence crosses Rocky Crick.  I ’spect
+that’s where they’ve broken in.  It looked a bit shaky a fortni’t ago,
+as I come by.  I don’t think they’ve got in at the dog-leg end, that the
+Boss spoke about.  Anyhow, we’ll try the Crick fust."
+
+A sharp ride of about four miles brought the men to the spot indicated
+by Harry.  It was a rocky bit of country, and sure enough they found the
+"shaky" post and rails lying on the ground.  The immediate cause of this
+was a big limb of a dry stringy-bark tree, which had fallen upon the
+weak spot and smashed it down.  The horse tracks about the spot showed
+conclusively that the mob had gone in and out by this means.
+
+According to Jacky, the black boy, the inward tracks were about three
+days old; the outward, a few hours. Without doubt, the brumbies had
+"nosed" the rails to which the mares had been attracted by their
+neighings, early in the night.  Then in the dawning of the morning they
+had moved out to one of their haunts in the ranges.
+
+"The only thing now is to get back an’ tell the Boss. ’E’ll be mad when
+he knows, you bet; thinks no end o’ Floss an’ Jeannie.  Put up the
+rails, boys, quick an’ lively."  In a few minutes the men had fixed up
+the broken panels securely, and then rode homewards.
+
+"Saay, Harry, me bhoy, how’d yees yard th’ ould stag, as ye was sayin’
+when ye was talkin’ forninst th’ slip-raales?
+
+"Wasn’t an old stag then, an’ isn’t now, fur that matter, the brute’s in
+’is prime yet.  Let’s see, ’e’s risin’ ’leven now, an’ we got ’im just
+afore I left the Captain fur the Boss here.  Lemme think.  Yes, it’s
+just over five year ago; he’d be about six, then.  Fur all his tricks,
+the two stallions had driven ’im off their beat.  ’E’d got a couple o’
+mares, though, an’ kep’ ’em in the range country on the out-station; but
+it was all of an accident that we got ’im.
+
+"One day me an’ the Captain was ridin’ through the run, havin’ a good
+look at the stock; fur we had a notion of cuttin’ out a mob o’ fats.
+Well, as I was sayin’, we was ridin’ along the back part of the run, an’
+we came acrost a couple o’ brumbies, each with a foal.  ’Stead o’
+scootin’, as they does in giniral, the mares galloped in a circle, but
+didn’t clear.
+
+"’It’s mighty strange,’ ses the Captain.  ’What are they ’angin’ about
+fur, an’ where’s their mate?  Never seed ’em parted afore.’  ’It is
+strange,’ ses I; ’an’ there’s only one thing to account fur it, an’ that
+is the cove’s about sumwheres ’andy.’
+
+"We moved on to a rocky gully that opens out on to a big plain.  At one
+place a log fence runs acrost to keep the stock in.  Bymby we comes
+plump onter it, an’, great gosh alive! if there weren’t the grey.  ’E
+seed us as soon as we spotted ’im, an’ set up a great squealin’ an’
+pawin’, but cuddn’t get away.  There ’e was, like a bandicoot in a
+V-trap.  ’E was caught by the off hind-leg, between two big logs that
+lay clost together.  ’E was jammed tight enough.  Wunder was ’e didn’t
+break a leg.
+
+"When the Cap saw the fix ’e was in, didn’t ’e just cuss fur joy.  Then
+’e sends me back to the hut, about two mile away, fur ropes, an’ ole
+Jack the keeper.  Well, I streaked fur the hut, you bet, an’ was there
+less’n no time. Soon me an’ Jack, with two green ’ide lassoes an’ an
+’emp one, also a axe, was on the spot.
+
+"When the ’orse sees the ropes ’e yelled, an’ roared, an’ pawed, an’
+snapped ’is teeth, fur all the world like a trapt dingo.  An’, wud you
+believe it? _the blarmy mares hadn’t follered us up_!  There they was
+just ahind us, whinneying and screamin’; their way o’ swearing an’
+cussin’ I s’pose.  Wish-I-may-die if we didn’t have to put the stock
+whip on ’em to roust ’em away.
+
+"’How are yer goin’ ter manage ’im,’ ses I to the Cap when I comes up
+with the things.
+
+"’I’ll soon let yer see,’ ses ’e.  ’Fust of all we’ll pass a rope round
+’is free ’ind-leg well up on to the shank. Then we’ll put another on the
+front fetlock an’ acrost ’is flanks.’
+
+"Well, it took us a goodish bit to fix ’im up.  I forgot ter say that we
+tied the third rope round ’is neck, an’ that was no easy job, fur every
+time the Cap threw the lasso he’d dodge it with ’is ’ed like a fightin’
+kangaroo. But, ter make a long story short, when we’d roped ’im, we
+levered one of the logs with saplin’s so’s ter git ’is other leg free.
+Then, didn’t ’e play up!  But by the time we’d given ’im arf a dozen
+falls, an’ two o’ them riglar croppers, ’e seed it was no use, throws up
+the sponge, an’ comes along quietly.
+
+"We didn’t give ’im any charnse, you bet, as ’e was such a sly demon.
+So we got ’im ter the stockyard at the ’ead station, a matter o’
+thirteen mile or so.  We put ’im in the crush fust, then got a ’evvy
+’alter on ’im, an’ tied it to ’is front off leg so’s ’e cuddent jump; in
+that way we fixed ’im fur the night.
+
+"Early nex’ morning, just as I was thinkin’ o’ gittin’ up, there comes a
+tremenjious ’ammerin’ an’ bangin’ at the door, shoutin’ out sumthin’ I
+cuddent understand. I jumps up an’ opens the door, an’ there was ole
+Jack singin’ out an’ makin’ a great fluster.
+
+"’What in thunder’s the matter, Jack?’ ses I.
+
+"’Warrigal’s gone!’ ses ’e, all tremblin’ like.  ’Cleared right out in
+the night.’
+
+"Off I rushes ter the yards, an’ sure enuff, the beast had cleared; yet
+the rails was up.
+
+"’’Ow the dickens ’e got out, Jack?’ ses I, lookin’ round.  Presently I
+comes ter the slip-rails, an’ soon spots ’ow ’e done it.  I’m blest if
+the ole cuss didn’t lay down ter it at the rails an’ ’riggled ’is way
+out sideways.  You cud see the ground all tore up by ’is ’oofs as ’e
+inched ’is way out.  There was a knot at the lower side o’ the rail, an’
+it was covered with ’air an’ blood, which shows what a tight squeeze it
+was."
+
+"But ’ow the blazes did he gat out iv th’ pathock whin he was
+knee-haltered?"
+
+"Like enuff ’e worked ’is ’edstall off as ’e ’riggled through.  We
+thought we’d made it tight enuff fur anythin’.  Anyways ’e cleared, an’,
+what’s more, ’e an’ the mares moved off the run an’ wasn’t ’eard of fur
+long, then ’e was found bossin’ a mob on Bullaroi."
+
+By this time the men had reached the homestead. Leaving the others at
+the stockyard, Harry proceeded to the house to break the bad news to the
+owner.
+
+The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the affair had taken.  Two
+of the horses were brood mares on which he set a high value, and for
+which he had given a big price.  They were full of breeding, having the
+famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire’s side.  The occurrence was no
+less than a calamity in more ways than one.
+
+Their location was in difficult country, and with such a rogue as the
+grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job of rescue seemed by no means
+easy or certain.  Mr. M’Intyre, however, was determined to regain his
+mares, and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine demon.
+One thing in his favour was the fact that in midsummer there was a
+scarcity of water in the ranges, and their run, for a while, at any
+rate, must be in and about the foot-hills.
+
+As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders were
+invited to join in the brumby hunt, which is, as a rule, the most
+exciting, and, at times the most dangerous, sport that Australia can
+furnish, keenly relished by bushmen.
+
+The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than the mustang is a
+native American horse; that is to say, it is not indigenous to the
+country.  Brumbies are the descendants of imported horses which have
+escaped into the bush and bred there.
+
+When Australian settlements were confined to the barest fringe of the
+continent, it was very common for stock, both horses and cattle, to
+stray from the settled areas into the great wilderness beyond.
+
+An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis of colonial
+expansion.  When the first expedition sailed from England, not only were
+officials, soldiers, and convicts shipped; but also an assortment of
+domestic animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony
+proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.
+
+As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many beasts strayed
+beyond the borders of the occupied country to the interior forests and
+plains; and before very long "brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers"
+(wild cattle) covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the
+advancing line of settlers.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XX*
+
+                           *THE BRUMBY HUNT*
+
+
+    "Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o’er,
+      All the lowlands are filling with sound;
+    For swiftly we gain where the mobs of the plain
+      Like a tempest are tearing the ground!
+    And we’ll follow them hard to the rails of the yard,
+      Over gulches and mountain-tops grey,
+    Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses’ feet
+      Will die with the echoes away."
+        HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"How many are coming to the hunt to-morrow, dad?"
+
+"About a score all told, my son.  That is," continued the speaker
+somewhat inconsequently, "if they a’ turn up."
+
+"Gills coming, ain’t they?"
+
+"Yes; the old man, son, and ane o’ the stockmen’ll be here this evening,
+so as to be ready for the early stairt the morn’s morn.  That reminds
+me, I’ve no telt your mother.  They’ll be here aboot supper-time."
+
+"Captain White coming, I s’pose?"
+
+"If he’s above ground.  We’d best coont ’em up. Get a bit o’ paper,
+Saundy, and pit doon the names. Then we’ll ken for sure."
+
+"Ready, father."
+
+"Pit doon oor ain lot first.  Mysel’, you, Hairry, the blacks, Denny,
+the bullock driver, the ration carrier, Redgate and Broon from the
+oot-station, Joe, Tom, N-eville—I suppose.  Hoo mony’s that?"
+
+"Thirteen."
+
+"So mony’s that?  At that rate we’ll hae ower a score. Weel, that’s a’
+the better.  Let’s see, noo: pit doun the Gill lot, that’s three more.
+Then there’s Captain White. Old Dumaresque says he’ll be along, but I
+dinna reckon on him, so you needna coont him in.  White’s going to bring
+twa men wi’ him.  And, m-yes, there’s Davison o’ the bank, and Dickson
+the lawyer.  Told ’em the other day I’d let ’em know.  They’ll need to
+be here the nicht, too.  We’d better send Willy in wi’ a message at
+once.  That’s a’ noo I think.  Hoo mony does that tot up?"
+
+"Twenty-one not counting the Colonel."
+
+"Weel, I hope they’ll turn up, that’s a’."
+
+"I say, father, could Jimmy Flynn an’ Yellow Billy come?"
+
+"Eh?  Weel, I—I dinna ken.  Can they ride?"
+
+"Ride?  Listen to him!  Why, Yellow Billy’s the boss rider among the
+boys.  You know his steer——"
+
+"Ah weel," said Mr. M’Intyre laughingly, "we’ll hae ’em.  Send word by
+the boy."
+
+Accordingly, the invitation was taken to the four Tareelians.  Gill and
+party turned up about dark, and shortly after them the town lot, all of
+whom were welcomed by their hospitable host.
+
+M’Intyre had made extensive preparations for the hunt.  There are
+various methods for trapping wild horses.  The one in vogue at Bullaroi
+and the surrounding stations was that called the "wing" trap.  This
+consists, first of all, in determining the usual brumby run.  The next
+work, and an important one, is the building of yards in a locality
+specially selected, the object being to get as near as possible to the
+natural line of the horses’ travel when stampeded.
+
+The yards must be well constructed, with a high, strong fence, having an
+open mouth so wide as to give the hunted steed no suspicion of running
+into a trap.  The upper and nether lips of this mouth, after running
+parallel a short distance, gradually converge to the throat, as it were,
+finally meeting, and forming a cul-de-sac.
+
+From the mouth extremity a vast roll of canvas, or, rather, calico
+strips about six inches wide, is made fast to one of the fence
+terminals, and from there, at a slight outward angle, is often taken for
+miles, being secured at intervals to trees or stakes which are driven
+into the ground.  The wing is fixed breast high.  This, to the
+inexperienced, seems but a flimsy obstacle; but the calico barrier,
+frail as it appears, acts as an effectual boundary. Brumbies are both
+timid and suspicious, and very rarely charge a wing.  When driven on to
+one they wheel either to right or left, with never a thought of breaking
+through or jumping it.
+
+The strategy of the "drive" is to station men at intervals from the
+terminal point of the wing; each man is armed with a heavy stock whip, a
+cruel enough weapon in the hands of an adept.  Others are left at the
+trap-yard mouth on the outward side, concealed as a rule, and ready to
+dart out and head the mob should it scent danger when nearing the
+opening.  The remainder of the men proceed to locate and enflank the
+mob, and drive them in the given direction.  This, often, is a very
+difficult matter, and sometimes the best laid scheme is defeated by a
+determined and irresistible rush of the mob in the teeth of their
+assailants.
+
+Premising the "round up" and drive to be successful as far as the wing,
+the wing supports wheel them in the right direction; then close in and
+pass to the outside to strengthen the flank men, who now form a parallel
+line with the racing brumbies.  Thus, with the calico wing on one side,
+a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on the other, and a harrying
+force behind, the spectacle is as brilliant and as exciting as Australia
+can furnish in the line of sport.
+
+
+At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the Bullaroi party,
+well mounted, wend their way to the appointed rendezvous, from whence
+the amalgamated forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.
+
+The men and boys are variously mounted.  All the horses, however, are
+used to stock work; some of them, within certain limits, being as
+intelligent as the men who bestride them.  Many of them are what is
+known as "camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and
+cutting out work on the cattle camp.  Quick to wheel, to dodge, to
+out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even to divine the enemy’s
+intention; skilful in wedging through a pack; ready to advance
+backwards, so to speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders
+unavail; needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the work,
+the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a cattle run.
+
+Both M’Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted on favourites of the
+above-named variety.  The price of each was regarded by its rider as
+beyond rubies.  Both men were strong-boned, grizzled, and expert
+bushmen, with not a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bodies. Neville
+was of the company.  He had learned many things in the intervening days;
+the first, and most essential, was that England could furnish no
+precedent to Australia in things that are peculiar to station life. He
+gradually dropped his pet phrase, "The way we do things in England."
+The scales had fallen from his eyes concerning many things "Colonial."
+
+Mr. M’Intyre, who liked him, paid him no little attention.  He rode out
+on the run with him, giving common-sense hints in his dry way, from time
+to time, which his guest was ready enough to take.  He learned to ride
+fairly well, and, after many mortifying failures, could crack a stock
+whip without entangling it in the horse’s legs.
+
+Mr. M’Intyre was dubious about Neville going.  The Englishman, however,
+was so set on joining the cavalcade that to object seemed discourtesy.
+All hints of the danger attached to this expedition were scouted.  So,
+on this eventful morning, mounted on his host’s favourite hack, Curlew,
+the visitor formed one of the company.
+
+The others need no description.  With spirits mounting high in
+anticipation they pass over open plain, through brigalow scrub, along
+box ridges, and across country on a ten-mile spin to a spot on Rocky
+Creek called the Glen—a place already decided upon.  As there was no
+knowing to what extent the powers of both men and horses would be tried
+during the day, the journey was made at a moderate speed, so as to spare
+them for the arduous task of the drive.
+
+The pals, on this occasion six in number, were compelled to curb their
+tendencies to fun and frolic; though there were some very tempting and
+well-nigh irresistible inducements to spurts as the game rose or scudded
+before them.  Inviting jumps, too, lured them; but high jump or low
+jump, kangaroo or emu, charm they never so wisely, are resisted.
+
+But their tongues are uncurbed.  How they did chatter, to be sure!  It
+did the older members good to hear their gay and joyous prattle.  Their
+views of life in general, and brumby hunting in particular, were novel
+and unconventional. They settled everything touching the day’s
+proceedings, from the place of the "find" to the number yarded.  All
+that the warrigal might do, and all that they would positively do to
+circumvent him, together with many other things, were discussed with the
+self-confidence of youth.
+
+In due time the Glen is reached, and the Bullaroi party find that they
+are first upon the scene.
+
+"Off saddles all o’ you.  Must ease the horses a’ we can.  Saundy, you
+and the boys mak a fire and get the billy going.  Denny, bring the
+tucker-bag from the pack-saddle.  Mr. Neville, what in the name of
+common-sense are ye tying yure nag to that dead tree for?"
+
+"What’s wrong with it, sir?"
+
+"What’s richt wi’ it, mon?"
+
+"I—I—don’t know what you mean."
+
+"Boss means yer a fool ter tie the moke up in the blazing sun," said
+Harry in an undertone, as he passed by the new chum.  "Put ’im under a
+shade tree same as the rest of us."
+
+"Beg pardon, yes—er—I see," answered he, mortified for a moment, as he
+moved from the leafless trunk to a clump of currajongs, whose thick
+foliage effectually screened the sun’s rays.
+
+"Wot sort of a bloke’s that ’ere cove?" asked Jimmy Flynn of Tom
+Hawkins.  "He’s a regular greeny, ain’t he?"
+
+"Oh, a good enough sort!" replied Tom.  "He’s new, but he’s a learner.
+He picks up pretty fast, considering. You should ’a’ seen him when he
+came here first; my word, he was a greenhorn then!"
+
+"Here’s the Captain, father!" sang out Sandy, as three men cantered up
+the track.
+
+"Guid-day, White!  Guid-day, men!  Glad to see you. Off saddle and join
+us in a tot o’ tea and a bite."
+
+"Good-day, M’Intyre!  By George! you’ve got quite a troop, man.  Day,
+Dickson!  Day, Davidson!  What on earth do you townies think you’re
+going to do?  Stand a good chance, Dickson, of cracking your skull and
+spilling all that legal soph—I mean lore, that’s bottled up there.  Oh,
+I say, Mac, old Dumaresque’s coming along," rattled on the Captain.
+
+"I’ll believe it when I see him, no’ afore.  The auld boy’s better at
+hame when this wark’s on."
+
+"Well, all I know is that he sent me word last night by one of the men,
+and cautioned me to be sure and tell you."
+
+"If he comes he comes, and if he disna he’ll no’ be much missed.  Noo,
+boys, bring in the tea!"
+
+"By Jove!  M’Intyre, your wife’s a sensible woman: this is the sort of
+grub to work on.  Last month I was over at the Glenormiston mustering.
+De Little asked me to join him at midday after a heavy morning’s work,
+and as I was as hungry as ten hunters I readily consented. What d’ye
+think he produced from his tucker-bag? Some lettuce sandwiches, no less;
+and cream puffs!  De Little’s as good as gold, you know, so I couldn’t
+refuse to take some; but, I give you my word, I strolled over to his men
+as soon as I could get away decently, and got a slice of beef and a
+chunk of damper."
+
+"Hoo’s De Little getting on?"
+
+"Well, between you and me and the billy-can, he’s no more cut out for a
+squatter than for an archangel. Pity he ever left London.  He’d be more
+at home in Rotten Row.  Hello! here’s the old Colonel and two boys.
+Seeing will dissipate even your scepticism, Mac."
+
+Dumaresque was a choleric but plucky old superannuated Indian officer,
+who on his retirement came over to Australia and purchased a small
+cattle run, living bachelor fashion.  He was now quite old, yet fancied
+himself equal to any toil.  To hint at his age infirmities was to raise
+a very sirocco of indignant language.
+
+"Hello, Cornel! wha’d ’a’ thocht that you——"
+
+"Stop, M’Intyre, stop!  I know right well, sir, what you are going to
+remark.  If you, sir, look upon a bit of a brumby hunt as an
+extraordinary thing, let me inform you that to me ’tis but a trifle.
+Why, man, when I was stationed on the northern frontier——"
+
+"Yes, yes, Dumaresque," broke in the Captain, who knew the other’s
+weakness, "we’re all delighted to see you.  Just in time for a pannikin
+of tea and a mouthful. Here you, Dick, Tom, Harry, one of you, take the
+Colonel’s horse."
+
+A few minutes later the men filed out of the Glen, and proceeded along
+the creek to a spur in the foot-hills. Then they left the water-shed,
+crossing the spur, from which they continued up a grassy valley which
+extended nearly three miles before it broadened out into an open plain,
+lightly timbered at the upper or ridge side, but perfectly treeless at
+its other extremity.
+
+Two-thirds of the way up the valley, in a belt of box trees, was the
+trap-yard.  The trap mouth, before described, extended across the belt
+to the outermost verge.
+
+After a short inspection of the yard the calico wing was fixed.  It was
+attached to the terminal post of the yard mouth, nearest to the ridge
+that skirted the valley on the top side.  From thence it was taken in a
+straight line on the ridge side of the valley, until the plain was
+reached.  From this point, inclining slighting outward and made fast at
+short intervals, it extended right across the plain, ending in a clump
+of iron-barks.
+
+"Noo, men, ye’ll jist hae a wee bit grub and then we’ll stairt."
+
+The meal was soon dispatched, and a short consultation ensued.  M’Intyre
+apportioned the men their places.  Six, under Gill, were located in the
+iron-bark clump.  Five others were sent back to the trap-yard, two miles
+distant, to assigned duty there.  The remaining sixteen were to execute
+the task of first "feeling" the enemy; then of outflanking them; and,
+finally, directing the stampede.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXI*
+
+                       *THE WARRIGAL’S STRATEGY*
+
+
+    "Hast thou given the horse his might?
+    Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    The glory of his snorting is terrible.
+    He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.
+    He goeth out to meet the armed men.
+    He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    He smelleth the battle afar off:
+    The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."
+        JOB.
+
+
+"Noo, men, we’ll be on the move."
+
+The leader sprang to his horse and directed him on to the plain.
+
+"Where do you expect to pick ’em up, Mac?"
+
+"Micht sicht them at ony minute, maybe no’ for hours; maybe no’ at a’,
+Captain."
+
+"Willy and Jacky, you gang on aheed and keep your een weel peeled for
+signs.  No sae fast, lads; mustna spoil the sport at the stairt.  Let
+the blacks get weel aheed. We maun sicht them afore they tak alairm, or
+it’ll be a hopeless stern chase."
+
+Joe, Tom, and Sandy, greatly to their delight, were with the "flying
+column."  Yellow Billy was with the trap contingent, while Jimmy Flynn
+was stationed with Mr. Gill in the iron-bark clump.  Neville, at his
+earnest request, was given a place with Mr. M’Intyre.
+
+As soon as he touched the myall country, the leader cautiously skirted
+it, until the party were well out and away from the range of hills that
+continued on the eastern side.  He then took an inward course, and made
+a slant which carried them back to the foot-hills.
+
+So far there was neither sight nor sound of the mob, nor were there any
+indications of their presence at any recent date.  From the range base
+another tack was taken, which brought them upon the edge of a scrub that
+had wedged itself into the plain.  By this time the column had covered a
+lot of ground.
+
+"We’ll fringe the timber for a while, and then, if we’ve nae luck, we’ll
+hae to divide; half to go into the ranges, and the other to keep richt
+along the plain.  Keep weel in, lads, we’ll cut that pint," continued
+the leader, as the men moved on through the outer fringe of scrub; while
+out on the plain, which was dotted with rosewood and myall clumps, the
+black boys moved with lithe and stealthy movements.
+
+"Father, I hear a whistle!"
+
+"Hist, men! quiet all o’ ye!"
+
+"There it’s again!" exclaimed Sandy after a moment’s silence, as a low
+whistle came from the plain.  "That’s Jacky’s whistle, dad, sure enough.
+I’d know it among a thousand——"
+
+"A’ richt, my boy.  Jacky’s got something.  We’ll move oot quietly and
+see."
+
+Wheeling to the right, the column soon arrived at the spot indicated by
+Jacky’s whistle.  The black boy stood by the side of his horse, pointing
+to some fresh droppings and to numerous hoof-tracks.
+
+"What is it, Jacky?" exclaimed Mr. M’Intyre as the men rode up.
+
+"Blendy brumby bin here, Boss, few minutes ago."
+
+The tracks and signs were so fresh that, as the black said, it was only
+the question of a few minutes since they occupied the spot.
+
+"Most fortunate we’ve got ahint them.  They’re near by.  At ony moment
+we micht sicht them.  Ye’ll fa’ into a doubble column, men.  Captain,
+ye’ll tak seeven men and I’ll keep the ithers.  We’ll hae twa columns a
+hunder yairds apairt."
+
+In this fashion the men proceeded slowly, with a black boy ahead of each
+column as a scout, and following the tracks of the brumbies.  As
+predicted, in a few minutes Willy held up a warning hand.
+
+The columns quickly closed up to the scouts, and their leaders saw,
+through the willow-like branches of a myall clump, the long-sought-for
+mob.  The horses were standing close together in an expectant attitude.
+Their suspicions were aroused.  Though they had not scented the wind of
+their pursuers, nevertheless, with that wonderful _something_ so common
+in wild things, they _felt_ the enemy’s presence.
+
+The intervening distance was about three hundred yards.  According to
+arrangement, each column opened out at its head, with the object of
+outflanking the horses. Silently the columns wheeled to the left and
+right sharply, and then moved forward.  While in the act of executing
+this tactic their presence was detected, and scanned in a moment.  Then,
+with a snort, or rather a fusilade of snorts and neighs, heads erected,
+manes and tails streaming, away flew the alarmed steeds; and in swift
+pursuit, maintaining their formation, the men followed.
+
+There was no intention of unduly alarming the brumbies, therefore all
+shoutings and stock-whip crackings were restrained.  And now the hunters
+begin to feel the ardour of the chase, both horses and men; for so eager
+were the station horses to join in the hunt that the riders were obliged
+to take a double pull on them.
+
+Neville, in the excitement of the raid, forgot the orders, and broke his
+line, making a rush for the tail of the flying mob.  The Captain,
+however, nipped his intention in the bud with a few red-hot expletives,
+ordering the Englishman back to his place in the line.
+
+The brumbies, when started, were about eight miles from the wing, and
+headed directly for it, going off from the jump with a fine burst.  The
+wily warrigal, however, was not going to be run off his legs in a spurt;
+in a short time the breakneck pace is moderated, and the straggling mob
+close up.
+
+The horsemen hung on the flanks of the galloping steeds, steadying into
+an accommodating pace, and, as previously directed, making a semicircle,
+whose points extended beyond the sides of the retreating animals.  The
+station mares were in the mob, capering for the moment as wildly as any
+in their company.  Tallboy lagged somewhat in the rear.  He had
+evidently received scant courtesy from the brumbies.  It was observed
+that his heart was not in this matter.  Had they wished, the horsemen
+could easily have cut him out of the mob.
+
+The flying steeds—about fifty, young and old—had covered about
+two-thirds of the distance to the terminal point of the wing, and had
+not once swerved from this direction.  The men were in high glee.  So
+far it was nothing more than an exhilarating gallop, and they kept up
+the formation beautifully.  The horses, too, although the day was very
+hot, had not yet shown any sign of distress.  It was a different thing
+with some of the hunted animals, however.  There were some very old
+stock among the mares.  The pace and the heat combined were telling
+heavily upon them, and they that rode could read.
+
+One of these was a chronic "roarer," and her distressed gasps were
+plainly heard above the thunder of the hoof. Two of the mares began to
+lag in a palpable manner, despite the encouraging whinneying of the
+stallion, as he turned from side to side with a troubled look.
+
+They who belittle the intelligence of animals, and treat them as lacking
+heart and soul, can have had little experience of their nature and ways.
+The old sheik of the wilderness was full of concern for his many wives.
+Love, despite all that the poets may say, is not blind; it is open-eyed
+and alert.  Had he been alone the warrigal would have snorted at his
+foes with the utmost disdain, and led them such a dance as not all their
+imaginings had ever conceived.  But, alas! some at least of his faithful
+ones would be overtaken; were even now in peril.  Desertion? Never!
+
+Rescue! but how?  Yes; he will plan, he will outwit. He will use
+strategy against strategy, and at once, by which he may draw these
+merciless foes from the weaklings and give them an opportunity of
+escape.
+
+Quickening his pace, he raced along, closely followed by his
+company—save some half-dozen of the more exhausted mares, who were now
+widely separated from their mates. Then, wheeling sharply, the flying
+squadron dashed across the plain towards the foot-hills in a furious
+gallop.
+
+Divining his altered tactics, the Captain and M’Intyre increased their
+speed, taking no notice of the hindermost horses, and closely watching
+the head and ruck of the flying squadron.
+
+On, on! in mad gallop, whip and spur going freely now, sped the hunted
+and the hunters; and as they suddenly dashed across the face of the
+Captain’s column, it seemed as if nothing human could stay their flight.
+The bold Captain and his men, however, nothing daunted nor surprised,
+wheeled a little more to the left, having some advantage in being well
+out, as well as being high up on the brumbies’ flanks.
+
+"Now, boys," cried Captain White, "head ’em, rush ’em!"  Saying which,
+he rode straight for the stallion’s head—who was leading—with four men
+pounding at his heels.  It was a splendid attempt to head the mob, and
+succeeded save with one exception.  That exception was the warrigal!
+
+The bunch of men hurled themselves on the leader, and had he not swerved
+there would have been a terrific impact, which might have spelled
+disablement or death to more than one.  When a man’s blood is up in
+riotous chase he joyously challenges death in ways that chill him to the
+bone in cool blood.
+
+The grey demon, however, swerved to the right with tremendous speed, and
+the Captain crossed his course within a couple of feet of his stern; his
+only revenge being a savage cut with his whip across the retreating
+animal’s flanks.  But if the men’s rush failed with the leader, they
+stopped the stampede of his immediate followers.
+
+Floss and Jeannie, who were hard on the heels of the warrigal, were
+intercepted and turned.  The stock whips, cracking like a blaze of
+musketry, played upon the ruck of the confused animals in merciless
+fashion, scoring their flanks and ribs.  In a few seconds they were
+driven, pell-mell, back to the line of retreat.  In the meantime those
+immediately behind the mob, and those on the right flank, kept the
+balance going and together.  Thus the defeated ones regained their
+fellows, discomforted, and not a little cowed, in their leaderless
+condition.
+
+And what of the warrigal?
+
+To continue the chase of him were only to knock the horses up in
+fruitless pursuit.  No! he must be abandoned.  With liberty uncurtailed
+let him roam the wilds, fancy free.  The station runaways remain, as
+well as others that will be of value and service.
+
+So wisely reasoned man, but not so the warrigal. Foiled in his purpose,
+regardless of his own pursuit, the great equine leader wheeled in a wide
+circle, uttering the while shrill neighs to attract his consorts.  ’Tis
+for naught, however, that he utters challenge to his enemies and appeal
+to his mates.  The stockmen have ringed the mob, and now at a slower
+pace they continue the drive; the men opening out, and keeping abreast
+the leading horses.
+
+And now the iron-bark clump is near at hand.  To this the enraged
+stallion gallops.  The wing men, on the alert, watch this last
+manoeuvre, and line out to intercept him should he make for the hills.
+Such was not his intention, though; and their appearance only
+accelerates the execution of his determination, which was simply to
+regain his companions; this he did with a rush, no one saying nay.
+
+M’Intyre and his men were careful not to push the driven beasts, but
+were content to let them make the pace.  And now at a swinging
+canter—old mares well up, despite all fatigue—-they struck the clump,
+and passed the point to which the wing extended.  The wing men, joining
+in the cavalcade by orders of their leader, pass to the right flank and
+reinforce the drivers there.
+
+They are now within half a mile of the trap.  At a preconcerted signal
+the men close up, and amid an unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings
+the beasts are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.
+
+The calico wing acts effectually on the one side, allowing a strong line
+to form up on the other.  Barring accidents, the hunt is as good as
+finished; for in a moment or two the horses will be entering the trap
+mouth.
+
+The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the yard.  But, stay!
+His keen eyes sight the fence.  _It is a trap_!  Past adventures flood
+his recollection and shape judgment and determination.  Inside the trap,
+death or slavery!  Outside, liberty!
+
+Is it too late?  No!  By the ashes of his fathers he will elude his
+would-be captors!  His faithful spouses, naught, alas! will save them.
+Let those who dare follow him!  Away, then!
+
+With a wild rush, when within some two hundred yards of the trap mouth,
+he turns swiftly to the right at a tangent, so as to head his enemies
+and cut away on the outside of the fence.
+
+The gallant grey well deserves his freedom.  His courage, devotion, and
+intelligence should surely prevail upon the men.  But the pursuers were
+not indulging in any sentiment just then, and as soon as his last tactic
+was revealed the race of interception was begun.  He might yet have
+escaped, for he was full of running, but, alas! the unseen foe!
+
+The five men detailed at the trap mouth, were grouped thereat, just
+behind a cluster of silver wattles, ready for any emergency.  It seemed
+to them that their services would not be required.
+
+But, see! the warrigal!
+
+There is no time to reason.  In a flash they streak out from cover and
+ride straight at the flying barb.  Something must happen.  The fearful
+impact, narrowly escaped but an hour ago, occurs.  There is no attempt
+on either side to avoid the issue.  With a mighty bound and a savage
+snap of his teeth the warrigal flings himself at the foremost, bringing
+horse and rider down with a crash, both lying motionless upon the plain.
+
+At the same moment, and scarce a length behind, came Yellow Billy.  His
+attempt to head the runaway was blocked by the impact of the steeds.
+Too near to swerve, his horse struck the leading beast on the
+hind-quarters at the moment of the crash, adding to the confusion, and
+coming down a cropper.
+
+Staggered by the violent collision, the stallion is brought to a sudden
+stop, but not to the ground.  And now an astounding thing happens.
+Yellow Billy, while falling with his steed, to save himself from the
+warrigal’s feet clutched frantically at that animal’s mane, and, by a
+clever vault, to the amazement of his comrades, sprang upon the outlaw’s
+back.
+
+It would be hard to say if at that particular moment the horse himself
+was cognisant of the act.  The pause covered but the fraction of a
+second.  With a bound he leaped the fallen bodies, and, there being no
+one in front to stay him, tore off in a direction that skirted the trap
+fence.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXII*
+
+                 *HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL*
+
+
+"The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the
+neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth."—JEREMIAH.
+
+
+The tragic ending of the last rush held all breaths for some brief
+moments.  Such a contretemps had never happened before.  It beat all
+previous experiences.  The vanishing horse and rider seemed a wild
+fantasy of the brain, that passes like the breaking of a soap-bubble.
+There, before their very eyes, lay the slain; the victims of the mad
+charge.
+
+Several of the men dash after the desperate horse and his acrobatic
+rider.  Simultaneously, a small group of men—among the foremost is Mr.
+Gill—rush to the fallen men and beasts.
+
+Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was known as a fearless
+and somewhat reckless rider.  At the critical moment, with the lust of
+the chase upon him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed. To
+swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain attempt.  "I’ll ride
+the beggar down!"  With naught of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of
+consequence, hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.
+
+But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves. These, alas! more
+than defeat the object of the horseman. The warrigal’s last hope
+trembled in the balance.  A narrow gap of open space, and—liberty!  This
+way then, with slap-dash speed!
+
+
+We have already related the countervailing efforts to stay that rush:
+how that hidden horsemen flash from their ambush; how that one, a little
+in advance, moved to the strike with tornado-like velocity.  Then Greek
+met Greek.  Comes the inevitable, the sickening thud; and then—oblivion!
+Come running men who lift young Dick with all the gentleness of women,
+and bear him to the shade trees.
+
+Yellow Billy’s horse lies stone dead with broken neck. Dick’s, with
+broken back, vainly strives to rise.  Its great brown eyes look round
+with painful entreaty that sends Harry silently to the camp for a rifle,
+and then the handsome filly joins her companion in the happy hunting
+grounds.
+
+Meanwhile, under the shade trees, Dick Gill lies, the image of death.
+An examination reveals a fractured forearm; while a blue-black bruise on
+the right temple, as big as a crown-piece, attests the violence of the
+blow.  The general verdict is that Dick, the life and soul of his
+company, will never more crack joke, sing song, or join in the merry
+chase; and so the conclusion is, dead, or as good as dead—a distinction
+with a slight difference.
+
+There were two, however, who clung to some shreds of hope; the father of
+the boy and the Colonel: the latter with obstinacy and emphasis.
+
+"I’ve seen ’em on the frontier far worse than your boy, Gill, and get
+better.  The lad’s stunned with that dickens of a blow; but he’ll rally
+directly and be as spry as ever."
+
+"Poor Dick is alive yet; of that I feel sure, even though I cannot
+detect any pulsation.  What the issue may be, Dumaresque, neither you
+nor——"
+
+"Tut, tut, man! he’s young, and as tough as leather. Neck’s all right.
+Keep up heart, old man.  I’ll trot down to the yards and see what
+they’re doing to the brumbies."
+
+With that the old officer, whose words were braver than his heart,
+strode to the yard, where all the others had congregated, save Joe and
+Sandy, who were in the rear-guard when the accident happened; and who,
+chilled at heart and filled with apprehension—all zest in sport
+gone—remain by the side of their companion.
+
+When the warrigal broke, the others of the mob were in full gallop,
+being rushed by the men.  They are subjected to a battery of flogging
+whips, and swept into the trap-yard; down the converging sides of this
+they hustle, only to find an impasse.  There they huddle, a compact mass
+of sweating, shivering, and cowed brutes.
+
+The horsemen form a line across the way of retreat, until half a dozen
+wires are stretched.  The rest is a matter of detail which expert
+bushmen make small bones about.  When all is secure the men inside cut
+out selected horses under the direction of Mr. M’Intyre, who, with those
+not actively employed in the arena, occupies a place on the rails.  The
+brumbies designed for use are thrown and branded, etc., then haltered
+and made fast to the rails.  The station runaways were secured early in
+the proceedings, which, from first to last, consume a couple of hours.
+The final act is one of horse massacre; all the discarded stock are shot
+down.  It is cold-blooded but necessary work, for brumbies are rightly
+regarded as a pest on a run.
+
+By this time the sun is well down in the west, and having finished their
+work at the yards, the men repair to the camp for a bite and a drink.
+
+To their great surprise and delight they find Dick Gill "nather dead nor
+spachless," as Denny Kineavy put it.
+
+While his father and the boys anxiously watched him, hoping against hope
+for signs of life, the unconscious lad suddenly stretched his limbs and
+opened his eyes, as one just awaking from a sound sleep.
+
+The as-good-as-dead youth sat up in wonderment, falling back in pain and
+weakness the next moment. A wave of joy surged through Gill’s heart at
+this manifestation of life.  "God be thanked for His mercies!" he
+exclaimed.  Putting an arm under the sick boy’s shoulders, and carefully
+raising his head, he held the Colonel’s brandy flask to his lips.
+"You’ve had a spill, that’s’ all.  A bit of a knock-out.  Your left arm
+is broken, and there’s a nasty bruise on your forehead.  Sip a little of
+this spirit; it’ll brace you up."
+
+A pull at the flask revived the youth, and he pillowed his head on his
+father’s arm, who laved the bruised head with cold water.  This greatly
+helped in the work of restoration.  By the time the men had finished,
+Dick was able to sit up, and expressed a desire to have a look at the
+brumbies.  Beyond acute pain in head and arm the lad seemed but little
+affected.  He enjoyed a feed with the men, and especially was he
+grateful for a pannikin of tea.  Good billy tea is better for the tired
+feeling than all the grog ever invented.
+
+After a short consultation it was decided that Dick and his father, with
+Sandy, should proceed to a selector’s house about three miles distant.
+They would be sure to get the loan of Mrs. Mulvaney’s spring-cart, and
+by that means reach Bullaroi.  This was carried out despite Dick’s
+protests that he was fit to start on another brumby drive.
+
+What of Yellow Billy and the bolting warrigal!  Have they been
+forgotten?  Not by long chalks!
+
+As soon as Mr. M’Intyre had selected the horses that were to be saved
+and used, he left the other work to the Captain, and, accompanied by
+Jacky, started off on the tracks of the outlaw.  Before long they met
+some of the pursuers returning.  Their horses were knocked up, and they
+had failed to trace the runaway.  "Deeficult as the country may be,"
+mused Mr. M’Intyre, "Jacky’s equal to onything in the trackin’ line.
+It’s only a maitter o’ time when we’ll run ’em doon."
+
+There was much speculation at the camp over the fate of the half-caste.
+It did not lean to pessimism, though jeremiads were uttered by some.
+The pals, who knew Billy’s ability better than the others, had unlimited
+faith in their mate.  Whatever happened to the steed, the boy would turn
+up safe and sound.  The steer rider, in their opinion, could ride
+bare-back the toughest outlaw that ever sniffed the wind.  "You’ll see,"
+said Tom confidently to the Captain, "Billy’ll more’n hold his own."
+
+"Didn’t youse tell us the other day thet at your gra-at
+billy-horse-ma-ale-robbery, the steer slung the yallar bhoy——"
+
+"Oh!" retorted Tom pettishly, "that was only——"
+
+Just then the returning men rode up.  They had no good news to relate,
+but said that by Mr. M’Intyre’s orders all were to proceed to the Glen,
+and if the missing boy was not brought in before dark they were to
+disperse. Let us now follow the fortunes, or misfortunes, of Billy.
+
+As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the yellow boy held
+fast with knees and hands, the stock whip over his shoulder trailing in
+a long line behind the flying pair.  To stick on the racing horse was a
+comparatively easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick
+should unseat him.  But to guide the scurrying brute, unbitted,
+unreined, were as impossible as to turn and check a Mont Blanc
+avalanche.
+
+The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the trap-yard was to
+dismount his rider by violent means, but there are eager pursuers on the
+track—so away!
+
+He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley apace, twists up
+a gully with a swerve that almosts unseats Billy, dashes into Glen
+Creek, and mounts the bank to enter a defile.  The first shock over, the
+half-caste begins to realise his position.  For a moment a pang of fear
+seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the ride dawn upon
+him.  This soon yields to a different sensation as they rush through
+space.
+
+There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which goes out in
+unconscious sympathy for the bestridden beast.  Despite the mutual
+antagonism, which, after all, is not that of hate, there is in some way
+a sense of kinship.  Wild answers to wild.  Man nature comes thus into
+close gripping quarters with horse nature.  There is no intervening
+saddle.  Flesh mates with flesh, and spirit answers to spirit.  Whose,
+then, shall be the victory?  The strains of many generations of desert
+lords is in the quadruped.  But what of the biped?  A curious admixture
+of blood there!  On the white side are the well salted strains, which
+hark away back to the old Vikings.  On the other and darker, the stream
+points backwards to the misty past, when his ancestors, subtle and slim,
+moved southward from the older civilisations of the north, and swarmed
+the valleys of the Ganges and the Indus, fighting for a foothold.
+
+Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild blood of the
+human?  It riots through the youth’s veins, giving vim and sparkle to
+his courage.  Who shall win the lordship?  Away then, and away!—through
+the mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast and thighs
+are torn and blooded with innumerable scores; slithering down the gorges
+to the accompaniment of rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and
+smashing through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded away—the
+infuriated steed holds his course.  On, on! ever up to the inaccessible
+heights.
+
+But, has the half-breed been doing nothing save holding on, meanwhile?
+
+With incredible difficulty, owing to the mad career of the horse over
+the wilds, Yellow Billy has managed to pass his whip thong twice round
+the brute’s neck.  This, knotted together, forms just the sort of
+hold-fast the boy has been accustomed to on his steer rides.  The grip
+gives him a great advantage.
+
+But the horse is now scrambling up a gully, which becomes sharper and
+steeper as he advances, merging into a deep gorge at last, with
+precipitous sides and frowning, unscalable face.  A cul-de-sac, indeed!
+Even this the indomitable warrigal essays.  Again and again does he rush
+the battlements, and mount some distance; only to tumble back with
+sobbing breath but dauntless energy.
+
+Cannot Yellow Billy now dismount in safety?
+
+As easily, oh, reader, as one might slip off a rocking-horse.
+
+Why not, then, fling himself off; abandon the desperado, and be thankful
+for life and limb?
+
+What!  Billy show the white feather?  Billy throw away his chance of the
+honour and glory of capture thus?  Not for all the wealth of Australia!
+This is the most ecstatic moment of his existence.
+
+Foiled in his attempt to scale the heights, Bucephalus begins to think
+more seriously of the foe upon his back. Were he dislodged, what might
+not become possible? Here then!
+
+So began the battle royal between these well-mated antagonists, to be
+fought to a finish, there, on that small patch of earth in the rocky
+fastness; with none in the arena to interfere or to applaud.  None,
+indeed, to witness, save the rock wallaby perched high on a beetling
+crag, who may have moralised on the unwonted spectacle of the whirling
+grey-and-brown mass of flesh and blood below.  Higher still, wheeling in
+mid-air, is an eagle hawk, who keenly watches the solitary duel down
+there, with unwinking eyes of insatiable greed; caring not a doit which
+wins the mastership, so that the issue may provide a fit object for
+tearing talons and lacerating beak.
+
+But below there!
+
+The warrigal, with bloodshot eyes flaming in rage and malice, ears set
+back, head and neck well down between the forelegs, back arched like a
+bent bow, bucks and squeals, kicks and twists.  Forward, backward,
+sideward; round and round; up and down; now in the middle of the patch;
+now trying to rub the boy against the rough sides of the rocky canon,
+but all in vain.  Not even the young Mazeppa, lashed to the wild horse,
+was more securely bound than was Billy to his steed.
+
+There he is; Yellow Billy!  Behold him!
+
+Grasping with both hands the encircling stock whip, head and shoulders
+inclined backwards, his knees grip the horse’s sides like a vice.  The
+horse’s hoarse neighs are answered with shrill shouts.  And so, amid
+battle-cries, dust and flying pebbles, sweat and foam, with evolutions
+to which those of the circus ring were flat and monotonous, the tug of
+war for supremacy between man and beast goes on.
+
+Presently, however, the bucking desperado moderates. There is a lull.
+He shifts from side to side, making at the same time a slow gyral
+movement.  Is this premonitory of collapse?  He is blowing like the
+proverbial grampus, and ejecting steam from quivering nostrils like an
+exhaust pipe.  The sweat flows from neck, belly, and flanks to the
+ground in streams.  Spasmodic sobs like those of a broken-hearted child
+send shudder after shudder through his whole frame.  See! his head is
+hanging upon his breast; the symbol of despair.  Yes! he is done,
+conquered!  He is broken.  Well done, Billy!  But the most dangerous
+moment of Billy’s existence is at hand.
+
+Suddenly rushing backwards, the demon rears and throws himself to the
+ground, almost turning a complete somersault in the act.  Crash! down
+come body and hoofs and—Billy.  The boy is taken unawares, and can do
+little to avert the consequences of this trick.  Still, the little saves
+him.  When, in the fraction of a second, he sees the inevitable, a
+spasmodic jerk flings him just beyond the horse’s legs, which are
+working like the arms of a windmill.  Scarce has the animal regained his
+feet ere, with panther-like spring, the half-caste is reseated.  Again
+the horse is down, but now he is weakening—is rapidly nearing the limit
+of endurance. All the reserves have been called up.
+
+Again, behold! a rapid change of tactics.  The outlaw whips round his
+head with open mouth and snaps at the rider’s leg.  Again and again, on
+both sides, and it is only by the utmost dexterity that the lad escapes.
+This, more than anything else, begets fear; for Billy, like the horse,
+is fast tiring.  With despair in his eyes the boy looks round him for
+help, and catches sight of the whip handle, which is hanging, with some
+two feet or more of thong, from where it is tied to the neck.  In a
+trice his knife is out and the thong is severed near the knot.  This
+end, coiled round his hand, becomes a weapon of offence. A loaded
+stock-whip handle is as formidable as an Irishman’s shillelah.  And now
+every snap is met with a cruel smack, and this not for long can even the
+warrigal stand.  Yellow Billy does more, he rains blows upon the steed’s
+shoulders and head with such severity as almost to paralyse the brute.
+The end is coming fast now. Worn, blown, trembling with weakness, dazed,
+the battle has indeed turned.
+
+There is a point in horse-nature up to which no man may call himself
+master.  In some animals it lies low down.  In others, the warrigal, to
+wit, it is placed at the apex of his mettlesome temper.  Let that point
+in mastery be taken by the adversary and all is yielded. That citadel
+stormed, there is naught left but the white flag.  The independence once
+surrendered is never regained.  In other words, once the complete
+master, always the master.
+
+See now the lord of the wilderness! the equine conjurer of tricks!
+There he stands with shrunken form, drooping head, lack-lustrous eyes,
+motionless and clinging tail, subservience incarnate: fit statue of
+unconditional surrender!  The struggle has been gallant, heroic,
+prolonged; the capitulation is complete.  A well planted blow, now,
+between the ears, and that noble creature; that thing of bone and
+muscle, of arching neck and glossy coat; that creature of will and
+courage, which made him emperor among his kind by right of merit—with a
+stride worthy the envy of Lucifer!  Just one blow in the right spot—he
+staggers, trembles, and falls.
+
+Yellow Billy is standing at the horse’s head.  ’Twas a glorious ride, a
+royal fight, a grand victory.  Nothing is left now but—pity!  And so,
+with soft and cheery word, rubbing the nostrils, wiping the drying
+sweat, massaging the trembling limbs, the boy is mercifully engaged when
+footsteps are heard, and in a moment the squatter, Jacky, and a couple
+of men ride on to the battle-field.
+
+
+Darkness is mantling the earth, and the men at the Glen camp have all
+gone, save a few, including the boys and Neville, who are still
+anxiously waiting.  The striking of iron on the flints of the creek-bed
+breaks the dismal silence, as a group of horsemen steal out of the
+surrounding gloom, and stand half-revealed in the light of the camp
+fire.  Yellow Billy is perched on the croup behind one of the men,
+while, with a stock whip converted into a halter, Jacky leads the bone
+and soul sore warrigal, who, in this abject spectacle, drinks the cup of
+humiliation to its bitterest dregs.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXIII*
+
+                            *A DAY’S SHOOT*
+
+
+    "Alas! that, when the changing year
+      Brings round the blessed day,
+    The hearts of little native boys
+      Wax keen to hunt and slay,
+    As if the chime of Christmas time
+      Were but a call to prey."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+"S-a-n-d-e-e!  S-a-n-d-e-e!"
+
+"H-e-ll-o!  H-e-ll-o!"
+
+"Where—are—you?"
+
+"Down—here."
+
+"Where’s here?"
+
+"Find—out!"
+
+"Where’s that horrid Sandy, Joe?" exclaimed Jessie M’Intyre to Joe
+Blain, as she came out into the back yard, shortly after breakfast, one
+fine morning a few days after the brumby hunt.
+
+"Can’t split on me mates, Jess."
+
+"You’re a nasty, good-for-nothing boy, Joe Blain: that’s what I think of
+_you_, and I don’t care if you _do_ know it."
+
+    "Tweedlum, tweedlum, tweedlum twee,
+    The cat and the rat ran up the tree,"
+
+quoth Joe, as he capered about just out of reach of the girl, who chased
+him round the room with a broom.
+
+It so happened that as Joe was dancing past the kitchen window, Ah Fat
+the cook was in the very act of throwing out a dish of kitchen slops,
+and the contents struck him fair on the head and shoulders.
+
+This unintended but well-delivered blow came so swiftly and so
+unexpectedly that for the moment Joe was stupefied, gasping and
+spluttering between wind and water, so to speak.  He cut so ludicrous a
+figure that Jessie had to fairly hold her sides with laughter. Meanwhile
+the innocent Ah Fat stood gazing at the spectacle in amazement.
+
+"Oh, Missee Joe, I welly solly.  Me neffer see you when me tlew um——"
+
+"You jolly Chinaman!" cried Joe, in great wrath. "You—you—yellow joss!"
+
+With that the irate boy jumped through the window and vigorously
+assaulted the cook with hands and feet.
+
+"Oh!—Missee Joe—welly solly.  O—h!  Oh, Clismus! O-u-c-h!"
+
+At first genuine sorrow controlled the Celestial.  And indeed the onset
+was so furious and determined that the Chinaman had enough to do in
+fending blows, and was not a little alarmed.  But when Joe, in closing,
+clutched him by the head, and essayed to unwind his pig-tail, alarm
+yielded to horror at this unexpected indignity. An ominous glitter came
+into his eye, and a string of curses in his native tongue flew from the
+angry heathen.
+
+The boy, having loosened the tail, wound a coil of it round his hand,
+and began to give fierce tugs.  Passion in an Oriental may take any
+turn.  A passion-fired Chinaman, however well-disposed and peaceably
+inclined at other times, will wreak his vengeance regardless of moral
+issues.  With a yell of mingled pain and rage the maddened man executed
+a Chinese edition of Jiu-jitsu, sending his youthful antagonist whirling
+through the air, to come down with a rattling bump that shook the breath
+from his body.  Fortunately for Joe, the part of his anatomy which bore
+the brunt of the contact was that least susceptible to damage.
+
+This act would have been followed by one severer still had not Mrs.
+M’Intyre at that moment run into the kitchen, and, seeing the fallen boy
+at the mercy of the rage-possessed Chow, who was in the act of assault
+and battery, made for the man with a shrill scream, and hauled him off
+the prostrate lad.  All the while, John Chinaman was in a state of wild
+excitability, sending forth a torrential stream of pidgin-English.
+
+Joe tumbled to his feet none the worse for the bout save a bruise or
+two.  The sight of Ah Fat with flowing pig-tail and grotesque
+gesticulation sent the lad into fits of laughter.  This only the more
+incensed his adversary, who made another effort to get at him, being
+hardly prevented by Mrs. M’Intyre.  In this hilarity Joe was joined by
+Jess, who had followed her mother and stood first in terror, but now
+with hearty laughter.
+
+"Joe Blain, get out of this kitchen this moment, you wicked boy!  Be
+quiet, Ah Fat, or I’ll call for one of the men!  Stop laughing at once,
+Jess, you bold hussy, or I’ll box your ears!"
+
+Both Joe and Jess disappeared in a flash, and this had the effect of
+calming the Chinaman, who told the tale to his mistress as well as his
+perturbed condition and broken English would allow.
+
+"Me thlo dirtee watah outa window.  Joee comin’ plast.  Me no see him.
+Watah ’it ’im head and soljer. He jumpee tloo window, pullee hair, welly
+angly.  Me get angly too, and thlo ’im down."
+
+"Quite true," said Joe, who suddenly appeared at the window.  "It’s all
+my fault.  He didn’t see me, I’m sure, when he pitched the stuff out.
+My paddy got up, an’ I went for him like a terrier.  I think the
+terrier’s got the worst of it, eh, Ah Fat?"
+
+The quick acknowledgment of wrong produced an immediate effect on Ah
+Fat.  There was a winning grace about Joe that few could withstand.
+Hitherto he had been the cook’s favourite.  And now, no sooner did he
+express his sorrow for the summary proceedings, and own his defeat, than
+the mantling frown of anger on the Chinaman’s forehead vanished, and his
+dingy and stolid countenance lit up with a smile.
+
+"Me welly solly——"
+
+"Oh, stow that!  No harm done.  I’m off to get rid of this muck," cried
+Joe, as he disappeared from the window. A few moments later, Joe was in
+the act of passing this same opening to convey a message to Sandy, who
+was doing a job for his father in the carpenter’s room, at the rear of
+the stables.
+
+The act was observed by Ah Fat, who made a rapid move to the window.
+
+"Hello, Joe!"
+
+"Hello, Ah Fat!"
+
+"Come here, Joe," said the Flowery-Lander, beckoning as he spoke.
+
+"No more soap-suds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"No mo dirtee watah," said he of the pig-tail grinningly.  "See a-here,
+Joe"—displaying a jam pasty, hot from the oven.  "You takee dis plastee.
+Stlawbelly jam, welly good."
+
+"By Cæsar!  Ah Fat, you’re no end of a brick!" cried Joe, as he received
+the peace-offering with eager hands and glistening eyes.
+
+"Saundy, ye scoondrel!" shouted he a moment later, bursting in upon
+Sandy, who was spoke-shaving a piece of timber designed for a swingle
+bar.  "Didn’t you hear Jess call you a few minutes ago?"
+
+"I did hear some sort of a cackling an’ flustration. What’s up?"
+
+"We’ve got to go an’ shoot some ducks."
+
+"That all?"
+
+"That all, ye cauld-blooded Scotchman!"
+
+"An’ when have we to go?"
+
+"Now, at once, immediately, if not sooner, ye spalpeen."
+
+"Ye’re an odd mixture of Scotch an’ Irish this morn, me hairy-breasted
+hero, an’ a bad hand at either.  But why all the hurry about the ducks?"
+
+"Your mother’s just got word to say some chaps are coming out from
+Tareela to dinner this evening, an’ they’re sure to expect game."
+
+"All serene.  Tom comin’?"
+
+"No, he ain’t.  He’s out with Harry on the run. There’s only you an’ me
+for’t."
+
+"I’ll be with you in a jiff, my son.  Just finishing this bar."
+
+"Where’ll we go for the birds, Sandy?"
+
+"Up the creek, I s’pose.  Too far out to the swamp if it’s to-night they
+want them.  There’s a mob o’ woods I’d like to get a smack at—the ones
+we saw when we were fishin’."
+
+"Jacky told me yesterday he saw ’em the other night roosting on the old
+dead gum just at the junction of Mosquito Crick an’ the Crocodile.  How
+far d’ye call that?"
+
+"’Bout three mile."
+
+"Your mother said we are to try and get some pigeons when we’re out."
+
+"Used to be a lot o’ pigeons in the scrub; but the last time Dickson and
+some other coves came out shooting, they went through the scrub, but
+didn’t see a feather—so they said."
+
+"No good goin’ there, then?"
+
+"Well, I don’t know.  We can give it a try, I s’pose. What’s the time,
+Joe?"
+
+"Struck ten as I came along; so we’d bes’ be off in less’n no time,
+sonny."
+
+In a few minutes the boys were loaded up with guns, ammunition, sculls,
+and the tucker bag.  They decided to take the skiff and try their luck
+on the water, instead of stalking the game along the banks.
+
+"Don’t be later than four o’clock.  Try and be back before, if
+possible."
+
+"All serene, mother; we’ll be back on time, luck or no luck."
+
+"We’ll fetch you some shags anyhow for fish soup," yelled back Joe as
+the lads walked briskly along.
+
+Sandy took the oars at the start, Joe sitting in the stern with his
+muzzle-loader.  Breech-loaders were at that time a rarity in Australia.
+There were handicaps in shooting in those days of the muzzle-loader, the
+powder-horn, and the shot belt, when compared with the modern
+choke-bore, smokeless powder, etc.  But there were compensations. Men
+were far more careful of their ammunition.  Loading itself was an art in
+which the expert took considerable pride.  To every novice the formula
+was carefully given by the senior—
+
+    "Ram your powder well, but not your lead,
+    If you want to kill dead."
+
+
+But, beyond all other considerations, there was more of the element of
+sport in it.  There was a greater call for skill.  The very limitations
+of gunnery in those days put the game on a nearer footing of equality
+with the hunter. There were greater chances for the quarry, and
+therefore greater merit in the kill.  These are the days of machinery,
+and even in gunnery there is a disposition to do the work by turning a
+handle—"pumping the lead into ’em," as the moderns put it.
+
+Sandy’s father was the possessor of a renowned Joe Manton, and many were
+the tales told by the lad of his father’s prowess and the wonderful
+distances at which this Joe Manton could kill.
+
+The creek on both sides was lined for the most part with rushes, weeds,
+and water-reeds, which afforded fine cover and food for the wild-fowl.
+It was possible to pass within short distances of the ducks in the
+rushes without being aware of their presence.
+
+"Keep your eyes skinned along here, Joe," remarked Sandy, after rowing
+some distance.  "Might start a brace at any time."
+
+The words were hardly out of the boy’s mouth when a bird rose out of the
+reeds with a great flutter.  Joe’s gun was up in a trice, and before it
+had flown a dozen yards, it fell into the water with a splash.
+
+"Good shot, Joe; but what’s the use of wasting powder and shot over a
+red-bill?  Thought you knew a coot from a duck."
+
+"Well—I—I’m blest!  If I’m not a dumplin’-headed, double-dyed duffer!
+As if I hadn’t shot tons of ’em. Well, well, well!"
+
+"It’s not well at all," answered Sandy with a grin, as the boat glided
+past the beautiful glossy black and purple-hued bird, which, though
+edible enough, generally ran to toughness, and was not classed as game.
+Yet a plump red-bill that has fattened on the river-end patch of the
+settlers’ maize is by no means to be despised.
+
+Joe quietly reloaded, and was doubly on the _qui vive_ after the
+misadventure.  He had his revenge before long, for on rounding the point
+they ran into a mob of teal which were camping on a shady mud-beach.
+The teal rose in a very alert fashion, flying back over the boat.
+Quickly turning, Joe poured the contents of right and left barrels into
+the retreating birds.  Three of them soused into the water, two of which
+were stone-dead. The third, though badly wounded, was nevertheless
+exceedingly agile in dodging the boat by diving.  After some trouble the
+boys managed to secure it, and so a good start towards a full bag was
+made.
+
+Then their luck departed for a while.  Two or three pairs of black duck
+rose, but out of range.
+
+"Here, Sandy, let me take the oars and give you a spell," said Joe,
+after proceeding about two miles from the landing.  The positions were
+reversed, and the boat sped on its way to the junction.
+
+"Pull easy, Joe," said Sandy, as that point came in sight.  "There’s a
+chance of the wood-duck on the spit. We mustn’t miss this lot, anyway.
+You’d best land me here, ole man, an’ I’ll stalk ’em."
+
+Joe, whose back faced the spit, to coin an Irishism, turned round to
+survey the birds, which clustered thickly on the spit-end.
+
+"See ’em, Joe," said Sandy excitedly.  "It’s a grand mob.  If I don’t
+knock half a dozen, you may——"
+
+"Bag the whole bloomin’ lot if you like, Sandy M’Intyre," replied the
+rower, who had been gazing intently on the birds, and now turned to his
+mate with an amused smile.
+
+"Why—why—whatcher mean?"
+
+"Mean!  Mr. Alexander Duff M’Intyre, bushman, waterman, sportsman, and
+naturalist by profession, but only a Scotch mixture of bat an’ mole for
+all that! Why——"
+
+"Do you mean to insinuate, Joe Blain, that yon’s not a mob of
+wood-duck?"
+
+"Yes; and ready to swear to it till all’s blue.  I _did_ think you knew
+the difference between a duck of any sort and a plover!"
+
+"You call ’em plov——?"
+
+Here one of the birds stretched its neck, flapped its wings, gave a hop
+and a short run, plover-ways, and finished with the typical harsh note.
+
+"Great Donald! you’re right, man!" finished the boy, in a mortified tone
+and with a considerable amount of disgust.
+
+"Oh, well," he resumed, after a moment’s silence, "a few plover won’t
+come amiss, especially if we don’t collar any more duck.  Like ’em
+myself, grilled, as well as anything; they’ve such plump little breasts.
+Pull on, Joe."
+
+Joe made for the spit, coming in so quickly with a few quiet but
+vigorous strokes that Sandy was able to get in a pot and a flying shot,
+accounting for no fewer than five.
+
+"I vote," exclaimed that youth, when they had bagged the plover, "that
+we pull into the mouth of ’Skeeter Crick, tie up to the bank, an’ stalk
+the crick for a mile or so; then we can cross over to the scrub by the
+old tree. We’ll chance to get a pigeon or two, or I’m mistaken. P’r’aps
+we’ll have better luck with the ducks on our way back.  Never saw ’em so
+scarce on the Crocodile before."
+
+Accordingly, they landed a hundred yards or so up the creek, assailed
+the contents of the tucker bag, and then proceeded to skirt the right
+bank, on the look out for duck.  A single bird, a very fine drake, fell
+to Joe’s gun near the fallen log which bridged the narrow stream. This
+crossed, the boys entered into a belt of virgin scrub that extended back
+a mile or so from Crocodile Creek, abutting Mosquito Creek along its
+breadth.
+
+"We’d bes’ separate, Joe," said Sandy, when they had gone a little
+distance into the jungle.  "You keep on a few hundred yards, and then
+bear on the left towards the Crocodile.  I’ll make straight for there
+from here.  It’ll be hard if we don’t account for a bird or two."
+
+The scrub was very thick and interwoven in places. It contained a number
+of native fig trees of great height and spread.  These trees were in
+fruit, therefore there was a better chance of getting pigeon, some
+varieties of which are exceedingly fond of the native fig.
+
+The umbrageous trees formed a lofty canopy whose cool shades were very
+agreeable after a couple of hours on the water under a January sun.  The
+lawyer and other cane vines hung from the great trees in long festoons,
+varying in thickness from ropes no thicker than one’s little finger to
+the great cables extending downward from the huge limbs of the fig
+trees.  Besides these growths were scrub bushes, many of which were
+covered with blossom, and still others with berries, blue and red. There
+were also spaces of bare ground, occupied only by giant fig and other
+columnar trees.  These, by natural formation, made arched aisles, whose
+loftiness, lights, distances, and vistas constituted a grandeur, and
+even splendour, unapproached by any of the great cathedrals of earth.
+These, however ancient, are but things of yesterday when compared with
+nature’s porticoes, cloisters, and altar spaces.
+
+The boys, however, took little heed of these things. They were in the
+scrub neither for architectural nor devotional purposes.  Pigeons and
+other scrub game alone had any attractions for them.
+
+After separating they walked warily, listening with both ears and
+scanning with both eyes.  Sounds there were in abundance.  The
+ubiquitous minah, as the noisy and saucy soldier-bird is called, is as
+widespread as the gum tree itself. The thrush, though smaller than its
+English namesake, and with a differing note, is equally melodious.  Then
+peculiar to scrub country are the musically metallic notes of the pretty
+but exceedingly coy bell-bird.
+
+Henry Kendal, the greatest of Australian nature poets, has limned it in
+song.  Here is a stanza—
+
+    "The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime,
+    They sing in September their songs of the Maytime.
+    When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
+    They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
+    They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
+    And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
+    Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."
+
+
+There is also the merry Coachman, who cracks his whip with his beak, so
+to speak, in such verisimilitude that the wandering new chum looks round
+eagerly for a coach-team.
+
+Added to these are the soft coo-coo of the doves and the stronger and
+booming note of the pigeon tribe.  And beyond all these, the calls,
+chirpings, and chatterings of scores of feathered favourites.  They who
+call the Australian bush songless libel it.
+
+The pigeon has a coo that is as monotonous and far-reaching as a fog
+horn.  For this sound the boys are now cocking their ears.  Presently
+the loved note reaches Sandy’s ears: coo—coo—coo!
+
+"A wonga for a dollar, and where’s one is sure to be another."
+
+To locate a pigeon by its note is often a most difficult thing in the
+scrub.  It may be on the tree under which one happens to be standing, or
+hundreds of yards away. To run down a pigeon by its note is a work that
+needs experience and patience.
+
+Sandy listened intently, mind as well as ears working. "Not high up,
+that’s certain.  Seems to be right behind me.  Bet tuppence he’s on that
+white cedar," said the boy to himself after a further scrutiny in the
+supposed direction.  Away in the locality indicated, distant a hundred
+yards or so, rising above a clump of myrtles, was a white cedar tree,
+its shining yellow berries revealing its presence as seen through the
+tree boles and shrubs.
+
+Stealthily moving through the undergrowth and timber, the lad cautiously
+advanced towards the cedar.  Gaining the myrtle cluster, he was thereby
+screened to some extent even when viewed from above.  Just then a coo
+gave him the location.  Moving to the edge of the saplings, he now got a
+fair view of the tree beyond; and there, on a lateral limb, distant from
+him not more than thirty-five yards, sat a glorious wonga-wonga, the
+finest species of Australian pigeon, not to be beaten for table purposes
+throughout the wide world.  The specimen before Sandy was a male bird as
+big as three ordinary pigeons.
+
+"That fellow’s calling his mate, and she’s not far off, by the way he’s
+noddin’ his head," surmised the youth. "Shall I pot him, or wait for his
+mate and cop ’em both?"
+
+The question was soon settled, for suddenly, and with a great whirr, the
+hen rose from the ground, or rather, tiny water pool: for she had been
+drinking and bathing and admiring her reflected image in the glassy
+water.  Her return, alas! is the signal of death, for what time she
+alighted on the bough at her spouse’s side, the remorseless hunter, with
+hasty but true aim, brought both fluttering to the ground.
+
+Their necks are wrung and they are bagged instanter, with a laconic but
+satisfied grunt from the sportsman: "Not so bad."
+
+At this moment a double shot broke on Sandy’s ears. This was immediately
+followed by a deep, mellow sound that formed the common signal of the
+pals.  Putting his two hands with hollowed palms together, conch-shell
+fashion, the boy raised them to his lips and blew a prolonged and
+resonant note followed by three short notes staccato, which conveyed to
+the other’s ears the answer: "Heard you, am coming."
+
+"Joe wants me for something.  Got into a covey of bronze-wings, or maybe
+a mob o’ flocks," muttered the lad as he made in the direction of the
+sound.
+
+He soon espied his mate at the butt of an enormous fig tree, and
+signalled his advent.  The moment Joe perceived Sandy he stooped down
+and picked up a couple of large black-looking birds, and waved them
+excitedly.
+
+"My word! ole Joe’s run into a flock of turkeys. Hurrah! here’s luck."
+
+Yes, Joe had been fortunate enough to "rise" a fine lot of tallagalla,
+to call them by their native name, better known as scrub turkey.
+
+Unlike the so-called turkey of the plains—which, indeed, is not a true
+turkey, but a bustard—the scrub turkey is true to its title, being
+seldom or never seen out of thickly wooded country.  Its breeding home
+is a huge mound raised by scratching together the dry leaves and bits of
+rotten bark and wood.  On the top of this elevation of débris the eggs
+are laid, some scores of them, and barely covered.  As the birds use the
+same spot for many years, the nests become in time mounds of vast
+dimensions. Turkey nest, as it is called, becomes in time a rich compost
+of leaf-mould, and is eagerly sought for garden purposes.
+
+The bird itself is stronger in the legs than in the wings.  Unless
+startled and rushed, it will not rise, but scuttles through the
+undergrowth with inconceivable speed, and he is a fortunate man who is
+able to draw a bead as it darts through the thousand obstacles of the
+scrub.  Hence the necessity of a good dog to rush the birds pell-mell
+and startle them into immediate flight, when they almost invariably seek
+refuge in the trees near by.
+
+Joe, fortunately, heard the drumming and clucking of a turkey gobbler
+before he was seen of them.  Moving with intense caution through the
+bush, which was very thick at this spot, he saw at last through the
+intervening leaves, on a patch of bare ground, scratching among the
+decayed vegetable matter for grubs, a flock of turkeys containing a
+score or more.
+
+They were exceedingly active, running hither and thither; many of them,
+just at the pullet stage, indulging in mimic warfare.  The elder ones
+were busily engaged grubbing. Joe could easily have shot two or three of
+them as he stood an unseen watcher.  There was a better way than that,
+however.  Once "tree" them, and one could leisurely pick his birds.  How
+are they to be got into the trees? He’ll be his own dog.
+
+Bursting out from his cover with a hair-raising and blood-curdling yell,
+making at the same time a high jump and wildly waving his arms, the
+stalker rushed into the midst of the mob, catching, indeed, a young one
+by the leg, and generally making such a hullabaloo as to scare them into
+instant flight.
+
+It is a peculiarity of this bird, like that of its American brother,
+when once "treed," to remain there.  Wanton shooters, taking advantage
+of this trait, will often shoot a flock right out.
+
+The birds put up by Joe, with one or two exceptions, flew into the trees
+surrounding them.  The lad’s first act was to slip a piece of string
+round the captured turkey’s legs and swing it from a tree limb.  This
+done, he took a couple of pot shots, bringing down a young gobbler each
+time.  Having made sure of a brace, he signalled to his mate, as
+described.
+
+The shooters, with true sporting instinct, refrained both from wanton
+destruction and from shooting at the hens.  They picked out half a dozen
+of the biggest males, leaving the others on their perches.
+
+Needless to say, the boys were greatly pleased with their success in the
+scrub.  On their way home good fortune followed them.  Though they did
+not sight the mob of woods, they surprised a pair, which they promptly
+secured.  Though the bag could not be considered a big one for those
+days, it was a good one for variety.
+
+Greatly to Mrs. M’Intyre’s delight, the boys reached home a little after
+three o’clock.  During their absence of five hours they accounted for
+the following game: one black duck, two wood-duck, three teal, five
+spur-wing plover, six fat turkey gobblers, two plump pigeon, and the
+captured turkey.
+
+"You are dear, good boys," was Mrs. M’Intyre’s comment as the game lay
+side by side on the bench at the rear of the kitchen.  "What fine birds!
+what a lovely variety!"
+
+Mrs. Mac., while not an epicure, was a noted housewife, and dispensed
+hospitality in such a whole-hearted fashion and in such an acceptable
+manner that her dinners were things to be remembered with delight.
+
+"Go into the kitchen, boys, and get a snack: you’ll be dying for
+something to eat.  After you’ve finished you can bear a hand with the
+plucking and cleaning, as Denny’s the only one about.  Come here, Ah
+Fat!  What do you think of the birds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"Dem welly good, missee."
+
+"Yes, they’ll do very well.  The boys’ll clean them for you—at least the
+ones we’re using to-night.  We’ll hang the rest.  Let me see! they had
+better clean the pigeons and plover first.  You can put them on to stew:
+we’ll turn them into a game pie.  Grill the teal, and roast a pair of
+ducks and two gobblers."
+
+"Allee lita, missee; I do ’em.  That all?  I mos go back an’ look after
+puddens."
+
+Denny and the boys set to work on the fowl, and were soon feathers and
+down from head to foot.
+
+[Illustration: "Retreating one moment and advancing the following,
+uttering war-cries."—_See p._ 219.]
+
+"Tell me, Joe, me bhoy, did ye or Sahndy here shute the most b-i-rr-ds?"
+
+"Honours are easy, Denny."
+
+"Begorra! phwat th’ divvil’s thot?"
+
+"It means that each shot an equal quantity."
+
+"An e-qu-a-al quantitee!  Be jabers, wheres did ye put ’em?"
+
+"Put what?"
+
+"Whoi, th’ pair iv e-qu-a-al quan——  Be Saint Michael, it’s a new sort
+iv a b-i-rr-d ye’ve shuted!"
+
+Denny was not so dense as he pretended to be.
+
+"You’re a downy cove, Denny," laughed Joe, who caught a twinkle in the
+young Irishman’s eye.
+
+"That’s true for ye, Joe," retorted the wit, surveying himself; "but,
+bhoys, why doan’t ye’s take me wid youse? Sure an’ it’s a foine shot Oi
+am."
+
+"That’s news, Denny.  Didn’t know you’d ever let off a gun."
+
+"Manny an’ manny’s th’ wan Oi’ve seen me farther bang off, annyways.
+Did youse never hear tell iv me farther’s shutin’?  Shure he was a
+sealabrity in Killarney!"
+
+"Never.  Tell us."
+
+"Well, la-ads, wan da’ he was rowin’ th’ Dook iv Dublhin, who was a
+g-rr-a-at sport, on th’ woild la-a-kes iv Killarney.  They was lukin’
+for dooks."
+
+"Set a duke to catch a ’dook,’ eh, Denny?"
+
+"Be aisy, Marsther Joe.  It’s th’ flyin’ dooks Oi’me dascribin’.  Be
+jabers! farther rowed about a tousan’ moile, and th’ only dook th’
+g-rr-a-at mahn shuted was a gull, though they was there in g-rr-a-at
+mobs."
+
+"The gulls or the ducks, Denny?"
+
+"If you’d ’a’ bin there they wud ’a’ bin two gulls, annyhow, me mahn."
+
+"Good for you, Denny.  Let him finish, Joe."
+
+"Well, shure, saays farther at last, ses he, ’If y’re Riall Hoiness wud
+let me have wan shot, maybe Oi’d bring ye luck.’  An’ he did it.  So
+farther, he gits th’ Dook’s big gun, an’ th’ Dook he tuk th’ pathles,
+an’ bynby they see a mob iv dooks all in a loine acrost th’ boat’s bows,
+saalin’ for all th’ warld loike th’ owld loin-iv-batthle ships in th’
+pictures, stim an’ starn.
+
+"’Howld aisy,’ saays farther, ses ’e, whin they got abreast thim fowls.
+With that he pinted th’ gun at th’ la-adin’ dook, an owld dr-a-ake be
+th’ same token—pulled th’ thrigger an’ let her off.  Wud ye bela-ave me,
+so quick was he that before all th’ shot had got out iv th’ way-pon he’d
+got her down to th’ tail-most birr-d, an’ betune you an’ me an’ little
+Garr-ge Washintong in th’ Bible, ivry sowl iv thim dooks lay spaachless
+dead upon th’ wather. Now thin, phwat div ye think iv that f’r shutin’,
+ye gosoons?"
+
+"Think of it, Denny," said Maggie, who had been standing at the kitchen
+door, unobserved of the boys, an amused listener.  "Why, you’ll be
+writing a book one day that will put the Kybosh on Baron Munchausen."
+
+"Well, if iver Oi does, Miss Maggie," replied the incorrigible Irish
+boy, "Oi’ll pit y’reself in as th’ laaden acthress—Oi mane th’
+herr-owyne."
+
+"Maggie!"
+
+"Coming, mother."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIV*
+
+                           *THE CORROBBERIE*
+
+
+    "Deep in the forest depths the tribe
+        A mighty blazing fire have spread:
+    Round this they spring with frantic yells,
+        In hideous pigments all arrayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    One barred with yellow ochre, one
+        A skeleton in startling white,
+    Then one who dances furiously
+        Blood-red against the great fire’s light.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Like some infernal scene it is—
+        The forest dark, the blazing fire,
+    The ghostly birds, the dancing fiends,
+        Whose savage chant swells ever higher."
+          WILLIAM SHARP.
+
+
+"Jacky and Willy want to know if they can have some raddle,[#] whitning,
+and blue: can they, dad?"
+
+
+[#] Raddle: a red pigment used for marking sheep, etc.
+
+
+"They’re very reasonable, I maun say.  And what are they aifter noo, the
+scamps?"
+
+"Oh, I thought you knew, dad!  There’s going to be a grand corrobberie
+to-night.  Old Tarpot has sent in a messenger for them to go out, and
+take this stuff with them, and——"
+
+"Precious cool cheek on the pairt of Tarpot, and o’ the boys as weel.
+Why couldna they come oure and ask me properly?"
+
+"Dunno, dad."
+
+"It’s the blacks’ way all over, dad," said Maggie.
+
+"Dad, dad," interrupted Jessie, who was eagerly waiting a chance to get
+in a word, "you said, the last time there was a corrobberie, when you
+refused to let us go, that you would the next time.  Now then, dado, you
+can’t refuse to let us this time.  Say you will.  Ah, I know by your
+eyes you will say yes!  You dear thing, it’s worth a kiss and a hug."
+
+When the ardent girl had bestowed these filial pledges she turned round
+to Sandy and the others, out of whose sails she had taken the wind in a
+manner.
+
+"There now, young people, we are all going, for which I ought to be
+thanked.  Only for my good memory, I’m afraid the dear man would have
+said no! wouldn’t you, dadums?  We’ll make up a party, and Mr. Neville
+will, I am sure, be delighted at the exhibition."
+
+"My stars, Jess, but you’re gettin’ ’em bad!  You will be applying for a
+school teacher’s billet next.  Such consideration for Mr. Neville, too!
+Why——"
+
+"Oh, brither mine, bless your poor thick skull; it’s positively no use
+you trying to be funny—you simply can’t.  Oh, it’ll be glorious fun,"
+continued she, turning to the Englishman.
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, please!  In the first place, what is this corbobbery?
+Is that the way it is pronounced?"
+
+"No, sir, it is not; though to be sure they do kick up a tremendous
+bobbery."
+
+"Well, whatever the name, I suppose it stands for an aboriginal
+ceremonial or pastime?" said Neville smilingly.
+
+"Exactly.  Cor-rob-ber-ie is their Café Chautant, a free-and-easy; with
+this difference, though—all their performers appear in full dress; got
+up to kill by the aid of the tribe tonsorial artists and valets.  The
+young bucks are perfect pictures, I do assure you; and as for the
+girls——"
+
+"Don’t take any notice of the saucy kid, Mr. Neville," broke in Sandy,
+who felt that he owed his young sister one.  "She’s only jigging you.
+It’s their native dance and song by the firelight; she’s right there.
+The men do the dancing, and the women simply play the music."
+
+"Music!  I had no idea that they were——"
+
+"Musicians.  Oh well, not exactly that.  They beat time for the men.
+They, the men, are all painted up and armed.  It’s a sort of action
+song, but it’s jolly fine, a tiptop sight, especially when there’s a big
+mob of them. Sometimes four or five tribes get together for what they
+call the ’great corrobberie.’  Then you see something; for there’s
+generally ructions before they finish, particularly if there has been
+any grog in the camp.  In that case they usually wind up with a fight,
+and then there’s the killed and wounded to count when the cleaning-up’s
+done.  It’s all right to-night, though.  There will be only two tribes
+in it, and they’ve always been friendly.  Would you like to come?"
+
+"Come!  I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  Yes, you may reckon on me for
+one—that is, of course, if your father is agreeable for us to go."
+
+"I suppose, dad," said Sandy, turning to his father, "we may all go?
+It’s to be held at the old spot."
+
+"Oh, weel, I suppose you’d think me hard-herted if I said no?  I’ll jist
+mak’ one condeetion, and that is, dinna interfere wi’ the blacks.  You
+maunna mak’ ony attempt to boss them.  Let them cairry oot things in
+their ain way."
+
+"All serene, dad."
+
+"Can the boys have the whitnin’ and other things from the store?"
+repeated Sandy.
+
+Consent is given, and the heart of Tarpot, the King of Bullaroi, is made
+glad with a goodly parcel of pigments.
+
+That night after tea the party, including Denny Kineavy, mount their
+steeds and ride out to the corrobberie grounds, a matter of three miles.
+
+It was situated on a lightly timbered box-tree flat, where a cleared
+space occurred forming a natural amphitheatre, wherein the aboriginal
+tribes foregathered periodically and disported themselves in their
+national characters and games at night time.
+
+The blacks make a distinction in these festivals.  There is the
+corrobberie and the cobborn (or great) corrobberie. It was one of the
+former that the whites were to witness. The latter occurred only at long
+intervals, and was a time of feasting as well as amusement; both
+feasting and play being prolonged often for weeks, and generally
+attended by all the tribes within a radius of hundreds of miles.
+
+Each tribe would bring its song and dance (corrobberie), in many cases
+composed for the special occasion.  This produced the exciting element
+of competition.  A corrobberie of exceptional excellence would be
+learned by the other tribes, and on their return to their own country
+passed on to the surrounding tribes.  Thus it happened sometimes that a
+corrobberie of singular merit travelled round and through the continent.
+
+These folk-songs were associated with the dances, and treated on
+elemental themes, as war, the chase, the feast, love, birth, death.
+Often some humorous theme would be introduced, causing immense fun.  As
+a rule each tribe had clowns, whose grotesque attitude and voice
+intonations were mirth-provoking to a degree.  The Australian native
+manifests a keen appreciation of a joke and has an inborn tendency to
+laughter.
+
+The preparations were far advanced by the time the station party arrived
+at the camp.  The gins, to whom fell all labour of a manual sort, were
+lighting the fires, while the bucks were busy "dressing" for their
+parts.
+
+The girls remained in the clearing talking to some of the old gins,
+while the males proceeded to the outskirts of the forest, where the work
+of adorning went on apace.
+
+For this no pains were spared.  The naked bodies of the dancers were
+treated by the tribe experts, and some fearfully and wonderfully
+startling effects were produced. Take His Majesty, Tarpot, as a sample.
+The ordinary court dress of the King consisted of a tattered police
+uniform, together with a crescent-shaped brass plate that adorned his
+breast, where it hung, suspended by a chain from his neck.  The
+plate—presented to him on one occasion as a joke—bore upon it the
+inscription—
+
+                        TARPOT, KING OF BULLAROI
+
+
+But to-night Merri-dia-o is resplendent in a warrior’s full rig.  A hole
+bored through the cartilage of his nose peak displays the bone of an
+eagle’s wing, about four inches long, the insignia of his maturity and
+dignity—his knighthood’s spurs, so to speak.
+
+Behold, then, athwart his nose, the polished bone, gleaming like ivory
+against the ebony background!  His grey hair is trussed up, forming a
+big top-knot, and is adorned with the sulphur-hued crest of the white
+cockatoo, also with turkey-tail feathers.  Wound several times round his
+somewhat corpulent body is a belt of human hair.  This serves to hold
+the boomerang and other short weapons.  A dingo-tail skin, split up the
+middle to the brush, and bound round the forehead with the brush erect
+and plume-like, gives grace and height to the stature.  But the body and
+limb painting is the principal part.  Each tribe has its devices.
+Pigments are largely used.  The greater the number of colours the more
+fantastic is the effect.
+
+When the boys strode up to the "dressing-room" where the tribe artiste
+were engaged, they found that most of the men had completed their
+adornments and were strutting about casting admiring or envious glances
+at one another.  Merri-dia-o, however, was still in the hands of the
+dressers, and his markings were a triumph. Being a large-framed and
+portly fellow, he showed the designs to the best advantage.  The colour
+scheme was brilliant, if nothing else.  On his massive chest, which was
+whitewashed for a background, were drawn an emu and a kangaroo.  The
+bird’s plumage was bright blue, while the marsupial was as glaring as
+red ochre could make it.  These cartoons covered breast and belly, the
+limbs being like animated barber’s poles in red and white. On his back,
+upon a white ground, was coiled an enormous carpet snake, with erect
+head and protruding tongue. When seen in the corrobberie, armed with
+spears, shield, and boomerangs, this fantastic figure was without peer
+among the warrior-clowns, the whole effect being an extravaganza at once
+whimsical and wild.
+
+By the time these preparations were ended the great central fire was
+blazing furiously, fed as it constantly was from a dry tinder stack.
+
+The "orchestra," to the number of six, sat in a cluster behind the fire
+and beat time to the primitive measures. The musicians for the most part
+were old women, who were well-practised performers.  Their instruments
+were as primitive as the songs they accompanied, consisting generally of
+a tightly folded opossum rug or a shield. These were operated upon by
+the palms of the hands or by sticks; a vigorous slapping of the thighs
+also gave variety to the combination.  At any rate, a surprising din was
+raised.
+
+It has been stated that two tribes participated.  The Ding-donglas were
+the guests of the Bullarois, who had provided a grand supper of fat
+grubs, native yams, and roast kangaroo for the festivities.
+
+According to immemorial precedence the visiting tribe "took the flure"
+first, and gave a most interesting and picturesque display.  The subject
+of the corrobberie was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident,
+presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter. The
+descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort of runic lay,
+beginning in a low and monotonous key and gradually waxing louder as the
+chase progressed, finally ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what
+time the animal is overcome and slain.
+
+The spectators, black and white, applauded most generously, our old
+friends Jacky and Willy being among the loudest.  The station boys were
+in no ways different from their brothers in get up.  For the moment they
+had abandoned the role of station hands for that of barbaric
+magnificoes.
+
+The whites, especially the girls and Neville, who witnessed the
+spectacle for the first time, were delighted beyond measure.  The
+silence following the huntsman’s song was of short duration.  The
+story-teller of the visiting tribe now advanced within the circle of
+light, and in sing-song tones recited one of their folklore stories.
+
+
+                        THE COCKATOO’S NEST.[#]
+
+
+[#] Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences.
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived happily together on an island three young
+aborigines, a brother and two sisters. This land was not very far from
+the mainland, and the three often used to gaze across at the long
+stretch of land, and think of journeying forth from their island home to
+see what it was like over there.  They felt sure they would find lots of
+things to eat.  So one day by means of a canoe they really did cross
+over, and began without loss of time to seek for ’possums, native bears,
+and so forth.  In this search round about they at length espied a hollow
+limb, which looked uncommonly like a place where a nest would be, and
+so, going into a scrub near by, they cut a vine for climbing up.  Up
+went the youth, while his sisters waited beneath.  When he had cut open
+the limb, he found to his great joy a cockatoo’s nest with young birds
+in it, and these latter he proceeded to throw down one by one to his
+sisters, the fall to the ground killing the poor things.
+
+Now it so chanced that as the young fellow picked up the last little
+bird from the nest, a feather detached itself from its tail, and
+floating away on the air, at length settled fair on the chest of an old
+man asleep in a hut some distance away.  This old man was really a ghost
+who owned the place, and the feather disturbed his rest and woke him up.
+Divining at once what was happening, he arose, and getting hold of a
+spear and a tomahawk, sallied forth to the tree, where he arrived before
+the young fellow had started to climb down.  Seeing the birds dead, the
+old man was very angry, and said, "What business you take my birds?  Who
+told you to come here?"  He then commanded the tree to spread out and
+grow taller and taller, so that the young fellow could not get down,
+and, taking the dead birds, he put them in a big round dilly, and
+carried them to his hut.
+
+Although the old man did not wait, the tree did his bidding, becoming
+immediately very wide and tall, and the young fellow tried his best to
+come down, but could not.  So at last he started to sing to the other
+trees all around to come to him, which they did; and one falling right
+across where he stood, he was able to get to the ground that way.
+Somehow, though, in coming down he got hurt, and the gins had to make a
+fire to get hot ashes in order to cover him up there.  He lay covered up
+so for half an hour, at the end of which time he was all right again.
+
+Of course these three felt very indignant at the old man’s behaviour,
+and they thirsted for revenge.  So, calling all the birds of the air to
+them, they sought their assistance.  These birds went in front, while
+the three cut their way through the thick scrub to the old man’s hut;
+and ever as they went, to drown the noise of the cutting, the birds sang
+loudly, the wonga pigeon making a tremendous row with his waugh! waugh!
+waugh! When they had got nearly to the hut, the old man, who had been
+trying to make up for his disturbed sleep, heard the noise of the birds,
+and called crossly to them, "Here, what do you make such a noise for?  I
+want to sleep!"  But even as he spoke he was dozing, and presently went
+right off, suspecting nothing; and when the three reached the doorway,
+looking in, they saw him quite soundly sleeping.  So the three clutched
+their weapons tightly,—the man his spear, and the women their yam
+sticks,—and advancing into the hut, they all viciously jobbed down at
+the old man, and lo! he was dead.  His body was dragged forth and
+burned, and after the hut was robbed of the young cockatoos and all
+objects worthy of value it also was burned, and the three found their
+way back to the canoe, and departed home to their island laden with the
+spoil.
+
+
+At the conclusion of the "yarn" the Bullarois retired to the trees
+fringing the clearing on the side directly opposite the audience.  After
+a short harangue from Merri-dia-o, the braves, about twenty in number,
+fully armed and in their war-paint, issued from the forest, headed by
+their chief, shouting their battle-cry, gesticulating wildly, and making
+a great clatter with their weapons. Advancing upon the foe, now in line
+and now in sections, they battled with the enemy, crouching one moment
+behind their shields to receive the shower of imaginary spears thrown by
+their assailants, the next springing erect and casting, as it were,
+their weapons of offence. Following up this round, they bore upon the
+visionary foe and engaged in personal encounter.  Retreating one moment
+and advancing the following, uttering war cries and fierce challenge,
+hurling coarse and stinging epithet, they gradually approached the fire;
+the gins meanwhile beat time, giving coherence and harmony to the
+bellicose proceedings.
+
+There was such reality in the battle-play, the men were so earnest,
+their cries so passionate, their taunts so bitter; in short, there was
+such a ring of sincerity, such a presentation of the actual, that the
+white spectators were carried away as in the drama when the master
+mummers live their parts.
+
+The boys were in a condition of exultancy.  They were inspired by the
+martial display to a participation of fellow-feeling with the warring
+company.  Neville, too, was fairly captured by this weird yet fierce and
+savage sham-fight.  The thrill of combat held him so strongly that he
+could not refrain from leaping to his feet and yelling with the
+rest—urging them, indeed, to greater slaughter.
+
+It was different with the girls.  Fear laid hold of them at the unwonted
+sight.  At first they joined in the hurrahs, but when the fighters
+neared them, and it seemed, as was indeed the case, that the very actors
+were being carried away by frenzy and battle-lust, their tongues ceased
+and a cold chill of apprehension seized them.
+
+The warriors are now right up, fronting the fire.  In a few minutes the
+grand finale will have been enacted, and the curtain rung down.
+Unfortunately, however, one of the young men has a quarrel with a youth
+belonging to the visiting tribe.  In the culminating point of this sham
+fight he sees his enemy among the crowd of onlookers, and, urged by his
+excited feelings, he directs insulting remarks full at this man, who,
+running out into the clear space in front of the fighters, returns these
+with interest.  This so enrages the Bullaroi youth that, darting from
+the ranks, he slings his spear full at the enemy, and transfixes him in
+the breast.  Loud cries of consternation come from the women, and a
+moment’s awful stillness from the men. Then, as if by magic, the
+Dingdonglas have risen in their wrath, arms in hand.  The play has
+vanished, and downright fight and bloody battle ensues.  Spears hurtle
+and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of nulla-nulla on
+shields supplants the music of the orchestra, the while the gins flee in
+sheer terror from the bloody scene to their huts in the forest, rending
+the air with their shrill screams as they speed.
+
+But what of the whites?
+
+They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging human cyclone.  At
+first the grim reality seemed unreal, just as previously the sham
+battle-action appeared real. Joe is the first to size up the situation.
+Not only are the blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril
+to the spectators.  The combatants are surging to and fro in the strife
+of conflict, and circling as though in a vortex. At any moment the
+spectators might be drawn into the battle zone through the movements of
+the belligerents.
+
+"Come, Mag, Jess, quickly!" cries that youth, seizing the girls as he
+speaks and drawing them away.  "The brutes are at it in real earnest.
+Come! we must bolt to the trees.  Great Cæsar, look at that!"  A spear
+whistled through the air and impaled itself in a tree near by.
+
+Just then, one of the fighters detached himself from the scrum and came
+bounding up to the little group, spear extended.  As he seemed to be on
+hostile intent, the youths lined up in front of the girls, ready to
+defend them and grapple with the foe.  On nearing, Sandy knew him to be
+Willy the station boy.  Willy, loyal to the family, came to entreat them
+to leave the field.  There was little fear of any direct attack upon
+them, though it were hard to say what turn the savage mind might take.
+The apparent danger was from fugitive spears and boomerangs. So Willy
+paused but to cry out, "Take ’em girls to horses: safe there; no safe
+here.  Go!" and then skipped back to his band, throwing himself heart
+and soul into the fray.  For the hour the boy was as great a savage as
+any of the young men of the tribe.
+
+The girls, now really terrified, need no pressure to leave; so they
+scurry from the field and reach their horses, some distance beyond spear
+reach.  There they watch the tide of battle as it ebbs and flows until
+it dies, which it is not long in doing, from its very violence.
+
+When the casualties were reckoned it was found that most of the
+combatants had received bruises or gashes, limbs were broken, but the
+only fatalities were those of the lads who began the quarrel.  Now that
+the fight is over, both sides settle down to supper in the best of
+humours.  The slate has been cleaned in this primitive fashion, and now
+friendships are renewed over handfuls of luscious tree-grubs and hunches
+of roast kangaroo. To-morrow there will be weeping in common over the
+biers of the departed braves.
+
+"Well, Denny, what do you think of this dreadful corrobberie?" exclaimed
+Jessie to the Irish boy as they rode home about midnight.
+
+"Phwat div Oi think iv it, Miss Jassie?  Whoi, it’s been a lovely
+foight, shure.  Och, they’re the very divils ontoirely!  Nivir seen sich
+a bit of divarsion since Oi left owld Oireland, bedad!  Begorrah, it’d
+ta-ake owld Tipperary itself to bate it."
+
+"Do you know what I’ve been thinking of, Denny?" continued the
+mischievous girl.
+
+"Nawthin’ but lovely thoughts, Miss Jassie."
+
+"You of course are the best judge, Denny, being an Irishman.  What I was
+thinking was this: scratch an aboriginal, and you have an Irishman."
+
+"Och, dear-a-dear, Miss Jassie, to maline me poor counthrymen loike
+that!  Troth, then," cried the lad, with a serio-comic air and the
+suspicion of a wink, "there’s one thing indade which Irishmen have in
+common wid these poor naggurs."
+
+"What is that, Denny?"
+
+"We both suffer at the hands of Saxon landlords."
+
+And Jessie had no answer.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXV*
+
+                      *IN THE BUSHRANGERS’ CAVES*
+
+
+    "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
+    A stately pleasure-dome decree,
+    Where Alph the sacred river ran
+    Through caverns measureless to man
+    Down to a sunless sea."
+      KUBLA KHAN.
+
+
+"Joe!"
+
+Silence.
+
+"J-o-o!"
+
+No answer.
+
+"J-o-o-o!"
+
+Profound stillness, broken only by a buzzing fly.
+
+"If you don’t answer within five seconds, an’ short ones at that, look
+out for squalls.  You’re only ’possumin’, you rascal!"
+
+Presently a hurtling pillow, and not too soft a one either, struck Joe
+Blain, who lay flat on his back, with open mouth, closed eyes, and deaf
+ears.  The missile hit him fair and square on the face, hermetically
+sealing his breathing apparatus for a moment.
+
+A muffled sound, a quick contortion of the body, and an instinctive
+clutch of the hands got rid of the obstruction, which in a twinkling
+described a trajectory that impinged on Tom’s left ear.
+
+"Well, what’s in the wind, now?" asked Joe, after this customary
+exchange of shots, which was an everyday occurrence.
+
+"I’ve an idea, Joe."
+
+"Howly Moses, you don’t mean it!  Terrible, terrible! Where did you
+catch it?"
+
+"Catch your grandmother’s sister’s cat!  Only, you’re such a numskull,
+I’d try an’ put it in your head."
+
+"What! my grandmother’s sister’s——"
+
+"No, you ass; a simple idea!"
+
+"Then I’ll bet tuppence it’s simple enough, you goat!"
+
+After this complimentary interchange Tom proceeded: "When we went out to
+the caves the other day, we said we’d return before the holidays were
+ended, an’ we’ve come to the larst day, ole man.  Ding-bust it! we’ll
+have to make for home to-morrer, an’——"
+
+"Ugh! don’t mention it!  Go on about the caves."
+
+"Well, then, that day we went out——  Oh Joey! shall we ever forget the
+sight of ’Fevvers’ rollin’——?"
+
+"Look here, Hawkins, if you can’t spit out that idea of yours quick an’
+lively, you’d better swallow it!  If you think to waste my valuable
+time——"
+
+"Your time wasted!  Pish!  Listen, then.  I vote we go out to the caves
+an’ have a look round for the place where Ben Bolt kep’ his horses.
+It’d be no end of a lark for us to find, after the police an’ others
+have given it up.  What say?"
+
+"There’s not much in your notions, Hawkins, generally speaking; still,
+you’ve struck ile this time, sonny. Gewhillikins! it’s all right.  Let’s
+have a talk with ole Sandy about it."
+
+"Oh, he’s sure to be nuts on it!  He’s always talkin’ about the
+mystery."
+
+"Up, guards, an’ at ’em! as Cromwell sang out at the battle of
+Marathon," quoth Joe, in slight historical confusion, as he tumbled out
+of bed.
+
+They dressed quickly and then rushed out to find Sandy, who had risen
+earlier to yard the horses.  Sandy was nothing loth.  Indeed, he was as
+eager as the others, if not more so.  He had often brooded over the
+puzzle, and discussed it at times with his mates, but oftener with
+himself.  Like the others, he had theories.
+
+"I’ve got to take the harrow to the cultivation paddock after breakfast,
+an’ then I’ll be free."
+
+"Can’t you take it now?" suggested Tom.  "Good hour yet to breakfast.
+You’ll have whips of time, an’ we’ll help you."
+
+Sandy was agreeable, and the boys soon hoisted the harrow on to the
+cart.  They returned in good time for breakfast, and got Mr. M’Intyre’s
+consent.
+
+"Best take us with you, Sandy."
+
+"Girls ’d only be in the way, Mag."
+
+"Thanks, me brither!  Just wait till you ask me to cut your lunches!"
+
+"Oh, mother’ll do that."
+
+"Yes; rin to your mither and hold on to her apron-strings. For
+selfishness and for cheek, commend me to a brother!  You’re all alike.
+I expect Tom and Joe are no better at home, for all they put on mighty
+innocent airs here," prattled the girl, in mock sarcasm.
+
+"I hope you’ll count me in, boys?" said Neville.  "I have intimated to
+Mrs. M’Intyre that I shall be forced to tear myself away from her
+unbounded hospitality,"—"Fevvers" was still a trifle stilted,—"but she
+will not hear of my leaving till the end of the week.  You know," he
+went on, "I did not have an opportunity—the last time I—er—we were out
+there—and——"
+
+"You lassoed an Englishman with a stock whip," broke in Jessie the
+tease.
+
+"And behaved like a brick," interposed Maggie, who noticed the
+involuntary wince on the part of the Englishman.  This was, indeed, a
+sore spot; but he was growing rapidly in grace.
+
+Neville winced under Jess’s sally, but took it in good part.  "It’s all
+part of the breaking-in process, Miss Jessie.  I believe I can dismount
+now a little more gracefully.  I shall be glad of an opportunity to see
+the famous bandit’s caves.  It will be something to relate in England."
+
+It did not take the boys long to get ready.  Half an hour later the
+party was _en route_ for the caves, determined to solve the puzzle.
+
+"You’ll do nothing rash, boys?" said the careful mother at parting,
+"Have you enough candles?"
+
+"Plenty; also ropes and tucker.  Don’t worry about us, mother; we may
+not be back till near bedtime—depends on what luck we have."
+
+"You’ve got a scheme, Sandy, I s’pose?" remarked Joe, as they jogged
+along the road.
+
+"Yes, Joe, I’ve an idea; but of course only testing it will prove its
+worth.  The caves are situated in a spur running north and south.  The
+opening, we know, is on the east side.  Nothing bigger than a wallaby or
+a dingo, save of course a man, can squeeze through that opening. Either
+there is another and separate cave adjacent, where the ’rangers stalled
+their horses, or there is an easier entrance somewhere in the spur that
+has a connection with the ones we have already visited."
+
+"You must remember, though, Sandy, that Inspector Garvie and his men
+spent days in searching the locality, an’ how are we chaps to do in a
+day what they failed to do after several days, and with black trackers,
+too?"
+
+"I’m not likely to forget that."
+
+"I vote, then," said Joe, "we go straight to the caves an’ explore ’em
+first."
+
+"It’d take us all day to search those ravines and bluffs on the west
+side," added Tom, "so I’m in favour of Joe’s proposal."
+
+"I’m not sure that I should have a voice in this matter," spoke Neville.
+"You fellows will have to settle it between yourselves.  Whatever you
+decide upon will be agreeable to me."
+
+"Matter’s decided, then," answered Sandy.  "Joe and Tom are for the
+caves direct.  Honestly speaking, although I would dearly love a try at
+the western side, for I’m convinced that the outlet lies there, I think,
+on the whole, we’d better stick to the caves, giving them first show,
+anyhow."
+
+"Carried unanimously by a large majority, as Denny would say," cried Joe
+the spokesman.
+
+On arrival at the camping grounds, the place of the late serio-comic
+adventure, the explorers—for such we must call them—unsaddled, and
+short-hobbled their horses.
+
+"I vote," said Joe, "that we boil the billy an’ have a go at the tuck
+before we tackle the caves.  It’ll be better than taking the prog with
+us, an’ ’ll save us coming out for lunch."
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the rest with a readiness and gusto which in matters of
+meat is almost an instinct of boyhood.  Accordingly the wood is
+gathered, and ere long, with whetted appetites, they are absorbingly
+engaged on a substantial meal.
+
+"There are three things to remember, mates.  First of all, the candles.
+We’ll divide them equally, three apiece. Here’s a box of matches for
+each.  Father gave me a caution, about lights.  We’re to carefully watch
+the candles as we proceed through the passages.  He says the poisonous
+gases collect in places that are not well ventilated, an’ that means
+death in no time if we remain in such spots."
+
+"How’d we know, Sandy?"
+
+"I was just going to tell you.  If we get into such places, father says,
+the candle will burn dimly, an’ if it’s very bad, will go out
+altogether.  When we happen on such spots, if there are any, we are to
+retreat immediately; so don’t forget, boys, should we be separated."
+
+"That," said Neville, "is most important."  He related one or two
+incidents of fatal accidents in connection with English collieries
+through fire-damp.  That danger, though, is seldom encountered in such
+caves as the boys were intent on exploring.
+
+"What’s the third thing, Sandy?"
+
+"The third thing, Hawkins, is to make fast to this green-hide.  It is
+twenty-five feet long, an’ we’ll tie on to it as we go through the
+passages.  Father says there are often holes in the floors and very
+steep inclines.  Best to be on the safe side, though I don’t suppose
+we’ll really need it."
+
+"I say," queried Neville, "hadn’t we better take some stout cudgels with
+us, for fear of snakes and wild beasts?"
+
+"Happy thought, Mr. Neville.  Not for wild beasts, though an old-man
+kangaroo can be as dangerous as a bear with his paws when he’s bailed up
+by the dogs."
+
+"What about monkeys, then?"
+
+"Monkeys?  We haven’t any."
+
+"Well, I heard one of the travellers say, while he was having a feed at
+the men’s hut, that he’d been engaged to go for a mob of monkeys."
+
+"Ha—ha—ha!  Well, you are a——Why, the man was talking about sheep.
+Monkey is a pet name for them.  We’ll want some sticks, though, as well
+as the tomahawk."
+
+So saying, Sandy proceeded to hack at a cluster of gum saplings, and cut
+three waddies about five feet in length, and a fourth one eight feet
+long, and proportionately thick.  Armed with these and carrying the
+other necessaries, including a billy of water and a snack of food, the
+exploration party proceeded to the cave entrance.
+
+After gaining access to the first cave, the boys allowed Neville a few
+minutes’ pause to get at home with his surroundings, before going on to
+the second or cathedral chamber.  They then pursued their way through
+the tortuous and difficult passage between the two chambers, till at
+length they arrived at the opening.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Sandy, who was in the lead, with an involuntary gasp.
+
+"What’s up?" cried Joe, who was immediately behind him.
+
+"Why, ladder’s gone!"
+
+"Jemima! you don’t say so.  Why—how——?"
+
+"It’s gone, all right," replied the leader, as he peered by the light of
+his candle into the gloomy recesses of the cave.  "Clean gone!  Don’t
+see it on the floor below, so it can’t have dropped."
+
+Joe, squeezing abreast Sandy, and doubling the light power, added his
+eyes to those of his mate in the search.
+
+"No go," said he, after a keen but vain search.  "Anyway, I can see how
+to get down easy enough."  So saying, he placed his stick across the
+mouth of the passage, jamming it on either side into an interstice.
+"There!" he exclaimed, as he hung his weight upon the transverse beam,
+which, though bowing, did not crack when bearing his weight.  "Let’s put
+the rope round this, an’ we’ll slip down less’n no time."
+
+"Wait a jiffy, Joe," said Sandy, who had been critically eyeing the
+staff.  "We’ll make ’assurance doubly sure,’ as your father said in his
+sermon last Sunday,"—poking his stick while he spoke, into the same
+cavities as the other occupied.  "That will stiffen it.  It’s easy
+enough getting down: we could jump, for that matter.  It’s the getting
+up that’s the problem.  There, it’s as stiff as a fire-bar now.  Here’s
+the first to go down."
+
+Holding the rope, the boy swung off, and was soon standing on the floor
+of the lower cave.  The others followed rapidly.  They could find no
+trace of the missing ladder.  Not only was the ladder spirited away,
+there were other signs which showed that the caves had been entered
+since the last visit of the boys, and on proceeding to the third
+chamber, where the bushrangers slept, there were manifest signs of
+disturbance.
+
+"Some un’s been here, that’s certain."
+
+Sandy gave voice to the one opinion.  The bark bunks occupied by the
+outlaws were thrown off their trestles to the ground.  There was no
+gainsaying Sandy’s statement. The situation was peculiar.  The boys
+might well be pardoned for being a little fearsome and creepy under the
+circumstances.
+
+"I heard Dickson tell your father, Sandy, at the brumby hunt, that a
+party was comin’ out from Tareela to visit the caves.  P’r’aps it’s them
+that have moved the ladder."
+
+"Don’t think it could have been," persisted Joe. "There’s no sign of
+their camp outside."
+
+"What about the ’rangers?"
+
+The thought was decidedly unpleasant, and when voiced it struck a chill
+in the hearts of all.  As a matter of fact, the thought had lain in
+Sandy’s mind from the time he missed the ladder.
+
+Ben Bolt was not a desperado of the Morgan or Kelly type—men who were
+conscienceless, treacherous, and full of the blood-lust.  Many, indeed,
+of his acts of gallantry and open-hearted generosity, if theatrical,
+were nevertheless redeeming qualities in the old-time bushranger.  A man
+of great resource and daring, a thorough bushman, a superb rider,
+mounted always on the finest of horses,—stud stock mostly, which he
+"lifted" from celebrated breeding stations,—the ’ranger was, in some
+respects, a picturesque figure, and had a most adventurous career. Often
+located and even sighted by the police, he was always able to make good
+his escape, either by bush strategy or by an amazingly daring piece of
+riding in rough country, at which even his intrepid pursuers, themselves
+accomplished horsemen, stood aghast.
+
+There was a spirit of romanticism about the fellow. His dress and
+appearance gave colour to that.  He was passionately attached to his
+wife and children, and often incurred desperate risks in visiting them
+when "home-sickness" seized him.  His house was ever under the
+surveillance of the police, who fondly hoped to catch him by that lure.
+Yet, though often within an ace of capture, he always escaped.
+Outwitting the subtlest efforts of the police, he was their despair.
+Though of a sanguine temperament, there were seasons when he was the
+victim of a black mood.  At such times he was most dangerous and cruel.
+
+"It could hardly be Ben Bolt," said Sandy at length. "It’s quite
+possible that the town party has been.  How could Ben be here an’ in
+Queensland?"
+
+"Well, what’s next, Sandy?"
+
+"I’d like us to explore the opening in the passage first, Joe.  Come,
+boys, let’s shin up."
+
+This was speedily accomplished, and the pals proceeded to the spot that
+was in Sandy’s eye, so to speak.
+
+"Here’s the place I meant!" exclaimed he, when they had retraced their
+steps some distance through the passage.  The opening, at first sight,
+appeared to be a deep recess.  Upon close examination, however, it was
+found that the wall and the roof did not meet.  There was a hole some
+two feet in diameter.
+
+"I spotted this when I came with father," explained the leader.  "Now,
+if one of you fellows will give me a hoist, I’ll get my head and
+shoulders into that opening above, and find out whether it’s a chimney,
+or takes a turn and forms a passage."
+
+Accordingly Joe, stooping a little, received Sandy on his shoulders, by
+which he was able to rise into the hole.
+
+"Hurrah—hurrah!" he exclaimed a minute later.  "It’s a passage all
+right, boys.  There’s a sort of landing, anyway, and it looks as though
+there’s a passage beyond. Hold steady, Joe, an’ I’ll try an’ get my
+hands on the ledge."
+
+The boy made several efforts without avail, for he was an inch or so too
+low.
+
+"Step on my shoulders, Sandy."  It was Neville who had placed himself
+alongside Joe.  His shoulders were at least three inches higher.  Thus
+raised, Sandy had no difficulty in grasping the ledge of the landing.
+Catching the lad’s feet with his hands, Neville pushed the boy higher,
+and soon he worked his way on to the floor of the ceiling, as it were.
+
+This done, he proceeded to light his candle and explore, for it was
+impenetrably dark.  Following the passage inwards, the boy advanced some
+distance.  He found that it widened as he proceeded, and became easier
+to traverse.
+
+"I’d better return now for the other chaps," muttered the lad.
+Accordingly he retraced his steps and explained matters to the anxiously
+waiting group.  By the aid of the green-hide lariat, the others were
+soon up with the leader on the landing.
+
+Here, then, was a new situation.  In all probability the foot of man had
+never trodden this place.  There were no traces of any living thing.  It
+was in no light mood, therefore, that the boys made a start.  Their
+position was unique and thrilled them.  They might, in a literal way,
+bring to light the hidden things of darkness.  Not for ages, or ever, in
+all likelihood, had those walls been lighted up and gazed upon.  Whither
+would the pathway lead?
+
+Proceeding, they encountered no difficulty for some time, as the passage
+widened in places, enabling them to walk abreast.  Soon, however, it
+began to contract, and in places it became a squeeze.  The roof, too,
+dipped considerably, so that it could be touched by the extended hand.
+
+Sandy, who was still leading, began to experience a tired feeling.
+There was a peculiar sensation in his ears, and a tightening in the
+throat.  After advancing a few steps farther he stumbled and almost
+fell.  His candle, too, began to burn very dimly.  His followers were
+experiencing similar feelings.  In a moment the cause of this untoward
+feeling came flashing across his mind.
+
+Joe, behind him, cried out, "I say, Sand ... I’m gettin’ ... short..."
+
+"Back, everybody!  Fire-damp!" cried the leader in a raucous voice,
+after a violent effort.
+
+It was a narrow squeak.  Though only a few minutes in the poisoned air,
+they were all on the verge of unconsciousness.  Gasping, trembling, the
+sweat oozing from every pore, they struggled on until they reached the
+widened area of the passage, and then sank, exhausted, to the ground.
+Tom, who was at the tail of the procession was not so bad as the others,
+not having penetrated so far into the poison zone.
+
+The pure air soon revived them.  Their respiration, which was very
+laboured at first, improved as soon as the sweet, dry air entered their
+lungs, and ousted the putrid gas which had lodged there.  A pull at the
+water-can, which fortunately they had brought with them, helped them a
+lot, and in a short time they were themselves again.
+
+"That ends chapter one," said Joe dryly.  "Whereaway now, Captain?"
+
+"We’ve come to the end of our tether sudden enough, and with a
+vengeance.  It’ll be something, Mr. Neville, to tell ’em in England.
+Let us get back to the old passage. This is nothing but a death-trap."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXVI*
+
+                            *THE EXPLORERS*
+
+
+"’The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest,’ replied my uncle
+Toby."—STERNE.
+
+"That’s a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a
+lion!"—SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+"How quickly we ran into that poison-trap!  No smell or anything to warn
+us," remarked Neville, when the normal condition of the lads was
+restored, "save a nauseous feeling which supervened."
+
+"Whatcher think made it hang like that, Mr. Neville? Seemed to me like
+an invisible fog that we suddenly encountered."
+
+"That is really what I believe it to be, Tom.  I know from what I have
+read and heard, the gas is colourless and quite heavy.  An uncle of mine
+is a colliery manager in Wales, and this fire-damp, or choke-damp, as it
+is sometimes called, is often fatal, because it fills the lungs so that
+no other air can enter, and in this way suffocates its victims.  We were
+just on the fringe of it, I think.
+
+"As I was saying, this fire-damp, which is always much more dangerous
+after an explosion in the mines, is generally formed by the
+decomposition of certain substances in vegetable fibres, or in veins of
+carbonised mineral.  That is why it is called carbonic acid gas.  It is
+much heavier than the air.  You remember the passage was contracted, and
+the air seems to have become impregnated at that particular place."
+
+"Well, whatever it is," said Joe, who had just made a few spasmodic
+heaves, "it’s good enough to keep out of.  Let’s give the acid, or gas,
+or damp, or whatever it’s called, leg bail."
+
+The party of defeated but not disgraced explorers now retraced their
+steps.  Eagerly scanning the walls as they retreated for signs of
+diverging passages, they soon found themselves at the landing, whence
+they swung down into the blind alley that led to the main passage.
+
+"Sandy," said Joe, when the party had emerged, "give that passage a
+name.  Leichhardt gave names, you know, to all the creeks, hills, and
+water-holes he discovered in his travels.  I reckon yon’s our discovery.
+Faugh!" ejecting a mouthful of saliva, "it tastes like rotten
+soda-water.  Let’s call the beastly place by a name that’ll fit it."
+
+"Christen away."
+
+"Me!  Well—er—how’d ’Poison Pot’ do?"
+
+’"Death Trap’ would be better," replied Sandy.  So thought the others,
+and it was accordingly named "Death Trap Passage."
+
+"Now, chaps, let’s get back to the cathedral.  There’s a likely spot
+there—that hole, I mean, where the boulder was jammed."
+
+"What’s the time, Mr. Neville?" asked Joe, on arrival at the big
+chamber.
+
+"Quarter to one."
+
+"Why, we’ve hardly been three hours in!  I made sure it was about six."
+
+"I vote we have a go at the prog," chipped in Tom. "It’ll help to take
+the nasty taste away."
+
+"Good idea!" was the general verdict.
+
+The pals had lost a good deal of their natural spirits. Three hours
+groping in semi-darkness, with a throat full of choke-damp thrown in,
+was enough to stale the strongest; yet they had no thought of surrender.
+They were "baffled, to fight better."
+
+In a few minutes the outer entrance is gained, and in another five
+minutes they reach camp.
+
+The hot tea was particularly acceptable.  Nothing in the wide world
+could have been more refreshing and stimulating.  Billy-tea boiled with
+gum sticks, just so far sweetened as to countervail the natural
+roughness without impairing the aromatic flavour, stands at the head of
+all beverages—whether aerated, brewed, distilled, or concocted.
+
+"My word, this is bully tea, ain’t it?" cried Tom, smacking his lips
+with satisfaction, after emptying his pannikin for the third time.
+
+Neville in particular—to whom the outing and the exploration was a new
+experience—felt, as he puffed at a cigar, the stirrings of a larger and
+a nobler nature than that which had hitherto exercised him.  Business
+life seemed flat and stale compared with this al fresco existence.
+
+"Time to be goin’ back again," said the practical Sandy, breaking in on
+a post-prandial reverie.  "Gimme the tommie, Joe."
+
+Tomahawk in hand, the boy walked to the sapling clump, and selecting a
+stout specimen, vigorously attacked it with the weapon.  From this he
+cut two six-foot lengths, sharpening the thicker ends, crowbar fashion.
+
+"What’s that for, Sandy?"
+
+"To prise the boulder.  They’ll make capital levers."
+
+Armed with these additional implements, the lads returned to the caves,
+and in due course lowered themselves into the cathedral.
+
+The spot which Sandy had mentally marked as a likely one has already
+been described.  It was a cleft in the floor at its junction with the
+wall, and immediately behind a huge stalagmite.  It must have escaped
+the vigilant eyes of the professional trackers.  The corner was a very
+dark one, and unless one looked closely behind the boulder the cleft
+would not be observed.  Sandy had lit upon it in a promiscuous search,
+and was impressed by its possibilities as another outlet, or inlet, to
+other cavities.
+
+No sooner had the boys arrived at the spot, and Sandy had cast his eye
+upon it, than he exclaimed, "Somebody’s been here!"
+
+"How d’yer know?"
+
+"This stone is not in the same position as when I last saw it."
+
+"Who could it ’a’ been?"
+
+"Dunno.  I’m crack sure, however, that this stone was not square down
+the other day.  The flat of it was down and the point of it up.  Now
+it’s reversed.  Besides, here are crowbar marks."
+
+"It’ll be hard enough to get out—much harder than it would ’a’ been if
+it hadn’t been touched."
+
+"Must have been a strong chap that turned it!"
+
+"Strong?  No one man could ever have done it!  It would be difficult for
+two.  Why, that stone’s not a pound less than four hundredweight!"
+
+"Well, time’s goin’," said Joe, "and what’s done’s done. Let’s at it,
+Sandy.  Up-end her, and throw her over on the floor."
+
+The lads vainly tried to insert the wooden bar. The cracks between the
+lid, so to speak, and the edge at the opening were not sufficiently wide
+to admit this.
+
+"It won’t do," said Sandy after a while; "we’re gettin’ no forrader."
+
+"I suggest," interposed Neville, "that you widen the cracks."
+
+"How can we do that?"
+
+"Will you let me have a try?"
+
+"My!—rather.  Anything to get the blame thing out."
+
+Neville picked up the tomahawk that was lying near at hand, and began
+striking the edges of the hole where Sandy had been prising.
+
+"That’s the stitch!" cried Tom.  "Well done, Mr. Neville!"
+
+The limestone readily yielded to Neville’s strokes, and the crevice was
+soon wide enough to take in the thick end of the stout gum sapling.
+
+Sandy and Neville, taking a pull at the end, levered the stone high
+enough for Joe, who had the other bar ready to insert between the raised
+end and the floor stone. With this additional lever power the "stopper"
+was canted on one side, high enough to put the stone chocks in.  Another
+application of the bars, with two boys hanging on each and pulling
+simultaneously, brought the "stopper out of the bottle," and toppled it
+over with a thud that shook the floor; bringing down a stalactite with a
+crash, fortunately without harm to the exploring party.
+
+Before venturing down, Joe, in whose mind an idea had been fermenting
+while the stone-raising business was being carried on, critically
+surveyed the stone "stopper."
+
+"Look here!" remarked he, "these are the marks of an iron crowbar.
+Whoever removed this had the proper tools for it.  Whatcher make of
+that?  That upsets the town party theory, don’t it?"
+
+"It certainly makes the puzzle harder," said Neville.
+
+"Think so?  Makes it easier to me," quoth Sandy.
+
+"How’s that?"
+
+"Looks more’n more like Ben Bolt’s work."
+
+"Think he’s in there now?" exclaimed Tom, in an awed whisper.
+
+"No, I don’t think that.  But it shows me that he’s knocking about here
+again, an’ he’s been in the caves quite recently."
+
+The boys looked into each other’s faces, and felt—well, just as you
+would feel, brave reader, were you in the cavernous depths of earth, in
+the very haunts of proclaimed outlaws, not knowing at what moment they
+might spring upon you.  Standing in the cold, damp, dim underground, at
+the mouth of an unknown passage, which might take you to the innermost
+den of the outlaws, could you contemplate advance without an attack of
+the creeps? The crevice, after going down sheer a few feet, turned on a
+level plane, right across the floor of the cathedral, in a westerly
+direction.  How far could be known only by actual travel.
+
+"Come on, boys," said Sandy, after a moment’s silence; "it’s what we’ve
+come here for.  I believe, for one, we’re goin’ to solve the mystery."
+
+One by one the lads dropped into the bottom of the well.  The passage
+was of unequal width, but always wide enough to allow the party to
+proceed without squeezing, and had a fairly level floor.  The floor,
+after extending two hundred paces or so in a westerly direction, began
+to decline somewhat sharply, and presently Sandy gave a warning shout—
+
+"Water ahead!"
+
+The others crowded round him as well as they could. There, at their very
+feet, was a pool of water of unknown depth.
+
+"Here’s a go, chaps!  Looks as if it might be a swim."
+
+The pool covered a fairly wide stretch, and was in a dip of the passage.
+
+"Don’t think it’s a swim myself," remarked Joe. "Let’s take off our
+boots an’ pants.  I fancy we’ll find it only a wade.  We can move
+cautiously and test it with a bar as we proceed."
+
+The party did as suggested, and found to their satisfaction that the
+water did not rise above their knees; for none of them relished a swim
+in the icy water.  After re-dressing, the company moved forward, and
+soon emerged into a spacious cavern that fairly sparkled with lime
+crystals.  Little time, however, was spent in admiration.  They moved
+across it in the same direction, and found two exits.  After a short
+consultation, they decided to take the larger of the two passages,
+because it seemed to be a continuation of the old track.  Just as they
+started, Tom, who was in the rear, on looking round, saw what appeared
+to be a bundle on the floor of the cave, some distance to the right.
+
+"Wait a moment," cried he, as he ran to the object. "Oh, I say, here’s a
+find!"
+
+The others, who were in the entrance, backed out, and ran to his side.
+Tom held the old vine ladder in his hands.
+
+There was no longer any doubt.  There could be only one conclusion.  At
+the sight of this the boys had a bad attack of the creeps.
+
+"It’s the ’rangers all right.  They’ve slipped the police again."  There
+seemed to be no alternative to this conclusion.  "Seems to me,"
+continued Joe, who was the quickest of the lot in reasoning out a thing,
+"that they’ve been back here again, and knowing that the bobbies’ll be
+on the watch to trap ’em at this spot, they’ve locked up the house, in a
+way of speakin’, an’ thrown the key inside.  I vote that we go on."
+
+No one said nay, and so the advance was made.  The passage presented no
+serious obstacle, widening and narrowing at intervals, but never too
+narrow to proceed. As they were squeezing through a difficult place,
+Sandy again sounded the alarm.
+
+"What’s up now?" said Joe, who was just behind.
+
+"’Nother big cave, an’ a deep drop into it, same as the other.  There’s
+a bar across here where they’ve slung ropes.  Undo the lasso, chaps."
+
+"Let’s hope we’re getting near the end of it."
+
+The speaker was Joe.  The truth is, the work was most tiring in its
+nature, and the spirits of the party were yielding to a very uneasy
+feeling, despite Joe’s plausible theories that the end might be the
+reverse of pleasant. Should Ben Bolt, after all, be in hiding, well—the
+worst might happen.
+
+Fixing the rope, they slipped down to the floor of the new cave.  This,
+though not remarkable for beauty, was commodious enough, and had several
+outlets, in one of which there were indubitable evidences of the
+one-time presence of horses.
+
+"Hello! here’s the stable," cried Tom, who was first in this recess.
+
+Sure enough in a vault-shaped but very roomy cavern, entered by a wide
+passage, was the robbers’ stable. Several bundles of bush hay were
+stacked in one corner. A manure heap filled the other.  All this pointed
+to a prolonged occupation.  The idea of the robbers’ presence had so
+materialised by these later evidences that the boys felt they might be
+confronted at any moment by the desperadoes.
+
+"What’ll we do, Joe?" said Tom.  "Slip quietly back again?"
+
+"Slip back again, after getting this far!  Don’t be frightened, Tom."
+
+"I’m not; y’are yourself."
+
+"Well," replied Joe, with a smile, "I’ll not deny that I’ve felt like it
+more’n once.  But there’s one thing you’ve not noticed, chaps."
+
+"What’s that?" chorused the group.
+
+"There’s not been any horses here for weeks."
+
+"How d’yer know?"
+
+"No fresh droppings."
+
+That fact was indisputable, conclusive, and enheartening. It lifted a
+load of apprehension, to call it by no harder name; and now, with
+buoyant spirits, to which they had been strangers for some time, the
+boys continued the search.  The end, indeed, was close at hand.
+
+"Look out sharply for tracks," was the command of the leader on leaving
+the stable, stooping low as he spoke, and eagerly scanning the floor.
+Hoof-prints were discovered and followed.  They led to a corner of the
+big cave which narrowed at that point, and continued on as an opening.
+After going a few paces, Sandy called out, "Hurrah—hurrah!  Light
+ahead!"
+
+Sure enough, a few yards farther the passage was lighted with natural
+rays that shot through a small opening some distance ahead.  The party
+was exultant, and needed no telling that this was sunlight.  In this
+subterranean fashion the explorers had traversed, mole-like, the range
+spur, and proved the theory of the dual entrance.
+
+Like as the exultation of Columbus when the first sight of the new world
+convinced him that he had solved the riddle of ages, or as Leichhardt
+felt when he and his dauntless band stood upon the shores of the great
+northern gulf, after having passed through the very heart of Australia’s
+_terra incognita_, so did the breasts of these brave youths swell with
+the spirit of triumph when that ray of light revealed the joyful fact
+that they, a group of mere youngsters, had succeeded where the experts
+had failed.
+
+The whole company darted through the spacious passage to the opening.
+It was in the face of a cliff, and fully fifty yards from its sloping
+base.  So steep was the cliff that, viewed from a distance, it appeared
+perpendicular; forbidding to anything save rock wallabies and—Ben Bolt.
+
+Its very roughness, however, made its ascent a possibility.  Had it been
+a smooth face, no horse, however capable, could have climbed it.  Ben
+Bolt was always able to achieve the possible.  Many of his wild rides
+bordered on the miraculous.  His personality magnetised his steeds.
+Wherever he led they would go, and so the steep ravine that rose from
+the rocky base to this entrance afforded a precarious footing for the
+outlaw’s horses.
+
+"Now then, boys, before we go down, let’s give a cheer," said Sandy.
+Led by the leader, the group signalled its victory—for such it was, and
+no mean one—by a rousing cheer that woke the echoes of the precipice and
+spread wave-like over the landscape beyond.
+
+It penetrated the ears of two men who were riding quietly in the bush
+that lay beyond the rocky plateau which formed the base of the cliffs.
+
+"What’s that?" exclaimed the elder to the youth who rode at his side.
+
+"Sounds like a cheer," replied the youth.  "Who can it be—traps?"
+
+Turning their horses’ heads, they rode swiftly but silently to the edge
+of the scrubby timber which they were traversing.  Halting just within
+the bushy barrier, they parted the leaves, and there, perched high up
+the cliff’s side, were four youthful forms—the band of cave explorers.
+
+"Now, boys, we’ll go back an’ have another look round before we leave.
+Might find something belonging to Ben Bolt worth carryin’ away.  We can
+easily get out on this side, and cross the spur a little higher up,
+where the cliff runs out.  ’Twon’t take long neither!  I say—won’t we
+have a yarn to spin to-night!"
+
+But the unexpected is yet to happen.  The company retraced their steps
+to the cave, and did a little exploration; finding nothing, however, but
+a couple of leather mail-bags and some opened letters—the remains of
+coach-robbery spoils.
+
+"This is the last one, mates," remarked Sandy, as the group entered the
+mouth of a passage.  After traversing its course a little distance, it
+opened up into a small cave, twenty feet square.  On one side of it were
+bunks similar to those in the other cave.  While in the act of examining
+it, Joe fancied he heard a footfall.  Stopping a moment to listen, he
+distinctly heard the sounds of stealthy footsteps.
+
+"’S-s-sh-h-h, boys!  Some un’s followin’!"
+
+At this startling statement the boys halted and turned round, to be
+confronted by two forms hardly distinguishable in the surrounding gloom.
+The pals gave a gasp of terror as the call peculiar to highwaymen smote
+their ears and they faced two weapons, levelled point blank.
+
+"Hands up!"
+
+Candles are dropped in sheer fright in an eye-wink, and hands go up in
+gross darkness.
+
+
+The sun had just set as the four youths, in company with two men,
+mounted their horses and took the track leading to Bullaroi.  Strange to
+say, the lads showed no signs of fear, nor were they bound with cords.
+
+"By jingo!" cried Tom, who had just put his horse at a big log and
+cleared it in fine style, followed in order by Joe, Sandy, and Neville,
+"this is the grandest outin’ I’ve ever had!"
+
+"It’s a’ very weel," answered Mr. M’Intyre, who with Denny Kineavy had
+been following the tracks of some strayed cattle which were making for
+the ranges, and were passing the cliff opening while the cave explorers
+were ringing the welkin with cheers, "but supposin’ that instead o’ us,
+it ’d really been the bushrangers returnin’ and catcht ye trespassin’?
+What then, ma laddies?"
+
+This query raised visions of possibilities that sobered the vaulting
+spirits of the pals for some brief moments. Very thankful were they in a
+moment of reflection that they had been bailed up by a friendly enemy.
+
+"Heigho!"
+
+"What’s matter, Joe?"
+
+"Fun’s all over: measly school opens to-morrow!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVII*
+
+                              *A RESPITE*
+
+
+    "Ah! those were the days of youth’s perfect spring,
+    When each wandering wind had a song to sing,
+    When the touch of care and the shade of woe
+    Were but empty words we could never know,
+    As we rode ’neath the gum and the box trees high,
+    And our idle laughter went floating by."
+      GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+Joe little thought when making the melancholy statement, "measly school
+opens to-morrow," how prophetic the utterance was.
+
+The first words that greeted the party on their return to the homestead
+were: "School won’t open for another three weeks; the town’s full of
+measles."
+
+The pals tried hard to look sober and concerned as Mrs. M’Intyre dilated
+upon the nature of the epidemic. It was a vain attempt.  To their credit
+be it said, they were very poor hypocrites.  Whatever sorrow they might
+feel on account of their friends who were in the grip of the disease was
+more than counterbalanced by the blissful intimation that, owing to the
+epidemic which had unexpectedly broken out, the school authorities had
+resolved, for at least three weeks, to keep the school closed.
+
+"There’s no going home at present, boys.  I wouldn’t dream of letting
+you return.  I’ll just write to your mothers to say I intend keeping you
+here, unless they want you particularly.  I feel sure they will be
+thankful for your absence at such a time.  So you’ll have to make the
+best of it, boys.  Are you sorry?"
+
+"Well—er—of course—I’m a——"
+
+"Yes—a—of course—you’re—a—shedding tears at the thought of staying here
+another fortnight or so—aren’t you, Joe?  You and Tom do look as
+miserable as moulting fowls in wet weather at the bare thought of
+holiday extension."
+
+The lads burst out laughing at Jessie’s sally, and declared that it was
+the crummiest news they had received during the holidays.
+
+"That’s a’ very weel, and ye needna fash, laddies, that you’ll ootwear
+your welcome.  But here’s some news that may no’ be so pleasant," said
+the squatter, who had been busy with his mail.  "Here’s a letter frae
+Inspector Garvie to say that Ben Bolt and his mate are in the deestric’
+again.  He stuck up Dirrilbandie Station three days ago, drivin’ a’ the
+hands aboot the homesteed, along wi’ Wilson and his faimily, into ane o’
+the men’s huts, in which they were held by his youthfu’ confederate
+while he ransacked the place."
+
+"Oh! the poor Wilsons!  Did he hurt any of them? and did he get much?"
+
+In reply to a fusillade of questions from the excited household,
+M’Intyre stated that though Ben Bolt was in one of his black humours,
+was in fact on the point of shooting one of the men for cheeking his
+mate, and was only dissuaded from this atrocity by the pleading of Mrs.
+Wilson, no one was injured.  He had taken a considerable amount of loot,
+however, in the shape of jewellery; also a pair of new improved
+revolvers, as well as three horses, one of them being Wilson’s handsome
+chestnut gelding, the finest hack in the district, and for which he had
+a short time previously refused seventy pounds from the police
+authorities.
+
+There had been an outcry against the Government for not having provided
+a better class of mount for the troopers.  Again and again the schemes
+of the police to capture the bushrangers in various parts of the colony
+failed, chiefly because they were out-classed in horse-flesh.  A tardy
+Government, aroused at last to action by the clamour of the people, was
+doing its best to remedy this unequal condition.
+
+"I suppose, sir, the police are in full chase of the desperadoes?"
+
+"They’re doin’ their best, ye may be sure, Mr. Neville. Garvie has two
+pairties oot scoorin’ the country, and is holdin’ himsel’ in readiness
+to move to ony pint at a moment’s notice.  As the scoondrels hae cut the
+Walcha telegraph line, the presumption is they will be raidin’ the
+place, and Sergeant Hennessey is following up with the utmost speed.
+The Sub wants the loan o’ Jacky or Willy, or both, as trackers, and to
+let him ken at aince should there be ony signs o’ them on Bullaroi,
+’specially aboot the caves."
+
+"Are you goin’ to lend him the boys, father?"
+
+"Weel, it’s very awkward, but I’ll hae to assist the coorse o’ juistice
+when ca’d upon.  We maun dae oor pairt to catch the rascals."
+
+"Suppose you _had_ tumbled across the ’rangers in the caves, boys?"
+
+"Well! an’ s’p’osin’ we had, Miss Jessie?" replied Tom, whose answer in
+tone and query suggested unspeakably bad things for the outlaws had they
+been unfortunate enough to meet the cave heroes.
+
+"Let me pit ye a sum in arithmeetic, Thomas, ma laddie; juist a sma’ sum
+in proportion.  If twa stock wheep hondles, pinted at fowr cave
+explorers, each wi’ a lighted candle in his hand, would cause the said
+candles to drop to the flure and fowr pair o’ hands to go up like a toy
+acrobat when ye pu’ the strings, what attitudes would the aforesaid
+explorers strike if a pair o’ rale loaded peestols had been presented?"
+
+"Tom is always a duffer at proportion," interjected Joe laughingly.  "He
+has a trick of givin’ answers that make Simpson sit up.  To tell you the
+truth, sir, I don’t think that the real article could have given us a
+greater shock.  Speaking for myself, I confess that I’ve never had so
+bad an attack of the shakes before.  My skin went goosey in a moment,
+an’ my hair stood up like a hedgehog’s spikes.  I couldn’t ’a’ said a
+word for a hatful of sovereigns.  You see, sir, _it was all very real to
+us for the moment_, and none of the others felt any better than myself,
+I bet tuppence."
+
+"Joe’s quite right, sir.  I had a most dreadful feeling as we stood
+there in the black darkness.  It seemed as if a vast abyss had suddenly
+engulfed us and we were sinking to fathomless depths."
+
+"I’ll back up Joe and Mr. Neville, dad.  My word, when you spoke, it was
+as if some one had suddenly pulled me out of a dreadful nightmare."
+
+
+The pals went to bed early, as they were tired out after the unwonted
+exertions of the day, but not to sleep. They were too excited for that.
+
+"I say, chaps," exclaimed Sandy, jumping out of bed after he had tossed
+about for a few minutes, dragging his stretcher alongside the bigger
+bed, "let’s settle what we’re goin’ to do."
+
+"Was just thinking of doin’ a sleep, Master M’Intyre, when you commenced
+to drag the jolly stretcher with enough noise to wake the seven
+sleepers.  An’ as for ole Tom, I fancied I heard a snore comin’ through
+a hole in his pumpkin——"
+
+"Pumpkin yourself, Blain.  I’m as wide awake as you, or that grinnin’
+ape Sandy."
+
+"How d’yer know I’m grinnin’?"
+
+"’Cause I can see your jolly teeth shinin’ in the dark. But I say, ole
+chap, I’m on for a confab.  Ouch! my legs _are_ stiff.  Wish I’d taken
+that hot bath your mother advised.  Whatcher got in your ole noddle?"
+
+"Something big, mates, but the difficulty will be with mother.  You see,
+now ole Ben’s prowlin’ about, mother’ll be hard to persuade."
+
+"Well, tell us what’s up your sleeve; we can discuss ways an’ means
+after."
+
+"It’s this: go on a campin’ trip to the Bay, where there’s grand
+fishin’; then go out to the gold-diggin’s, an’ put in a couple o’ days
+with the fossikers."
+
+"Jemima! that’d be no end of a prime lark!  It’d top off our stay here,
+wouldn’t it, Tom?"
+
+"Susan Jane! it would that, Joe.  My word, it’d be a scrumptious finish!
+but what charnce would we have of carrying it out?"
+
+"I don’t think that either your Jemima or Susan Jane’ll have much to do
+with it.  Mother’ll be the chief obstacle."
+
+"What about a tent, Sandy?  We’d have to get one, wouldn’t we?"
+
+"There’ll be no trouble about that part of the business. There’s a big
+drover’s tent in the harness-room; ’sides, Harry has a small one he’d
+lend if necessary.  Lemme see: what _would_ we want?  First an’
+foremost, a tent or tents, an’ a packhorse to carry ’em an’ the other
+things. Then plenty o’ prog, o’ course: fishing lines—there’s tip-top
+schnapper-fishin’ down the Bay, to say nothin’ of jew, bream, an’
+whitin’.  Then, the guns—we ought to get some good shootin’; both fur
+an’ feather."
+
+"A fryin’-pan and a camp-oven ’ud come in handy, pannikins too, and some
+tin plates."
+
+"Yes, yes, we’ll need those; at any rate, the fryin’-pan for the fish.
+Don’t think there’ll be any need to bother about a camp-oven: it’s a
+plaguey thing to carry; we wouldn’t use it ’cept for bread, an’ we can
+make plenty of damper in the ashes.  But I’ll tell you what we must
+have, an’ that’s a couple o’ small barrels an’ a good few pounds o’
+salt."
+
+"Why, what for?"
+
+"Fish.  We’ll be down at the Bay pretty near a week, I reckon; an’ as
+we’ll catch whips o’ fish, it’d be a fine chance to dry some, an’ salt
+some as well.  Mother’s got two good barrels that hold about
+half-a-hundred-weight each; they’re salmon casks.  The salmon’s all
+used, an’ I reckon schnapper is as good as salmon any day.  That reminds
+me we’ll want three or four sheath-knives; they’ll come in handy for
+scalin’ an’ splittin’ the fish."
+
+"I say, Sandy, when’ll we start?"
+
+"Start!  Ah—well—we’ll talk about that when we get leave—which, let me
+tell you, is pretty doubtful. ’Twouldn’t take long to get ready once we
+have permission: a day at most.  I declare I’m gettin’ sleepy.
+Good-night, chaps."
+
+The boys opened at short range during the breakfast hour the next
+morning.  In other words, they pled most vigorously for permission to
+camp out for a week or so, according to the programme concocted the
+night previously. The chief objection lay in the reappearance of Ben
+Bolt in the district.  It was all in vain that the boys insisted that
+even were the redoubtable ’ranger to visit their camp, which was most
+unlikely—he would not harm them: would, in fact, have no interest in
+bailing up a parcel of boys.  Mr. M’Intyre showed palpable signs of
+yielding, and had it been left to him would have granted a reluctant
+permission.  The insurmountable barrier, as indeed the boys knew
+beforehand, lay in Mrs. Mac’s excessive fear.  She held the fort, so to
+speak, against all comers.
+
+"I’m more sorry than I can tell you, boys, to say no, but nothing you
+could say would alter my mind. Neither Joe’s mother nor Tom’s would
+dream of letting them go camping out while those dreadful men are
+about."
+
+The pals felt the reasonableness of the refusal, and showed not a
+flicker of resentment, though of course their disappointment was keen.
+
+"I say, chaps, let’s put in the mornin’ fishin’," suggested Joe.
+
+The vote was unanimous, and in a few minutes, armed with rods and lines
+and a tomahawk—the latter for use in cutting grubs out of the
+honeysuckle trees—the boys were _en route_ to some of the deep pools in
+the creek.  They had a really good time with some giant perch.  The
+dangling grubs formed an irresistible lure to these voracious denizens
+of the water-holes, and the fishermen had no reason to grumble at the
+result.  On their return home to lunch they were dumbfounded with the
+news shouted out by Denny as soon as they were within speaking distance,
+"Owld Ben’s dead!—shot by the p’lice in th’ ranges."
+
+The whole household was greatly excited by the news, which had been
+brought by a stockman from Captain White’s station.  There seemed no
+reason to doubt the intelligence, which had come via the "bush
+telegraph."  Hennessey’s lot had picked up the ’rangers’ tracks and
+partly surprised them in the mountains.  The outlaws promptly but barely
+succeeded in getting away.  They gradually drew away, however, from all
+save the Sergeant, who was on a new mount—one of the Tocal noted
+breed—which proved to be a "ringer."
+
+The leader and his companion, who was a light weight, tried every dodge
+to shake off the pursuit, and in this they were past masters; but they
+had to reckon with Hennessey, who was one of the finest troopers in the
+force—as dare-devil a rider as Ben Bolt himself.
+
+After some marvellous riding among the ravines and tangled mountain
+scrub—during which a few long-range shots had been exchanged—Hennessey
+began to draw upon the outlaws.  Even that equine magician, Samson, was
+reaching his limits.  The capture of this illusive freebooter seemed now
+a certainty, could the Sergeant hold out another ten minutes.
+
+He was now within a hundred yards of his man.  He lagged a little behind
+his youthful mate, who was riding the chestnut gelding looted from
+Wilson’s station.  Had he wished he could have shot the ’ranger down;
+but being extremely anxious to capture him alive for the bigger reward,
+he refrained.  The only advantage Ben Bolt possessed was an intimate
+knowledge of the ground, by which he often gained a bit.  They were now
+racing up a steep ravine which presently terminated abruptly at a
+precipice.  Down this the outlaws apparently flung themselves; or so it
+appeared to Hennessey.
+
+Arriving at the spot a few seconds later, the trooper perceived a
+winding, narrow pass.  He was a stranger to the precipitous track, but
+both the bushrangers and their horses were familiar with it, for they
+slithered and scrambled down at breakneck speed: a single stumble, and
+man and horse would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In vain did the
+gallant Sergeant spur his steed towards the pass.  His horse resolutely
+refused to face it.  His chances of capture are fast diminishing to a
+vanishing point, as in a few minutes his prize will have escaped.
+
+The outlaws have now reached the comparatively even ground below,
+distant about five hundred yards from where the trooper stood gnashing
+his teeth in rage, and praying that they might break their necks before
+they reach the bottom.  Fortune favoured them, however, and they might
+have made good their escape without further trouble.  But, instead of
+galloping off to safe cover, they reined up their steeds, while Ben
+Bolt, standing in his stirrups, shouted at the top of his voice an
+insulting message for the Sub-Inspector, making at the same time an
+ironical bow.
+
+While this little piece of comedy was being enacted, and just as the
+bushranger was in the act of bowing, the Sergeant had dismounted.
+Swiftly throwing his rifle to his shoulder and adjusting his sights in
+an eye wink, he made a hasty but true shot.  The outlaw had not finished
+his bow ere he toppled from his steed and lay prone, shot through the
+heart.
+
+Such was the news brought by the stockman, and accepted by the station
+folk.
+
+"Weel, it was bound to come sooner or later.  It’s what happens to a’
+law-breakers—simply the choice of bullet or rope.  It’s no’ for us to
+ca’ the unfortunate and misguided mon names.  If a’s true, he suffered a
+grave injuistice at the hands o’ the police when but a youth, which
+embittered his whole life an’ gave a moral twist to his actions.  We
+maun leave him to Ane above wha mak’s nae mis-judgments."
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVIII*
+
+                         *THE CAMP BY THE SEA*
+
+
+    "Bright skies of summer o’er the deep,
+      And soft salt air along the land,
+    The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,
+      Sinks gently on the yellow sand;
+    And grey-winged seagulls slowly sweep
+      O’er scattered bush and white-limbed tree,
+    Where the red cliffs like bastions stand
+      To front the salvos of the sea,
+    Now lulled by its own melody."
+        GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+"And now, boys, what about the camping-out project? I see no reason why
+you shouldn’t carry out your little plan, now all danger’s removed;
+indeed, I should love you to have the jaunt.  Who were going?"
+
+The boys could hardly believe the good news, it was so sudden.
+
+"Us three, and Denny, if father could spare him, mother," was Sandy’s
+remark.
+
+"Oh, ye can tak’ the laddie.  He’s due for a holiday, onyway.  So’s
+Harry, for that matter.  I can do wi’oot ’em for a spell."
+
+Harry was nothing loth, and entered into the scheme with considerable
+enthusiasm.  As an old bushman he was able to give good advice in the
+matter of camping-out requirements, and was later to render signal
+service by which a life was saved.
+
+Behold the party, early the next morning, accoutred and ready for the
+road; making, as they held their steeds, quite an imposing cavalcade.
+Two stout roadsters were requisitioned for packing purposes; for the
+maternal solicitude of Mrs. Mac was both prolific and varied, judged by
+the articles of food and service which she forced upon the travellers.
+
+The squatter’s pawky humour found ample scope for indulgence.  He
+expressed a hope that "the pairty would keep a guid look oot for traces
+o’ the lost Leichhardt expeedetion; and look oot for alleegaitors when
+ye strike the Gulf o’ Carpeentairia."
+
+The girls, too, indulged in good-humoured banter, raising hearty laughs
+against the boys, in which the victims joined as lustily as any.
+
+Said Maggie, striking a grandmotherly attitude, "There are three things
+I would warn you against, boys; damp socks, draughts, and earwigs.
+Don’t leave out the flour when mixing the damper.  Have you packed the
+tape measure, Sandy?"
+
+"Tape measure!  What in the name of Madge Wildfire do you mean?"
+
+"Why," cried Jessie, breaking in, "to measure the giant jew fish that
+will snap Joe’s line as he is in the very act of landing it."
+
+"Whatcher givin’ us, Jess?"
+
+"It will also come in handy," continued the saucy girl, turning on Tom,
+"to record the girth, length, and throat capacity of the monster snake
+that you, Tom, are sure to see when roaming alone in the scrub."
+
+"That’s one for your nob, Tom!"
+
+"Your turn next, Sandy," retorted that youth.
+
+"Then there’s the ’old-man’ kangaroo that me brither Sandy will shoot
+at, missing by ’just an hair’s-breadth,’ of course, and which he will
+declare—when he returns to camp—to be as ’high as one of those extinct
+mammals that Simpson has in his natural history book’; at any rate as
+’big as Bullocky Bill’s off side poler.’"
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, how wud th’ bhoys put th’ measure on th’——?"
+
+"As for Dennis Kineavy," continued the sprite, "he will be sure to run
+into a group of mermaa-des, when diving in the deep blue sa-ay, who will
+be discussing the all-important question of waist measurement.  As
+Denny’s an expert in fairies and hobgoblins, he will be appointed judge
+and referee."
+
+So, amid laughter and banter, and final good-byes, the gay party start
+for the Bay.
+
+Neville was prevented from joining them through important business
+interests in Sydney.  The "call" of the bush, however, was strong and
+insistent, and, as he bade farewell, he announced his determination of
+returning at no long date to settle as a landholder.
+
+The road to the Bay passed within a short distance of the caves, and,
+despite the news of the tragic end of Ben Bolt, the lads, as they jogged
+past the neighbourhood, were unable to rid themselves of a feeling that
+the outlaw still lurked about his old haunt, and felt relieved when they
+had left this region behind them.
+
+The journey to the Bay proved uneventful save in one particular.  In
+mounting a very steep incline, the cinch strap, that formed the final
+fastening of the pack on one of the animals, broke, whereupon the
+pack-saddle, being loosely girthed, worked backwards.  Some of the
+contents, also, fell to the ground, frightening the horse, who bolted
+along the road, parting with sundry utensils and eatables, which lined
+the track for some distance at irregular intervals.  The frightened
+steed was at length secured, the wreckage gathered and replaced—this
+time more securely—and the journey resumed.
+
+The Bay is reached without further mishap or adventure. After coasting
+it for some little space the party cast anchor, in seamen’s parlance, on
+a miniature promontory which jutted for a furlong or so into the waters
+of the Bay, forming a grassy, treeless plateau throughout its area.  The
+advantage of this site was apparent to the group of campers, inasmuch as
+the foreshores of the Bay were covered for the most part with a stunted
+scrub that extended to the beach.  The advantage was twofold: it
+obviated the necessity of clearing a space for the tents, and it was
+comparatively free from bush vermin.
+
+To the southern part of the Bay, distant some six miles, was the Pilot
+Station; while towards the northern extremity, where a large creek
+debouched into the sea, was a camp of cedar-getters.  Otherwise, in its
+shore vicinity, the Bay was uninhabited.
+
+Two hours of daylight yet remained, and the members of the party made
+instant preparation for pitching camp. The necessary tent poles and pegs
+were speedily secured from the neighbouring scrub, and, under the
+direction of the experienced stockman, willing hands are busily engaged
+in the erection.
+
+The bigger tent was set upon a ridge pole that rested in the forks of
+two upright saplings which had been firmly fixed in the ground.  When
+the requisite number of pegs had been hammered into the ground, the tent
+was hauled taut by cords passed through eyelet holes at intervals along
+each side, and about thirty inches from the bottom.  This under section
+of the tent assumed a perpendicular position, forming the walls, which
+were secured by the same method.  This formed the pals’ cover, while the
+smaller tent sufficed for the other two. A rough shed formed of four
+uprights, with a brushwood roof, held the provisions and saddles.
+
+So expeditiously were all these arrangements made that ere the darkness
+fell they were completed, and Denny—who was promoted to the responsible
+position of cook—was building a fire for tea-making purposes. Meanwhile
+the horses were led to a small, freshwater lagoon in the vicinity, where
+they were belled and short-hobbled, and left to browse on the succulent
+grass.  The last act of preparation was that of cutting a quantity of
+gum bushes for bedding.  No sweeter or healthier bed can be contrived
+than a layer of fragrant eucalyptus leaves.  The beds had scarcely been
+made ere the welcome summons to supper came, in the Irish boy’s best
+brogue: "Jintilmen, will yees come to ta-ay?"
+
+There is a charm peculiar to an evening meal taken in the open.  The
+charm is heightened in the present instance by the contiguity of the
+sea.  The youths dine to the musical accompaniment of the rolling waves,
+which strike the beach in deep, muffled thunder-tone, rising crescendo
+fashion as they race to a finish along the shelly incline.  Then,
+landward, are the insistent noises of the things of the forest.  Ever
+and anon the soft tinkle-tinkle of "The horse-bell’s melody remote" is
+to be heard as the cropping animals move over the lush grass.  The
+illimitable dome above is alive with sparkling lights.  Thus an
+environment is created which gives a sacramental aspect to the feast.
+At least it forms a romantic picture which centres in the fire-lit faces
+of the happy, care-free youths.
+
+Supper ended, they eagerly discuss their projects, the while they clean
+their guns and fix the fishing tackle.
+
+On the morn, at earliest dawn, they will try likely spots for fish, and
+have a swim in the briny.  And now the slow movements of the tongue,
+with frequent yawns, proclaim the nightly toll which nature is wont to
+exact.
+
+Ere the pale dawn is flushed the pals, sleep banished, half-dressed,
+tongues wagging, trudge along the beach to the rocky point of the
+promontory, stopping here and there at likely places to dig in the sand
+for whelks, which make capital bait.  The water is fairly deep where the
+nose of the promontory marks the terminal point, and soon lines are
+unwound, hooks are baited, and practised hands fling the lead-weighted
+hempen cords far into the Bay.  Fair success rewards their efforts.
+Sandy’s line hardly reached the bottom ere he experienced the delightful
+thrill of a fierce tug, followed by a smart, strong rush which betokened
+a good fish.  After a few minutes’ play he landed a fine specimen of
+black bream, scaling over two pounds.
+
+Sandy and Tom had varying luck with black and white bream, and
+flat-head.  Joe, however, was out of it. He did, indeed, have a gigantic
+bite soon after Sandy had captured his first fish.  The line whizzed
+through his fingers with a rush that skinned them as he began to take a
+pull.  When the line had reached its limit it snapped like a piece of
+pack-thread.  The biter was either a young shark or a big jew fish.
+After this no fish troubled the boy.  His mates struck their fish at
+frequent intervals, while his line remained motionless.  After a time he
+wound up and left his companions.  Retracing his steps some distance
+along the beach, he halted at a shelving rock that ran out into the
+water.  It looked a likely spot, and he determined to try with a lighter
+line than the one he had been using.  Baiting his hook with a soldier
+crab, he made a cast, and almost immediately had a bite, hauling in a
+black-back whiting.  It was a good specimen, weighing at least a pound.
+He had good sport for about half an hour, catching in all about a dozen
+whiting and half a dozen soles.
+
+The sport began to slacken about an hour after sunrise, and the pals,
+having captured sufficient for the day’s requirement, set to work and
+cleaned their catches. This task finished, they have a plunge in the
+sparkling and cool waters of the Bay.
+
+Meanwhile Harry attended to the horses, and did little jobs about the
+camp, whilst Denny devoted his attention to the preparation of the
+breakfast.  The lads returned in due course with the spoils of the sea,
+and with appetites as keen as a razor.  In a few minutes the pan is full
+of sizzling fish, which are presently transferred to a hot dish, and the
+pan is filled with a fresh lot.
+
+"Goin’ to try ’nuther panful, Denny?" said Tom, when the second lot had
+been demolished.
+
+"Anuther pan!  Howly Moses! div yees hear him! Och, thin, me bhoy, ye’d
+soon rise th’ price ov fish.  Not anuther scrap will Oi cook f’r yees.
+Oi’ve kep’ th’ rest f’r dinner?  Sure, if we go on loike this ’twill be
+Fridah ivry da’; glory be!"
+
+The morning was devoted to a go-as-you-please programme, in which there
+was much disporting in the water; even the juvenile pastime of building
+castles in the sand was not considered _infra dig_.
+
+In the afternoon the whole party set out for Schnapper Point.  It was on
+this spot that the fond expectations of the lads were centred.  It was
+reputed to be the best fishing ground in the extensive Bay, and owed its
+name to the fact that school-schnapper frequented its vicinity. A
+schnapper trip—taken as a rule in a small steamer—is voted one of the
+finest outings by Australian sportsmen. This highly prized fish, be it
+said, is known variously, according to its age and changing habits.  It
+often attains large dimensions, weighing up to thirty pounds.
+
+None of the party had previously visited the Point. Their great concern
+was to find out if suitable bait could be procured in its neighbourhood.
+The principal bait was a small species of whiting.  These, they
+discovered, were to be obtained without much trouble on shelly patches
+along the beach.
+
+Early next morning the campers are astir, and busily engaged in
+necessary preparations.  After a hearty breakfast, in which the corned
+round and the spiced beef are conspicuous features, behold the young
+sports jogging along the beach towards Schnapper Point.  A stoppage is
+made at the whiting patch, where the fishermen are kept going for an
+hour with very fine lines.  By this time they have secured about two
+hundred small fish as bait.
+
+And now, having arrived at the fishing ground, leaving Harry and Denny
+to attend to the horses, the pals, all eager for the promised sport,
+unwind their heavy schnapper lines, and prepare for the catch.
+
+It was agreed that the boys were to fish, while Harry, who voted fishing
+a bore, and was devoted to the gun, would scour the adjacent scrub for
+birds, and the forest beyond for kangaroo; Denny having promised the
+boys a "foine boilin’" of kangaroo-tail soup.  To quote the actual words
+in which he preferred his request—"If Harry wud shute wan iv thim fellas
+as hops wid their ta-ales, and carries their childre in their
+pockets,[#] Oi, wud ma-ake sich a soup as niver was."
+
+
+[#] The natural pouch of the marsupial for bearing its young.
+
+
+The shooter, armed with a fowling-piece and a short rifle, after
+attending to the horses, disappeared in the scrub in search of game.
+Meanwhile the fishers, having cast their lines, assume an expectant
+attitude.
+
+To their great disappointment there are no bites; not even the
+stimulating nibble.  The patience of these amateurs is sorely tried.  A
+whole hour passes without the slightest sensation of a bite.  Lines are
+cast and recast.  The fishermen move to and fro, to no useful purpose.
+
+"Well, of all the rotten frauds of places for fishin’, this takes the
+bun!  Dash it! we’d better have stayed at the camp an’ fished there.  At
+least we’d——"
+
+"Howld yer whisht, bhoys!" said Denny in an excited whisper.  "Oi’m jist
+goin’ to git a boite; th’ line’s thrimblin’ sure.  Faith ’tis a Dutchman
+smellin’ the ray-shons, Oi’m thinkin’."
+
+"It’s not a schnapper, if that’s what you mean by a Dutchman.  No
+nibblin’ about a schnapper, Denny. More likely a crab."
+
+"By Saint Michael!  Joe, div yes call that a crab? Be dad, thin, it’s a
+big sa-ay whale, or maybe one iv thim mare-mades Miss Jassie warned me
+aginst.  Be th’ hokey, th’ loine’s cuttin’ me fingers!"
+
+The line, which for a minute or two had given faint twitches, and a few
+premonitory shakes, now suddenly whizzed through the Irish boy’s
+fingers.
+
+"Take a pull on her, an’ steady her!" cried Sandy. "You’ll lose fish an’
+line, too, if you’re not mighty smart."
+
+Denny thereupon made a "brake" of his fingers, which steadied the fish
+after it had run out about fifty yards or so of the line.  He began to
+haul it as if it were attached to a sulky calf.  The fish was a heavy
+one, and a fighter; but what Denny lacked in skill he made up in
+strength. Fortunately for the angler the line was stout and new, or it
+would surely have snapped in the struggle.  By sheer strength the fish
+is drawn to land.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIX*
+
+                    *AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER:
+                            A NARROW SHAVE*
+
+
+The pals watched the seaman-like efforts of Denny to land his "sa-ay
+whale," or "mare-made," with great curiosity.
+
+"It’s no schnapper, unless, maybe, a real boss ’un.  More like a young
+shark," was the remark passed by Joe.
+
+Their curiosity is soon satisfied; the fish is now in the shallows, and
+the next moment is drawn to the water’s brink.  Denny has landed a
+monster sting-ray.
+
+It was the first of the kind the Irish boy had ever seen, and, as he
+pulled the struggling ray into the shallows and exposed its body, he was
+struck mute for a few seconds with astonishment, and not a little alarm,
+at its uncanny appearance.  Dropping his line in the excitement, he half
+turned to the boys, and, pointing to the floundering fish, exclaimed,
+"Begorrah! ’tis th’ div-vil himsilf.  Saints presarve us, but if yen’s
+not he’es ta-ale!  Or, ma’be ’tis th’ dhragon phwat Father Daly towld us
+about at Mass larsht Sun-day."
+
+"He’ll be a drag-off in a moment," cried Joe, making a clutch at the
+line, for the brute was wriggling into the deeper water.  The next
+minute the ray was smacking the earth with his flappers, and whipping it
+with his tail.
+
+"Phwat be th’ crathure, anny ways, Sahndy?"
+
+"It’s a stingaree, Denny.  Mind you don’t touch its tail, or you will
+find out to your cost that it’s the dragon, black angel, an’ ’th’ owld
+bhoy,’ all mixed up like an Irish stew.  Run for the tommy, an’ we’ll
+whip it off."
+
+"And does it bite wid its ta-ale loike a schn-ake, bhoys?"
+
+"No, you precious duffer! it’s got a spike near the tip that it rams
+into you like a needle, an’ then look out! Yellow Billy trod on one once
+when he was havin’ a bogey down below Tareela, in the river—they make a
+hole in the mud an’ lie there—an’, by jings! he was ravin’ mad in twenty
+minutes.  The doctor had to shove a syringe into his arm, and squirt
+laudnaum, or somethin’, to quiet him down.  There!" flourishing the
+tomahawk, "that’s off, clean as a whistle!"
+
+"My word!" continued Sandy, a moment later, "we’ll keep the tail for
+Harry.  He promised Bill Evans, the jockey, to get one for him if he
+could.  He’s goin’ to ride White’s horse at the Armidale races, an’ he’s
+the laziest o’ mokes he reckons.  Bill says it’ll be only by sheer
+floggin’ that he’ll fetch him along.  Says if he only had a
+stingaree-tail whip[#] he could do the trick."
+
+
+[#] The sting-ray tail is sometimes used for this purpose. It is a cruel
+instrument of flagellation in the hands of an unfeeling rider.
+
+
+"This is not schnapper fishin’," interjected Joe.  "My word! the
+stingaree’ll make stunnin’ bait.  Put a bit on your hook, Denny, it may
+entice ’em."
+
+Sandy cut off a slice from the flapper and baited Denny’s hook with it.
+The line had hardly reached the bottom ere it was seized by a fish—a
+monster.  The fish did not rush, he bored; the resistance was of a
+sullen nature.  Joe came to Denny’s help, and between them they drew the
+fish to land.  It proved to be a huge rock cod, or groper, as it is more
+commonly called, scaling close upon a hundredweight.
+
+"A jolly groper, by dad!  We’re in luck all right," exclaimed Tom.
+"We’ll have groper steak for supper to-night; besides, we can pickle one
+half of this cove and dry the other."
+
+Their luck had changed in more respects than one.  The ray and the
+groper seemed to be avants courier for the school-schnapper, which now
+began to bite freely.
+
+For the next two hours the boys were kept well employed, landing near
+upon forty fish, varying from three to twelve pounds in weight.  The
+tide now began to ebb, and after that there were no more bites.  It was
+just as well, for by this time they had caught as many fish as they
+could cure.  Counting the groper, they had nigh upon three
+hundredweight.  The weight of these when scaled and cleaned would be
+reduced by at least one-fourth, leaving about two hundred and fifty
+pounds of choice fish.
+
+"What’s bes’ thing to do now, Joe?"
+
+"W-e-l-l—er—I dunno.  Oh, I say, how’d a jolly swim go down?"
+
+"Spiffin’!  A swim, a feed, an’ then start cleanin’ the fish an’ gettin’
+’em ready for smokin’ an’ saltin’.  ’Bout noon I reckon it is."
+
+"Come on, Denny," cried Joe, as they walked down to a sloping beach a
+little back from the Point; "come an’ have a dip in the briny."
+
+"Bedad, thin, that same will Oi not.  ’Twu’d be threadin’ on wan iv
+these stinkin’-rays Oi’d be.  Oi can seem to feel th’ brute’s dirty
+pisen fangs already in me leg.  No, no, thanks be, Oi’m not takin’ th’
+wather tra-atement at prisint.  Oi’ll go an’ start the foire so as to be
+ready f’r yees; that is, if th’ sharks div not ma-ake mince-ma-ate of
+yees."
+
+Was it a premonition which caused a cold, tingling thrill to run along
+Joe’s nervous system, from tip to toe; to be followed by the creeps,
+which made goose-flesh of his smooth skin?  Disagreeable as the
+sensation is to the lad for the time, it lasts but for a moment, and in
+less than no time, so to speak, he is revelling in the glories of the
+crisp, emerald-tinted wavelets of the Bay.
+
+It should be stated that Schnapper Point did not extend into the Bay at
+right angles to the beach.  It inclined northward, and at the spot where
+the boys were bathing was not more than two hundred yards from the
+beach.
+
+"Say, chaps," shouted Joe, who was some distance out, "I’m going to swim
+over to the main beach."
+
+So saying, he swam slowly towards the other side, enjoying to its
+fullest extent the luxury of the exercise. He had covered about a third
+of the distance when he heard a great commotion behind him.
+
+Denny, who had been attending to the fire, had his attention attracted
+by a moving object in the sea.  Gazing intently thereon for a moment, he
+left his occupation and ran swiftly towards the boys.
+
+"Look, bhoys! look at that gra-ate fish sa-alin’ in forninst the Point.
+Troth, it’s a monsther groper, Oi’m thinkin’!  Glory! but he’es a
+gra-ate big bullock-groper!"
+
+So saying, Denny came towards the boys with a puzzled air, as though his
+description of the object to which he was pointing did not exactly
+determine its species.
+
+"Whereaway, Denny?" exclaimed Sandy, who was paddling in the surf,
+standing up and gazing in the direction indicated.  "A bullock-groper.
+That’s a new creature surely.  Never heard——Hello! why, it’s a—— Hi, hi!
+Joe!  Joe!" shouted the lad in a wildly excited state.  "Joe, there’s a
+big shark roundin’ the Point an’ coming this way.  Come back, quick!
+quick!"
+
+Joe, who was almost on a level with the water, was unable to locate the
+enemy as quickly as the others.  It was not until he began to tread
+water that his eye caught the moving object.  In a flash he realised his
+danger, for it was a large tiger-shark, the man-eater of the sea.  Not
+even the man-eater of the jungle, roused through the blood-lust to a
+killing frenzy, could be more merciless to his victim than this
+cold-blooded, pitiless, silent tiger of the seas.
+
+Terrible as was the shock, his courage survived.  He conned the
+situation, and formed his judgment in a moment. The shark was eighty
+yards or so above him, swimming parallel with Schnapper Point beach, and
+within thirty yards or so of it.  As far as he could judge the fish was
+ignorant of his presence, but were he to return to his companions he
+could not expect to escape its vigilant eyes; would be crossing its bow,
+so to speak; and, were it in an attacking mood, would not have the ghost
+of a show.
+
+His only hope of escape lay in keeping along his course, getting to the
+farther shore in the smallest number of minutes possible.  All this
+cogitation did not cover twenty seconds, and the boy resumed his swim
+with the utmost vigour.
+
+Had not something happened to divert the shark from its course nothing
+alarming would have occurred, for Joe was rapidly widening the distance,
+and every stroke was improving his chances.  The boys on shore, with the
+hope of frightening the monster away altogether, began to make a great
+clatter; pelting the shark at the same time.  No more fatal policy could
+have been adopted.  The only result of their tactics was to divert the
+shark from its course, and to drive it out in the direction of their
+comrade.
+
+Almost as soon as the brute’s course was changed it sighted the swimmer.
+This it indicated by giving two or three strong strokes with its
+powerful tail, and gliding at a rapid rate in the wake of the lad.  Joe
+was made acquainted with this change of course by the frantic cries of
+his mates.  Throwing his head over his shoulder for a moment, he saw the
+shark heading directly for him. He knew in that moment that unless the
+miraculous happened his hours were numbered, and in a few seconds—or
+minutes at most—his body would be mangled by this pitiless sea-tiger.
+Yet, although this terrible result appeared an absolute certainty to the
+fleeing youth, he did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and
+steady stroke.  There is such a thing as hoping against hope. He would
+not surrender life; it must be torn from him. Joe’s home upbringing,
+with his father’s daily chapter and prayer, sent his thoughts
+heavenwards in this his moment of extreme peril: "What time I am afraid
+I will put my trust in Thee."
+
+Here was the situation.  Joe was about sixty yards from the beach, while
+the relentless pursuer was within thirty yards of him.  His mates were
+powerless to aid him, and were racing round to the spot where he
+intended to land as swiftly as their legs could carry them.
+
+The shark glided within a few yards of the lad, and then swam round him,
+while conning him.  This the boy felt to be simply the preliminary, yet
+every stroke was taking him nearer the shore.  The water should be even
+now shoaling.  Might he dare to sound it?  But, alas! the enemy seems to
+understand this, and gives a cunning look as it half-raises its body
+from the water, and scrutinises its helpless victim preparatory to
+making its final swoop.
+
+"God help me!" cries the youth, with a dry sob; his last moment has
+come.  In that supreme moment—as in the case of drowning men—the whole
+past came before him.  Home, parents, sisters, brothers, pals! There,
+almost within arm’s-length, is his merciless foe; while there is still
+quite a stretch of water between him and the beach.
+
+The great, cold-blooded, insatiable fish is poised for the final spring.
+A single second now, and——
+
+Instead of falling upon its victim, the huge brute lashed the water into
+foam, and swam round and round in a circle.  What had really happened
+Joe knew not. He no longer swam shorewards, but, half stupefied, watched
+the "flurries" of the frenzied fish as it lashed the water in rage or
+pain.
+
+Then he heard a great splashing shorewards, and a voice shouting
+encouraging words.  Turning in that direction, the boy beheld, with
+unutterable joy, Harry, rifle in hand, rushing through the water to him.
+In a few seconds the stockman is abreast Joe, the water being only up to
+his arm-pits.  Pointing the rifle at the fish, which was circling in
+blind fashion, but a few yards off, the rifleman—for it was he, under
+God, who worked the miracle—drove a bullet through the shark’s brain.
+
+"My word! ’twas a touch-and-go, old feller!" exclaimed the man, as he
+put an arm round the boy—who had, in a sense, collapsed—and drew him to
+the shore.  "There now, Joey, me brave boy.  Y’re all right, ain’t ye?
+Y’re not the chap ter faint, I know.  Here’s the others," as the rest
+dashed up, breathless; the Irish boy fairly crying with excitement.
+
+They could do nothing for a while but look at Joe as he sat leaning
+against a mangrove—where Harry had placed him—making a brave but weak
+effort to smile. The reaction had set in, and the boy felt it was only
+by the most resolute exercise of his will that he kept from swooning.
+
+Tom, who was blowing like the proverbial grampus, stuttered at last:
+"Let’s m-make tr-racks h-home, b-boys. I-I’d rather be b-b-bailed up by
+a thousand ’r-rangers, than w-w-w-one of th-hose sea-devils.  Oh! the
+sight of the m-monster as he r-rose to make a d-dive at p-poor Joe!
+Y-yes, let’s c-clear."
+
+"Clear, be hanged!  What are you drivelling about, you jolly idiot?"  It
+was just the tonic Joe needed. "We’re not goin’ to let a thing like this
+spoil our sport, not by a long shot.  I’m all right.  Was a bit knocked
+out for a few minutes, I will confess.  Tell you what, boys; I’ll never
+be nearer death till my last moment comes.  That I am alive is due,
+first to God, an’ then to ole Harry, here.  ’Twas a great shot, that
+first one of yours.  ’Nother second later an’ ’twould have been too
+late.  Ugh! don’t believe I’ll ever get the green glitter of the thing’s
+eyes outer my mind.  Tell you what, I’ll jolly well punch the first cove
+that hints at goin’ home.  I vote we go back an’ scale an’ gut the jolly
+fish."
+
+"Bedad, thin, it’s a plucky wan y’are, Joe, me bhoy! Y’re th’ mahn f’r
+me money ivry toime.  But, ye’ll not do a sthroke iv wark till yees have
+a feed.  Faith, Oi’ll do a sthreak an’ get th’ billy boilin’ f’r a
+pipin’ hot cup o’ tay.  It’s what we all want; Joe in particular."
+Suiting his action to the word, the cook strode off in quick time to
+prepare the lunch.
+
+Meanwhile the dead shark had drifted into the shallows until it stranded
+on the beach.  The party now made a closer examination of the brute.
+The first shot, fired from the bank as the creature raised itself, had
+caught it in the throat; the second passed through the eye to the brain.
+
+"Why, it’s a tiger-shark!" exclaimed Harry; "twelve foot if he’s an
+inch.  Thought ’twas a blue-nose at fust; they’re bad enough, but this
+joker’s the worst kind that swims the sea.  My word, Joe, it’d been all
+U P if this chap’d once got ’is teeth intil yer."
+
+"Budgeree, budgeree, you bin shootem shark?  Him murry bad p-feller.
+Catchem plendy black p-feller; eaten.  This p-feller live longa Point
+plendy years."
+
+[Illustration: "The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam
+round and round in a circle."—_See p._ 271.]
+
+The group, which had been intently gazing at the carcass, turned round
+in a startled manner on bearing these guttural sounds.  Immediately
+behind them was a cluster of aboriginals, five in number, who had stolen
+silently upon the scene.
+
+"Hello, Cock-eye! that you?" cried Harry, as he surveyed the blacks.
+"Where you bin sittin’ down, eh?"
+
+"Cedar Crik.  We bin come longa here get fis’ for choppers."
+
+"Oh, the timber-getters, hey!  Well, you seem ter know this ole boss.
+You bin see ’im afore?"
+
+"Plendy times.  Bin often try catch ’im.  He kill-ee mine sister.  He
+too much lika dingo; no take bait."
+
+"Well, you can git even with this joker, Cock-eye. He eat your people;
+now you chaps gobble ’im up."
+
+The blacks are inordinately fond of shark’s flesh, and—cannibal as this
+sea-tiger is—no question of sentiment may stand between these primitive
+men and a gorge.
+
+"I say, Harry, cut that dorsal fin off for me, there’s a good man,
+before these niggers tackle it.  I’d like to keep that."
+
+After a considerable amount of hacking, the stockman managed to separate
+the fin, and, leaving the blacks in undisturbed possession of the
+carcass, they returned to the Point, to feed, and to finish their work.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXX*
+
+                        *IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP*
+
+
+    "O mellow air!  O sunny light!
+    O Hope and Youth that pass away!
+    Inscribe in letters of delight
+    Upon each heart one golden day—
+        To be there set
+        When we forget
+      There is a joy in living yet!"
+          G. E. EVANS.
+
+
+The fish cleaning occupied the best part of the afternoon; and when the
+party reached camp, about sunset, they were dog-tired; inclined for
+little else than supper and sleep.
+
+"But you haven’t told us how it came to pass that you were just on the
+spot to prevent the shark scoffing Joe," exclaimed Tom to Harry.  "We
+didn’t expect you back for hours."
+
+"Niver had such a thing ’appen afore, I give yer my word.  Lost me way
+in the dashed scrub; carn’t understand it nohow.  As a rule yer carn’t
+lose me in a scrub; can feel me way be day or night.  Instinct, they
+calls it. Ole Dumaresque says ter me one day, when we’d bin ridin’ fer
+hours through heavy pine country after some strayed heifers, gettin’
+caught in the dark long afore we makes the homestead: ’How do you manage
+to tack an’ criss-cross this beastly country without track or compass;
+not even a star to guide you?  It fair beats me, my man. Why, I’d ’a’
+bin lost a dozen times over but fer you.  You always seem ter be goin’
+wrong, yet always come out right.’
+
+"’Carn’t explain it, sir,’ ses I.  ’I jist do it.
+
+"’It’s all instinct,’ ses ’e.  ’It’s like wot the dingoes an’ blacks
+’ave.’
+
+"Instinct or no instinct, I got bushed all right ter day. There’s
+something erbout it I carn’t understand.  ’Twasn’t that I was careless,
+an’ takin’ no notice.  I ’ad worked through the scrub a distance of four
+mile or so when, all of a suddent, I ses ter meself, ses I, ’Where the
+dickens am I?’  Well, as soon as I put the question to meself I knows I
+was bushed, an’ fer the fust time in me life I begins ter feel quite
+creepy like.  I didn’t know which way ter go.  At larst I starts out in
+a direction that seemed the likeliest, but, somehow, I cud make no
+headway.  Something seemed ter clog me feet, an’ I was allers gettin’
+mixed up with vines an’ brushwood.
+
+"’Dash it all,’ ses I, ’this won’t do.  Don’t believe I’m goin’ the
+right way, after all.  Believe this ere way’s leadin’ me back to the
+Bay, an’ I wants ter git through this blarmy scrub ter the forest, fer
+’oppers’ tails.  I’ll righterbout face, danged if I won’t!’  So round I
+turns, an’ as soon as I started I got on fust clarss.  Didn’t git mixed
+up an’ stumble as afore, but gits through the brushwood as slick as a
+bandicoot.  ’Mus’ be nearly through the belt,’ ses I, after goin’ fer
+an’ hour or so. ’Mus’ git the rifle ready, fer I might sight a kangy any
+moment now.’  So I unslings the rifle from me back an’ puts the gun in
+its place, an’ stops a minit ter load ’er—the rifle I mean.  I’d jist
+finished when I heers voices shoutin’, an’ then a great yellin’, as if
+somethin’ orful was ’appenin’.  So orf I rushes through the scrub, an’
+comes out on the beach.  I was knocked inter a heap, I gives yer me
+word; fer there before me was the sea, an’ I thought I was on t’other
+side of the scrub altogether. Then, in a flash, I sees wot was really
+’appenin’.  Jist afore me very eyes was Joe.  He was strugglin’ in the
+water not more’n a hundred yards away, an’ that ’er brute seemed as if
+it was jist a-fallin’ on ’im.  Why, I fired the rifle a’most without
+pintin’ it.  Somethin’ seemed ter say, ’If yer waits ter aim yell be too
+late.’  Be gosh!  I’m thinkin’ ’twas the Almighty Hisself directed that
+shot."
+
+"If ye’d not losht your enstink, as ye calls it, ye’d be moiles an’
+moiles awa-ay at th’ toime th’ shark was goin’ to gobble Joe up, wuddent
+ye?"
+
+"In course I wud."
+
+"Well, don’t ye think th’ good God had a hand in losin’ ye in th’
+scrub?"
+
+"It’s wot yer father’d call an answer ter prayer," replied the stockman,
+turning to Joe as he spoke.
+
+By this time the camp-fire—around which the group had been sitting—was
+burning low, and the party was quite ready for bed after the exciting
+and tirng adventures of the day.
+
+The campers were astir at an early hour next morning, to make the final
+preparations for curing the fish.  After filling both barrels, there was
+a quantity available for smoking.  To carry out this object a sapling
+frame, about four feet square and seven feet high, was constructed, and
+enclosed with bushes, leaving an opening at the top and bottom.  The
+fish were hung by stout cords, and a fire kindled on the earth inside
+the curing shed.  Some green wood was used with the dry, to produce a
+fair, volume of smoke; and so the curing went on apace.
+
+Leaving Denny in charge of the camp, the others spent the afternoon
+shooting over a chain of lagoons that lay back from the beach a couple
+of miles or so.  The ducks were plentiful, and they returned to the camp
+well laden. They passed the two following days shooting and fishing,
+both fins and feathers being exceedingly plentiful.  By this time they
+judged the fish to be cured, and packed it in a maize bag.
+
+"Tell you what, boys!  S’pose we ride over to the Pilot Station to-day?
+It’ll be a change, won’t it?"
+
+The others received Joe’s suggestion with ready approval, and before
+long were racing along the beach towards the Pilot Station.  This was
+situated at the mouth of the river, and consisted of the residences of
+the pilot and the boat’s crew.
+
+It should be said that at the mouth of every Australian river flowing
+into the Pacific is a sand-bar.  These sand barriers frequently shift
+their position, owing to tidal and other ocean influences.  This makes
+entrance and exit to be a somewhat dangerous proceeding, and many a
+craft has come to grief on these treacherous sands.  To reduce this
+danger to a minimum a pilot station exists at each river entrance.  The
+pilot is generally a sea-captain with a large experience of these
+treacherous bars.  It is his duty, weather permitting, to take daily
+soundings so as to locate the exact position of the bank, and by means
+of signals to apprise incoming and outgoing vessels of the position and
+depth of water on the bar; also, when required, to pilot the vessel over
+the dangerous spot.
+
+Captain Craig, the pilot, was an old salt, with nearly half a century’s
+experience of the eastern rivers of Australia.  He received the boys
+very kindly, and, after offering them refreshment, took them to the
+signal station and look-out.  When he had explained the methods of
+signalling, he allowed them to look through a very fine telescope.  He
+was justly proud of this instrument, it having been presented to him by
+a company of passengers for his gallantry and seamanship in extricating
+his vessel from a rocky shore in a hurricane.
+
+The time had now arrived for taking the bar soundings. Much to the boys’
+delight Captain Craig invited them to accompany him in the life-boat,
+and a few minutes later the crew were pulling the party from the
+miniature cove to the bar.
+
+The water here, owing to the bar formation, was generally in a turbulent
+condition.  Although it was a calm day, they found the boat exceedingly
+lively as she moved to and fro over the bar while soundings were being
+taken.  They experienced sundry disagreeable qualms, and a certain
+screwed-up feeling in the region of the "bread-basket."  The clacking
+tongues of the youngsters grew suspiciously quiet, and Tom’s ruddy
+cheeks paled to an exceedingly bilious complexion.  Had you quizzed
+these boys upon their sickly looks, they would have protested with might
+and main against the insinuation of mal-de-mer.  Nevertheless they were
+mighty glad when the pilot, after half an hour’s sounding, having
+accomplished his purpose, turned the boat’s nose in the direction of
+home.  Once out of the troubled waters, the sick feeling passed away,
+and at the solicitation of the lads "for a pull," the pilot
+good-naturedly allowed them to row to the landing-place.
+
+Before leaving, the pals recited the story of the shark adventure,
+ending in the death of the tiger shark. Captain Craig listened with
+great interest, and not a little excitement, to this narration.
+
+"You have had the narrowest of escapes, Joe Blain, and have very much to
+be thankful for," exclaimed he. "That shark was a most notorious
+character.  He has roamed the Bay for years and years, and has destroyed
+many human lives.  Innumerable efforts for his capture have been put
+forth by the fishermen, and by my own men, but in vain.  Often sighted
+and fished for, he has resisted the many lures set for him.  Again and
+again, when enclosed in their nets, he has broken through, and has long
+been their despair.  Now, however, thanks to a good Providence, and to
+the clever shot of your friend here, this dreadful man-eater has been
+removed."  Advancing to the stockman, the pilot shook him warmly by the
+hand, and thanked him in the name of the community.
+
+As the party rode home in the cool of the evening, they decided to break
+camp next morning, in order to carry out their original intention of
+paying a visit to the old diggings.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXXI*
+
+                       *OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS*
+
+
+    "The mountain air is cool and fresh,
+      Unclouded skies bend o’er us,
+    Broad placers, rich in hidden gold,
+      Lie temptingly before us."
+        SWIFT.
+
+
+Tents were struck, and the campers’ impedimenta securely fastened to the
+pack-saddles, in the grey dawn of the following morning—the party having
+breakfasted by starlight.
+
+The gold diggings about to be visited was situated in the ranges,
+equi-distant from Bullaroi and the Bay.  The route from the Bay lay
+along the homeward track as far as the caves.  At this point the trail
+turned due north—winding among the rugged country to the site of the
+mining camp, which, in its palmy days, covered a flat that lay between
+some precipitous hills and a swiftly flowing mountain stream.
+
+The diggings in question was deserted, save by a few fossikers, or
+gully-rakers, as they were generally called—men who earned a precarious
+living by following up the dry gullies, and picking out wash dirt from
+between the rocks; or else dry-blowing likely spots of the surface. The
+lure of gold—so common to all—fed the imagination of these men.  They
+became nomads; lived in the most primitive ways; faced and endured
+untold hardships; and, if not cheerful, were always hopeful.  They saw
+visions and dreamed dreams—of gold.  The years passed, age pressed
+heavily, eyesight grew dim, and limbs palsied with weakness: but even
+when broken down and encompassed with infirmity, their very senility
+sustained its spirits upon visions of the rich find that was surely
+coming—to-morrow.
+
+When the diggings "broke out," and the rush "set in," the flat was white
+with tents, the population running into four figures.  It was an
+alluvial diggings; that is, the gold was washed from the earth, and not
+crushed from the quartz.  In the flush days of Rocky Gully, rich
+"pockets" of gold were struck, and huge fortunes made. Life then, in the
+character of its splendours and pleasures, was barbaric.  Lucky diggers,
+with the spending lust upon them, ordered champagne baths, lit their
+pipes with five-pound notes, shod their horses with plates of gold,
+squandered their suddenly acquired riches on camp wantons, and among the
+harpies of the gambling hells. There were many exceptions to this
+foolish course, ’tis true; but such is the mental intoxication
+consequent upon a lucky find, and the sudden acquisition of wealth, that
+the majority of lucky diggers succumb, and in a few weeks or months,
+shorn of their possessions, either blow out their brains in remorse, or
+challenge fortune once more upon the same or some other goldfield.
+
+Rocky Gully was now a worked-out diggings, and its population had long
+ago drifted away to other fields. Naught remained to remind one of its
+glory now but a few tumbledown houses, and the wood skeletons of iron
+buildings, together with countless heaps of empty tins and other refuse.
+Naught, that is, save a dozen or so of fossikers, who were distributed
+over the field; each having his area, into which the others never
+intruded.
+
+How was it, then, that the Bullaroi party should have included a trip to
+the deserted mining camp in their programme of sport and adventure?
+There was nothing inviting in the region so far as game was concerned;
+nor was there the rough excitements of a live diggings. The truth is, it
+was the outcome of a suggestion of Harry. The stockman had a yarn he was
+very fond of relating, which included some tragic incidents associated
+with Rocky Gully.  As a youth he lived there in its "boom" days, and
+towards the close of his stay there he was mates with Humpy Bob.  Humpy
+Bob was an eccentric character, well known on a dozen goldfields, whose
+shrewdness as a gold finder was countervailed by his incredible folly in
+spending his riches.  On one occasion, when he had struck a "pocket,"
+from which he drew over a thousand ounces, he began a carouse which
+continued until the last penny was spent.
+
+As illustrative of his folly during that spree, he purchased a general
+store for the sum of one thousand pounds.  The same evening, in company
+with the drunken guests of a champagne party he had given, he proceeded
+to the store, deliberately fired it, and, with the other banqueters,
+stripped stark naked, danced a wild corrobberie while it burned.
+
+Bob sober was the antithesis of Bob drunk.  Abstemious, taciturn,
+industrious, solitary, with a genius for divining likely places, he
+followed the pursuit of gold: seldom failing to earn good wages; often
+winning handsome profits; occasionally making a pile.
+
+Humpy’s end came suddenly and tragically; and of this Harry was a
+witness.
+
+The two men were driving a tunnel at a likely spot in the bank of a
+blind gully about three miles from the main camp.  They worked in
+relays, and had driven in about a score of yards, when Harry suggested
+shoring it with saplings for safety.  Humpy Bob, however, who was always
+running risks, made light of the suggestion. They had just struck a vein
+of promising stuff, which gave "prospects" of several grains to the
+dish.  When it was Bob’s turn to go on, Harry again suggested shoring up
+certain loose spots; especially one near where he had been picking, for
+there had been a small fall during his shift.  This the other would not
+consent to, though his partner pleaded earnestly.
+
+"There’s a hundred to one chances against there being anything serious,
+mate, and I’m not goin’ to waste any time in propping up the blessed
+tunnel.  It’s not worth it. We’ll most likely clean it out to-morrer.
+So-long!"
+
+So saying, the digger entered the drive, and was soon at his work.
+Harry, having nothing to do for a while, went to the tent and stretched
+himself on his bunk for a rest, intending to return in an hour or so to
+wheel out the mullock.  Unfortunately he fell asleep, and hours passed
+by before he awoke.  When he did, he jumped from his bunk and ran out to
+the drive, scolding himself for his negligence.  The barrow was missing
+from its usual place, and, after a hasty search, the youth went to the
+tunnel’s mouth and shouted to his mate.  There was no response, nor were
+the usual pick sounds to be heard.  The light was still burning at the
+end of the tunnel.  Hastily traversing the drive in a half-stooping
+position, as indeed compelled by the size of the tunnel, the youth
+covered about half the distance when he stumbled over the barrow,
+severely barking his shins.  Using hot language against the carelessness
+of his mate at leaving the barrow in such a place, and with a half fear
+at the unsatisfactory look of things, he scrambled up and went on
+towards the end of the tunnel.  He had not taken more than two steps
+when he again stumbled; this time over a softer substance. It was his
+mate!
+
+Humpy Bob was lying unconscious, half-covered with a mass of fallen
+earth and rocks.  Groping his way across this pile of débris, the
+excited and frightened youth reached the end of the drive, seized the
+light and returned to his mate.
+
+Tearing frantically at the soil and stones, he liberated old Humpy, and,
+as gently as possible, drew him to the tunnel mouth.  Then dashing to
+the little stream below, he brought water in a billy, and made the
+customary attempts to restore his stricken mate to consciousness. His
+utmost attempts availed not.  The vital spark had fled.  Not all the
+resources of medicine or surgery could bring light into the half-closed
+eyes, or life into those rapidly stiffening limbs.  Humpy Bob would
+never again unearth a nugget, rock a cradle, appraise the value of a
+prospect, or get on the "razzle-dazzle" and "paint the town red."
+
+It would seem that after working for a while, and making a heap of
+mullock, the digger had come out of the tunnel for Harry.  Not seeing
+him about, the old man seized the barrow with the object of wheeling out
+some of the earth.  He had loaded it, and was in the act of wheeling it
+along, when a mass of earth fell full upon his back, fracturing the
+spine.
+
+Harry was greatly affected by this sad occurrence; for Humpy Bob had
+many good points of character, and a strong attachment had grown up
+between them.  As soon as his mate was buried, he left the goldfield,
+and got a job on one of the stations.
+
+He had often thought of revisiting this scene, for he had a feeling that
+good gold would be found there.  Of late the desire to test the ground
+again had grown strong, and, when the project of the jaunt to the
+seaside was launched, he suggested a trip to the old diggings.  The boys
+gladly fell in with the idea, for it furnished them with an item that
+gave additional spice to the outing.
+
+The journey to the diggings was necessarily slow.  The pack-horses were
+heavily weighted by the extra burden of the fish, and the method of
+progress was that shuffling gait known as the "jog."  Though monotonous
+and tiring to the rider, it is the easiest pace for the loaded animals,
+and one that can be kept up all day.
+
+"Seems a pity that we should cart this blessed fish to the diggings,
+Sandy.  Wouldn’t it be better to ’cache’ it somewhere near the junction?
+It’s giving the horses unnecessary work, in my opinion.  Let’s see, it’s
+twelve miles to the junction, an’ fifteen from there to Rocky Gully.
+Supposin’ we planted the stuff in the scrub at the junction; it’d save
+thirty miles of hauling, an’ be no end of a gain all round."
+
+"Good enough, Joe!  What d’yer say, Harry?  We could hide the barrels
+an’ bag easy enough in the scrub."
+
+"M-yes, perhaps so.  Come ter think of it, I’m not so sure.  Barrels’d
+be all right, but ’twon’t be the dingoes’ fault if they don’t root out
+the dried fish.  Tell you what, boys, plant ’em in the caves!"
+
+"Good shot!  The very thing the doctor ordered!  The caves! yes.
+’Twon’t take us more’n a mile out of the way; an’ ’twill be on the road
+to Bullaroi on the return trip. We can easily strike in on the west side
+of the cave ridge, and hide ’em in the stables.  Nobody knows of that
+place but father an’ the ’rangers; now poor ole Ben’s shot——"
+
+"Maybe it’s ha-aunted, bhoys.  It’s juist th’ sphot owld Ben’d hide his
+sowl in, so as to frighten awa-ay th’ p’lice whin they goes rummagin’
+about f’r booty; loike th’ carr-sthle ghosts in th’ owld conthry.
+Bedad, thin, Oi’ll be expactin’ t’ see th’ bowld raider comin’ on us out
+iv th’ dark, his face shinin’ loike th’ stuff phwat matches is made ov."
+
+"Brimstone an’ treacle you’re thinkin’ of, ain’t you, Denny?  But, I
+say, chaps, it’ll be better to hide ’em at the ’ranger’s outlet; though
+it’ll be the dickens own job to get the barrels into the cave up that
+slope.  Wouldn’t it be better, after all, to hide the stuff in the
+scrub, slinging the bag into a tree, high enough to be safe from the
+dingoes?"
+
+So it would, and have saved a most painful experience; but having
+started the idea of hiding the fish in the caves, it presented an
+attraction that the others would not surrender.  It gave a flavour of
+romance to the act.  Now that he was dead, the bushranger’s hiding-place
+took on a new interest; and so it came to pass that Tom found himself in
+a minority of one.
+
+They found it a tough piece of work to get the barrels up the
+precipitous slope to the cave entrance.  But, when the fish was at last
+stored in the forage chamber, as it was now called, and the party had
+remounted their horses, they could appreciate the advantage gained by
+relieving the pack-horses of so much dead weight.
+
+They now made more rapid headway, and struck an accommodation house, in
+the early afternoon, kept by one Jago Smith—an old acquaintance of
+Harry’s.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXII*
+
+                         *HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD*
+
+
+    "There’s a bonny wee spot in the mountains I love,
+    Where the pine trees are waving o’erhead far above,
+    Where the miners are happy, kindhearted, and free;
+    And many come here from way over the sea.
+    There’s gold in the mountain, there’s gold in each glen,
+    The good time is coming, have patience, brave men;
+    Hold on to your ledges, and soon you will see
+    Both money and mills coming over the sea."
+      C. CRAWFORD.
+
+
+Jago Smith was an "old timer," as, in Colonial parlance, men with his
+past were called.  A Londoner by birth, he was initiated when but a
+child into the arts and artifices of that profession which flourishes by
+the application of sleight-of-hand tricks to the pockets and purses of
+an unsuspecting public.  In short, this London arab was a thief,
+belonging to just such a school as Dickens has portrayed in _Oliver
+Twist_.
+
+His career as a collector of "wipes" was brought to a summary end
+through being caught full-handed in a theatre crush.  A "Children’s
+Court," or a "First Offender’s Act," was unknown in the early days of
+the nineteenth century; consequently young Jago Smith was had up before
+the magistrate, committed to the Assizes, convicted to the hulks, and
+ultimately transported to Botany Bay to serve a term of penal servitude.
+
+At a theatrical effort made by certain prisoners of histrionic talent at
+Sydney, at the tail-end of the eighteenth century, to which first
+Governor Philip and his wife were "graciously" invited, the following
+lines form part of the prologue composed for the occasion—
+
+    "From distant climes, o’er wide-spread seas, we come,
+    But not with much éclat or beat of drum.
+    True patriots all; for be it understood,
+    We left our country for our country’s good.
+
+    No private views disgraced our generous zeal,
+    What urged our travels was our country’s weal,
+    And none can doubt, but that our emigration
+    Has proved most useful to the British nation."
+
+
+Fourteen years’ penal servitude for the theft of a few
+pocket-handkerchiefs!  Such a sentence to-day would be regarded as a
+monstrous iniquity; it passed without comment in those days.
+
+But transportation was not an unmixed evil to Jago Smith.  As early as
+1793 schools were started at the penal settlement, under the impression
+that they would be the most likely means of effecting a reformation in
+the morals of youthful prisoners.
+
+Jago, with the consent of the master to whom he was assigned on landing,
+attended a night school, and gained some insight into the three R’s.
+
+[Illustration: "’We’ve struck it rich, I do believe,’ cried the
+stockman."—_See p._ 295.]
+
+After a somewhat varied career, the ex-pickpocket, who had served his
+time, became a settler on Rocky Creek; and when the Rocky Gully gold
+rush set in he drove a very profitable trade with the diggers.  In
+addition to raising cattle on his selection, Smith kept an accommodation
+house, where board and lodging was to be had.  As the place was on the
+public road, about five miles from the diggings, it received much
+patronage. Jago was very proud of his signboard.  It was an
+incontestable proof of his accomplishments in writing and spelling.
+
+
+                         ACKOMERDASHON FUR MAN
+                          AN BESTE SMALL BIER
+                        SOULED HEAR GORD SIVE TH
+                            E KWEEN J SMITH
+
+
+As the party drew up to the hitching blocks, old Jago, who was lounging
+in an arm-chair in the verandah, hobbled out to the front, quietly
+surveying the group; to whom Harry addressed himself.
+
+"Good-evenin’, Mister Smith.  How are yer gettin’ on these times?"
+
+"Not gettin’ any younger, you may be sure.  But who be you?"
+
+"Don’t yer remember me, Jago?" replied the stockman, walking up to the
+old man.
+
+"Yes; I see who it is now.  You be the boy wot worked with old Humpy,
+an’ used ter stay here when Bob had an attack of the jim-jams."
+
+"The same, ole chap.  We’re goin’ to put up here for the night, and
+intend goin’ on to-morrer to where me an’ Humpy worked when ’e was took.
+Got room for us, I s’pose?"
+
+"Plenty o’ room, me lad.  Not over rushed with travellers these times.
+Better take your ’orses round ter the back; ye’ll find the saddle-room
+in the old plice, an’ yer can turn the neddies inter the paddock.
+There’s plenty o’ grass fer ’em."
+
+The boys were ready for the supper of homely fare which awaited them at
+sunset.  After supper, Harry and the old man got into a conversation, in
+which the former stated that he was determined to have a try at the old
+claim; for, though Humpy had put it about when working it that it was a
+"shicer," Harry, of course, knew differently. The gold-bearing stuff, it
+is true, was but a thin vein, but they expected it to develop into
+something better farther on.  Old Jago informed him that no one had
+touched the spot, so far as he knew.  Yes, he had some picks and shovels
+and prospecting dishes, which he had taken as payment at one time and
+another from hard-ups. Harry was welcome to make a selection.
+
+This the stockman did without any delay.  He took from the curious
+assortment of diggers’ tools two picks, two short-handled shovels, two
+prospecting dishes, the roller and handle of a windlass, a couple of
+buckets, some stout rope, a length of chain, a strong hook, a crowbar,
+and a pound or two of blasting powder.
+
+These he obtained as a loan, for Smith would not hear of pay.  He viewed
+the whole thing in the light of a joke. The idea of Harry starting to
+work a claim with a parcel of kids who had never seen a gold shaft in
+their lives, with a time limit of three or four days at the most!  The
+stockman was but humouring the fancies and ambitions of the kids.  They,
+no doubt, expected to locate the golden nuggets in the same fashion that
+they would track a missing bullock on the bush, or run down a wild cat
+to its lair in a hollow log.  Well, they would at least develop their
+arm muscles and have blistered hands to show their friends.  So the old
+settler—who at the time of the rush had listened to the confident
+prediction of many a greenhorn, going post-haste to pick up the nuggets
+that were waiting for somebody to tumble over. Not so Harry; he, at
+least, was no greenhorn.  He would give the abandoned workings a trial.
+It would be a novelty for the boys, and though they mightn’t get
+anything to boast about, would, he was confident, get enough to give
+each member of the party a souvenir of the visit.
+
+Leaving the accommodation house after an early breakfast, the band of
+diggers, for such we must now call them, arrived at the old workings in
+a couple of hours, passing _en route_ two or three fossikers who were
+working their shows.  These ancients looked with a degree of
+astonishment upon this cluster of youths, whose very jauntiness was
+suggestive of a prime lark.
+
+Arrived at the diggings, the party had a good look round.  Intense
+solitude reigned everywhere, and save for the heaps of rusty cooking
+utensils and other rubbish there was little to indicate that the place
+had once been a busy hive of life and energy.  An old signboard, written
+by another hand than had done Jago Smith’s, was seen nailed to a tree.
+Its language was simple and to the point.
+
+
+                              ROYAL HOTEL
+                             ALL DRINKS 6c.
+
+                          _N.B.—Clean Glasses_
+
+
+Harry took a rapid survey of the situation.  The place apparently had
+not been disturbed since the fatal accident.  The old tent poles
+remained as he had left them, and there was no evidence of any one
+having camped there for years.
+
+Proceeding to the tunnel, which, as previously described, was driven
+into the perpendicular bank of a deep gully, things looked pretty much
+as they did on that fatal day, excepting that the earth had fretted away
+about the tunnel mouth, and, on venturing in a short distance, the man
+saw that the roof had broken down, completely blocking the mine.
+
+"Well, Harry," exclaimed Joe, when the leader emerged from the tunnel
+mouth, which the boys had been eagerly watching, "is it all clear?  Did
+you go to the end?"
+
+Didn’t git half-way.  Tunnel’s half blocked."
+
+"What a pity!" chorused the lads.
+
+"Dunno ’bout that; cause, yer see, it’s proof ter me no one’s bin
+interferin.’"
+
+"’Twon’t be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?" continued Joe.
+
+"Carn’t say; depends on the amount that’s fallen. But ’tain’t my notion
+ter use the tunnel at all.  Yer see, it’s this way: it may take us an
+hour or a day to clear the rubbage outer the tunnel.  When we’d done
+that, we’d have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the
+wash-dirt.  Fust an’ foremost, there’s plenty of foul air in the far end
+of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you coves in the caves.  Let me
+tell you, it’s hard work clearing the stinkin’ air outer a tunnel.  You
+can git it outer a shaft easy enough, by tyin’ a bunch o’ bushes onter a
+rope and running ’em up an’ down; but it’s mighty hard work clearin’ a
+tunnel, an’ orften a long job.  Then, s’posin’ we got it out, we’d have
+ter shore up the whole blessed length; for, let me tell you, I’m not
+goin’ ter run any risks in this ’ere job.  We’ve had fright enough over
+Joe an’ the shark, an’ I cuddent face the Boss an’ the missus if
+anything happened to any of you here.  Now, to shore up this blessed
+tunnel’d take a power of timber, an’ ter git it an’ fix it’d take a far
+longer time than we’ve got."
+
+"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep disappointment, voicing
+the feelings of the group of boy diggers, "don’t tell us it’s all a go,
+an’ we’re to return without havin’ a try!  Can’t you find some other
+spot?"
+
+"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was diggin’ up
+gowlden prr-aties, an’, ochone!  Oi’d just stuck th’ pick into a
+monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the laast, an’ was tryin’ me
+best to upind her wid a laver, whin owld Jago comes bangin’ at th’ dure.
+Begor!  Oi was sweatin’ loike a stoker whin th’ owld mahn woke me. Jist
+give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an’ be Saint Michael Oi’ll——"
+
+"Ye’ll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret.  They’s more ways of killin’
+a pig besides chokin’ ’im with a lump o’ butter.  It never was my plan,
+boys, ter use the ole tunnel.  There’s a better way nor that.  When me
+an’ ole Humpy drove in ’ere, we wus follerin’ a lead, an’ ye niver can
+tell ’ow far yer ’ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe a ’undered yards
+afore it opens out inter a body.  So we did the right thing then.  Now I
+propose ter put down a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end
+of the tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that.  I calkerlate
+we’ll tap it in twenty feet or so.  I know the clarss of country we’ll
+have to go through.  All this bank’s wot we call ’made up.’  It’s a
+formation called pudden stone. It’s formed o’ river wash, an’ is pretty
+pebbly.  The pebbles is the plums.  We’ll go through it in a couple o’
+days at most, an’ that’d give us two days more afore we need clear orf
+’ome."
+
+The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry’s proposal, and set
+about rigging up the camp near the spot which the leader had selected to
+put down the shaft.
+
+While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set to work at sinking
+the shaft.  So expeditious were they that by night they had sunk the
+hole about ten feet and had rigged up the windlass.  All the boys had a
+turn at digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the novelty of
+the work.  Harry and Denny, however, did the main part, while the lads
+manned the windlass, and hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the
+buckets were filled.
+
+At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast preparatory to
+a long day’s work at the shaft.  They had to do a good deal of blasting,
+for some of the stones were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed
+time.  It was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy blast,
+Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried out, "Haul up quick!
+we’ve broken through.  Foul air!"
+
+On winding their comrade up, he declared that the blast had broken the
+ground into the tunnel, and that the foul air was coming freely into the
+bottom of the shaft. "We’ll let it stay as it is till termorrer, an’
+then we’ll clear it out."
+
+The pals went to sleep that night to dream about the El Dorado which, in
+their imagination, they had struck. The earliest dawn found them at the
+shaft’s mouth. Harry tied several bushes to the end of the rope, and
+this was rapidly lowered and raised for about a couple of hours, the
+condition below being tested from time to time by a lighted candle
+placed in a bucket and lowered to the bottom.  At last it remained
+alight, though it burned very feebly.  About half an hour after this,
+the candle, on being sent below again, burned brightly.
+
+"It’s all right, now, boys!  We’ve got rid of the gas, that’s a
+blessing.  Lower away!"  In a few seconds Harry was filling the buckets
+with the broken rock and earth.  In a short time it was all cleared up,
+and the leader had started to drive along the line of the vein.  He had
+not cut in more than a couple of feet when he threw down the pick and
+shouted up the shaft, "Hurroar, boys! I’ve struck a patch.  Be gosh, it
+looks like a pocket!"
+
+The excitement above at this good news may be better imagined than
+described.  The vein of wash-dirt suddenly expanded into a cube of about
+sixty buckets of auriferous earth.  It was a genuine though small
+pocket.  Whether rich or poor could be determined only by washing.
+
+Harry filled a bucket with the dirt, which was speedily hauled up.  The
+next minute he was pulled to the surface, and, spreading the stuff on
+the ground, examined it.  To the great delight of the pals, he picked
+out several large specks and a small nugget, scaling about half an
+ounce.
+
+"It’s all right, mates!" cried the stockman, now almost as excited as
+the boys.  "We’ve struck it rich, I do believe.  Sandy, me boy, git your
+nag an’ a packhorse, an’ streak fur Jago’s as fast as yer can git, an’
+borry a cradle.  It’d take too long ter pan this stuff—must have a
+cradle.  But, look ’ere, don’t give the show away.  Tell ’im I got a few
+specks from a bit o’ stuff I came acrost, an’ that I’m jist goin’ ter
+give it a try.  He’ll most likely call me a big fool, an’ don’t yer
+conterdict ’im."
+
+A cradle, it may be said, is a machine on rockers for washing the
+auriferous earth.  The machine is fed with the wash-dirt, a stream of
+water being poured on while it is rocked like a child’s cradle.  The
+heavy sand and gravel, together with the precious metal, sink to the
+bottom and are retained by the "ridges," whilst the earth and all light
+matter pass away with the water.  It is finally treated in a dish so
+skilfully that only the pure metal is left.
+
+While Sandy is speeding off to Jago’s the rest are busy picking the
+pocket and carrying it down to a flat by the side of the tiny stream
+which ran along the gully bottom.  The work was hard, for the wash-dirt
+was heavy, and the buckets big; but they made fun of the hardships of
+bruised fingers and strained muscles, as they hauled the precious earth
+from the shaft mouth, and then humped it to the stream.
+
+They had not quite finished their work ere Sandy reappeared upon the
+scene with the cradle.  Very little grass had grown during the
+performance of his task.
+
+Scarcely allowing themselves time to bolt down their midday meal, the
+party were grouped around the cradle, which Harry had fixed within a
+yard of the stream. The stockman soon made his dispositions of the
+forces. Joe and Tom are to lift the water and pour it on as required,
+while he and Sandy work the cradle.  Denny is to feed the machine with
+the dirt.
+
+So the work of "washing up" started.  Every now and then Harry stopped
+the work and "cleaned up" the cradle—that is, took out the heavy golden
+sand which was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied it in
+a bag, to be "panned" later.  From time to time the party were gladdened
+by the sight of large specks, and now and then a tiny nugget of some
+grains’ weight.  The gold, for the most part, however, was fine.  The
+work went on continuously till night closed in upon them. Though
+dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their work for the day, and
+after supper threw themselves upon their primitive beds and slept the
+sleep of the just.
+
+"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry’s last word.
+
+The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#] for their early
+waking.  Perched on the limb of a tree close to the tent, they began
+their morning orisons at the first paling of the stars, making such a
+cachinnation as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in
+startled tones, "Dressin’, dad; goin’ for the cows this minute."  While
+Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn over on his side, saying in
+sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me
+darlin’! an’ sa-ay ye——  Howly Moses, ’tis th’ owld Johnny-axes at their
+thricks!"
+
+
+[#] Giant kingfisher.
+
+
+In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as soon as breakfast
+is demolished the lucky diggers make their way to the gully to start
+operations.  The work was a repetition of yesterday’s, and, according to
+Harry’s calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck well
+to the job; bullock teams couldn’t have drawn them from it.
+
+After working for about an hour, Denny, who was shovelling the dirt,
+picked up a lump of rock, saying at the same time, "Oi’ll pitch this
+awa-ay, annyways.  It feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: ’tis as
+heavy as lead.  Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"
+
+"Hey, you fool!  don’t throw that away.  Let’s see it," cried Harry,
+seizing the piece of rock, which was about the size of the lad’s head.
+"Why, great jumpin’ Jehosaphat!  it’s a bloomin’ nugget.  You precious
+duffer! if you’d thrown that away I’d ’a’ pitched you down the shaft."
+
+The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the leader as he held
+the lump with both hands.
+
+"See ’ere, this white rock’s quartz, an’ all these yaller veins is gold.
+It isn’t wot you’d call a pure nugget, but by the weight of it I guess
+there’s a power of the yaller stuff inside.  ’Ere, Tom, streak up ter
+the tent fur a tommy an’ we’ll soon see."
+
+Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the quartz nugget on a
+flat stone that cropped out of the ground near by, and dealt vigorous
+blows upon it with the head of the weapon.  In this way he crushed the
+quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold formed a mass
+in the centre.
+
+"That’s all we’ll do at present; we’ll crush it out properly in a mortar
+when we get home.  Guess there’s full twenty ounces o’ gold in ’er."
+
+There were no more such finds in the dirt, but the last few lots yielded
+a good deal of coarse gold, one piece weighing about four ounces.
+
+By nightfall they had washed out the bagged ore. There it lay on a cloth
+before the fire, a little heap of pure gold, and beside it the quartz
+nugget, so to call it.
+
+"Call me a frog-eater if there ain’t full seventy ounces o’ gold in that
+there lot—close on three ’undered pounds’ worth!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXIII*
+
+                        *BULLION AND BUSHRANGER*
+
+
+    "And if you doubt the tale I tell,
+    Steer through the South Pacific swell,
+    Go where the branching coral hives
+    Unending strife of endless lives,
+    Go where the rivers roll down through the sand
+    Under skies that are blue in a golden land."
+      KIPLING.
+
+
+"Pull up a moment, chaps.  I want ter say a word afore we strike Jago
+Smith’s—we’ll sight it over the next ridge. No blabbin’ erbout the gold.
+The ole cove’s sure ter arsk erbout our luck.  You keep mum, an’ leave
+me ter answer ’im.  He’s er good ernuff sort in hes way, is ole Jago,
+an’ me an’ ’im always got on well, as ’e sort er took a fancy ter me.
+All the same, ’im an’ Ben Bolt is, or was great friends.  That’s why I
+steered clear o’ the shootin the night we stayed there.  ’E might ’a’
+cut up rusty, like.  Many’s the time ’e’s planted the ’ranger when the
+p’lice ’as been ’ot on ’is trail.  ’Twuddent s’prise me a bit if the kid
+that wus Ben’s mate wus ’idin’ somewheres erbout Jago’s.  ’E’s several
+good plants.  At any rate, there must be no blow.  Bes’ be on the safe
+side."
+
+In a few minutes the party sighted the accommodation house at a distance
+of a quarter of a mile or so.  They could see the old man in the front,
+talking to a man who held a horse by the bridle.  Even as the party
+sighted the pair they were themselves seen.  After a few hasty words
+with Jago the horseman threw his bridle over the steed’s neck, vaulted
+to the saddle, and rode away briskly.
+
+"By George, that ’ere cove’s ridin’ a good nag.  See the style o’ ’im!
+’E’s a beauty, ’e is; all muscle an’ spirit. If ole Ben wusn’t a goner,
+I’d say ’twas ’im on Samson; blamed if I wuddent."
+
+The mounted band have approached the house by this time.  The owner
+stood awaiting them by the hitching posts.  Saluting them as they rode
+up, he jeered good-humouredly—
+
+"I ’opes yer left a few specks fur them fossikers, gintilmin?  ’Twud be
+too bad to scoop the pool an’ leave the old uns nothin’ but mullock
+heaps.  At any rate, ye’ve brought back the tools—cradle an’ all.  Come
+now, ’ow did the stuff pan out?"
+
+"I’ll tell yer wot we did git, ole man, sore bones an’ blistered ’ands.
+Blame me, but yer soon gits outer the diggin’ business.  Tried that bit
+o’ stuff I come acrost, wot the kid tole yer erbout.  Waal, speakin’ in
+confidence, we didn’t git ernuff ter hire a gold escort ter fetch it
+erlong.  We did git a bit—ernuff ter make these young coves a breast-pin
+apiece.  But let me tell yer, one of these days I’m comin’ back ter have
+a good prospect. Keep it close, Smith; I don’t want any of these blessed
+gully-rakers ter smell anythin’."
+
+"Dark it is, young feller.  Yer can trust me fer not givin’ the show
+away.  Comin’ in?"
+
+"No, we’re makin’ fer ’ome.  Just tote the tools ter where youse got
+’em, boys, an’ then we’ll be orf."
+
+The lads speedily discharged, and were in the saddle again.  The party
+was moving off when Harry said to Jago—
+
+"Forgot ter arsk yer whether yer ’eered that Ben Bolt wus shot by
+Hennessey t’other day."
+
+"Yes, I ’eered it," replied Smith dryly.
+
+"Kid not collared yet?"
+
+"You’re more likely ter ’eer about ’im than me: so-long."
+
+"Ole Jago’s a deep un," soliloquised Harry as they rode along.  "I
+forgot ter arsk ’im erbout the man we saw ridin’ away as we came up," he
+remarked a few minutes later to Joe, who was riding at his side.  "If
+that ’ere ’orse ’e wus ridin’ warn’t Samson, I’m a greenhorn."
+
+"It might have been the young fellow that got away when Ben was shot.
+It struck me Jago was bluffin’ you, Harry."
+
+"My word, Harry," said Tom, riding up on the other side, "you bluffed
+ole Jago over the gold."
+
+"Ain’t so sure o’ that," replied the stockman.
+
+"No one could have done it better," broke in Joe. "You circumnavigated
+the truth."
+
+"Don’t know wot yer mean, my boy: unless it’s somethin’ in the circus
+line."
+
+"Not exactly that," replied Joe laughingly; "but it reminds me of an
+epitaph I heard about, that was stuck on a fellow’s tombstone—
+
+                    HE TRIED HARD NOT TO BE A LIAR."
+
+
+"Wot I said about tacklin’ that ground’s true ernuff, anyways," replied
+the stockman, with a smile.  "But erbout this gold: we’ll go shares, o’
+course.  We’ll divide it up inter five equal lots when we get to
+Bullaroi."
+
+"No; that’s not fair, Harry," said Sandy.  "We must have a fair
+division."
+
+"Well, wot yer call a fair division, if that’s not one?" said the man
+shortly.
+
+"If it was left to me to decide, I would give you half, to start with.
+It was your show.  You did most of the work.  We were more like wages
+men; so at the very least you should get half.  Then I’d divide the
+other half among the rest of us in equal shares."
+
+"Sandy’s right," broke in Joe.  "As far as I’m concerned, Harry’ll have
+the lot.  I’d like him to take my whack, anyway, because——"
+
+"No, yer don’t, Joe.  I know wot yer goin’ ter say. Think I’m mean
+ernuff ter take pay fer shootin’ a jolly shark?"
+
+"Oh—I—didn’t—mean—it—just——"
+
+"Joe meant it as a mark of gratitude, Harry.  I think my way’s best.
+Whatcher say?"
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the four.
+
+"Joe, me mahn," said Denny a little while later, as he and Blain were
+riding together, "cud ye tell me phwat me quarter ov a half ov th’
+gowld’ll come to?"
+
+"Lemme see, seventy ounces; half o’ that, thirty-five; quarter of
+thirty-five is eight an’ three-quarter ounces: yes, your share is eight
+an’ three-quarters, Denny."
+
+"Give it in pounds, plaase, Joe."
+
+"Pounds!  Oh, I say, you’ve got me there.  Well, let’s see.  What was it
+Harry said they’d give us per ounce at the bank?"
+
+"Three sivinteen an’ a tanner, Joe, me bhoy.  Oi tuk note ov that."
+
+"Yes, that was the price, I ’member.  Eight and three-quarter times
+three seventeen six—er—lemme see, that’d be—eight threes twenty-four,
+twen—bother it, I mean eight times seventeen an’ six, that’s a hundred
+an’ ninety—no, _that’s_ not it.  Let me put it down in me mind—one,
+seven, six; that’s right!  Well, multiply it by eight, an’ leave the
+quarters out for a bit.  That’s—why, it’s three hundred an’—no, it can’t
+be that much, surely?  Bust it, if I only had a pencil an’ a bit o’
+paper I’d soon tot it up.  Try again.  Eight into seventeen and six is——
+Blest if it isn’t an interest sum, after all, Denny; an’ they always sew
+me up."
+
+"It’s th’ troth, Joe; it’s th’ most interastin’ sum Oi iver heerd tell
+iv.  Thry it agin, Marsther Joe; doan’t let a little sum loike that
+ba-ate ye.  ’Twas two hondered pounds ye said larrst.  Make her go a
+little higher if yes can."
+
+"What! two hundred pounds!  Murder! ’tis shillin’s I was reckoning."
+
+"O-o-h!" exclaimed Denny, with a profound sigh. "Awaay goes me bright
+dra-ames!  Sure, thin, ’twas buyin’ th’ owld family carr-sthle Oi was
+thinking ov, an makin’ melyinaares o’ me dear payrunts; maybe the Quaan
+wud be makin’ me farther Lord Kineavy!"
+
+"Well, you are a cure, Denny.  You’ll have me addressin’ you as the
+Honourable Dennis next.  Oh, I say, didn’t Harry say he wouldn’t be
+surprised if the gold fetched four pounds an ounce, it was so rich?
+Well, let’s reckon it at four quid.  Eight fours are thirty-two—that’s
+thirty-two pounds.  The three-quarters of four pounds is three.
+Thirty-two and three are thirty-five; thirty-five pounds.  There you
+are, ole boss, thirty-five."
+
+"Thirty-foive pounds!  Begorrah! it’s a bloomin’ capertillist Oi am!
+Whoi, glory be! it’ll do betther thin buyin’ a rotten owld sthone
+carr-sthle made ov brick an’ thatch; it’ll pay for bringin’ out me
+payrunts in th’ emigrr-ashon ship.  Be Saints Pathrick an’ Michael, ’tis
+a happy bhoy Oi am at this moment!  Phwat wid me savin’s, an’ Norah’s,
+an’ this haape ov gowld, Oi’ll buy thim th’ best cabin on th’ boat, and
+so Oi will!"
+
+In due time the party arrived at the junction of the roads, and crossed
+the ridge to the cave entrance.  After placing their horses in the patch
+of scrub near the road, they scrambled up to the opening.  Lighting the
+candle, Sandy led the way to the forage chamber, where the fish was
+stored.
+
+"You don’t feel so creepy, Denny, as when you were here last," said Tom
+to the Irish "boy, as they followed the others into the chamber.
+
+"It’s thrue for ye, Tom.  Owld Ben’s not thrubblin’ me to-da-ay.  ’Tis
+only thinkin’ ov me dear farther an’ mauther comin’ out on th’ sa-ay Oi
+am.  As for th’ ’ranger, he’s as dead an’ dhry by this toime as the
+smoked fish yonder."
+
+"Is he?" cried a loud voice from the rear.
+
+"Howly Moses! ’tis th’ ’ranger’s ghost," cried the Irish boy, as a
+bull’s-eye flashed in his face, dazzling his eyes and confusing his
+mind.  Terror-possessed by this ghostly manifestation—for he saw naught
+but a bright light, preceded by an awful voice—the boy bolted.  He
+rushed towards the chamber exit, which he barely reached ere the sharp
+crack of a revolver sounded, what time the panic-stricken youth
+staggered forward, falling with a dull thud upon the stone floor.
+
+It need hardly be said that the other members of the group were startled
+out of speech and action.  Not ten seconds elapsed between the cry of
+the man or ghost and the tragedy of the revolver shot and the fallen
+boy.
+
+The moment the boy fell the others ran towards him, but before they had
+taken three steps the light flashed on them and a revolver covered them.
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "_Stop!  Hands up!_"
+
+
+          *[Illustration: Behind the lantern came a voice that
+           more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them:
+             "*_*Stop!  Hands up!*_*" (missing from book)]*
+
+
+For the second time the hands of the boys went up at command.  One thing
+was made quite clear, at any rate: this was no ghostly visitant.  Ghosts
+didn’t carry revolvers, nor was there long any mystery about this
+personage.
+
+"That young cove reckoned I was dead and dry as your smoked schnapper,
+did he?  The young fool’ll smoke and dry fast enough in the place I’ve
+sent him to. You infernal asses to come here!  But you’ll never live to
+tell any one; make up your minds to that."
+
+It was in truth the bushranger himself.  Of that there could be no
+doubt.  The news of his death was either a make-up or a gross
+exaggeration.  Here he stood, in the flesh, in one of his most dangerous
+moods.  A black fit was on him.  Under its influence he was capable of
+almost any atrocity.  The lads were horror-stricken. There, before them,
+lay the body of their comrade, the gay, witty, affectionate Denny, who
+but a few moments ago was in the seventh heaven of delight at the
+thought of bringing out his parents with the proceeds of his share of
+the gold; and now—it was too awful!
+
+"Look ’ere, Ben Bolt!" exclaimed Harry, after a few seconds’ silence,
+"you’ve shot an innercent boy in cold blood.  You’ve grossly belied your
+reputation that you never laid a hand on woman or child.  We came here
+with no thought of spyin’ upon yer, for we believed yer to be dead.  In
+five minits we wud ’ave gone away with our fish, none the wiser for your
+presence.  You’ve not the slightest justerfication fer takin’ that life,
+an’ if yer shoots me the next minit fer it, I tell yer to yer face ye’re
+a blaggard an’ coward, an’ the pity is that the news of yer bein’ shot
+wasn’t true."
+
+Why Harry was not shot off-hand, it were hard to say. The bushranger was
+convulsed with rage: thrice he levelled his revolver at the brave man,
+and as often lowered it.  At last, with a voice hoarse with passion, he
+said, "I’ll send you along the road I’ve driven your mate, curse you!
+You think you’re very game, but I’ll take all that out of you before
+I’ve done with you.  You’ll be longing for your end hours before it
+comes....
+
+"Here, boy," continued he, pointing to Tom.  "Take that green-hide and
+tie your mates as I tell you.  Look sharp, or I’ll lay you alongside
+your mate yonder."
+
+Thus dragooned, Tom securely tied his mates’ hands behind their backs.
+As soon as this was accomplished, the outlaw, sticking his revolver in
+his belt, served Tom in the same way, and in addition trussed each
+victim. Having set them in a row like a group, of mummies, he addressed
+them—
+
+"You’ll lie here for the present.  I’ll deal with you later.  I’ve got a
+little job to do first.  That fool Hennessey’s coming out this way with
+a couple of troopers to trap me.  ’Twasn’t enough that he winged my
+mate, he’s sworn to have me inside of the week.  And I swear that I’ll
+have him inside of six hours.  I’m going out now to have a look round.
+If you coves try any of your tricks, I’ll make hell for you.  I shan’t
+be far off, you may bet."
+
+So saying, the outlaw went out into the chamber where his horse was
+stabled, and led him along the passage to the cave entrance.
+
+"I say, Harry, it was Ben Bolt that we saw at ole Jago’s this mornin’."
+
+"True.  I cud ’ave taken me oath a’most that the ’orse wus Samson, but I
+didn’t git a fair view of the bloke’s face.  Yes, ’twor Ben that we saw.
+He must ’a’ got ’is information erbout Hennessey from the ole man. It’s
+wunnerful ’ow they does git the news.  I ’ope ’e don’t git er charnse
+ter draw er bead on Hennessey.  He’ll ’ave ter be mighty smart ter do
+it.  But, dear! dear! on’y ter think of poor Denny lyin’ over
+there—dead!  I wish ter ’evven ’e’d ’a’ shot me instead.  Wot’ll your
+father an’ mother say, Sandy?  Poor Norah, too!  It’ll be the killin’ of
+’er."
+
+"Whisht, boys, spaake low: Oi’m not kilt ontoirely; only knocked
+spaachless.  Oi’m betther nor tin dead Chinymen yit."
+
+It was the sweetest sound that ever ravished the ears of the boys.  Here
+was the blissful fact—Denny was not dead; was very much alive.  If the
+lads did not immediately cry out with joy it was because their joy was
+too deep for utterance.
+
+"Don’t spaake or sthir awhoile till Oi see if th’ coast’s clear."
+
+Rising quietly to his feet, the Irish boy stole along the corridor that
+led to the mouth of the cave.  After a hasty but keen survey of the
+immediate neighbourhood, he returned to his companions, knife in hand,
+and in a few minutes had freed them.
+
+"And are you not wounded, Denny?  We never dreamed but that the villain
+had shot you dead.  You lay just like a corpse.  He was under that
+impression too, or he’d never have left you."
+
+"Yez see ’twas this way: Oi was fair flabbergasted whin th’ blazin’
+light dazzled me oiyes.  Oi made shure ’twas th’ ’ranger’s ghost.  Oi
+wud ’a’ stood, but me ligs wuddn’t.  They sthreaked off loike a
+paddy-melon goes for a hole in th’ fince—carryin’ me body wid thim.  Th’
+firsht thing Oi felt was a rock sthrikin’ me fut, an’ thin, begorra,
+somethin’ whistled past me ear as Oi tumbled forrard, hittin’ th’ flure
+a nasty crack wid me head.  Th’ nixt thing Oi heard was owld Harry
+tongue-bangin’ th’ rapscallion ov a murtherer fur killin’ me.  ’Be
+jabers!’ ses Oi to meself, ’he’s kilt me ontoirely wid a shot from hes
+pisthol, if phwat me bowld frind ses be th’ thruth. Go it, me brave
+bhoy!  Tare an’ ouns, but ye’re givin’ him th’ coward’s blow in foine
+style!’
+
+"Thin Oi sees him rope yez up loike dhrapery parr-sels, an’, ses Oi,
+’Jist wait till yez is gone, me hairr-y breasted sna-ake!’ an’ wid that
+Oi comes to me ray-son an’ knows that Oi was not dead at all, at all.
+Oi was jist goin’ to git up an’ give him a bit iv me tongue, whin the
+thought comes—’Lie still, ye gossoon, till he goes an’ ye can liberaate
+yer mates!’  So now we’ll be even wid th’ omadhaun."
+
+"The quicker we’re outer this the better!" exclaimed Harry, as soon as
+he was released.  "There’s no knowin’ when the ’ranger’ll return; if ’e
+finds us loose, ’e’ll shoot us to a cert.  What a pity we left our guns
+with the ’orses!  ’Ope ’e won’t find ’em.  It’ll be risky goin’ out, as
+we don’t know where the feller is.  ’E may be close by watchin’ the
+’ole.  The bes’ thing’ll be for us ter make a dash ter the scrub as soon
+as we’re outer the cave."
+
+"There’s a much safer way than that," said Sandy. "We’ll go out the way
+we came in when we first discovered this place.  Lucky we brought a
+candle with us.  Come along; every moment is precious."
+
+So saying, Sandy strode in advance, the others following closely at his
+heels.  The party soon hit upon the passage leading to the cave opening
+on the other side of the ridge.  In twenty minutes or so they were in
+the open.
+
+Their first act was to plunge into the thick bush.  This shielded them
+from ordinary observation.  After a short confab, they concluded that
+the wisest thing to do was to creep along in the thickest part, in the
+direction of the horses.  They had hardly started when the sharp crack
+of a rifle broke upon their ears.  Stopping short, they listened
+eagerly; with beating hearts, it must be confessed.  Again and again,
+shots were fired; at last they heard the pounding of hoofs, rapidly
+nearing them.
+
+"’Ssh—don’t move—they’re on the hard road," said Harry to the nervously
+excited youths.
+
+The road passed the caves about two hundred yards from where the party
+lay.  Presently, with increasing clatter, Ben Bolt rode furiously along,
+and after a minute’s interval, Sergeant Hennessey, accompanied by two
+troopers, the Sergeant leading by about fifty yards. Just as he was in
+the act of passing, the officer took a snap-shot at the ’ranger.  In a
+few minutes all sight and even sound of pursued and pursuers had gone.
+
+"No fear of Ben Bolt trubblin’ us now fer a spell. ’Ope Hennessey ’ll
+nab ’im sure this time.  Let’s moosey erlong, lads."
+
+It didn’t take the party long to pick up the steeds and load up the
+packhorses with the fish.  The sun had barely set ere they were well on
+the last stage of the return journey.
+
+
+The M’Intyres are just concluding the evening meal. The conversation
+chiefly centres around the campers. Mrs. M’Intyre had given many a look
+along the track during the afternoon, in the hope of sighting the lads.
+The understanding when they left was that they were to return at the end
+of the second week.  It was now Saturday evening.
+
+"I won’t give them up till ten o’clock.  I expect they have made a late
+start.  Yes, Maggie, I own that I am a bit fidgety now that I’ve heard
+that Ben Bolt has been seen in the vicinity of the caves."
+
+"Weel, ye can juist ease yure mind on that pint, my dear, for the
+Sairgeant and a pairty o’ troopers are patrolling in that direection, so
+that there’s no’ the sma’est pairtical o’ reesk."
+
+"It was lucky for them, mummie, that they had started for their trip
+before the revised version of the engagement between the police and the
+bushrangers was published, for had you known of the mistake you would
+never have let the boys go.  What are they going to do with the youth
+that Hennessey wounded?  They say Ben Bolt’s mad over it, and swears to
+have Hennessey’s life."
+
+"The misguided lad wull be pit on his trial as sune as the wound on his
+thigh permeets."
+
+"Do you think they’ll hang him, father?"
+
+"Nae, nae, they’ll no’ hang the chiel; he has never ta’en life, nor is
+he a hardened ruffian.  He stairted this wild life ’for the fun o’ it,’
+like mony another silly laddie.  The Sairgeant tells me that Jock Smith,
+for that’s his name, is gled to be captured.  His eyes hae been opened
+to the folly and sin that are compreehended in sic a life.  Insteed o’
+fun, he has encountered nought but hairdship and meesery.  The misguided
+laddie wull hae plenty o’ time for repentance."
+
+The evening calm is suddenly and noisily disturbed. The station dogs set
+up a great babble of barking, and Jessie, who had gone out to the front
+verandah, comes running in helter skelter and screaming—
+
+"Father, mother, hear the dogs!  It’s the boys, I bet tuppence.  Hurrah!
+Hurrah!——"
+
+"Jessie, Jessie!  you are certainly developing very——"
+
+Mrs. Mac is prosing without an audience, for the girls are flying along
+the track to the slip-rails, accompanied by the barking dogs.
+
+
+It was verging on midnight when the Bullaroi household broke up.  The
+adventures were told with a degree of modesty to an intensely interested
+and at times breathless company.  The spoils of the sea and the spoils
+of the mine were displayed to the admiration of all. Mrs. M’Intyre gave
+high praise to the pals for their success as fish-curers; while the gold
+spoke for itself, needing no expert opinion.
+
+Mr. M’Intyre had the last word.
+
+"Ye’ve advanced a big step towards yure manhood, laddies, and I’m prood
+o’ ye the nicht.  Yure conduc’ under they perils by sea and land is more
+precious by far that yon gleeterin’ gowd.  A guid name is raither to be
+chosen than great riches.  Thank the Lord for a’ His mercies!
+Guid-nicht, bairns."
+
+
+
+                           "GOOD-NIGHT ALL."
+
+
+
+
+           _Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALS ***
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+                                  PALS
+
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost
+no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+
+Title: Pals
+       Young Australians in Sport and Adventure
+Author: Joseph Bowes
+Release Date: December 08, 2013 [EBook #44369]
+Language: English
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+        *[Frontispiece: With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy
+        managed to  pass his whip thong twice round the brute's
+             neck--*_*See p.*_* 188.  (missing from book)]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  PALS
+
+                           YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
+                         IN SPORT AND ADVENTURE
+
+
+                                   BY
+
+                              JOSEPH BOWES
+
+
+
+              _WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
+                          BY JOHN MACFARLANE_
+
+
+
+                          LONDON: JAMES GLASS
+                           28 NEWGATE STREET
+                                  1910
+
+
+
+
+                               *CONTENTS*
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+      I. By Way of Introduction
+     II. The Bushrangers
+    III. A Desperate Encounter
+     IV. The Great Match
+      V. The Big Flood
+     VI. On the Face of the Waters
+    VII. The Death of the Forest Monarch
+   VIII. What the Tree held
+     IX. The Rescue
+      X. The Return
+     XI. The Breaking Up
+    XII. Down the River
+   XIII. Off for the Holidays
+    XIV. Christmas Fun and Frolic
+     XV. A Bush Ride and its Consequences
+    XVI. The Dingo Raid
+   XVII. Dingo *v.* Emu: A Fight to a Finish
+  XVIII. The Chase and its Sequel
+    XIX. Concerning Wild Horses
+     XX. The Brumby Hunt
+    XXI. The Warrigal's Strategy
+   XXII. How Yellow Billy broke the Warrigal
+  XXIII. A Day's Shoot
+   XXIV. The Corrobberie
+    XXV. In the Bushrangers' Caves
+   XXVI. The Explorers
+  XXVII. A Respite
+ XXVIII. The Camp by the Sea
+   XXIX. At the Mercy of the Sea-Tiger
+    XXX. In and About the Camp
+   XXXI. Off to the Gold Diggings
+  XXXII. How they struck Gold
+ XXXIII. Bullion and Bushranger
+
+
+
+
+                        *LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*
+
+
+With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip thong
+twice round the brute's neck (missing from book) . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with a
+mighty crash
+
+The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny
+boat with four slight figures
+
+The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring
+
+Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries
+
+The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a
+circle
+
+"We've struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman
+
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*" (missing from book)
+
+
+
+
+    The grey gums by the lonely creek
+      The star-crowned height,
+    The wind-swept plain, the dim blue peak,
+      The cold white light,
+    The solitude spread near and far
+    Around the camp-fire's tiny star,
+    The horse-bell's melody remote,
+    The curlew's melancholy note,
+      Across the night.
+
+    GEORGE ESSEX EVANS
+
+
+
+
+                                 *PALS*
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER I*
+
+                        *BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION*
+
+
+"Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable
+barrier, and the sacred air cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean
+clay hamlets of reality; and man by his nature is yet infinite and
+free."--CARLYLE.
+
+
+"Comin' over to-night, Tom?"
+
+"By jings!  I'd like to, Joe, but dad said this morning he was going to
+shell corn to-night.  You know what that means.  What's on?"
+
+"Oh!  Sandy's stayin' in for the night; so I thought of gettin' Jimmy
+Flynn an' Yellow Billy so's we could have bushrangers, an' stick up the
+coach by moonlight.  If they can't come, Sandy an' I'll go 'possumin' in
+the slaughter-house paddock."
+
+"I say! what a jolly lark the bushranging'd be.  How'd you manage it,
+Joe?"
+
+"We've planned that out all right.  We'd get Jimmy Flynn's billy-goat
+cart an' the billies.  He'd be mailman, an' it'd be gold-escort day.
+Yellow Billy'd be the trooper; he's got a pistol, you know.  He'd ride
+the roan steer he's broken in.  Then you, Sandy, an' I'd be Ben Bolt's
+gang.  We'd do a plant in a lonely spot along the road an' surprise 'em.
+I'd tackle Billy, you'd look after Jimmy, Sandy 'd collar the mailbags
+and gold boxes, and then scoot with the loot.  I think it'd be better to
+shoot Billy, so's to make it a bit more real; that's what Ben Bolt'd
+do."
+
+"But, Joe, where'd we get the guns?"
+
+"I'd get father's.  You'd have to make believe with a nulla-nulla.  We
+could stick a boomerang in our belts, it'd look like pistols in the
+dark."
+
+"But I say, Joe, ole chap, you wouldn't really shoot Billy?" said Tom in
+a tone that savoured both of fear and scepticism.
+
+"You're a precious muff, Hawkins!  I was just kidding you.  No, you
+stupid, it's all gammon.  The noise the powder 'll make 'll scare the
+seven senses outer Billy."
+
+"By golly! it'll be crummie enough.  Put it off till to-morrow, Joe, an'
+I'll come."
+
+"Can't be done, my boy.  Sandy'll not be here, for one thing.  Besides,
+I have to pull father down to Yallaroi Bend to-morrow.  It's his service
+night there.  Sorry you can't come, Tom.  We'll have to do our best
+without you."
+
+"Oh Moses! to think that I can't join!" groaned Tom. "Look here, Joe,
+I--I'll do a sneak.  I'll be here somehow, you may bet your Sunday
+breeks," continued the eager lad, as he stepped into the little
+"flat-bottom" boat which had brought him over.
+
+"Joe!" he shouted when he had rowed some distance from the shore.  "I'll
+give a cooee if I can get, an' two cooees if the way's blocked.  So
+don't start till you hear."
+
+"Right-o!"
+
+The place where these boys lived, moved, and had their being was a
+district famed for its fertility, on one of the northern rivers in New
+South Wales.
+
+The river itself had many of the elements of nobility and beauty as,
+taking its rise in the snowy heights of the New England ranges, it clove
+its way eastward, finally debouching into the blue waters of the
+Pacific.  The river-flats formed magnificent stretches of arable lands;
+too rich, indeed, for such cereals as wheat and oats, for their rank
+growth rendered them liable to the fatal rust.
+
+Here, however, was the home of the maize, the pumpkin, the sweet potato,
+the orange, the lemon, the plantain.  Here too, the natural sequence, in
+a way, of the prolific corn and the multitudinous pumpkin, were reared
+and flourished the unromantic pig.
+
+Fed on pumpkins, with skim milk for beverage, topped off with corn, the
+Australian grunter--whether as delicious, crisp bacon, or posing as
+aristocratic ham--produces flesh with a flavour fit to set before a
+king.
+
+Away from the river-flats the land becomes undulating and ridgy, and
+well grassed for cattle runs.  In the scrub belts, running back from the
+river and its affluents into the hilly country, are to be found valuable
+timbers, hard and soft; especially that forest noble, the red cedar.
+
+Cattle runs of large extent exist in the back-blocks, formed in the
+early days by that class of men to whom Australia owes so much; the men
+who to-day are vilified by those not worthy to black their boots: the
+hardy, adventurous, courageous, indomitable pioneer, who more often than
+not laid down his life and his fortune in the interest of Colonial
+expansion and occupation.
+
+At intervals along the river-banks are small settlements, dignified by
+the name of townships.  Tareela, the principal village, skirted both
+sides of the river, and was connected by a ferry.  Here were located the
+Government offices for the district, together with the stores, hotels,
+school, etc.
+
+Joe Blain, the minister's son, was the leader of the village lads.  He
+had two pals, who were inseparable from him: Sandy M'Intyre, the
+squatter's son, whose father owned Bullaroi, a cattle station situated a
+few miles from the town, and Tom Hawkins, a farmer's son, the youngest
+of the trio.  These boys gave tone and direction to the fun and frolic
+of the settlement.  Of them it is sufficient to say at present that they
+were not pedestal lads.
+
+At this time a noted bushranger and his mate were raiding the
+settlements.  All police pursuit was futile, owing to the
+resourcefulness of the 'rangers.  They had a keen knowledge of the open
+country and the mountain ranges.  Furthermore, they were generally
+mounted on blood horses, usually "borrowed" from the surrounding station
+studs.
+
+These men had many sympathisers among the lawlessly inclined, and,
+strange to say, among law-abiding settlers. The "bush-telegraph" was an
+institution in those days. Certain friends of the 'rangers kept them
+posted up in the movements of the police, sometimes by word of mouth, at
+others by writings on paper or bark, which were deposited in rock
+crevices or in tree hollows, known only to the initiated.  Sometimes a
+young lad, or even a girl, would ride scores of miles across country to
+give them warning.
+
+The police were not wanting in bush lore or courage, and in the end
+invariably ran their quarry to earth.  But an outlaw often had a long
+career in crime, owing to the aid given, ere he was trapped.  Thanks to
+closer settlement, the advance of education, and the general use of the
+electric telegraph, bushranging has become a matter of history.  The
+species is now to be found only in the stage melodrama, the itinerating
+waxwork show, or embalmed in literature.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER II*
+
+                           *"THE BUSHRANGERS*
+
+
+"_Poins_: Tut! our horses they shall not see.  I'll tie them in the
+wood; our visors we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have
+cases of buckram for the nonce to immask our noted outward garments.
+
+"_Prince_: But I doubt they will be too hard for us."
+
+SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV.
+
+
+After leaving Tom Hawkins, or, to put it more correctly, after Tom had
+paddled away in his punt, Joe Blain proceeded to look up Jimmy Flynn,
+the blacksmith's apprentice, and Yellow Billy, a half-caste youth, whose
+father followed the occupation of a timber-getter in the ranges.  Yellow
+Billy was generally employed as yard boy at the Travellers' Best Inn,
+and a rough time he often had, especially when the timber-getters were
+dissolving their hard-earned gold in alcohol.
+
+One of Billy's duties was to milk the cows and tend the calves.  Among
+the latter was a yearling steer, which he broke in and rode on the
+quiet.  Many an hour's frolic the boys had in the moonlight in riding
+the steer.  This animal had a good slice of the rogue in its
+composition, with a propensity for buck-jumping.  When in a certain mood
+it would be as stubborn as a donkey and as savage as a mule.
+
+After standing, say for some minutes, never budging, in spite of
+thwackings and tail-twistings, it would suddenly take to buck-jumping.
+Oh, my, couldn't it buck!  Woe betide the unlucky rider when it was in
+this mood.  Torn from his hold--a rope round its brisket--one moment
+behold him sprawling over its back, the next whirling through space,
+finally deposited with more force than elegance on the turf.  All this,
+however, was great fun for the boys, who encouraged the brute in its
+bucking moods, each mounting in turns, to lie prone sooner or later on
+mother earth, amid the uproarious laughter of his fellows.
+
+Billy was the exception.  He was a born rider.  Unable to shift him from
+its back, the brute became quite docile in his hands, and kept its
+tricks for the others.
+
+Jimmy and Billy were ready and willing to fill their parts in the bill.
+The former, at "knock off," went out to the town common to round his
+goats, and Billy promised to be ready, "steered," so to speak, by the
+time appointed.
+
+The road fixed upon was the track that led out from the township to a
+large sawmill, distant about six miles.  It was a solitary road, passing
+through a scrub-belt, crossing several minor creeks, threading its way
+over a rocky ridge, winding through a rather wild defile, and ending at
+the mill; the sort of place, indeed, to present numerous opportunities
+for the criminal enterprise on hand.  A spot where one could get "nice
+and creepy," as Joe said to Yellow Billy, much to that young man's
+disquiet.
+
+The plan of campaign was simple enough.  Joe, Tom, and Sandy were to set
+out as soon as possible after sundown and choose their spot for attack;
+while Jimmy was to drive the Royal Billy-goat Mailcart, with Trooper
+Yellow Billy a little in advance, as per custom.
+
+The embryo bushrangers, unfortunately, had only one horse between them;
+the one Sandy rode to school.  Mr. Blain's horse, on which the boys
+counted, was being used by the minister to take him to a moonlight
+service some distance out from the river.  It was settled, therefore,
+that the three boys should bestride Sandy's stout cob, which was well
+able to carry these juvenile desperadoes.
+
+"Mother!" shouted Joe, as he strode into the house in the late
+afternoon, from the wood-pile, where he had been chopping the next day's
+supply, "we're going to have grand fun to-night."
+
+"What sort of fun, my son?"
+
+"Bushranging along the sawmill road.  Can I go mother?  We've got such a
+grand plot."
+
+"Well, I don't mind; but don't be out late."
+
+"S'pose I can have the gun?"
+
+"The g-u-n!"
+
+"Yes, mother.  No need to fear.  It's all play."
+
+"Well, don't load it."
+
+"Only with powder to make a bang."
+
+"I don't like the idea, my boy.  Gun accidents often happen in play.
+You remember Jim Andrews----"
+
+"Oh yes, mother, but that's different!  It was loaded."
+
+In the end, owing to the boy's importunity, Mrs. Blain reluctantly
+consented.
+
+Early tea being duly dispatched, the boys made the necessary
+preparations for their dark deed.  Joe produced a pair of knee-boots,
+the some time property of his father.  He made them fit by sticking rags
+into the toes. He thrust his trousers' legs into the boot-tops, and
+wound a red scarf round his waist, through which he stuck a boomerang
+and nulla-nulla.  A 'possum-skin cap adorned his head.  His final act
+was to fasten on a corn-tassel moustache, and to strap his gun across
+his back.  The broad effect of the costume was to make this youthful
+outlaw a cross, as it were, between Robinson Crusoe and a Greek brigand.
+
+Indeed he quite terrified his two sisters, as he suddenly entered the
+sitting-room to the accompaniment of a blood-curdling yell.  This the
+girls match with a shriek that wakes up the sleeping baby, bringing the
+mother in with a rush.
+
+For a moment Mrs. Blain, seeing Joe in the half-light, thought some
+ruffian had entered.
+
+"It's very thoughtless and wrong of you, Joe, to frighten your sisters.
+I--I--I'm quite angry with you----"
+
+"Very sorry, mater," said Joe, with a serio-comic air.  "I only meant to
+give them a start."
+
+The girls, however, began to laugh, Joe looked such an oddity.  They
+turned the tables on him by quizzing him most unmercifully.  At last our
+young hero was very glad to beat a retreat to the backyard, where he
+found Sandy busy in saddling the horse.
+
+Joe's confederate had roughened himself as much as circumstances
+permitted.  In lieu of a skin cap he tied a big handkerchief round his
+hat, and stuck a couple of turkey-tail feathers through it.  He had
+manufactured a brace of pistols out of short lengths of bamboo, with
+corn-cobs, stuck in bored holes at an angle, to form the stocks. These,
+with a boomerang and nulla-nulla slung at either side, and a short spear
+fixed in his belt at the back and standing over his head, made him in
+appearance more like a red Indian than a Colonial free-booter.
+
+"All ready, Hawkeye?"
+
+"Yes, ole pal.  The mustang is waiting, and the brave will vault into
+the saddle at Thundercloud's word of command," answered Hawkeye in
+bastard Cooperese. Fenimore of that ilk was Sandy's favourite author.
+
+"Hast thou heard the signal of Red Murphy?" said Joe, falling into the
+strain of speech.
+
+"No, Thundercloud.  No sound from our brither of the hither shore hath
+been borne on the wings of the wind across the----"
+
+"Oh, stow that rot, Sand--Hawkeye!  I wonder?----"
+
+"Yon's the cry of the chiel," broke in the would-be brave, as at that
+moment the cooee of Tom Hawkins, alias Red Murphy, rose in the still
+air, faint from the distance, but distinct.
+
+"A single cooee!  Rippin! he's comin'.  Let's mount and wait at the
+landing."
+
+Hardly had the boys reached the river-bank ere Red Murphy appeared,
+attired much as the others, with the addition of an old blunderbuss
+belonging to his father.
+
+"It's all right, boys!  Hurroar!  Dad broke the handle of the
+corn-sheller this evening, and sent me over with it to the blacksmith's.
+I'm to wait till it's mended. Wait a jiff an' I'll be with you," cried
+he, as he ran to the smithy, returning as fast as his legs could bring
+him, with the news that the broken handle could not be repaired under
+three hours owing to other urgent work.
+
+Joe rapidly detailed the plan, informing Tom, at the same time, that his
+name and character were to be that of Red Murphy, one of the
+blood-thirstiest and most rapacious cut-throats in the Colonies.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER III*
+
+                        *A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER*
+
+
+"_Falstaff_: I am a rogue if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of
+them two hours together.  I have 'scaped by miracle. I am eight times
+thrust through the doublet; four through the hose; my buckler cut
+through; my sword hacked like a handsaw _ecce signum_. I never dealt
+better since I was a man; all would not do."--SHAKESPEARE, _Henry IV_.
+
+
+Joe had barely made his explanations before the rumbling of the
+approaching cart was heard.  It was the Royal Mail starting on its
+adventurous trip.
+
+"Time to be off, pals!" cried the leader.  "Now then, Hawkeye, whip 'em
+up."
+
+Off started the trio, Thundercloud, Hawkeye, and Red Murphy; each
+delivering a blood-curdling yell which rang up and down the street, as
+they passed through it at a smart canter.  It had never fallen to the
+lot of horse, before, to bear upon its back at the same time three such
+ferocious outlaws, bent on so diabolical an errand. Behind them, and at
+a slower pace, came the Royal Mail goatcart, drawn by four strong
+billies, skilfully driven by coachman Jimmy, and attended by Trooper
+Billy astride his cud-chewing steed.
+
+After leaving the township the road skirted the river for a mile or so,
+then, crossing a plank bridge, bore away to the hills.  The silver moon
+shone from the clear sky through the pure air, making the tree shadows
+as they lay across the road to resemble fallen timber.  The nocturnal
+'possum, having ventured to the ground to feed upon the tender grass,
+scudded up the trees, frightened by the rumbling vehicle and the baaing
+steeds.  The thud of paddy-melon[#] and wallaby could be distinctly
+heard, as they smote the earth in their jumping movements; while from
+the heights of some lofty tree the mopoke[#] tolled his mournful cry.
+
+
+[#] "Paddy-melon," a small marsupial or pouch-bearing mammal.
+
+[#] "Mopoke," the Australian crested goat-sucker.
+
+
+The coach had now passed the three-mile creek, and still there was no
+sound of disturbing element.  The coachman and trooper, having
+intelligence to the effect that the 'rangers were "out," and had
+threatened to "stick" up the gold-escort, were on the _qui vive_.  They
+surmised that the attack would come in the scrub-belt, and about the
+spot where the creek intersected.  Here the tall, overhanging trees,
+interlaced as they were with a thick vinous growth, effectually barred
+the moon's rays.
+
+It was the ideal spot for ambush, and the hearts of the boys beat
+faster, and a nervous apprehension amounting to fear seized them, as
+they passed among the shadows. Everything had a distorted appearance,
+and again and again they trembled, as it were, on the verge of attack.
+They had chatted freely until the darkness of the scrub closed in upon
+them.  Under its oppression, and by reason of the dread uncertainty,
+what had before seemed to be only a prime lark now presented itself as a
+grim reality.
+
+They drove on slowly now, conversing only in whispers, for the night
+silences, the deepening shadows, and the unseen before them, all
+contributed to the mental mood which affected the boys.  The creek banks
+and bed, save for a solitary moon-ray which silvered the rippling water,
+were enwrapped in thick darkness.  Pulling up at the brink, the boys
+held a short conversation.
+
+"Goin' ter cross, Jimmy?"
+
+"I--I--s'pose so, Billy.  Measly black ahead, ain't it?"
+
+"You're not frightened, are you?"
+
+"Wot! me?  No fear!  Y'are yourself!"
+
+"I like that!  Wot's to be frightened of?"
+
+Yet the boys, if truth be told, were a good deal alarmed by the unwonted
+darkness and stillness.
+
+"Well, s'pose we'd better be gettin' on.  Don't care how soon we git
+outer this hole.  You cross ahead, Billy, an' do a bit o' scoutin'.
+I'll wait here till you git up the bank on the other side."
+
+Yellow Billy didn't like the prospect, and would have proposed turning
+back, but was afraid of being called a coward.  Therefore, despite an
+apprehension of the darkness, accentuated by his aboriginal strain, and
+very much against his will, the half-caste plunged down the creek bed,
+and mounted the other side without let or hindrance, greatly to his
+surprise and relief.
+
+But where are the 'rangers?
+
+Of them the darkness gave no token and the silence is unbroken.  Jimmy
+had some difficulty in getting his leaders to tackle the creek.  It was
+only after he left the cart, seized their heads, and half-dragged them
+into the water that he effected his purpose.  The scrub thinned out
+shortly after passing the creek, and the spirits of the boys rose with
+the increasing moonlight.
+
+"They missed a grand charnce at the crick, Billy!"
+
+"By dad, they did that!  I wonder where they are. P'raps they've given
+us the slip."
+
+The road took a sudden turn just here, leading over a rocky ridge.  At a
+farther sharp turn, under the lee of a bank, a big log lay across the
+road.
+
+"Hello, here's a go, Jimmy!  You'll have to drive round.  No! you can't
+do that.  Wait a moment an' I'll----"
+
+"Bail up!"
+
+The cry, crisp and startling, rang out, as three figures darted from the
+shadow of a huge tree which stood near. Thundercloud, the leader of the
+band of bushrangers, pointed his gun at the driver.  Hawkeye made a dash
+at the trooper, while Red Murphy seized hold of the leading billies.
+
+"Hands up!" cried Thundercloud in the highest style of bushranging.
+"Your money or your life!"
+
+Trooper Billy was not disposed to yield without a struggle, and at the
+first cry he whipped out his pistol, firing at his aggressor point
+blank, missing the leader but hitting his confederate, Hawkeye, who
+tumbled down with a loud squeal, as unlike an Indian war-whoop as it is
+possible to imagine.  Simultaneously, Thundercloud discharged his gun at
+Jimmy the coachman, who, instead of putting his hands up at the
+challenge, began to lash the billies, and had just turned them off the
+log, when--pop, crash! went the two weapons.
+
+And now the unforeseen occurred.  The steer and the billies bolted!
+Down the ridge and along the road they dashed at breakneck speed; the
+steer roaring and kicking, the four strong billies baaing, and neither
+driver nor rider could control the brutes.  Away they scurried along the
+rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over the ruts; every jump
+of the trap bringing a fresh bleat from the fear-stricken goats.
+
+After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his steed unmanageable,
+getting frightened too, Yellow Billy slipped over the stern, and by good
+luck dropped upon his feet.  It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly
+hung on to the billies.  The creek was what he most feared, and it was
+very close now.  He had, however, got a pull on the beasts, and they
+were slackening a little, but, as ill-luck would have it, on going down
+a gully one of the wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized
+the cart, sending the driver head over heels into a clump of bracken.
+
+The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who rushed on baaing;
+dashing at length down the steep incline of the creek, the cart righted
+itself as it tumbled adown the gradient.  They tore over the stream and
+up the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up in the
+scrub.
+
+After lying in a stunned condition for a few minutes, Jimmy scrambled
+up.  But the moment he put his weight on his right foot he let out a
+yell, caused by the terrific pain that shot through his ankle.  It was
+unbearable, and he tumbled down in an almost fainting condition.
+
+Meanwhile the outlaws stood aghast at the unexpected and startling turn
+of events.  Thundercloud was the first to recover his speech.
+
+"Great C�sar! who would have dreamt of a bolt? Just listen to the
+brutes!" as the animals tore along, baaing and roaring in a way possible
+only to frightened billies and calves.
+
+"I--I--didn't know he'd loaded his pistol.  I--I--I thought for sure I
+was a goon coon," gasped Hawkeye, who, after lying for a minute under
+the impression that he was mortally wounded, got up, rubbing his face
+and head, half terrified as his hands became wet with flowing blood, and
+only reassured after Joe had declared that the blood was from his nose.
+As a matter of fact, he had sustained a smart blow upon his prominent
+feature with the pistol wad; his cheeks, also, were scorched with the
+powder flare.
+
+Red Murphy, who had just grasped the billies' heads when the guns were
+fired, was thrown down in their mad rush, and had his shins severely
+barked on the rocky ground.
+
+"Drat the brutes!  Oh, I say, here's a go!  Listen to the beggars!
+Ain't they footin' it?"
+
+"To horse! to horse, pals!" cried Thundercloud, making hasty strides to
+a patch of scrub where they had tied up the horse.  In a few seconds the
+three were mounted and away with a swinging canter, adding their yells
+to the cries of the beasts.  They were soon up to the spot where Jimmy
+had come to grief, when, thundering down the gully, the horse made a shy
+at the prostrate coachman, shooting off Thundercloud and Red Murphy.
+They scrambled up quickly, none the worse for their spill. Hawkeye
+immediately reined in his steed and rejoined his dismounted companions.
+
+The boys were greatly concerned to find Jimmy in this condition.  The
+affair began to assume a serious aspect. They were no longer outlaws and
+police: they were pals, and Jimmy was suffering intense pain from his
+sprained ankle.  After a short consultation the boy was placed on the
+horse, which was led by Sandy.  The others followed behind, making a
+somewhat mournful spectacle.  In due course they reached the goatcart,
+now in possession of Yellow Billy, who had disentangled the team and was
+waiting for the others to come along.  The steer meanwhile continued his
+career at headlong speed, until he pulled up at the milking yards in an
+exhausted condition. Mrs. Blain, as the hours sped by, began to get
+concerned at the non-return of the boys.  Concern deepened into anxiety.
+She became a prey to evil imaginings, as do all our dear mothers.  They
+are lost! ... Some dreadful accident has happened! ... That gun! ...
+Their legs, arms, necks, are broken!  And so on and on, running over the
+whole gamut of catastrophy.
+
+She goes out to scan the streets, and listens with strained ears for
+some enheartening sound of footsteps. Lights are out in the village.
+Even the dogs are sleeping. No shuffle of advancing feet; no rattle of
+wheels as they grind in the ruts: no sound, indeed, is borne upon the
+night wind save the mystic noises of the flowing river, which fill the
+air with a deep undertone.  Above this, at intervals, come the splashing
+sounds of the jumping fish; the smooth splash of the falling mullet, the
+tail flutter of the rising perch.  The wood-duck's soft quack-quack, and
+the red-bill's chuckle, are to be heard as they move among the sedges.
+No landward sound!
+
+Stay! a dark shadow swiftly steals along the earth like a spirit of evil
+omen, and passes through the house, across the street, as it strikes the
+walls.  While from above comes a wail as that of a lost soul.
+
+The poor woman quivers and shivers at the unwonted sight and sound.  She
+knows not that the apparition is the shadow of a black swan, which is
+sailing high up in the heavens; it crosses the moon, and utters its
+melancholy note as it wings its flight to the feeding grounds.  The
+mother is now on the outskirts of the town, under the shadows of the
+trees.  Every leaf is a tongue; every tongue whispers--Something! which
+dries the throat and fills the ears with heart-thumps.  "Why did I? ...
+That gun! ... What will father? ... Why don't they come? ... Which
+track? ... Hark!  Yes, 'tis the galloping hoofs ... Oh, God! it is the
+steer! ... Riderless! ... This way, then....  On, on, on! ... At last!
+..."
+
+"Cheer up, mother ... no harm done ... Jimmy had a bit of a buster an'
+sprained his ankle....  Scold us, mother, but--don't cry!"
+
+The hour is verging on midnight as five weary lads, four billies, one
+horse, and one thankful woman straggled into the silent township.  All
+romance, for the moment, had gone out of bushranging.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IV*
+
+                           *THE GREAT MATCH*
+
+
+    "God bless the grilling days of cricket!
+    They're gone but I shall bless them ever,
+    For good it is to guard a wicket
+    By sudden wrist and big endeavour."
+      NORMAN GALE.
+
+    "There's a breathless hush in the close to night,
+    Ten to make and the match to win,
+    A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
+    An hour to play and the last man in."
+      HENRY NEWBOLT.
+
+
+"Hawkins, stand out!"
+
+"Please, sir, I wasn't doin' nothin'!"
+
+"No, you wasn't doin' nothin', but you have been talking all morning,
+you tiresome boy!  Write out 'disobedient' three hundred times after
+school."
+
+The fact is, Tom was relating the bushranging episode to a schoolmate,
+and, like Tom Sawyer, he "laid over" considerably in his recital.  While
+in the act of enlarging he was brought to book in this peremptory
+fashion by the master, and had to do penance with as little relish as
+most boys.
+
+"Sorry you can't come out and play, Tom," said Joe Blain, poking his
+head into the empty schoolhouse after dismissal.
+
+"It's a beastly shame!  What are you fellows up to?"
+
+"Goin' to practise for the Dingdongla match.  After that we'll have a
+swim."
+
+"Oh, rot it!" grunted the chagrined prisoner.
+
+"Say, Tom, don't forget to come along to-night an' help pick the team."
+
+"I'll be there, never fret."
+
+"Well, so-long.  Wire in, and keep your pecker up."
+
+Dingdongla was an up-river settlement; Tareela a down-river town.  The
+latter named was the older and more substantial place, being the
+headquarters of the shipping.  As a consequence it was instinct with the
+superior air generally to be met with in places of metropolitan
+pretensions.  In schools, too, the down-river town had the advantage.
+Its school building was of sawn timber, with a shingle roof.
+Furthermore, it possessed two teachers, and pine desks.  While, on the
+other hand, the up-river academy was constructed of roughly adzed slabs
+and a bark roof.
+
+For the Dingdonglas to be thrashed in cricket by the Tareelians was not
+considered to be a disgrace.  _Per contra_, their victory was a splendid
+achievement, and a great humiliation to their opponents.  The latter was
+fairly beaten by the former last season, and naught would restore their
+prestige save the administration of an unmitigated licking.  So, at
+least, thought the match Committee, as they conned names, and analysed
+the merits of the candidates on the name list.
+
+Needless to say, Joe, Tom, and Sandy headed the list of certainties.
+Yellow Billy came next; for though a very irregular attendant at school,
+he was a tremendous swiper when he got his eye in.  Billy had dragged
+more than one match out of the fire.
+
+
+Saturday morning broke fair.  Shortly after an early breakfast a
+cavalcade of about twenty youthful horsemen, followed by two teachers in
+a gig, were scampering along the bush road to Dingdongla, distant about
+nine miles up the river.  Oh, the merry, merry days of youth!  Those are
+the days of the superlative mood.
+
+It was a merry, roaring, romping, racing crowd of youngsters that tore
+along the bush track.  They jumped fallen timber and gullies; chased the
+flying marsupial; and spurted in couples for short lengths.  There were
+minor accidents, 'tis true.  Pincher Putnan's horse, in a fit of
+pig-jumping, broke a girth, sending Pincher and saddle to mother earth.
+Yellow Billy's half-broken brumby fairly bolted in a race, cleared off
+the road, and rushed through a belt of timber at breakneck speed,
+towards his native haunts in the Nulla ranges.  It was only the superb
+horsemanship of the half-caste that saved him from being dashed against
+the trees in the headlong flight.
+
+In due time Dingdongla is reached.  The horses are turned out in a maize
+stubble paddock, where is a fine picking, and the boys stroll on to the
+ground to have a look at the pitch.
+
+"Whatyer think of the pitch, Joe?"
+
+"You'll have to keep your eye skinned for shooters Rody.  The ball'll
+keep very low.  Must keep a straight bat and forward play."
+
+The stumps, like much of the material, were home-made. The Dingdonglas
+had only one "spring handle"; the others were chopped out of beech
+boards.  The Tareelians were not much better off for material.  They, it
+is true, had two "spring handles,"--more or less battered,--and could
+boast a pair of wicket gloves, but for the rest were like their
+opponents, sans leggings and gloves. That, however, was a small item;
+for every boy who possessed boots doffed them, rolling his trouser legs
+to the knees and his shirt sleeves to the elbows.
+
+"Got all your men, Wilson?" said Joe to the Dingdonglas' captain.
+
+"Yes, they're all here.  May as well toss for innin's, Joe."
+
+"Right you are," responds Joe, ejecting a jet of saliva on a piece of
+flat wood.  "Shall I toss, or you?"
+
+"You toss, Joe."
+
+"Call you!" cried Blain, tossing the board with a twirl skywards.  "Wet
+or dry?"
+
+"Wet!" called Wilson, as the wood spun in the air.
+
+"Dry!" exclaimed Joe, as it lay on the ground with its dry side
+uppermost.  "We've won, and go in."
+
+"Tom," said he a moment later, "you and Yellow Billy go in first, an'
+you take the strike."
+
+The batsmen were soon in their places, and the Dingdongs in the field.
+The innings opened fairly well for the Tareelians.  Yellow Billy got
+quickly to work, and laid on the wood to some purpose; Tom playing
+carefully the while.
+
+Facing the Dingdonglas' swift bowler, after a smart short-hit run Billy
+sent a well-pitched ball for four, a rattling, straight-hit drive.  But
+in trying to repeat the stroke off the next ball he misjudged, and,
+skying the sphere, was easily caught.
+
+"One wicket for twenty!" of which the half-caste contributed fifteen.
+
+After this the troubles of the batsmen set in.  The Dingdongs were
+strong in bowling talent, and possessed a local Spofforth, whose
+lightning deliveries shot and kicked in a marvellous fashion.  Joe,
+going in fifth man, stayed the "rot" for a while, but was foolishly run
+out by his mate.
+
+The Tareelians were all out in an hour for the small total of
+forty-seven.  If the down-river boys were despondent over this score,
+the up-rivers were correspondingly jubilant.  Going to the wickets with
+plenty of confidence, they rattled up ninety-nine before the last wicket
+fell; the captain carrying out his bat for a well-earned forty-two.
+
+Adjournment for lunch was now made.  We call it lunch by courtesy.  It
+was a big bush feed.  This repast was served in the schoolhouse, the
+rough desks being converted into tables, which were literally covered
+with good things.
+
+The Dingdonglas' mothers were determined that, whoever won, the boys of
+both sides should have a rippin' feed. A stuffed sucking-pig, whose
+savoury odour filled the room, lay at one end.  Roast wild duck and a
+cold pigeon-pie balanced it at the other.  An immense round of spiced
+beef, standing in the centre of the long table, seemed to say: "You may
+cut and come again."  Potatoes and pumpkins smoked in big tin bowls, and
+all the available space was filled with cakes, puddings, and pies.
+Needless to say, the onslaught was terrific. They were all sloggers at
+tuck.  Meats, puddings, cakes, tea, and ginger-beer disappeared like
+magic.
+
+All good things mundane, however, come to an end; especially when the
+good thing happens to be a dinner. And now, after divers whisperings and
+nudgings, up stood Captain Joe, amid the cheers of his side.
+
+Joe was silent a moment, nervously looking up and down the board, and
+heartily wishing himself at the bottom of the deep blue sea.  "Mr.
+Chairman" (addressing the local schoolmaster), "I--we--that is--us
+fellows from Tareela asked me to tell you--I mean to say,
+that--that--that--a--it gives us much pleasure--er--er--oh, hang it
+all!--I--I mean--er--this is the jolliest blow in the way of tuck we've
+ever had."  Joe subsided to the rattle of the knives on the bare board.
+As soon as the noise ceased, Tom Hawkins jumped up and called: "Three
+cheers for the Dingdonglas!" which were heartily given.
+
+Half an hour's lounge, and the battle began afresh.
+
+"We've got fifty-two to wipe out before we start even, boys.  We can do
+it, and score plenty more to win the game, if we keep our heads.
+Anyway, we must have a big try.  Billy an' I'll go in first; Tom next,
+and then Pincher.  The order of the rest of you depends on the way
+things turn out."
+
+"Look here, Billy," continued the captain, as the two batsmen walked to
+the wickets.  "They've got two slashing bowlers, but if we can manage to
+knock 'em out they've no one else of much account.  Get your eye well in
+before you do any slogging."
+
+"All right, Joe!  Do me best."
+
+"Your best means steady play and a big score.  I'll take the strike."
+
+If Joe was nervous in public speech it was not observable in action.  He
+played Ginger Smith's fast deliveries with confidence, punishing the
+loose balls and blocking the straight ones.  Billy, too, was playing
+with unwonted caution, and the score, though slowly, was surely mounting
+up; until after half an hour's play it stood at twenty-five, with no
+wickets down.  There were no boundaries, and every hit was run out.
+
+"Oh, glory, what a swipe!"
+
+Yellow Billy had got hold of one of Ginger's leg balls with a mighty
+lunge.  The ball seemed as if it would go on for ever, and finally
+rolled into a gutter.  They ran six for it.
+
+There was great cheering among the Tareelians. Mr. Simpson, who umpired,
+forgot for a moment his impartial office.  Flinging his hat into the
+air, he cried, "Bravo, Billy!"
+
+"Thirty-one an' none out.  Only twenty-one to get level!"
+
+The boys were now scoring faster; singles, twos, threes were coming with
+great rapidity.  Joe made his first four, a sweet, square cut.
+
+"Forty-nine an' no wickets down!"
+
+Joe faced the new bowler.  The local demon had begun to bowl wildly, and
+was relieved.
+
+"They'll never bowl them!" cried young Ben Wilde, as Joe took block for
+the new-comer--a lad with a reputation for slow left-hand twisters.  The
+first ball was pitched on the leg stump; just the ball for Joe's
+favourite leg glance.
+
+It went for two.
+
+"Only one to make us even!" shouted Tom to his captain.  The second ball
+was pitched in exactly the same spot, and Joe proceeded to treat it in
+the same fashion.  The sphere, however, had a little more twist on it
+than its predecessor, and, breaking on to the left bail, flicked it off.
+
+There was a great chorus of disappointment among the Tareelians, and
+hearty cheers from their opponents, as the captain's wicket fell.  His
+twenty-one, got by true cricket, was worth twice that number by reason
+of the spirit of confidence he had infused.
+
+Billy and Tom carried the score to seventy-three, when the latter was
+caught for ten.  Pincher fell a victim to a very simple ball from an
+under-hand lob bowler, after making seven.  Sandy gave the bowlers some
+trouble, and got into double figures before he retired.  All this while
+Billy was scoring well, and, when Sandy's wicket fell, had made fifty
+runs.  All the boys scored less or more; and when the innings closed had
+compiled a total of one hundred and thirty-seven, of which Billy made
+seventy-one and not out.  This was a grand achievement, and the
+half-caste was carried off the ground amid great applause.
+
+This left the Dingdongs eighty-six runs to win, which they failed to do
+by seventeen runs, Sleepy Sam stumping no less than three off young
+Ben's slow lobs.
+
+There was great cheering as the victorious cricketers rode in the dusk
+of the evening through the main street of Tareela, after a grand day's
+fun.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER V*
+
+                            *THE BIG FLOOD*
+
+
+    "The day is cold and dark and dreary;
+    It rains, and the wind is never weary;
+    The vine still clings to the mouldering wall;
+    But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
+      And the day is dark and dreary."
+        LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+Drip, drip, drip!
+
+Croak, croak, c-r-o-a-k!
+
+Quack-quack, quack-quack!
+
+"Heigho!" grunted Tom Hawkins, as he turned over sleepily in bed.  "Is
+it ever goin' to stop rainin'?"
+
+For some days a steady rain had been falling, soaking the ground.  Every
+gully was a rivulet, and every depression a lake.
+
+"Tom!" cried a feminine voice from an interior room. "Get up!"
+
+"Bother those frogs an' ducks!" muttered the lad, full of sleep in the
+grey of the early morning.  "Like ter choke 'em! waking fler----"
+
+"Tom!" cried a masculine voice, as a hand rattled the door of the lad's
+bedroom, and a boot gave a drum-like accompaniment on the lower panel.
+"Git up this minit an' run the cows in, or I'll----"
+
+But Tom had jumped out of bed as nimbly as one of the frogs, between
+whose croak and his father's bass voice he seemed unable, in his sleepy
+condition, to discriminate.
+
+"All right, father!  I'm dressing," shouted Tom, as the word "dowsing"
+fell on his ear.  There had been times in master Tom's past when a
+sudden application of cold water was deemed necessary to expedite his
+slow movements.
+
+"Dad's too mighty smart!  Thought I'd nick him with that button,"
+growled Tom, as he stuck his legs into his pants; said button being an
+iron tee snip, fastened so as to act as a bolt.
+
+"Jemima!  ain't it dark!  Must be very early," muttered the reluctant
+boy, as he strove to lace his boots. "Drat it!  Shan't wear 'em; too
+wet."
+
+"My crikey!" cried he as he stood outside.  "Must have been rainin' cats
+an' dogs, an' lakes an' seas."
+
+His moleskins were rolled up to his thighs, while a cornsack, hooded at
+the bottom, and stuck on to his head like a nun's veil, gave him fair
+protection from the driving showers.
+
+"I wonder if it's goin' to be a flood?"  The thought was not unpleasant
+to the lad.  It produced, indeed, a certain exaltation of spirits,
+forcibly expressed in Tom's vernacular by, "Ge-willikins! but won't we
+have fun!"
+
+Heavily laden clouds, in interminable succession, were drifting from the
+sea, forming, as they swung overhead in batches, an endless series of
+smart showers.  It had been an exceptionally wet week, and for the
+preceding twenty-four hours had rained without ceasing.
+
+The cows depastured in a paddock that ran back from a creek to the
+timbered country.  The creek itself was bank high and running strongly.
+It was only by climbing along the branches of a dead limb, which spanned
+the water, that Tom managed to reach the kine.
+
+It was no small task to get them to face the stream. Small as was the
+creek in width, it was deep enough to make a swim, and the roaring,
+turbid, and muddy stream frightened the creatures.  But for the fact
+that the calves were in a pen at the milking yard all Tom's efforts
+would have been futile.  Their mooing and baaing, however, made a loud
+appeal to the maternal breast. Finally, when the old red poley, the
+mother of twins, made a plunge, the rest followed.
+
+During the morning the river rose steadily, and large quantities of
+drift-wood passed down the stream.  With the rubbish was a good deal of
+heavy timber, and--what Tom had predicted--pumpkins.  This was an
+indication that the river up-stream had overflowed its banks in places,
+and was sweeping the low-lying farm lands.  Tom spent the morning in
+fishing out the floating vegetables that came within reach of his hooked
+pole.  Meanwhile the rain continued, and looked as though it might last
+for forty days and nights.
+
+"I'll pull over to the township this afternoon," remarked Mr. Hawkins at
+the midday meal.  "I'm anxious about this rise.  Looks as if we're goin'
+to have an old man flood.  Might get some information about the state of
+things up-river.  If I leave it till to-morrow 'twill be a tough job
+gettin' acrost, as the timber's comin' down pretty thick now, an'll be
+worse by an' by."
+
+"Be sure'n bring tea and flour back with you.  No knowing how long the
+rise'll last."
+
+"Can I go with you, father?"
+
+"Yes; I'll require you to steer.  It'll be a pretty stiff job, I
+reckon."
+
+The crossing was not without peril.  The current ran fierce and strong.
+The landing-place on the other side was protected, in a measure, by a
+headland up-stream. Out from the influence of that, however, the boatmen
+felt the full force of the current.  The water seethed and foamed.  The
+violence of its rush created great whirlpools, which accentuated the
+difficulty of keeping the boat's head up-stream.  Logs and driftwood
+patches had to be dodged, and, what with fighting the current and
+outflanking the timber, by the time the river was crossed the boat had
+drifted quite half a mile down-stream.  On gaining the other side they
+found a shore eddy, in which they were able to paddle up-stream with
+ease, until they came to a point of land about two hundred yards below
+the town wharf.  As they lost the eddy here, and would have to encounter
+the full force of the flood when round the point, Mr. Hawkins wisely
+determined to tie up the boat in the slack water.
+
+When Hawkins arrived at the store, where many of the townsfolk had
+congregated, he was informed that news had been brought down by the
+mailman that morning to the effect that heavy rains were falling at the
+head of the river, and that when the New England waters came down in
+full force the river might rise to the "high flood" marks.
+
+Cooees could now be heard from the settlers in the low-lying portions,
+adjacent to the township.  They proceeded from those who had neglected
+to move before being surrounded, and who were without boats.  The police
+were busily engaged in rescuing families by boat. Many townsfolk were
+engaged on the same merciful errand.
+
+All through the day the waters, fed by the flooded creeks, continued to
+rise, and as evening approached anxiety deepened.  Things were so
+serious that Mr. Hawkins, whose farm, be it said, was situated on
+comparatively low-lying lands, acting upon the advice of his friends,
+returned home almost at once.  After hoisting the most valuable of his
+possessions to the rafters, and securing them there, he returned to the
+township with his family; gaining it as dusk was deepening into dark.
+The family was distributed among neighbours, Tom and one of his sisters
+being quartered at Mr. Blain's.
+
+A group of men and boys throughout the day had lined the bank of the
+river, in the vicinity of the Government wharf, which was submerged.
+They were engaged in gauging its rate of advance by pine laths scaled to
+inches.
+
+Towards evening the wind, veering from east to south-east, increased in
+violence.  Laden with torrential showers, it smote the earth in great
+gusts, streaming through roofs and walls, and taxing the ingenuity of
+housekeepers to find dry spots for beds.
+
+The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite directions, conflicted
+with great violence.  The roaring, boastful wind, as it lashed the
+racing, defiant waters into angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds
+of the seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with and
+overbore all opposing forces, made storm music, compared with which the
+artifices of man touch the infinitely puny.  Darkness and the blinding
+rain had driven most of the river watchers indoors.  A few, however,
+braved the elements, among them the minister and the lads.
+
+Whatever effect the flood may have had on others, the dominant feeling
+in Mr. Blain's mind was that of solicitude. As the rain continued, deep
+concern merged into alarm. There were few on the river who knew as
+intimately as he the general havoc of a flood.  The executive head of
+the Flood-relief Committee for many years, he had been the chief
+instrument in administering doles to flood victims.  In many cases the
+utmost relief was as a drop of succour in the ocean of need.
+
+"If the rise continues for another twenty-four hours, as it is doing
+now, it will beat the 'sixty-four flood, and, if so, God help our
+down-river friends," remarked the minister after examining Joe's gauge
+by the aid of a lantern.
+
+The '64 flood was the highest known to white men up to the present.  The
+settlers still retained a vivid recollection of its disastrous effects.
+Luckily, the township covered a piece of high ground, and though the low
+parts were covered in a moderate flood, the higher portions were some
+feet above the highest flood-mark.  It was in the farming settlements
+that danger lurked.
+
+"If this yere flood beats 'sixty-four, it'll be as you say, Parson;
+good-bye to many up-river an' down-river folk."
+
+Mr. Blain's words had impressed both men and boys. Suddenly Joe, who was
+in the midst of the group, sang out lustily--
+
+"Hurrah! wind's changed!"
+
+"What's that?" shouted back Mr. Blain excitedly.
+
+"Don't you feel it?" cried the boy, as he swung his arms windmill
+fashion.
+
+"Yes; thank God!  The lad's right," continued he. "The wind's chopping.
+Don't you feel it, men? Ah! there's a decided puff from the north-east."
+
+"Take my word for it," said the ferryman, an old sailor, "the wind'll be
+blowing west afore morning."
+
+"Pray God it may!" ejaculated the minister, and many a silent prayer was
+uttered.
+
+"Now, boys, let us return home.  We can do no good standing here.  We'll
+come back in an hour or so."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Tom, as the boys splashed through the water on their
+way home.  Laying his hand on Joe's shoulder, he cried, "Do you hear
+that?"
+
+"Don't hear anything but the roar of the river," replied Joe, as he
+stood in a listening attitude.  "What was it?"
+
+"Hark! there it is again.  A cooee.  Seems to come from up the river,
+near the Bend.  Some un's in trouble."
+
+"Now, boys, make haste and get in out of the rain," cried Mr. Blain, who
+had hurried along.
+
+"Some one's crying out for help at the Bend," shouted Joe.
+
+The minister paused on hearing this.  A moment later the cry came out of
+the night: faint, because of the distance and the turmoil of sounds, yet
+clear and convincing.
+
+"Great God! some poor soul in dire straits, and no help possible before
+morning!"
+
+It would have been worse than madness to attempt any rescue till
+daylight.  To traverse the flood, even in daytime, anywhere near the
+Bend, were a hazardous experiment, owing to the enormous vortices caused
+by the current striking a high bluff on the near side, at the elbow.
+The waters whirled like a merry-go-round under full steam, and boiled
+with an upward heave, in a fashion similar to the mud springs of
+Tiketere.  None but the stoutest boat and most experienced rowers could
+dodge these seething cauldrons, which caught into their cold and cruel
+embrace trees, fencing, stock; anything material, in fact.  The heaviest
+logs and tree-lengths were as wisps of straw under the influence of the
+mighty suction.  To attempt the traverse at night were as foolhardy and
+impossible as that of shooting Niagara in an open boat.
+
+A little group stood with the Blains, listening to the weird cry.
+
+"Who d'yer think it c'd be, sir?" said one of the men, turning to the
+minister.
+
+"Not any of the Bend families.  We had word this afternoon saying that
+they had retreated to the high land before the waters reached them.  God
+help the poor soul, whoever it is, for vain is the help of man!"
+
+Throughout the live-long night the cry went up at intervals, like that
+of the minute-gun of a distressed vessel.  Shortly before daybreak it
+ceased.
+
+No man or woman in the township slept that night. A strict watch was
+kept on the river, so as to be ready for any emergency.  The waters
+continued to advance, but at a much slower rate.  Men and women
+cudgelled their brains to individualise the wailing cry.  Most were
+agreed that it was a woman's cry, though some held it to be that of a
+child.  Sometimes the voice was ghoulish, and made the flesh to creep
+and the heart to flutter. Then an intensely human note would prevail,
+full of anguish and terror, and women wept and stopped their ears, while
+strong men choked in the throat.
+
+They would go out at intervals and send back a heartening cry; it was
+all that could be done.  There were many others throughout that fearful
+night who were engulfed in the flood, in various parts of the river,
+and, swan-like, wailed their death-song in the wild waste.
+
+Shortly after midnight the rain ceased, and the wind, which had been
+chopping and changing for the past few hours, settled finally in the
+west.  This proved a conspicuous advantage.  It no longer checked the
+flood-waters as when in the east, and there was now good hope that they
+would recede ere long, as the rise was almost imperceptible.
+
+[Illustration: "Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers
+and falls with mighty crash."--_See p._ 43.]
+
+When day had dawned a wild, weird scene was revealed. The town had
+become an island.  On all sides the flood-waters stretched out, covering
+gardens and farms, and completely blotting out the fair landscape.  On
+the riverside the turgid stream tore along in its hurry, bearing on its
+dirty, foam-crested bosom, as its spoils, the household gods, farm
+stock, and produce of many a settler. Horses, cattle, pigs, goats, dogs,
+fowls: these, swept off by the encroaching waters, and carried over
+fences into the stream, struggled, vainly for the most part, in the
+rapid, death-dealing current.  Haystacks, barns, wood-frame buildings
+intact, floated in the torrential waters, sooner or later crashing into
+the great trees that bore down-stream, making utter shipwreck.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER VI*
+
+                      *ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS*
+
+
+"The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
+voice; the floods lift up their waves."--Ps. xciii. 3.
+
+
+"Where's the dad, girls?" shouted Joe Blain early in the morning, after
+the events recorded in the previous chapter, dashing into the room as he
+yelled.
+
+"Here!" came a voice from the back verandah. Running to the spot
+indicated by the monosyllable, the lad in breathless accents delivered
+himself to his paternal relative in this fashion--
+
+"Please, dad, can Tom, Billy, Jimmy, and I have the boat to paddle out
+on the back-water?"
+
+"Um--er--well, as long as you keep in the slack water I suppose you may;
+but be very careful, my boy."
+
+"Yes, dad; we'll be careful enough.  It's all slack water you know,
+'cept where the river water comes in; but that's a long way up, an'
+we'll be paddlin' mostly about this end of the slack."
+
+An explanation is needed here in order that the reader may intelligently
+follow the course of events (some of them dramatic enough, and even
+tragic) which transpired in the course of this eventful cruise.
+
+It has already been stated that the flood waters so surrounded Tareela
+as to convert the township into an island.  It was so practically.
+Accurately speaking it formed a peninsula, with the narrowest of necks.
+On the river side there was a broad expanse of boiling, foaming,
+hurrying waters, narrowing here and there, where the banks rose above
+their usual height, but stretching far and wide where the river-flats
+intervened; sometimes touching the horizon, as it were.  On the other
+side lay a body of water, as far removed from motion as the tumultuous
+stream was instinct with it.  There it lay, a wide extent of placid,
+coffee-coloured water, broken at its surface by fence tops, belts of
+trees, and partially submerged houses.  This great stretch was almost
+currentless, and the d�bris that floated on its bosom appeared
+stationary; though, as a matter of fact, there was a slight outward
+drift.
+
+The secret of its placidity lay in the fact that the river waters, when
+they reached a certain height, backed up a blind gully that ran almost
+parallel with the stream for some distance, then swerved from the river,
+and widened out till it became a depression of considerable magnitude.
+This, in turn, merged into a swamp, contiguous to the township on its
+western side.  Low-lying and occupied lands surrounded the swamp for
+some distance.  The town end of these flats, which the river water
+backing up through the gully had submerged, making a long reach of
+stagnant waters, formed the area of the boys' row.
+
+The minister's boat was a light yet staunchly built vessel, and belonged
+to the skiff variety.  Her capabilities were to be put to the utmost
+test.  Several of the town boats were moving on the face of the still
+waters, their occupants busily engaged in capturing the flotsam.  The
+owners of houses, in particular, were anxiously conning their submerged
+property, or gathering together floating domestic articles.  In this way
+a good deal of house property was recovered.
+
+The boys found enjoyment in the novelty of the cruise. They pulled two
+oars, taking turns at the rowing.  Of the non-rowers, one acted as
+steersman and the other as bowman for the capture of the flood spoils.
+Several melons and pumpkins were picked up, but they were not troubling
+about these.  For one reason, they did not want to be encumbered with
+spoil of that kind, and for another they were keen on pulling about the
+flooded houses. Their chief and most interesting rescue was a cat and
+two kittens, which had found an ark of refuge on a barn door.
+
+"I say, boys, we'll have a go at these oranges," said Joe, who was
+steering, as they were passing a small orangery which was half
+submerged.  This proposal received hearty and unanimous assent.
+Accordingly Joe selected the most promising tree, and deftly ran
+alongside its outer branches.
+
+"Look out for snakes!" cried he.
+
+There was abundant cause for warning, for each tree contained a number
+of serpents, some of which are very deadly.  These reptiles were flooded
+out of their holes in the ground, and from hollow logs and stumps, and
+made for the trees or any floating timber that offered refuge.
+Fortunately the snakes were more or less benumbed with the cold,
+consequently they were the reverse of lively. Had it been otherwise, to
+have made fast to the tree would have been foolhardy to a degree.
+
+Agreeably to Joe's warning, every eye was skinned and on the look out.
+Indeed, the tree was fairly swarming with snakes of many sorts and
+sizes; though for the most part they consisted of "tree" and "carpet"
+varieties; one of the latter, lying across the top, being fully ten feet
+in length.  These two mentioned varieties are not venomous. The farmers,
+for the most part, look with a friendly eye upon the carpet species; so
+called by reason of its tawny and black markings.  The carpet snake in
+summer time is the best of all mousers and ratters.  It winds its
+sinuous way into places impossible to even puss or terrier; and is
+always a welcome visitor to settlers' barns.  There it becomes a pet,
+and will live on terms of friendship with its primal foe.
+
+There were snakes of a very different order in the orange tree.  Among
+them the "tiger," most aggressive and poisonous of all the genus.  There
+were also specimens of the black and the brown snakes.  All these are
+cobras, and therefore very deadly.
+
+The snakes, as related, were all more or less torpid with cold, and not
+pugnaciously inclined.  The boys, however, were very careful not to
+disturb them.  There was plenty of golden fruit upon the tree, and it
+was in prime condition.  The fruit was neatly cut off the stems by
+strokes of the paddle blade.  When a sufficient quantity was thus
+plucked, and lay bobbing in the water, they were poked out from the tree
+by the same means, and secured.  The boat lay off a little distance from
+the tree while the crew indulged in a feed of the luscious fruit.  A
+visit was then paid to a plantain grove, and a quantity, both of green
+and ripe fruit, was secured.
+
+"Where away now, Joe?" said Tom Hawkins, who was crouched in the bow.
+
+"I vote," replied the one addressed, who in this, as in everything else,
+was leader of the band,--"I vote we pull up opposite Commodore Hill and
+have a look at the river."  The boy forgot for the moment the promise
+made to his father to keep mainly about the town end of the back-water.
+
+Commodore Hill was well up the river, and on the other side.  The
+flooded gully by which the water obtained entrance, it has been
+explained, ran parallel with the river for some distance; in some places
+being not more than a few yards therefrom.  The boys were curious to see
+the river stretch above the Bend; also to note the numbers of
+flooded-out settlers who might be camped in that vicinity.  Accordingly
+the boat's bow is turned, and her course shaped in that direction.  By
+this time the river had fallen several feet, and, as a consequence,
+there was an outward drift of the slack waters, making a gentle current.
+
+"'Member, Joe, what your dad said about takin' the boat into the
+stream."
+
+"Think I've forgot, stupid!"
+
+"Thought I'd remind you, anyhow," replied the bowman.  As a matter of
+fact, Tom had an uneasy feeling that his mate would not be content when
+they got to the mouth to remain there without having a dash at the
+stream.
+
+"Listen to me; I ain't goin' to run any risks.  We won't go to the mouth
+entrance.  What we'll do is this: work up to the swamp end, have a look
+round, and come back again."
+
+With this defined object in view the boat continued its voyage, helped
+by the current, which, the farther up they proceeded, became stronger,
+as was to be expected.
+
+But one thing had happened of which the boys were in entire ignorance.
+And this particular happening was to produce startling and unexpected
+effects.  At a certain spot in the gully, and at a point where it began
+to deviate from the general stream, there was a branch gully, which bore
+inwards to within a few yards of the river's brink.  When the water was
+at its highest in the river, that in the lagoon was much higher at this
+point, inasmuch as the back-water was at the same level as at the
+entrance, some two miles higher up; the difference in height being the
+river's fall in that distance.  Roughly speaking, the water there was
+about ten feet higher than that in the river.
+
+The rush of the stream on the river side had caused the bank to give way
+about this point during the night, and the lagoon, or back-waters,
+forced themselves into the river through the new channel, which widened
+considerably as a consequence.  On nearing this place the boys became
+conscious of a quickening of the current.
+
+"My golly, Joe! this big current," said Yellow Billy, who, with Jimmy,
+was at the oars.  "Must be goin' twenty mile."
+
+"Twenty mile! you goose.  We're goin' six or seven and that's mighty
+fast."
+
+"I say, Joe," called Jimmy a second later, the boys having ceased
+rowing, for there was no further need, "bes' run her ashore, or we'll be
+carried out.  By gosh, she's tearing away!"
+
+"All right, mates, keep cool.  There's the old mahogany ahead, we'll tie
+up there; we'll be there in a minute."
+
+Yes, the boys would need all their coolness, for Joe was reckoning
+without up-to-date knowledge, and that made all the difference in the
+world.  Rounding a clump of trees at this moment, or ever they were
+aware the boat fairly sucked into the channel of furiously rushing and
+tumultuously heaping waters that were finding their level by the newly
+made short-cut.
+
+"Oh! oh!  I--I say!" shouted Tom.  "We're being swept into the river!
+Back water!"
+
+Joe, quicker than the others, had hit the situation, and turned the
+boat's nose to a clump of bushes, but before the rowers could pick up
+their oars to help him the boat had swept past.  Tom, it is true, made a
+frantic grasp at the bough, but the way on the boat was so strong that
+the branch, when the full force of the current bore on her at her
+momentary check, snapped like a pipe-stem, and the little craft was fair
+in the turgid stream, which had now the velocity of a water-race.  The
+incident of the half-arrest, however, had turned her head up-stream,
+which was a providential thing.  The river break-away was at most three
+hundred yards away.  To turn the boat into the perpendicular sides of
+the channel was to court destruction; for, be it said, the maddened
+waters had excavated the banks until they rose sheer from the water's
+edge.
+
+The necessities of the case came like an inspiration to Joe.  The boat
+was drifting, as we have said, stern first, the advantage of which will
+be seen.  Save Joe, whom the sense of responsibility braced to immediate
+action, the boys were speechless with consternation. One look at their
+blanched faces was sufficient.  They were certainly alive to the dangers
+of the situation.
+
+"Pull, boys! pull with all your might!  We'll keep her head up.  This'll
+check her speed a bit.  It'll give her steerage way too, and save her
+gettin' broadside on."
+
+The pullers put every ounce of strength into their strokes, and this was
+very helpful.  The final rush into the cross-current was a most critical
+moment, and might easily have resulted in disaster.  This was averted
+only by Joe's coolness and dexterity.
+
+"Oars out!" cried he as the boat swept into the angry and turbulent
+river.  Save for shipping some water, and drenching the crew with spray,
+the little craft weathered the river plunge.  An involuntary "Oh!" came
+from the boys as the boat shot the rapids and soused into the river.
+Immediately she came under the influence of two currents; that going
+outward from the chute, and the swift down-river stream.
+
+This effect was to take them instantly well out toward the centre of the
+flood, with a strong drift which carried the boat into the vicinity of
+the Bend.  The river bend gave the current a direction which set across
+to the other side.  This diagonal movement was accelerated by the chute
+waters, which retained their impetus, in a measure, for a considerable
+distance.
+
+Downward then, and cross-wise to the northern bank, the frail craft
+sped, the sport and play of the watery element.  Dangers stood, or
+rather, drifted thick around the adventurers.  Picture for a moment a
+tiny vessel, some fifteen feet over all, whose timbers are of the
+proverbial egg-shell thickness, shot into an angry, bubbling cauldron,
+whose tumultuous waters heaved and swirled, hissed and roared, in
+inarticulate sound and motion.
+
+That, in itself, were an experience of sufficient magnitude to quicken
+the blood, test the nerves, and try the courage of the hardiest
+waterman.  Add to the perils of that situation a thousand floating
+dangers, any one of which might crush that tiny, drifting cockle-shell
+out of existence, and you have the position which faced and surrounded
+the affrighted lads on the demon-ridden waters.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VII*
+
+                   *THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH*
+
+
+    "There's the white-box and pine on the ridges afar,
+    Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;
+    There's many another, but dearest to me,
+    And king of them all is the stringy-bark tree."
+      HENRY LAWSON.
+
+
+As several years had intervened between the present and the last flood
+of considerable dimension, every creek, gully, and river-flat of the
+upper reaches were contributing their quota of fallen timber, which in
+the interval had encumbered the earth.  In addition, the flood-waters
+had torn many a giant eucalyptus, roots and all, from its earthhold, and
+had borne it on its heaving and rebellious bosom, a mere plaything of
+its vengeful humour.
+
+Up to the present a monarch of the forest, whose rugged bole bears
+indubitable evidence of its antiquity, stands skywards with its head in
+the clouds.  The Philistines are upon it.  Its innumerable roots,
+lateral and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as it
+grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe.  But the earth, which for years
+innumerable has mothered the forest lord, furnishing his daily portion
+of meat and drink, nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth
+and height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in every tussle
+with wind and flood heretofore, now turns traitor.  The soil dissolves
+in the swirling waters as they ravish the earth.  Above and underneath
+the roots it melts, and is carried away in the thickening stream.  The
+hold of the old monarch is weakening.  His limbs are trembling.  His
+strong body, that has withstood the pressure of a thousand fights with
+the hereditary foe, vibrates and sways now, as his remorseless
+antagonist grips him in cruel embrace.
+
+His old comrades higher up, who have fallen earlier in this battle of
+giants, come drifting along, battered and torn; veritable shipwrecks,
+dismantled and broken.  One floating leviathan, flood-driven, sweeps
+onward full upon his writhing form ... a violent shock and shudder that
+runs from root to topmost leaf ... a last wrestle, strong, heroic, and
+pitiful! ... Then, betrayed and spent, under the last straw, as it were,
+of the fateful impact of his wrecked mate--now converted into a
+battering-ram--the grand old hero-king yields.  His foe has sought and
+found, like one in the olden time, his vulnerability in his heel.
+Overborne at last, but not yet broken, he shakes his lofty head in the
+quiver of mortal spasm.  Suddenly he topples, lurches, staggers, and
+falls with a mighty crash, which is, indeed, a resounding death-cry.
+Striking the enemy with a last, concentrated, savage blow, he splits her
+bosom, and sends great spurts of her muddy blood, spray-like, a hundred
+feet in air.  But the wound heals as speedily as delivered, and from
+thence he passes quickly, in company with his defeated brothers, an
+inert mass of strewn wreckage, to form, farther down upon the skurrying
+waters, a floating barricade of death-dealing timbers.  And so on and
+on, till the blue sea is reached, where it is heaved to and fro, a
+rudderless hulk upon the bosom of the ocean; until it is stranded at
+last as flotsam and jetsam upon the beach.
+
+
+By skilful manipulation of oars and rudder the boys managed to evade the
+timber masses.  The numerous whirlpools constituted a great danger.
+Once or twice they were almost sucked under as they circled in a vortex.
+Their position was extremely perilous.  The greatest danger lay from
+contact with the isolated logs and tree-trunks that sped down with great
+velocity, appearing and disappearing in the vicious eddies, rotating
+with the swirling stream, and popping up porpoise-like in unexpected
+quarters.  On one occasion, in dodging a mass of driftwood, they ran
+right on to a big tree.  Fortunately the tree was sinking at the time of
+impact under the influence of an under-current, and, at Joe's sharp
+command, the rowers rushed the boat across the submerged tree-bole.
+Scarcely had they crossed the line ere the submarine monster rolled
+upward, till at least half its length was out of the water.  It was a
+narrow squeak. To have been caught on its rising movement would have
+meant utter shipwreck.
+
+It has been stated that owing to the river bend, and from other causes,
+the current set diagonally across to the other side.  Drawing thus
+towards the farther shore, the boat's crew neared a timbered point,
+below which the water expanded over the low-lying country for miles. So
+far only the thickly fringed timber belts could be seen.  It was
+questionable if they could find any dry earth.  In all likelihood,
+however, even should there not be any landing-place, they would find
+protection from the current behind the thick wood.  As they got close in
+to the scrubby portion the boys saw, to their great disappointment, that
+the land was still submerged.  They had hoped to find a patch of earth.
+All they can do now is to shelter behind the timber.
+
+"Pull, boys, pull hard!" cried Joe, the while he turned the boat's nose
+towards a rear clump.  His quick eye discerned an eddy formed by a point
+higher up.  Rowing into this, the boat was eased in its downward track,
+and after getting well in behind the clump they were able to make
+headway against the stream, finally fastening to a big she-oak almost in
+still water.  Here they were out of the tract of the current and the
+perils of the driftwood.
+
+What a relief to the half-dazed and frightened boys!
+
+Captain Joe, be it said, though fearful enough while in the roaring
+waters, kept all his wits about him.  Often as his heart jumped into his
+mouth he as quickly swallowed it again.  More than once his
+resourcefulness saved the boat from certain disaster.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed he, as Tom tied the painter to a strong limb, and
+the boat rode easy.
+
+"It was a touch and go, lads.  Don't cry, Jimmy!" as that lad, yielding
+to a feeling of reaction, burst into tears. Tom was not much better, and
+furtively wiped his eyes under the pretence of blowing his nose.  In a
+few minutes the boys were themselves again.  The roar and rush of the
+waters filled their oars and souls as they lay at anchor. So deafening
+were the sounds that it was only by shouting they could hear one
+another.
+
+Stretching inland, and reaching to the distant hills, nothing was to be
+seen but a waste of waters, with here and there a bushy hillock, a
+miniature island.  What remained of the settlers' houses looked like so
+many Noah's arks.  Moving figures could be seen on one which lay a long
+way off.  They were the unfortunate owners, who, by delaying their
+retreat until too late, were driven on to the very ridge pole for
+safety.  Fortunately they were in still water; so at least it seemed
+from the distance; consequently their position was not alarming. Tree
+marks showed the river to be falling at a fairly rapid rate.
+
+"Now then, boys, let's hold a council of war!"
+
+"Wot's that, Joe?"
+
+"It's what they say in soldiering when the generals get into a fix,"
+chipped in Tom.
+
+"Oh, gollies! let us get home as quick as possible.  If we don't they'll
+think we're drownded an'----"
+
+"Look here, Jimmy, stow that rot!  If we start talking in that fashion,
+we'll get unnerved.  Billy, you first!  Tell us what you think about the
+situation."
+
+"Long's we're here we're safe.  There's a 'possum in the spout above us.
+I'll climb up and get 'im for tucka."
+
+"We can't cook 'possum in the boat, Billy.  No dry wood; no matches.
+You're right enough about safety, though.  These trees have borne the
+brunt of the flood stream at its highest, and things are getting easier.
+Jimmy, what do you think of it?"
+
+"I--I--I dunno.  Oh, my poor m-other!" cried Jimmy, whose emotions again
+overpowered him.
+
+"Didn't I tell you to stow that water-cart business? Dry up, or I'll
+jolly well tan your hide for you, you soft milksop!"
+
+Joe's severity was partly assumed.  He was fighting himself about home
+thoughts.  He knew the folly of giving way at this crisis to such a
+natural sentiment.
+
+"You, Tom!  You've a notion, I'm sure," said Joe to his chum.
+
+"My opinion, chaps, is that we ought to be very thankful for bein' where
+we are, an' stay here a bit anyways. It'd be madness to attempt to
+recross the river.  What's to prevent us pullin' over there?" pointing
+to a hillock nearly a mile away inland.
+
+"Tom's right, boys.  We must make up our minds, hard as it is, to camp
+on this side to-day.  It'd be easy enough to do as Tom says, row over to
+that island. Supposin', though, the water went down a lot during the
+night; we might have to drag the boat over a lot of mud to get to the
+river-bank to-morrow.  Bes' stay where we----"
+
+"S-s-h!  Listen a moment, Joe," interjected Tom from the bow of the
+boat.  "What noise's that?"
+
+"Don't hear anythin' 'cept the river.  What sort o' noise, Tom?"
+
+"I heered it, Joe," said Yellow Billy.  "Bear cryin', I bin thinkin'.
+Heer it now."
+
+All the boys could hear the sounds now, faint enough, yet distinct above
+the flood roar.
+
+"Bear, I 'speck!  Have a good look round, boys."
+
+All eyes were bent in the direction of the sound.  They scanned the
+trees for that strange, pouch-bearing--half bear, half sloth--animal
+called the native bear.  Strictly speaking, it is neither bear nor
+sloth, being a perfectly harmless, tailless marsupial of the koala
+genus.  Its cry is intensely, and often pathetically, human.
+
+For some time the search was unrewarded; while ever and anon a cry,
+strangely like an infant's wail, came to the ears of the searchers.
+
+"P'r'aps, after all, it's only the wind in the river oaks; or is it
+a----"
+
+"Look, boys!  look, look!" cried Tom excitedly.  "What's that over at
+the edge of the timber, up there in a fork?"
+
+"Whereaway, Tom?"
+
+"See the clump beyond the back-water, out in the stream?"
+
+"M--y-e-s, I see.  Why, yes, my word!  I do believe it's a----"
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VIII*
+
+                          *WHAT THE TREE HELD*
+
+
+    "Thereafter grew the wind; and chafing deaths
+    In distant waters, sent a troubled cry
+    Across the slumbrous forest; and the chill
+    Of coming rain was on the sleeper's brow."
+      HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"James!" exclaimed Mrs. Blain to her husband during this eventful
+morning, "it's dinner-time and those lads are not back.  I hope nothing
+has happened."
+
+"What do you expect could have happened, you dear old fidget?  I'm going
+to the post, however, and I'll have a look round."
+
+Could Mr. Blain have beheld the lads at this particular time, the calm
+of his deep nature would have been broken up in a fashion rare to his
+experience; for at this moment the boat and its occupants are being
+borne on the rapids, presently to be flung upon the riotous and
+foam-crested waves of the river.
+
+In moving along the street the minister met several persons who had been
+out on the back-water during the morning.  All had seen the boys at one
+time or another. One of the latest in, who had been farther up than most
+of the others, had passed the boys on his return not long before.  They
+were then heading up the swamp way.
+
+"Don't fear, Mr. Blain, the boys know how to take care of themselves.
+Dinner's calling 'em loudly enough by this time, I wager ye."
+
+Dinner-time came and went, but no boys.  As the afternoon wore on the
+mother's fears deepened until they became well-nigh unendurable.  The
+minister, rowed by two of the neighbours, set out to find the truants
+and fetch them back.
+
+"Don't lose faith, dear!  They're up to some prank, the thoughtless
+scamps!  I'll fetch them home none the worse, to laugh at your fears."
+
+
+Following Tom's index-finger, the boys fastened their eyes upon a clump
+of river oaks that stood on the edge of the woods.
+
+High up in a fork of one of the largest trees, they could see what
+looked at first like a huge bundle of clothes fluttering in the wind.
+After a short while the bundle seemed to take a somewhat definite shape.
+
+"What in the name of goodness is it all?  Seems like a lot of old
+clothes jammed in the tree forks.  Are you sure that the squall, or
+squeak, or squeal, or whatever it was, came from that direction?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," replied Tom.  "Listen, there it's again!"  A thin,
+treble cry rose faintly above the din of the flood waters.
+
+"See a woman's foot!"
+
+The speaker was the half-caste, whose eyesight, owing to his half-wild
+nature, was much keener than his fellows'.
+
+"A woman's foot, Billy!  What do you mean?  You don't mean to say
+really, that----!"
+
+"See hand too!  Look along bark.  See fingers!"
+
+Thus directed, the three boys looked, and saw, though but indistinctly,
+what appeared to be a hand grasping the tree-trunk, a foot, also, was
+revealed at intervals by the fluttering garment.
+
+After a short, staring silence, a flood of mental light broke upon Joe.
+"I see now.  Why, it's the poor soul we heard cooeeing last night!"
+
+Yes, there had been plenty of speculation in the village as to who it
+could be, and exactly where the voice came from.  None of those who
+heard the piteous wail that was borne across the floods in the black and
+wild darkness of that night would forget it for many a long day to come.
+
+The mystery is now solved.  The boys are horror-stricken at the sight
+and its sequent thought.  They are now convinced that a woman is fixed
+in the tree.  Without reasoning the matter out, they identify her as the
+one whose cry over night produced such a sensation in the township, and
+to locate which the police boat with a strong crew had started out at
+daybreak, but without success.
+
+_Is she alive or dead_?  The strange cry did not seem to be that of a
+woman.  There was something so eerie, so shocking in the thought, that
+the lads were fear-possessed for some moments.  Joe, as usual, recovered
+himself first.
+
+"It's a woman sure enough!  It's a human being, at any rate.  An', boys,
+we've got to rescue her if she is alive. The cry can only come from her,
+I'm sure, so that there must be some life left still.  How to do it I
+can't just see at this moment.  We must think a bit."
+
+Think a bit they did.  Camped as they were at the lower end of the
+timber, it would be a matter of comparative ease to work up through the
+trees in the slack water, till they arrived opposite to the clump that
+stood out in the stream.  There the real difficulties would begin.  The
+rush of waters was still so strong, and the space for the play of the
+boat so small, that it became evident the rescue would be accompanied by
+some alarming risks.
+
+One of two things must be done: either wait until the waters receded
+sufficiently to enable the rescuers to wade to the clump, or make an
+immediate dash.
+
+"How long d'you think it'd be before we could wade across, Joe?"
+
+"Dunno, Billy.  Beckon there's eight or nine foot of water out there.
+Might be less.  At any rate it'd be hours."
+
+"Hours!" cried Tom.  "An' s'posin' that poor creature's still alive?"
+
+"That settles it!" exclaimed Joe, rising in his seat in excitement.
+"Boys, what's to be done must be done quickly."
+
+Seemingly all were agreed.  At least no objection was offered to this
+proposal, or, rather, mandate.  So it was resolved, after some
+cogitation, to pull the boat through the timber to a point some distance
+higher up than the isolated clump.  From thence the course would be
+outwards until the river current was met; an estimated distance of a
+hundred yards.  The boat was to be headed against the current when in
+the stream influence.  A vigorous row would be necessary to neutralise
+the current, to be modified so as to allow the craft to drift slowly
+down-stream.  Then, when opposite the clump, a dash for the tree whereon
+the unfortunate woman was lying was to be made.
+
+Inasmuch as this tree was almost in the centre of the group, and the
+stream still ran with violence, it was easy to see that without skilful
+management, and some luck, the boat might be stove in against a
+tree-bole; or, worse still, might be impaled upon a submerged snag.  Any
+accident, such as missing way at a critical moment, or the snapping of
+an oar blade, might be fraught with the most disastrous consequences.
+
+During the short conference Jimmy Flynn had kept silence.  Towards the
+end, as Joe set forth the attendant dangers, he became considerably
+perturbed.  After sundry wrigglings and contortions, rubbing of hands
+and licking of lips, these visual twistings found voice.
+
+"I say, Joe! don't--er--yer think that--er--we'd better wait a bit?"
+
+"Why?" chorused the boys.
+
+"Oh--I--I dunno.  Well--er--p'raps some other boat'll come over from the
+township d'reckly an'--an'----"
+
+"And s'pose no boat comes along?"
+
+"Well, then, I--I--er--vote--that we--er----"
+
+"By jing!  Jimmy," interposed Tom, with a jeer, "who'd 'a' thought you'd
+'a' showed the white feather!"
+
+"White feather yourself, Hawkins!" returned the fearful but now angry
+boy.
+
+"Jimmy!" broke in Yellow Billy unexpectedly, for as a rule the
+half-caste was taciturn--the taciturnity of modesty in his case.  Billy,
+while carrying some of the defects of aboriginal descent, was a
+kind-hearted and easily contented lad.  "Jimmy!" said he, in a soft,
+quiet tone, "s'pose your mother was over there?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who was sitting with a sullen, hang-dog expression,
+quivered as though he had received an electric shock.  There was within
+him a consciousness of the truth of Tom's term.  He was a coward, and
+the very notion of it angered him, and at the same time made him
+resentful.  He shrank from the undertaking.  None of the boys were in
+love with it, for that matter.  Jimmy only, among the four, allowed his
+fear to overmaster him.
+
+These few words of Billy, uttered in a quiet, even tone, went straight
+to the boy's heart.  His sullen brows lifted. The angry resentment which
+had disfigured his face vanished.  Straightening his bent figure, he
+seized the oar lying by his side.  Then, squaring his shoulders, as he
+inclined forward to grip the water, he said quietly, "Let her go."
+
+Immediately on releasing the boat Joe steered her in a semicircular
+course, keeping out back where the standing timber was thinnest.  The
+boys pulled slowly, for there was always the danger of snags.  They were
+in fairly slack water, and so had no need to exert themselves; besides
+which, it were wise to husband their strength for the supreme moment.
+
+Tom and Jimmy, both expert oarsmen, were the rowers. Yellow Billy was
+stationed in the bow, with instructions to keep a keen look out for
+snags.  He was armed with a stout pole in order that he might fend the
+boat on any critical occasion, or when the rudder might be inoperative.
+It formed a very useful instrument in Billy's practised hands, and
+enabled him to ward off the craft from many dangers that did not appear
+until the boat was almost upon them.  As it was there were several
+ominous scrapes, as the boat rasped over submerged branches. Fortunately
+they reached the point determined upon without any accident.
+
+They paused here a moment before leaving the slack water for the swiftly
+running stream.
+
+"Now, boys," said Joe, after a brief survey, "sit steady, and pull for
+all you're worth.  Mind you, no flurry. Keep an even stroke.  Got the
+painter coiled, Billy?"
+
+"All right, Joe."
+
+"Pull then, boys, and stick to it like grim death to a diseased nigger."
+
+The boat having got good way on, Joe headed her out a little, when she
+immediately encountered the current.
+
+"Lay to it, my lads, lay to it!"
+
+The boys "lay to" with such vigour that the rapid current was
+counterbalanced, and she hung in the stream, neither making headway nor
+drifting.
+
+"Easy a little, my hearties!  We must let her drift down gradually.
+Mustn't let her get out of hand, though."
+
+In swinging the boat into the channel Joe kept her nose up-stream, and
+as near the slack water as possible. The boys easing a trifle at Joe's
+command, the current became the stronger of the two forces, and the
+little craft drifted slowly.  Blain eagerly scanned the clump for an
+opening.  This cluster, it may be remarked, was about two hundred yards
+long and fifty or so wide.  In some parts the timber was thickly
+scattered, in others the trees were bunched together.
+
+The boat is now about fifty yards above the tree containing the supposed
+woman.
+
+"That's right, chaps, keep up as you're doin'!  We must drift very
+slowly lest we miss the chance of popping in.  It's too thick to venture
+in here.  It's thinnin' out, though," exclaimed Joe, as the boat neared
+the point abreast the tree.
+
+"Here's an opening, I do believe.  Be ready, Billy! Pull, lads! pull,
+pull!  Look out all!"
+
+The boat lay anglewise, so that the current worked upon her quarter.
+Seeing a fair opening, Joe urged the rowers to do their utmost.  So hard
+did they pull that the current, playing upon her quarter as she hung a
+few minutes stationary, forced her through the gap and towards the tree.
+The manoeuvre was splendidly executed. The boat was now within five
+yards or so of the tree, the boys putting every ounce of strength into
+their strokes. A minute or less now and they will either be fast to the
+tree or drifting down on to a solid block of timber just below.
+
+Yellow Billy, who had crouched in the bow, now rose up quietly, rope in
+hand, ready to act promptly in the decisive moment.  By good fortune a
+limb projected about five feet above the water, and branched out some
+distance from the tree.  Joe worked the boat straight up-stream, and
+then called on the rowers to ease the barest trifle.  The craft swung
+very slowly down, until she was fairly under the limb.
+
+"Sling the painter over the branch an' make fast, Billy!" cried Joe, as
+the stern drifted under.  "Pull now, you beggars, a last spurt!"
+
+Billy whipped the rope round the limb, and made fast in a flash; the
+rowers, by a few desperate strokes, keeping the boat stationary.
+
+"Hold her there a second.  Let the loop lie loose an' edge it to the
+trunk, Billy!"
+
+Joe thus worked the boat over until she was just at the rear of the
+tree.
+
+"Ease her off gently now, boys.  Steady still!  A wrench might snap the
+painter."
+
+The boys accordingly eased off gradually, and finally stopped.
+
+"Two of you come aft, it'll ease the strain."
+
+This done, the boat, which by burying her nose deep in the water was
+straining heavily on the rope, trimmed herself, and offered but the
+minimum resistance to the racing waters.
+
+The tree-bole, which presented a somewhat broad surface, divided the
+waters, creating a narrow zone of neutral water in its wake.  In this
+eddying area the boat rode securely, making it an easy matter for the
+bowman to keep her nose up against the tree.
+
+And now each boy bent an upward glance to the fork.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IX*
+
+                              *THE RESCUE*
+
+
+    "Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me--
+    Death closes all: but something ere the end,
+    Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
+    Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."
+      TENNYSON'S _Ulysses_.
+
+
+Fortunately the she-oak was one of the largest of its kind, and forked
+out into four branches twenty feet or so from the ground.  This formed a
+rough cage, in which one could be held very securely if not comfortably.
+
+In this fork, partially covered with a blanket, was huddled the form of
+a human creature, presumably a woman; one hand stretched along the trunk
+as in a painful grip, the legs hanging loosely.  There was no movement
+of limb or body.  What if she were dead?
+
+A sudden chill accompanied this thought.  The situation was decidedly
+uncanny, and bred awesome, not to say fearsome, feelings.
+
+Four boys in a boat!  Out on the flood-wastes, and in a particularly
+perilous position!  The insistent noises of the rushing tide; the hollow
+moan of the wind in the foliage of the she-oaks; shut out from all help;
+missed now at home, and _that thing above_!
+
+All these combined to create a creeping chill in each boy, which in a
+manner half-paralysed them.
+
+Joe, as usual, recovered more quickly than the others. Gazing at the
+object above awhile, and then examining the trunk of the tree with his
+eyes, he broke the spell of silence.
+
+"Take my place, Tom.  Some un's got to go at once to that poor soul
+aloft.  Pray God we're in time to save her. Keep her up tight against
+the trunk, Jimmy, an' I'll swing on to the limb."
+
+Suiting his action to the word, Joe clambered on to the limb, and from
+thence proceeded to climb the tree.
+
+The woman was fixed at the junction of the forks, and her feet and legs
+hung loosely down on each side of a minor fork.  One arm, as before
+described, was wound round the main limb, while the other firmly grasped
+her breast.  Her head was supported in the V of a branch.
+
+On mounting to the spot, Joe raised himself higher by grasping two of
+the tree-forks, and, twisting his legs round the trunk, steadied himself
+while he gazed into the face of the dead.  It was the first time in his
+life that he had looked upon death.  The set expression that met his
+gaze, so full of anguish, so pitifully pleading, fairly shocked him out
+of his self-possession.  Little wonder at his turning sick and faint.
+He clutched the branch frantically as he swayed a moment, and beads of
+cold sweat stood thick upon his forehead.  Indeed, so near fainting was
+he that his sight began to fade, and the whole world receded from him.
+Strange noises buzzed in his ears.  Bringing all the reserve forces of
+his will to the front, he was beginning to gain the ascendency over his
+weakness, when a strange cry startled him into full consciousness.
+
+"Why! she's not dead after all, thank God!"  The thought of life made
+all the difference to Joe.  In a moment his vision is as clear as ever,
+and his spirits rise high at the sounds of life.  "Yes, see!" whispered
+the lad, "there's a movement of the breast.  Hurrah, boys!"
+
+cried he to his comrades, looking down and waving with one hand at the
+same time.  "She's not dead after all!"
+
+The boys at this set up a hearty shout indicative of their relief and
+joy.
+
+"Oh yes!" he muttered reassuringly to himself as he took the second
+look, "the poor creature's alive.  Her eyes are half open.  Her chest is
+heaving.  Wake up, ma'am!  Rescue is at hand.  Me an' the boys in the
+boat below are goin' to take you down an' row you across to the
+township."
+
+The woman made no response to this appeal and plan of salvation.  "Is
+she really alive?"  The eyes are half closed and seemingly peering; the
+form is rigid, the face immobile.  There was naught of that expression
+in this countenance that Joe, from hearsay, was wont to associate with
+death--the peace that passeth understanding.  Yet as the lad gazed at
+this apparently inanimate object there was a movement of the body.  The
+blanket, bunched into many folds across the breast, stirred visibly.
+
+Again that eerie, inarticulate cry!
+
+Disengaging one hand from the tree, the boy stretched it forth to the
+woman's breast, which, covered as it was with the clothes, had all the
+seeming of life and movement.
+
+Joe was in the very act of removing a fold of the blanket, when
+suddenly, and without the slightest warning, there rose up into the
+lad's face an angry, hissing, venomous snake, the deadliest of its kind.
+Its beady eyes glittered; its forked tongue shot in and out with
+inconceivable rapidity; its sibilant hiss was accompanied with a musky
+odour, sickening in the extreme; its head and body for half its length
+were erect, and bent forward from the neck, vibrating and swaying in a
+rhythmic movement.  The reptile was within striking distance.  In
+another second that almost invisible death-stroke will be dealt;
+invisible, that is, by reason of its lightning-like speed.
+
+But this deadly intention is defeated by an involuntary movement on
+Joe's part.  This young man, for the briefest of brief moments, clung to
+the tree with a rigid grasp; eyes staring in amazement and terror, with
+mouth wide open in automatic gape.  Any attempt to defend himself were
+useless in the most absolute sense of that term.  In another tick,
+before he can move a hand, these poison fangs will be deep buried in his
+horror-stricken face, so temptingly near.  The only hope for the lad lay
+in doing a disappearing trick.  And this happened.  Had it been
+premeditated, however swiftly, the time taken to make up his mind, and
+to telegraph the resolution formed in the brain to the nerve cells and
+muscles, would have been sufficient for the lightning stroke to fall.
+
+What really happened was this: the apparition of the red-bellied, black
+snake simply petrified Joe.  An awful, blood-curdling, hair-raising,
+galvanic shock of abject terror, contradictory as it may seem, paralysed
+the lad. Simultaneously with that he is falling through space, an inert
+mass, to be soused into the water with a splash that sent the spray
+flying over the boat's crew.
+
+At the moment of the splash, Joe's mind, will, and nerve were restored
+to their normal activity.  The instinct of self-preservation, so strong
+in all healthy natures, especially boys', did for the lad in an
+infinitesimal fraction of time as much and as effectively as though he
+had taken, say, half an hour to plan his procedure.
+
+He had, however, in escaping Scylla fallen into Charybdis.  As soon as
+Joe reached the water he made for the boat.  Fortunately he did not fall
+into it, or this story might never have been told.  He fell into the
+stream, some two or three yards away from the skiff. Quickly as he was
+carried down-stream he managed by violent efforts to reach the boat at
+the stern.  Tom clutched him frantically by the shirt collar, enabling
+the swimmer to get his hands on the gunwale.  Joe, thus helped,
+clambered into the boat or ever the boat's crew had recovered from their
+consternation.
+
+"Oh, Moses!" exclaimed, or rather gasped, he, "that--was--a go.  Whew!"
+
+"My goodness!  How'd yer come to fall kersplosh like that?"
+
+"Why!" pointing up.  "See! there's the beast.  See him crawling out
+there?"
+
+The boys, looking up, descried the snake winding its sinuous way along a
+lateral bough that grew up above the forks.  The disturbed and excited
+snake, having reached the limb, wound its course till it reached a clump
+of bushy branches on the limb's extremity.  On this it coiled itself,
+save the head and neck, which stood erect in vigilant attitude.
+
+"Oh, crikey! was that _there_ on--in the body's--the woman's body?"
+
+"Yes, Jimmy; right in the blanket on her breast. 'Twas that brute moving
+under the blanket that I thought was _her_ breathing.  Oh, my!" again
+exclaimed the youth, with a shudder, as he thought of the imminence of
+the danger which confronted him a moment before.
+
+"Is--it--her--dead, Joe?" asked Tom after an interval of silence.
+
+"No doubt of it, boys."
+
+"Wonder if the snake bit her?"
+
+"May have.  Anyway the poor thing is dead all right."
+
+"What's bes' thing to do now?"
+
+"W-e-ll, I d-o-n't know----"
+
+Again that shrill wailing cry!
+
+"_Can't_ be the woman!" said Joe excitedly.  "Why, she's as dead as a
+herrin'!"
+
+"I have it, boys!" shouted Tom, as he jumped up excitedly and cut a
+caper.  "It's the darned ole cat!"
+
+A look of great relief passed over each countenance at the thought.
+
+Tom, meanwhile, lifted up the locker lid, disclosing the rescued cat,
+which, together with her two bairns, were stowed in the locker shortly
+after being saved from the flood.  The animals were snuggled together on
+a cornsack, and looked the very picture of contentment. The kittens were
+dining baby fashion, and the mother's purr declared the very excess of
+maternal rapture.
+
+On seeing the boys, pussy gave a low, affectionate miaow, and made a
+sympathetic movement of the tail, as if to say: "Thank you a thousand
+times, young gentlemen, for the good deed which we never, never shall
+forget."  And then, motherlike, proceeded to "lick" her offspring.
+
+"It's not the cat, Tom."
+
+"Well, what on earth, water, or air is it?"
+
+The mystery is insoluble.  As the boys look down upon the happy and
+contented felines, they one and all reject Tom's confident affirmation
+of a moment before. If not the cat, what then?
+
+Again the tiny, shrill cry arose, but not from the cat's mouth.  It came
+from the tree above, and as the startled youths looked up they saw the
+overhanging end of the blanket agitated.
+
+"Why, why--the poor thing must really be alive after all, chaps.
+There's something more up there than I've discovered; so here's up
+again!"
+
+Acting on this impulse, Joe again ascended the tree. Those below watched
+intently, their feelings strained to the utmost tension.  As soon as our
+hero got to his former position in the forks, he received another shock.
+It was sudden as the other, but not so disastrous.  An inarticulate and
+involuntary cry brought fresh alarm to his pals, who all the while were
+staring up, too frightened to ask any questions.  The boy, despite the
+second shock, still clung to the tree.  The woman was dead beyond all
+doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life.  A brief and astonished
+survey, and the boy leans over the limb and speaks quietly to those
+below--
+
+"The woman's dead, boys, but _there's a baby here_.  It's tied to her
+breast.  It's alive!"
+
+Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement, the
+babe lifted up its voice once more in a feeble cry.  The scene in that
+tree Joe never will forget; the like he will not see again though he
+rival Methuselah in age.  The only thing he can yet see is a little hand
+and arm, which have wriggled from the covering.  Moving cautiously along
+the branch to the converging point, leaning on one fork, and placing his
+feet against another so as to stiffen himself, the boy was able to use
+his two hands.  He first, and not without an inward tremor, removed the
+dead hand which lay upon the blanket, the stiffened fingers still
+clutching the clothes and holding them to the breast.  The last thought
+and the last act of the exhausted and dying woman was to succour and to
+defend her little one.
+
+Straightening the arm so that it lay by her side, Joe opened the blanket
+from where the little hand stuck up.  There, on the breast of the dead,
+she lay, a sweet-faced baby girl!  The little one's face was puckered
+up, 'tis true, and there were tears upon her pale cheeks. The cries and
+tears were not the symbols of pain, they were those of hunger.  Joe
+could plainly see that all the mother's thoughts were for the child.  It
+was snugly folded in the blanket end; then tied to her waist by a
+handkerchief passed round the body.  The remainder of the blanket was
+then arranged so as to thoroughly protect the child from the inclement
+weather.
+
+Untying the handkerchief, the lad folded it in a peculiar fashion like
+as he had seen the black gins do. Carefully lifting the babe, he laid it
+in the widest part, made it secure to the body under the arms, and
+placed it on his back, bringing the ends of the wrapper together. round
+his neck.
+
+This done, he prepared for the descent.  It was easily accomplished,
+even with the incumbrance of the child. Landing safely in the boat,
+which was kept well up to the tree, Joe placed her in the stern on the
+locker seat, where the little one lay squirming and crying piteously.
+
+The news of the baby variously affected the boys. Jimmy Flynn, whose
+baby sister had died a few months before, looked very tenderly upon this
+nameless waif.
+
+"Make a place on the floor for it, Joe," said he.  "It'll lie there more
+comfortably, an' it'll be more like a cradle."
+
+The advice was good.  The coats, which the boys shed soon as they
+entered upon the expedition in the morning, made a soft bed for the
+little one.  The wee mite was evidently about nine months old.  For all
+its adventure and exposure it seemed to have suffered little, and now in
+its cry is only voicing the pleadings of its empty stomach.  It was
+adequately, though very plainly dressed, and through all the rain of the
+preceding night had kept dry.  Fortunately, too, the snake which had
+been curled up in one of the blanket folds had not come into actual
+contact with the child.  There were only two things required to bring it
+to a condition of happy contentment: nursing and feeding.
+
+Capable as this quartet of Australian lads were in many ways, in this
+they were novices.  So it was with a look of ashamed helplessness that
+they gazed at the new passenger, as she lay in the bottom of the boat on
+her back, kicking her heels in the air at a great rate, and doubling her
+dimpled hands first into her eyes and then into her mouth.  The cry went
+forth without ceasing, its only variation being the peculiar noise
+caused by an intermittent sucking of her diminutive fists.
+
+By a happy thought of Jimmy the hunger difficulty was overcome.  The
+boys had picked up a fine lot of oranges, as well as some dozens of
+plantains, in the back-water. After they had eaten a quantity they
+stowed the balance away in the bow locker, and completely forgot them in
+the exciting events which followed.  Jimmy suddenly remembered the
+fruit.  Selecting a fine specimen, he quickly peeled and quartered it.
+Then, seeding some of the quarters, he put one in baby's fist, guiding
+the same to her mouth.  The sweet, juicy orange was simply nectar to the
+famished child.  It sucked as only a hunger-bitten baby can.  The boys
+were highly amused at the way in which she mouthed the skin, and the
+difficulty Jimmy encountered in unlocking her little fingers order to
+substitute a full for an empty quarter.  It indeed a happy solution; an
+admirable recipe for tears and squalls.  As long as baby had an orange
+quarter it was peaceful.  After a little while Jimmy took the little one
+on his knee, giving furtive glances towards the others as he did so.
+The boys, however, under all the sad circumstances forebore to chaff.
+Substituting, at length, a ripe plantain for an orange section, the babe
+was taken to the seventh heaven of gastronomic bliss.
+
+[Illustration: "The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn
+waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."--_See p._ 69]
+
+And the while above them in the she-oak, whose thread-like leaves make
+mournful music to the wind, lies the mother who has sacrificed her life
+for that of the babe. There is no doubt of this.  The poor woman must
+have been exposed to the winds and waves long before she reached the
+tree refuge.  How she got there was never known.  She had almost denuded
+herself to protect the babe.  Little wonder that at some moment of that
+awful night vigil the vital spark should have quitted its terror-haunted
+tenement.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER X*
+
+                              *THE RETURN*
+
+
+    "See the conquering hero comes!
+    Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."
+
+
+After baby's hunger was satisfied the boys' attention was given to their
+immediate surroundings.
+
+"What are we goin' to do about _her_?" asked Tom, pointing upward as he
+spoke.
+
+"It's simply impossible for us to do anything.  If she were alive we
+would take any risk.  But as things are it is beyond our power to shift
+the body, it is jammed so tightly.  The only thing left for us to do is
+to inform the police when we get to the other side."
+
+"What'll we do now, Joe?"
+
+"Get back to our former anchorage first.  River's goin' down pretty
+fast, I reckon; and it'll be all dry about here before morning if it
+recedes at the same rate.  The current is not nearly so strong as it was
+when we came over, and that will make it easier for us to get out of the
+clump. There's no need for us to go back by the same course. We can take
+a slant across to that red gum, and when we're there we're out of the
+stream."
+
+The exit from the cluster of trees was very well managed, and in a few
+minutes from the time of casting adrift from the she-oak the boat was
+out of the clump and across the narrow stream into the slack water.
+They continued on to their former camping place, and hitched on to the
+tree.
+
+This gallant attempt at rescue, though not accomplishing what was in the
+minds of the boys, was not altogether a failure.  Indeed, it was the
+reverse of that. Though but little time is consumed in reading the
+account of this episode, it covered a goodly portion of the day.  By the
+time the boys had made fast to their former anchorage, the slanting
+sun-rays proclaimed the advance of eventide.
+
+"Let's have a confab, chaps, on what's best to be done. I don't s'pose
+any of us is wanting to stick here all night. What d'you say, Tom?"
+
+"I say pull over to the hillock on the other side of the slack.  See!
+the water's retreated from the high ground. We could camp there, I dare
+say, easy enough, and get home early to-morrow morning.  I don't think
+we ought to tackle the river to-night.  I bet you it'd be a measly,
+tricky trip.  So I vote to do as I said."
+
+"What d'you say, Billy?"
+
+"I say same as Tom.  Plenty dry land over there. Might get matches in
+that house behind the hill.  I'll pull 'possum outa spout, an' we'll
+roast 'im an' make bully feed."
+
+Billy, as indeed were all the boys, was beginning to feel desperately
+hungry.
+
+"What have you got to say, Jimmy?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who had been gazing wistfully across the flood waters,
+turned round slowly as Joe put the question to him.  "Oh, Joe! can't we
+get home to-night? The river isn't so bad as when we crost up at the
+Bend. There's not nearly so much timber goin' down now.  'Sides, it's
+easier crossing down here to what it was above.  I give a straight vote
+for--home!"
+
+"Bravo!  Well done, Jimmy!  You're a brick.  It's just the word, an'
+we're the coves to do it.  It's my vote too, my hearties.  We've half an
+hour of sun left: say an hour before it's right dark.  I reckon 'twill
+be about two mile an' a half from here to Tareela.  It won't be near as
+difficult as up by the Bend.  Yes, we'll do it, boys; an' the sooner the
+better.  Then there's the blessed little baby, you know!  Some of us
+would have to mind her in the night, an' what about your beauty sleep
+then?  I reckon the kiddie would be too much for the whole boilin' of
+us.  And I've a notion that too much fruit'll be worse for her than none
+at all.  S'pose she gets the jim-jams! And, lastly, as father says when
+he's preaching, what about the old folks at home?"
+
+There was no need to say anything further.
+
+"I'm game, for one," said Tom.
+
+"I'm game, for two," said Billy.
+
+"I'm game, for three," said Jimmy.
+
+"Put me down for the fourth," said Joe.
+
+"Now, boys, that's settled.  We'll tackle the river straight away; for
+better or for worse, as dad says in the marriage ceremony.  And I say,
+chaps, let's ask God to help us."
+
+Though there was no audible form of expression, the spirit of prayer was
+in each boy's heart.  He who sat above the floods heard and answered.
+
+"Billy and Jimmy are to take the oars.  We want the best men at the
+paddles.  Now then, Tom, let the painter go an' keep the pole handy for
+driftwood."
+
+The painter is slipped, and the boat's head is turned riverwards.  She
+is soon out of the slack, and feels the full force of the flood.  The
+starting-point was nearly a mile and a half above the township, so that
+there was a liberal margin for drift.  The river was quite a mile wide.
+There was still a quantity of driftwood, and many difficulties beset
+them which made delicate steering and skilful management incumbent.
+When they had travelled about half the distance, Tom, who was eagerly
+conning the other shore, gave a shout, pointing at the same time to a
+headland above the village.
+
+"Some 'un's waving!  See 'em, over there!"
+
+Mrs. Blain was the first to spy the advancing boat. The boys' mothers
+had been trapsing the lagoon shore and river-side for hours, in a
+semi-demented manner.  The minister and the others had returned after a
+fruitless errand.  The police, with a strong crew in the Government
+whale-boat, were scouring the shores in the vicinity of the Bend, and
+had not returned.  The disappearance of the boys had seemed most
+mysterious until the break-away was discovered.  Then the accident as it
+really happened was immediately conjectured.  The profoundest sensation
+was created in the village, for the boys were dearly loved by all.
+
+The feelings of the poor parents may be but faintly imagined.  Great was
+the relief, therefore, when Mrs. Blain, whose eyes were devouring the
+flood waters in her frantic eagerness to discover some hopeful sign,
+suddenly screamed out in an alarming manner, gesticulating wildly as she
+did so, and acting to outward seeming in a frenzied fashion.  Other
+searchers, scattered along the river-bank, hearing the piercing cry, and
+seeing the untoward gestures of the joy-possessed woman, came running
+towards her, thinking for the moment that she had lost her reason.
+
+"See, see!" screamed she, pointing to a distant spot on the waters.
+"They're saved, they're saved!  God be praised, our lovely boys are
+returning all safe; yes, one, two, three, four--the darlings."
+
+Looking in the direction indicated, the neighbours saw, far out on the
+wild, impetuous, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight
+figures running the blockade; threading their course between the
+thousand objects which intervene and threaten destruction.
+
+The good news is now shouted from end to end of the township, and in a
+few minutes the river-bank is lined with exultant and yet anxious
+spectators.  For the joy of the discovery of the lads is almost quenched
+at times by sights of the perils of the passage.
+
+The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped together, wrought up to
+such a pitch of anxiety as to be well-nigh silent.  They noted every
+danger and counted every oar-stroke.  The gallant rowers lifted their
+blades in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing waters.
+Beyond a landward look the boys had no time to bestow upon the excited
+spectators.  Eye and mind, in close conjunction, are continuously
+engaged in evading danger and maintaining the boat's position.
+
+"We'll make the point," exclaimed Joe, after an interval of silence.
+"We'll make the point, all right. Keep her steady, lads," turning the
+boat's nose, as he spoke, well up stream, at an angle inclining
+shorewards. "Now, pull like a prize crew for five minutes an' we're
+there.  We're out of the driftwood as it is."
+
+The rowers needed no further stimulus.  They bent to the oars like old
+salts.
+
+"Capital! just the stroke!  Keep it up!  Hear 'em cheering!"
+
+The cheering spurred on the boys, and in less than five minutes they
+landed in the midst of a wildly excited and loud-cheering crowd.  And
+wasn't there a hugging and kissing, and hand-shaking and back-slapping!
+
+Just as the women were up to their necks in it, to use a homely figure,
+some one happened to glance at the boat. The glance extorted a scream.
+
+"A baby, a darling baby!  See, see, see! a little baby in the boat!"
+
+A moment's dazed surprise, and every one crowded to the boat.  Joe, who
+had not moved far from the boat's nose, and who only waited for the
+violence of the welcome to abate a little that he might call attention
+to the precious freight, waved the jostling crowd back, and in a few
+words related the incident of the rescue.
+
+A great wave of feeling passed over the crowd as he spoke.  The women
+wept copiously as the scene was conjured us, and strong men
+unconsciously shed briny tears as the story reached its culminating
+point of the discovery of the helpless and orphaned babe, bound to the
+dead breast of her who had thus made the great sacrifice of motherhood.
+
+While Joe was reciting the story of the rescue, Jimmy Flynn held on to
+his mother's arm and whispered excitedly into her ear.  The narrator had
+hardly finished ere Mrs. Flynn stepped forward to his side and faced the
+crowd. Ordinarily, this woman was undemonstrative and shy. Now she is
+unconscious of any timidity.  The moment was an inspired one; to produce
+which Jimmy's whisperings had played an important part.
+
+"Mr. Blain, and friends all, give me the darling baby. It'll take the
+place of the one God took from me last month.  The clothes'll fit----"
+
+The bereft mother could get no further.  Any woman who has lost a child
+will tell you why.
+
+"My friends, you all know Mrs. Flynn, as I know her. If it were a matter
+of choosing between you, I should still say that no one in the town is
+better fitted for the sacred duty of mothering this little flood-driven
+stranger. None of us can say to whom the child belongs; whether there is
+a father or near relations.  But until it is claimed by those who can
+prove the right to do so, the very best of all possible arrangements,
+and one I regard as providential, will be for Mrs. Flynn to take this
+baby to nourish and cherish it."
+
+The murmurs of assent were unanimous.  Joe, without any more delay,
+stepped into the boat, and, picking up the child--which all this time
+looked round, wondering in its baby way at this ado--put the little one
+into its foster-mother's hands.
+
+The river baby was evidently delighted beyond measure to receive a warm
+motherly embrace; judging, at any rate, by the way it gooed and crowed.
+
+As soon as she could get through the admiring throng, Mrs. Flynn
+hastened home, and before long the baby, washed and dressed anew, was
+filling its "little Mary" with sweet new milk.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XI*
+
+                           *THE BREAKING-UP*
+
+
+    "With trumping horn and juvenile huzzas,
+    At going home to spend their Christmas days,
+    And changing Learning's pains for Pleasure's toys."
+      TOM HOOD.
+
+
+Out through the gateway of the National School, on one sultry afternoon
+in late December, tumbled a pack of noisy boys and scarcely less noisy
+girls; the while they kicked up a fine dust, yelling in an uproarious
+fashion.  Were you, a stranger, to ask the cause of this demonstration
+of voice and capering limbs, you would be answered by a score of voices
+in rousing chorus--
+
+    "Hip, hip, hurray for Christmas Day!
+    School's broke up, hip, hip, hurray!"
+
+
+However strongly one might be disposed to question the quality of the
+couplet as he listened to the trumpetings of this cluster of children,
+he would cheerfully admit the gusto of the proceedings as the juveniles
+issued pell-mell.
+
+If truth be told, the master was no less pleased than the youngsters
+when the actual moment of dismissal came. Like all schools, this
+particular one was infected for weeks previously with a spirit of
+restlessness, which made it well-nigh impossible to secure the undivided
+attention of the children.  There was no disposition for serious study,
+and Simpson, who was a wise teacher, attempted no coercive measures.
+Natural history was presented in its most attractive forms.  Grammar and
+arithmetic were for the most part tabooed, and instead of puzzling
+refractory brains with arithmetical and grammatical abstractions, the
+children lived in the jungles of India, crossed Sahara, took a trip to
+the Booties, wandered into Arctic circles, or, what was equally
+exciting, made transcontinental trips in company with Sturt, Burke and
+Wills, Leichhardt, and other great Australian explorers.
+
+Many were the schemes unfolded and plans laid by the boys during the
+last schooldays.  The holidays would not be an undiluted playtime to any
+one of the boys.  Many of the lads would work hard on the farms; their
+parents, bearing in mind the old adage of Satan and idle hands, will
+take good care to anticipate the sinister designs of that interfering
+old gentleman.  The wood pile stood as an unfailing object of labour.
+Sheds were awaiting the whitewash brush.  Fowl houses loomed expectant.
+Fences demanded attention.  These, and many other duties about house and
+farm, were put off till the "holidays."
+
+There were other anticipations, however, far more highly coloured and
+bewitching than these.  Charm the schoolboy never so wisely, his
+thoughts, with a dogged obstinacy or triumphant breakaway, return to the
+delectable things of the groves, streams, mountains, and plains.  Horse,
+gun, dog, rod, bat, duck, quail, pigeon; perch, bream, mullet; kangaroo,
+wallaby, dingo, brumby, scrubber!  These are the sources and instruments
+of pleasure; things that people the imagination, and make an earthly
+paradise.
+
+Sobering down, after an unusual indulgence in larks to mark the
+auspicious event, Joe, Tom, and Sandy, separating from the others,
+sauntered to the slip-rail entrance of the school horse-paddock.  Joe
+and Tom, at the express request of Mrs. M'Intyre, are to spend the
+holidays with Sandy on the station.  Here all kinds of fun and alluring
+adventure are promised the lads.  How well that promise was redeemed let
+the sequel bear witness.
+
+"Now then, you fellows, don't forget that you are to be at Bullaroi on
+the morning of Christmas Eve without fail."
+
+"I say, ole boss, what does eve mean?"
+
+"Eve!  Why, a--er--short for evening, I s'pose.  What makes you ask,
+Joe?"
+
+"Well, if Christmas Eve is evening, how can we be there in the
+mornin'?--you savee?"
+
+"You're mighty smart, Blain, but did you ever know an evening that
+didn't have a morning to it?"
+
+"Oh--ah--yes, I see.  We're to come out on the morning of the evening.
+Sure it's an Irishie ye ought to be instead of a Scotchie."
+
+"Scotchie or no Scotchie," replied Sandy, who was the essence of
+good-humour, "ye're not to be later than ten o'clock of the forenoon of
+the day before Christmas. There!  Will that fit you, you pumpkin-headed
+son of a bald-bellied turnip?"
+
+"Thanks, M'Intyre; I'm sure my father'll be delighted when I tell him
+the respectful titles you've given him," returned Joe, with mock
+sarcasm.
+
+"He'll no dispute the title of his son's head, anyhow," flung back the
+Scotch lad, as, bridle in hand, he strolled on to round up his steed.
+
+This parthian shot nettled Joe, but the answer he would have given
+remained unuttered, for at this moment his eldest sister appeared and
+beckoned to him in an emphatic manner, at the same time calling upon him
+to hurry.  So, contenting himself with levelling Midshipman Easy's
+masonic sign at the retreating lad, he hurried along towards his sister.
+
+"Father wants you to go down the river with him in the boat."
+
+"Where's it to?"
+
+"Down to Beacon Point.  Tom Tyler's had a bad accident, and they've sent
+for the doctor; but he's away. He was called out to a bad case at Dingo
+Creek head station, and is not expected to be back till midday
+to-morrow.  So they've asked father to go down, and you've to hurry
+along.  Father's waiting down at the boat for you."
+
+Mr. Blain was waiting at the boat with everything that was required for
+the trip.  As soon as the lad was in, he pushed off, and, taking the
+stern oar, with Joe at the bow, father and son started on their
+twelve-mile pull.
+
+In answer to the boy's question the minister gave some details of the
+accident, and, further, informed the lad that it was his intention to
+call at Mrs. Robinson's, distant about five miles from Tareela.
+
+They had now settled down to a steady stroke, and as the sun was on its
+westering wheel, and the sting out of its slanting rays, the row became
+enjoyable.  Mr. Blain was a sort of newsletter to the settlers, and in
+his trips up-stream and down-stream was frequently hailed and made the
+target of questioning from the riverbank.
+
+Robinsons' was reached a little before sunset, where they were made
+abundantly welcome.  Some years previously Mr. Robinson met his death by
+one of those accidents all too common in new settlements.  Felling scrub
+timber is a risky performance.  It so happened that in felling a stout
+fig tree, Robinson failed to notice some lawyer vines that, hanging from
+the high branches, had attached themselves to the bare limbs of an
+adjacent dead tree.
+
+Standing at the base and watching the toppling fig tree, as it slowly
+swayed preparatory to its final crash, he was unaware that the
+cable-like vines were retarding its progress.  Gathering way, however,
+the falling tree brought a strain upon the vine, and tore away a heavy
+limb of the dead tree.  This falling upon the axe-man, killed him
+instantly.
+
+The widow was blest with a family of boys and girls who were true grit.
+Misfortune breaks some people--it makes others.  The latter was the
+truth in this case.
+
+In all the trying times Mrs. Robinson underwent, the minister was her
+friend and counsellor.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XII*
+
+                            *DOWN THE RIVER*
+
+
+    "When the full moon flirts with the perigee tide,
+    On a track of silver away we ride,--
+    Oh, glorious times we have together,
+    My boat and I in the summer weather."
+      ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+
+The boat was sighted from Robinsons' some time before its nose grated on
+the shingle at the landing-place.
+
+Isaac, the younger son, a giant in stature and a prime favourite with
+Joe, was at the landing-stage.  Seizing the bow what time it touched
+land, he half lifted, half dragged the boat two-thirds of her length out
+of the water, and made her fast to an old stump.
+
+"Mother's so glad you've come, sir.  She wants to talk with you about
+that boy of Maguire's, who's bin givin' us a lot of trouble."
+
+"Won't be able to stay long, Ike.  We've got to be at Beacon Point to
+night.  We just put in for a cup of tea and a bite.  Mother's inside, I
+suppose?  I'll go in and have a chat with her."
+
+"You'll find her in the kitchen, sir.  When we saw you roundin'
+Piccaniny Point we knew you'd be here for tea, and mother's lookin'
+after things."
+
+"I hope she won't go to any trouble.  A mouthful is all we want."
+
+"Well, you know mother, sir.  She feels that nothin' is near good
+enough."
+
+"Any pancakes for tea, Ike?"
+
+"Pancakes!  Why, of course.  That's what mother's makin' now.  She knew
+that'd be the first thing you'd be askin' fur, Joe."
+
+"Rather, Ike!" said Joe, pursing his mouth and drawing in his breath
+with the peculiar, half-whistling, unwriteable sound which boys
+instinctively make when visions of goodies arise.  More especially when
+such goodies come within measurable distance of consumption.
+
+Master Joe had a healthy boy's appetite.  The rowing exercise gave
+additional spice to his hunger.  Pancake was at that moment the gate of
+entry to the boy's very material heaven.
+
+"Tea won't be ready fur a few minutes, Joe.  Let's go down to the barn.
+I was just goin' to rub some more mixture inter the skins when I seen
+your boat roundin' the point.  Sorry you're goin' on, my son.  When I
+seen you on the river I ses to meself, ses I, 'By George!  Joey an' I'll
+have a great night at the 'possums.'  I wish to goodness you'd been
+stayin'.  There'll be a grand moon ter night, an it's very temptin'."
+
+"By gum, ain't it just!  It'd be simply, rippin'. 'Member last time I
+was down?  That was a grand bit of sport we had.  Forty-seven was it, or
+forty-nine?  I know it took a dashed long time to skin 'em."
+
+"Forty-seven it was.  We'd do over fifty to-night."
+
+"Well, as mother says, 'What can't be cured must be endured.'  By dad!
+that's a grand wallaby skin!  Where'd you get it?"
+
+"Got it larst night."  Ike had the Colonial drawl to perfection.  "I was
+up at the top end of the scrub cultivation paddick, mooseying around
+after some cockatoos that'd bin skinnin' the corn.  It was just about
+dusk, an' I was waitin' in the corner for the cockies, as I knew they'd
+soon be leavin' fur their roosts, an' my bes' charnse at 'em was on the
+wing.  They're so 'tarnal cute, yer know, yer carn't git 'em on the
+corn."
+
+"I know.  Didn't I try my best to stalk 'em the last time I was down,
+Ike!  I got three altogether, you 'member, an' you said it'd be a crest
+apiece to take home to the girls."
+
+"Waal, as I was sayin', I'd sarcumvented the ole boss cockie, which was
+keeping watch in the dead gum-tree that stood in the middle of the
+patch, an' was posted in the middle of the corner expectin' them ter fly
+over every minit.  But ole Pincher, who was chevyin' about, starts this
+ere boss outer the pumpkin vines; they're death on pumpkins, yer know.
+The dorg made a dash at 'im, an', by jings! he did streak.  Greased
+lightnin' wasn't in it with 'im.  I tried to draw a bead on 'im, but,
+what with the dusk an' the bushes an' stumps, I couldn't get a good
+line.  I banged away one barril, but was yards off, I reckon.
+
+"Pincher, he disappeared in a brace of shakes, an' I made sure the
+vermin ud get through a 'ole in the fence. I was makin' for 'ome, 'cause
+the cockies, yer know, 'ad all gone.  All of a suddent I heers a yelp,
+an' knew ole Pinch 'ad somehow 'eaded 'im.  Reckon 'e missed the 'ole,
+or the dorg'd never got near 'im.  Anyhow, 'e was a-streakin' a bit now,
+an' Pinch at 'is 'eels.  He was makin' fur the maize agen.  I lined 'im
+this time all right, though it was a longish shot; about sixty-five I
+reckon; an' dropped 'im clean at the very edge."
+
+"It's a prime pelt, anyway."
+
+"Yaas, 'e was a grand ole buck fur a wally; about the biggest I've got
+this season."
+
+"How many skins have you taken, Ike?"
+
+"Two more'n I'd 'ave six dozen."
+
+"Gettin' a good price for 'em?"
+
+"Waal, Jack Croft, 'e offered me nine shillin' a dozen fur 'em.  There
+are about twenty kangaroos among 'em. Jack reckoned it was a stiff
+price, an' 'e sed 'e'd not offer anythin' near it but fur the kangaroo
+skins, which 'e 'ad a fancy fur."
+
+"Old Jack can put it on, you know."
+
+"Oh, I know Jack all right!  Me an' 'im's 'ad dealin' afore.  Jacky's
+not too bad, but 'e knows 'ow to draw the long bow.  Anyway, ole Eb
+Dowse's boat'll be along nex' week.  He's sent word ter say as 'e'd do a
+deal with me fur 'em."
+
+"Better wait an' see what Eb'll shell out for 'em, Ike, I reckon.
+German Harry, up the river, says he can always knock a shillin' a dozen
+more out of Eb than Jack."
+
+"I ain't hurryin', Joe."
+
+Just then the welcome supper cooee reached their ears. The boys lost no
+time in getting to the supper-table. Joe instinctively eyed the
+contents.  Cold streaky bacon; a big dish of fried pumpkin and potatoes;
+a mountain of home-made bread, sliced; a basin of prime butter; Cape
+gooseberry jam galore, and amber-tinted honey in the comb.  What more
+could any hungry lad desire?
+
+Mary Robinson, a great tease, caught Joe's glance, and said, with an
+amused smile, "No pancakes to-night, Joe."
+
+Joe was abashed for the fraction of a second.  Quickly rallying, he
+laughingly said, "Tell another, Mary, while your mouth's hot."
+
+"Very well, my boy!  If you don't believe me ask our black tom-cat.  He
+chased a mouse into the batter and upset the bowl; so there!"
+
+"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson.  "There's only a grain of
+truth in the pound of fiction she's giving you, Joe.  The cat, it is
+true, did chase a mouse; but it did not jump into the batter, nor was
+the bowl upset.  The pancakes are cooked, with currans in 'em; just the
+sort you like; and they're keeping hot by the fire."
+
+"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe _you_ anyway. As for Mary,
+she's like Sandy M'Intyre's old, toothless sheep-dog."
+
+"How's that, Joe?" interjected Ike.
+
+"Bark's worse than her bite."
+
+"My stars! what originality, what refinement! Sandy's razor is not in it
+with master Joe Blain for sharpness.  I'll remember this, though, the
+next time you ask me to go out to the scrub with you for passion fruit.
+Anyhow, there's no resemblance between you and Sandy's wonderful
+barker."
+
+"_Indeed!_"
+
+"No; your bark's noisy enough, but your bite's a hundred times
+worse--especially when pancakes are about."
+
+With this "Roland" Mary ran out to the kitchen to get the teapot.
+
+Joe made a royal repast, topping off with the hot pancakes at a rate
+which caused his father to dryly remark: "Too much pancake won't help
+the boat along, my boy."
+
+Tea finished, the visitors prepare to continue their voyage.  With Ike's
+powerful assistance the boat is shoved into the water, and her nose
+pointed down-stream. In due time Beacon Point is reached.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIII*
+
+                        *OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS!*
+
+
+"Boyhood is the natural time for abundant play and laughter, without
+which rarely does high health touch young cheeks with its rose-bloom, or
+knit bones strongly for the fighting and the toiling that awaits
+them."--JOSEPH H. FLETCHER.
+
+
+"Now then, Norah, look slippy with breakfast!  It's half-past six, an'
+Sandy's to be here at seven.  Said he'd leave the station at five with
+the spare horse for me."
+
+"Begorrah! at the rate breakfast's cookin' it'll be midnight before it's
+ready.  'Tis the bastliest wood that niwer was."
+
+"Time the fish was fryin', Norah."
+
+"Fish, bedad!  For two pins ye wuddent have anny fish.  The thrubble
+Oi've had wid thim!  Phwat for did youse lave thim in the bag all night?
+If ye'd put thim out on the dish, ye spalpeen, Oi'd have seen thim and
+claned thim long ba-fore Oi wint to bed.  'Sted of which it's tuk me two
+morchial hours to scale the brutes, they was that dry and hard.  Be
+Saint Pathrick, they scales was loike porky-pine's pricklies!"
+
+"Sorry, Norah; my fault as usual," remarked Joe good-humouredly.
+"Father called out to turn the horse from the lucerne just as I reached
+the back door.  So I threw the bag down on the steps to chase the moke,
+an' clean forgot 'em when I came back."
+
+"Well, Oi'll forgive ye wanst more, which makes about a million
+tousandth toime; but, moind ye, 'tis----"
+
+"All serene, Norah!  Oh, I say, Norry, I'd nearly forgotten it!  Paddy
+Lacey asked me yesterday to tell you that they want you to go to the
+Hibernian picnic on Boxing Day.  They've chartered the _Firefly_, an'
+are goin' down to the Bar."
+
+"God's truth! 'tis only gammoning me ye are, Masther Joe.  It's a young
+thrick ye be, indade, with yure Hayburnion picnacs."
+
+"It's as true as true, Norah.  No make-up this time. An' oh!  I say,
+d'you know what Jimmy Flynn tole Tom Hawkins?"
+
+"Nawthin' good, bedad!"
+
+"Ain't it!  Well, opinions differ.  At any rate he was goin' to set a
+line on Friday night, an' as he was roundin' the point he hears
+somewheres ahead of him a noise between a smack an' a crack.  Then comes
+a bit of a squeal, an' a woman's voice sings out: 'Don't, stop it!'
+Then there was another smack-crack, an' just as he got round the corner
+he sees a couple, for all the world like you and Paddy, sittin' on a
+log. No, 'twas Paddy that was on the log, an' you were on Paddy's----"
+
+"Ye loi-in spalpeen!  Oi'll pull yure tongue from betune yure teeth,"
+screamed Norah, as, blushing furiously, she chased the nimble Joe out of
+the kitchen right into the arms of Sandy M'Intyre, as he was coming up
+the back doorstep.
+
+"Hello, Sandy!"
+
+"Hello, Joe!  What's row inside?  Norah givin' you the rounds of the
+kitchen as usual, eh?"
+
+"Only jiggin' her about Paddy Lacey, an' got her _paddy_ up a bit.
+You're up to time, Sandy, ole man.  By jing! I see you've brought Curlew
+in.  Am I to ride him?  My word! it is good of your governor to let me.
+I thought you'd a brought the piebald."
+
+"So I intended, but he was limpin' when he was run into the stockyard;
+so father says, 'Take Curlew.'"
+
+Curlew was Mr. M'Intyre's favourite horse, and Joe was highly honoured
+in being allowed to ride this mettlesome but lovely paced steed.
+
+Just then breakfast appeared.  After a substantial meal Joe brought out
+his father's valise and strapped it to the saddle.
+
+"All ready, Sandy?  Good-bye, mother.  Good-bye, father.  Good-bye,
+girls!"
+
+And so, with kisses and cautions from the family, the boys mounted their
+steeds and cantered down the street to the punt, on their way to
+Bullaroi, as Mr. M'Intyre's station was called.
+
+Across the river the boys were joined by Tom Hawkins, who was to
+accompany them.  Tom, who was mounted on a brisk pony, greeted them with
+a cheery cry as the punt reached the shore.  A jollier trio of young
+Australians could not be found than this chattering, capering band, who
+on that brilliant morning raced along the bush track.
+
+Plans of fun and frolic were projected during the ride, including
+astounding adventures that would have taken half a year to carry out.
+In anticipation the lads were already having tip-top fun.  Tom's riotous
+imagination, especially, made the spoils of the gun, the rod, and the
+chase to assume brobdingnagian proportions.
+
+In due course they pulled up at the slip-rails marking the Bullaroi
+boundary line.  Thence to the white gate seen in the distance, and which
+fronted the homestead, a mad race ensued.  In this Curlew was first, the
+rest nowhere.  Indeed, Curlew became so excited by the gallop and the
+shrill shoutings of the riders that Joe, who had made no attempt to pull
+him till the horse was almost on the gate, found it impossible to stop
+his steed, which was full of running.  Before the boy fully realised it,
+Curlew was soaring through the air, clearing the gate by at least a
+couple of feet.  Joe, parting from the "pigskin," was sailing through
+space on his own account, leaving a foot or two between his sit-down and
+the saddle seat.
+
+Joe, though a fair rider, was not a practised steeple-chaser.  He was
+not a horseman, as were Sandy and Tom, who were to the manner born.
+Little wonder, then, that his heart rose with the horse and his rider,
+and for some brief moments palpitated furiously in his mouth.  That
+mysterious and natural law of the universe called gravitation was on
+hand, however, and saved the situation.
+
+Curlew's hoofs struck the ground on the descending curve as lightly as a
+cat.  Joe's legs, which in this aerial flight had assumed the shape of
+an inverted V, came plop into the saddle at the right moment.  But his
+body was thrown forward, his hands clutching frantically at the horse's
+neck and mane.  In this condition, unable to recover his equilibrium,
+with but the loss of his hat, the rider is carried over the intervening
+distance to the stables, amid loud laughter from the station people, who
+had been attracted by the shouting of the boys.
+
+Sandy cleared the gate in pursuit of Joe, but failed to catch him.  Tom
+was obliged to haul up and open the gates, as the jump was too high for
+his pony.  Thus the rider of Curlew came in a winner, and all three
+dismounted amid laughter and teasings.
+
+"Weel, Joseph, my lad," said Mr. M'Intyre, who possessed a pawky humour,
+"Johnny Gilpin couldna hae done the trick better.  You kep' up wi'
+Curlew, anyway. I thocht he was goin' to leave ye behind.  Ma certie
+it's deeficult to say which is the winner, you or the horse. We'll juist
+ca' it neck an' neck."
+
+"Take no heed to him, Joe," said Mrs. M'Intyre.  She saw through the
+lad's apparent good-humour a sense of humiliation at his unhorsemanlike
+entry.  "You did well to stick to him, not knowing his intention.  But
+come away in, boys; ye'll be ready for something to eat after that ride.
+We're right glad to see you.  Sandy was so excited last night at the
+prospect of your coming that I am sure he didn't sleep a wink.  Why, he
+had the horses saddled at dawn, and was off without a bite if I hadn't
+stopped him and made him drink a cup of coffee."
+
+The day was a busy one on the station.  Every one was engaged in
+finishing off jobs and cleaning up.  For during Christmas week, and
+until after New Year's Day, only that which was absolutely necessary in
+the way of work was expected.
+
+During the previous week drafting and mustering had been the all
+absorbing work on the run.  That finished, and a mob of "fats"
+despatched overland to Maitland to catch the Christmas market, the last
+few days were occupied in culling "boilers" and in branding calves. On
+this particular day all the available hands were engaged in tidying up;
+the whitewash bucket being in great request.
+
+Willy and Jacky, the aboriginal boys, together with an Irish
+lad,--Norah's brother, in fact,--were enrolled as whitewash artists.
+Their special work consisted in converting dingy looking hen-roosts,
+dog-kennels, pigsties, milking sheds, and the like into a brilliant
+white.  Meanwhile two of the men, with rough brooms made of stiff
+brushes, were sweeping the ground within a fair radius of the house.
+
+Inside, the housework was prosecuted with great vigour. Two gins were
+set to work with the scrubbing brush; while in the kitchen, where Mrs.
+Mac and the two elder daughters were domiciled, Christmas cooking went
+on apace.  There was, indeed, such a weighing of flour and raisins, such
+a slicing of candied peel, such a dressing of flesh and fowl as to make
+Ah Fat, the cook, fairly amazed, and to wonder how in the name of
+Confucius the oven was to stand the cooking strain that was being
+brought upon it.  While from the kitchen an odoriferous perfume was
+wafted across the yard, assaulting all noses, and breeding high
+anticipation, most pleasurable from the standpoint of creature comforts.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre, no patron of idleness either in man or boy, took the lads
+early in the day into the harness room, and set them to the task of
+cleaning the saddle and harness ware.  Saddles, girths, bridles, various
+sets of light and heavy harness, required attention.  All leather was to
+be well cleaned and oiled, stirrups and bits to be burnished, and broken
+straps to be repaired.
+
+The pals threw themselves, _con amore_, into the work. It was hard to
+say which moved the more briskly, tongues or hands.  The afternoon was
+well advanced before the last piece of steel and electro silver was
+polished, the last girth and surcingle refitted, and the whole placed on
+their respective brackets.  This task finished, the boys felt that they
+had earned the promised reward--a glorious swim. Within a couple of
+hours of sunset the whole of the outside work was accomplished, and, for
+the time being, each employ� was a free agent.
+
+The homestead faced a large affluent of the river, which was known as
+Crocodile Creek.  Why the creek was so named was a sort of a mystery.
+No species of the saurian tribe was ever known to infest its waters.
+The name may have been given to it through some fancied resemblance in
+its course to the aforesaid reptile.
+
+Crocodile Creek formed a fine frontage to Bullaroi run, being distant
+from the homestead about a quarter of a mile.  Immediately opposite, the
+creek widened out into a fine sheet of water some three miles long, and
+varying in width from one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards.  There
+was a particular spot which stood about seven or eight feet above the
+water.  Here Mr. M'Intyre had a spring-board constructed.  The water was
+fully twelve feet deep at the jump off, and, added to other advantages,
+formed an ideal spot for bathing purposes.
+
+Having finished their allotted tasks, the lads came bounding out of the
+harness-room and across the yard to the house, shouting, as they
+capered, "Who's for a swim?"  The stockmen certainly looked, and no
+doubt felt, that the one thing above all others necessary for their ease
+and comfort after the stable and the house-yard cleaning operations was
+a plunge into the cool, sweet waters of the creek.  If they were
+semi-black by reason of their employment, it was no less true that the
+black boys, Willy and Jacky, were semi-white.
+
+Dennis Kineavy, the Irish lad, was the "broth of a bhoy," and all three
+were cram full of impishness.  No sooner were the finishing touches of
+whitewash decoration given, than Denny, sneaking up behind Willy and
+Jacky, who stood off a little from the hen-roost admiring their artistic
+handicraft--with capacious brush well charged with the sediment of his
+bucket--smote them in quick succession across the bare shoulders and
+breech, and then, with an Irish yell, darted round the stable.
+
+Surprised for the moment, but nothing loath, the black boys snatched
+their buckets, wielded their brushes, and, shouting their native
+war-cry, dashed off in hot pursuit; Denny dodged them successfully for a
+while, but was at length outflanked, and then ensued a battle royal
+which only ceased when the supplies of ammunition (whitewash) were
+exhausted.
+
+It was at the tail-end of the fray that Sandy and his mates came racing
+along with the cry of, "Swim O!  Swim O!"
+
+Boys and men, black and white, were all ready and willing, nay, eager,
+for a jolly bogey.[#]  There was a rush by the whites for towels; then,
+in quick procession, the motley band made for the water.
+
+
+[#] "Bogey," native name for bathe.
+
+
+After a plunge and a short swim to get rid of the dust and muck, an
+impromptu carnival was arranged.  First of all came the long dive.  This
+meant a run along the spring-board and a dive straight out.  The diver
+in each case, when reaching the surface, had to tread water, keeping as
+nearly as possible to the spot of emergence.
+
+Tom Hawkins led off, the others followed in order at twenty seconds'
+interval.  The blacks, by reason of their native abilities in this
+direction, were made to do the dive with arms interlocked, Siamese twin
+fashion.  The darkies were the whippers-in of this diving procession.
+Tom, who led off, faltered in his stride when leaving the spring-board.
+He rose to the surface at about thirty feet from the bank.  Joe, who
+followed, dived a good ten feet farther out than Tom.  Sandy, however,
+when he shot up through the water, was fully fifty feet from the shore.
+Both of the stockmen beat Joe, but were behind Sandy.
+
+Then came the blacks, side by side.  With an even, measured, and springy
+stride they raced down the board, which was wide enough to admit of this
+manoeuvre.  They took the water without a splash, like a pair of frogs,
+leaving scarce a ripple.  It was naturally thought that by being coupled
+in this way matters would be evened.  It was the general opinion that
+they would fail to reach Sandy's limit, and probably not get beyond
+Joe's.  The boys eagerly awaited their reappearance, watching the water
+closely for some sign.  After what appeared to be an interminable period
+they were startled by a double cooee, and, lo! the twins, so to speak,
+had risen at least twenty feet beyond Sandy, or seventy feet from the
+shore.
+
+Somersault diving followed the long distance trial. In thia Harry the
+stockman, who had been a circus rider and acrobat in his youthful days,
+outshone all the others.
+
+Then came the exciting game of "catch the devil."  Willy was chosen
+devil.  It was his business to dive off the spring-board and run the
+gauntlet, the others being scattered in the water.  To catch the
+aboriginal seemed a comparatively easy matter, all things considered.
+He was, however, a superb swimmer and trickster, diving and dodging like
+a cormorant.  A dozen times surrounded, he marvellously eluded his
+pursuers.  The game was at its height, and there was no knowing how long
+the "devil" would remain at large, when the station bell rang out a
+lusty summons to supper.
+
+This brought the carnival to an instant conclusion. And now each swimmer
+scrambled for the shore, and soon the whole company, with clean bodies
+and healthy appetites, were hieing along the track.  When the boys
+reached home they found a new arrival in the person of a young
+Englishman.  This gentleman was out on a business tour, and, being
+anxious to see something of station life, was recommended to Mr.
+M'Intyre by a mutual friend. Mrs. M'Intyre's hospitality was proverbial,
+and Neville, for such was the "new chum's" name, was heartily made
+welcome.
+
+The day had been a long one, and, supper ended, the boys were quite
+resigned to go to bed, or at least to the bedroom.  The noises
+therefrom, after their retirement, were very suggestive of prime larks,
+and continued long after lights were out.  The pals were domiciled, to
+their great delight, in a big spare room, which contained a double bed
+and a single one.  Joe and Tom shared the former, while Sandy camped on
+the latter, which was, indeed, his stretcher brought in for the
+occasion.
+
+Silence reigned supreme at length within, and without was broken only by
+the hoarse croaking of the frogs, an occasional call from a night owl,
+and the weird wail of the curlew.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIV*
+
+                       *CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC*
+
+
+    "It was the time when geese despond
+      And turkeys make their wills;
+    The time when Christians to a man
+      Forgive each other's bills.
+    It was the time when Christmas glee
+      The heart of childhood fills."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+Daylight had barely broken.  The only stir in the household is that
+produced by Joe, whose slumber had been disturbed by the persistent
+crawling of flies across his face.
+
+There are three things in animated nature which run each other very
+closely for the supremacy in downright tenacity to purposeful
+cussedness.  Pig, Hen, Fly--these three!  And of the three, the
+cussedest and most exasperatingly tenacious to its rooted purpose of
+squeezing in between one's eyelids, sinking a well in the corner of
+one's eye, or climbing the inside walls of one's nose, is the Australian
+species of the common house-fly.
+
+It is possible at times to circumvent the "gintilman wot pays the rint,"
+and persuade him to return through the same hole in the fence which gave
+him escape, by appearing to be anxious to drive him out on to the plain.
+That is pig strategy; or rather, strategy with a pig.  He is beaten, so
+to speak, by the law of contrairy.  When all resources fail in
+persuading the hen that the flour-bin, or the linen basket, is not
+specially constructed to suit her convenience in the daily duty of egg
+producing, one can at the last resort requisition the services of Madame
+la Guillotine.
+
+But neither strategy nor tactics, neither force nor fraud, avail
+anything when the early fly, with recruited energies and fiendish
+intent, starts on her mission of seeking whom and what she may annoy.
+She--it is quite safe to put the insect in the feminine gender--can be
+neither coaxed, persuaded, shoo'd, deceived, frightened, nor driven from
+her prey.  The fly always wins--in the end.
+
+Driven from Blanket Bay on this eventful Christinas morning by the
+incorrigible fly, Joe proceeded at once to reverse the Golden Rule, and
+promptly made war upon his mates on that morning which, of all the days
+in the year, makes for peace and goodwill among men.
+
+Tom had sought refuge from the fly in the bed-clothes, and muffled nasal
+monotones made a sonorous chorale. On the other hand, Sandy, impervious
+to all impious fly assaults, lay on his back, mouth wide open, breathing
+heavily and steadily.  Sandy was of the pachydermatous order.  Neither
+mosquito nor fly troubled him.  The flies evidently found his eyes to be
+a dry patch, while they were unable to obtain a permanent foothold at
+his nostrils owing to the intermittent, horse-like snorts which blew
+them as from the mouth of a blunderbuss.  But they heavily fringed his
+mouth, eating with manifest relish their bacilli breakfast.
+
+In a jiffy the bed-clothes are whipped off the slumbering lads, and in
+less than no time the latter, pillows in hand, make common cause against
+the aggressor.  Joe puts up a gallant fight, but the odds are too much
+for him; he is driven into a corner at last and unmercifully pelted.
+
+This prelude to the day's enjoyment concluded, the pals jump into their
+clothes and proceed to execute the second item on the day's programme,
+namely, a horseback scamper through the bush before breakfast.
+
+Oh, the glory of it!  Out from the confines of four walls into the open
+spaces of the world when night is merging into day; to move in the dawn
+of a new day; to stand enwrapped in its pearl-grey mantle ere the
+mounting sun has turned its soft shades to rosy brilliance; to inhale
+the spicy breeze which, during the night watches, having extracted the
+perfumes of the forest flowers, comes heavily freighted o'er gully and
+range, and diffuses the sweet odours as the reward of the early riser.
+And then--to watch the daily miracle of sunrise!
+
+    "See! the dapple-grey coursers of the morn
+    Beat up the light with their bright silver hoofs
+      And chase it through the sky."
+
+
+Sandy, on old Rufus, kept for that work, soon rounds-up and yards
+several steeds from the horse-paddock. From these three are picked and
+saddled; and ere the rising sun has walked "o'er the dew of yon high
+eastern hills," the lads are scampering through bush and brake, o'er
+dale and hill.  They chivy the silent kangaroo through the lush grass;
+have a glorious burst after a belated dingo; rouse screaming parrots and
+paroquets from their matutinal meal off the honey blossoms of box and
+apple trees; pulling up at last on the summit of a dome-shaped, treeless
+hill, from whence, with the bloom of the morning still upon it, the
+landscape extends in a vast stretch of undulation, broken at irregular
+intervals by silver ribbons of creek and river.
+
+Belts of scrub and forest, rich pasturages and arable lands, are dotted
+here and there, with minute spots from which rise slender threads of
+smoke indicating settlers' houses; while away in the background are the
+purple hills and the blue mountains.
+
+Boys are not usually considered to be impressionable creatures on the
+�sthetic side of things.  Herein we wrong them.  They may not
+attitudinise, nor spout poetry when under the supreme touches of nature,
+for the boy is too natural to be theatrical.  But, without doubt, the
+morning and evening glories of dear old mother earth do touch their
+sense of beauty; and though these impressions may seem to be effaced by
+other and more sordid things, nevertheless they linger through the long
+years, called up from time to time in sweet association with days that
+are no more.
+
+The lads, while they rested their steeds, stood in silent and wondering
+gaze, broken at last by Tom, who, pointing across the intervening spaces
+to the broadest of the many silver threads, exclaimed, "Tender's
+Tareela!"  Many miles away, as the crow flies, lay the river village, a
+small cluster of dots, a few of which glistened in the sunlight.  These
+shining spots indicated the "superior" houses that sported corrugated
+iron roofs, new in those days.  For the most part the "roof-trees" were
+shingle or bark.
+
+And now, homeward bound, the horsemen slither down the hillside, plunge
+into a pine scrub, to emerge therefrom on the border of a small plain,
+and chase a mob of brumbies grazing thereon.  They, with snorting
+nostrils and waving manes, headed by a notorious grey stallion--of whom
+more anon--dash up a ravine into the fastnesses of the scrub, and,
+though followed some distance by the reckless riders, vanish from sight
+with a celerity possible only to wild bush-horses.
+
+Skirting now the banks of the Crocodile, they disturb flocks of teal,
+widgeon, water-hen, and other aquatic birds.  At length they give a view
+halloo, for the old homestead is in sight.  This scares a flock of
+cockatoos that are camping in the river gums, after an early morning's
+poaching expedition to the adjacent maize-fields, and brings out the
+station dogs with a babble of barking, as they pound up the track with a
+final spurt.
+
+"Breakfast ready, Ah Fat?" sings out Sandy, as the boys come rushing
+into the kitchen from the stables.
+
+"Leddy?  Tes, allee globble upee!  Missee say no kleep anyling for bad
+boy.  Lockee allee glub."  Ah Fat's twinkling, humorous eyes redeemed
+his hatchet face and stolid countenance.
+
+"It's all right, fellows.  He's only pokin' borak at us," said Sandy,
+giving the Celestial a familiar slap.  "Come along, I'm as hungry as a
+hunter.  They've only started, I know."
+
+The family were seated, heads were bent, and Mr. M'Intyre was saying the
+long Scotch grace, when the boys burst into the room with a fine
+clatter.  The rude intrusion brought a severe remonstrance from that
+gentleman when the exercise was concluded. Mrs. M'Intyre--always ready
+to defend the boys and to champion them, to condone their faults and to
+extol their virtues, in which she was wise or otherwise, as the reader
+may decide--broke in with a Christmas greeting. For a minute there was a
+fusillade of "Merry Christmas to you and many of them!"
+
+"Now, boys, take your seats before breakfast's cold."
+
+On proceeding to their places the boys stood stock still, for there,
+resting against their respective chairs, stood three brand-new,
+double-barrel shot-guns.
+
+"Weel, bairns!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre, with quiet amusement, surveying
+the amazed boys as they gazed at the weapons.  "What are ye frichtened
+at?  Is it snakes y're lukin' upon?  Why dinna ye sit doon to yure
+food?"
+
+"Oh, father! mother!" cried Sandy at last, picking up his gun, pleasure
+beaming from his face.  "This is what Harry meant when he said last
+night he'd brought out a parcel from the town that'd come by steamer."
+Then with a rush, Joe and Tom at his heels, he danced round the abashed
+Scotchman, and gave him a hug, repeating the dose with interest on Mrs.
+M'Intyre.  It was hard for the boys to settle down to breakfast and
+dislodge their eyes from the weapons.  What their souls coveted most was
+a gun.  The clamant claims of hunger, however, are not to be
+disregarded; so, stacking their guns in a corner, the boys did ample
+justice to a generous meal.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning, boys?" inquired Mrs.
+M'Intyre.  "You've not been out on the run before, Tom, have you?"
+
+"No, ma'am.  We'd a good time, though!"
+
+"How far did you go, Sandy?"
+
+"To the top of Bald Hummock, mother."
+
+"Splendid view from the top, is it not, Joe?"
+
+"Not bad, Mrs. M'Intyre."
+
+"That's a negative descreeption o' ane o' the graundest sichts the hale
+deestric' can boast," said Mr. M'Intyre, with emphasis.
+
+Joe became conscious of the banality.
+
+"An' why did ye no' tak' Mr. Neville wi' you, boys? Ye did wrang no' to
+invite him to ride wi' you.  I think ye owe him an apologee, Saundy."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said the lad, turning in some confusion to Mr.
+Neville.  "If I'd thought----"
+
+"Oh, I shouldn't have dreamed of going out at such an early hour, my
+lad," replied Neville loftily.  He had a somewhat affected accent and a
+superior air.  "I nevvah exert myself before breakfast.  Besides, I am
+not sure that I should find a safe escort in a parcel
+of--er--schoolboys. With the young ladies, now," he continued, fixing
+his monocle and bestowing a patronising stare upon Sandy's sisters,
+Maggie and Jessie, "I--I--should be delighted to go for a bush ride, as
+I think these equestrian expeditions are called in Awestralia, in the
+cool of the afternoon."
+
+"We don't call them even bush rides out here, Mr. Neville," answered
+Jessie saucily.  She resented patronage.  "We call 'em spins.  Boys, I
+vote we all go for a spin this afternoon.  Let's ride as far as Ben
+Bolt's cave. It'll be something interesting to show Mr. Neville. Ben
+Bolt's a famous bushranger hereabouts, you know, and the cave is a
+favourite rendezvous for his gang, as well as a safe hiding-place.  At
+least, it was so until a few months ago, when the police and black
+trackers discovered it, and nearly nabbed him.  Fancy having a
+bushranger's camp on the Bullaroi boundary!  But Ben never uses it now.
+So let's ride out to it.  Are you game, boys?"
+
+"Game!" snorted Sandy.  "What's to be game about? The main thing is,
+will Mr. Neville care for an eighteen-mile spin?  If not, we could go
+for a short ride down the Crocodile."
+
+"Please don't question my ability, boy!" retorted the new chum, who
+resented the implication contained in Sandy's remark.  "I find,"
+continued he, addressing his host, "you good people out heah seem to
+think that Awestralia is the only place where horseback riding is
+indulged in----"
+
+"We ride steers also, an' billies too," slyly interjected Joe, with a
+wink at the girls.
+
+"And we read that they ride donkeys and--er--hobby-horses in England,"
+chipped in Jessie, whose eyes sparkled with mischief.
+
+"Good for you, ole Jess!  Let 'em bring out their English fox-hunters
+an' steeple-chasers that they brag so much about, and we'll give 'em a
+dingo run, or a go at cutting out scrubbers,[#] an' see how they'd be
+with their pretty coats an' breeches, at the tail of the hunt!"
+
+
+[#] Wild, unbranded cattle, frequenting scrub country,
+
+
+"Are ye addressing the English nation or oor guest, Saundy?"
+
+M'Intyre could be caustic when he willed.  He had no liking for
+Australian blow, and hit at it as he would hit at a snake, whenever
+occasion arose.  He now turned the laugh against his son, Jess laughing
+loudest of all.
+
+"It's settled, then, that we ride out to the cave this afternoon?" said
+Maggie, with an inquiring eye on Neville.
+
+"I'm shore 'twill be a pleasant jaunt, Miss M'Intyre," replied the
+Englishman.  "I shall have pleasure in acting as your escort.  But
+this--er--famous--er--notorious--er--highwayman, is it--er--safe?  I
+mean--er--I'm thinking of the--er--ladies, you know."
+
+"What's to be afraid of?" quoth Jessie.  To her, risk meant spice, an
+added zest.  Her whole heart went out to the life of the open air and
+the pleasures of the chase. Her greatest delight was in a mad scamper
+through the bush behind the dogs, in the kangaroo hunt.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Neville; Mag and I'll protect you should
+the--er--famous--notorious--bushranger--highwayman turn up," went on the
+audacious minx.  "I'd dearly love to see Ben Bolt.  I think he's a lot
+better than many who run him down.  Oh my! wouldn't it be fun if we
+surprised him in the cave?  I'd----"
+
+"Stop, Jess; cease your blether!" said Mr. M'Intyre sternly.  "The mon
+may no' be as black as he's pented, but he's no' an honest mon.
+Misguided he may be to an extent, and no' a'thegither answerable for
+some of the steps in his doonward career, but a creeminal for a' that,
+whom the country were weel rid o'.  But as for the reesk, there's na
+reesk in ridin' to the cave.  The Sub-Inspector telt me a few days ago
+that Ben Bolt's gone o'er the border.  News is to hand to the effect
+that he stuck up a Chinaman on the Brisbane road.  So the cave's safe
+enough."
+
+"That's settled, then," broke in Maggie.  "If we leave here about four
+o'clock 'twill be early enough, and will give us plenty of time to get
+back by dark."
+
+"Maidie, my pet," said Mrs. M'Intyre to her little three-year-old, a
+dainty, precocious miss, "what are you staring at?  It's rude to stare
+at any one like that."
+
+"Oh, muzzer!" exclaimed the child, turning her bright eyes mother-wards
+for a moment and then fixing them with a fascinated gaze upon the
+Englishman.
+
+"What is it that interests you, little girl?" remarked Neville in a
+patronising tone.  "Is it the colour of my tie?"
+
+Maidie shook her curly head, and, without removing her eyes from Mr.
+Neville's face, leaned towards Jessie, who sat next to her, and
+whispered, "The genkilmun's got somesin' on his fevvers."
+
+Suspended from the tip of one of Neville's incipient moustaches was a
+yellow string of egg-yolk.  Jess had observed this for some time, with a
+tendency to hilarity whenever it caught her eye.  Maidie's comical
+description added fuel to the fire of the girl's merriment, sending her
+into convulsive laughter.  She answered looks of interrogation by
+pointing to the dangling egg thread, and saying as well as circumstances
+permitted, "Maidie says--ha--ha--ha!--that Mr. Fevv--he--he--he!--Mr.
+Neville's got egg on his--fev--feathers."  This explanatory and
+ludicrous mixture created a general explosion among the young folk.  The
+situation, however, was promptly ended by Mrs. M'Intyre, who discreetly
+rose on seeing that the guest did not join in the general laugh.
+
+There was nothing much for the men-folk to do; but the boys were burning
+to try their new fowling-pieces, The squatter, seeing their intent,
+directed them to use their skill on the cockatoos and king parrots that
+were devastating the maize crop.
+
+These birds, especially the former, proved wily customers, so that not
+many opportunities offered for testing the guns.  Enough was done,
+though, to prove that the guns were no "slouches," and great things were
+predicted when the lads should "know" their respective weapons.
+
+"Whatyer think of the new chum, Joe?" said Sandy to Blain, as they sat
+on a log under a low-spreading wattle tree, on the look out for a flying
+shot.
+
+"Goes thirteen to the dozen, ole man, don't he? Knows a lot more'n us,
+he reckons, and can't help showin' it."
+
+"Yes, he can't stand us chaps at no price.  By George! Jess's got his
+measure, and Mag too, for that matter. They'll take his nibs down a peg
+or two before he goes, I bet tuppence."
+
+"Little Maidie fitted him all right," chipped in Tom.
+"Fevvers--ha--ha!--yes, goose feathers."
+
+It was evident that the visitor was not in favour with the young people.
+He had struck a false note.  No one can be quicker than boys to detect
+superciliousness and to resent it.  The patronising air is to them the
+unforgivable sin.  Henceforth Neville went by the name of "Fevvers"
+among the boys, to the great amusement of the girls, who, unfortunately
+for the Englishman, had assigned him a place in prig-dom.
+
+Neville, it must be confessed, was a bit of a prig; but at heart he was
+not at all a bad fellow, and there came a time not far ahead when
+respect supplanted contempt in the pals, and the ridiculous nickname was
+dropped; while he on his part discontinued the use of the irritating
+comparison, "the way we do things in England," which at the beginning he
+was for ever introducing.
+
+The household was enjoying a siesta after the typical Christmas dinner
+which was partaken of at midday.  Stillness reigned within the house,
+save the cracking of house timbers under the influence of the heat.
+This seductive calm and the sweet sleep of the girls was at length
+rudely broken by Sandy, who in the exercise of a brother's privilege
+shook the door violently as he shouted, "Now then, lazies, get up and
+dress!  It's half-past three."
+
+"Bother you, Sandy, you _are_ a nuisance!" sleepily complained Jessie.
+"I--I--was having _such_ a lovely dream.  Neptune was just on the heels
+of a blue flyer,[#] and I was galloping alongside him.  The chase led us
+to Blind-fall Gully, and we three took the jump together, and were
+almost landed on the other side when you thumped the door.  I thought at
+first it was the thud of Kangie's tail, but no! there she was flying
+through----"
+
+
+[#] Maiden kangaroo, a very fast runner.
+
+
+"That comes of eating too much plum-duff an' mince-pie, my girl.  But I
+say, you two, look slippy, or you'll be too late.  I told Jacky to
+saddle Nigger for you, Jess. What'll you take, Mag?  Rainbow or Sultan?
+They're both up."
+
+"Don't care, Sandy.  I'll take Sultan, I think.  No, I'll take Rainbow.
+Wait a moment, p'r'aps----"
+
+"Oh! stop your silly nonsense.  I'll put the saddle on Sultan," shouted
+the impatient boy, as he made off through the house to the stockyard.
+
+"Say, Sandy!" cried out Jess, who was now wide awake.  "Have you roused
+Mr.--er--Fevvers yet?"
+
+"'Ssh! mother'll hear you," exclaimed the boy warningly, as he returned
+to the door.  "He didn't have a snooze. Says it's unbusinesslike to
+sleep in the daytime.  Says they never do that in England.  England be
+blowed, say I.  An' whatyer think?  Harry offered him the loan of his
+leggin's, but he wouldn't have 'em.  Says they smell of the stockyard,
+ha--ha!  Says they don't wear 'em in England.  Listen!  He's got on a
+pair of white duck britches, an' my crikey! they won't be white any
+longer.  He asked Harry for his fourteen-foot stockwhip. Says he was
+told an 'Awestralian' horse would never budge without one.  Only dad was
+there I'd 'a' put his saddle on Dick Swiveller, an' by jing! we'd 'a'
+had some sport.  We'll knock fun out of him as it is, I reckon. But look
+alive, girls, or y'll be left behind."
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XV*
+
+                   *A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES*
+
+
+    "Then hey for boot and horse, lad!
+      And round the world away;
+    Young blood will have its course, lad!
+    And every dog his day."
+        KINGSLEY.
+
+
+The weather in Australia at Christmas is not ideal for riding parties.
+Midsummer heat and dust, together with hordes of flies, largely
+countervail the delights of the saddle.
+
+The enthusiastic party that cantered along the tracks leading from the
+Bullaroi homestead on this particular Christmas, with one exception,
+made small bones about either dust or heat.  Neville, however, was
+irritated by the dust which the horses' feet knocked up.  Nor would he
+seek alleviation as did the others by leaving the track at every
+opportunity.  The victim of prejudice and conventionality, expressed in
+terms of cussedness, he obstinately stuck to the dusty track.  The boys
+and Jessie frisked here and there, making short cuts, jumping gullies
+and logs, and generally enjoying themselves. They raised, it is true,
+clouds of dust, to the annoyance of the new chum, as they pounded along
+the track on their return to the others, after having forged ahead some
+distance; behaving, in short, like gambolling dogs. Mag would have
+dearly loved the frolic, but hospitality's demands made it imperative
+that she--the eldest--should partner the guest.
+
+Neville was no rider.  His knowledge of the ways of the horse was of the
+most elementary kind.  Had he had the common sense to have admitted that
+palpable fact, many of his painful experiences, and indeed tortures,
+would have been minimised, if not altogether avoided.
+
+Like all inexperienced riders, he responded to every movement of the
+horse.  He had no sense of balance. He held the reins shoulder high, and
+was for ever jerking them.  When his body was not stiffly straight it
+inclined forward.  The inevitable result was made abundantly manifest in
+chafed limbs and aching bones.  With Neville, as with most new-chum
+riders, the trousers legs _would_ work up from the bottom, displaying a
+section of calf, to the great amusement of the boys, who baa'd most
+vehemently at such times.
+
+This, however, must be reckoned for grace in Neville: he made no
+complaint, nor admitted any discomfort.  He was forward in his
+criticisms of the boys' style of riding: their seats were un-English and
+cowboy.
+
+No greater contrast between the riders could well be imagined than that
+which the new chum and the pals presented.  Theirs was to the manner
+born, to be confounded neither with cowboy nor military.  While there is
+an utter absence of stiffness in the Australian style, there is at the
+same time nothing bordering on the truculent as affected by the cowboy.
+The movements are willowy and rhythmic.  Horse and man are one and
+indivisible.  This means to both the minimum of work with the maximum of
+ease.
+
+How far removed from this attainment was poor Neville!  His figure was
+of the ramrod pattern for the first few miles--ultra military, so to
+speak.  His feet, well through the stirrups, inclined outwards at a
+sharp angle; his left arm, held at right angle as rigid as a semaphore,
+gripped the reins; while his right clutched the stockwhip with tenacious
+grasp.  The steed, a fair pacer in experienced hands, in his became a
+veritable jogger.  He rose and fell in springless fashion with every
+motion of the horse.
+
+It was not in Neville's power to maintain that iron rigidity, and so he
+gradually inclined forward.  His back became bowed, and his nose at
+times was in imminent danger of the horse's head.  His arms, too, hung
+listlessly at either side, until at last his appearance resembled
+nothing so much as a doubled-up Guy Fawkes perched on a rail.  Yet his
+dogged spirit, essentially British, half courage, half cussedness, bore
+him up.
+
+Nearing the caves, the party, with the exception of Neville and his
+companion, raced ahead, and by the time that the latter arrived were
+cooling off beneath the shade of some coolibahs.
+
+And now disaster of such a character as to shake from him the last
+remains of superiority and propriety, overwhelming him in the depths of
+humiliation, overtook poor Neville.  These mortifying results were
+brought about by his attempted gallantry.
+
+The selected camp, as related, was beneath the grateful shade of a
+cluster of coolibah[#] trees that grew on the banks of a mountain
+stream, close to the mouth of the caves.  Seeing that Maggie was about
+to dismount unassisted, the youth exclaimed in eager tones, "Wait a
+moment, Miss M'Intyre!" and so saying, threw himself from his horse in
+order to do the gallant by helping his companion down, "as they do in
+England."
+
+
+[#] Water gum trees.
+
+
+Sad to say, however, so cramped and stiff were his limbs, especially his
+nether extremities, that the instant he touched ground his legs doubled
+in a powerless condition, and he fell prone to the earth.
+Unfortunately, the ground at the spot where he tumbled down began to
+slope towards the creek.  In his frantic efforts to rise quickly to his
+feet he overbalanced himself, and began to roll down the incline.  He
+saved himself for a second, and the impending disaster might have been
+averted but for the confounded stockwhip, which led to his undoing in a
+most effectual way.  This weapon, which he still held in his clenched
+right hand, got entangled with his legs by some means, lasso fashion,
+bringing him smartly to the ground again in a fresh attempt to rise.
+The sloping bank at this point became almost precipitous: with a rapid
+turn over-and-over, he rolled down the steep gradient, crashed through
+an undergrowth of bushes and bracken that fringed the perpendicular bank
+of the creek, and shot out into its clear, deep waters.
+
+This unrehearsed performance, taking less time to act than to relate,
+brought a powerful shriek from Maggie, who, arrested in her intention to
+dismount unaided by Neville's proffered aid, beheld from her horse the
+undignified collapse of her escort, with its quickly succeeding acts of
+comedy and tragedy.
+
+The others, who were witnesses of this performance, hugely enjoyed it,
+giving a loud hurrah as the new chum splashed into the creek.  There was
+one exception. Sandy, who was on his way to the creek with the billy
+can, and who realised in a moment that the discomfited Englishman had
+fallen into a deep pool,--the very spot where he had often fished for
+big perch,--threw away the billy and rushed to the spot where the
+unfortunate man had fallen in.  Only that day had Neville declared that
+"my water exercises have been confined to the house bath."
+
+Beyond the agitated surface there were no signs of their visitor in the
+water.  Without pause, the lad took a header to the bottom, which was at
+least ten feet from the top, discerned the sunken man kicking and
+clawing, hauled him to the surface, and towed him to the bank. Here
+willing hands were ready to grip the victim of this misadventure and
+pull him to land.
+
+As soon as he was dragged to safety, the cause of his abject
+helplessness in the water was revealed.  The stockwhip had so encircled
+his legs as to prevent the free use of them, besides which the shock of
+the whole accident had to an extent numbed his senses.
+
+In sooth he was a sorry sight as he lay on the turf. The immersion did
+not cover more than half a minute; it was long enough, though, to take
+him to the verge of unconsciousness and to fill his lungs and stomach
+with water.  The boys speedily unwound the whip, and subjected Neville
+to some rough but wholesome treatment, during which process the water
+was rapidly ejected from his interior regions.
+
+The girls, as soon as Neville was landed, discreetly withdrew.
+Merriment had dissolved into pity.
+
+"Poor Mr. Neville!  I'm _so_ sorry.  Isn't it a shame, Mag?"
+
+"Seems like a dream; it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly.  I'm
+afraid father'll be very angry about it. The poor fellow was going to be
+so gallant, too.  'Permit me to assist you,' he said, and the next
+moment----"
+
+Here the whole scene comes up so vividly and comically that, strive as
+she may, Maggie cannot withhold laughter of a somewhat hysterical kind.
+And so, between laughter and tears, the two girls superintended the
+billy-boiling and tea-making business.
+
+Meanwhile the lads, stripping Neville under the lee of the bank, wrung
+his clothes, and then re-dressed him, bringing him up to the fire little
+the worse for his cold douche.  The girls quickly recognised the finer
+qualities of Neville's character, which broke through the crust of his
+artificiality in the hour of adversity.
+
+"I'm very sorry to have caused this trouble, Miss M'Intyre.  No one's to
+blame but myself.  Your brother and his mates have been exceedingly kind
+to me.  Indeed, I owe a debt to your brother that I can never repay, for
+without doubt he saved my life.  I was utterly helpless with that
+wretched whip curled around me."
+
+Indeed, it was true.  The accident might easily have had a fatal
+termination, and the thought of it (for all that Neville cut such a
+grotesque figure in his shrunken clothes) drove the last remains of
+latent hilarity away. Maggie assured the forlorn-looking youth that no
+thanks were due to any one; that all deplored the accident, and were
+thankful that the finale inclined rather to the comic than the tragic.
+
+"Take this pannikin of hot tea, Mr. Neville.  Father says that whisky's
+not in it with tea for recruiting one's jaded energies."
+
+As there was no need for starting on the return ride awhile, the three
+boys, leaving the girls and Neville at the camp, proceeded to the caves.
+
+The caves, three in number, were connected with one another by narrow
+entrances.  The outermost one had an inlet through a narrow crevice.
+This opening was concealed from the casual eye by a sentinel-like
+boulder which stood directly opposite, and about eighteen inches in
+advance of the wall of rock.  It was a squeeze for any one above the
+average size to get through.
+
+Before its occupation by the bushrangers the outer cave, by evident
+signs, formed a favourite wallaby haunt.  These had been disturbed and
+hunted by the bushrangers, who from time to time, according to police
+report, used it as a hiding-place.  They had often lain there when the
+district was filled with troopers. On one occasion, as was afterwards
+known, Ben Bolt and his mate, a youth of eighteen years, lay concealed
+for weeks.  The boy had been badly wounded in the thigh during a brush
+with the police in the New England ranges.  Ben Bolt, who was
+passionately attached to him, by incredible labour and consummate
+skill--for the pursuing police were on their tracks all the
+time--brought his wounded mate to the caves in order that he might lie
+in safety until his sores were healed.
+
+Sandy was the only one of the lads who knew anything about the caves.
+In company with his father he had visited them a few weeks previously.
+He therefore acted as a guide to the party.
+
+The fissure, a mere crack in the limestone rock, extended in tortuous
+fashion for some distance. Lengthening out and making a curve, it
+suddenly broadened into a chamber of respectable dimensions. At the
+entrance of the crevice Sandy had lit a candle, one being sufficient for
+the cramped passage.  Before entering the cave proper, all three candles
+brought for that purpose were lit.
+
+The cave was bat-inhabited.  Large numbers of these uncanny creatures,
+which were clinging to the roof and sides, disturbed and dazzled by the
+light, flew about in aimless fashion, often striking the boys in their
+uncertain flight.  Numbers of them fastened on to their clothes and
+limbs with their claw-like pinions.
+
+Joe and Tom, to whom this was a new experience, were uneasy and a good
+bit scared.  Their nervousness increased when the fluttering nocturnals
+more than once extinguished the lights.
+
+"You must do as I do, boys!" sang out Sandy, who was in advance, as they
+walked cautiously over the uneven and stone-littered floor.  Sandy had
+removed his hat and held it over the candle.  This, while it darkened
+all above, gave ample light on the floor space, and protected the candle
+from the nocturnals. The others thereupon followed suit, and soon
+reached the opening on the opposite side that led to the second chamber.
+
+This narrow passage made a stiff ascent for some yards, inclining to the
+left, and then extending like a funnel.  Sandy was proceeding very
+cautiously, for the opening into the interior cave was made at about ten
+feet from its floor.  A rough ladder of lawyer vines hung from the
+opening in the wall to the basement.  Down this the boys speedily
+slipped, and found themselves in a dome-like space, bigger by far than
+any room, barn, or church that they had seen. The atmosphere was very
+chill, and the continual drip of falling water made a monotonous sound.
+A narrow, clear stream of running water flowed along one side,
+disappearing in a floor crack near the far corner.
+
+Contrary to what one would have expected, the lime crystals were few,
+and for the most part small; not to be mentioned in the same breath with
+the matchless statuary of the far-famed Jenolan Caves. On the ground,
+however, were some interesting stalagmites, whose grotesque figures
+highly amused the boys.  At the first sight, though, a fearsome feeling
+possessed them.  They were children of the sun, and this new and cryptic
+experience in the cold, dark, vaulted chamber quickened their pulses and
+shortened their breaths.
+
+Everything seemed to have a ghostly appearance to the pals.  It was a
+fitting abode for spectral creatures, and they had a feeling that at any
+moment such might appear.  This sensation, however, was of short
+duration. A few minutes' familiarity with their surroundings dissipated
+it, and the lads moved freely in their investigations.
+
+"Didn't you say there was another cave adjoining this, Sandy?"
+
+"Yes, I'll show it to you in a few minutes."
+
+While the question was being asked and answered, Sandy was peering into
+a crevice immediately behind a huge stalagmite, and in a dark corner of
+the cave.
+
+"This looks as if it might open out somewhere, but the opening's jammed
+with a big limestone boulder."
+
+"Let's have a pull at it," said Tom, as he leaned forward to take hold
+of a projecting point.
+
+"No go, Tom.  Look at its weight!  See how tightly it's wedged!  You'll
+never budge that.  It'll need a crowbar to shift it.  Come along, boys,
+and we'll take a peep at the other cave, just to say we've seen it; then
+we must make tracks back."
+
+Sandy, however, bore in mind this sealed chamber which was destined
+later to yield important and far-reaching results.  He made for a low,
+narrow aperture in the wall, at a far corner, which opened directly into
+a vault-like ceil--a small bedroom or pantry, as the case might be.
+
+"Here's where the rangers camped," said Sandy, when the boys had
+struggled through.  "Here's their beds, an' there's where they had their
+fire."
+
+A couple of sheets of stringy-bark, placed stretcher-fashion on crossed
+sapling frames, formed the sleeping-bunks of the outlaws.  On these were
+placed a quantity of bracken which made a comfortable resting-place for
+men who more often than not slept upon the ground.
+
+"I say, Sandy," remarked Joe, after standing a moment in deep thought,
+"this is an all-right place for hidin' in, but where'd they keep the
+mokes?  That's what beats me."
+
+"It beats more'n you.  It beats father.  It beats the police.  Yes, they
+can't get a clue.  Must have had the horses handy, too; for when the
+police got into the cave the time they tracked 'em here, the rangers
+couldn't have been gone more'n a few minutes, 'cause a fire was still
+burning in Ben Bolt's room, as they call it.  The bobbies have searched
+inside and outside and all over the ridge for another opening, but can't
+find it."
+
+"They've clean bunged the p'lice, the cute beggars!" exclaimed Tom, with
+a grin.  "Wonder if they'll ever come back again.  Ole Ben's a game un.
+They say he wears a reversible suit of different colours.  An' sometimes
+he straps up a leg an' fastens a wooden peg on it an' stumps along, led
+by a dog on a string like a blind beggar."
+
+"He's always bluffin' the police, anyway," said Joe. "The Sub-Inspector
+was at our place about a month ago, telling father how he an' the others
+were fooled not so long ago."
+
+"Tell us, Joe."
+
+"Well, 'twas like this.  A bushman on a piebald horse rode up to the
+police camp out Kean's swamp way, bearing a note from Sub-Inspector
+Garvie, ordering them to cross the ranges an' get into Walcha secretly,
+as he possessed reliable information to the effect that Ben Bolt
+intended to stick up the bank two days later.
+
+"It appears this same man called at the Sub's quarters earlier in the
+day, who was laid up with a sprained leg. This chap told how he'd been
+in Ben Bolt's company two nights previously.  The ranger and his
+mate--the same boy as was wounded--came upon him as he lay by his fire
+in the evening, and asked permission to camp alongside.  They pretended
+to be stockmen in search of strayed heifers, and made out that they had
+come across their tracks just at nightfall.  As it was a goodish way to
+the station, they would be glad to sleep by his fire and get after the
+cattle at dawn.
+
+"The man said that as soon as he spotted 'em he knew 'em, but he was too
+frightened to let on.  He gave 'em some grub, an' then lay down in his
+blanket.  As soon as they had scoffed the prog they lay down too, on the
+off side of the fire.
+
+"The man didn't go to sleep, though he pretended to.  By an' by the two
+men began to talk in low tones. He could hear 'em, though, pretty well,
+and found out that they were goin' to stick up the Walcha bank.  The
+date they named was four days from that night. Although the chap lay as
+if he were dead he didn't sleep a wink.  Just before daylight the coves
+saddled their horses, which had been short-hobbled, and singing out,
+'So-long,' they galloped off.
+
+"'And what prompted you to bring this information?' said the Sub.
+
+"'Well, if you cop the rangers,' he answered, 'I shall expect something
+substantial for supplying these particulars.'
+
+"'As for that, you'll get your share.  And now you can do something
+further that'll help you in the matter of reward.  Take this note to
+Sergeant Henessey, who is camping with four police and a tracker in the
+foothills, at the head of Kean's swamp.'
+
+"The Sub-Inspector, who had hastily written a note of instruction to the
+Sergeant, handed it to the man, who said his name was Sam Kelly.  Sam
+promised to deliver it by daybreak; which he did.  As soon as the
+Sergeant read it, he roused up the men, and after a hasty meal it was
+'Saddle up.'  A few minutes later the troopers were on their way to cop
+the rangers.  Now listen: that very day, towards evening, the Port
+Macquarie mail was stuck up!"
+
+"My eye!" said Sandy, "weren't the p'lice sold!  Fancy ole Ben goin'
+into the lion's den with his information an' then takin' the letter out
+to the camp, an' none of 'em cute enough to twig 'im!  He's a downy cove
+is Ben. Ain't he, Joe?"
+
+"They say," concluded Joe, "that the piebald he rode was his favourite
+horse, the blood-bay he calls Samson."
+
+"But how was it he turned him piebald?"
+
+"_Painted patches of pipeclay on him!_"
+
+"Now, then," exclaimed Sandy, pulling out his watch, "we've only a few
+minutes left, an' we mustn't be late, as Mr. Neville won't be able to
+ride fast."
+
+"Poor old Fevvers!" exclaimed Tom reminiscently. "This hasn't been much
+of a treat for him."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVI*
+
+                            *THE DINGO RAID*
+
+
+    "What's up, old horse?  Your ears you prick,
+        And your eager eyeballs glisten.
+    'Tis the wild dog's note, in the tea-tree thick,
+        By the river to which you listen.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Let the dingo rest, 'tis all for the best;
+        In this world there's room enough
+    For him and you and me and the rest,
+        And the country is awful rough."
+          ADAM LINDSAY GORDON.
+
+
+"Here's a fine how-d'ye-do!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre wrathfully, as he
+strode into the house, one hot morning shortly after the events recorded
+in the previous chapter. "Why sic rubbish were ever created passes
+understanding!"
+
+The irate squatter, contrary to his usual habit, clattered through the
+hall and out on to the front verandah, slamming the door most vigorously
+as he made his exit.
+
+"Whatever's stung dad this morning, Jess?" remarked Maggie to her
+sister, as their excited parent made his noisy intrusion.
+
+"Something bad, you may be sure, to cause dad to parade in that fashion.
+I expect the blacks have been performing.  They madden father at times
+by their 'want o' intellect,' as he calls it."
+
+"I'll--I'll cut the livers out o' them, the sneakin' hounds!  Rot 'em,
+I'll pizen every faither's son o' the dirty vermin!"
+
+"Oh, father!" cried Jessie, "you surely are not going to poison the poor
+things?"
+
+"Pizen 'em, that am I!  Pizen's ower guid for them, thieving brutes that
+they are!  'Puir things,' as you ca' the wretches," continued he
+sarcastically, "I'll hae the life o' the hale o' them, if it tak's a'
+the pizen in Tareela!" barked the exasperated man.
+
+"Then you're no father of mine!" blazed out Jessie. "What have the poor
+boys done that you should threaten such dreadful----"
+
+"W-h-a-t!"
+
+"Why, poor Willy and Jacky: what have they done that you should----"
+
+"What on earth is the lassie haverin' aboot?" roared Mr. M'Intyre to
+Maggie.
+
+"The blacks, father.  Didn't you say that you were going to poison them?
+But I don't believe it for a----"
+
+"The blacks!  Wha's talkin' o' blacks?  It's the reds, the blessed
+dingoes, wha've been playin' havoc wi' the calves.  The blacks?  Ma
+certie!" continued he, as the humour of the situation seized him,
+forcing a smile. Turning to his daughter, he exclaimed, "Ye're a fine
+bairn, I maun say, to be accusin' yer ain faither o' _black_ murder!"
+
+"Forgive me, dad!" cried the impulsive girl, as she threw her arms round
+his neck; "I never thought of the dingoes.  I--I--I made sure the black
+boys had been up to tricks, and never dreamed----"
+
+"There, there, that's enough, my lassie!  It's a case of
+'misunderconstumbling,' as Denny Kineavy would say. But it's enough to
+make ane feel wild and gingery.  Eleeven fine yearlin's killed!  It's
+the wantonness mair than the actual loss that vexes me: though the
+latter is bad enough, for some o' the best, of course, are sacrificeed
+to their slaughterin' instincts."
+
+That evening, in conference with his chief stockman, Mr. M'Intyre laid
+his plans for the extermination of the pack of dingoes which had just
+given an exhibition of their destructive powers.  In this particular
+instance the brutes had driven a number of yearling calves, weaners,
+into a blind gully.  Having boxed them up in this _cul de sac_, the
+rapacious dogs found them an easy prey.
+
+The Australian wild dog is a combination of several very excellent
+qualities--from the canine standpoint, that is.  He possesses more
+sagacity than any other wild thing of the bush.  Keen of sight, quick at
+scent, subtle of wit, noiseless in tread and bark, tenacious to rooted
+purpose, he pursues and stalks his quarry, whether bird or beast, with
+all the odds in his favour.
+
+There he stands, this indigenous dog, with a great, broad forehead, his
+eyes narrowing in sinister expression; well set in body, showing big
+sinews and a good muscular development; strong jaws, with teeth like
+ivory needles; white in paw and tail-tip, bright yellow everywhere else,
+save the chocolate-coloured streak running along the spine from neck to
+tail.  There he stands: but that is a figure of speech, for a more
+restless animal than this same dog does not exist.
+
+Australian cattle-dogs have a world reputation, and the very best are
+they which by crossing inherit a strain of dingo nature.  That which
+makes the dingo so hated by stock owners--who pursue him
+relentlessly--is the killing lust which possesses him.  Were he to
+simply kill for food, and be satisfied with a victim that would furnish
+enough for present needs, settlers would be far more tolerant of him.
+The plain truth about him is that his predatory instinct is so strong as
+to practically intoxicate him.  The sight of a flock of sheep or a bunch
+of calves makes him "see red," and then he simply runs amok. One
+snap--he does not bite in the ordinary sense--of his steel-like jaws is
+enough.  The mouthful of flesh and muscle is torn out in an instant, and
+the victim invariably dies of shock.  One dingo in a sheepfold will kill
+fifty sheep in a few minutes.
+
+These dogs are more troublesome in bad than in good seasons.  When the
+cattle get low in condition and weak, they become a comparatively easy
+prey, then the cunning of the dingoes becomes manifest.  They will
+select their victim and drive it towards a water-hole or swamp.  In dry
+times these are mere puddles and exceedingly boggy.  The object of the
+canine drovers is to reduce the bullock to helplessness by bogging it.
+The drive will sometimes take hours, and no experienced drover could do
+the work more cleverly.  Finally, when their quarry is down in the mire
+and practically helpless, he is tackled and bitten to death.  In good
+seasons, when the cattle are strong, Mr. Dingo, save for an occasional
+foray on the calves, has to content himself with his natural
+diet--kangaroos, 'possums, and emus.
+
+Fortunately, there was at the station at this time an eccentric bushman
+who combined the work of horse-breaking and dingo-trapping.  Nosey
+George was reputed to have a sense of smell equal to that of the dingo
+itself. Certainly, his slouching gait made it often appear as if he were
+"nosing" the tracks of the game.  But in truth he owed his prowess as a
+trapper to a pair of eyes that knew no dimness.  At first sight of
+Nosey, one saw nothing but his nose.  But when you noticed his eyes you
+forgot the nose, and lived in the presence of a pair of eyes that
+sparkled like diamonds, or as searchlights that permitted nothing to
+escape their scrutiny.
+
+Nosey's feats of tracking were really marvellous.  On one occasion he
+got on to the trail of a dingo bitch which had raided his hen-roost, and
+followed it for twelve miles, mostly through scrubby and rocky country
+that was criss-crossed with innumerable tracks of bush vermin. For all
+that, this human sleuth-hound tracked Mrs. Dingo to a cave in the
+mountains where she had five pups, and returned with six scalps.
+
+The dingo trapper rode out early the next morning in company with Harry
+the stockman and the boys to the scene of the slaughter, there to devise
+means, for which he had received _carte blanche_ from Mr. M'Intyre, for
+the capture of the raiders.
+
+The weaners' paddock was about three miles from the house, and had an
+area of five thousand acres.  Most of the enclosure consisted of plain,
+but a corner of it contained a belt of scrub; and it was in this corner,
+where the weaners camped for warmth in the night-time, that the drive
+and slaughter had been made.  The beasts, most of them, lay huddled,
+showing evidence of mangling; others had struggled out of the gully into
+the scrub. After gazing awhile at the slain, Tom Hawkins broke the
+silence--
+
+"I say, Nosey, ain't this a go?  Poor brutes!"
+
+"Here, you kid," cried the trapper, turning sharply on Tom, "who gave
+you leave to call me names?  Like yer blessed cheek!  How'd yer like me
+ter call yer monkey-face?  If yer had a decent nose, I'd tweak it fer
+yer."
+
+Nosey, who was very sensitive on this question of nickname, and had had
+many a fight over the same, made such a menacing move towards Tom that
+the lad shrank back in fear.
+
+"That'll do, George," said Sandy.  "Leave the boy alone.  He didn't mean
+anything.  It's what everybody calls you."
+
+"I'm not goin' to let brats of boys miscall me, anyhow. Don't know why
+the boss sent you blokes, for all the good y'are!" growled the grumpy,
+cross-grained, but not really bad-hearted old man.  "Youse better be
+keepin' quiet, anyways, till me an' Harry has a look round."
+
+"Let him be," whispered Harry.  "If you get his dander up he's as likely
+as not to chuck the whole blame thing.  He always jibs at that name;
+carn't stand it from kids nohow."
+
+Nosey, or to be respectful, George, now proceeded to examine the
+surroundings of the carcasses.  Bending forward until his protuberant
+nose almost touched the earth, the trapper moved his eyes swiftly, now
+concentrating on twig or grass-blades, now wildly roving and
+all-comprehensive.  The rest of the party were following at his heels,
+when he turned round and fiercely waved them back.
+
+"All right, Nos--George!" sang out Joe.  "I see; you want to keep the
+tracks clear.  We'll stay here till you've finished."
+
+Drawing on one side, the group watched the proceedings with great
+interest.  The ground was hard and stony; quite unimpressionable and
+barren of sign to the pals' untutored sight, yet to this man of the
+woods, who was ignorant of the alphabet, the rough earth surface was
+all-revealing, and made known to him in unmistakable characters the
+story of the attack.
+
+Having at length concluded his investigations, the trapper straightened
+his back and moved to where the others stood.  Producing his knife and a
+plug of tobacco, he began to shred a pipeful, making no remark to the
+expectant onlookers.
+
+"Reckon we'll have to drag it out o' the old un," said Harry to Joe in a
+low tone.  Then raising his voice, the stockman began to question the
+man.
+
+"Had a good look round, George?"
+
+Nod.
+
+"Ain't missed anything worth seeing, I bet?"
+
+Head-shake.
+
+"Whatyer make of it?"
+
+"Razorback pack," replied the old man of frugal speech, as he cleaned
+out his pipe.
+
+"Razorback pack?  You surely don't mean it!  Why, that is a matter of
+twelve mile or so!"
+
+"Suppose it is; what of that?"
+
+"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Harry dubiously, yet not wishful to offend the
+old man's susceptibilities.  "Of course you know best, George.  How many
+of 'em do you consider they'd be?"
+
+"Five dorgs an' two bitches."
+
+"Good gracious, Nosey!" cried Tom the unlucky, the next moment beating a
+rapid retreat as the dog-trapper made a vicious dart at his caudal
+appendage, finally coming to grief over a fallen log which lay in the
+line of retreat.  The pursuing foe, even, had to stop and join in the
+laugh raised at the ludicrous figure which Tom cut as he lay, head down,
+heels up.
+
+"Beg pardon, George!" he cried breathlessly the next moment, as he
+recovered his original position.  "It slipped out, old fellow.  I--I
+didn't mean it."
+
+"Come, now, George, that's handsome.  You must accept the apology,"
+interjected Joe.
+
+The trapper nodded assent, and the incident passed.
+
+"How _do_ you know what pack it is, George?  Blest if I can understand
+how you find out all these things!  First you tell us the sex an' then
+where they come from."
+
+"Tell it by their paws."
+
+"By their paws!  How on earth can you tell they've come all the way from
+Razorback by their paw marks? Mightn't it be the turkey scrub lot?"
+
+"It carn't be, an' isn't, 'cause I knows the pack."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Got two of the vermin in the traps six months ago over at the
+mountains, an' a cove wot got away left two toe nails of his near
+hind-foot in the trap."
+
+"Too fly for poison, eh?"
+
+"'Twould be a waste of good strychnine over the rubbage," replied the
+trapper, waxing more communicative. "They know a bait better than a
+Christun. 'Sides, I tried them over at Razorback.  Got plenty o' cats,
+gohanners, an' crows; an', be gosh! laid out one of my own cattle
+puppies, but ne'er a dingo."
+
+"The traps'll fetch 'em, won't they, George?"
+
+George returned no answer, but "smoled" a cryptic smile.  Mounting their
+steeds, the party turned in the direction of home.  Mr. M'Intyre
+received the trapper's report without interruption, and then consulted
+as to the best way to work their destruction.
+
+"Hunting them is out of the question," said the squatter in reply to a
+remark of his son that it would be grand sport hunting them.  "We'd only
+ruin the horses in that country and miss most o' the dingoes. Na! the
+traps are the best an' safest.  If ony ane can catch 'em in that
+fashion, George is the mon.  I leave the hale matter in his hands.  He
+kens best what to do to circumvent the brutes; so go your own way to
+work, George.  What aboot traps?  Have ye enough?"
+
+"Got seven or eight, dunno for sure.  Ought to have a dozen."
+
+"Varra weel; ane o' the laddies will ride to Tareela and get ither
+fower."
+
+Accordingly, Joe and Tom mounted their horses and rode into the store
+for the additional traps.
+
+A dog-trap, it should be explained, is simply an enlarged spring
+rat-trap, with extra strong jaws and saw-like teeth.  These instruments
+of capture weigh about ten pounds, and are planted in likely spots.  The
+native dog is an exceedingly suspicious animal.  His reasoning faculty
+is large.  A mere glance at his head will convince one as to his
+capacity, and those who have had to do with him count him as the
+slimmest of the slim. Hence, only by outmatching him in cunning may his
+adversary succeed.  In this Nosey George was an adept, and Mr. M'Intyre
+did not overstate the facts when he declared no one to be capable of
+matching the dog-trapper in the art of setting lures.
+
+The pals readily obtained leave to accompany the trapper next morning to
+watch the proceedings, on the understanding that they were in no way to
+interfere with him.  Each lad had a pair of traps slung across his
+horse's withers, and George carried the balance on the neck and croup of
+his steed.  They made their way to the weaners' paddock, and after a
+brief inspection of the carrion the trapper declared that there had been
+no return of the dogs.
+
+"I didn't expect them larst night," remarked George. "They're like the
+blacks, can eat enough at one meal to do 'em fur days.  A gorge is
+Chrismus to 'em."
+
+"What do you intend doing with the dead beasts, George?"
+
+"Leave 'em be, o' course.  They'll help me more than anythin' else.
+Dogs'll come again to get another feed or two; an' as boss's took the
+weaners away to a safe paddock, they'll go fur these dead uns like
+winkie--likes 'em a bit high, in fact.  Supposin' we burn these
+wretches, the vermin'll keep about their own haunts.  They're out of
+their beat when they come over here, while they knows every stick an'
+stone of their run.  Consequently, it gives me a better charnse with 'em
+on unfamiliar ground."
+
+So saying, the cunning hunter proceeded to carry out his plan.  The
+dingo has a well-defined method of carving his veal, so to speak.  The
+hide of the animal is not uniformly thick.  The softest and tenderest
+part is that underneath and between the thighs.  The ravager, therefore,
+attacks this tenderest and most susceptible part.  He tears a big hole
+through the skin and into the flesh in a short time, and literally eats
+his way into the body; until, when he and his fellow-feasters have
+finally finished, and cleaned paws and jaws with that self-provided
+serviette the tongue, nothing of the animal remains but the skin and
+bones--always providing that no foe appears to stay proceedings against
+the gourmands. This finish, of course, entails several feasts when the
+course happens to be a bullock, or, as in the present case, toothsome
+veal.
+
+The trapper proceeded to lay a trap facing the torn portion of each
+carcass--that, of course, being the place of attack on each occasion of
+the canines' visits.  After a careful consideration of the ground
+surrounding each beast, he dug a hole in the earth and then placed a
+trap in it.  He next produced some sheets of the inner bark of the ti
+tree, which is as flexible as paper and softer. A sheet of this is laid
+over the gaping jaws of the trap, which is, of course, properly set.
+The "jaws" are now level with the ground.  Over this fine earth is
+sprinkled until all appearance of the trap is hidden.  The superfluous
+soil is now removed with care, and the surroundings are made to look as
+natural as possible.  This in itself is a work of art; for the slightest
+appearance of disturbance or make-up alarms the wary dingo, and
+nullifies the trapper's design.
+
+There is one thing, however, that Nosey George had not reckoned upon
+when starting his operations--the number of carcasses to be treated.  It
+will be remembered that eleven animals were slaughtered in the dingo
+raid. This would mean the use of eleven traps, were every animal to be
+used as a lure.  But it is contrary to the design of the trapper to use
+up all his traps in the vicinity of the beasts.  Some are to be set
+along the line of approach.  A number of carcasses, therefore, must be
+removed.  With the help of the boys, five of the beasts are dragged
+about two hundred yards away, put in a heap, covered with dry wood, and
+then burned.
+
+This left the trapper with several traps to use in other directions.
+Having laid six traps in the vicinity of the calves, he proceeded to
+follow up the tracks of the dogs. The first gin was laid in a soft patch
+of ground directly in their footmarks.  This he continued at intervals,
+until the last one was placed at a spot about two miles distant.
+
+"How many dingoes do you think you'll nab, George?" exclaimed Tom, as
+the party rode homewards in the late afternoon.
+
+"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."
+
+"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.
+
+"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.
+
+"I say the whole bloomin' lot," loudly proclaimed the sanguine Tom.
+
+"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.
+
+The trapper's prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to the traps in
+the early morning by the expectant and impatient boys, in the company of
+Nosey George, to the surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not
+a trap was sprung.
+
+The trapper, who while examining the ground had maintained a sphinx-like
+attitude, broke silence at length under a fusillade of questions.
+
+"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog's copp'd?  Simple
+enough.  Dogs didn't come."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVII*
+
+               *DINGO *_*V.*_* EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH*
+
+
+    "Afar I mark the emu's run;
+      The bustard slow, in motley clad;
+    And, basking in his bath of sun,
+      The brown snake on the cattle-pad,
+        And the reddish black
+        Of a dingo's back
+    As he loit'ring slinks on my horse's track."
+          GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+The next morning's visit told another tale.
+
+The dingoes, having recovered from their surfeit, hunger-induced, made a
+second nocturnal trip to the feeding-grounds.  Cunning and wary as they
+habitually are, they fell, some of them at least, before the wiles of
+the trapper.  Four of their number paid the death penalty.  Two female
+dogs were caught in the traps set about the calves.  The trapped animals
+had not moved any great space.
+
+It should be said that the traps are not fastened to the spot whereon
+they are laid; because, were they stationary, the dingo, especially the
+dog dingo, in his frantic efforts to escape, and by reason of his great
+strength, will frequently save his life at the expense of his paw.  That
+dog, it is safe to say, will never be trapped again; as on the principle
+of, once bitten twice shy, he will ever eschew the most deftly
+constructed device of man.
+
+[Illustration: "The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."--_See
+p._ 134.]
+
+On the other hand, should there be no fastening, a strong dog will carry
+a trap for miles, especially if caught by the hind-leg.  In order to
+remedy this, a device, similar to that which sailors use, called a sea
+anchor, is attached.  A block of wood not too heavy is tied to the trap
+by a chain or a piece of wire.  This acts as a check to the animal,
+besides leaving a broad trail that is easily followed up.
+
+When the trapped dingoes were approached they set up a dismal howling,
+which turned to a vigorous snapping with their teeth; the while they
+tore the earth with their paws in vain efforts to escape.
+
+"Put the poor wretches out of their pain," cried Sandy, after watching
+the agonised efforts of the canines for a few seconds.
+
+The trapper, armed with a heavy "nulla-nulla," dispatched the brutes,
+and scalped them; for the district Stock Board, to induce their
+extermination, gave �1 per scalp, and experienced trappers like Nosey
+George did well at times.  They concluded that there was at the least
+one other victim; for while the bitches were snapping and howling,
+answering howls of rage and sympathy could be heard in the distance
+along the trail.
+
+The next act was to cremate the slain, which was speedily done.  After
+this the group proceeded to follow the track along which the other
+snares were secreted. The very first trap contained a dog.  It was set
+in the centre of a soft depression, at the edge of the scrub belt on the
+farther side.  The dog had dragged the trap about three hundred yards,
+when the "anchor," fouling in some saplings, his retreat was stopped.
+The beast was immediately brained and scalped, and the body flung into a
+clump of bushes.
+
+There was still another victim.  The farthest out trap was gone.
+Nothing was to be seen but the trap-hole. George, however, was soon upon
+the trail.  The country here was fairly open, and offered little
+obstruction to the determined dog.  The track led on and on with little
+deviation until a course of three miles or so had been traversed.  It
+now curved outward and down toward a patch of scrub.  Nosey suddenly
+stopped and pointed to the ground.
+
+"What's up, George?" exclaimed Joe, who stood nearest the trapper.
+
+"Look an' see fur y'reself."
+
+Bending over, Joe saw in a sandy patch the deep impress of the toes of a
+large bird.
+
+"I can't make it out.  What in thunder is it?  Far too big for a crow;
+bigger even than an eagle or a bustard."
+
+"As big as two eagles, young mutton-head," declared the old tough.
+"Tell 'im, Sandy."
+
+"Why, you greeney; that's an emu track!"
+
+"Emu!" shouted Joe in great excitement.  "It's the first time I ever saw
+an emu track.  What an enormous foot he must have."
+
+"Ye'd know it, me boy, if ivver ye got a kick," grunted the trapper.
+"I've seen them break a dog's leg like a carrot."
+
+"Blest if I don't think he's follerin' up the dingo!" continued Joe.
+
+"Just wot 'e _is_ a-doin' of," answered the man.  "These 'ere emus is
+more curious nor a woman."
+
+Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father used to lure the emu he
+was stalking within shot of his fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly
+waving his handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even doubling
+his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating his hat on the foot
+thus raised.  With slow and hesitating yet irresistible steps,
+fascinated by the mysterious object, or a victim to curiosity, the bird
+would approach to its undoing.
+
+This particular emu was no stranger to the dingoes, nor they to him.
+Never before, though, had he beheld a dingo with such an appendage, or
+in such difficulties. The unwonted appearance of the canine furnishes
+the bird with an unusual sensation, and queries in rapid succession flit
+through its brain.  "What on earth is the matter with the limping,
+whimpering brute?  What is that object trailing behind the horrid
+creature?  Let me draw near and behold this great sight!"  Fate has
+delivered his old-time enemy into his hands.  That lolling, swollen
+tongue, those blood-shot eyes, that painful whimper, the wild despairing
+glances; all these loudly proclaim his downfall.  "Well, what matter!
+He's getting his punishment now.  What is there to prevent me wiping out
+old scores?"
+
+And so, with cautious yet confident step the huge bird, second in size
+only to the ostrich, strode on at a short distance behind his enemy; and
+in a few minutes both are swallowed up in the scrub.  The huntsmen
+follow well on the heels of the animals.
+
+"I wonder if the bird's still following?" asked Tom.
+
+"Soon see," answered the trapper, carefully examining the ground.  "Not
+a quarter of an hour since he passed this spot: must be in the scrub
+still."
+
+A minute or so brought them to the edge of the scrub. Pushing along,
+they were soon enwrapped in its gloom. Following the advice of George,
+the boys tied their horses to saplings at the outskirts of the belt, and
+proceeded on foot.  Suddenly the trapper, who was leading, stopped dead
+in his tracks, and uttered a warning note in a low voice. Motioning the
+pals to remain where they were, he noiselessly moved forward, and was
+soon lost in the thick foliage ahead.
+
+"Wonder why ole Nosey made us stay back?" muttered Tom, after the lads
+had stood silently awhile.  "What can be in the air, now?"
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed Sandy in a whisper; "he's returning."
+
+At this moment the trapper reappeared.
+
+"Follow as quiet as mice, an' ye'll see summat like wot ye've ne'er seed
+afore."  There was an unusual gleam in the man's eye as he made this
+deliverance.
+
+Cautiously and silently the party moved Indian fashion through the wood.
+After going in this way a hundred paces or so the hunter stopped again,
+and beckoned the boys, indicating a stealthy approach.  Very gingerly
+they trod until they were abreast the man.  Following his muttered
+directions and example, they quietly parted the intervening brushwood.
+
+It was an unique sight on which their eyes fastened; one they would not
+readily forget.  Beyond them was a small natural clearing, such as often
+occurs in the densest scrub.
+
+It was circular in form, and about fifty yards in diameter.  Here,
+almost in the centre of the clearing, the bird had bailed up the beast.
+Curiosity in the emu had grown into anger, and was at a white heat,
+judging from the manner in which it pirouetted and menaced the dog,
+keeping up the while an incessant gabble.  The gabble, rightly
+interpreted, declared that the time of vengeance was at hand.  The fates
+were thanked for being so kind as to furnish this fitting opportunity
+for paying off old scores: "Here, you sneaking thief and flying
+murderer, stop!  It's you and I for it now; so, off with your coat and
+roll up your sleeves!"
+
+Nor was Master Dingo disinclined to accept the challenge thrown down by
+the strutting bird.  Weary as he was and full of pain, he was in no
+humour to eat humble-pie, or to fly before another foe.  His warring
+instincts rose to the gage of his hereditary enemy.  Many of his kind
+were scarred with wounds from the terrible emu kick, or deep score made
+by the horny toe of this formidable antagonist.
+
+Nor could he retreat, if so inclined: behind him, to a certainty, was
+the monstrous biped; far more to be feared than this animated piece of
+impertinence, whose wicked eye squinted and winked in defiance.
+
+Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the visible bird or the
+invisible pursuers.  Handicapped as he is, and goaded by his pain and
+shameful condition, the dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by
+making a sudden jump at the emu's throat, narrowly missing it, and still
+more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it made its
+counter-stroke.
+
+Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and devices of animal
+warfare.  Each knows the tactics of the other.  But for the disability
+of the dog through the tenacious trap the chances would be in his
+favour; but his exhaustion and encumbrance give the odds to the other.
+Still, he makes a gallant fight, and the bird needs all its wits and
+agility to escape his savage snaps, one of which, had he been able to
+lay hold, would tear out the neck from throat to breast.
+
+The combat was at its height between these gladiators when the pursuers
+sighted them.  The boys hold their breath in fair amazement as they
+eagerly watch the two figures in the sunlit arena struggling for the
+mastery.  So engrossed are the combatants that the spectators may come
+out into the open and surround them, for all the notice that will be
+taken of them.  As it is, the boys' astonishment is quickly transmuted
+into animal excitement and battle-lust.  They take sides, and cheer, now
+the beast and now the bird.
+
+But the end comes quickly and tragically enough.  The pace of the
+conflict tells terribly upon the dingo.  He is now weakening fast; can
+hardly see, so bloodshot are his eyes.  Yes, he can hold out but little
+longer.  Realising this, he fights purely on the defence for breath.
+Then, concentrating all his energies in one last irresistible stroke, he
+springs, arrow-like, and this time strikes fair on the bullseye--the
+neck of his adversary.  The emu had failed to elude the panther-like
+spring.  But now the counter-stroke!
+
+When the dingo's fangs close vice-like upon the emu's throat the bird's
+fate is irrevocably sealed.  The jugular vein is torn out with a
+mouthful of flesh and muscle, and the skin is stripped to the bosom.
+What time this savage and fatal stroke is given the vengeful bird, by
+one terrific downward blow of its powerful leg and toes, disembowels the
+hanging dog; and then with a lightning side-stroke, delivered full on
+the forehead of the prone beast, smashes in its skull.  A vain attempt
+to crow a note of victory; a few short, uncertain, rotatory movements,
+life-blood gushing the while from its severed jugular, then a collapse,
+falling across the body of its slain adversary!
+
+Which of the two is the victor?
+
+The surprise of the boys, at the sudden and bloody termination of the
+fight, may be better imagined than described.  They stared aghast for
+some moments at the spectacle, too dazed to move or speak.  Even the
+hardened bushman, George, was moved.
+
+"Well, of all the fights I ever seed, this licks creation; it's better
+nor cock-fightin'.  Be gosh, 'twas a grand fight to a finish!"
+
+The trapper now busies himself with the scalping-knife, and, as the boys
+stand around, a feeling of sadness rises within as they contemplate the
+slain.
+
+"Poor brutes!" said Sandy feelingly, "I've a notion, lads, that they
+deserved a better fate."
+
+"The boss wouldn't agree to that as fur as the dorgs is concerned.  As
+fer the emu, he's neither good nor bad," grunted the old man.
+
+"Well, after all," broke in Joe, "it's their nature, as old Simpson is
+always preaching to us in school.  They're not to blame for following
+their instincts.  By jings! there's no coward's blood in these poor
+brutes,--they're as brave as brave."
+
+But such moralising was beyond Nosey George.
+
+"Emus is sight enough in a way, an' only eats grass an' roots,--but
+dingos! they're vermin, an' any death's good enough fur them.  By the
+hokey!" exclaimed he as he looked at the trap; "I'm blamed if here isn't
+the blessed paw!"
+
+It was true.  The wretched beast's foot was evidently so lacerated and
+broken by its efforts to escape, and in dragging the trap, that when it
+made the last and fatal spring the imprisoned paw parted from the leg in
+the very act, and that severance enabled it to reach the emu's neck.
+Having secured the trap and the scalp, the group retraced their steps to
+where they had hitched the horses.
+
+The haul proved successful beyond measure.  To secure four dingoes in
+one scoop was a great stroke of luck.  Not so much luck, on reflection,
+as skilful management.  An amateur might have set a hundred traps with
+seeming skill and not have bagged a dog.  No one save a trapper like
+George could trap with any degree of certainty.
+
+"I s'pose you'll bag the balance to-night," remarked Tom to the trapper
+when they had remounted.
+
+"No jolly fear!  Never catch any more along this line."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Why, d'yer think a dingo's no sense?  Be gosh! all the calves in
+creation wuddent tempt what's left of the vermin to come along this
+track again.  Wish we'd a' got the old dog, though."
+
+"What are you going to do next?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Fust an' foremost thing is to collect the traps, then we'll burn the
+weaners."
+
+"Won't you try for the other dogs?"
+
+"My oath, won't I?"
+
+"Give us your programme, George, there's a good fellow."
+
+"I'll try 'em about Razorback with the traps, as soon as they've
+quietened down a bit.  They've been scared out of their precious wits by
+this 'ere business."
+
+In due time the party arrived at the homestead. Mr. M'Intyre expressed
+his gratification at the result of the trapper's work, and praised his
+skill.  He further bade George continue his work until the beasts were
+exterminated, promising him a liberal reward should he achieve this end.
+
+The boys related with great gusto, to an almost incredulous household,
+the particulars of the fight to a finish.
+
+The trapper fixed his camp in the hills, and employed his best
+endeavours to trap the remaining dingoes with but partial success,
+securing one only.  The old dingo, which on a former occasion had left
+two of his claws in a trap, and now had received this additional fright
+through the ensnarement of his comrades, was not to be lured by any
+device, however crafty.  George, who knew their run intimately,
+surrounded them with traps.  'Twas all in vain, set them never so
+wisely.
+
+This defiance and immunity irritated the old man beyond endurance, and
+he swore by all the dignities to get their scalps, if it took him till
+the crack of doom.
+
+As he was camped on the ranges, in the vicinity of Razorback, his weekly
+ration was taken out to him by the boys, who were keen on this matter.
+They had been out twice with the rations, and now were being sent out
+the third time.  What befel them on that trip will be related in the
+next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XVIII*
+
+                      *THE CHASE, AND ITS SEQUEL*
+
+
+    "A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,
+      Proclaim a hunting morn;
+    Before the sun rises away we go,--
+      The sleep of the sluggard we scorn."
+        OLD SONG.
+
+
+"Now then, sleepies,--up you get!" cried Sandy in the early morning, as
+he performed his usual preliminary of whipping off the bed-clothes from
+the sleepy-headed Joe and Tom.
+
+"Sun's laughing at you through the windows.  Come, Master Hawkins!"
+cried he with a grin as he tumbled that grunting individual on to the
+floor, piling the bed-clothes on top of him, and then seating himself on
+the wriggling pile.  "If soft measures won't avail I am prepared to
+adopt severe ones."
+
+Tom, now thoroughly aroused, and as peppery as you like, shouted and
+yelled and writhed, getting his arm at last round his persecutor, the
+laughing Sandy, and by a violent effort pulling him on to the broad of
+his back, thus reversing their positions.
+
+"You red-headed Scotchman, I'll teach you meddle with--" pommel--"me
+again"--pommel, pommel.
+
+Here a cold douche arrested the uplifted arm of the irate Tom, and took
+his breath for a moment, as it descended upon the prone bodies,
+accompanied by sundry "ouchs" and shrill yells.  As the boys scrambled
+to their feet they joined forces and rushed the dodging Joe, who, after
+a few ineffectual dives, was caught and jolly well punched.
+
+The usual early morning diversion ended, the lads, rosy with health and
+brimming over with animal spirits--the essence of good nature for all
+their rough play--dressed with haste and made for the stockyard, to pick
+their steeds.
+
+This occupied their time till the seven o'clock breakfast, after which
+they secured from the storeman the rations for the trapper.
+
+"Now Sandy, my boy, ye'll no forget to tell George what I named at
+breakfast."
+
+"M-yes, about the dingoes, father?"
+
+"No, stupid.  Didna I ask you to tell him that, dingoes or no dingoes,
+he is to come next week at the latest, to handle the colts?"
+
+"Oh yes, dad, I won't forget.  I expect he'll growl a bit, as he's mad
+on getting the dogs and the reward.  He's quite cranky over it."
+
+"He'll come richt enough if ye gie him my order."
+
+The trapper's camp, as previously stated, was situated about eleven
+miles from the homestead.  Four miles or so from home the track
+roughened, and became what is known as broken country, all hills and
+gullies, for the most part very rocky, and heavily wooded in places.
+
+The boys' progress was but slow, owing to the nature of the ground, and
+it took them nearly three hours to reach the camp, which they found
+unoccupied.  After cooeeing in vain for the absentee, they proceeded to
+light a fire in order to boil the billy, spreading the substantial lunch
+which Mrs. M'Intyre had furnished them.
+
+"Bother old Nosey; wish he'd turn up!" exclaimed Sandy, when the boys
+had finished their repast.  "We can't go till he comes.  There'd be no
+end of a row if we went home without delivering the message."
+
+"Oh, he'll be here before long," interjected Joe.  "I vote we do a camp
+in the shade for an hour or two; it's hot enough to fry a steak."
+
+This was good advice, and the boys made themselves as comfortable as
+circumstances permitted under the shade of the trees.  So the hours
+passed without any sign of the trapper.
+
+"Well, I declare," exclaimed Tom for the twentieth time in the course of
+the last hour, "it's too bad of Nosey. I'm full up of waitin' here with
+nothing to do.  Can't you leave a message somehow for the ole cuss?"
+
+"How is it to be done, Hawkins?"
+
+"Oh bother! write a note, of course."
+
+"Well, you are a greeney, Tom.  Where's the pen, ink, and paper to come
+from?"
+
+"Why, hasn't ole Nosey----?"
+
+"Old Nosey, be hanged!  Of course he hasn't, any more than he's got a
+dress suit and a toilet mirror."
+
+"I've got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.
+
+"No good in the world; where's the paper to come from; an' supposin' we
+had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads, writing desks, and whatever else
+you like to name in the scribbling line, what good 'ud it all be?"
+
+"Meaning----?"
+
+"Meanin' this, you dunderheads--it's got to be read."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well!--of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns, hodges, and
+idiots that ever I came across----!"
+
+"Here, draw it mild, young porridge-pot.  There's two to one against
+you: mind that, you red herring!"
+
+"I'll _mind_ more than that, if I am the son of a Scot, which is no
+great disgrace, after all," replied Sandy jeeringly. "But look here and
+listen, chiels.  I'll tell you a story--
+
+"Once upon a time, when pigs were called swine an' monkeys chewed
+tobacco, there lived a bully English captain, the commander of a man o'
+war.  This frigate, sailing up the channel on her return from foreign
+parts, sighted a French ship, not more'n about twice her size. Instead
+of closing with the Frenchy slap bang, an' givin' her what-for, she
+turned tail an' showed her a clean pair of heels.  This outrageous
+proceeding on the part of a British sea-dog demanded instant
+investigation, and so the jolly captain was promptly court-martialled.
+After the case had been put by the prosecuting officer, and not denied
+by the prisoner, he was asked by the president of the court why he did
+not engage the enemy.  The captain, in reply, said that he had ten
+reasons.  'Name them,' says the boss officer.  'The first is: I had no
+powder; it was all used up.'  'Enuf sed,' sings out the judge. 'We don't
+want the other nine.  You're discharged, my man, without a stain on your
+character.'"
+
+"Oh, that's all right for a yarn," cried Joe; "but I want to know what
+it's got to do with your father's message to Nosey?"
+
+"Just as much as it's got to do with the grass of a duck in a forty-acre
+paddock," jeered Sandy.
+
+"It's a story with a moral, boys; and as Captain Kettle--no, I mean
+Cuttle, says in that book of Dickens, the moral of the story lies in the
+application."
+
+"Apply it, my wise man."
+
+"Here then: old Nosey has ten reasons for not gettin' a written
+message."
+
+"Name the first!"
+
+"He can't read."
+
+"Now then, Joe," said Tom, turning to that worthy, "what's the verdict
+of the court?"
+
+"I s'pose we'll have to discharge the prisoner without a character,"
+replied Joe with a wink.
+
+"Blow these bally flies!" cried Tom, after an interval. "They're here in
+millions.  Faugh!--splutter--there's one down my jolly throat.  Say,
+Joe, what are you goin' to do?"
+
+"Boil the billy," replied that youth laconically.  "May as well do
+something, an' kill time."
+
+So the hours sped until the sun was well on its descending curve in the
+late afternoon.  Their patience was now thoroughly exhausted in waiting
+for the trapper.  They canvassed the reasons for his non-appearance,
+until they were mortally sick of discussing the subject.
+
+"Tell you what, boys, message or no message, Nosey or no Nosey," cried
+Sandy at last, "we must make tracks for home.  We are not to blame for
+old George's absence. They'll be wondering what's become of us.  It'll
+take us all our time to get there before dark as it is.  At the worst,
+we'll have to come out to-morrow."
+
+It took but a few minutes after this to secure the horses, saddle them,
+call the dog which had accompanied them to heel, and set out on the
+return journey.
+
+After jogging briskly for a couple of miles or so the cattle dog, a
+strong wiry hound and a noted warrior among his species, began to sniff
+about, uttering a series of low, short barks.
+
+"Hello, Brindle, what's up?  Got 'possum scent? Bandicoot, I 'spect.
+Fetch him, boy!"
+
+Just at this moment Brindle made a dash forward, what time a big
+dog-dingo started out from under an old log a hundred yards or so ahead.
+The route taken by the chase lay up a long gully.  This gully was, more
+correctly speaking, a depression, lacking abrupt and precipitous sides,
+and was comparatively free from rocks.
+
+The boys hesitated a moment, but the temptation was too strong.  Joe,
+clapping his spurs to his steed's sides, started off with a clatter, the
+others following pell-mell. The gully was long and winding, and to this,
+for some reason, the dingo stuck.  The hunters now began to gain a
+little on the beast, and were in full sight, the cattle dog just holding
+his distance.  At length the gully petered out at the base of a ridge,
+over which the quarry sped, the dog and boys in full chase.  The other
+side of the ridge was more precipitous, and covered with bracken and
+stunted bushes.  Down this the pursuit thundered, Joe in the lead and
+well to the cattle dog's heels: the dingo leading by not more than
+seventy yards.  So absorbed was the boy in the hunt that he remained in
+ignorance of a calamity that was even now happening to one of his mates.
+
+Tom's horse, in bounding down the ridge, and when close to the bottom,
+put his foot in a wombat's[#] hole that was hidden by bracken.  Over
+came horse and rider, Tom striking the ground on head and shoulder,
+while Sandy, who was about a length behind, narrowly averted collision
+with the fallen steed and boy.  As quickly as possible he pulled up his
+galloping animal, shouting out as he did so to Joe, who was too far away
+and too much engrossed in the chase to hear the call.
+
+
+[#] Wombat---a burrowing marsupial.
+
+
+Returning to the collapsed pair, Sandy jumped off and lifted Tom's head,
+for the lad lay stiff.  His appearance frightened the boy as he lay
+still and death-like.  To his great joy, however, on feeling Tom's
+wrist, Sandy detected a feeble pulse-beat.  Laying his stricken mate
+gently down in the bracken, he made a hasty examination of his head.  It
+bore no trace of wound, save some gravel scratches and a nasty bruise
+under the left eye.  The relieved boy hurried to the bottom of the
+ridge, where by good hap was a rill of water.  Filling his hat he
+returned and laved the brow and wrists of his companion.  After some
+twenty minutes or so Tom began to stir, and quickly regained
+consciousness.  No bones were broken, but the boy was badly shaken, and
+all thoughts of further pursuit were out of the question.  The horse, by
+a miracle, was without hurt.
+
+"You're a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few minutes.  "From
+the way you crashed down I made sure every blessed bone in your body was
+broken.  How do you feel now, ole boss?"
+
+"Oh, I'm all right," replied Tom feebly.  "Shoulder's the worst.  It's
+not dislocated, but it pains a lot.  Phew! but it does hurt when I move
+it.  I expect it felt the full force of the tumble.  But--where's Joe?"
+
+"Joe's ahead.  Goodness only knows where he's got to by now.  He hasn't
+a ghost's show of getting the dingo if he makes for the hills."
+
+"I tell you what," continued the boy; "we'll get off home as soon as you
+feel fit.  It's no use waiting for Joe. He can easily catch us.  You'll
+have to go slow, old man, you know."
+
+This was true, for Tom's shoulder was in an agony of ache, which the
+movement of the horse, after they had mounted, intensified to an almost
+unbearable degree.
+
+It was long after dark ere the pair sighted the homestead lights.  They
+had not been overtaken by Joe, much to their surprise.  They were met at
+the slip-rails by Harry and Jacky, who had just been dispatched to look
+for them, as the family were getting uneasy at their prolonged absence.
+The men returned with the lads to the house.  Beyond a severe word to
+Sandy for being tempted to pursue the impossible when on the homeward
+track, the squatter justified their act of returning from the camp; also
+in not waiting for Joe.
+
+"I expect the rascal will turn up in a few minutes.  His horse would
+soon be knocked up in that country, and he would therefore be unable to
+catch you after he abandoned the dingo.  The cheek of you boys, to think
+you could run it down in that country!"
+
+The minutes sped without sight or sound of the huntsman. Anxiety
+deepened in the women; the men, too, became uneasy.
+
+"Some one ought to go after the lad," broke in the perturbed mother, at
+length.  "The poor laddie must have met trouble.  His horse has knocked
+up.  Perhaps he has lost himself.  Perhaps he----!"
+
+"Perhaps nothing of the kind has happened, except that the horse may
+have knocked up.  You women will always jump to the worst conclusions.
+Willy, you and I'll ride back a bit; come you too Sandy, if you're not
+too tired."
+
+Mr. M'Intyre feared more than he showed.  It would be easy enough after
+all, he reflected, for a boy who was ignorant of the lay of the country
+and who had no experience in bush travelling, to lose his way.  He
+determined, therefore, to take his son with him, so that he might lead
+them to the spot where the accident occurred, if it were necessary.
+Accordingly the three set off on the track.  Fortunately it was
+moonlight and clear, so that they were able to make good headway through
+the bush.
+
+
+It is time, however, to return to Joe.  That ardent hunter had followed
+the chase for some distance ere he missed his pals.  What with the
+severity of the pace and the increasing roughness of the course, its
+twistings and turnings, all his attention was focussed on the quarry. If
+he did think at all of his companions, it was to picture them following
+close behind.  But in the heat of the chase he had little thought for
+others.  When it did dawn upon him that he had outdistanced his
+companions, as happened eventually, he attributed little importance to
+that.  They, no doubt, had good reason for slackening their pace.  His
+horse, as he well knew, had a dash of speed denied to theirs.  Maybe
+their steeds had caved in.  Anyhow, he was having a glorious time, and
+"the finish" was touched with roseate hues to his imagination.
+
+His horse was justifying the reputation given of him to Joe by Harry,
+the stockman, one day when they were discussing the relative merits of
+their mounts.
+
+"For a hack," that worthy had remarked, "there's nothing on the run
+equal to the little thing you're ridin'. With a light weight up like
+yourself she can show a dash of foot an' staying powers that'll take a
+tremendous lot of lickin'."
+
+This was a just criticism, as events were proving. Still, the pace was
+beginning to tell, and Joe was forced to ease the mare somewhat, even at
+the risk of losing sight of the quarry.  The rough ridges, too, made the
+going to be precarious.
+
+Things were as bad with Master Dingo, however.  The pursuit was hot
+enough to extend him to the fullest.  He was always in view, and could
+not shake off the foe.  As long as he remained in sight it was
+impossible to resort to any trick by which he might gain time or wind.
+The ordinary pace of the dingo when on the chase may be described as a
+lope.  This can be kept up the live-long day, and thus wear down the
+fleetest victim.  To keep extended at full gallop in this unwonted
+fashion is not at all to the dingo's liking, and the sooner he can reach
+the distant scrub, which is his objective, the better pleased he will
+be.  The cattle dog, though not ordinarily a hunter, is strong and
+tough, and possessed of a good pair of bellows.  He started the game
+with the utmost alacrity, and now continues it with the greatest vim and
+determination.
+
+So the chase continues, and is now but little more than a mile from the
+scrub belt which fringes the base of the hills.  To this ark of safety,
+therefore, the dingo strains every muscle, and seizes every small
+advantage which his instinct discerns.  No less strenuous is the cattle
+dog. He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs to win.  In
+this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry over bush and brake, over
+stony ridges and across intersecting gullies.
+
+Within half a mile of the scrub the country flattens out, and this gives
+an advantage to the cattle dog, who closes up.  Joe's horse is now in
+distress.  The course has been long and rough, the pace severe, and the
+grass-fed steed is weakening, can make no headway, is indeed losing in
+the race.  The lad sees this, and chevies the dog on, for he can plainly
+mark now that unless the chase be ended on this side of the scrub all
+hope must be abandoned, Oh, to win!  A supremely glorious thing were he
+to achieve the impossible!  There are chances.  Lots of things might
+happen yet.  On, on, good doggie!  Catch him, Brindle!  Hurrah, Brindle
+is closing; is surely creeping up!
+
+They are now about three hundred yards from the timber belt, and the
+dingo is slowly but surely being overhauled.  Visions of the scalp as a
+proud trophy fill the boy's imagination.  If only Brindle may seize his
+victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute its quietus
+with the stirrup iron!  Brindle is now not more than four lengths
+behind, and the beasts are still a hundred yards from the scrub.
+
+"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe across the widely
+intervening distance.  The voice is borne faintly to the dog's ears, and
+nerves him to heroic effort in this the final stage of the struggle, the
+last lap, so to speak.  Breath is too precious to be wasted in answering
+cry, but the spurt of the hound speaks volumes: "I shall catch him,
+master, never fear: I am gaining; but ''twill be on the post."
+
+Both dogs, wild and domestic, are stretched to their fullest extent.  It
+is the crowning burst.  They are labouring heavily, staggering, and
+rolling in their stride. The pace is slow but hard.  It is a question of
+endurance. Every ounce of strength in each body is laid under
+contribution.  Once within the scrub the chances in favour of the dingo
+will immediately increase a hundredfold, for in doubling and dodging
+through the densely timbered belts the native dog has no equal.
+
+Only thirty yards now lie between the dingo and his salvation--the good
+thick scrub that will swallow him up; but--the breath of the pursuer
+blows hot upon him. Throwing his head over his shoulder for the fraction
+of a second, the desperate beast sees that only by a miracle can he
+escape.  The adversary is upon his quarters, and in another second the
+brute's fangs will be buried in his back.  It is a supreme moment.  Now
+or never!  Making a super-canine effort, the fear-stricken thing draws
+away from its enemy in the last dozen strides.  Saved, saved! Alas,
+alas!  Right at the very fringe, and within a single step of safety, he
+tumbles in a heap, and with a convulsive gasp rolls over and gives up
+the ghost: the prolonged exertions have broken his heart.
+
+You can work your will on the hunted one now, Brindle: no need to fear
+the vicious snap that was reserved for you should the worst happen.  But
+the dog's instincts inform him that all power of resistance has gone
+from that mute and still form; indeed, he has no strength to worry
+should the call be made: the last spurt has left him without a vestige
+of strength.  And so, when Joe appeared upon the scene a few minutes
+later, it was to behold the motionless dingo, and by his side, with
+lolling tongue and cavernous mouth, the panting and exhausted Brindle.
+
+In a moment the boy has slid from his horse, and is dancing a grotesque
+fandango, expressive of his unbounded joy.  But, when in a calmer moment
+he understood the tragedy of it from the dingo's side of things, a
+feeling of compassion possessed him, yet joy persisted.  "He's a noble
+fellow, and has given me the grandest sport I've ever had.  I'm sorry,
+and yet I'm glad," quoth the lad. "What'll old Nosey say to this!  My
+stars, ain't the boys out of it!  Wonder where the poor beggars have got
+to. Hope nothing's happened to them.  Poor beast!" apostrophising the
+dingo, "you made a royal struggle and deserved to escape, but the fates
+were against you.  And you, good old Brindle; my word, you've covered
+yourself with glory, sir!  Poor fellow, you are done up; can only blink
+your pleasure; can't wag even the tip of your tail. Good doggie, I'm
+proud of you!"
+
+"I'm blest if I don't skin the dingo," exclaimed he, after a moment's
+pause.  "I'll keep it as a trophy.  Something to look at in after years
+when I'm a grey-beard," chuckled the youth.  So saying, he whipped out
+his knife.  Joe had never before skinned a dingo, but as he had
+performed that office on many a wallaby and 'possum he was fairly
+expert, and in a few minutes had achieved his object.  Rolling the pelt
+in the approved manner, the youth bound it with a stout piece of cord
+which he extracted from his pocket, and fastened it to the saddle ring.
+
+"Next thing's to get some water.  My word!  I'm as dry as leather, an'
+could drink a tank dry.  The animals, too, are clean done up, an' I'll
+get nothing out of them unless they have water.  Good gracious! why--the
+sun's down, an' it'll soon be dark."
+
+Not until this moment did the young hunter realise his position.  "Must
+be miles and miles off the track," muttered he as he took a brief survey
+of his surroundings. "I'll have to make tracks with a vengeance!  Won't
+do to be nipped here.  Let's see; yes, the way back is across that flat
+for a certainty, and then over yon stony ridge. Beyond that we bend to
+the right till we reach a rocky creek."  In this way the hunter strove
+to recall the innumerable bends and curves taken in the chase.  "Ah,
+here's the moon rising: good old moon!"
+
+Joe had plenty of heart, nerve, and resource.  His good spirits were
+proverbial.  Yet the situation was not at all inviting.  Fourteen miles
+or so from home on the eve of night.  A complete stranger to this rough
+and trackless region, and his horse badly used up!  These were things
+calculated to try the nerves and tax the courage of the benighted youth.
+
+He made small bones of these, however, and started off at a slow pace on
+his return.  The dog had recovered sufficiently to drag himself along at
+the horse's heels. The boy eagerly scanned the country for signs of
+water for this would afford the greatest relief to man and beasts: all
+of whom felt an intolerable thirst.  At last they dropped across a small
+pool in a stony creek, to their great delight.
+
+Both horse and dog drank as if they would never stop. This, the boy
+felt, would be bad for the animals, and he sought to stay them.  He with
+difficulty checked the horse, but the dog would not quit lapping until
+he was as tight as the proverbial drum.  Joe himself drank sparingly,
+and then moved onward.  The dog soon began to vomit, and appeared to be
+on the verge of collapse. So after vain waiting and entreaty the lad was
+forced to leave it behind, in the hope that it would recover during the
+night, when he had small doubt as to its ability to find its way home.
+The horse went easier, now that she had assuaged her thirst.  All light
+had vanished save that of the moon, which shed an uncertain light,
+making puzzling shadows on the rough ground.
+
+"It's time I was at the head of the long gully," muttered the lad.
+"From there it's only a mile or so to the home track.  Get up Jill, and
+moosey along.  The other chaps are home by this time I expect, and
+they're wondering what's become of me."
+
+Strange to say, the long gully refused to appear, until it dawned on Joe
+at last that he was off the track.  None but those who have experienced
+it can understand the weird feeling that possesses one in the dawn of
+that consciousness.  To be in the lonely Australian bush, where the
+silence is an oppression, is something like being cast adrift in
+mid-ocean on a raft, with nothing in sight save the wild waste of
+waters.
+
+That he had lost his bearings became increasingly evident to the
+wanderer as he moved along.  He became a prey to disquieting qualms and
+the creeping chill of apprehension.  Gruesome accounts of the fate of
+lost travellers had often been related at the home fireside, and these
+memories awoke in his mind.
+
+"I'm off the track all right; still, I'm sure to cut across the
+Razorback trail; it'll lie over in that direction."  After a pause he
+determined to adhere to the way that he had been pursuing for some
+little while.  On then "breast forward."  There is no semblance of a
+track, and presently the lad gets into very difficult country. It would
+be bad enough to travel through in daylight, but now the trouble is
+accentuated; yet the boy, with strong faith in his ultimate emergence
+from this chaos, bravely faces the situation.  Up hill, down dale,
+across gullies, forcing the patches of scrub, slithering down ridges,
+going on hands and knees, ever and anon, to feel for the hoof-prints on
+what appeared to be the longed-for track--an unceasing march goes on.
+
+At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief over a tree root,
+and tumbles to mother earth.  The rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare,
+who has strained her fetlock.  What is to be done now?  It is a serious
+mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation. The only
+thing to be done is to relieve his steed of saddle and bridle, cache his
+accoutrements, and trudge along on foot.
+
+"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad. "Poor Jill!  I
+don't like leaving you; but it won't be for long, my beauty.  Your
+master will send some one to look after you to-morrow.  To-morrow!--Why,
+it must be past midnight now!  Good-bye, Jill."
+
+On speeds the gallant youth, whistling and singing snatches as he tramps
+the interminable bush.  "Might be worse," he reiterates in thought.
+There's a chill in the midnight air, and the walk will warm him nicely.
+On, then, through the still hours!  Not even the hollow note of the
+night-owl or the familiar thump made by the feeding marsupial breaks the
+monotony of silence. No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the
+traveller's boots on the rough ground.  How long drawn out the day has
+been.  It seems an eternity since he dowsed Tom and Sandy on the bedroom
+floor.  Lucky beggars, they are snug and sound under the blankets,
+dreaming the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is tramp,
+tramp, tramping.  At length the thought of his comrades' sweet repose
+fills him with longing for rest and sleep.
+
+"How long ago it is since I broke my fast?  Must be eight, ten, twelve
+hours; yes, twelve mortal hours! Eat!  Oh, for a slice of damper and
+salt junk!  That were a feed if you like.  Puddings, tarts, cakes!  Bah!
+Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey's damper, an' a slab of that corn-beef."
+
+What a sinking seems to fill his being!  How heavy his boots have grown!
+How steep those everlasting ridges have become!  How lovely to crouch
+down on that patch of bracken--for five minutes only!  He must stop and
+rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get his wind and ease his
+tired limbs.  Shall he----?  But no! he must first cut the track--then!
+His limbs are trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall.  On,
+on--to the station track!  Onward, then, creeps the tottering, stumbling
+lad.  Whistle and song have long ceased.  Fatigue reigns supreme, and
+sheer weariness confuses his brain, and bears heavily on will.
+Mechanically now, the dear lad staggers over the pathless waste.
+
+But see!  Yes, there is a change.  What is that line ahead?  Is it on
+the ground or in the air?  It rises and falls in the moonlight, but
+still persists.  The ground, too, is getting smoother.  The ridges have
+disappeared. Hurrah!  Is not this the end?  A few steps more now,
+and--the station track!
+
+On trudges the lost boy with rising hope.  But, alas! the line thickens,
+darkens, deepens, until it stands out solid, an impregnable scrub.  How
+weird it all is; how awful!  In a moment the benighted lad is stripped
+of hope.  He is frightened beyond words.  With a momentary strength born
+of despair the wretched youth coasts the dismal scrub, seeking an
+opening in vain.  Suddenly he stumbles over a soft, dark mass, and falls
+to the ground.  Putting out a hand instinctively, he touches the
+substance.  Great C�sar, it is the dingo!  Yes, it has happened to poor
+Joe Blain as it has to many a one more experienced in the ways of the
+bush--he has circled!
+
+This shock is the last blow.  Nature is drained of her resources and can
+hold out no longer.  The lad sinks back into a half-swoon, which
+presently merges into a dreamless sleep.
+
+                     *      *      *      *      *
+
+"Joe, old fellow, wake up!  Wake up, I say; Joe--Joe--d'ye hear?"
+
+"W-w-w-what is it?  Drat you, lemme lone.  'Snot mornin'.  There's
+goo-good fler, so s-s-sleep----"
+
+Joe Blain, eyes sealed, dead with sleep, rolls over on the ground, and
+never was any creature more gently rocked in the arms of Morpheus than
+he.
+
+Another voice now breaks the silence, sharp and penetrating.
+
+"Hi! hi! there, you sleepy lubber.  Are ye going to lie there all day?
+Rouse up, laddie!"
+
+This imperative speech was accompanied by vigorous shakings and
+rollings.
+
+"Well, well," grunted the half-awakened boy, "sounds like Mr. M'Intyre's
+voice.  Never knew him to come into the room be-before.  Wish they'd
+leave us alone. Can't open"--and the next moment Joe had relapsed into
+sleep.  Only for a moment, though.  The next he was taken neck and crop,
+lifted to his feet, and shaken violently, what time a voice rasped his
+ear drum: "Wake up, wake up, ye young Rip Van Winkle!"
+
+Opening his eyes, the dazed Joe starts at the unwonted scene.  He is not
+in his bedroom, then!  What on earth has happened?  Who are these that
+surround him? Why--he's in the bush!  And then the truth dawns upon the
+weary and weakened lad; he was really lost, and--thank God he is found!
+
+He greets the squatter with a wan smile, and, with the grace
+characteristic of the boy, begins to thank him. But Mr. M'Intyre,
+patting him affectionately on the back while supporting him with his
+arm, extracts the cork of a pocket flask with his teeth, and puts it to
+the lad's mouth.
+
+"Tak' a pu' at this, ma laddie; it'll revive ye wonderfu'."
+
+The brandy worked wonders on the boy, so unaccustomed to it.
+
+"We--we ran the dingo down, sir--Jill and Brin--why, here's ole Brindle!
+Left him at the water-hole; too sick to follow.  The horse too----"
+
+"Horse's all right, Joe.  We picked her up at the water-hole, where
+we'll leave her for a few days, as she's limping badly.  Can you sit on
+the saddle before me?"  Joe is sure he can, and no time is lost in
+starting homewards.  M'Intyre, to whom the country was an open book,
+knew a short cut that would take them home in ten miles.
+
+During the ride Joe recited his experiences to the squatter, who in
+return related how Willie had picked up the tracks, sighting first the
+horse and then the dog, and followed the trail till they came upon the
+sleeping lad.
+
+It was a weary but not unhappy boy who reached the homestead at length.
+The household, duly apprised by Willy, who had ridden on ahead, were in
+readiness to cheer the conquering hero.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIX*
+
+                        *CONCERNING WILD HORSES*
+
+
+    "Now welcome, welcome, master mine,
+      Thrice welcome to the noble chase:
+    Nor earthly sport, nor sport divine,
+      Can take such honourable place."
+        _Ballad of the Wild Huntsmen._
+
+
+"Where's Floss and Jeannie, Harry?  Don't see 'em in the yard this
+morning."
+
+"No, sir, they didn't come in with the others."
+
+"Hoo's that, mon?"
+
+"I harsk'd Jacky about 'em when he yarded the others, an' he said they
+wasn't with the rest.  Too lazy, I bet, to look after 'em."
+
+"But I dinna see Tallboy or Dolly, eyther," said the squatter as he
+peered through the rails at the horses.
+
+"I speck they're with the mares down by the dam, or p'raps campin' on
+the box ridge."
+
+"Weel, see that they're no missed the morn.  Here you, Jacky," to the
+black boy; "come along here."
+
+"What's matter, Boss?"
+
+"What for you bin no yard all yarraman?"[#]
+
+
+[#] Yarraman--native name for horse.
+
+
+"Bail me see some, Boss."
+
+"You bin getting lazy.  I'll hae to gie you a taste o' the stock whip."
+
+"Me no 'fraid you, Boss," replied the black with a grin. "You not like
+my ole boss, Cap'n White.  Him murry quick with whip.  Sandy bin tellin'
+me you only gammon."
+
+"See that you drive in every hoof to-morrow morning, or, Sandy or no
+Sandy, ye'll get a surprise, my boy."
+
+"I cam across some brumby tracks yesterday aifternoon in the springers'
+paddock," continued the squatter to Harry, the head stockman.  "Meant to
+hae spoken aboot it afore."
+
+"They're a rare nuisance, they brutes!  There maun be a gap in the
+dog-leg fence at the far side for 'em to ha'e got in.  You'd better tak'
+Jacky and Denny at once, and mak' the fence secure.  That pack o'
+rubbage'll be doing a lot o' mischief among the springers wi' their
+galloping.  Ye'd better go across by the horse-paddock, an' see if ye
+can get a sicht o' the mares.  It's almost as near as the other track."
+
+"All right, Boss.  Jacky, you go to Ah Fat an' tell 'im to put up some
+grub.  Git the billy an' tots, an' bring 'em along.  Tell Denny I want
+'im.  He's working in the garden."
+
+"Oh, I say," bawling after the retreating boy; "tell Denny to git the
+small cross-cut, an' a couple o' tommies, an' a bit o' wire to do the
+mendin' with.  Slither away, now, ye son of a black buck!"
+
+In a few minutes the men are on their way through the horse-paddock to
+the slip-rails in the far corner, to carry on the repairing work in the
+springers' enclosure.
+
+It may be explained to the uninitiated that the horse-paddock is that
+nearest the homestead, where the station horses in use are kept; a
+larger or smaller mob according to requirements.  These are yarded at
+daylight every morning.  When the horses required for the day's work are
+selected the balance are turned loose for the day. The springers'
+paddock, reserved for the breeding cows, was a large one; one of the
+best on the run, in fact. The men as they rode along kept a sharp
+look-out for the missing steeds.  Separating as they neared the
+dam--which was a large sheet of water backing up in the gullies for a
+mile or so--they rode on either side, coming together at the box-tree
+ridge where the slip-rails were located.  No sign of the horses!
+
+"Strange, chaps!  Wonder where they can be.  Floss an' Dolly are fair
+terrors for hidin'.  But--hello! there's the slip-rails down!"
+
+Sure enough, the two topmost rails were down.  Who could have done it?
+
+The mystery is soon solved; the ground on the outside being trampled
+with horse hoofs.  It told its tale of cause and effect quickly enough
+to these bushmen.
+
+"The blessed brumbies hev got in an' coaxed 'em out, sure enough.  It's
+the warrigal's[#] mob for a quid.  Fifty of 'em, if there's a hoof.
+
+[#] Warrigal--wild, savage; applied indifferently by the natives to
+animals and men.
+
+"How d'yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"
+
+The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum at this kind of work.
+
+"Why, it's the ole warrigal's work o' course.  Trust 'im fur findin' out
+a way o' gettin' up a flirt with the ladies.  He's the cutest cuss in
+Australia, bar none.  Full o' blood he is too.  New Warrior strain outer
+a great arab mare of Kurnel Dumaresque.  I know 'im well, fur I was with
+Captain White just after he'd bought both dam an' foal from the ole
+Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque swopped 'em fur a stud
+Hereford 'e was terribly struck on.
+
+"Yes; he was allus a wild un.  My word, you should 'a' seen 'im as a
+yearling!  Allus leadin' the other youngsters into mischief; breakin'
+into the lucem paddocks, an' chasin' the dorgs till they was in mortial
+terror of 'im; gettin' mad fits among the horses; kickin' an' squealin'
+an' chiveyin' em', till one day the Captain gits in a towerin' rage an'
+says to me an' one-eyed Bob, who was workin' fur 'im then: 'Run in that
+dad-busted, bloomin' brute an' fix 'im; it's the only way ter take the
+divvil outer 'im.'
+
+"You see, 'e was a grand, upstandin' beast as a colt, an' the Captain
+wunst thought to have 'im fur stud purposes, fur all 'e was a mix breed;
+but 'e soon seed that was outer the question.
+
+"Well, as I was sayin', the Captain orders me an' one-eyed Bob to yard
+'im.  'Twarn't no easy job nuther, I tell you; for the brute soon
+cottoned what we was up to.  At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards
+'im, and with 'im a couple o' colts an' a lot er fillies.  Bob threw the
+lasso a dozen times afore 'e noosed 'im, cause 'e kept dodgin' in an'
+out among the fillies.  It was the deuce's own job to separate 'em.
+
+"At larst, I say, Bob fixed 'im, an' didn't 'e perform. Howe'er, Bob
+'olds 'im, an' I gits 'old of the slack to give a turn round the post,
+so's ter bring 'im up.  But all of a suddent 'e makes a mad rush at Bob,
+sendin' 'im sprawlin' with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer my
+hands, an' streaked fur the slip-rails--six on 'em there wor--an' by
+'evans! jumps like a cat at 'em; comin' down with 'is belly on top,
+smashin' the rail, but fallin' on the outside; never, of course,
+breakin' 'is bloomin' neck--an' galloped orf like mad.
+
+"Must 'a' bin red mad sure enuff, fur 'e broke through the wire fence
+the Cap had round 'is 'orse-paddock; and that's the larst we seen of 'im
+fur months.
+
+"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin' after some steers, when
+I come acrost 'im in a mob of brumbies he'd chummed up with.  'E was
+'aving a pretty rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o'
+stallions in the mob as wasn't agreeable fur 'is company in the 'arem;
+an that's 'ow we come ter git 'im a few years after, I 'spect."
+
+"Thin you did git hould iv th' grey divvil?" exclaimed Denny.
+
+"Yes; we got 'im all right.  But, look here, chaps, no time's to be
+lost.  These beggars may be still in the paddock.  If not, they've got
+out the way they came in, an' are 'eadin' fur the ranges.  We'll cut
+across to the north end where the fence crosses Rocky Crick.  I 'spect
+that's where they've broken in.  It looked a bit shaky a fortni't ago,
+as I come by.  I don't think they've got in at the dog-leg end, that the
+Boss spoke about.  Anyhow, we'll try the Crick fust."
+
+A sharp ride of about four miles brought the men to the spot indicated
+by Harry.  It was a rocky bit of country, and sure enough they found the
+"shaky" post and rails lying on the ground.  The immediate cause of this
+was a big limb of a dry stringy-bark tree, which had fallen upon the
+weak spot and smashed it down.  The horse tracks about the spot showed
+conclusively that the mob had gone in and out by this means.
+
+According to Jacky, the black boy, the inward tracks were about three
+days old; the outward, a few hours. Without doubt, the brumbies had
+"nosed" the rails to which the mares had been attracted by their
+neighings, early in the night.  Then in the dawning of the morning they
+had moved out to one of their haunts in the ranges.
+
+"The only thing now is to get back an' tell the Boss. 'E'll be mad when
+he knows, you bet; thinks no end o' Floss an' Jeannie.  Put up the
+rails, boys, quick an' lively."  In a few minutes the men had fixed up
+the broken panels securely, and then rode homewards.
+
+"Saay, Harry, me bhoy, how'd yees yard th' ould stag, as ye was sayin'
+when ye was talkin' forninst th' slip-raales?
+
+"Wasn't an old stag then, an' isn't now, fur that matter, the brute's in
+'is prime yet.  Let's see, 'e's risin' 'leven now, an' we got 'im just
+afore I left the Captain fur the Boss here.  Lemme think.  Yes, it's
+just over five year ago; he'd be about six, then.  Fur all his tricks,
+the two stallions had driven 'im off their beat.  'E'd got a couple o'
+mares, though, an' kep' 'em in the range country on the out-station; but
+it was all of an accident that we got 'im.
+
+"One day me an' the Captain was ridin' through the run, havin' a good
+look at the stock; fur we had a notion of cuttin' out a mob o' fats.
+Well, as I was sayin', we was ridin' along the back part of the run, an'
+we came acrost a couple o' brumbies, each with a foal.  'Stead o'
+scootin', as they does in giniral, the mares galloped in a circle, but
+didn't clear.
+
+"'It's mighty strange,' ses the Captain.  'What are they 'angin' about
+fur, an' where's their mate?  Never seed 'em parted afore.'  'It is
+strange,' ses I; 'an' there's only one thing to account fur it, an' that
+is the cove's about sumwheres 'andy.'
+
+"We moved on to a rocky gully that opens out on to a big plain.  At one
+place a log fence runs acrost to keep the stock in.  Bymby we comes
+plump onter it, an', great gosh alive! if there weren't the grey.  'E
+seed us as soon as we spotted 'im, an' set up a great squealin' an'
+pawin', but cuddn't get away.  There 'e was, like a bandicoot in a
+V-trap.  'E was caught by the off hind-leg, between two big logs that
+lay clost together.  'E was jammed tight enough.  Wunder was 'e didn't
+break a leg.
+
+"When the Cap saw the fix 'e was in, didn't 'e just cuss fur joy.  Then
+'e sends me back to the hut, about two mile away, fur ropes, an' ole
+Jack the keeper.  Well, I streaked fur the hut, you bet, an' was there
+less'n no time. Soon me an' Jack, with two green 'ide lassoes an' an
+'emp one, also a axe, was on the spot.
+
+"When the 'orse sees the ropes 'e yelled, an' roared, an' pawed, an'
+snapped 'is teeth, fur all the world like a trapt dingo.  An', wud you
+believe it? _the blarmy mares hadn't follered us up_!  There they was
+just ahind us, whinneying and screamin'; their way o' swearing an'
+cussin' I s'pose.  Wish-I-may-die if we didn't have to put the stock
+whip on 'em to roust 'em away.
+
+"'How are yer goin' ter manage 'im,' ses I to the Cap when I comes up
+with the things.
+
+"'I'll soon let yer see,' ses 'e.  'Fust of all we'll pass a rope round
+'is free 'ind-leg well up on to the shank. Then we'll put another on the
+front fetlock an' acrost 'is flanks.'
+
+"Well, it took us a goodish bit to fix 'im up.  I forgot ter say that we
+tied the third rope round 'is neck, an' that was no easy job, fur every
+time the Cap threw the lasso he'd dodge it with 'is 'ed like a fightin'
+kangaroo. But, ter make a long story short, when we'd roped 'im, we
+levered one of the logs with saplin's so's ter git 'is other leg free.
+Then, didn't 'e play up!  But by the time we'd given 'im arf a dozen
+falls, an' two o' them riglar croppers, 'e seed it was no use, throws up
+the sponge, an' comes along quietly.
+
+"We didn't give 'im any charnse, you bet, as 'e was such a sly demon.
+So we got 'im ter the stockyard at the 'ead station, a matter o'
+thirteen mile or so.  We put 'im in the crush fust, then got a 'evvy
+'alter on 'im, an' tied it to 'is front off leg so's 'e cuddent jump; in
+that way we fixed 'im fur the night.
+
+"Early nex' morning, just as I was thinkin' o' gittin' up, there comes a
+tremenjious 'ammerin' an' bangin' at the door, shoutin' out sumthin' I
+cuddent understand. I jumps up an' opens the door, an' there was ole
+Jack singin' out an' makin' a great fluster.
+
+"'What in thunder's the matter, Jack?' ses I.
+
+"'Warrigal's gone!' ses 'e, all tremblin' like.  'Cleared right out in
+the night.'
+
+"Off I rushes ter the yards, an' sure enuff, the beast had cleared; yet
+the rails was up.
+
+"''Ow the dickens 'e got out, Jack?' ses I, lookin' round.  Presently I
+comes ter the slip-rails, an' soon spots 'ow 'e done it.  I'm blest if
+the ole cuss didn't lay down ter it at the rails an' 'riggled 'is way
+out sideways.  You cud see the ground all tore up by 'is 'oofs as 'e
+inched 'is way out.  There was a knot at the lower side o' the rail, an'
+it was covered with 'air an' blood, which shows what a tight squeeze it
+was."
+
+"But 'ow the blazes did he gat out iv th' pathock whin he was
+knee-haltered?"
+
+"Like enuff 'e worked 'is 'edstall off as 'e 'riggled through.  We
+thought we'd made it tight enuff fur anythin'.  Anyways 'e cleared, an',
+what's more, 'e an' the mares moved off the run an' wasn't 'eard of fur
+long, then 'e was found bossin' a mob on Bullaroi."
+
+By this time the men had reached the homestead. Leaving the others at
+the stockyard, Harry proceeded to the house to break the bad news to the
+owner.
+
+The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the affair had taken.  Two
+of the horses were brood mares on which he set a high value, and for
+which he had given a big price.  They were full of breeding, having the
+famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire's side.  The occurrence was no
+less than a calamity in more ways than one.
+
+Their location was in difficult country, and with such a rogue as the
+grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job of rescue seemed by no means
+easy or certain.  Mr. M'Intyre, however, was determined to regain his
+mares, and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine demon.
+One thing in his favour was the fact that in midsummer there was a
+scarcity of water in the ranges, and their run, for a while, at any
+rate, must be in and about the foot-hills.
+
+As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders were
+invited to join in the brumby hunt, which is, as a rule, the most
+exciting, and, at times the most dangerous, sport that Australia can
+furnish, keenly relished by bushmen.
+
+The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than the mustang is a
+native American horse; that is to say, it is not indigenous to the
+country.  Brumbies are the descendants of imported horses which have
+escaped into the bush and bred there.
+
+When Australian settlements were confined to the barest fringe of the
+continent, it was very common for stock, both horses and cattle, to
+stray from the settled areas into the great wilderness beyond.
+
+An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis of colonial
+expansion.  When the first expedition sailed from England, not only were
+officials, soldiers, and convicts shipped; but also an assortment of
+domestic animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony
+proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.
+
+As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many beasts strayed
+beyond the borders of the occupied country to the interior forests and
+plains; and before very long "brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers"
+(wild cattle) covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the
+advancing line of settlers.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XX*
+
+                           *THE BRUMBY HUNT*
+
+
+    "Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o'er,
+      All the lowlands are filling with sound;
+    For swiftly we gain where the mobs of the plain
+      Like a tempest are tearing the ground!
+    And we'll follow them hard to the rails of the yard,
+      Over gulches and mountain-tops grey,
+    Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet
+      Will die with the echoes away."
+        HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"How many are coming to the hunt to-morrow, dad?"
+
+"About a score all told, my son.  That is," continued the speaker
+somewhat inconsequently, "if they a' turn up."
+
+"Gills coming, ain't they?"
+
+"Yes; the old man, son, and ane o' the stockmen'll be here this evening,
+so as to be ready for the early stairt the morn's morn.  That reminds
+me, I've no telt your mother.  They'll be here aboot supper-time."
+
+"Captain White coming, I s'pose?"
+
+"If he's above ground.  We'd best coont 'em up. Get a bit o' paper,
+Saundy, and pit doon the names. Then we'll ken for sure."
+
+"Ready, father."
+
+"Pit doon oor ain lot first.  Mysel', you, Hairry, the blacks, Denny,
+the bullock driver, the ration carrier, Redgate and Broon from the
+oot-station, Joe, Tom, N-eville--I suppose.  Hoo mony's that?"
+
+"Thirteen."
+
+"So mony's that?  At that rate we'll hae ower a score. Weel, that's a'
+the better.  Let's see, noo: pit doun the Gill lot, that's three more.
+Then there's Captain White. Old Dumaresque says he'll be along, but I
+dinna reckon on him, so you needna coont him in.  White's going to bring
+twa men wi' him.  And, m-yes, there's Davison o' the bank, and Dickson
+the lawyer.  Told 'em the other day I'd let 'em know.  They'll need to
+be here the nicht, too.  We'd better send Willy in wi' a message at
+once.  That's a' noo I think.  Hoo mony does that tot up?"
+
+"Twenty-one not counting the Colonel."
+
+"Weel, I hope they'll turn up, that's a'."
+
+"I say, father, could Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy come?"
+
+"Eh?  Weel, I--I dinna ken.  Can they ride?"
+
+"Ride?  Listen to him!  Why, Yellow Billy's the boss rider among the
+boys.  You know his steer----"
+
+"Ah weel," said Mr. M'Intyre laughingly, "we'll hae 'em.  Send word by
+the boy."
+
+Accordingly, the invitation was taken to the four Tareelians.  Gill and
+party turned up about dark, and shortly after them the town lot, all of
+whom were welcomed by their hospitable host.
+
+M'Intyre had made extensive preparations for the hunt.  There are
+various methods for trapping wild horses.  The one in vogue at Bullaroi
+and the surrounding stations was that called the "wing" trap.  This
+consists, first of all, in determining the usual brumby run.  The next
+work, and an important one, is the building of yards in a locality
+specially selected, the object being to get as near as possible to the
+natural line of the horses' travel when stampeded.
+
+The yards must be well constructed, with a high, strong fence, having an
+open mouth so wide as to give the hunted steed no suspicion of running
+into a trap.  The upper and nether lips of this mouth, after running
+parallel a short distance, gradually converge to the throat, as it were,
+finally meeting, and forming a cul-de-sac.
+
+From the mouth extremity a vast roll of canvas, or, rather, calico
+strips about six inches wide, is made fast to one of the fence
+terminals, and from there, at a slight outward angle, is often taken for
+miles, being secured at intervals to trees or stakes which are driven
+into the ground.  The wing is fixed breast high.  This, to the
+inexperienced, seems but a flimsy obstacle; but the calico barrier,
+frail as it appears, acts as an effectual boundary. Brumbies are both
+timid and suspicious, and very rarely charge a wing.  When driven on to
+one they wheel either to right or left, with never a thought of breaking
+through or jumping it.
+
+The strategy of the "drive" is to station men at intervals from the
+terminal point of the wing; each man is armed with a heavy stock whip, a
+cruel enough weapon in the hands of an adept.  Others are left at the
+trap-yard mouth on the outward side, concealed as a rule, and ready to
+dart out and head the mob should it scent danger when nearing the
+opening.  The remainder of the men proceed to locate and enflank the
+mob, and drive them in the given direction.  This, often, is a very
+difficult matter, and sometimes the best laid scheme is defeated by a
+determined and irresistible rush of the mob in the teeth of their
+assailants.
+
+Premising the "round up" and drive to be successful as far as the wing,
+the wing supports wheel them in the right direction; then close in and
+pass to the outside to strengthen the flank men, who now form a parallel
+line with the racing brumbies.  Thus, with the calico wing on one side,
+a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on the other, and a harrying
+force behind, the spectacle is as brilliant and as exciting as Australia
+can furnish in the line of sport.
+
+
+At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the Bullaroi party,
+well mounted, wend their way to the appointed rendezvous, from whence
+the amalgamated forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.
+
+The men and boys are variously mounted.  All the horses, however, are
+used to stock work; some of them, within certain limits, being as
+intelligent as the men who bestride them.  Many of them are what is
+known as "camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and
+cutting out work on the cattle camp.  Quick to wheel, to dodge, to
+out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even to divine the enemy's
+intention; skilful in wedging through a pack; ready to advance
+backwards, so to speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders
+unavail; needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the work,
+the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a cattle run.
+
+Both M'Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted on favourites of the
+above-named variety.  The price of each was regarded by its rider as
+beyond rubies.  Both men were strong-boned, grizzled, and expert
+bushmen, with not a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bodies. Neville
+was of the company.  He had learned many things in the intervening days;
+the first, and most essential, was that England could furnish no
+precedent to Australia in things that are peculiar to station life. He
+gradually dropped his pet phrase, "The way we do things in England."
+The scales had fallen from his eyes concerning many things "Colonial."
+
+Mr. M'Intyre, who liked him, paid him no little attention.  He rode out
+on the run with him, giving common-sense hints in his dry way, from time
+to time, which his guest was ready enough to take.  He learned to ride
+fairly well, and, after many mortifying failures, could crack a stock
+whip without entangling it in the horse's legs.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre was dubious about Neville going.  The Englishman, however,
+was so set on joining the cavalcade that to object seemed discourtesy.
+All hints of the danger attached to this expedition were scouted.  So,
+on this eventful morning, mounted on his host's favourite hack, Curlew,
+the visitor formed one of the company.
+
+The others need no description.  With spirits mounting high in
+anticipation they pass over open plain, through brigalow scrub, along
+box ridges, and across country on a ten-mile spin to a spot on Rocky
+Creek called the Glen--a place already decided upon.  As there was no
+knowing to what extent the powers of both men and horses would be tried
+during the day, the journey was made at a moderate speed, so as to spare
+them for the arduous task of the drive.
+
+The pals, on this occasion six in number, were compelled to curb their
+tendencies to fun and frolic; though there were some very tempting and
+well-nigh irresistible inducements to spurts as the game rose or scudded
+before them.  Inviting jumps, too, lured them; but high jump or low
+jump, kangaroo or emu, charm they never so wisely, are resisted.
+
+But their tongues are uncurbed.  How they did chatter, to be sure!  It
+did the older members good to hear their gay and joyous prattle.  Their
+views of life in general, and brumby hunting in particular, were novel
+and unconventional. They settled everything touching the day's
+proceedings, from the place of the "find" to the number yarded.  All
+that the warrigal might do, and all that they would positively do to
+circumvent him, together with many other things, were discussed with the
+self-confidence of youth.
+
+In due time the Glen is reached, and the Bullaroi party find that they
+are first upon the scene.
+
+"Off saddles all o' you.  Must ease the horses a' we can.  Saundy, you
+and the boys mak a fire and get the billy going.  Denny, bring the
+tucker-bag from the pack-saddle.  Mr. Neville, what in the name of
+common-sense are ye tying yure nag to that dead tree for?"
+
+"What's wrong with it, sir?"
+
+"What's richt wi' it, mon?"
+
+"I--I--don't know what you mean."
+
+"Boss means yer a fool ter tie the moke up in the blazing sun," said
+Harry in an undertone, as he passed by the new chum.  "Put 'im under a
+shade tree same as the rest of us."
+
+"Beg pardon, yes--er--I see," answered he, mortified for a moment, as he
+moved from the leafless trunk to a clump of currajongs, whose thick
+foliage effectually screened the sun's rays.
+
+"Wot sort of a bloke's that 'ere cove?" asked Jimmy Flynn of Tom
+Hawkins.  "He's a regular greeny, ain't he?"
+
+"Oh, a good enough sort!" replied Tom.  "He's new, but he's a learner.
+He picks up pretty fast, considering. You should 'a' seen him when he
+came here first; my word, he was a greenhorn then!"
+
+"Here's the Captain, father!" sang out Sandy, as three men cantered up
+the track.
+
+"Guid-day, White!  Guid-day, men!  Glad to see you. Off saddle and join
+us in a tot o' tea and a bite."
+
+"Good-day, M'Intyre!  By George! you've got quite a troop, man.  Day,
+Dickson!  Day, Davidson!  What on earth do you townies think you're
+going to do?  Stand a good chance, Dickson, of cracking your skull and
+spilling all that legal soph--I mean lore, that's bottled up there.  Oh,
+I say, Mac, old Dumaresque's coming along," rattled on the Captain.
+
+"I'll believe it when I see him, no' afore.  The auld boy's better at
+hame when this wark's on."
+
+"Well, all I know is that he sent me word last night by one of the men,
+and cautioned me to be sure and tell you."
+
+"If he comes he comes, and if he disna he'll no' be much missed.  Noo,
+boys, bring in the tea!"
+
+"By Jove!  M'Intyre, your wife's a sensible woman: this is the sort of
+grub to work on.  Last month I was over at the Glenormiston mustering.
+De Little asked me to join him at midday after a heavy morning's work,
+and as I was as hungry as ten hunters I readily consented. What d'ye
+think he produced from his tucker-bag? Some lettuce sandwiches, no less;
+and cream puffs!  De Little's as good as gold, you know, so I couldn't
+refuse to take some; but, I give you my word, I strolled over to his men
+as soon as I could get away decently, and got a slice of beef and a
+chunk of damper."
+
+"Hoo's De Little getting on?"
+
+"Well, between you and me and the billy-can, he's no more cut out for a
+squatter than for an archangel. Pity he ever left London.  He'd be more
+at home in Rotten Row.  Hello! here's the old Colonel and two boys.
+Seeing will dissipate even your scepticism, Mac."
+
+Dumaresque was a choleric but plucky old superannuated Indian officer,
+who on his retirement came over to Australia and purchased a small
+cattle run, living bachelor fashion.  He was now quite old, yet fancied
+himself equal to any toil.  To hint at his age infirmities was to raise
+a very sirocco of indignant language.
+
+"Hello, Cornel! wha'd 'a' thocht that you----"
+
+"Stop, M'Intyre, stop!  I know right well, sir, what you are going to
+remark.  If you, sir, look upon a bit of a brumby hunt as an
+extraordinary thing, let me inform you that to me 'tis but a trifle.
+Why, man, when I was stationed on the northern frontier----"
+
+"Yes, yes, Dumaresque," broke in the Captain, who knew the other's
+weakness, "we're all delighted to see you.  Just in time for a pannikin
+of tea and a mouthful. Here you, Dick, Tom, Harry, one of you, take the
+Colonel's horse."
+
+A few minutes later the men filed out of the Glen, and proceeded along
+the creek to a spur in the foot-hills. Then they left the water-shed,
+crossing the spur, from which they continued up a grassy valley which
+extended nearly three miles before it broadened out into an open plain,
+lightly timbered at the upper or ridge side, but perfectly treeless at
+its other extremity.
+
+Two-thirds of the way up the valley, in a belt of box trees, was the
+trap-yard.  The trap mouth, before described, extended across the belt
+to the outermost verge.
+
+After a short inspection of the yard the calico wing was fixed.  It was
+attached to the terminal post of the yard mouth, nearest to the ridge
+that skirted the valley on the top side.  From thence it was taken in a
+straight line on the ridge side of the valley, until the plain was
+reached.  From this point, inclining slighting outward and made fast at
+short intervals, it extended right across the plain, ending in a clump
+of iron-barks.
+
+"Noo, men, ye'll jist hae a wee bit grub and then we'll stairt."
+
+The meal was soon dispatched, and a short consultation ensued.  M'Intyre
+apportioned the men their places.  Six, under Gill, were located in the
+iron-bark clump.  Five others were sent back to the trap-yard, two miles
+distant, to assigned duty there.  The remaining sixteen were to execute
+the task of first "feeling" the enemy; then of outflanking them; and,
+finally, directing the stampede.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXI*
+
+                       *THE WARRIGAL'S STRATEGY*
+
+
+    "Hast thou given the horse his might?
+    Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    The glory of his snorting is terrible.
+    He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.
+    He goeth out to meet the armed men.
+    He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    He smelleth the battle afar off:
+    The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."
+        JOB.
+
+
+"Noo, men, we'll be on the move."
+
+The leader sprang to his horse and directed him on to the plain.
+
+"Where do you expect to pick 'em up, Mac?"
+
+"Micht sicht them at ony minute, maybe no' for hours; maybe no' at a',
+Captain."
+
+"Willy and Jacky, you gang on aheed and keep your een weel peeled for
+signs.  No sae fast, lads; mustna spoil the sport at the stairt.  Let
+the blacks get weel aheed. We maun sicht them afore they tak alairm, or
+it'll be a hopeless stern chase."
+
+Joe, Tom, and Sandy, greatly to their delight, were with the "flying
+column."  Yellow Billy was with the trap contingent, while Jimmy Flynn
+was stationed with Mr. Gill in the iron-bark clump.  Neville, at his
+earnest request, was given a place with Mr. M'Intyre.
+
+As soon as he touched the myall country, the leader cautiously skirted
+it, until the party were well out and away from the range of hills that
+continued on the eastern side.  He then took an inward course, and made
+a slant which carried them back to the foot-hills.
+
+So far there was neither sight nor sound of the mob, nor were there any
+indications of their presence at any recent date.  From the range base
+another tack was taken, which brought them upon the edge of a scrub that
+had wedged itself into the plain.  By this time the column had covered a
+lot of ground.
+
+"We'll fringe the timber for a while, and then, if we've nae luck, we'll
+hae to divide; half to go into the ranges, and the other to keep richt
+along the plain.  Keep weel in, lads, we'll cut that pint," continued
+the leader, as the men moved on through the outer fringe of scrub; while
+out on the plain, which was dotted with rosewood and myall clumps, the
+black boys moved with lithe and stealthy movements.
+
+"Father, I hear a whistle!"
+
+"Hist, men! quiet all o' ye!"
+
+"There it's again!" exclaimed Sandy after a moment's silence, as a low
+whistle came from the plain.  "That's Jacky's whistle, dad, sure enough.
+I'd know it among a thousand----"
+
+"A' richt, my boy.  Jacky's got something.  We'll move oot quietly and
+see."
+
+Wheeling to the right, the column soon arrived at the spot indicated by
+Jacky's whistle.  The black boy stood by the side of his horse, pointing
+to some fresh droppings and to numerous hoof-tracks.
+
+"What is it, Jacky?" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre as the men rode up.
+
+"Blendy brumby bin here, Boss, few minutes ago."
+
+The tracks and signs were so fresh that, as the black said, it was only
+the question of a few minutes since they occupied the spot.
+
+"Most fortunate we've got ahint them.  They're near by.  At ony moment
+we micht sicht them.  Ye'll fa' into a doubble column, men.  Captain,
+ye'll tak seeven men and I'll keep the ithers.  We'll hae twa columns a
+hunder yairds apairt."
+
+In this fashion the men proceeded slowly, with a black boy ahead of each
+column as a scout, and following the tracks of the brumbies.  As
+predicted, in a few minutes Willy held up a warning hand.
+
+The columns quickly closed up to the scouts, and their leaders saw,
+through the willow-like branches of a myall clump, the long-sought-for
+mob.  The horses were standing close together in an expectant attitude.
+Their suspicions were aroused.  Though they had not scented the wind of
+their pursuers, nevertheless, with that wonderful _something_ so common
+in wild things, they _felt_ the enemy's presence.
+
+The intervening distance was about three hundred yards.  According to
+arrangement, each column opened out at its head, with the object of
+outflanking the horses. Silently the columns wheeled to the left and
+right sharply, and then moved forward.  While in the act of executing
+this tactic their presence was detected, and scanned in a moment.  Then,
+with a snort, or rather a fusilade of snorts and neighs, heads erected,
+manes and tails streaming, away flew the alarmed steeds; and in swift
+pursuit, maintaining their formation, the men followed.
+
+There was no intention of unduly alarming the brumbies, therefore all
+shoutings and stock-whip crackings were restrained.  And now the hunters
+begin to feel the ardour of the chase, both horses and men; for so eager
+were the station horses to join in the hunt that the riders were obliged
+to take a double pull on them.
+
+Neville, in the excitement of the raid, forgot the orders, and broke his
+line, making a rush for the tail of the flying mob.  The Captain,
+however, nipped his intention in the bud with a few red-hot expletives,
+ordering the Englishman back to his place in the line.
+
+The brumbies, when started, were about eight miles from the wing, and
+headed directly for it, going off from the jump with a fine burst.  The
+wily warrigal, however, was not going to be run off his legs in a spurt;
+in a short time the breakneck pace is moderated, and the straggling mob
+close up.
+
+The horsemen hung on the flanks of the galloping steeds, steadying into
+an accommodating pace, and, as previously directed, making a semicircle,
+whose points extended beyond the sides of the retreating animals.  The
+station mares were in the mob, capering for the moment as wildly as any
+in their company.  Tallboy lagged somewhat in the rear.  He had
+evidently received scant courtesy from the brumbies.  It was observed
+that his heart was not in this matter.  Had they wished, the horsemen
+could easily have cut him out of the mob.
+
+The flying steeds--about fifty, young and old--had covered about
+two-thirds of the distance to the terminal point of the wing, and had
+not once swerved from this direction.  The men were in high glee.  So
+far it was nothing more than an exhilarating gallop, and they kept up
+the formation beautifully.  The horses, too, although the day was very
+hot, had not yet shown any sign of distress.  It was a different thing
+with some of the hunted animals, however.  There were some very old
+stock among the mares.  The pace and the heat combined were telling
+heavily upon them, and they that rode could read.
+
+One of these was a chronic "roarer," and her distressed gasps were
+plainly heard above the thunder of the hoof. Two of the mares began to
+lag in a palpable manner, despite the encouraging whinneying of the
+stallion, as he turned from side to side with a troubled look.
+
+They who belittle the intelligence of animals, and treat them as lacking
+heart and soul, can have had little experience of their nature and ways.
+The old sheik of the wilderness was full of concern for his many wives.
+Love, despite all that the poets may say, is not blind; it is open-eyed
+and alert.  Had he been alone the warrigal would have snorted at his
+foes with the utmost disdain, and led them such a dance as not all their
+imaginings had ever conceived.  But, alas! some at least of his faithful
+ones would be overtaken; were even now in peril.  Desertion? Never!
+
+Rescue! but how?  Yes; he will plan, he will outwit. He will use
+strategy against strategy, and at once, by which he may draw these
+merciless foes from the weaklings and give them an opportunity of
+escape.
+
+Quickening his pace, he raced along, closely followed by his
+company--save some half-dozen of the more exhausted mares, who were now
+widely separated from their mates. Then, wheeling sharply, the flying
+squadron dashed across the plain towards the foot-hills in a furious
+gallop.
+
+Divining his altered tactics, the Captain and M'Intyre increased their
+speed, taking no notice of the hindermost horses, and closely watching
+the head and ruck of the flying squadron.
+
+On, on! in mad gallop, whip and spur going freely now, sped the hunted
+and the hunters; and as they suddenly dashed across the face of the
+Captain's column, it seemed as if nothing human could stay their flight.
+The bold Captain and his men, however, nothing daunted nor surprised,
+wheeled a little more to the left, having some advantage in being well
+out, as well as being high up on the brumbies' flanks.
+
+"Now, boys," cried Captain White, "head 'em, rush 'em!"  Saying which,
+he rode straight for the stallion's head--who was leading--with four men
+pounding at his heels.  It was a splendid attempt to head the mob, and
+succeeded save with one exception.  That exception was the warrigal!
+
+The bunch of men hurled themselves on the leader, and had he not swerved
+there would have been a terrific impact, which might have spelled
+disablement or death to more than one.  When a man's blood is up in
+riotous chase he joyously challenges death in ways that chill him to the
+bone in cool blood.
+
+The grey demon, however, swerved to the right with tremendous speed, and
+the Captain crossed his course within a couple of feet of his stern; his
+only revenge being a savage cut with his whip across the retreating
+animal's flanks.  But if the men's rush failed with the leader, they
+stopped the stampede of his immediate followers.
+
+Floss and Jeannie, who were hard on the heels of the warrigal, were
+intercepted and turned.  The stock whips, cracking like a blaze of
+musketry, played upon the ruck of the confused animals in merciless
+fashion, scoring their flanks and ribs.  In a few seconds they were
+driven, pell-mell, back to the line of retreat.  In the meantime those
+immediately behind the mob, and those on the right flank, kept the
+balance going and together.  Thus the defeated ones regained their
+fellows, discomforted, and not a little cowed, in their leaderless
+condition.
+
+And what of the warrigal?
+
+To continue the chase of him were only to knock the horses up in
+fruitless pursuit.  No! he must be abandoned.  With liberty uncurtailed
+let him roam the wilds, fancy free.  The station runaways remain, as
+well as others that will be of value and service.
+
+So wisely reasoned man, but not so the warrigal. Foiled in his purpose,
+regardless of his own pursuit, the great equine leader wheeled in a wide
+circle, uttering the while shrill neighs to attract his consorts.  'Tis
+for naught, however, that he utters challenge to his enemies and appeal
+to his mates.  The stockmen have ringed the mob, and now at a slower
+pace they continue the drive; the men opening out, and keeping abreast
+the leading horses.
+
+And now the iron-bark clump is near at hand.  To this the enraged
+stallion gallops.  The wing men, on the alert, watch this last
+manoeuvre, and line out to intercept him should he make for the hills.
+Such was not his intention, though; and their appearance only
+accelerates the execution of his determination, which was simply to
+regain his companions; this he did with a rush, no one saying nay.
+
+M'Intyre and his men were careful not to push the driven beasts, but
+were content to let them make the pace.  And now at a swinging
+canter--old mares well up, despite all fatigue---they struck the clump,
+and passed the point to which the wing extended.  The wing men, joining
+in the cavalcade by orders of their leader, pass to the right flank and
+reinforce the drivers there.
+
+They are now within half a mile of the trap.  At a preconcerted signal
+the men close up, and amid an unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings
+the beasts are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.
+
+The calico wing acts effectually on the one side, allowing a strong line
+to form up on the other.  Barring accidents, the hunt is as good as
+finished; for in a moment or two the horses will be entering the trap
+mouth.
+
+The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the yard.  But, stay!
+His keen eyes sight the fence.  _It is a trap_!  Past adventures flood
+his recollection and shape judgment and determination.  Inside the trap,
+death or slavery!  Outside, liberty!
+
+Is it too late?  No!  By the ashes of his fathers he will elude his
+would-be captors!  His faithful spouses, naught, alas! will save them.
+Let those who dare follow him!  Away, then!
+
+With a wild rush, when within some two hundred yards of the trap mouth,
+he turns swiftly to the right at a tangent, so as to head his enemies
+and cut away on the outside of the fence.
+
+The gallant grey well deserves his freedom.  His courage, devotion, and
+intelligence should surely prevail upon the men.  But the pursuers were
+not indulging in any sentiment just then, and as soon as his last tactic
+was revealed the race of interception was begun.  He might yet have
+escaped, for he was full of running, but, alas! the unseen foe!
+
+The five men detailed at the trap mouth, were grouped thereat, just
+behind a cluster of silver wattles, ready for any emergency.  It seemed
+to them that their services would not be required.
+
+But, see! the warrigal!
+
+There is no time to reason.  In a flash they streak out from cover and
+ride straight at the flying barb.  Something must happen.  The fearful
+impact, narrowly escaped but an hour ago, occurs.  There is no attempt
+on either side to avoid the issue.  With a mighty bound and a savage
+snap of his teeth the warrigal flings himself at the foremost, bringing
+horse and rider down with a crash, both lying motionless upon the plain.
+
+At the same moment, and scarce a length behind, came Yellow Billy.  His
+attempt to head the runaway was blocked by the impact of the steeds.
+Too near to swerve, his horse struck the leading beast on the
+hind-quarters at the moment of the crash, adding to the confusion, and
+coming down a cropper.
+
+Staggered by the violent collision, the stallion is brought to a sudden
+stop, but not to the ground.  And now an astounding thing happens.
+Yellow Billy, while falling with his steed, to save himself from the
+warrigal's feet clutched frantically at that animal's mane, and, by a
+clever vault, to the amazement of his comrades, sprang upon the outlaw's
+back.
+
+It would be hard to say if at that particular moment the horse himself
+was cognisant of the act.  The pause covered but the fraction of a
+second.  With a bound he leaped the fallen bodies, and, there being no
+one in front to stay him, tore off in a direction that skirted the trap
+fence.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXII*
+
+                 *HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL*
+
+
+"The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the
+neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth."--JEREMIAH.
+
+
+The tragic ending of the last rush held all breaths for some brief
+moments.  Such a contretemps had never happened before.  It beat all
+previous experiences.  The vanishing horse and rider seemed a wild
+fantasy of the brain, that passes like the breaking of a soap-bubble.
+There, before their very eyes, lay the slain; the victims of the mad
+charge.
+
+Several of the men dash after the desperate horse and his acrobatic
+rider.  Simultaneously, a small group of men--among the foremost is Mr.
+Gill--rush to the fallen men and beasts.
+
+Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was known as a fearless
+and somewhat reckless rider.  At the critical moment, with the lust of
+the chase upon him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed. To
+swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain attempt.  "I'll ride
+the beggar down!"  With naught of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of
+consequence, hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.
+
+But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves. These, alas! more
+than defeat the object of the horseman. The warrigal's last hope
+trembled in the balance.  A narrow gap of open space, and--liberty!
+This way then, with slap-dash speed!
+
+
+We have already related the countervailing efforts to stay that rush:
+how that hidden horsemen flash from their ambush; how that one, a little
+in advance, moved to the strike with tornado-like velocity.  Then Greek
+met Greek.  Comes the inevitable, the sickening thud; and
+then--oblivion!  Come running men who lift young Dick with all the
+gentleness of women, and bear him to the shade trees.
+
+Yellow Billy's horse lies stone dead with broken neck. Dick's, with
+broken back, vainly strives to rise.  Its great brown eyes look round
+with painful entreaty that sends Harry silently to the camp for a rifle,
+and then the handsome filly joins her companion in the happy hunting
+grounds.
+
+Meanwhile, under the shade trees, Dick Gill lies, the image of death.
+An examination reveals a fractured forearm; while a blue-black bruise on
+the right temple, as big as a crown-piece, attests the violence of the
+blow.  The general verdict is that Dick, the life and soul of his
+company, will never more crack joke, sing song, or join in the merry
+chase; and so the conclusion is, dead, or as good as dead--a distinction
+with a slight difference.
+
+There were two, however, who clung to some shreds of hope; the father of
+the boy and the Colonel: the latter with obstinacy and emphasis.
+
+"I've seen 'em on the frontier far worse than your boy, Gill, and get
+better.  The lad's stunned with that dickens of a blow; but he'll rally
+directly and be as spry as ever."
+
+"Poor Dick is alive yet; of that I feel sure, even though I cannot
+detect any pulsation.  What the issue may be, Dumaresque, neither you
+nor----"
+
+"Tut, tut, man! he's young, and as tough as leather. Neck's all right.
+Keep up heart, old man.  I'll trot down to the yards and see what
+they're doing to the brumbies."
+
+With that the old officer, whose words were braver than his heart,
+strode to the yard, where all the others had congregated, save Joe and
+Sandy, who were in the rear-guard when the accident happened; and who,
+chilled at heart and filled with apprehension--all zest in sport
+gone--remain by the side of their companion.
+
+When the warrigal broke, the others of the mob were in full gallop,
+being rushed by the men.  They are subjected to a battery of flogging
+whips, and swept into the trap-yard; down the converging sides of this
+they hustle, only to find an impasse.  There they huddle, a compact mass
+of sweating, shivering, and cowed brutes.
+
+The horsemen form a line across the way of retreat, until half a dozen
+wires are stretched.  The rest is a matter of detail which expert
+bushmen make small bones about.  When all is secure the men inside cut
+out selected horses under the direction of Mr. M'Intyre, who, with those
+not actively employed in the arena, occupies a place on the rails.  The
+brumbies designed for use are thrown and branded, etc., then haltered
+and made fast to the rails.  The station runaways were secured early in
+the proceedings, which, from first to last, consume a couple of hours.
+The final act is one of horse massacre; all the discarded stock are shot
+down.  It is cold-blooded but necessary work, for brumbies are rightly
+regarded as a pest on a run.
+
+By this time the sun is well down in the west, and having finished their
+work at the yards, the men repair to the camp for a bite and a drink.
+
+To their great surprise and delight they find Dick Gill "nather dead nor
+spachless," as Denny Kineavy put it.
+
+While his father and the boys anxiously watched him, hoping against hope
+for signs of life, the unconscious lad suddenly stretched his limbs and
+opened his eyes, as one just awaking from a sound sleep.
+
+The as-good-as-dead youth sat up in wonderment, falling back in pain and
+weakness the next moment. A wave of joy surged through Gill's heart at
+this manifestation of life.  "God be thanked for His mercies!" he
+exclaimed.  Putting an arm under the sick boy's shoulders, and carefully
+raising his head, he held the Colonel's brandy flask to his lips.
+"You've had a spill, that's' all.  A bit of a knock-out.  Your left arm
+is broken, and there's a nasty bruise on your forehead.  Sip a little of
+this spirit; it'll brace you up."
+
+A pull at the flask revived the youth, and he pillowed his head on his
+father's arm, who laved the bruised head with cold water.  This greatly
+helped in the work of restoration.  By the time the men had finished,
+Dick was able to sit up, and expressed a desire to have a look at the
+brumbies.  Beyond acute pain in head and arm the lad seemed but little
+affected.  He enjoyed a feed with the men, and especially was he
+grateful for a pannikin of tea.  Good billy tea is better for the tired
+feeling than all the grog ever invented.
+
+After a short consultation it was decided that Dick and his father, with
+Sandy, should proceed to a selector's house about three miles distant.
+They would be sure to get the loan of Mrs. Mulvaney's spring-cart, and
+by that means reach Bullaroi.  This was carried out despite Dick's
+protests that he was fit to start on another brumby drive.
+
+What of Yellow Billy and the bolting warrigal!  Have they been
+forgotten?  Not by long chalks!
+
+As soon as Mr. M'Intyre had selected the horses that were to be saved
+and used, he left the other work to the Captain, and, accompanied by
+Jacky, started off on the tracks of the outlaw.  Before long they met
+some of the pursuers returning.  Their horses were knocked up, and they
+had failed to trace the runaway.  "Deeficult as the country may be,"
+mused Mr. M'Intyre, "Jacky's equal to onything in the trackin' line.
+It's only a maitter o' time when we'll run 'em doon."
+
+There was much speculation at the camp over the fate of the half-caste.
+It did not lean to pessimism, though jeremiads were uttered by some.
+The pals, who knew Billy's ability better than the others, had unlimited
+faith in their mate.  Whatever happened to the steed, the boy would turn
+up safe and sound.  The steer rider, in their opinion, could ride
+bare-back the toughest outlaw that ever sniffed the wind.  "You'll see,"
+said Tom confidently to the Captain, "Billy'll more'n hold his own."
+
+"Didn't youse tell us the other day thet at your gra-at
+billy-horse-ma-ale-robbery, the steer slung the yallar bhoy----"
+
+"Oh!" retorted Tom pettishly, "that was only----"
+
+Just then the returning men rode up.  They had no good news to relate,
+but said that by Mr. M'Intyre's orders all were to proceed to the Glen,
+and if the missing boy was not brought in before dark they were to
+disperse. Let us now follow the fortunes, or misfortunes, of Billy.
+
+As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the yellow boy held
+fast with knees and hands, the stock whip over his shoulder trailing in
+a long line behind the flying pair.  To stick on the racing horse was a
+comparatively easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick
+should unseat him.  But to guide the scurrying brute, unbitted,
+unreined, were as impossible as to turn and check a Mont Blanc
+avalanche.
+
+The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the trap-yard was to
+dismount his rider by violent means, but there are eager pursuers on the
+track--so away!
+
+He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley apace, twists up
+a gully with a swerve that almosts unseats Billy, dashes into Glen
+Creek, and mounts the bank to enter a defile.  The first shock over, the
+half-caste begins to realise his position.  For a moment a pang of fear
+seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the ride dawn upon
+him.  This soon yields to a different sensation as they rush through
+space.
+
+There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which goes out in
+unconscious sympathy for the bestridden beast.  Despite the mutual
+antagonism, which, after all, is not that of hate, there is in some way
+a sense of kinship.  Wild answers to wild.  Man nature comes thus into
+close gripping quarters with horse nature.  There is no intervening
+saddle.  Flesh mates with flesh, and spirit answers to spirit.  Whose,
+then, shall be the victory?  The strains of many generations of desert
+lords is in the quadruped.  But what of the biped?  A curious admixture
+of blood there!  On the white side are the well salted strains, which
+hark away back to the old Vikings.  On the other and darker, the stream
+points backwards to the misty past, when his ancestors, subtle and slim,
+moved southward from the older civilisations of the north, and swarmed
+the valleys of the Ganges and the Indus, fighting for a foothold.
+
+Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild blood of the
+human?  It riots through the youth's veins, giving vim and sparkle to
+his courage.  Who shall win the lordship?  Away then, and away!--through
+the mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast and thighs
+are torn and blooded with innumerable scores; slithering down the gorges
+to the accompaniment of rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and
+smashing through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded away--the
+infuriated steed holds his course.  On, on! ever up to the inaccessible
+heights.
+
+But, has the half-breed been doing nothing save holding on, meanwhile?
+
+With incredible difficulty, owing to the mad career of the horse over
+the wilds, Yellow Billy has managed to pass his whip thong twice round
+the brute's neck.  This, knotted together, forms just the sort of
+hold-fast the boy has been accustomed to on his steer rides.  The grip
+gives him a great advantage.
+
+But the horse is now scrambling up a gully, which becomes sharper and
+steeper as he advances, merging into a deep gorge at last, with
+precipitous sides and frowning, unscalable face.  A cul-de-sac, indeed!
+Even this the indomitable warrigal essays.  Again and again does he rush
+the battlements, and mount some distance; only to tumble back with
+sobbing breath but dauntless energy.
+
+Cannot Yellow Billy now dismount in safety?
+
+As easily, oh, reader, as one might slip off a rocking-horse.
+
+Why not, then, fling himself off; abandon the desperado, and be thankful
+for life and limb?
+
+What!  Billy show the white feather?  Billy throw away his chance of the
+honour and glory of capture thus?  Not for all the wealth of Australia!
+This is the most ecstatic moment of his existence.
+
+Foiled in his attempt to scale the heights, Bucephalus begins to think
+more seriously of the foe upon his back. Were he dislodged, what might
+not become possible? Here then!
+
+So began the battle royal between these well-mated antagonists, to be
+fought to a finish, there, on that small patch of earth in the rocky
+fastness; with none in the arena to interfere or to applaud.  None,
+indeed, to witness, save the rock wallaby perched high on a beetling
+crag, who may have moralised on the unwonted spectacle of the whirling
+grey-and-brown mass of flesh and blood below.  Higher still, wheeling in
+mid-air, is an eagle hawk, who keenly watches the solitary duel down
+there, with unwinking eyes of insatiable greed; caring not a doit which
+wins the mastership, so that the issue may provide a fit object for
+tearing talons and lacerating beak.
+
+But below there!
+
+The warrigal, with bloodshot eyes flaming in rage and malice, ears set
+back, head and neck well down between the forelegs, back arched like a
+bent bow, bucks and squeals, kicks and twists.  Forward, backward,
+sideward; round and round; up and down; now in the middle of the patch;
+now trying to rub the boy against the rough sides of the rocky canon,
+but all in vain.  Not even the young Mazeppa, lashed to the wild horse,
+was more securely bound than was Billy to his steed.
+
+There he is; Yellow Billy!  Behold him!
+
+Grasping with both hands the encircling stock whip, head and shoulders
+inclined backwards, his knees grip the horse's sides like a vice.  The
+horse's hoarse neighs are answered with shrill shouts.  And so, amid
+battle-cries, dust and flying pebbles, sweat and foam, with evolutions
+to which those of the circus ring were flat and monotonous, the tug of
+war for supremacy between man and beast goes on.
+
+Presently, however, the bucking desperado moderates. There is a lull.
+He shifts from side to side, making at the same time a slow gyral
+movement.  Is this premonitory of collapse?  He is blowing like the
+proverbial grampus, and ejecting steam from quivering nostrils like an
+exhaust pipe.  The sweat flows from neck, belly, and flanks to the
+ground in streams.  Spasmodic sobs like those of a broken-hearted child
+send shudder after shudder through his whole frame.  See! his head is
+hanging upon his breast; the symbol of despair.  Yes! he is done,
+conquered!  He is broken.  Well done, Billy!  But the most dangerous
+moment of Billy's existence is at hand.
+
+Suddenly rushing backwards, the demon rears and throws himself to the
+ground, almost turning a complete somersault in the act.  Crash! down
+come body and hoofs and--Billy.  The boy is taken unawares, and can do
+little to avert the consequences of this trick.  Still, the little saves
+him.  When, in the fraction of a second, he sees the inevitable, a
+spasmodic jerk flings him just beyond the horse's legs, which are
+working like the arms of a windmill.  Scarce has the animal regained his
+feet ere, with panther-like spring, the half-caste is reseated.  Again
+the horse is down, but now he is weakening--is rapidly nearing the limit
+of endurance. All the reserves have been called up.
+
+Again, behold! a rapid change of tactics.  The outlaw whips round his
+head with open mouth and snaps at the rider's leg.  Again and again, on
+both sides, and it is only by the utmost dexterity that the lad escapes.
+This, more than anything else, begets fear; for Billy, like the horse,
+is fast tiring.  With despair in his eyes the boy looks round him for
+help, and catches sight of the whip handle, which is hanging, with some
+two feet or more of thong, from where it is tied to the neck.  In a
+trice his knife is out and the thong is severed near the knot.  This
+end, coiled round his hand, becomes a weapon of offence. A loaded
+stock-whip handle is as formidable as an Irishman's shillelah.  And now
+every snap is met with a cruel smack, and this not for long can even the
+warrigal stand.  Yellow Billy does more, he rains blows upon the steed's
+shoulders and head with such severity as almost to paralyse the brute.
+The end is coming fast now. Worn, blown, trembling with weakness, dazed,
+the battle has indeed turned.
+
+There is a point in horse-nature up to which no man may call himself
+master.  In some animals it lies low down.  In others, the warrigal, to
+wit, it is placed at the apex of his mettlesome temper.  Let that point
+in mastery be taken by the adversary and all is yielded. That citadel
+stormed, there is naught left but the white flag.  The independence once
+surrendered is never regained.  In other words, once the complete
+master, always the master.
+
+See now the lord of the wilderness! the equine conjurer of tricks!
+There he stands with shrunken form, drooping head, lack-lustrous eyes,
+motionless and clinging tail, subservience incarnate: fit statue of
+unconditional surrender!  The struggle has been gallant, heroic,
+prolonged; the capitulation is complete.  A well planted blow, now,
+between the ears, and that noble creature; that thing of bone and
+muscle, of arching neck and glossy coat; that creature of will and
+courage, which made him emperor among his kind by right of merit--with a
+stride worthy the envy of Lucifer!  Just one blow in the right spot--he
+staggers, trembles, and falls.
+
+Yellow Billy is standing at the horse's head.  'Twas a glorious ride, a
+royal fight, a grand victory.  Nothing is left now but--pity!  And so,
+with soft and cheery word, rubbing the nostrils, wiping the drying
+sweat, massaging the trembling limbs, the boy is mercifully engaged when
+footsteps are heard, and in a moment the squatter, Jacky, and a couple
+of men ride on to the battle-field.
+
+
+Darkness is mantling the earth, and the men at the Glen camp have all
+gone, save a few, including the boys and Neville, who are still
+anxiously waiting.  The striking of iron on the flints of the creek-bed
+breaks the dismal silence, as a group of horsemen steal out of the
+surrounding gloom, and stand half-revealed in the light of the camp
+fire.  Yellow Billy is perched on the croup behind one of the men,
+while, with a stock whip converted into a halter, Jacky leads the bone
+and soul sore warrigal, who, in this abject spectacle, drinks the cup of
+humiliation to its bitterest dregs.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXIII*
+
+                            *A DAY'S SHOOT*
+
+
+    "Alas! that, when the changing year
+      Brings round the blessed day,
+    The hearts of little native boys
+      Wax keen to hunt and slay,
+    As if the chime of Christmas time
+      Were but a call to prey."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+"S-a-n-d-e-e!  S-a-n-d-e-e!"
+
+"H-e-ll-o!  H-e-ll-o!"
+
+"Where--are--you?"
+
+"Down--here."
+
+"Where's here?"
+
+"Find--out!"
+
+"Where's that horrid Sandy, Joe?" exclaimed Jessie M'Intyre to Joe
+Blain, as she came out into the back yard, shortly after breakfast, one
+fine morning a few days after the brumby hunt.
+
+"Can't split on me mates, Jess."
+
+"You're a nasty, good-for-nothing boy, Joe Blain: that's what I think of
+_you_, and I don't care if you _do_ know it."
+
+    "Tweedlum, tweedlum, tweedlum twee,
+    The cat and the rat ran up the tree,"
+
+quoth Joe, as he capered about just out of reach of the girl, who chased
+him round the room with a broom.
+
+It so happened that as Joe was dancing past the kitchen window, Ah Fat
+the cook was in the very act of throwing out a dish of kitchen slops,
+and the contents struck him fair on the head and shoulders.
+
+This unintended but well-delivered blow came so swiftly and so
+unexpectedly that for the moment Joe was stupefied, gasping and
+spluttering between wind and water, so to speak.  He cut so ludicrous a
+figure that Jessie had to fairly hold her sides with laughter. Meanwhile
+the innocent Ah Fat stood gazing at the spectacle in amazement.
+
+"Oh, Missee Joe, I welly solly.  Me neffer see you when me tlew um----"
+
+"You jolly Chinaman!" cried Joe, in great wrath. "You--you--yellow
+joss!"
+
+With that the irate boy jumped through the window and vigorously
+assaulted the cook with hands and feet.
+
+"Oh!--Missee Joe--welly solly.  O--h!  Oh, Clismus! O-u-c-h!"
+
+At first genuine sorrow controlled the Celestial.  And indeed the onset
+was so furious and determined that the Chinaman had enough to do in
+fending blows, and was not a little alarmed.  But when Joe, in closing,
+clutched him by the head, and essayed to unwind his pig-tail, alarm
+yielded to horror at this unexpected indignity. An ominous glitter came
+into his eye, and a string of curses in his native tongue flew from the
+angry heathen.
+
+The boy, having loosened the tail, wound a coil of it round his hand,
+and began to give fierce tugs.  Passion in an Oriental may take any
+turn.  A passion-fired Chinaman, however well-disposed and peaceably
+inclined at other times, will wreak his vengeance regardless of moral
+issues.  With a yell of mingled pain and rage the maddened man executed
+a Chinese edition of Jiu-jitsu, sending his youthful antagonist whirling
+through the air, to come down with a rattling bump that shook the breath
+from his body.  Fortunately for Joe, the part of his anatomy which bore
+the brunt of the contact was that least susceptible to damage.
+
+This act would have been followed by one severer still had not Mrs.
+M'Intyre at that moment run into the kitchen, and, seeing the fallen boy
+at the mercy of the rage-possessed Chow, who was in the act of assault
+and battery, made for the man with a shrill scream, and hauled him off
+the prostrate lad.  All the while, John Chinaman was in a state of wild
+excitability, sending forth a torrential stream of pidgin-English.
+
+Joe tumbled to his feet none the worse for the bout save a bruise or
+two.  The sight of Ah Fat with flowing pig-tail and grotesque
+gesticulation sent the lad into fits of laughter.  This only the more
+incensed his adversary, who made another effort to get at him, being
+hardly prevented by Mrs. M'Intyre.  In this hilarity Joe was joined by
+Jess, who had followed her mother and stood first in terror, but now
+with hearty laughter.
+
+"Joe Blain, get out of this kitchen this moment, you wicked boy!  Be
+quiet, Ah Fat, or I'll call for one of the men!  Stop laughing at once,
+Jess, you bold hussy, or I'll box your ears!"
+
+Both Joe and Jess disappeared in a flash, and this had the effect of
+calming the Chinaman, who told the tale to his mistress as well as his
+perturbed condition and broken English would allow.
+
+"Me thlo dirtee watah outa window.  Joee comin' plast.  Me no see him.
+Watah 'it 'im head and soljer. He jumpee tloo window, pullee hair, welly
+angly.  Me get angly too, and thlo 'im down."
+
+"Quite true," said Joe, who suddenly appeared at the window.  "It's all
+my fault.  He didn't see me, I'm sure, when he pitched the stuff out.
+My paddy got up, an' I went for him like a terrier.  I think the
+terrier's got the worst of it, eh, Ah Fat?"
+
+The quick acknowledgment of wrong produced an immediate effect on Ah
+Fat.  There was a winning grace about Joe that few could withstand.
+Hitherto he had been the cook's favourite.  And now, no sooner did he
+express his sorrow for the summary proceedings, and own his defeat, than
+the mantling frown of anger on the Chinaman's forehead vanished, and his
+dingy and stolid countenance lit up with a smile.
+
+"Me welly solly----"
+
+"Oh, stow that!  No harm done.  I'm off to get rid of this muck," cried
+Joe, as he disappeared from the window. A few moments later, Joe was in
+the act of passing this same opening to convey a message to Sandy, who
+was doing a job for his father in the carpenter's room, at the rear of
+the stables.
+
+The act was observed by Ah Fat, who made a rapid move to the window.
+
+"Hello, Joe!"
+
+"Hello, Ah Fat!"
+
+"Come here, Joe," said the Flowery-Lander, beckoning as he spoke.
+
+"No more soap-suds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"No mo dirtee watah," said he of the pig-tail grinningly.  "See a-here,
+Joe"--displaying a jam pasty, hot from the oven.  "You takee dis
+plastee.  Stlawbelly jam, welly good."
+
+"By C�sar!  Ah Fat, you're no end of a brick!" cried Joe, as he received
+the peace-offering with eager hands and glistening eyes.
+
+"Saundy, ye scoondrel!" shouted he a moment later, bursting in upon
+Sandy, who was spoke-shaving a piece of timber designed for a swingle
+bar.  "Didn't you hear Jess call you a few minutes ago?"
+
+"I did hear some sort of a cackling an' flustration. What's up?"
+
+"We've got to go an' shoot some ducks."
+
+"That all?"
+
+"That all, ye cauld-blooded Scotchman!"
+
+"An' when have we to go?"
+
+"Now, at once, immediately, if not sooner, ye spalpeen."
+
+"Ye're an odd mixture of Scotch an' Irish this morn, me hairy-breasted
+hero, an' a bad hand at either.  But why all the hurry about the ducks?"
+
+"Your mother's just got word to say some chaps are coming out from
+Tareela to dinner this evening, an' they're sure to expect game."
+
+"All serene.  Tom comin'?"
+
+"No, he ain't.  He's out with Harry on the run. There's only you an' me
+for't."
+
+"I'll be with you in a jiff, my son.  Just finishing this bar."
+
+"Where'll we go for the birds, Sandy?"
+
+"Up the creek, I s'pose.  Too far out to the swamp if it's to-night they
+want them.  There's a mob o' woods I'd like to get a smack at--the ones
+we saw when we were fishin'."
+
+"Jacky told me yesterday he saw 'em the other night roosting on the old
+dead gum just at the junction of Mosquito Crick an' the Crocodile.  How
+far d'ye call that?"
+
+"'Bout three mile."
+
+"Your mother said we are to try and get some pigeons when we're out."
+
+"Used to be a lot o' pigeons in the scrub; but the last time Dickson and
+some other coves came out shooting, they went through the scrub, but
+didn't see a feather--so they said."
+
+"No good goin' there, then?"
+
+"Well, I don't know.  We can give it a try, I s'pose. What's the time,
+Joe?"
+
+"Struck ten as I came along; so we'd bes' be off in less'n no time,
+sonny."
+
+In a few minutes the boys were loaded up with guns, ammunition, sculls,
+and the tucker bag.  They decided to take the skiff and try their luck
+on the water, instead of stalking the game along the banks.
+
+"Don't be later than four o'clock.  Try and be back before, if
+possible."
+
+"All serene, mother; we'll be back on time, luck or no luck."
+
+"We'll fetch you some shags anyhow for fish soup," yelled back Joe as
+the lads walked briskly along.
+
+Sandy took the oars at the start, Joe sitting in the stern with his
+muzzle-loader.  Breech-loaders were at that time a rarity in Australia.
+There were handicaps in shooting in those days of the muzzle-loader, the
+powder-horn, and the shot belt, when compared with the modern
+choke-bore, smokeless powder, etc.  But there were compensations. Men
+were far more careful of their ammunition.  Loading itself was an art in
+which the expert took considerable pride.  To every novice the formula
+was carefully given by the senior--
+
+    "Ram your powder well, but not your lead,
+    If you want to kill dead."
+
+
+But, beyond all other considerations, there was more of the element of
+sport in it.  There was a greater call for skill.  The very limitations
+of gunnery in those days put the game on a nearer footing of equality
+with the hunter. There were greater chances for the quarry, and
+therefore greater merit in the kill.  These are the days of machinery,
+and even in gunnery there is a disposition to do the work by turning a
+handle--"pumping the lead into 'em," as the moderns put it.
+
+Sandy's father was the possessor of a renowned Joe Manton, and many were
+the tales told by the lad of his father's prowess and the wonderful
+distances at which this Joe Manton could kill.
+
+The creek on both sides was lined for the most part with rushes, weeds,
+and water-reeds, which afforded fine cover and food for the wild-fowl.
+It was possible to pass within short distances of the ducks in the
+rushes without being aware of their presence.
+
+"Keep your eyes skinned along here, Joe," remarked Sandy, after rowing
+some distance.  "Might start a brace at any time."
+
+The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth when a bird rose out of the
+reeds with a great flutter.  Joe's gun was up in a trice, and before it
+had flown a dozen yards, it fell into the water with a splash.
+
+"Good shot, Joe; but what's the use of wasting powder and shot over a
+red-bill?  Thought you knew a coot from a duck."
+
+"Well--I--I'm blest!  If I'm not a dumplin'-headed, double-dyed duffer!
+As if I hadn't shot tons of 'em. Well, well, well!"
+
+"It's not well at all," answered Sandy with a grin, as the boat glided
+past the beautiful glossy black and purple-hued bird, which, though
+edible enough, generally ran to toughness, and was not classed as game.
+Yet a plump red-bill that has fattened on the river-end patch of the
+settlers' maize is by no means to be despised.
+
+Joe quietly reloaded, and was doubly on the _qui vive_ after the
+misadventure.  He had his revenge before long, for on rounding the point
+they ran into a mob of teal which were camping on a shady mud-beach.
+The teal rose in a very alert fashion, flying back over the boat.
+Quickly turning, Joe poured the contents of right and left barrels into
+the retreating birds.  Three of them soused into the water, two of which
+were stone-dead. The third, though badly wounded, was nevertheless
+exceedingly agile in dodging the boat by diving.  After some trouble the
+boys managed to secure it, and so a good start towards a full bag was
+made.
+
+Then their luck departed for a while.  Two or three pairs of black duck
+rose, but out of range.
+
+"Here, Sandy, let me take the oars and give you a spell," said Joe,
+after proceeding about two miles from the landing.  The positions were
+reversed, and the boat sped on its way to the junction.
+
+"Pull easy, Joe," said Sandy, as that point came in sight.  "There's a
+chance of the wood-duck on the spit. We mustn't miss this lot, anyway.
+You'd best land me here, ole man, an' I'll stalk 'em."
+
+Joe, whose back faced the spit, to coin an Irishism, turned round to
+survey the birds, which clustered thickly on the spit-end.
+
+"See 'em, Joe," said Sandy excitedly.  "It's a grand mob.  If I don't
+knock half a dozen, you may----"
+
+"Bag the whole bloomin' lot if you like, Sandy M'Intyre," replied the
+rower, who had been gazing intently on the birds, and now turned to his
+mate with an amused smile.
+
+"Why--why--whatcher mean?"
+
+"Mean!  Mr. Alexander Duff M'Intyre, bushman, waterman, sportsman, and
+naturalist by profession, but only a Scotch mixture of bat an' mole for
+all that! Why----"
+
+"Do you mean to insinuate, Joe Blain, that yon's not a mob of
+wood-duck?"
+
+"Yes; and ready to swear to it till all's blue.  I _did_ think you knew
+the difference between a duck of any sort and a plover!"
+
+"You call 'em plov----?"
+
+Here one of the birds stretched its neck, flapped its wings, gave a hop
+and a short run, plover-ways, and finished with the typical harsh note.
+
+"Great Donald! you're right, man!" finished the boy, in a mortified tone
+and with a considerable amount of disgust.
+
+"Oh, well," he resumed, after a moment's silence, "a few plover won't
+come amiss, especially if we don't collar any more duck.  Like 'em
+myself, grilled, as well as anything; they've such plump little breasts.
+Pull on, Joe."
+
+Joe made for the spit, coming in so quickly with a few quiet but
+vigorous strokes that Sandy was able to get in a pot and a flying shot,
+accounting for no fewer than five.
+
+"I vote," exclaimed that youth, when they had bagged the plover, "that
+we pull into the mouth of 'Skeeter Crick, tie up to the bank, an' stalk
+the crick for a mile or so; then we can cross over to the scrub by the
+old tree. We'll chance to get a pigeon or two, or I'm mistaken. P'r'aps
+we'll have better luck with the ducks on our way back.  Never saw 'em so
+scarce on the Crocodile before."
+
+Accordingly, they landed a hundred yards or so up the creek, assailed
+the contents of the tucker bag, and then proceeded to skirt the right
+bank, on the look out for duck.  A single bird, a very fine drake, fell
+to Joe's gun near the fallen log which bridged the narrow stream. This
+crossed, the boys entered into a belt of virgin scrub that extended back
+a mile or so from Crocodile Creek, abutting Mosquito Creek along its
+breadth.
+
+"We'd bes' separate, Joe," said Sandy, when they had gone a little
+distance into the jungle.  "You keep on a few hundred yards, and then
+bear on the left towards the Crocodile.  I'll make straight for there
+from here.  It'll be hard if we don't account for a bird or two."
+
+The scrub was very thick and interwoven in places. It contained a number
+of native fig trees of great height and spread.  These trees were in
+fruit, therefore there was a better chance of getting pigeon, some
+varieties of which are exceedingly fond of the native fig.
+
+The umbrageous trees formed a lofty canopy whose cool shades were very
+agreeable after a couple of hours on the water under a January sun.  The
+lawyer and other cane vines hung from the great trees in long festoons,
+varying in thickness from ropes no thicker than one's little finger to
+the great cables extending downward from the huge limbs of the fig
+trees.  Besides these growths were scrub bushes, many of which were
+covered with blossom, and still others with berries, blue and red. There
+were also spaces of bare ground, occupied only by giant fig and other
+columnar trees.  These, by natural formation, made arched aisles, whose
+loftiness, lights, distances, and vistas constituted a grandeur, and
+even splendour, unapproached by any of the great cathedrals of earth.
+These, however ancient, are but things of yesterday when compared with
+nature's porticoes, cloisters, and altar spaces.
+
+The boys, however, took little heed of these things. They were in the
+scrub neither for architectural nor devotional purposes.  Pigeons and
+other scrub game alone had any attractions for them.
+
+After separating they walked warily, listening with both ears and
+scanning with both eyes.  Sounds there were in abundance.  The
+ubiquitous minah, as the noisy and saucy soldier-bird is called, is as
+widespread as the gum tree itself. The thrush, though smaller than its
+English namesake, and with a differing note, is equally melodious.  Then
+peculiar to scrub country are the musically metallic notes of the pretty
+but exceedingly coy bell-bird.
+
+Henry Kendal, the greatest of Australian nature poets, has limned it in
+song.  Here is a stanza--
+
+    "The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime,
+    They sing in September their songs of the Maytime.
+    When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
+    They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
+    They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
+    And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
+    Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."
+
+
+There is also the merry Coachman, who cracks his whip with his beak, so
+to speak, in such verisimilitude that the wandering new chum looks round
+eagerly for a coach-team.
+
+Added to these are the soft coo-coo of the doves and the stronger and
+booming note of the pigeon tribe.  And beyond all these, the calls,
+chirpings, and chatterings of scores of feathered favourites.  They who
+call the Australian bush songless libel it.
+
+The pigeon has a coo that is as monotonous and far-reaching as a fog
+horn.  For this sound the boys are now cocking their ears.  Presently
+the loved note reaches Sandy's ears: coo--coo--coo!
+
+"A wonga for a dollar, and where's one is sure to be another."
+
+To locate a pigeon by its note is often a most difficult thing in the
+scrub.  It may be on the tree under which one happens to be standing, or
+hundreds of yards away. To run down a pigeon by its note is a work that
+needs experience and patience.
+
+Sandy listened intently, mind as well as ears working. "Not high up,
+that's certain.  Seems to be right behind me.  Bet tuppence he's on that
+white cedar," said the boy to himself after a further scrutiny in the
+supposed direction.  Away in the locality indicated, distant a hundred
+yards or so, rising above a clump of myrtles, was a white cedar tree,
+its shining yellow berries revealing its presence as seen through the
+tree boles and shrubs.
+
+Stealthily moving through the undergrowth and timber, the lad cautiously
+advanced towards the cedar.  Gaining the myrtle cluster, he was thereby
+screened to some extent even when viewed from above.  Just then a coo
+gave him the location.  Moving to the edge of the saplings, he now got a
+fair view of the tree beyond; and there, on a lateral limb, distant from
+him not more than thirty-five yards, sat a glorious wonga-wonga, the
+finest species of Australian pigeon, not to be beaten for table purposes
+throughout the wide world.  The specimen before Sandy was a male bird as
+big as three ordinary pigeons.
+
+"That fellow's calling his mate, and she's not far off, by the way he's
+noddin' his head," surmised the youth. "Shall I pot him, or wait for his
+mate and cop 'em both?"
+
+The question was soon settled, for suddenly, and with a great whirr, the
+hen rose from the ground, or rather, tiny water pool: for she had been
+drinking and bathing and admiring her reflected image in the glassy
+water.  Her return, alas! is the signal of death, for what time she
+alighted on the bough at her spouse's side, the remorseless hunter, with
+hasty but true aim, brought both fluttering to the ground.
+
+Their necks are wrung and they are bagged instanter, with a laconic but
+satisfied grunt from the sportsman: "Not so bad."
+
+At this moment a double shot broke on Sandy's ears. This was immediately
+followed by a deep, mellow sound that formed the common signal of the
+pals.  Putting his two hands with hollowed palms together, conch-shell
+fashion, the boy raised them to his lips and blew a prolonged and
+resonant note followed by three short notes staccato, which conveyed to
+the other's ears the answer: "Heard you, am coming."
+
+"Joe wants me for something.  Got into a covey of bronze-wings, or maybe
+a mob o' flocks," muttered the lad as he made in the direction of the
+sound.
+
+He soon espied his mate at the butt of an enormous fig tree, and
+signalled his advent.  The moment Joe perceived Sandy he stooped down
+and picked up a couple of large black-looking birds, and waved them
+excitedly.
+
+"My word! ole Joe's run into a flock of turkeys. Hurrah! here's luck."
+
+Yes, Joe had been fortunate enough to "rise" a fine lot of tallagalla,
+to call them by their native name, better known as scrub turkey.
+
+Unlike the so-called turkey of the plains--which, indeed, is not a true
+turkey, but a bustard--the scrub turkey is true to its title, being
+seldom or never seen out of thickly wooded country.  Its breeding home
+is a huge mound raised by scratching together the dry leaves and bits of
+rotten bark and wood.  On the top of this elevation of d�bris the eggs
+are laid, some scores of them, and barely covered.  As the birds use the
+same spot for many years, the nests become in time mounds of vast
+dimensions. Turkey nest, as it is called, becomes in time a rich compost
+of leaf-mould, and is eagerly sought for garden purposes.
+
+The bird itself is stronger in the legs than in the wings.  Unless
+startled and rushed, it will not rise, but scuttles through the
+undergrowth with inconceivable speed, and he is a fortunate man who is
+able to draw a bead as it darts through the thousand obstacles of the
+scrub.  Hence the necessity of a good dog to rush the birds pell-mell
+and startle them into immediate flight, when they almost invariably seek
+refuge in the trees near by.
+
+Joe, fortunately, heard the drumming and clucking of a turkey gobbler
+before he was seen of them.  Moving with intense caution through the
+bush, which was very thick at this spot, he saw at last through the
+intervening leaves, on a patch of bare ground, scratching among the
+decayed vegetable matter for grubs, a flock of turkeys containing a
+score or more.
+
+They were exceedingly active, running hither and thither; many of them,
+just at the pullet stage, indulging in mimic warfare.  The elder ones
+were busily engaged grubbing. Joe could easily have shot two or three of
+them as he stood an unseen watcher.  There was a better way than that,
+however.  Once "tree" them, and one could leisurely pick his birds.  How
+are they to be got into the trees? He'll be his own dog.
+
+Bursting out from his cover with a hair-raising and blood-curdling yell,
+making at the same time a high jump and wildly waving his arms, the
+stalker rushed into the midst of the mob, catching, indeed, a young one
+by the leg, and generally making such a hullabaloo as to scare them into
+instant flight.
+
+It is a peculiarity of this bird, like that of its American brother,
+when once "treed," to remain there.  Wanton shooters, taking advantage
+of this trait, will often shoot a flock right out.
+
+The birds put up by Joe, with one or two exceptions, flew into the trees
+surrounding them.  The lad's first act was to slip a piece of string
+round the captured turkey's legs and swing it from a tree limb.  This
+done, he took a couple of pot shots, bringing down a young gobbler each
+time.  Having made sure of a brace, he signalled to his mate, as
+described.
+
+The shooters, with true sporting instinct, refrained both from wanton
+destruction and from shooting at the hens.  They picked out half a dozen
+of the biggest males, leaving the others on their perches.
+
+Needless to say, the boys were greatly pleased with their success in the
+scrub.  On their way home good fortune followed them.  Though they did
+not sight the mob of woods, they surprised a pair, which they promptly
+secured.  Though the bag could not be considered a big one for those
+days, it was a good one for variety.
+
+Greatly to Mrs. M'Intyre's delight, the boys reached home a little after
+three o'clock.  During their absence of five hours they accounted for
+the following game: one black duck, two wood-duck, three teal, five
+spur-wing plover, six fat turkey gobblers, two plump pigeon, and the
+captured turkey.
+
+"You are dear, good boys," was Mrs. M'Intyre's comment as the game lay
+side by side on the bench at the rear of the kitchen.  "What fine birds!
+what a lovely variety!"
+
+Mrs. Mac., while not an epicure, was a noted housewife, and dispensed
+hospitality in such a whole-hearted fashion and in such an acceptable
+manner that her dinners were things to be remembered with delight.
+
+"Go into the kitchen, boys, and get a snack: you'll be dying for
+something to eat.  After you've finished you can bear a hand with the
+plucking and cleaning, as Denny's the only one about.  Come here, Ah
+Fat!  What do you think of the birds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"Dem welly good, missee."
+
+"Yes, they'll do very well.  The boys'll clean them for you--at least
+the ones we're using to-night.  We'll hang the rest.  Let me see! they
+had better clean the pigeons and plover first.  You can put them on to
+stew: we'll turn them into a game pie.  Grill the teal, and roast a pair
+of ducks and two gobblers."
+
+"Allee lita, missee; I do 'em.  That all?  I mos go back an' look after
+puddens."
+
+Denny and the boys set to work on the fowl, and were soon feathers and
+down from head to foot.
+
+[Illustration: "Retreating one moment and advancing the following,
+uttering war-cries."--_See p._ 219.]
+
+"Tell me, Joe, me bhoy, did ye or Sahndy here shute the most b-i-rr-ds?"
+
+"Honours are easy, Denny."
+
+"Begorra! phwat th' divvil's thot?"
+
+"It means that each shot an equal quantity."
+
+"An e-qu-a-al quantitee!  Be jabers, wheres did ye put 'em?"
+
+"Put what?"
+
+"Whoi, th' pair iv e-qu-a-al quan----  Be Saint Michael, it's a new sort
+iv a b-i-rr-d ye've shuted!"
+
+Denny was not so dense as he pretended to be.
+
+"You're a downy cove, Denny," laughed Joe, who caught a twinkle in the
+young Irishman's eye.
+
+"That's true for ye, Joe," retorted the wit, surveying himself; "but,
+bhoys, why doan't ye's take me wid youse? Sure an' it's a foine shot Oi
+am."
+
+"That's news, Denny.  Didn't know you'd ever let off a gun."
+
+"Manny an' manny's th' wan Oi've seen me farther bang off, annyways.
+Did youse never hear tell iv me farther's shutin'?  Shure he was a
+sealabrity in Killarney!"
+
+"Never.  Tell us."
+
+"Well, la-ads, wan da' he was rowin' th' Dook iv Dublhin, who was a
+g-rr-a-at sport, on th' woild la-a-kes iv Killarney.  They was lukin'
+for dooks."
+
+"Set a duke to catch a 'dook,' eh, Denny?"
+
+"Be aisy, Marsther Joe.  It's th' flyin' dooks Oi'me dascribin'.  Be
+jabers! farther rowed about a tousan' moile, and th' only dook th'
+g-rr-a-at mahn shuted was a gull, though they was there in g-rr-a-at
+mobs."
+
+"The gulls or the ducks, Denny?"
+
+"If you'd 'a' bin there they wud 'a' bin two gulls, annyhow, me mahn."
+
+"Good for you, Denny.  Let him finish, Joe."
+
+"Well, shure, saays farther at last, ses he, 'If y're Riall Hoiness wud
+let me have wan shot, maybe Oi'd bring ye luck.'  An' he did it.  So
+farther, he gits th' Dook's big gun, an' th' Dook he tuk th' pathles,
+an' bynby they see a mob iv dooks all in a loine acrost th' boat's bows,
+saalin' for all th' warld loike th' owld loin-iv-batthle ships in th'
+pictures, stim an' starn.
+
+"'Howld aisy,' saays farther, ses 'e, whin they got abreast thim fowls.
+With that he pinted th' gun at th' la-adin' dook, an owld dr-a-ake be
+th' same token--pulled th' thrigger an' let her off.  Wud ye bela-ave
+me, so quick was he that before all th' shot had got out iv th' way-pon
+he'd got her down to th' tail-most birr-d, an' betune you an' me an'
+little Garr-ge Washintong in th' Bible, ivry sowl iv thim dooks lay
+spaachless dead upon th' wather. Now thin, phwat div ye think iv that
+f'r shutin', ye gosoons?"
+
+"Think of it, Denny," said Maggie, who had been standing at the kitchen
+door, unobserved of the boys, an amused listener.  "Why, you'll be
+writing a book one day that will put the Kybosh on Baron Munchausen."
+
+"Well, if iver Oi does, Miss Maggie," replied the incorrigible Irish
+boy, "Oi'll pit y'reself in as th' laaden acthress--Oi mane th'
+herr-owyne."
+
+"Maggie!"
+
+"Coming, mother."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIV*
+
+                           *THE CORROBBERIE*
+
+
+    "Deep in the forest depths the tribe
+        A mighty blazing fire have spread:
+    Round this they spring with frantic yells,
+        In hideous pigments all arrayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    One barred with yellow ochre, one
+        A skeleton in startling white,
+    Then one who dances furiously
+        Blood-red against the great fire's light.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Like some infernal scene it is--
+        The forest dark, the blazing fire,
+    The ghostly birds, the dancing fiends,
+        Whose savage chant swells ever higher."
+          WILLIAM SHARP.
+
+
+"Jacky and Willy want to know if they can have some raddle,[#] whitning,
+and blue: can they, dad?"
+
+
+[#] Raddle: a red pigment used for marking sheep, etc.
+
+
+"They're very reasonable, I maun say.  And what are they aifter noo, the
+scamps?"
+
+"Oh, I thought you knew, dad!  There's going to be a grand corrobberie
+to-night.  Old Tarpot has sent in a messenger for them to go out, and
+take this stuff with them, and----"
+
+"Precious cool cheek on the pairt of Tarpot, and o' the boys as weel.
+Why couldna they come oure and ask me properly?"
+
+"Dunno, dad."
+
+"It's the blacks' way all over, dad," said Maggie.
+
+"Dad, dad," interrupted Jessie, who was eagerly waiting a chance to get
+in a word, "you said, the last time there was a corrobberie, when you
+refused to let us go, that you would the next time.  Now then, dado, you
+can't refuse to let us this time.  Say you will.  Ah, I know by your
+eyes you will say yes!  You dear thing, it's worth a kiss and a hug."
+
+When the ardent girl had bestowed these filial pledges she turned round
+to Sandy and the others, out of whose sails she had taken the wind in a
+manner.
+
+"There now, young people, we are all going, for which I ought to be
+thanked.  Only for my good memory, I'm afraid the dear man would have
+said no! wouldn't you, dadums?  We'll make up a party, and Mr. Neville
+will, I am sure, be delighted at the exhibition."
+
+"My stars, Jess, but you're gettin' 'em bad!  You will be applying for a
+school teacher's billet next.  Such consideration for Mr. Neville, too!
+Why----"
+
+"Oh, brither mine, bless your poor thick skull; it's positively no use
+you trying to be funny--you simply can't.  Oh, it'll be glorious fun,"
+continued she, turning to the Englishman.
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, please!  In the first place, what is this corbobbery?
+Is that the way it is pronounced?"
+
+"No, sir, it is not; though to be sure they do kick up a tremendous
+bobbery."
+
+"Well, whatever the name, I suppose it stands for an aboriginal
+ceremonial or pastime?" said Neville smilingly.
+
+"Exactly.  Cor-rob-ber-ie is their Caf� Chautant, a free-and-easy; with
+this difference, though--all their performers appear in full dress; got
+up to kill by the aid of the tribe tonsorial artists and valets.  The
+young bucks are perfect pictures, I do assure you; and as for the
+girls----"
+
+"Don't take any notice of the saucy kid, Mr. Neville," broke in Sandy,
+who felt that he owed his young sister one.  "She's only jigging you.
+It's their native dance and song by the firelight; she's right there.
+The men do the dancing, and the women simply play the music."
+
+"Music!  I had no idea that they were----"
+
+"Musicians.  Oh well, not exactly that.  They beat time for the men.
+They, the men, are all painted up and armed.  It's a sort of action
+song, but it's jolly fine, a tiptop sight, especially when there's a big
+mob of them. Sometimes four or five tribes get together for what they
+call the 'great corrobberie.'  Then you see something; for there's
+generally ructions before they finish, particularly if there has been
+any grog in the camp.  In that case they usually wind up with a fight,
+and then there's the killed and wounded to count when the cleaning-up's
+done.  It's all right to-night, though.  There will be only two tribes
+in it, and they've always been friendly.  Would you like to come?"
+
+"Come!  I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Yes, you may reckon on me for
+one--that is, of course, if your father is agreeable for us to go."
+
+"I suppose, dad," said Sandy, turning to his father, "we may all go?
+It's to be held at the old spot."
+
+"Oh, weel, I suppose you'd think me hard-herted if I said no?  I'll jist
+mak' one condeetion, and that is, dinna interfere wi' the blacks.  You
+maunna mak' ony attempt to boss them.  Let them cairry oot things in
+their ain way."
+
+"All serene, dad."
+
+"Can the boys have the whitnin' and other things from the store?"
+repeated Sandy.
+
+Consent is given, and the heart of Tarpot, the King of Bullaroi, is made
+glad with a goodly parcel of pigments.
+
+That night after tea the party, including Denny Kineavy, mount their
+steeds and ride out to the corrobberie grounds, a matter of three miles.
+
+It was situated on a lightly timbered box-tree flat, where a cleared
+space occurred forming a natural amphitheatre, wherein the aboriginal
+tribes foregathered periodically and disported themselves in their
+national characters and games at night time.
+
+The blacks make a distinction in these festivals.  There is the
+corrobberie and the cobborn (or great) corrobberie. It was one of the
+former that the whites were to witness. The latter occurred only at long
+intervals, and was a time of feasting as well as amusement; both
+feasting and play being prolonged often for weeks, and generally
+attended by all the tribes within a radius of hundreds of miles.
+
+Each tribe would bring its song and dance (corrobberie), in many cases
+composed for the special occasion.  This produced the exciting element
+of competition.  A corrobberie of exceptional excellence would be
+learned by the other tribes, and on their return to their own country
+passed on to the surrounding tribes.  Thus it happened sometimes that a
+corrobberie of singular merit travelled round and through the continent.
+
+These folk-songs were associated with the dances, and treated on
+elemental themes, as war, the chase, the feast, love, birth, death.
+Often some humorous theme would be introduced, causing immense fun.  As
+a rule each tribe had clowns, whose grotesque attitude and voice
+intonations were mirth-provoking to a degree.  The Australian native
+manifests a keen appreciation of a joke and has an inborn tendency to
+laughter.
+
+The preparations were far advanced by the time the station party arrived
+at the camp.  The gins, to whom fell all labour of a manual sort, were
+lighting the fires, while the bucks were busy "dressing" for their
+parts.
+
+The girls remained in the clearing talking to some of the old gins,
+while the males proceeded to the outskirts of the forest, where the work
+of adorning went on apace.
+
+For this no pains were spared.  The naked bodies of the dancers were
+treated by the tribe experts, and some fearfully and wonderfully
+startling effects were produced. Take His Majesty, Tarpot, as a sample.
+The ordinary court dress of the King consisted of a tattered police
+uniform, together with a crescent-shaped brass plate that adorned his
+breast, where it hung, suspended by a chain from his neck.  The
+plate--presented to him on one occasion as a joke--bore upon it the
+inscription--
+
+                        TARPOT, KING OF BULLAROI
+
+
+But to-night Merri-dia-o is resplendent in a warrior's full rig.  A hole
+bored through the cartilage of his nose peak displays the bone of an
+eagle's wing, about four inches long, the insignia of his maturity and
+dignity--his knighthood's spurs, so to speak.
+
+Behold, then, athwart his nose, the polished bone, gleaming like ivory
+against the ebony background!  His grey hair is trussed up, forming a
+big top-knot, and is adorned with the sulphur-hued crest of the white
+cockatoo, also with turkey-tail feathers.  Wound several times round his
+somewhat corpulent body is a belt of human hair.  This serves to hold
+the boomerang and other short weapons.  A dingo-tail skin, split up the
+middle to the brush, and bound round the forehead with the brush erect
+and plume-like, gives grace and height to the stature.  But the body and
+limb painting is the principal part.  Each tribe has its devices.
+Pigments are largely used.  The greater the number of colours the more
+fantastic is the effect.
+
+When the boys strode up to the "dressing-room" where the tribe artiste
+were engaged, they found that most of the men had completed their
+adornments and were strutting about casting admiring or envious glances
+at one another.  Merri-dia-o, however, was still in the hands of the
+dressers, and his markings were a triumph. Being a large-framed and
+portly fellow, he showed the designs to the best advantage.  The colour
+scheme was brilliant, if nothing else.  On his massive chest, which was
+whitewashed for a background, were drawn an emu and a kangaroo.  The
+bird's plumage was bright blue, while the marsupial was as glaring as
+red ochre could make it.  These cartoons covered breast and belly, the
+limbs being like animated barber's poles in red and white. On his back,
+upon a white ground, was coiled an enormous carpet snake, with erect
+head and protruding tongue. When seen in the corrobberie, armed with
+spears, shield, and boomerangs, this fantastic figure was without peer
+among the warrior-clowns, the whole effect being an extravaganza at once
+whimsical and wild.
+
+By the time these preparations were ended the great central fire was
+blazing furiously, fed as it constantly was from a dry tinder stack.
+
+The "orchestra," to the number of six, sat in a cluster behind the fire
+and beat time to the primitive measures. The musicians for the most part
+were old women, who were well-practised performers.  Their instruments
+were as primitive as the songs they accompanied, consisting generally of
+a tightly folded opossum rug or a shield. These were operated upon by
+the palms of the hands or by sticks; a vigorous slapping of the thighs
+also gave variety to the combination.  At any rate, a surprising din was
+raised.
+
+It has been stated that two tribes participated.  The Ding-donglas were
+the guests of the Bullarois, who had provided a grand supper of fat
+grubs, native yams, and roast kangaroo for the festivities.
+
+According to immemorial precedence the visiting tribe "took the flure"
+first, and gave a most interesting and picturesque display.  The subject
+of the corrobberie was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident,
+presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter. The
+descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort of runic lay,
+beginning in a low and monotonous key and gradually waxing louder as the
+chase progressed, finally ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what
+time the animal is overcome and slain.
+
+The spectators, black and white, applauded most generously, our old
+friends Jacky and Willy being among the loudest.  The station boys were
+in no ways different from their brothers in get up.  For the moment they
+had abandoned the role of station hands for that of barbaric
+magnificoes.
+
+The whites, especially the girls and Neville, who witnessed the
+spectacle for the first time, were delighted beyond measure.  The
+silence following the huntsman's song was of short duration.  The
+story-teller of the visiting tribe now advanced within the circle of
+light, and in sing-song tones recited one of their folklore stories.
+
+
+                        THE COCKATOO'S NEST.[#]
+
+
+[#] Tom Petrie's Reminiscences.
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived happily together on an island three young
+aborigines, a brother and two sisters. This land was not very far from
+the mainland, and the three often used to gaze across at the long
+stretch of land, and think of journeying forth from their island home to
+see what it was like over there.  They felt sure they would find lots of
+things to eat.  So one day by means of a canoe they really did cross
+over, and began without loss of time to seek for 'possums, native bears,
+and so forth.  In this search round about they at length espied a hollow
+limb, which looked uncommonly like a place where a nest would be, and
+so, going into a scrub near by, they cut a vine for climbing up.  Up
+went the youth, while his sisters waited beneath.  When he had cut open
+the limb, he found to his great joy a cockatoo's nest with young birds
+in it, and these latter he proceeded to throw down one by one to his
+sisters, the fall to the ground killing the poor things.
+
+Now it so chanced that as the young fellow picked up the last little
+bird from the nest, a feather detached itself from its tail, and
+floating away on the air, at length settled fair on the chest of an old
+man asleep in a hut some distance away.  This old man was really a ghost
+who owned the place, and the feather disturbed his rest and woke him up.
+Divining at once what was happening, he arose, and getting hold of a
+spear and a tomahawk, sallied forth to the tree, where he arrived before
+the young fellow had started to climb down.  Seeing the birds dead, the
+old man was very angry, and said, "What business you take my birds?  Who
+told you to come here?"  He then commanded the tree to spread out and
+grow taller and taller, so that the young fellow could not get down,
+and, taking the dead birds, he put them in a big round dilly, and
+carried them to his hut.
+
+Although the old man did not wait, the tree did his bidding, becoming
+immediately very wide and tall, and the young fellow tried his best to
+come down, but could not.  So at last he started to sing to the other
+trees all around to come to him, which they did; and one falling right
+across where he stood, he was able to get to the ground that way.
+Somehow, though, in coming down he got hurt, and the gins had to make a
+fire to get hot ashes in order to cover him up there.  He lay covered up
+so for half an hour, at the end of which time he was all right again.
+
+Of course these three felt very indignant at the old man's behaviour,
+and they thirsted for revenge.  So, calling all the birds of the air to
+them, they sought their assistance.  These birds went in front, while
+the three cut their way through the thick scrub to the old man's hut;
+and ever as they went, to drown the noise of the cutting, the birds sang
+loudly, the wonga pigeon making a tremendous row with his waugh! waugh!
+waugh! When they had got nearly to the hut, the old man, who had been
+trying to make up for his disturbed sleep, heard the noise of the birds,
+and called crossly to them, "Here, what do you make such a noise for?  I
+want to sleep!"  But even as he spoke he was dozing, and presently went
+right off, suspecting nothing; and when the three reached the doorway,
+looking in, they saw him quite soundly sleeping.  So the three clutched
+their weapons tightly,--the man his spear, and the women their yam
+sticks,--and advancing into the hut, they all viciously jobbed down at
+the old man, and lo! he was dead.  His body was dragged forth and
+burned, and after the hut was robbed of the young cockatoos and all
+objects worthy of value it also was burned, and the three found their
+way back to the canoe, and departed home to their island laden with the
+spoil.
+
+
+At the conclusion of the "yarn" the Bullarois retired to the trees
+fringing the clearing on the side directly opposite the audience.  After
+a short harangue from Merri-dia-o, the braves, about twenty in number,
+fully armed and in their war-paint, issued from the forest, headed by
+their chief, shouting their battle-cry, gesticulating wildly, and making
+a great clatter with their weapons. Advancing upon the foe, now in line
+and now in sections, they battled with the enemy, crouching one moment
+behind their shields to receive the shower of imaginary spears thrown by
+their assailants, the next springing erect and casting, as it were,
+their weapons of offence. Following up this round, they bore upon the
+visionary foe and engaged in personal encounter.  Retreating one moment
+and advancing the following, uttering war cries and fierce challenge,
+hurling coarse and stinging epithet, they gradually approached the fire;
+the gins meanwhile beat time, giving coherence and harmony to the
+bellicose proceedings.
+
+There was such reality in the battle-play, the men were so earnest,
+their cries so passionate, their taunts so bitter; in short, there was
+such a ring of sincerity, such a presentation of the actual, that the
+white spectators were carried away as in the drama when the master
+mummers live their parts.
+
+The boys were in a condition of exultancy.  They were inspired by the
+martial display to a participation of fellow-feeling with the warring
+company.  Neville, too, was fairly captured by this weird yet fierce and
+savage sham-fight.  The thrill of combat held him so strongly that he
+could not refrain from leaping to his feet and yelling with the
+rest--urging them, indeed, to greater slaughter.
+
+It was different with the girls.  Fear laid hold of them at the unwonted
+sight.  At first they joined in the hurrahs, but when the fighters
+neared them, and it seemed, as was indeed the case, that the very actors
+were being carried away by frenzy and battle-lust, their tongues ceased
+and a cold chill of apprehension seized them.
+
+The warriors are now right up, fronting the fire.  In a few minutes the
+grand finale will have been enacted, and the curtain rung down.
+Unfortunately, however, one of the young men has a quarrel with a youth
+belonging to the visiting tribe.  In the culminating point of this sham
+fight he sees his enemy among the crowd of onlookers, and, urged by his
+excited feelings, he directs insulting remarks full at this man, who,
+running out into the clear space in front of the fighters, returns these
+with interest.  This so enrages the Bullaroi youth that, darting from
+the ranks, he slings his spear full at the enemy, and transfixes him in
+the breast.  Loud cries of consternation come from the women, and a
+moment's awful stillness from the men. Then, as if by magic, the
+Dingdonglas have risen in their wrath, arms in hand.  The play has
+vanished, and downright fight and bloody battle ensues.  Spears hurtle
+and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of nulla-nulla on
+shields supplants the music of the orchestra, the while the gins flee in
+sheer terror from the bloody scene to their huts in the forest, rending
+the air with their shrill screams as they speed.
+
+But what of the whites?
+
+They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging human cyclone.  At
+first the grim reality seemed unreal, just as previously the sham
+battle-action appeared real. Joe is the first to size up the situation.
+Not only are the blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril
+to the spectators.  The combatants are surging to and fro in the strife
+of conflict, and circling as though in a vortex. At any moment the
+spectators might be drawn into the battle zone through the movements of
+the belligerents.
+
+"Come, Mag, Jess, quickly!" cries that youth, seizing the girls as he
+speaks and drawing them away.  "The brutes are at it in real earnest.
+Come! we must bolt to the trees.  Great C�sar, look at that!"  A spear
+whistled through the air and impaled itself in a tree near by.
+
+Just then, one of the fighters detached himself from the scrum and came
+bounding up to the little group, spear extended.  As he seemed to be on
+hostile intent, the youths lined up in front of the girls, ready to
+defend them and grapple with the foe.  On nearing, Sandy knew him to be
+Willy the station boy.  Willy, loyal to the family, came to entreat them
+to leave the field.  There was little fear of any direct attack upon
+them, though it were hard to say what turn the savage mind might take.
+The apparent danger was from fugitive spears and boomerangs. So Willy
+paused but to cry out, "Take 'em girls to horses: safe there; no safe
+here.  Go!" and then skipped back to his band, throwing himself heart
+and soul into the fray.  For the hour the boy was as great a savage as
+any of the young men of the tribe.
+
+The girls, now really terrified, need no pressure to leave; so they
+scurry from the field and reach their horses, some distance beyond spear
+reach.  There they watch the tide of battle as it ebbs and flows until
+it dies, which it is not long in doing, from its very violence.
+
+When the casualties were reckoned it was found that most of the
+combatants had received bruises or gashes, limbs were broken, but the
+only fatalities were those of the lads who began the quarrel.  Now that
+the fight is over, both sides settle down to supper in the best of
+humours.  The slate has been cleaned in this primitive fashion, and now
+friendships are renewed over handfuls of luscious tree-grubs and hunches
+of roast kangaroo. To-morrow there will be weeping in common over the
+biers of the departed braves.
+
+"Well, Denny, what do you think of this dreadful corrobberie?" exclaimed
+Jessie to the Irish boy as they rode home about midnight.
+
+"Phwat div Oi think iv it, Miss Jassie?  Whoi, it's been a lovely
+foight, shure.  Och, they're the very divils ontoirely!  Nivir seen sich
+a bit of divarsion since Oi left owld Oireland, bedad!  Begorrah, it'd
+ta-ake owld Tipperary itself to bate it."
+
+"Do you know what I've been thinking of, Denny?" continued the
+mischievous girl.
+
+"Nawthin' but lovely thoughts, Miss Jassie."
+
+"You of course are the best judge, Denny, being an Irishman.  What I was
+thinking was this: scratch an aboriginal, and you have an Irishman."
+
+"Och, dear-a-dear, Miss Jassie, to maline me poor counthrymen loike
+that!  Troth, then," cried the lad, with a serio-comic air and the
+suspicion of a wink, "there's one thing indade which Irishmen have in
+common wid these poor naggurs."
+
+"What is that, Denny?"
+
+"We both suffer at the hands of Saxon landlords."
+
+And Jessie had no answer.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXV*
+
+                      *IN THE BUSHRANGERS' CAVES*
+
+
+    "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
+    A stately pleasure-dome decree,
+    Where Alph the sacred river ran
+    Through caverns measureless to man
+    Down to a sunless sea."
+      KUBLA KHAN.
+
+
+"Joe!"
+
+Silence.
+
+"J-o-o!"
+
+No answer.
+
+"J-o-o-o!"
+
+Profound stillness, broken only by a buzzing fly.
+
+"If you don't answer within five seconds, an' short ones at that, look
+out for squalls.  You're only 'possumin', you rascal!"
+
+Presently a hurtling pillow, and not too soft a one either, struck Joe
+Blain, who lay flat on his back, with open mouth, closed eyes, and deaf
+ears.  The missile hit him fair and square on the face, hermetically
+sealing his breathing apparatus for a moment.
+
+A muffled sound, a quick contortion of the body, and an instinctive
+clutch of the hands got rid of the obstruction, which in a twinkling
+described a trajectory that impinged on Tom's left ear.
+
+"Well, what's in the wind, now?" asked Joe, after this customary
+exchange of shots, which was an everyday occurrence.
+
+"I've an idea, Joe."
+
+"Howly Moses, you don't mean it!  Terrible, terrible! Where did you
+catch it?"
+
+"Catch your grandmother's sister's cat!  Only, you're such a numskull,
+I'd try an' put it in your head."
+
+"What! my grandmother's sister's----"
+
+"No, you ass; a simple idea!"
+
+"Then I'll bet tuppence it's simple enough, you goat!"
+
+After this complimentary interchange Tom proceeded: "When we went out to
+the caves the other day, we said we'd return before the holidays were
+ended, an' we've come to the larst day, ole man.  Ding-bust it! we'll
+have to make for home to-morrer, an'----"
+
+"Ugh! don't mention it!  Go on about the caves."
+
+"Well, then, that day we went out----  Oh Joey! shall we ever forget the
+sight of 'Fevvers' rollin'----?"
+
+"Look here, Hawkins, if you can't spit out that idea of yours quick an'
+lively, you'd better swallow it!  If you think to waste my valuable
+time----"
+
+"Your time wasted!  Pish!  Listen, then.  I vote we go out to the caves
+an' have a look round for the place where Ben Bolt kep' his horses.
+It'd be no end of a lark for us to find, after the police an' others
+have given it up.  What say?"
+
+"There's not much in your notions, Hawkins, generally speaking; still,
+you've struck ile this time, sonny. Gewhillikins! it's all right.  Let's
+have a talk with ole Sandy about it."
+
+"Oh, he's sure to be nuts on it!  He's always talkin' about the
+mystery."
+
+"Up, guards, an' at 'em! as Cromwell sang out at the battle of
+Marathon," quoth Joe, in slight historical confusion, as he tumbled out
+of bed.
+
+They dressed quickly and then rushed out to find Sandy, who had risen
+earlier to yard the horses.  Sandy was nothing loth.  Indeed, he was as
+eager as the others, if not more so.  He had often brooded over the
+puzzle, and discussed it at times with his mates, but oftener with
+himself.  Like the others, he had theories.
+
+"I've got to take the harrow to the cultivation paddock after breakfast,
+an' then I'll be free."
+
+"Can't you take it now?" suggested Tom.  "Good hour yet to breakfast.
+You'll have whips of time, an' we'll help you."
+
+Sandy was agreeable, and the boys soon hoisted the harrow on to the
+cart.  They returned in good time for breakfast, and got Mr. M'Intyre's
+consent.
+
+"Best take us with you, Sandy."
+
+"Girls 'd only be in the way, Mag."
+
+"Thanks, me brither!  Just wait till you ask me to cut your lunches!"
+
+"Oh, mother'll do that."
+
+"Yes; rin to your mither and hold on to her apron-strings. For
+selfishness and for cheek, commend me to a brother!  You're all alike.
+I expect Tom and Joe are no better at home, for all they put on mighty
+innocent airs here," prattled the girl, in mock sarcasm.
+
+"I hope you'll count me in, boys?" said Neville.  "I have intimated to
+Mrs. M'Intyre that I shall be forced to tear myself away from her
+unbounded hospitality,"--"Fevvers" was still a trifle stilted,--"but she
+will not hear of my leaving till the end of the week.  You know," he
+went on, "I did not have an opportunity--the last time I--er--we were
+out there--and----"
+
+"You lassoed an Englishman with a stock whip," broke in Jessie the
+tease.
+
+"And behaved like a brick," interposed Maggie, who noticed the
+involuntary wince on the part of the Englishman.  This was, indeed, a
+sore spot; but he was growing rapidly in grace.
+
+Neville winced under Jess's sally, but took it in good part.  "It's all
+part of the breaking-in process, Miss Jessie.  I believe I can dismount
+now a little more gracefully.  I shall be glad of an opportunity to see
+the famous bandit's caves.  It will be something to relate in England."
+
+It did not take the boys long to get ready.  Half an hour later the
+party was _en route_ for the caves, determined to solve the puzzle.
+
+"You'll do nothing rash, boys?" said the careful mother at parting,
+"Have you enough candles?"
+
+"Plenty; also ropes and tucker.  Don't worry about us, mother; we may
+not be back till near bedtime--depends on what luck we have."
+
+"You've got a scheme, Sandy, I s'pose?" remarked Joe, as they jogged
+along the road.
+
+"Yes, Joe, I've an idea; but of course only testing it will prove its
+worth.  The caves are situated in a spur running north and south.  The
+opening, we know, is on the east side.  Nothing bigger than a wallaby or
+a dingo, save of course a man, can squeeze through that opening. Either
+there is another and separate cave adjacent, where the 'rangers stalled
+their horses, or there is an easier entrance somewhere in the spur that
+has a connection with the ones we have already visited."
+
+"You must remember, though, Sandy, that Inspector Garvie and his men
+spent days in searching the locality, an' how are we chaps to do in a
+day what they failed to do after several days, and with black trackers,
+too?"
+
+"I'm not likely to forget that."
+
+"I vote, then," said Joe, "we go straight to the caves an' explore 'em
+first."
+
+"It'd take us all day to search those ravines and bluffs on the west
+side," added Tom, "so I'm in favour of Joe's proposal."
+
+"I'm not sure that I should have a voice in this matter," spoke Neville.
+"You fellows will have to settle it between yourselves.  Whatever you
+decide upon will be agreeable to me."
+
+"Matter's decided, then," answered Sandy.  "Joe and Tom are for the
+caves direct.  Honestly speaking, although I would dearly love a try at
+the western side, for I'm convinced that the outlet lies there, I think,
+on the whole, we'd better stick to the caves, giving them first show,
+anyhow."
+
+"Carried unanimously by a large majority, as Denny would say," cried Joe
+the spokesman.
+
+On arrival at the camping grounds, the place of the late serio-comic
+adventure, the explorers--for such we must call them--unsaddled, and
+short-hobbled their horses.
+
+"I vote," said Joe, "that we boil the billy an' have a go at the tuck
+before we tackle the caves.  It'll be better than taking the prog with
+us, an' 'll save us coming out for lunch."
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the rest with a readiness and gusto which in matters of
+meat is almost an instinct of boyhood.  Accordingly the wood is
+gathered, and ere long, with whetted appetites, they are absorbingly
+engaged on a substantial meal.
+
+"There are three things to remember, mates.  First of all, the candles.
+We'll divide them equally, three apiece. Here's a box of matches for
+each.  Father gave me a caution, about lights.  We're to carefully watch
+the candles as we proceed through the passages.  He says the poisonous
+gases collect in places that are not well ventilated, an' that means
+death in no time if we remain in such spots."
+
+"How'd we know, Sandy?"
+
+"I was just going to tell you.  If we get into such places, father says,
+the candle will burn dimly, an' if it's very bad, will go out
+altogether.  When we happen on such spots, if there are any, we are to
+retreat immediately; so don't forget, boys, should we be separated."
+
+"That," said Neville, "is most important."  He related one or two
+incidents of fatal accidents in connection with English collieries
+through fire-damp.  That danger, though, is seldom encountered in such
+caves as the boys were intent on exploring.
+
+"What's the third thing, Sandy?"
+
+"The third thing, Hawkins, is to make fast to this green-hide.  It is
+twenty-five feet long, an' we'll tie on to it as we go through the
+passages.  Father says there are often holes in the floors and very
+steep inclines.  Best to be on the safe side, though I don't suppose
+we'll really need it."
+
+"I say," queried Neville, "hadn't we better take some stout cudgels with
+us, for fear of snakes and wild beasts?"
+
+"Happy thought, Mr. Neville.  Not for wild beasts, though an old-man
+kangaroo can be as dangerous as a bear with his paws when he's bailed up
+by the dogs."
+
+"What about monkeys, then?"
+
+"Monkeys?  We haven't any."
+
+"Well, I heard one of the travellers say, while he was having a feed at
+the men's hut, that he'd been engaged to go for a mob of monkeys."
+
+"Ha--ha--ha!  Well, you are a----Why, the man was talking about sheep.
+Monkey is a pet name for them.  We'll want some sticks, though, as well
+as the tomahawk."
+
+So saying, Sandy proceeded to hack at a cluster of gum saplings, and cut
+three waddies about five feet in length, and a fourth one eight feet
+long, and proportionately thick.  Armed with these and carrying the
+other necessaries, including a billy of water and a snack of food, the
+exploration party proceeded to the cave entrance.
+
+After gaining access to the first cave, the boys allowed Neville a few
+minutes' pause to get at home with his surroundings, before going on to
+the second or cathedral chamber.  They then pursued their way through
+the tortuous and difficult passage between the two chambers, till at
+length they arrived at the opening.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Sandy, who was in the lead, with an involuntary gasp.
+
+"What's up?" cried Joe, who was immediately behind him.
+
+"Why, ladder's gone!"
+
+"Jemima! you don't say so.  Why--how----?"
+
+"It's gone, all right," replied the leader, as he peered by the light of
+his candle into the gloomy recesses of the cave.  "Clean gone!  Don't
+see it on the floor below, so it can't have dropped."
+
+Joe, squeezing abreast Sandy, and doubling the light power, added his
+eyes to those of his mate in the search.
+
+"No go," said he, after a keen but vain search.  "Anyway, I can see how
+to get down easy enough."  So saying, he placed his stick across the
+mouth of the passage, jamming it on either side into an interstice.
+"There!" he exclaimed, as he hung his weight upon the transverse beam,
+which, though bowing, did not crack when bearing his weight.  "Let's put
+the rope round this, an' we'll slip down less'n no time."
+
+"Wait a jiffy, Joe," said Sandy, who had been critically eyeing the
+staff.  "We'll make 'assurance doubly sure,' as your father said in his
+sermon last Sunday,"--poking his stick while he spoke, into the same
+cavities as the other occupied.  "That will stiffen it.  It's easy
+enough getting down: we could jump, for that matter.  It's the getting
+up that's the problem.  There, it's as stiff as a fire-bar now.  Here's
+the first to go down."
+
+Holding the rope, the boy swung off, and was soon standing on the floor
+of the lower cave.  The others followed rapidly.  They could find no
+trace of the missing ladder.  Not only was the ladder spirited away,
+there were other signs which showed that the caves had been entered
+since the last visit of the boys, and on proceeding to the third
+chamber, where the bushrangers slept, there were manifest signs of
+disturbance.
+
+"Some un's been here, that's certain."
+
+Sandy gave voice to the one opinion.  The bark bunks occupied by the
+outlaws were thrown off their trestles to the ground.  There was no
+gainsaying Sandy's statement. The situation was peculiar.  The boys
+might well be pardoned for being a little fearsome and creepy under the
+circumstances.
+
+"I heard Dickson tell your father, Sandy, at the brumby hunt, that a
+party was comin' out from Tareela to visit the caves.  P'r'aps it's them
+that have moved the ladder."
+
+"Don't think it could have been," persisted Joe. "There's no sign of
+their camp outside."
+
+"What about the 'rangers?"
+
+The thought was decidedly unpleasant, and when voiced it struck a chill
+in the hearts of all.  As a matter of fact, the thought had lain in
+Sandy's mind from the time he missed the ladder.
+
+Ben Bolt was not a desperado of the Morgan or Kelly type--men who were
+conscienceless, treacherous, and full of the blood-lust.  Many, indeed,
+of his acts of gallantry and open-hearted generosity, if theatrical,
+were nevertheless redeeming qualities in the old-time bushranger.  A man
+of great resource and daring, a thorough bushman, a superb rider,
+mounted always on the finest of horses,--stud stock mostly, which he
+"lifted" from celebrated breeding stations,--the 'ranger was, in some
+respects, a picturesque figure, and had a most adventurous career. Often
+located and even sighted by the police, he was always able to make good
+his escape, either by bush strategy or by an amazingly daring piece of
+riding in rough country, at which even his intrepid pursuers, themselves
+accomplished horsemen, stood aghast.
+
+There was a spirit of romanticism about the fellow. His dress and
+appearance gave colour to that.  He was passionately attached to his
+wife and children, and often incurred desperate risks in visiting them
+when "home-sickness" seized him.  His house was ever under the
+surveillance of the police, who fondly hoped to catch him by that lure.
+Yet, though often within an ace of capture, he always escaped.
+Outwitting the subtlest efforts of the police, he was their despair.
+Though of a sanguine temperament, there were seasons when he was the
+victim of a black mood.  At such times he was most dangerous and cruel.
+
+"It could hardly be Ben Bolt," said Sandy at length. "It's quite
+possible that the town party has been.  How could Ben be here an' in
+Queensland?"
+
+"Well, what's next, Sandy?"
+
+"I'd like us to explore the opening in the passage first, Joe.  Come,
+boys, let's shin up."
+
+This was speedily accomplished, and the pals proceeded to the spot that
+was in Sandy's eye, so to speak.
+
+"Here's the place I meant!" exclaimed he, when they had retraced their
+steps some distance through the passage.  The opening, at first sight,
+appeared to be a deep recess.  Upon close examination, however, it was
+found that the wall and the roof did not meet.  There was a hole some
+two feet in diameter.
+
+"I spotted this when I came with father," explained the leader.  "Now,
+if one of you fellows will give me a hoist, I'll get my head and
+shoulders into that opening above, and find out whether it's a chimney,
+or takes a turn and forms a passage."
+
+Accordingly Joe, stooping a little, received Sandy on his shoulders, by
+which he was able to rise into the hole.
+
+"Hurrah--hurrah!" he exclaimed a minute later.  "It's a passage all
+right, boys.  There's a sort of landing, anyway, and it looks as though
+there's a passage beyond. Hold steady, Joe, an' I'll try an' get my
+hands on the ledge."
+
+The boy made several efforts without avail, for he was an inch or so too
+low.
+
+"Step on my shoulders, Sandy."  It was Neville who had placed himself
+alongside Joe.  His shoulders were at least three inches higher.  Thus
+raised, Sandy had no difficulty in grasping the ledge of the landing.
+Catching the lad's feet with his hands, Neville pushed the boy higher,
+and soon he worked his way on to the floor of the ceiling, as it were.
+
+This done, he proceeded to light his candle and explore, for it was
+impenetrably dark.  Following the passage inwards, the boy advanced some
+distance.  He found that it widened as he proceeded, and became easier
+to traverse.
+
+"I'd better return now for the other chaps," muttered the lad.
+Accordingly he retraced his steps and explained matters to the anxiously
+waiting group.  By the aid of the green-hide lariat, the others were
+soon up with the leader on the landing.
+
+Here, then, was a new situation.  In all probability the foot of man had
+never trodden this place.  There were no traces of any living thing.  It
+was in no light mood, therefore, that the boys made a start.  Their
+position was unique and thrilled them.  They might, in a literal way,
+bring to light the hidden things of darkness.  Not for ages, or ever, in
+all likelihood, had those walls been lighted up and gazed upon.  Whither
+would the pathway lead?
+
+Proceeding, they encountered no difficulty for some time, as the passage
+widened in places, enabling them to walk abreast.  Soon, however, it
+began to contract, and in places it became a squeeze.  The roof, too,
+dipped considerably, so that it could be touched by the extended hand.
+
+Sandy, who was still leading, began to experience a tired feeling.
+There was a peculiar sensation in his ears, and a tightening in the
+throat.  After advancing a few steps farther he stumbled and almost
+fell.  His candle, too, began to burn very dimly.  His followers were
+experiencing similar feelings.  In a moment the cause of this untoward
+feeling came flashing across his mind.
+
+Joe, behind him, cried out, "I say, Sand ... I'm gettin' ... short..."
+
+"Back, everybody!  Fire-damp!" cried the leader in a raucous voice,
+after a violent effort.
+
+It was a narrow squeak.  Though only a few minutes in the poisoned air,
+they were all on the verge of unconsciousness.  Gasping, trembling, the
+sweat oozing from every pore, they struggled on until they reached the
+widened area of the passage, and then sank, exhausted, to the ground.
+Tom, who was at the tail of the procession was not so bad as the others,
+not having penetrated so far into the poison zone.
+
+The pure air soon revived them.  Their respiration, which was very
+laboured at first, improved as soon as the sweet, dry air entered their
+lungs, and ousted the putrid gas which had lodged there.  A pull at the
+water-can, which fortunately they had brought with them, helped them a
+lot, and in a short time they were themselves again.
+
+"That ends chapter one," said Joe dryly.  "Whereaway now, Captain?"
+
+"We've come to the end of our tether sudden enough, and with a
+vengeance.  It'll be something, Mr. Neville, to tell 'em in England.
+Let us get back to the old passage. This is nothing but a death-trap."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXVI*
+
+                            *THE EXPLORERS*
+
+
+"'The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest,' replied my uncle
+Toby."--STERNE.
+
+"That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a
+lion!"--SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+"How quickly we ran into that poison-trap!  No smell or anything to warn
+us," remarked Neville, when the normal condition of the lads was
+restored, "save a nauseous feeling which supervened."
+
+"Whatcher think made it hang like that, Mr. Neville? Seemed to me like
+an invisible fog that we suddenly encountered."
+
+"That is really what I believe it to be, Tom.  I know from what I have
+read and heard, the gas is colourless and quite heavy.  An uncle of mine
+is a colliery manager in Wales, and this fire-damp, or choke-damp, as it
+is sometimes called, is often fatal, because it fills the lungs so that
+no other air can enter, and in this way suffocates its victims.  We were
+just on the fringe of it, I think.
+
+"As I was saying, this fire-damp, which is always much more dangerous
+after an explosion in the mines, is generally formed by the
+decomposition of certain substances in vegetable fibres, or in veins of
+carbonised mineral.  That is why it is called carbonic acid gas.  It is
+much heavier than the air.  You remember the passage was contracted, and
+the air seems to have become impregnated at that particular place."
+
+"Well, whatever it is," said Joe, who had just made a few spasmodic
+heaves, "it's good enough to keep out of.  Let's give the acid, or gas,
+or damp, or whatever it's called, leg bail."
+
+The party of defeated but not disgraced explorers now retraced their
+steps.  Eagerly scanning the walls as they retreated for signs of
+diverging passages, they soon found themselves at the landing, whence
+they swung down into the blind alley that led to the main passage.
+
+"Sandy," said Joe, when the party had emerged, "give that passage a
+name.  Leichhardt gave names, you know, to all the creeks, hills, and
+water-holes he discovered in his travels.  I reckon yon's our discovery.
+Faugh!" ejecting a mouthful of saliva, "it tastes like rotten
+soda-water.  Let's call the beastly place by a name that'll fit it."
+
+"Christen away."
+
+"Me!  Well--er--how'd 'Poison Pot' do?"
+
+'"Death Trap' would be better," replied Sandy.  So thought the others,
+and it was accordingly named "Death Trap Passage."
+
+"Now, chaps, let's get back to the cathedral.  There's a likely spot
+there--that hole, I mean, where the boulder was jammed."
+
+"What's the time, Mr. Neville?" asked Joe, on arrival at the big
+chamber.
+
+"Quarter to one."
+
+"Why, we've hardly been three hours in!  I made sure it was about six."
+
+"I vote we have a go at the prog," chipped in Tom. "It'll help to take
+the nasty taste away."
+
+"Good idea!" was the general verdict.
+
+The pals had lost a good deal of their natural spirits. Three hours
+groping in semi-darkness, with a throat full of choke-damp thrown in,
+was enough to stale the strongest; yet they had no thought of surrender.
+They were "baffled, to fight better."
+
+In a few minutes the outer entrance is gained, and in another five
+minutes they reach camp.
+
+The hot tea was particularly acceptable.  Nothing in the wide world
+could have been more refreshing and stimulating.  Billy-tea boiled with
+gum sticks, just so far sweetened as to countervail the natural
+roughness without impairing the aromatic flavour, stands at the head of
+all beverages--whether aerated, brewed, distilled, or concocted.
+
+"My word, this is bully tea, ain't it?" cried Tom, smacking his lips
+with satisfaction, after emptying his pannikin for the third time.
+
+Neville in particular--to whom the outing and the exploration was a new
+experience--felt, as he puffed at a cigar, the stirrings of a larger and
+a nobler nature than that which had hitherto exercised him.  Business
+life seemed flat and stale compared with this al fresco existence.
+
+"Time to be goin' back again," said the practical Sandy, breaking in on
+a post-prandial reverie.  "Gimme the tommie, Joe."
+
+Tomahawk in hand, the boy walked to the sapling clump, and selecting a
+stout specimen, vigorously attacked it with the weapon.  From this he
+cut two six-foot lengths, sharpening the thicker ends, crowbar fashion.
+
+"What's that for, Sandy?"
+
+"To prise the boulder.  They'll make capital levers."
+
+Armed with these additional implements, the lads returned to the caves,
+and in due course lowered themselves into the cathedral.
+
+The spot which Sandy had mentally marked as a likely one has already
+been described.  It was a cleft in the floor at its junction with the
+wall, and immediately behind a huge stalagmite.  It must have escaped
+the vigilant eyes of the professional trackers.  The corner was a very
+dark one, and unless one looked closely behind the boulder the cleft
+would not be observed.  Sandy had lit upon it in a promiscuous search,
+and was impressed by its possibilities as another outlet, or inlet, to
+other cavities.
+
+No sooner had the boys arrived at the spot, and Sandy had cast his eye
+upon it, than he exclaimed, "Somebody's been here!"
+
+"How d'yer know?"
+
+"This stone is not in the same position as when I last saw it."
+
+"Who could it 'a' been?"
+
+"Dunno.  I'm crack sure, however, that this stone was not square down
+the other day.  The flat of it was down and the point of it up.  Now
+it's reversed.  Besides, here are crowbar marks."
+
+"It'll be hard enough to get out--much harder than it would 'a' been if
+it hadn't been touched."
+
+"Must have been a strong chap that turned it!"
+
+"Strong?  No one man could ever have done it!  It would be difficult for
+two.  Why, that stone's not a pound less than four hundredweight!"
+
+"Well, time's goin'," said Joe, "and what's done's done. Let's at it,
+Sandy.  Up-end her, and throw her over on the floor."
+
+The lads vainly tried to insert the wooden bar. The cracks between the
+lid, so to speak, and the edge at the opening were not sufficiently wide
+to admit this.
+
+"It won't do," said Sandy after a while; "we're gettin' no forrader."
+
+"I suggest," interposed Neville, "that you widen the cracks."
+
+"How can we do that?"
+
+"Will you let me have a try?"
+
+"My!--rather.  Anything to get the blame thing out."
+
+Neville picked up the tomahawk that was lying near at hand, and began
+striking the edges of the hole where Sandy had been prising.
+
+"That's the stitch!" cried Tom.  "Well done, Mr. Neville!"
+
+The limestone readily yielded to Neville's strokes, and the crevice was
+soon wide enough to take in the thick end of the stout gum sapling.
+
+Sandy and Neville, taking a pull at the end, levered the stone high
+enough for Joe, who had the other bar ready to insert between the raised
+end and the floor stone. With this additional lever power the "stopper"
+was canted on one side, high enough to put the stone chocks in.  Another
+application of the bars, with two boys hanging on each and pulling
+simultaneously, brought the "stopper out of the bottle," and toppled it
+over with a thud that shook the floor; bringing down a stalactite with a
+crash, fortunately without harm to the exploring party.
+
+Before venturing down, Joe, in whose mind an idea had been fermenting
+while the stone-raising business was being carried on, critically
+surveyed the stone "stopper."
+
+"Look here!" remarked he, "these are the marks of an iron crowbar.
+Whoever removed this had the proper tools for it.  Whatcher make of
+that?  That upsets the town party theory, don't it?"
+
+"It certainly makes the puzzle harder," said Neville.
+
+"Think so?  Makes it easier to me," quoth Sandy.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Looks more'n more like Ben Bolt's work."
+
+"Think he's in there now?" exclaimed Tom, in an awed whisper.
+
+"No, I don't think that.  But it shows me that he's knocking about here
+again, an' he's been in the caves quite recently."
+
+The boys looked into each other's faces, and felt--well, just as you
+would feel, brave reader, were you in the cavernous depths of earth, in
+the very haunts of proclaimed outlaws, not knowing at what moment they
+might spring upon you.  Standing in the cold, damp, dim underground, at
+the mouth of an unknown passage, which might take you to the innermost
+den of the outlaws, could you contemplate advance without an attack of
+the creeps? The crevice, after going down sheer a few feet, turned on a
+level plane, right across the floor of the cathedral, in a westerly
+direction.  How far could be known only by actual travel.
+
+"Come on, boys," said Sandy, after a moment's silence; "it's what we've
+come here for.  I believe, for one, we're goin' to solve the mystery."
+
+One by one the lads dropped into the bottom of the well.  The passage
+was of unequal width, but always wide enough to allow the party to
+proceed without squeezing, and had a fairly level floor.  The floor,
+after extending two hundred paces or so in a westerly direction, began
+to decline somewhat sharply, and presently Sandy gave a warning shout--
+
+"Water ahead!"
+
+The others crowded round him as well as they could. There, at their very
+feet, was a pool of water of unknown depth.
+
+"Here's a go, chaps!  Looks as if it might be a swim."
+
+The pool covered a fairly wide stretch, and was in a dip of the passage.
+
+"Don't think it's a swim myself," remarked Joe. "Let's take off our
+boots an' pants.  I fancy we'll find it only a wade.  We can move
+cautiously and test it with a bar as we proceed."
+
+The party did as suggested, and found to their satisfaction that the
+water did not rise above their knees; for none of them relished a swim
+in the icy water.  After re-dressing, the company moved forward, and
+soon emerged into a spacious cavern that fairly sparkled with lime
+crystals.  Little time, however, was spent in admiration.  They moved
+across it in the same direction, and found two exits.  After a short
+consultation, they decided to take the larger of the two passages,
+because it seemed to be a continuation of the old track.  Just as they
+started, Tom, who was in the rear, on looking round, saw what appeared
+to be a bundle on the floor of the cave, some distance to the right.
+
+"Wait a moment," cried he, as he ran to the object. "Oh, I say, here's a
+find!"
+
+The others, who were in the entrance, backed out, and ran to his side.
+Tom held the old vine ladder in his hands.
+
+There was no longer any doubt.  There could be only one conclusion.  At
+the sight of this the boys had a bad attack of the creeps.
+
+"It's the 'rangers all right.  They've slipped the police again."  There
+seemed to be no alternative to this conclusion.  "Seems to me,"
+continued Joe, who was the quickest of the lot in reasoning out a thing,
+"that they've been back here again, and knowing that the bobbies'll be
+on the watch to trap 'em at this spot, they've locked up the house, in a
+way of speakin', an' thrown the key inside.  I vote that we go on."
+
+No one said nay, and so the advance was made.  The passage presented no
+serious obstacle, widening and narrowing at intervals, but never too
+narrow to proceed. As they were squeezing through a difficult place,
+Sandy again sounded the alarm.
+
+"What's up now?" said Joe, who was just behind.
+
+"'Nother big cave, an' a deep drop into it, same as the other.  There's
+a bar across here where they've slung ropes.  Undo the lasso, chaps."
+
+"Let's hope we're getting near the end of it."
+
+The speaker was Joe.  The truth is, the work was most tiring in its
+nature, and the spirits of the party were yielding to a very uneasy
+feeling, despite Joe's plausible theories that the end might be the
+reverse of pleasant. Should Ben Bolt, after all, be in hiding, well--the
+worst might happen.
+
+Fixing the rope, they slipped down to the floor of the new cave.  This,
+though not remarkable for beauty, was commodious enough, and had several
+outlets, in one of which there were indubitable evidences of the
+one-time presence of horses.
+
+"Hello! here's the stable," cried Tom, who was first in this recess.
+
+Sure enough in a vault-shaped but very roomy cavern, entered by a wide
+passage, was the robbers' stable. Several bundles of bush hay were
+stacked in one corner. A manure heap filled the other.  All this pointed
+to a prolonged occupation.  The idea of the robbers' presence had so
+materialised by these later evidences that the boys felt they might be
+confronted at any moment by the desperadoes.
+
+"What'll we do, Joe?" said Tom.  "Slip quietly back again?"
+
+"Slip back again, after getting this far!  Don't be frightened, Tom."
+
+"I'm not; y'are yourself."
+
+"Well," replied Joe, with a smile, "I'll not deny that I've felt like it
+more'n once.  But there's one thing you've not noticed, chaps."
+
+"What's that?" chorused the group.
+
+"There's not been any horses here for weeks."
+
+"How d'yer know?"
+
+"No fresh droppings."
+
+That fact was indisputable, conclusive, and enheartening. It lifted a
+load of apprehension, to call it by no harder name; and now, with
+buoyant spirits, to which they had been strangers for some time, the
+boys continued the search.  The end, indeed, was close at hand.
+
+"Look out sharply for tracks," was the command of the leader on leaving
+the stable, stooping low as he spoke, and eagerly scanning the floor.
+Hoof-prints were discovered and followed.  They led to a corner of the
+big cave which narrowed at that point, and continued on as an opening.
+After going a few paces, Sandy called out, "Hurrah--hurrah!  Light
+ahead!"
+
+Sure enough, a few yards farther the passage was lighted with natural
+rays that shot through a small opening some distance ahead.  The party
+was exultant, and needed no telling that this was sunlight.  In this
+subterranean fashion the explorers had traversed, mole-like, the range
+spur, and proved the theory of the dual entrance.
+
+Like as the exultation of Columbus when the first sight of the new world
+convinced him that he had solved the riddle of ages, or as Leichhardt
+felt when he and his dauntless band stood upon the shores of the great
+northern gulf, after having passed through the very heart of Australia's
+_terra incognita_, so did the breasts of these brave youths swell with
+the spirit of triumph when that ray of light revealed the joyful fact
+that they, a group of mere youngsters, had succeeded where the experts
+had failed.
+
+The whole company darted through the spacious passage to the opening.
+It was in the face of a cliff, and fully fifty yards from its sloping
+base.  So steep was the cliff that, viewed from a distance, it appeared
+perpendicular; forbidding to anything save rock wallabies and--Ben Bolt.
+
+Its very roughness, however, made its ascent a possibility.  Had it been
+a smooth face, no horse, however capable, could have climbed it.  Ben
+Bolt was always able to achieve the possible.  Many of his wild rides
+bordered on the miraculous.  His personality magnetised his steeds.
+Wherever he led they would go, and so the steep ravine that rose from
+the rocky base to this entrance afforded a precarious footing for the
+outlaw's horses.
+
+"Now then, boys, before we go down, let's give a cheer," said Sandy.
+Led by the leader, the group signalled its victory--for such it was, and
+no mean one--by a rousing cheer that woke the echoes of the precipice
+and spread wave-like over the landscape beyond.
+
+It penetrated the ears of two men who were riding quietly in the bush
+that lay beyond the rocky plateau which formed the base of the cliffs.
+
+"What's that?" exclaimed the elder to the youth who rode at his side.
+
+"Sounds like a cheer," replied the youth.  "Who can it be--traps?"
+
+Turning their horses' heads, they rode swiftly but silently to the edge
+of the scrubby timber which they were traversing.  Halting just within
+the bushy barrier, they parted the leaves, and there, perched high up
+the cliff's side, were four youthful forms--the band of cave explorers.
+
+"Now, boys, we'll go back an' have another look round before we leave.
+Might find something belonging to Ben Bolt worth carryin' away.  We can
+easily get out on this side, and cross the spur a little higher up,
+where the cliff runs out.  'Twon't take long neither!  I say--won't we
+have a yarn to spin to-night!"
+
+But the unexpected is yet to happen.  The company retraced their steps
+to the cave, and did a little exploration; finding nothing, however, but
+a couple of leather mail-bags and some opened letters--the remains of
+coach-robbery spoils.
+
+"This is the last one, mates," remarked Sandy, as the group entered the
+mouth of a passage.  After traversing its course a little distance, it
+opened up into a small cave, twenty feet square.  On one side of it were
+bunks similar to those in the other cave.  While in the act of examining
+it, Joe fancied he heard a footfall.  Stopping a moment to listen, he
+distinctly heard the sounds of stealthy footsteps.
+
+"'S-s-sh-h-h, boys!  Some un's followin'!"
+
+At this startling statement the boys halted and turned round, to be
+confronted by two forms hardly distinguishable in the surrounding gloom.
+The pals gave a gasp of terror as the call peculiar to highwaymen smote
+their ears and they faced two weapons, levelled point blank.
+
+"Hands up!"
+
+Candles are dropped in sheer fright in an eye-wink, and hands go up in
+gross darkness.
+
+
+The sun had just set as the four youths, in company with two men,
+mounted their horses and took the track leading to Bullaroi.  Strange to
+say, the lads showed no signs of fear, nor were they bound with cords.
+
+"By jingo!" cried Tom, who had just put his horse at a big log and
+cleared it in fine style, followed in order by Joe, Sandy, and Neville,
+"this is the grandest outin' I've ever had!"
+
+"It's a' very weel," answered Mr. M'Intyre, who with Denny Kineavy had
+been following the tracks of some strayed cattle which were making for
+the ranges, and were passing the cliff opening while the cave explorers
+were ringing the welkin with cheers, "but supposin' that instead o' us,
+it 'd really been the bushrangers returnin' and catcht ye trespassin'?
+What then, ma laddies?"
+
+This query raised visions of possibilities that sobered the vaulting
+spirits of the pals for some brief moments. Very thankful were they in a
+moment of reflection that they had been bailed up by a friendly enemy.
+
+"Heigho!"
+
+"What's matter, Joe?"
+
+"Fun's all over: measly school opens to-morrow!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVII*
+
+                              *A RESPITE*
+
+
+    "Ah! those were the days of youth's perfect spring,
+    When each wandering wind had a song to sing,
+    When the touch of care and the shade of woe
+    Were but empty words we could never know,
+    As we rode 'neath the gum and the box trees high,
+    And our idle laughter went floating by."
+      GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+Joe little thought when making the melancholy statement, "measly school
+opens to-morrow," how prophetic the utterance was.
+
+The first words that greeted the party on their return to the homestead
+were: "School won't open for another three weeks; the town's full of
+measles."
+
+The pals tried hard to look sober and concerned as Mrs. M'Intyre dilated
+upon the nature of the epidemic. It was a vain attempt.  To their credit
+be it said, they were very poor hypocrites.  Whatever sorrow they might
+feel on account of their friends who were in the grip of the disease was
+more than counterbalanced by the blissful intimation that, owing to the
+epidemic which had unexpectedly broken out, the school authorities had
+resolved, for at least three weeks, to keep the school closed.
+
+"There's no going home at present, boys.  I wouldn't dream of letting
+you return.  I'll just write to your mothers to say I intend keeping you
+here, unless they want you particularly.  I feel sure they will be
+thankful for your absence at such a time.  So you'll have to make the
+best of it, boys.  Are you sorry?"
+
+"Well--er--of course--I'm a----"
+
+"Yes--a--of course--you're--a--shedding tears at the thought of staying
+here another fortnight or so--aren't you, Joe?  You and Tom do look as
+miserable as moulting fowls in wet weather at the bare thought of
+holiday extension."
+
+The lads burst out laughing at Jessie's sally, and declared that it was
+the crummiest news they had received during the holidays.
+
+"That's a' very weel, and ye needna fash, laddies, that you'll ootwear
+your welcome.  But here's some news that may no' be so pleasant," said
+the squatter, who had been busy with his mail.  "Here's a letter frae
+Inspector Garvie to say that Ben Bolt and his mate are in the deestric'
+again.  He stuck up Dirrilbandie Station three days ago, drivin' a' the
+hands aboot the homesteed, along wi' Wilson and his faimily, into ane o'
+the men's huts, in which they were held by his youthfu' confederate
+while he ransacked the place."
+
+"Oh! the poor Wilsons!  Did he hurt any of them? and did he get much?"
+
+In reply to a fusillade of questions from the excited household,
+M'Intyre stated that though Ben Bolt was in one of his black humours,
+was in fact on the point of shooting one of the men for cheeking his
+mate, and was only dissuaded from this atrocity by the pleading of Mrs.
+Wilson, no one was injured.  He had taken a considerable amount of loot,
+however, in the shape of jewellery; also a pair of new improved
+revolvers, as well as three horses, one of them being Wilson's handsome
+chestnut gelding, the finest hack in the district, and for which he had
+a short time previously refused seventy pounds from the police
+authorities.
+
+There had been an outcry against the Government for not having provided
+a better class of mount for the troopers.  Again and again the schemes
+of the police to capture the bushrangers in various parts of the colony
+failed, chiefly because they were out-classed in horse-flesh.  A tardy
+Government, aroused at last to action by the clamour of the people, was
+doing its best to remedy this unequal condition.
+
+"I suppose, sir, the police are in full chase of the desperadoes?"
+
+"They're doin' their best, ye may be sure, Mr. Neville. Garvie has two
+pairties oot scoorin' the country, and is holdin' himsel' in readiness
+to move to ony pint at a moment's notice.  As the scoondrels hae cut the
+Walcha telegraph line, the presumption is they will be raidin' the
+place, and Sergeant Hennessey is following up with the utmost speed.
+The Sub wants the loan o' Jacky or Willy, or both, as trackers, and to
+let him ken at aince should there be ony signs o' them on Bullaroi,
+'specially aboot the caves."
+
+"Are you goin' to lend him the boys, father?"
+
+"Weel, it's very awkward, but I'll hae to assist the coorse o' juistice
+when ca'd upon.  We maun dae oor pairt to catch the rascals."
+
+"Suppose you _had_ tumbled across the 'rangers in the caves, boys?"
+
+"Well! an' s'p'osin' we had, Miss Jessie?" replied Tom, whose answer in
+tone and query suggested unspeakably bad things for the outlaws had they
+been unfortunate enough to meet the cave heroes.
+
+"Let me pit ye a sum in arithmeetic, Thomas, ma laddie; juist a sma' sum
+in proportion.  If twa stock wheep hondles, pinted at fowr cave
+explorers, each wi' a lighted candle in his hand, would cause the said
+candles to drop to the flure and fowr pair o' hands to go up like a toy
+acrobat when ye pu' the strings, what attitudes would the aforesaid
+explorers strike if a pair o' rale loaded peestols had been presented?"
+
+"Tom is always a duffer at proportion," interjected Joe laughingly.  "He
+has a trick of givin' answers that make Simpson sit up.  To tell you the
+truth, sir, I don't think that the real article could have given us a
+greater shock.  Speaking for myself, I confess that I've never had so
+bad an attack of the shakes before.  My skin went goosey in a moment,
+an' my hair stood up like a hedgehog's spikes.  I couldn't 'a' said a
+word for a hatful of sovereigns.  You see, sir, _it was all very real to
+us for the moment_, and none of the others felt any better than myself,
+I bet tuppence."
+
+"Joe's quite right, sir.  I had a most dreadful feeling as we stood
+there in the black darkness.  It seemed as if a vast abyss had suddenly
+engulfed us and we were sinking to fathomless depths."
+
+"I'll back up Joe and Mr. Neville, dad.  My word, when you spoke, it was
+as if some one had suddenly pulled me out of a dreadful nightmare."
+
+
+The pals went to bed early, as they were tired out after the unwonted
+exertions of the day, but not to sleep. They were too excited for that.
+
+"I say, chaps," exclaimed Sandy, jumping out of bed after he had tossed
+about for a few minutes, dragging his stretcher alongside the bigger
+bed, "let's settle what we're goin' to do."
+
+"Was just thinking of doin' a sleep, Master M'Intyre, when you commenced
+to drag the jolly stretcher with enough noise to wake the seven
+sleepers.  An' as for ole Tom, I fancied I heard a snore comin' through
+a hole in his pumpkin----"
+
+"Pumpkin yourself, Blain.  I'm as wide awake as you, or that grinnin'
+ape Sandy."
+
+"How d'yer know I'm grinnin'?"
+
+"'Cause I can see your jolly teeth shinin' in the dark. But I say, ole
+chap, I'm on for a confab.  Ouch! my legs _are_ stiff.  Wish I'd taken
+that hot bath your mother advised.  Whatcher got in your ole noddle?"
+
+"Something big, mates, but the difficulty will be with mother.  You see,
+now ole Ben's prowlin' about, mother'll be hard to persuade."
+
+"Well, tell us what's up your sleeve; we can discuss ways an' means
+after."
+
+"It's this: go on a campin' trip to the Bay, where there's grand
+fishin'; then go out to the gold-diggin's, an' put in a couple o' days
+with the fossikers."
+
+"Jemima! that'd be no end of a prime lark!  It'd top off our stay here,
+wouldn't it, Tom?"
+
+"Susan Jane! it would that, Joe.  My word, it'd be a scrumptious finish!
+but what charnce would we have of carrying it out?"
+
+"I don't think that either your Jemima or Susan Jane'll have much to do
+with it.  Mother'll be the chief obstacle."
+
+"What about a tent, Sandy?  We'd have to get one, wouldn't we?"
+
+"There'll be no trouble about that part of the business. There's a big
+drover's tent in the harness-room; 'sides, Harry has a small one he'd
+lend if necessary.  Lemme see: what _would_ we want?  First an'
+foremost, a tent or tents, an' a packhorse to carry 'em an' the other
+things. Then plenty o' prog, o' course: fishing lines--there's tip-top
+schnapper-fishin' down the Bay, to say nothin' of jew, bream, an'
+whitin'.  Then, the guns--we ought to get some good shootin'; both fur
+an' feather."
+
+"A fryin'-pan and a camp-oven 'ud come in handy, pannikins too, and some
+tin plates."
+
+"Yes, yes, we'll need those; at any rate, the fryin'-pan for the fish.
+Don't think there'll be any need to bother about a camp-oven: it's a
+plaguey thing to carry; we wouldn't use it 'cept for bread, an' we can
+make plenty of damper in the ashes.  But I'll tell you what we must
+have, an' that's a couple o' small barrels an' a good few pounds o'
+salt."
+
+"Why, what for?"
+
+"Fish.  We'll be down at the Bay pretty near a week, I reckon; an' as
+we'll catch whips o' fish, it'd be a fine chance to dry some, an' salt
+some as well.  Mother's got two good barrels that hold about
+half-a-hundred-weight each; they're salmon casks.  The salmon's all
+used, an' I reckon schnapper is as good as salmon any day.  That reminds
+me we'll want three or four sheath-knives; they'll come in handy for
+scalin' an' splittin' the fish."
+
+"I say, Sandy, when'll we start?"
+
+"Start!  Ah--well--we'll talk about that when we get leave--which, let
+me tell you, is pretty doubtful. 'Twouldn't take long to get ready once
+we have permission: a day at most.  I declare I'm gettin' sleepy.
+Good-night, chaps."
+
+The boys opened at short range during the breakfast hour the next
+morning.  In other words, they pled most vigorously for permission to
+camp out for a week or so, according to the programme concocted the
+night previously. The chief objection lay in the reappearance of Ben
+Bolt in the district.  It was all in vain that the boys insisted that
+even were the redoubtable 'ranger to visit their camp, which was most
+unlikely--he would not harm them: would, in fact, have no interest in
+bailing up a parcel of boys.  Mr. M'Intyre showed palpable signs of
+yielding, and had it been left to him would have granted a reluctant
+permission.  The insurmountable barrier, as indeed the boys knew
+beforehand, lay in Mrs. Mac's excessive fear.  She held the fort, so to
+speak, against all comers.
+
+"I'm more sorry than I can tell you, boys, to say no, but nothing you
+could say would alter my mind. Neither Joe's mother nor Tom's would
+dream of letting them go camping out while those dreadful men are
+about."
+
+The pals felt the reasonableness of the refusal, and showed not a
+flicker of resentment, though of course their disappointment was keen.
+
+"I say, chaps, let's put in the mornin' fishin'," suggested Joe.
+
+The vote was unanimous, and in a few minutes, armed with rods and lines
+and a tomahawk--the latter for use in cutting grubs out of the
+honeysuckle trees--the boys were _en route_ to some of the deep pools in
+the creek.  They had a really good time with some giant perch.  The
+dangling grubs formed an irresistible lure to these voracious denizens
+of the water-holes, and the fishermen had no reason to grumble at the
+result.  On their return home to lunch they were dumbfounded with the
+news shouted out by Denny as soon as they were within speaking distance,
+"Owld Ben's dead!--shot by the p'lice in th' ranges."
+
+The whole household was greatly excited by the news, which had been
+brought by a stockman from Captain White's station.  There seemed no
+reason to doubt the intelligence, which had come via the "bush
+telegraph."  Hennessey's lot had picked up the 'rangers' tracks and
+partly surprised them in the mountains.  The outlaws promptly but barely
+succeeded in getting away.  They gradually drew away, however, from all
+save the Sergeant, who was on a new mount--one of the Tocal noted
+breed--which proved to be a "ringer."
+
+The leader and his companion, who was a light weight, tried every dodge
+to shake off the pursuit, and in this they were past masters; but they
+had to reckon with Hennessey, who was one of the finest troopers in the
+force--as dare-devil a rider as Ben Bolt himself.
+
+After some marvellous riding among the ravines and tangled mountain
+scrub--during which a few long-range shots had been exchanged--Hennessey
+began to draw upon the outlaws.  Even that equine magician, Samson, was
+reaching his limits.  The capture of this illusive freebooter seemed now
+a certainty, could the Sergeant hold out another ten minutes.
+
+He was now within a hundred yards of his man.  He lagged a little behind
+his youthful mate, who was riding the chestnut gelding looted from
+Wilson's station.  Had he wished he could have shot the 'ranger down;
+but being extremely anxious to capture him alive for the bigger reward,
+he refrained.  The only advantage Ben Bolt possessed was an intimate
+knowledge of the ground, by which he often gained a bit.  They were now
+racing up a steep ravine which presently terminated abruptly at a
+precipice.  Down this the outlaws apparently flung themselves; or so it
+appeared to Hennessey.
+
+Arriving at the spot a few seconds later, the trooper perceived a
+winding, narrow pass.  He was a stranger to the precipitous track, but
+both the bushrangers and their horses were familiar with it, for they
+slithered and scrambled down at breakneck speed: a single stumble, and
+man and horse would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In vain did the
+gallant Sergeant spur his steed towards the pass.  His horse resolutely
+refused to face it.  His chances of capture are fast diminishing to a
+vanishing point, as in a few minutes his prize will have escaped.
+
+The outlaws have now reached the comparatively even ground below,
+distant about five hundred yards from where the trooper stood gnashing
+his teeth in rage, and praying that they might break their necks before
+they reach the bottom.  Fortune favoured them, however, and they might
+have made good their escape without further trouble.  But, instead of
+galloping off to safe cover, they reined up their steeds, while Ben
+Bolt, standing in his stirrups, shouted at the top of his voice an
+insulting message for the Sub-Inspector, making at the same time an
+ironical bow.
+
+While this little piece of comedy was being enacted, and just as the
+bushranger was in the act of bowing, the Sergeant had dismounted.
+Swiftly throwing his rifle to his shoulder and adjusting his sights in
+an eye wink, he made a hasty but true shot.  The outlaw had not finished
+his bow ere he toppled from his steed and lay prone, shot through the
+heart.
+
+Such was the news brought by the stockman, and accepted by the station
+folk.
+
+"Weel, it was bound to come sooner or later.  It's what happens to a'
+law-breakers--simply the choice of bullet or rope.  It's no' for us to
+ca' the unfortunate and misguided mon names.  If a's true, he suffered a
+grave injuistice at the hands o' the police when but a youth, which
+embittered his whole life an' gave a moral twist to his actions.  We
+maun leave him to Ane above wha mak's nae mis-judgments."
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVIII*
+
+                         *THE CAMP BY THE SEA*
+
+
+    "Bright skies of summer o'er the deep,
+      And soft salt air along the land,
+    The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,
+      Sinks gently on the yellow sand;
+    And grey-winged seagulls slowly sweep
+      O'er scattered bush and white-limbed tree,
+    Where the red cliffs like bastions stand
+      To front the salvos of the sea,
+    Now lulled by its own melody."
+        GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+"And now, boys, what about the camping-out project? I see no reason why
+you shouldn't carry out your little plan, now all danger's removed;
+indeed, I should love you to have the jaunt.  Who were going?"
+
+The boys could hardly believe the good news, it was so sudden.
+
+"Us three, and Denny, if father could spare him, mother," was Sandy's
+remark.
+
+"Oh, ye can tak' the laddie.  He's due for a holiday, onyway.  So's
+Harry, for that matter.  I can do wi'oot 'em for a spell."
+
+Harry was nothing loth, and entered into the scheme with considerable
+enthusiasm.  As an old bushman he was able to give good advice in the
+matter of camping-out requirements, and was later to render signal
+service by which a life was saved.
+
+Behold the party, early the next morning, accoutred and ready for the
+road; making, as they held their steeds, quite an imposing cavalcade.
+Two stout roadsters were requisitioned for packing purposes; for the
+maternal solicitude of Mrs. Mac was both prolific and varied, judged by
+the articles of food and service which she forced upon the travellers.
+
+The squatter's pawky humour found ample scope for indulgence.  He
+expressed a hope that "the pairty would keep a guid look oot for traces
+o' the lost Leichhardt expeedetion; and look oot for alleegaitors when
+ye strike the Gulf o' Carpeentairia."
+
+The girls, too, indulged in good-humoured banter, raising hearty laughs
+against the boys, in which the victims joined as lustily as any.
+
+Said Maggie, striking a grandmotherly attitude, "There are three things
+I would warn you against, boys; damp socks, draughts, and earwigs.
+Don't leave out the flour when mixing the damper.  Have you packed the
+tape measure, Sandy?"
+
+"Tape measure!  What in the name of Madge Wildfire do you mean?"
+
+"Why," cried Jessie, breaking in, "to measure the giant jew fish that
+will snap Joe's line as he is in the very act of landing it."
+
+"Whatcher givin' us, Jess?"
+
+"It will also come in handy," continued the saucy girl, turning on Tom,
+"to record the girth, length, and throat capacity of the monster snake
+that you, Tom, are sure to see when roaming alone in the scrub."
+
+"That's one for your nob, Tom!"
+
+"Your turn next, Sandy," retorted that youth.
+
+"Then there's the 'old-man' kangaroo that me brither Sandy will shoot
+at, missing by 'just an hair's-breadth,' of course, and which he will
+declare--when he returns to camp--to be as 'high as one of those extinct
+mammals that Simpson has in his natural history book'; at any rate as
+'big as Bullocky Bill's off side poler.'"
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, how wud th' bhoys put th' measure on th'----?"
+
+"As for Dennis Kineavy," continued the sprite, "he will be sure to run
+into a group of mermaa-des, when diving in the deep blue sa-ay, who will
+be discussing the all-important question of waist measurement.  As
+Denny's an expert in fairies and hobgoblins, he will be appointed judge
+and referee."
+
+So, amid laughter and banter, and final good-byes, the gay party start
+for the Bay.
+
+Neville was prevented from joining them through important business
+interests in Sydney.  The "call" of the bush, however, was strong and
+insistent, and, as he bade farewell, he announced his determination of
+returning at no long date to settle as a landholder.
+
+The road to the Bay passed within a short distance of the caves, and,
+despite the news of the tragic end of Ben Bolt, the lads, as they jogged
+past the neighbourhood, were unable to rid themselves of a feeling that
+the outlaw still lurked about his old haunt, and felt relieved when they
+had left this region behind them.
+
+The journey to the Bay proved uneventful save in one particular.  In
+mounting a very steep incline, the cinch strap, that formed the final
+fastening of the pack on one of the animals, broke, whereupon the
+pack-saddle, being loosely girthed, worked backwards.  Some of the
+contents, also, fell to the ground, frightening the horse, who bolted
+along the road, parting with sundry utensils and eatables, which lined
+the track for some distance at irregular intervals.  The frightened
+steed was at length secured, the wreckage gathered and replaced--this
+time more securely--and the journey resumed.
+
+The Bay is reached without further mishap or adventure. After coasting
+it for some little space the party cast anchor, in seamen's parlance, on
+a miniature promontory which jutted for a furlong or so into the waters
+of the Bay, forming a grassy, treeless plateau throughout its area.  The
+advantage of this site was apparent to the group of campers, inasmuch as
+the foreshores of the Bay were covered for the most part with a stunted
+scrub that extended to the beach.  The advantage was twofold: it
+obviated the necessity of clearing a space for the tents, and it was
+comparatively free from bush vermin.
+
+To the southern part of the Bay, distant some six miles, was the Pilot
+Station; while towards the northern extremity, where a large creek
+debouched into the sea, was a camp of cedar-getters.  Otherwise, in its
+shore vicinity, the Bay was uninhabited.
+
+Two hours of daylight yet remained, and the members of the party made
+instant preparation for pitching camp. The necessary tent poles and pegs
+were speedily secured from the neighbouring scrub, and, under the
+direction of the experienced stockman, willing hands are busily engaged
+in the erection.
+
+The bigger tent was set upon a ridge pole that rested in the forks of
+two upright saplings which had been firmly fixed in the ground.  When
+the requisite number of pegs had been hammered into the ground, the tent
+was hauled taut by cords passed through eyelet holes at intervals along
+each side, and about thirty inches from the bottom.  This under section
+of the tent assumed a perpendicular position, forming the walls, which
+were secured by the same method.  This formed the pals' cover, while the
+smaller tent sufficed for the other two. A rough shed formed of four
+uprights, with a brushwood roof, held the provisions and saddles.
+
+So expeditiously were all these arrangements made that ere the darkness
+fell they were completed, and Denny--who was promoted to the responsible
+position of cook--was building a fire for tea-making purposes. Meanwhile
+the horses were led to a small, freshwater lagoon in the vicinity, where
+they were belled and short-hobbled, and left to browse on the succulent
+grass.  The last act of preparation was that of cutting a quantity of
+gum bushes for bedding.  No sweeter or healthier bed can be contrived
+than a layer of fragrant eucalyptus leaves.  The beds had scarcely been
+made ere the welcome summons to supper came, in the Irish boy's best
+brogue: "Jintilmen, will yees come to ta-ay?"
+
+There is a charm peculiar to an evening meal taken in the open.  The
+charm is heightened in the present instance by the contiguity of the
+sea.  The youths dine to the musical accompaniment of the rolling waves,
+which strike the beach in deep, muffled thunder-tone, rising crescendo
+fashion as they race to a finish along the shelly incline.  Then,
+landward, are the insistent noises of the things of the forest.  Ever
+and anon the soft tinkle-tinkle of "The horse-bell's melody remote" is
+to be heard as the cropping animals move over the lush grass.  The
+illimitable dome above is alive with sparkling lights.  Thus an
+environment is created which gives a sacramental aspect to the feast.
+At least it forms a romantic picture which centres in the fire-lit faces
+of the happy, care-free youths.
+
+Supper ended, they eagerly discuss their projects, the while they clean
+their guns and fix the fishing tackle.
+
+On the morn, at earliest dawn, they will try likely spots for fish, and
+have a swim in the briny.  And now the slow movements of the tongue,
+with frequent yawns, proclaim the nightly toll which nature is wont to
+exact.
+
+Ere the pale dawn is flushed the pals, sleep banished, half-dressed,
+tongues wagging, trudge along the beach to the rocky point of the
+promontory, stopping here and there at likely places to dig in the sand
+for whelks, which make capital bait.  The water is fairly deep where the
+nose of the promontory marks the terminal point, and soon lines are
+unwound, hooks are baited, and practised hands fling the lead-weighted
+hempen cords far into the Bay.  Fair success rewards their efforts.
+Sandy's line hardly reached the bottom ere he experienced the delightful
+thrill of a fierce tug, followed by a smart, strong rush which betokened
+a good fish.  After a few minutes' play he landed a fine specimen of
+black bream, scaling over two pounds.
+
+Sandy and Tom had varying luck with black and white bream, and
+flat-head.  Joe, however, was out of it. He did, indeed, have a gigantic
+bite soon after Sandy had captured his first fish.  The line whizzed
+through his fingers with a rush that skinned them as he began to take a
+pull.  When the line had reached its limit it snapped like a piece of
+pack-thread.  The biter was either a young shark or a big jew fish.
+After this no fish troubled the boy.  His mates struck their fish at
+frequent intervals, while his line remained motionless.  After a time he
+wound up and left his companions.  Retracing his steps some distance
+along the beach, he halted at a shelving rock that ran out into the
+water.  It looked a likely spot, and he determined to try with a lighter
+line than the one he had been using.  Baiting his hook with a soldier
+crab, he made a cast, and almost immediately had a bite, hauling in a
+black-back whiting.  It was a good specimen, weighing at least a pound.
+He had good sport for about half an hour, catching in all about a dozen
+whiting and half a dozen soles.
+
+The sport began to slacken about an hour after sunrise, and the pals,
+having captured sufficient for the day's requirement, set to work and
+cleaned their catches. This task finished, they have a plunge in the
+sparkling and cool waters of the Bay.
+
+Meanwhile Harry attended to the horses, and did little jobs about the
+camp, whilst Denny devoted his attention to the preparation of the
+breakfast.  The lads returned in due course with the spoils of the sea,
+and with appetites as keen as a razor.  In a few minutes the pan is full
+of sizzling fish, which are presently transferred to a hot dish, and the
+pan is filled with a fresh lot.
+
+"Goin' to try 'nuther panful, Denny?" said Tom, when the second lot had
+been demolished.
+
+"Anuther pan!  Howly Moses! div yees hear him! Och, thin, me bhoy, ye'd
+soon rise th' price ov fish.  Not anuther scrap will Oi cook f'r yees.
+Oi've kep' th' rest f'r dinner?  Sure, if we go on loike this 'twill be
+Fridah ivry da'; glory be!"
+
+The morning was devoted to a go-as-you-please programme, in which there
+was much disporting in the water; even the juvenile pastime of building
+castles in the sand was not considered _infra dig_.
+
+In the afternoon the whole party set out for Schnapper Point.  It was on
+this spot that the fond expectations of the lads were centred.  It was
+reputed to be the best fishing ground in the extensive Bay, and owed its
+name to the fact that school-schnapper frequented its vicinity. A
+schnapper trip--taken as a rule in a small steamer--is voted one of the
+finest outings by Australian sportsmen. This highly prized fish, be it
+said, is known variously, according to its age and changing habits.  It
+often attains large dimensions, weighing up to thirty pounds.
+
+None of the party had previously visited the Point. Their great concern
+was to find out if suitable bait could be procured in its neighbourhood.
+The principal bait was a small species of whiting.  These, they
+discovered, were to be obtained without much trouble on shelly patches
+along the beach.
+
+Early next morning the campers are astir, and busily engaged in
+necessary preparations.  After a hearty breakfast, in which the corned
+round and the spiced beef are conspicuous features, behold the young
+sports jogging along the beach towards Schnapper Point.  A stoppage is
+made at the whiting patch, where the fishermen are kept going for an
+hour with very fine lines.  By this time they have secured about two
+hundred small fish as bait.
+
+And now, having arrived at the fishing ground, leaving Harry and Denny
+to attend to the horses, the pals, all eager for the promised sport,
+unwind their heavy schnapper lines, and prepare for the catch.
+
+It was agreed that the boys were to fish, while Harry, who voted fishing
+a bore, and was devoted to the gun, would scour the adjacent scrub for
+birds, and the forest beyond for kangaroo; Denny having promised the
+boys a "foine boilin'" of kangaroo-tail soup.  To quote the actual words
+in which he preferred his request--"If Harry wud shute wan iv thim
+fellas as hops wid their ta-ales, and carries their childre in their
+pockets,[#] Oi, wud ma-ake sich a soup as niver was."
+
+
+[#] The natural pouch of the marsupial for bearing its young.
+
+
+The shooter, armed with a fowling-piece and a short rifle, after
+attending to the horses, disappeared in the scrub in search of game.
+Meanwhile the fishers, having cast their lines, assume an expectant
+attitude.
+
+To their great disappointment there are no bites; not even the
+stimulating nibble.  The patience of these amateurs is sorely tried.  A
+whole hour passes without the slightest sensation of a bite.  Lines are
+cast and recast.  The fishermen move to and fro, to no useful purpose.
+
+"Well, of all the rotten frauds of places for fishin', this takes the
+bun!  Dash it! we'd better have stayed at the camp an' fished there.  At
+least we'd----"
+
+"Howld yer whisht, bhoys!" said Denny in an excited whisper.  "Oi'm jist
+goin' to git a boite; th' line's thrimblin' sure.  Faith 'tis a Dutchman
+smellin' the ray-shons, Oi'm thinkin'."
+
+"It's not a schnapper, if that's what you mean by a Dutchman.  No
+nibblin' about a schnapper, Denny. More likely a crab."
+
+"By Saint Michael!  Joe, div yes call that a crab? Be dad, thin, it's a
+big sa-ay whale, or maybe one iv thim mare-mades Miss Jassie warned me
+aginst.  Be th' hokey, th' loine's cuttin' me fingers!"
+
+The line, which for a minute or two had given faint twitches, and a few
+premonitory shakes, now suddenly whizzed through the Irish boy's
+fingers.
+
+"Take a pull on her, an' steady her!" cried Sandy. "You'll lose fish an'
+line, too, if you're not mighty smart."
+
+Denny thereupon made a "brake" of his fingers, which steadied the fish
+after it had run out about fifty yards or so of the line.  He began to
+haul it as if it were attached to a sulky calf.  The fish was a heavy
+one, and a fighter; but what Denny lacked in skill he made up in
+strength. Fortunately for the angler the line was stout and new, or it
+would surely have snapped in the struggle.  By sheer strength the fish
+is drawn to land.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIX*
+
+                    *AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER:
+                            A NARROW SHAVE*
+
+
+The pals watched the seaman-like efforts of Denny to land his "sa-ay
+whale," or "mare-made," with great curiosity.
+
+"It's no schnapper, unless, maybe, a real boss 'un.  More like a young
+shark," was the remark passed by Joe.
+
+Their curiosity is soon satisfied; the fish is now in the shallows, and
+the next moment is drawn to the water's brink.  Denny has landed a
+monster sting-ray.
+
+It was the first of the kind the Irish boy had ever seen, and, as he
+pulled the struggling ray into the shallows and exposed its body, he was
+struck mute for a few seconds with astonishment, and not a little alarm,
+at its uncanny appearance.  Dropping his line in the excitement, he half
+turned to the boys, and, pointing to the floundering fish, exclaimed,
+"Begorrah! 'tis th' div-vil himsilf.  Saints presarve us, but if yen's
+not he'es ta-ale!  Or, ma'be 'tis th' dhragon phwat Father Daly towld us
+about at Mass larsht Sun-day."
+
+"He'll be a drag-off in a moment," cried Joe, making a clutch at the
+line, for the brute was wriggling into the deeper water.  The next
+minute the ray was smacking the earth with his flappers, and whipping it
+with his tail.
+
+"Phwat be th' crathure, anny ways, Sahndy?"
+
+"It's a stingaree, Denny.  Mind you don't touch its tail, or you will
+find out to your cost that it's the dragon, black angel, an' 'th' owld
+bhoy,' all mixed up like an Irish stew.  Run for the tommy, an' we'll
+whip it off."
+
+"And does it bite wid its ta-ale loike a schn-ake, bhoys?"
+
+"No, you precious duffer! it's got a spike near the tip that it rams
+into you like a needle, an' then look out! Yellow Billy trod on one once
+when he was havin' a bogey down below Tareela, in the river--they make a
+hole in the mud an' lie there--an', by jings! he was ravin' mad in
+twenty minutes.  The doctor had to shove a syringe into his arm, and
+squirt laudnaum, or somethin', to quiet him down.  There!" flourishing
+the tomahawk, "that's off, clean as a whistle!"
+
+"My word!" continued Sandy, a moment later, "we'll keep the tail for
+Harry.  He promised Bill Evans, the jockey, to get one for him if he
+could.  He's goin' to ride White's horse at the Armidale races, an' he's
+the laziest o' mokes he reckons.  Bill says it'll be only by sheer
+floggin' that he'll fetch him along.  Says if he only had a
+stingaree-tail whip[#] he could do the trick."
+
+
+[#] The sting-ray tail is sometimes used for this purpose. It is a cruel
+instrument of flagellation in the hands of an unfeeling rider.
+
+
+"This is not schnapper fishin'," interjected Joe.  "My word! the
+stingaree'll make stunnin' bait.  Put a bit on your hook, Denny, it may
+entice 'em."
+
+Sandy cut off a slice from the flapper and baited Denny's hook with it.
+The line had hardly reached the bottom ere it was seized by a fish--a
+monster.  The fish did not rush, he bored; the resistance was of a
+sullen nature.  Joe came to Denny's help, and between them they drew the
+fish to land.  It proved to be a huge rock cod, or groper, as it is more
+commonly called, scaling close upon a hundredweight.
+
+"A jolly groper, by dad!  We're in luck all right," exclaimed Tom.
+"We'll have groper steak for supper to-night; besides, we can pickle one
+half of this cove and dry the other."
+
+Their luck had changed in more respects than one.  The ray and the
+groper seemed to be avants courier for the school-schnapper, which now
+began to bite freely.
+
+For the next two hours the boys were kept well employed, landing near
+upon forty fish, varying from three to twelve pounds in weight.  The
+tide now began to ebb, and after that there were no more bites.  It was
+just as well, for by this time they had caught as many fish as they
+could cure.  Counting the groper, they had nigh upon three
+hundredweight.  The weight of these when scaled and cleaned would be
+reduced by at least one-fourth, leaving about two hundred and fifty
+pounds of choice fish.
+
+"What's bes' thing to do now, Joe?"
+
+"W-e-l-l--er--I dunno.  Oh, I say, how'd a jolly swim go down?"
+
+"Spiffin'!  A swim, a feed, an' then start cleanin' the fish an' gettin'
+'em ready for smokin' an' saltin'.  'Bout noon I reckon it is."
+
+"Come on, Denny," cried Joe, as they walked down to a sloping beach a
+little back from the Point; "come an' have a dip in the briny."
+
+"Bedad, thin, that same will Oi not.  'Twu'd be threadin' on wan iv
+these stinkin'-rays Oi'd be.  Oi can seem to feel th' brute's dirty
+pisen fangs already in me leg.  No, no, thanks be, Oi'm not takin' th'
+wather tra-atement at prisint.  Oi'll go an' start the foire so as to be
+ready f'r yees; that is, if th' sharks div not ma-ake mince-ma-ate of
+yees."
+
+Was it a premonition which caused a cold, tingling thrill to run along
+Joe's nervous system, from tip to toe; to be followed by the creeps,
+which made goose-flesh of his smooth skin?  Disagreeable as the
+sensation is to the lad for the time, it lasts but for a moment, and in
+less than no time, so to speak, he is revelling in the glories of the
+crisp, emerald-tinted wavelets of the Bay.
+
+It should be stated that Schnapper Point did not extend into the Bay at
+right angles to the beach.  It inclined northward, and at the spot where
+the boys were bathing was not more than two hundred yards from the
+beach.
+
+"Say, chaps," shouted Joe, who was some distance out, "I'm going to swim
+over to the main beach."
+
+So saying, he swam slowly towards the other side, enjoying to its
+fullest extent the luxury of the exercise. He had covered about a third
+of the distance when he heard a great commotion behind him.
+
+Denny, who had been attending to the fire, had his attention attracted
+by a moving object in the sea.  Gazing intently thereon for a moment, he
+left his occupation and ran swiftly towards the boys.
+
+"Look, bhoys! look at that gra-ate fish sa-alin' in forninst the Point.
+Troth, it's a monsther groper, Oi'm thinkin'!  Glory! but he'es a
+gra-ate big bullock-groper!"
+
+So saying, Denny came towards the boys with a puzzled air, as though his
+description of the object to which he was pointing did not exactly
+determine its species.
+
+"Whereaway, Denny?" exclaimed Sandy, who was paddling in the surf,
+standing up and gazing in the direction indicated.  "A bullock-groper.
+That's a new creature surely.  Never heard----Hello! why, it's a---- Hi,
+hi!  Joe!  Joe!" shouted the lad in a wildly excited state.  "Joe,
+there's a big shark roundin' the Point an' coming this way.  Come back,
+quick! quick!"
+
+Joe, who was almost on a level with the water, was unable to locate the
+enemy as quickly as the others.  It was not until he began to tread
+water that his eye caught the moving object.  In a flash he realised his
+danger, for it was a large tiger-shark, the man-eater of the sea.  Not
+even the man-eater of the jungle, roused through the blood-lust to a
+killing frenzy, could be more merciless to his victim than this
+cold-blooded, pitiless, silent tiger of the seas.
+
+Terrible as was the shock, his courage survived.  He conned the
+situation, and formed his judgment in a moment. The shark was eighty
+yards or so above him, swimming parallel with Schnapper Point beach, and
+within thirty yards or so of it.  As far as he could judge the fish was
+ignorant of his presence, but were he to return to his companions he
+could not expect to escape its vigilant eyes; would be crossing its bow,
+so to speak; and, were it in an attacking mood, would not have the ghost
+of a show.
+
+His only hope of escape lay in keeping along his course, getting to the
+farther shore in the smallest number of minutes possible.  All this
+cogitation did not cover twenty seconds, and the boy resumed his swim
+with the utmost vigour.
+
+Had not something happened to divert the shark from its course nothing
+alarming would have occurred, for Joe was rapidly widening the distance,
+and every stroke was improving his chances.  The boys on shore, with the
+hope of frightening the monster away altogether, began to make a great
+clatter; pelting the shark at the same time.  No more fatal policy could
+have been adopted.  The only result of their tactics was to divert the
+shark from its course, and to drive it out in the direction of their
+comrade.
+
+Almost as soon as the brute's course was changed it sighted the swimmer.
+This it indicated by giving two or three strong strokes with its
+powerful tail, and gliding at a rapid rate in the wake of the lad.  Joe
+was made acquainted with this change of course by the frantic cries of
+his mates.  Throwing his head over his shoulder for a moment, he saw the
+shark heading directly for him. He knew in that moment that unless the
+miraculous happened his hours were numbered, and in a few seconds--or
+minutes at most--his body would be mangled by this pitiless sea-tiger.
+Yet, although this terrible result appeared an absolute certainty to the
+fleeing youth, he did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and
+steady stroke.  There is such a thing as hoping against hope. He would
+not surrender life; it must be torn from him. Joe's home upbringing,
+with his father's daily chapter and prayer, sent his thoughts
+heavenwards in this his moment of extreme peril: "What time I am afraid
+I will put my trust in Thee."
+
+Here was the situation.  Joe was about sixty yards from the beach, while
+the relentless pursuer was within thirty yards of him.  His mates were
+powerless to aid him, and were racing round to the spot where he
+intended to land as swiftly as their legs could carry them.
+
+The shark glided within a few yards of the lad, and then swam round him,
+while conning him.  This the boy felt to be simply the preliminary, yet
+every stroke was taking him nearer the shore.  The water should be even
+now shoaling.  Might he dare to sound it?  But, alas! the enemy seems to
+understand this, and gives a cunning look as it half-raises its body
+from the water, and scrutinises its helpless victim preparatory to
+making its final swoop.
+
+"God help me!" cries the youth, with a dry sob; his last moment has
+come.  In that supreme moment--as in the case of drowning men--the whole
+past came before him.  Home, parents, sisters, brothers, pals! There,
+almost within arm's-length, is his merciless foe; while there is still
+quite a stretch of water between him and the beach.
+
+The great, cold-blooded, insatiable fish is poised for the final spring.
+A single second now, and----
+
+Instead of falling upon its victim, the huge brute lashed the water into
+foam, and swam round and round in a circle.  What had really happened
+Joe knew not. He no longer swam shorewards, but, half stupefied, watched
+the "flurries" of the frenzied fish as it lashed the water in rage or
+pain.
+
+Then he heard a great splashing shorewards, and a voice shouting
+encouraging words.  Turning in that direction, the boy beheld, with
+unutterable joy, Harry, rifle in hand, rushing through the water to him.
+In a few seconds the stockman is abreast Joe, the water being only up to
+his arm-pits.  Pointing the rifle at the fish, which was circling in
+blind fashion, but a few yards off, the rifleman--for it was he, under
+God, who worked the miracle--drove a bullet through the shark's brain.
+
+"My word! 'twas a touch-and-go, old feller!" exclaimed the man, as he
+put an arm round the boy--who had, in a sense, collapsed--and drew him
+to the shore.  "There now, Joey, me brave boy.  Y're all right, ain't
+ye?  Y're not the chap ter faint, I know.  Here's the others," as the
+rest dashed up, breathless; the Irish boy fairly crying with excitement.
+
+They could do nothing for a while but look at Joe as he sat leaning
+against a mangrove--where Harry had placed him--making a brave but weak
+effort to smile. The reaction had set in, and the boy felt it was only
+by the most resolute exercise of his will that he kept from swooning.
+
+Tom, who was blowing like the proverbial grampus, stuttered at last:
+"Let's m-make tr-racks h-home, b-boys. I-I'd rather be b-b-bailed up by
+a thousand 'r-rangers, than w-w-w-one of th-hose sea-devils.  Oh! the
+sight of the m-monster as he r-rose to make a d-dive at p-poor Joe!
+Y-yes, let's c-clear."
+
+"Clear, be hanged!  What are you drivelling about, you jolly idiot?"  It
+was just the tonic Joe needed. "We're not goin' to let a thing like this
+spoil our sport, not by a long shot.  I'm all right.  Was a bit knocked
+out for a few minutes, I will confess.  Tell you what, boys; I'll never
+be nearer death till my last moment comes.  That I am alive is due,
+first to God, an' then to ole Harry, here.  'Twas a great shot, that
+first one of yours.  'Nother second later an' 'twould have been too
+late.  Ugh! don't believe I'll ever get the green glitter of the thing's
+eyes outer my mind.  Tell you what, I'll jolly well punch the first cove
+that hints at goin' home.  I vote we go back an' scale an' gut the jolly
+fish."
+
+"Bedad, thin, it's a plucky wan y'are, Joe, me bhoy! Y're th' mahn f'r
+me money ivry toime.  But, ye'll not do a sthroke iv wark till yees have
+a feed.  Faith, Oi'll do a sthreak an' get th' billy boilin' f'r a
+pipin' hot cup o' tay.  It's what we all want; Joe in particular."
+Suiting his action to the word, the cook strode off in quick time to
+prepare the lunch.
+
+Meanwhile the dead shark had drifted into the shallows until it stranded
+on the beach.  The party now made a closer examination of the brute.
+The first shot, fired from the bank as the creature raised itself, had
+caught it in the throat; the second passed through the eye to the brain.
+
+"Why, it's a tiger-shark!" exclaimed Harry; "twelve foot if he's an
+inch.  Thought 'twas a blue-nose at fust; they're bad enough, but this
+joker's the worst kind that swims the sea.  My word, Joe, it'd been all
+U P if this chap'd once got 'is teeth intil yer."
+
+"Budgeree, budgeree, you bin shootem shark?  Him murry bad p-feller.
+Catchem plendy black p-feller; eaten.  This p-feller live longa Point
+plendy years."
+
+[Illustration: "The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam
+round and round in a circle."--_See p._ 271.]
+
+The group, which had been intently gazing at the carcass, turned round
+in a startled manner on bearing these guttural sounds.  Immediately
+behind them was a cluster of aboriginals, five in number, who had stolen
+silently upon the scene.
+
+"Hello, Cock-eye! that you?" cried Harry, as he surveyed the blacks.
+"Where you bin sittin' down, eh?"
+
+"Cedar Crik.  We bin come longa here get fis' for choppers."
+
+"Oh, the timber-getters, hey!  Well, you seem ter know this ole boss.
+You bin see 'im afore?"
+
+"Plendy times.  Bin often try catch 'im.  He kill-ee mine sister.  He
+too much lika dingo; no take bait."
+
+"Well, you can git even with this joker, Cock-eye. He eat your people;
+now you chaps gobble 'im up."
+
+The blacks are inordinately fond of shark's flesh, and--cannibal as this
+sea-tiger is--no question of sentiment may stand between these primitive
+men and a gorge.
+
+"I say, Harry, cut that dorsal fin off for me, there's a good man,
+before these niggers tackle it.  I'd like to keep that."
+
+After a considerable amount of hacking, the stockman managed to separate
+the fin, and, leaving the blacks in undisturbed possession of the
+carcass, they returned to the Point, to feed, and to finish their work.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXX*
+
+                        *IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP*
+
+
+    "O mellow air!  O sunny light!
+    O Hope and Youth that pass away!
+    Inscribe in letters of delight
+    Upon each heart one golden day--
+        To be there set
+        When we forget
+      There is a joy in living yet!"
+          G. E. EVANS.
+
+
+The fish cleaning occupied the best part of the afternoon; and when the
+party reached camp, about sunset, they were dog-tired; inclined for
+little else than supper and sleep.
+
+"But you haven't told us how it came to pass that you were just on the
+spot to prevent the shark scoffing Joe," exclaimed Tom to Harry.  "We
+didn't expect you back for hours."
+
+"Niver had such a thing 'appen afore, I give yer my word.  Lost me way
+in the dashed scrub; carn't understand it nohow.  As a rule yer carn't
+lose me in a scrub; can feel me way be day or night.  Instinct, they
+calls it. Ole Dumaresque says ter me one day, when we'd bin ridin' fer
+hours through heavy pine country after some strayed heifers, gettin'
+caught in the dark long afore we makes the homestead: 'How do you manage
+to tack an' criss-cross this beastly country without track or compass;
+not even a star to guide you?  It fair beats me, my man. Why, I'd 'a'
+bin lost a dozen times over but fer you.  You always seem ter be goin'
+wrong, yet always come out right.'
+
+"'Carn't explain it, sir,' ses I.  'I jist do it.
+
+"'It's all instinct,' ses 'e.  'It's like wot the dingoes an' blacks
+'ave.'
+
+"Instinct or no instinct, I got bushed all right ter day. There's
+something erbout it I carn't understand.  'Twasn't that I was careless,
+an' takin' no notice.  I 'ad worked through the scrub a distance of four
+mile or so when, all of a suddent, I ses ter meself, ses I, 'Where the
+dickens am I?'  Well, as soon as I put the question to meself I knows I
+was bushed, an' fer the fust time in me life I begins ter feel quite
+creepy like.  I didn't know which way ter go.  At larst I starts out in
+a direction that seemed the likeliest, but, somehow, I cud make no
+headway.  Something seemed ter clog me feet, an' I was allers gettin'
+mixed up with vines an' brushwood.
+
+"'Dash it all,' ses I, 'this won't do.  Don't believe I'm goin' the
+right way, after all.  Believe this ere way's leadin' me back to the
+Bay, an' I wants ter git through this blarmy scrub ter the forest, fer
+'oppers' tails.  I'll righterbout face, danged if I won't!'  So round I
+turns, an' as soon as I started I got on fust clarss.  Didn't git mixed
+up an' stumble as afore, but gits through the brushwood as slick as a
+bandicoot.  'Mus' be nearly through the belt,' ses I, after goin' fer
+an' hour or so. 'Mus' git the rifle ready, fer I might sight a kangy any
+moment now.'  So I unslings the rifle from me back an' puts the gun in
+its place, an' stops a minit ter load 'er--the rifle I mean.  I'd jist
+finished when I heers voices shoutin', an' then a great yellin', as if
+somethin' orful was 'appenin'.  So orf I rushes through the scrub, an'
+comes out on the beach.  I was knocked inter a heap, I gives yer me
+word; fer there before me was the sea, an' I thought I was on t'other
+side of the scrub altogether. Then, in a flash, I sees wot was really
+'appenin'.  Jist afore me very eyes was Joe.  He was strugglin' in the
+water not more'n a hundred yards away, an' that 'er brute seemed as if
+it was jist a-fallin' on 'im.  Why, I fired the rifle a'most without
+pintin' it.  Somethin' seemed ter say, 'If yer waits ter aim yell be too
+late.'  Be gosh!  I'm thinkin' 'twas the Almighty Hisself directed that
+shot."
+
+"If ye'd not losht your enstink, as ye calls it, ye'd be moiles an'
+moiles awa-ay at th' toime th' shark was goin' to gobble Joe up, wuddent
+ye?"
+
+"In course I wud."
+
+"Well, don't ye think th' good God had a hand in losin' ye in th'
+scrub?"
+
+"It's wot yer father'd call an answer ter prayer," replied the stockman,
+turning to Joe as he spoke.
+
+By this time the camp-fire--around which the group had been sitting--was
+burning low, and the party was quite ready for bed after the exciting
+and tirng adventures of the day.
+
+The campers were astir at an early hour next morning, to make the final
+preparations for curing the fish.  After filling both barrels, there was
+a quantity available for smoking.  To carry out this object a sapling
+frame, about four feet square and seven feet high, was constructed, and
+enclosed with bushes, leaving an opening at the top and bottom.  The
+fish were hung by stout cords, and a fire kindled on the earth inside
+the curing shed.  Some green wood was used with the dry, to produce a
+fair, volume of smoke; and so the curing went on apace.
+
+Leaving Denny in charge of the camp, the others spent the afternoon
+shooting over a chain of lagoons that lay back from the beach a couple
+of miles or so.  The ducks were plentiful, and they returned to the camp
+well laden. They passed the two following days shooting and fishing,
+both fins and feathers being exceedingly plentiful.  By this time they
+judged the fish to be cured, and packed it in a maize bag.
+
+"Tell you what, boys!  S'pose we ride over to the Pilot Station to-day?
+It'll be a change, won't it?"
+
+The others received Joe's suggestion with ready approval, and before
+long were racing along the beach towards the Pilot Station.  This was
+situated at the mouth of the river, and consisted of the residences of
+the pilot and the boat's crew.
+
+It should be said that at the mouth of every Australian river flowing
+into the Pacific is a sand-bar.  These sand barriers frequently shift
+their position, owing to tidal and other ocean influences.  This makes
+entrance and exit to be a somewhat dangerous proceeding, and many a
+craft has come to grief on these treacherous sands.  To reduce this
+danger to a minimum a pilot station exists at each river entrance.  The
+pilot is generally a sea-captain with a large experience of these
+treacherous bars.  It is his duty, weather permitting, to take daily
+soundings so as to locate the exact position of the bank, and by means
+of signals to apprise incoming and outgoing vessels of the position and
+depth of water on the bar; also, when required, to pilot the vessel over
+the dangerous spot.
+
+Captain Craig, the pilot, was an old salt, with nearly half a century's
+experience of the eastern rivers of Australia.  He received the boys
+very kindly, and, after offering them refreshment, took them to the
+signal station and look-out.  When he had explained the methods of
+signalling, he allowed them to look through a very fine telescope.  He
+was justly proud of this instrument, it having been presented to him by
+a company of passengers for his gallantry and seamanship in extricating
+his vessel from a rocky shore in a hurricane.
+
+The time had now arrived for taking the bar soundings. Much to the boys'
+delight Captain Craig invited them to accompany him in the life-boat,
+and a few minutes later the crew were pulling the party from the
+miniature cove to the bar.
+
+The water here, owing to the bar formation, was generally in a turbulent
+condition.  Although it was a calm day, they found the boat exceedingly
+lively as she moved to and fro over the bar while soundings were being
+taken.  They experienced sundry disagreeable qualms, and a certain
+screwed-up feeling in the region of the "bread-basket."  The clacking
+tongues of the youngsters grew suspiciously quiet, and Tom's ruddy
+cheeks paled to an exceedingly bilious complexion.  Had you quizzed
+these boys upon their sickly looks, they would have protested with might
+and main against the insinuation of mal-de-mer.  Nevertheless they were
+mighty glad when the pilot, after half an hour's sounding, having
+accomplished his purpose, turned the boat's nose in the direction of
+home.  Once out of the troubled waters, the sick feeling passed away,
+and at the solicitation of the lads "for a pull," the pilot
+good-naturedly allowed them to row to the landing-place.
+
+Before leaving, the pals recited the story of the shark adventure,
+ending in the death of the tiger shark. Captain Craig listened with
+great interest, and not a little excitement, to this narration.
+
+"You have had the narrowest of escapes, Joe Blain, and have very much to
+be thankful for," exclaimed he. "That shark was a most notorious
+character.  He has roamed the Bay for years and years, and has destroyed
+many human lives.  Innumerable efforts for his capture have been put
+forth by the fishermen, and by my own men, but in vain.  Often sighted
+and fished for, he has resisted the many lures set for him.  Again and
+again, when enclosed in their nets, he has broken through, and has long
+been their despair.  Now, however, thanks to a good Providence, and to
+the clever shot of your friend here, this dreadful man-eater has been
+removed."  Advancing to the stockman, the pilot shook him warmly by the
+hand, and thanked him in the name of the community.
+
+As the party rode home in the cool of the evening, they decided to break
+camp next morning, in order to carry out their original intention of
+paying a visit to the old diggings.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXXI*
+
+                       *OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS*
+
+
+    "The mountain air is cool and fresh,
+      Unclouded skies bend o'er us,
+    Broad placers, rich in hidden gold,
+      Lie temptingly before us."
+        SWIFT.
+
+
+Tents were struck, and the campers' impedimenta securely fastened to the
+pack-saddles, in the grey dawn of the following morning--the party
+having breakfasted by starlight.
+
+The gold diggings about to be visited was situated in the ranges,
+equi-distant from Bullaroi and the Bay.  The route from the Bay lay
+along the homeward track as far as the caves.  At this point the trail
+turned due north--winding among the rugged country to the site of the
+mining camp, which, in its palmy days, covered a flat that lay between
+some precipitous hills and a swiftly flowing mountain stream.
+
+The diggings in question was deserted, save by a few fossikers, or
+gully-rakers, as they were generally called--men who earned a precarious
+living by following up the dry gullies, and picking out wash dirt from
+between the rocks; or else dry-blowing likely spots of the surface. The
+lure of gold--so common to all--fed the imagination of these men.  They
+became nomads; lived in the most primitive ways; faced and endured
+untold hardships; and, if not cheerful, were always hopeful.  They saw
+visions and dreamed dreams--of gold.  The years passed, age pressed
+heavily, eyesight grew dim, and limbs palsied with weakness: but even
+when broken down and encompassed with infirmity, their very senility
+sustained its spirits upon visions of the rich find that was surely
+coming--to-morrow.
+
+When the diggings "broke out," and the rush "set in," the flat was white
+with tents, the population running into four figures.  It was an
+alluvial diggings; that is, the gold was washed from the earth, and not
+crushed from the quartz.  In the flush days of Rocky Gully, rich
+"pockets" of gold were struck, and huge fortunes made. Life then, in the
+character of its splendours and pleasures, was barbaric.  Lucky diggers,
+with the spending lust upon them, ordered champagne baths, lit their
+pipes with five-pound notes, shod their horses with plates of gold,
+squandered their suddenly acquired riches on camp wantons, and among the
+harpies of the gambling hells. There were many exceptions to this
+foolish course, 'tis true; but such is the mental intoxication
+consequent upon a lucky find, and the sudden acquisition of wealth, that
+the majority of lucky diggers succumb, and in a few weeks or months,
+shorn of their possessions, either blow out their brains in remorse, or
+challenge fortune once more upon the same or some other goldfield.
+
+Rocky Gully was now a worked-out diggings, and its population had long
+ago drifted away to other fields. Naught remained to remind one of its
+glory now but a few tumbledown houses, and the wood skeletons of iron
+buildings, together with countless heaps of empty tins and other refuse.
+Naught, that is, save a dozen or so of fossikers, who were distributed
+over the field; each having his area, into which the others never
+intruded.
+
+How was it, then, that the Bullaroi party should have included a trip to
+the deserted mining camp in their programme of sport and adventure?
+There was nothing inviting in the region so far as game was concerned;
+nor was there the rough excitements of a live diggings. The truth is, it
+was the outcome of a suggestion of Harry. The stockman had a yarn he was
+very fond of relating, which included some tragic incidents associated
+with Rocky Gully.  As a youth he lived there in its "boom" days, and
+towards the close of his stay there he was mates with Humpy Bob.  Humpy
+Bob was an eccentric character, well known on a dozen goldfields, whose
+shrewdness as a gold finder was countervailed by his incredible folly in
+spending his riches.  On one occasion, when he had struck a "pocket,"
+from which he drew over a thousand ounces, he began a carouse which
+continued until the last penny was spent.
+
+As illustrative of his folly during that spree, he purchased a general
+store for the sum of one thousand pounds.  The same evening, in company
+with the drunken guests of a champagne party he had given, he proceeded
+to the store, deliberately fired it, and, with the other banqueters,
+stripped stark naked, danced a wild corrobberie while it burned.
+
+Bob sober was the antithesis of Bob drunk.  Abstemious, taciturn,
+industrious, solitary, with a genius for divining likely places, he
+followed the pursuit of gold: seldom failing to earn good wages; often
+winning handsome profits; occasionally making a pile.
+
+Humpy's end came suddenly and tragically; and of this Harry was a
+witness.
+
+The two men were driving a tunnel at a likely spot in the bank of a
+blind gully about three miles from the main camp.  They worked in
+relays, and had driven in about a score of yards, when Harry suggested
+shoring it with saplings for safety.  Humpy Bob, however, who was always
+running risks, made light of the suggestion. They had just struck a vein
+of promising stuff, which gave "prospects" of several grains to the
+dish.  When it was Bob's turn to go on, Harry again suggested shoring up
+certain loose spots; especially one near where he had been picking, for
+there had been a small fall during his shift.  This the other would not
+consent to, though his partner pleaded earnestly.
+
+"There's a hundred to one chances against there being anything serious,
+mate, and I'm not goin' to waste any time in propping up the blessed
+tunnel.  It's not worth it. We'll most likely clean it out to-morrer.
+So-long!"
+
+So saying, the digger entered the drive, and was soon at his work.
+Harry, having nothing to do for a while, went to the tent and stretched
+himself on his bunk for a rest, intending to return in an hour or so to
+wheel out the mullock.  Unfortunately he fell asleep, and hours passed
+by before he awoke.  When he did, he jumped from his bunk and ran out to
+the drive, scolding himself for his negligence.  The barrow was missing
+from its usual place, and, after a hasty search, the youth went to the
+tunnel's mouth and shouted to his mate.  There was no response, nor were
+the usual pick sounds to be heard.  The light was still burning at the
+end of the tunnel.  Hastily traversing the drive in a half-stooping
+position, as indeed compelled by the size of the tunnel, the youth
+covered about half the distance when he stumbled over the barrow,
+severely barking his shins.  Using hot language against the carelessness
+of his mate at leaving the barrow in such a place, and with a half fear
+at the unsatisfactory look of things, he scrambled up and went on
+towards the end of the tunnel.  He had not taken more than two steps
+when he again stumbled; this time over a softer substance. It was his
+mate!
+
+Humpy Bob was lying unconscious, half-covered with a mass of fallen
+earth and rocks.  Groping his way across this pile of d�bris, the
+excited and frightened youth reached the end of the drive, seized the
+light and returned to his mate.
+
+Tearing frantically at the soil and stones, he liberated old Humpy, and,
+as gently as possible, drew him to the tunnel mouth.  Then dashing to
+the little stream below, he brought water in a billy, and made the
+customary attempts to restore his stricken mate to consciousness. His
+utmost attempts availed not.  The vital spark had fled.  Not all the
+resources of medicine or surgery could bring light into the half-closed
+eyes, or life into those rapidly stiffening limbs.  Humpy Bob would
+never again unearth a nugget, rock a cradle, appraise the value of a
+prospect, or get on the "razzle-dazzle" and "paint the town red."
+
+It would seem that after working for a while, and making a heap of
+mullock, the digger had come out of the tunnel for Harry.  Not seeing
+him about, the old man seized the barrow with the object of wheeling out
+some of the earth.  He had loaded it, and was in the act of wheeling it
+along, when a mass of earth fell full upon his back, fracturing the
+spine.
+
+Harry was greatly affected by this sad occurrence; for Humpy Bob had
+many good points of character, and a strong attachment had grown up
+between them.  As soon as his mate was buried, he left the goldfield,
+and got a job on one of the stations.
+
+He had often thought of revisiting this scene, for he had a feeling that
+good gold would be found there.  Of late the desire to test the ground
+again had grown strong, and, when the project of the jaunt to the
+seaside was launched, he suggested a trip to the old diggings.  The boys
+gladly fell in with the idea, for it furnished them with an item that
+gave additional spice to the outing.
+
+The journey to the diggings was necessarily slow.  The pack-horses were
+heavily weighted by the extra burden of the fish, and the method of
+progress was that shuffling gait known as the "jog."  Though monotonous
+and tiring to the rider, it is the easiest pace for the loaded animals,
+and one that can be kept up all day.
+
+"Seems a pity that we should cart this blessed fish to the diggings,
+Sandy.  Wouldn't it be better to 'cache' it somewhere near the junction?
+It's giving the horses unnecessary work, in my opinion.  Let's see, it's
+twelve miles to the junction, an' fifteen from there to Rocky Gully.
+Supposin' we planted the stuff in the scrub at the junction; it'd save
+thirty miles of hauling, an' be no end of a gain all round."
+
+"Good enough, Joe!  What d'yer say, Harry?  We could hide the barrels
+an' bag easy enough in the scrub."
+
+"M-yes, perhaps so.  Come ter think of it, I'm not so sure.  Barrels'd
+be all right, but 'twon't be the dingoes' fault if they don't root out
+the dried fish.  Tell you what, boys, plant 'em in the caves!"
+
+"Good shot!  The very thing the doctor ordered!  The caves! yes.
+'Twon't take us more'n a mile out of the way; an' 'twill be on the road
+to Bullaroi on the return trip. We can easily strike in on the west side
+of the cave ridge, and hide 'em in the stables.  Nobody knows of that
+place but father an' the 'rangers; now poor ole Ben's shot----"
+
+"Maybe it's ha-aunted, bhoys.  It's juist th' sphot owld Ben'd hide his
+sowl in, so as to frighten awa-ay th' p'lice whin they goes rummagin'
+about f'r booty; loike th' carr-sthle ghosts in th' owld conthry.
+Bedad, thin, Oi'll be expactin' t' see th' bowld raider comin' on us out
+iv th' dark, his face shinin' loike th' stuff phwat matches is made ov."
+
+"Brimstone an' treacle you're thinkin' of, ain't you, Denny?  But, I
+say, chaps, it'll be better to hide 'em at the 'ranger's outlet; though
+it'll be the dickens own job to get the barrels into the cave up that
+slope.  Wouldn't it be better, after all, to hide the stuff in the
+scrub, slinging the bag into a tree, high enough to be safe from the
+dingoes?"
+
+So it would, and have saved a most painful experience; but having
+started the idea of hiding the fish in the caves, it presented an
+attraction that the others would not surrender.  It gave a flavour of
+romance to the act.  Now that he was dead, the bushranger's hiding-place
+took on a new interest; and so it came to pass that Tom found himself in
+a minority of one.
+
+They found it a tough piece of work to get the barrels up the
+precipitous slope to the cave entrance.  But, when the fish was at last
+stored in the forage chamber, as it was now called, and the party had
+remounted their horses, they could appreciate the advantage gained by
+relieving the pack-horses of so much dead weight.
+
+They now made more rapid headway, and struck an accommodation house, in
+the early afternoon, kept by one Jago Smith--an old acquaintance of
+Harry's.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXII*
+
+                         *HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD*
+
+
+    "There's a bonny wee spot in the mountains I love,
+    Where the pine trees are waving o'erhead far above,
+    Where the miners are happy, kindhearted, and free;
+    And many come here from way over the sea.
+    There's gold in the mountain, there's gold in each glen,
+    The good time is coming, have patience, brave men;
+    Hold on to your ledges, and soon you will see
+    Both money and mills coming over the sea."
+      C. CRAWFORD.
+
+
+Jago Smith was an "old timer," as, in Colonial parlance, men with his
+past were called.  A Londoner by birth, he was initiated when but a
+child into the arts and artifices of that profession which flourishes by
+the application of sleight-of-hand tricks to the pockets and purses of
+an unsuspecting public.  In short, this London arab was a thief,
+belonging to just such a school as Dickens has portrayed in _Oliver
+Twist_.
+
+His career as a collector of "wipes" was brought to a summary end
+through being caught full-handed in a theatre crush.  A "Children's
+Court," or a "First Offender's Act," was unknown in the early days of
+the nineteenth century; consequently young Jago Smith was had up before
+the magistrate, committed to the Assizes, convicted to the hulks, and
+ultimately transported to Botany Bay to serve a term of penal servitude.
+
+At a theatrical effort made by certain prisoners of histrionic talent at
+Sydney, at the tail-end of the eighteenth century, to which first
+Governor Philip and his wife were "graciously" invited, the following
+lines form part of the prologue composed for the occasion--
+
+    "From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas, we come,
+    But not with much �clat or beat of drum.
+    True patriots all; for be it understood,
+    We left our country for our country's good.
+
+    No private views disgraced our generous zeal,
+    What urged our travels was our country's weal,
+    And none can doubt, but that our emigration
+    Has proved most useful to the British nation."
+
+
+Fourteen years' penal servitude for the theft of a few
+pocket-handkerchiefs!  Such a sentence to-day would be regarded as a
+monstrous iniquity; it passed without comment in those days.
+
+But transportation was not an unmixed evil to Jago Smith.  As early as
+1793 schools were started at the penal settlement, under the impression
+that they would be the most likely means of effecting a reformation in
+the morals of youthful prisoners.
+
+Jago, with the consent of the master to whom he was assigned on landing,
+attended a night school, and gained some insight into the three R's.
+
+[Illustration: "'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the
+stockman."--_See p._ 295.]
+
+After a somewhat varied career, the ex-pickpocket, who had served his
+time, became a settler on Rocky Creek; and when the Rocky Gully gold
+rush set in he drove a very profitable trade with the diggers.  In
+addition to raising cattle on his selection, Smith kept an accommodation
+house, where board and lodging was to be had.  As the place was on the
+public road, about five miles from the diggings, it received much
+patronage. Jago was very proud of his signboard.  It was an
+incontestable proof of his accomplishments in writing and spelling.
+
+
+                         ACKOMERDASHON FUR MAN
+                          AN BESTE SMALL BIER
+                        SOULED HEAR GORD SIVE TH
+                            E KWEEN J SMITH
+
+
+As the party drew up to the hitching blocks, old Jago, who was lounging
+in an arm-chair in the verandah, hobbled out to the front, quietly
+surveying the group; to whom Harry addressed himself.
+
+"Good-evenin', Mister Smith.  How are yer gettin' on these times?"
+
+"Not gettin' any younger, you may be sure.  But who be you?"
+
+"Don't yer remember me, Jago?" replied the stockman, walking up to the
+old man.
+
+"Yes; I see who it is now.  You be the boy wot worked with old Humpy,
+an' used ter stay here when Bob had an attack of the jim-jams."
+
+"The same, ole chap.  We're goin' to put up here for the night, and
+intend goin' on to-morrer to where me an' Humpy worked when 'e was took.
+Got room for us, I s'pose?"
+
+"Plenty o' room, me lad.  Not over rushed with travellers these times.
+Better take your 'orses round ter the back; ye'll find the saddle-room
+in the old plice, an' yer can turn the neddies inter the paddock.
+There's plenty o' grass fer 'em."
+
+The boys were ready for the supper of homely fare which awaited them at
+sunset.  After supper, Harry and the old man got into a conversation, in
+which the former stated that he was determined to have a try at the old
+claim; for, though Humpy had put it about when working it that it was a
+"shicer," Harry, of course, knew differently. The gold-bearing stuff, it
+is true, was but a thin vein, but they expected it to develop into
+something better farther on.  Old Jago informed him that no one had
+touched the spot, so far as he knew.  Yes, he had some picks and shovels
+and prospecting dishes, which he had taken as payment at one time and
+another from hard-ups. Harry was welcome to make a selection.
+
+This the stockman did without any delay.  He took from the curious
+assortment of diggers' tools two picks, two short-handled shovels, two
+prospecting dishes, the roller and handle of a windlass, a couple of
+buckets, some stout rope, a length of chain, a strong hook, a crowbar,
+and a pound or two of blasting powder.
+
+These he obtained as a loan, for Smith would not hear of pay.  He viewed
+the whole thing in the light of a joke. The idea of Harry starting to
+work a claim with a parcel of kids who had never seen a gold shaft in
+their lives, with a time limit of three or four days at the most!  The
+stockman was but humouring the fancies and ambitions of the kids.  They,
+no doubt, expected to locate the golden nuggets in the same fashion that
+they would track a missing bullock on the bush, or run down a wild cat
+to its lair in a hollow log.  Well, they would at least develop their
+arm muscles and have blistered hands to show their friends.  So the old
+settler--who at the time of the rush had listened to the confident
+prediction of many a greenhorn, going post-haste to pick up the nuggets
+that were waiting for somebody to tumble over. Not so Harry; he, at
+least, was no greenhorn.  He would give the abandoned workings a trial.
+It would be a novelty for the boys, and though they mightn't get
+anything to boast about, would, he was confident, get enough to give
+each member of the party a souvenir of the visit.
+
+Leaving the accommodation house after an early breakfast, the band of
+diggers, for such we must now call them, arrived at the old workings in
+a couple of hours, passing _en route_ two or three fossikers who were
+working their shows.  These ancients looked with a degree of
+astonishment upon this cluster of youths, whose very jauntiness was
+suggestive of a prime lark.
+
+Arrived at the diggings, the party had a good look round.  Intense
+solitude reigned everywhere, and save for the heaps of rusty cooking
+utensils and other rubbish there was little to indicate that the place
+had once been a busy hive of life and energy.  An old signboard, written
+by another hand than had done Jago Smith's, was seen nailed to a tree.
+Its language was simple and to the point.
+
+
+                              ROYAL HOTEL
+                             ALL DRINKS 6c.
+
+                         _N.B.--Clean Glasses_
+
+
+Harry took a rapid survey of the situation.  The place apparently had
+not been disturbed since the fatal accident.  The old tent poles
+remained as he had left them, and there was no evidence of any one
+having camped there for years.
+
+Proceeding to the tunnel, which, as previously described, was driven
+into the perpendicular bank of a deep gully, things looked pretty much
+as they did on that fatal day, excepting that the earth had fretted away
+about the tunnel mouth, and, on venturing in a short distance, the man
+saw that the roof had broken down, completely blocking the mine.
+
+"Well, Harry," exclaimed Joe, when the leader emerged from the tunnel
+mouth, which the boys had been eagerly watching, "is it all clear?  Did
+you go to the end?"
+
+Didn't git half-way.  Tunnel's half blocked."
+
+"What a pity!" chorused the lads.
+
+"Dunno 'bout that; cause, yer see, it's proof ter me no one's bin
+interferin.'"
+
+"'Twon't be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?" continued Joe.
+
+"Carn't say; depends on the amount that's fallen. But 'tain't my notion
+ter use the tunnel at all.  Yer see, it's this way: it may take us an
+hour or a day to clear the rubbage outer the tunnel.  When we'd done
+that, we'd have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the
+wash-dirt.  Fust an' foremost, there's plenty of foul air in the far end
+of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you coves in the caves.  Let me
+tell you, it's hard work clearing the stinkin' air outer a tunnel.  You
+can git it outer a shaft easy enough, by tyin' a bunch o' bushes onter a
+rope and running 'em up an' down; but it's mighty hard work clearin' a
+tunnel, an' orften a long job.  Then, s'posin' we got it out, we'd have
+ter shore up the whole blessed length; for, let me tell you, I'm not
+goin' ter run any risks in this 'ere job.  We've had fright enough over
+Joe an' the shark, an' I cuddent face the Boss an' the missus if
+anything happened to any of you here.  Now, to shore up this blessed
+tunnel'd take a power of timber, an' ter git it an' fix it'd take a far
+longer time than we've got."
+
+"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep disappointment, voicing
+the feelings of the group of boy diggers, "don't tell us it's all a go,
+an' we're to return without havin' a try!  Can't you find some other
+spot?"
+
+"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was diggin' up
+gowlden prr-aties, an', ochone!  Oi'd just stuck th' pick into a
+monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the laast, an' was tryin' me
+best to upind her wid a laver, whin owld Jago comes bangin' at th' dure.
+Begor!  Oi was sweatin' loike a stoker whin th' owld mahn woke me. Jist
+give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an' be Saint Michael Oi'll----"
+
+"Ye'll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret.  They's more ways of killin'
+a pig besides chokin' 'im with a lump o' butter.  It never was my plan,
+boys, ter use the ole tunnel.  There's a better way nor that.  When me
+an' ole Humpy drove in 'ere, we wus follerin' a lead, an' ye niver can
+tell 'ow far yer 'ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe a 'undered yards
+afore it opens out inter a body.  So we did the right thing then.  Now I
+propose ter put down a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end
+of the tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that.  I calkerlate
+we'll tap it in twenty feet or so.  I know the clarss of country we'll
+have to go through.  All this bank's wot we call 'made up.'  It's a
+formation called pudden stone. It's formed o' river wash, an' is pretty
+pebbly.  The pebbles is the plums.  We'll go through it in a couple o'
+days at most, an' that'd give us two days more afore we need clear orf
+'ome."
+
+The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry's proposal, and set
+about rigging up the camp near the spot which the leader had selected to
+put down the shaft.
+
+While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set to work at sinking
+the shaft.  So expeditious were they that by night they had sunk the
+hole about ten feet and had rigged up the windlass.  All the boys had a
+turn at digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the novelty of
+the work.  Harry and Denny, however, did the main part, while the lads
+manned the windlass, and hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the
+buckets were filled.
+
+At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast preparatory to
+a long day's work at the shaft.  They had to do a good deal of blasting,
+for some of the stones were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed
+time.  It was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy blast,
+Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried out, "Haul up quick!
+we've broken through.  Foul air!"
+
+On winding their comrade up, he declared that the blast had broken the
+ground into the tunnel, and that the foul air was coming freely into the
+bottom of the shaft. "We'll let it stay as it is till termorrer, an'
+then we'll clear it out."
+
+The pals went to sleep that night to dream about the El Dorado which, in
+their imagination, they had struck. The earliest dawn found them at the
+shaft's mouth. Harry tied several bushes to the end of the rope, and
+this was rapidly lowered and raised for about a couple of hours, the
+condition below being tested from time to time by a lighted candle
+placed in a bucket and lowered to the bottom.  At last it remained
+alight, though it burned very feebly.  About half an hour after this,
+the candle, on being sent below again, burned brightly.
+
+"It's all right, now, boys!  We've got rid of the gas, that's a
+blessing.  Lower away!"  In a few seconds Harry was filling the buckets
+with the broken rock and earth.  In a short time it was all cleared up,
+and the leader had started to drive along the line of the vein.  He had
+not cut in more than a couple of feet when he threw down the pick and
+shouted up the shaft, "Hurroar, boys! I've struck a patch.  Be gosh, it
+looks like a pocket!"
+
+The excitement above at this good news may be better imagined than
+described.  The vein of wash-dirt suddenly expanded into a cube of about
+sixty buckets of auriferous earth.  It was a genuine though small
+pocket.  Whether rich or poor could be determined only by washing.
+
+Harry filled a bucket with the dirt, which was speedily hauled up.  The
+next minute he was pulled to the surface, and, spreading the stuff on
+the ground, examined it.  To the great delight of the pals, he picked
+out several large specks and a small nugget, scaling about half an
+ounce.
+
+"It's all right, mates!" cried the stockman, now almost as excited as
+the boys.  "We've struck it rich, I do believe.  Sandy, me boy, git your
+nag an' a packhorse, an' streak fur Jago's as fast as yer can git, an'
+borry a cradle.  It'd take too long ter pan this stuff--must have a
+cradle.  But, look 'ere, don't give the show away.  Tell 'im I got a few
+specks from a bit o' stuff I came acrost, an' that I'm jist goin' ter
+give it a try.  He'll most likely call me a big fool, an' don't yer
+conterdict 'im."
+
+A cradle, it may be said, is a machine on rockers for washing the
+auriferous earth.  The machine is fed with the wash-dirt, a stream of
+water being poured on while it is rocked like a child's cradle.  The
+heavy sand and gravel, together with the precious metal, sink to the
+bottom and are retained by the "ridges," whilst the earth and all light
+matter pass away with the water.  It is finally treated in a dish so
+skilfully that only the pure metal is left.
+
+While Sandy is speeding off to Jago's the rest are busy picking the
+pocket and carrying it down to a flat by the side of the tiny stream
+which ran along the gully bottom.  The work was hard, for the wash-dirt
+was heavy, and the buckets big; but they made fun of the hardships of
+bruised fingers and strained muscles, as they hauled the precious earth
+from the shaft mouth, and then humped it to the stream.
+
+They had not quite finished their work ere Sandy reappeared upon the
+scene with the cradle.  Very little grass had grown during the
+performance of his task.
+
+Scarcely allowing themselves time to bolt down their midday meal, the
+party were grouped around the cradle, which Harry had fixed within a
+yard of the stream. The stockman soon made his dispositions of the
+forces. Joe and Tom are to lift the water and pour it on as required,
+while he and Sandy work the cradle.  Denny is to feed the machine with
+the dirt.
+
+So the work of "washing up" started.  Every now and then Harry stopped
+the work and "cleaned up" the cradle--that is, took out the heavy golden
+sand which was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied it in
+a bag, to be "panned" later.  From time to time the party were gladdened
+by the sight of large specks, and now and then a tiny nugget of some
+grains' weight.  The gold, for the most part, however, was fine.  The
+work went on continuously till night closed in upon them. Though
+dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their work for the day, and
+after supper threw themselves upon their primitive beds and slept the
+sleep of the just.
+
+"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry's last word.
+
+The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#] for their early
+waking.  Perched on the limb of a tree close to the tent, they began
+their morning orisons at the first paling of the stars, making such a
+cachinnation as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in
+startled tones, "Dressin', dad; goin' for the cows this minute."  While
+Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn over on his side, saying in
+sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me
+darlin'! an' sa-ay ye----  Howly Moses, 'tis th' owld Johnny-axes at
+their thricks!"
+
+
+[#] Giant kingfisher.
+
+
+In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as soon as breakfast
+is demolished the lucky diggers make their way to the gully to start
+operations.  The work was a repetition of yesterday's, and, according to
+Harry's calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck well
+to the job; bullock teams couldn't have drawn them from it.
+
+After working for about an hour, Denny, who was shovelling the dirt,
+picked up a lump of rock, saying at the same time, "Oi'll pitch this
+awa-ay, annyways.  It feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: 'tis as
+heavy as lead.  Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"
+
+"Hey, you fool!  don't throw that away.  Let's see it," cried Harry,
+seizing the piece of rock, which was about the size of the lad's head.
+"Why, great jumpin' Jehosaphat!  it's a bloomin' nugget.  You precious
+duffer! if you'd thrown that away I'd 'a' pitched you down the shaft."
+
+The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the leader as he held
+the lump with both hands.
+
+"See 'ere, this white rock's quartz, an' all these yaller veins is gold.
+It isn't wot you'd call a pure nugget, but by the weight of it I guess
+there's a power of the yaller stuff inside.  'Ere, Tom, streak up ter
+the tent fur a tommy an' we'll soon see."
+
+Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the quartz nugget on a
+flat stone that cropped out of the ground near by, and dealt vigorous
+blows upon it with the head of the weapon.  In this way he crushed the
+quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold formed a mass
+in the centre.
+
+"That's all we'll do at present; we'll crush it out properly in a mortar
+when we get home.  Guess there's full twenty ounces o' gold in 'er."
+
+There were no more such finds in the dirt, but the last few lots yielded
+a good deal of coarse gold, one piece weighing about four ounces.
+
+By nightfall they had washed out the bagged ore. There it lay on a cloth
+before the fire, a little heap of pure gold, and beside it the quartz
+nugget, so to call it.
+
+"Call me a frog-eater if there ain't full seventy ounces o' gold in that
+there lot--close on three 'undered pounds' worth!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXIII*
+
+                        *BULLION AND BUSHRANGER*
+
+
+    "And if you doubt the tale I tell,
+    Steer through the South Pacific swell,
+    Go where the branching coral hives
+    Unending strife of endless lives,
+    Go where the rivers roll down through the sand
+    Under skies that are blue in a golden land."
+      KIPLING.
+
+
+"Pull up a moment, chaps.  I want ter say a word afore we strike Jago
+Smith's--we'll sight it over the next ridge. No blabbin' erbout the
+gold.  The ole cove's sure ter arsk erbout our luck.  You keep mum, an'
+leave me ter answer 'im.  He's er good ernuff sort in hes way, is ole
+Jago, an' me an' 'im always got on well, as 'e sort er took a fancy ter
+me.  All the same, 'im an' Ben Bolt is, or was great friends.  That's
+why I steered clear o' the shootin the night we stayed there.  'E might
+'a' cut up rusty, like.  Many's the time 'e's planted the 'ranger when
+the p'lice 'as been 'ot on 'is trail.  'Twuddent s'prise me a bit if the
+kid that wus Ben's mate wus 'idin' somewheres erbout Jago's.  'E's
+several good plants.  At any rate, there must be no blow.  Bes' be on
+the safe side."
+
+In a few minutes the party sighted the accommodation house at a distance
+of a quarter of a mile or so.  They could see the old man in the front,
+talking to a man who held a horse by the bridle.  Even as the party
+sighted the pair they were themselves seen.  After a few hasty words
+with Jago the horseman threw his bridle over the steed's neck, vaulted
+to the saddle, and rode away briskly.
+
+"By George, that 'ere cove's ridin' a good nag.  See the style o' 'im!
+'E's a beauty, 'e is; all muscle an' spirit. If ole Ben wusn't a goner,
+I'd say 'twas 'im on Samson; blamed if I wuddent."
+
+The mounted band have approached the house by this time.  The owner
+stood awaiting them by the hitching posts.  Saluting them as they rode
+up, he jeered good-humouredly--
+
+"I 'opes yer left a few specks fur them fossikers, gintilmin?  'Twud be
+too bad to scoop the pool an' leave the old uns nothin' but mullock
+heaps.  At any rate, ye've brought back the tools--cradle an' all.  Come
+now, 'ow did the stuff pan out?"
+
+"I'll tell yer wot we did git, ole man, sore bones an' blistered 'ands.
+Blame me, but yer soon gits outer the diggin' business.  Tried that bit
+o' stuff I come acrost, wot the kid tole yer erbout.  Waal, speakin' in
+confidence, we didn't git ernuff ter hire a gold escort ter fetch it
+erlong.  We did git a bit--ernuff ter make these young coves a
+breast-pin apiece.  But let me tell yer, one of these days I'm comin'
+back ter have a good prospect. Keep it close, Smith; I don't want any of
+these blessed gully-rakers ter smell anythin'."
+
+"Dark it is, young feller.  Yer can trust me fer not givin' the show
+away.  Comin' in?"
+
+"No, we're makin' fer 'ome.  Just tote the tools ter where youse got
+'em, boys, an' then we'll be orf."
+
+The lads speedily discharged, and were in the saddle again.  The party
+was moving off when Harry said to Jago--
+
+"Forgot ter arsk yer whether yer 'eered that Ben Bolt wus shot by
+Hennessey t'other day."
+
+"Yes, I 'eered it," replied Smith dryly.
+
+"Kid not collared yet?"
+
+"You're more likely ter 'eer about 'im than me: so-long."
+
+"Ole Jago's a deep un," soliloquised Harry as they rode along.  "I
+forgot ter arsk 'im erbout the man we saw ridin' away as we came up," he
+remarked a few minutes later to Joe, who was riding at his side.  "If
+that 'ere 'orse 'e wus ridin' warn't Samson, I'm a greenhorn."
+
+"It might have been the young fellow that got away when Ben was shot.
+It struck me Jago was bluffin' you, Harry."
+
+"My word, Harry," said Tom, riding up on the other side, "you bluffed
+ole Jago over the gold."
+
+"Ain't so sure o' that," replied the stockman.
+
+"No one could have done it better," broke in Joe. "You circumnavigated
+the truth."
+
+"Don't know wot yer mean, my boy: unless it's somethin' in the circus
+line."
+
+"Not exactly that," replied Joe laughingly; "but it reminds me of an
+epitaph I heard about, that was stuck on a fellow's tombstone--
+
+                    HE TRIED HARD NOT TO BE A LIAR."
+
+
+"Wot I said about tacklin' that ground's true ernuff, anyways," replied
+the stockman, with a smile.  "But erbout this gold: we'll go shares, o'
+course.  We'll divide it up inter five equal lots when we get to
+Bullaroi."
+
+"No; that's not fair, Harry," said Sandy.  "We must have a fair
+division."
+
+"Well, wot yer call a fair division, if that's not one?" said the man
+shortly.
+
+"If it was left to me to decide, I would give you half, to start with.
+It was your show.  You did most of the work.  We were more like wages
+men; so at the very least you should get half.  Then I'd divide the
+other half among the rest of us in equal shares."
+
+"Sandy's right," broke in Joe.  "As far as I'm concerned, Harry'll have
+the lot.  I'd like him to take my whack, anyway, because----"
+
+"No, yer don't, Joe.  I know wot yer goin' ter say. Think I'm mean
+ernuff ter take pay fer shootin' a jolly shark?"
+
+"Oh--I--didn't--mean--it--just----"
+
+"Joe meant it as a mark of gratitude, Harry.  I think my way's best.
+Whatcher say?"
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the four.
+
+"Joe, me mahn," said Denny a little while later, as he and Blain were
+riding together, "cud ye tell me phwat me quarter ov a half ov th'
+gowld'll come to?"
+
+"Lemme see, seventy ounces; half o' that, thirty-five; quarter of
+thirty-five is eight an' three-quarter ounces: yes, your share is eight
+an' three-quarters, Denny."
+
+"Give it in pounds, plaase, Joe."
+
+"Pounds!  Oh, I say, you've got me there.  Well, let's see.  What was it
+Harry said they'd give us per ounce at the bank?"
+
+"Three sivinteen an' a tanner, Joe, me bhoy.  Oi tuk note ov that."
+
+"Yes, that was the price, I 'member.  Eight and three-quarter times
+three seventeen six--er--lemme see, that'd be--eight threes twenty-four,
+twen--bother it, I mean eight times seventeen an' six, that's a hundred
+an' ninety--no, _that's_ not it.  Let me put it down in me mind--one,
+seven, six; that's right!  Well, multiply it by eight, an' leave the
+quarters out for a bit.  That's--why, it's three hundred an'--no, it
+can't be that much, surely?  Bust it, if I only had a pencil an' a bit
+o' paper I'd soon tot it up.  Try again.  Eight into seventeen and six
+is----  Blest if it isn't an interest sum, after all, Denny; an' they
+always sew me up."
+
+"It's th' troth, Joe; it's th' most interastin' sum Oi iver heerd tell
+iv.  Thry it agin, Marsther Joe; doan't let a little sum loike that
+ba-ate ye.  'Twas two hondered pounds ye said larrst.  Make her go a
+little higher if yes can."
+
+"What! two hundred pounds!  Murder! 'tis shillin's I was reckoning."
+
+"O-o-h!" exclaimed Denny, with a profound sigh. "Awaay goes me bright
+dra-ames!  Sure, thin, 'twas buyin' th' owld family carr-sthle Oi was
+thinking ov, an makin' melyinaares o' me dear payrunts; maybe the Quaan
+wud be makin' me farther Lord Kineavy!"
+
+"Well, you are a cure, Denny.  You'll have me addressin' you as the
+Honourable Dennis next.  Oh, I say, didn't Harry say he wouldn't be
+surprised if the gold fetched four pounds an ounce, it was so rich?
+Well, let's reckon it at four quid.  Eight fours are thirty-two--that's
+thirty-two pounds.  The three-quarters of four pounds is three.
+Thirty-two and three are thirty-five; thirty-five pounds.  There you
+are, ole boss, thirty-five."
+
+"Thirty-foive pounds!  Begorrah! it's a bloomin' capertillist Oi am!
+Whoi, glory be! it'll do betther thin buyin' a rotten owld sthone
+carr-sthle made ov brick an' thatch; it'll pay for bringin' out me
+payrunts in th' emigrr-ashon ship.  Be Saints Pathrick an' Michael, 'tis
+a happy bhoy Oi am at this moment!  Phwat wid me savin's, an' Norah's,
+an' this haape ov gowld, Oi'll buy thim th' best cabin on th' boat, and
+so Oi will!"
+
+In due time the party arrived at the junction of the roads, and crossed
+the ridge to the cave entrance.  After placing their horses in the patch
+of scrub near the road, they scrambled up to the opening.  Lighting the
+candle, Sandy led the way to the forage chamber, where the fish was
+stored.
+
+"You don't feel so creepy, Denny, as when you were here last," said Tom
+to the Irish "boy, as they followed the others into the chamber.
+
+"It's thrue for ye, Tom.  Owld Ben's not thrubblin' me to-da-ay.  'Tis
+only thinkin' ov me dear farther an' mauther comin' out on th' sa-ay Oi
+am.  As for th' 'ranger, he's as dead an' dhry by this toime as the
+smoked fish yonder."
+
+"Is he?" cried a loud voice from the rear.
+
+"Howly Moses! 'tis th' 'ranger's ghost," cried the Irish boy, as a
+bull's-eye flashed in his face, dazzling his eyes and confusing his
+mind.  Terror-possessed by this ghostly manifestation--for he saw naught
+but a bright light, preceded by an awful voice--the boy bolted.  He
+rushed towards the chamber exit, which he barely reached ere the sharp
+crack of a revolver sounded, what time the panic-stricken youth
+staggered forward, falling with a dull thud upon the stone floor.
+
+It need hardly be said that the other members of the group were startled
+out of speech and action.  Not ten seconds elapsed between the cry of
+the man or ghost and the tragedy of the revolver shot and the fallen
+boy.
+
+The moment the boy fell the others ran towards him, but before they had
+taken three steps the light flashed on them and a revolver covered them.
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "_Stop!  Hands up!_"
+
+
+          *[Illustration: Behind the lantern came a voice that
+           more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them:
+             "*_*Stop!  Hands up!*_*" (missing from book)]*
+
+
+For the second time the hands of the boys went up at command.  One thing
+was made quite clear, at any rate: this was no ghostly visitant.  Ghosts
+didn't carry revolvers, nor was there long any mystery about this
+personage.
+
+"That young cove reckoned I was dead and dry as your smoked schnapper,
+did he?  The young fool'll smoke and dry fast enough in the place I've
+sent him to. You infernal asses to come here!  But you'll never live to
+tell any one; make up your minds to that."
+
+It was in truth the bushranger himself.  Of that there could be no
+doubt.  The news of his death was either a make-up or a gross
+exaggeration.  Here he stood, in the flesh, in one of his most dangerous
+moods.  A black fit was on him.  Under its influence he was capable of
+almost any atrocity.  The lads were horror-stricken. There, before them,
+lay the body of their comrade, the gay, witty, affectionate Denny, who
+but a few moments ago was in the seventh heaven of delight at the
+thought of bringing out his parents with the proceeds of his share of
+the gold; and now--it was too awful!
+
+"Look 'ere, Ben Bolt!" exclaimed Harry, after a few seconds' silence,
+"you've shot an innercent boy in cold blood.  You've grossly belied your
+reputation that you never laid a hand on woman or child.  We came here
+with no thought of spyin' upon yer, for we believed yer to be dead.  In
+five minits we wud 'ave gone away with our fish, none the wiser for your
+presence.  You've not the slightest justerfication fer takin' that life,
+an' if yer shoots me the next minit fer it, I tell yer to yer face ye're
+a blaggard an' coward, an' the pity is that the news of yer bein' shot
+wasn't true."
+
+Why Harry was not shot off-hand, it were hard to say. The bushranger was
+convulsed with rage: thrice he levelled his revolver at the brave man,
+and as often lowered it.  At last, with a voice hoarse with passion, he
+said, "I'll send you along the road I've driven your mate, curse you!
+You think you're very game, but I'll take all that out of you before
+I've done with you.  You'll be longing for your end hours before it
+comes....
+
+"Here, boy," continued he, pointing to Tom.  "Take that green-hide and
+tie your mates as I tell you.  Look sharp, or I'll lay you alongside
+your mate yonder."
+
+Thus dragooned, Tom securely tied his mates' hands behind their backs.
+As soon as this was accomplished, the outlaw, sticking his revolver in
+his belt, served Tom in the same way, and in addition trussed each
+victim. Having set them in a row like a group, of mummies, he addressed
+them--
+
+"You'll lie here for the present.  I'll deal with you later.  I've got a
+little job to do first.  That fool Hennessey's coming out this way with
+a couple of troopers to trap me.  'Twasn't enough that he winged my
+mate, he's sworn to have me inside of the week.  And I swear that I'll
+have him inside of six hours.  I'm going out now to have a look round.
+If you coves try any of your tricks, I'll make hell for you.  I shan't
+be far off, you may bet."
+
+So saying, the outlaw went out into the chamber where his horse was
+stabled, and led him along the passage to the cave entrance.
+
+"I say, Harry, it was Ben Bolt that we saw at ole Jago's this mornin'."
+
+"True.  I cud 'ave taken me oath a'most that the 'orse wus Samson, but I
+didn't git a fair view of the bloke's face.  Yes, 'twor Ben that we saw.
+He must 'a' got 'is information erbout Hennessey from the ole man. It's
+wunnerful 'ow they does git the news.  I 'ope 'e don't git er charnse
+ter draw er bead on Hennessey.  He'll 'ave ter be mighty smart ter do
+it.  But, dear! dear! on'y ter think of poor Denny lyin' over
+there--dead!  I wish ter 'evven 'e'd 'a' shot me instead.  Wot'll your
+father an' mother say, Sandy?  Poor Norah, too!  It'll be the killin' of
+'er."
+
+"Whisht, boys, spaake low: Oi'm not kilt ontoirely; only knocked
+spaachless.  Oi'm betther nor tin dead Chinymen yit."
+
+It was the sweetest sound that ever ravished the ears of the boys.  Here
+was the blissful fact--Denny was not dead; was very much alive.  If the
+lads did not immediately cry out with joy it was because their joy was
+too deep for utterance.
+
+"Don't spaake or sthir awhoile till Oi see if th' coast's clear."
+
+Rising quietly to his feet, the Irish boy stole along the corridor that
+led to the mouth of the cave.  After a hasty but keen survey of the
+immediate neighbourhood, he returned to his companions, knife in hand,
+and in a few minutes had freed them.
+
+"And are you not wounded, Denny?  We never dreamed but that the villain
+had shot you dead.  You lay just like a corpse.  He was under that
+impression too, or he'd never have left you."
+
+"Yez see 'twas this way: Oi was fair flabbergasted whin th' blazin'
+light dazzled me oiyes.  Oi made shure 'twas th' 'ranger's ghost.  Oi
+wud 'a' stood, but me ligs wuddn't.  They sthreaked off loike a
+paddy-melon goes for a hole in th' fince--carryin' me body wid thim.
+Th' firsht thing Oi felt was a rock sthrikin' me fut, an' thin, begorra,
+somethin' whistled past me ear as Oi tumbled forrard, hittin' th' flure
+a nasty crack wid me head.  Th' nixt thing Oi heard was owld Harry
+tongue-bangin' th' rapscallion ov a murtherer fur killin' me.  'Be
+jabers!' ses Oi to meself, 'he's kilt me ontoirely wid a shot from hes
+pisthol, if phwat me bowld frind ses be th' thruth. Go it, me brave
+bhoy!  Tare an' ouns, but ye're givin' him th' coward's blow in foine
+style!'
+
+"Thin Oi sees him rope yez up loike dhrapery parr-sels, an', ses Oi,
+'Jist wait till yez is gone, me hairr-y breasted sna-ake!' an' wid that
+Oi comes to me ray-son an' knows that Oi was not dead at all, at all.
+Oi was jist goin' to git up an' give him a bit iv me tongue, whin the
+thought comes--'Lie still, ye gossoon, till he goes an' ye can liberaate
+yer mates!'  So now we'll be even wid th' omadhaun."
+
+"The quicker we're outer this the better!" exclaimed Harry, as soon as
+he was released.  "There's no knowin' when the 'ranger'll return; if 'e
+finds us loose, 'e'll shoot us to a cert.  What a pity we left our guns
+with the 'orses!  'Ope 'e won't find 'em.  It'll be risky goin' out, as
+we don't know where the feller is.  'E may be close by watchin' the
+'ole.  The bes' thing'll be for us ter make a dash ter the scrub as soon
+as we're outer the cave."
+
+"There's a much safer way than that," said Sandy. "We'll go out the way
+we came in when we first discovered this place.  Lucky we brought a
+candle with us.  Come along; every moment is precious."
+
+So saying, Sandy strode in advance, the others following closely at his
+heels.  The party soon hit upon the passage leading to the cave opening
+on the other side of the ridge.  In twenty minutes or so they were in
+the open.
+
+Their first act was to plunge into the thick bush.  This shielded them
+from ordinary observation.  After a short confab, they concluded that
+the wisest thing to do was to creep along in the thickest part, in the
+direction of the horses.  They had hardly started when the sharp crack
+of a rifle broke upon their ears.  Stopping short, they listened
+eagerly; with beating hearts, it must be confessed.  Again and again,
+shots were fired; at last they heard the pounding of hoofs, rapidly
+nearing them.
+
+"'Ssh--don't move--they're on the hard road," said Harry to the
+nervously excited youths.
+
+The road passed the caves about two hundred yards from where the party
+lay.  Presently, with increasing clatter, Ben Bolt rode furiously along,
+and after a minute's interval, Sergeant Hennessey, accompanied by two
+troopers, the Sergeant leading by about fifty yards. Just as he was in
+the act of passing, the officer took a snap-shot at the 'ranger.  In a
+few minutes all sight and even sound of pursued and pursuers had gone.
+
+"No fear of Ben Bolt trubblin' us now fer a spell. 'Ope Hennessey 'll
+nab 'im sure this time.  Let's moosey erlong, lads."
+
+It didn't take the party long to pick up the steeds and load up the
+packhorses with the fish.  The sun had barely set ere they were well on
+the last stage of the return journey.
+
+
+The M'Intyres are just concluding the evening meal. The conversation
+chiefly centres around the campers. Mrs. M'Intyre had given many a look
+along the track during the afternoon, in the hope of sighting the lads.
+The understanding when they left was that they were to return at the end
+of the second week.  It was now Saturday evening.
+
+"I won't give them up till ten o'clock.  I expect they have made a late
+start.  Yes, Maggie, I own that I am a bit fidgety now that I've heard
+that Ben Bolt has been seen in the vicinity of the caves."
+
+"Weel, ye can juist ease yure mind on that pint, my dear, for the
+Sairgeant and a pairty o' troopers are patrolling in that direection, so
+that there's no' the sma'est pairtical o' reesk."
+
+"It was lucky for them, mummie, that they had started for their trip
+before the revised version of the engagement between the police and the
+bushrangers was published, for had you known of the mistake you would
+never have let the boys go.  What are they going to do with the youth
+that Hennessey wounded?  They say Ben Bolt's mad over it, and swears to
+have Hennessey's life."
+
+"The misguided lad wull be pit on his trial as sune as the wound on his
+thigh permeets."
+
+"Do you think they'll hang him, father?"
+
+"Nae, nae, they'll no' hang the chiel; he has never ta'en life, nor is
+he a hardened ruffian.  He stairted this wild life 'for the fun o' it,'
+like mony another silly laddie.  The Sairgeant tells me that Jock Smith,
+for that's his name, is gled to be captured.  His eyes hae been opened
+to the folly and sin that are compreehended in sic a life.  Insteed o'
+fun, he has encountered nought but hairdship and meesery.  The misguided
+laddie wull hae plenty o' time for repentance."
+
+The evening calm is suddenly and noisily disturbed. The station dogs set
+up a great babble of barking, and Jessie, who had gone out to the front
+verandah, comes running in helter skelter and screaming--
+
+"Father, mother, hear the dogs!  It's the boys, I bet tuppence.  Hurrah!
+Hurrah!----"
+
+"Jessie, Jessie!  you are certainly developing very----"
+
+Mrs. Mac is prosing without an audience, for the girls are flying along
+the track to the slip-rails, accompanied by the barking dogs.
+
+
+It was verging on midnight when the Bullaroi household broke up.  The
+adventures were told with a degree of modesty to an intensely interested
+and at times breathless company.  The spoils of the sea and the spoils
+of the mine were displayed to the admiration of all. Mrs. M'Intyre gave
+high praise to the pals for their success as fish-curers; while the gold
+spoke for itself, needing no expert opinion.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre had the last word.
+
+"Ye've advanced a big step towards yure manhood, laddies, and I'm prood
+o' ye the nicht.  Yure conduc' under they perils by sea and land is more
+precious by far that yon gleeterin' gowd.  A guid name is raither to be
+chosen than great riches.  Thank the Lord for a' His mercies!
+Guid-nicht, bairns."
+
+
+
+                           "GOOD-NIGHT ALL."
+
+
+
+
+           _Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALS ***
+
+
+
+
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+<title>PALS</title>
+<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" />
+<meta name="PG.Title" content="Pals" />
+<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" />
+<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" />
+<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Joseph Bowes" />
+<meta name="DC.Created" content="1910" />
+<meta name="MARCREL.ill" content="John Macfarlane" />
+<meta name="PG.Id" content="44369" />
+<meta name="PG.Released" content="2013-12-08" />
+<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" />
+<meta name="DC.Title" content="Pals Young Australians in Sport and Adventure" />
+
+<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" />
+<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" />
+<meta content="Pals&#10;Young Australians in Sport and Adventure" name="DCTERMS.title" />
+<meta content="pals.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" />
+<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" />
+<meta content="2013-12-09T05:42:36.228724+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" />
+<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" />
+<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" />
+<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44369" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" />
+<meta content="Joseph Bowes" name="DCTERMS.creator" />
+<meta content="John Macfarlane" name="MARCREL.ill" />
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+<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" />
+<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.20a7 by Marcello Perathoner &lt;webmaster@gutenberg.org&gt;" name="generator" />
+</head>
+<body>
+<div class="document" id="pals">
+<h1 class="center document-title level-1 pfirst title"><span class="x-large">PALS</span></h1>
+
+<!-- this is the default PG-RST stylesheet -->
+<!-- figure and image styles for non-image formats -->
+<!-- default transition -->
+<!-- default attribution -->
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="clearpage">
+</div>
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="align-None container language-en pgheader" id="pg-header" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the </span><a class="reference internal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a><span>
+included with this eBook or online at
+</span><a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a><span>.</span></p>
+<p class="noindent pnext"></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container" id="pg-machine-header">
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span>Title: Pals
+<br />       Young Australians in Sport and Adventure
+<br />
+<br />Author: Joseph Bowes
+<br />
+<br />Release Date: December 08, 2013 [EBook #44369]
+<br />
+<br />Language: English
+<br />
+<br />Character set encoding: UTF-8</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-start-line"><span>*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK </span><span>PALS</span><span> ***</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container coverpage">
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 67%" id="figure-64">
+<img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="Cover art" src="images/img-cover.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">Cover art</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container frontispiece">
+<p class="center pfirst" id="with-incredible-difficulty-yellow-billy-managed-to-pass-his-whip-thong-twice-round-the-brute-s-neck"><span class="bold">[Frontispiece: With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy
+<br />managed to  pass his whip thong twice round the brute's
+<br />neck—</span><em class="bold italics">See p.</em><span class="bold"> </span><a class="bold reference internal" href="#id4">188</a><span class="bold">.  (missing from book)]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container titlepage">
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="x-large">PALS</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="large">YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
+<br />IN SPORT AND ADVENTURE</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">BY</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="large">JOSEPH BOWES</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics medium">WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
+<br />BY JOHN MACFARLANE</em></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">LONDON: JAMES GLASS
+<br />28 NEWGATE STREET
+<br />1910</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="bold large">CONTENTS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">CHAP.</span></p>
+<ol class="upperroman simple">
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#by-way-of-introduction">By Way of Introduction</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-bushrangers">The Bushrangers</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#a-desperate-encounter">A Desperate Encounter</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-great-match">The Great Match</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-big-flood">The Big Flood</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#on-the-face-of-the-waters">On the Face of the Waters</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-death-of-the-forest-monarch">The Death of the Forest Monarch</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#what-the-tree-held">What the Tree held</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-rescue">The Rescue</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-return">The Return</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-breaking-up">The Breaking Up</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#down-the-river">Down the River</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#off-for-the-holidays">Off for the Holidays</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#christmas-fun-and-frolic">Christmas Fun and Frolic</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#a-bush-ride-and-its-consequences">A Bush Ride and its Consequences</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-dingo-raid">The Dingo Raid</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#dingo-v-emu-a-fight-to-a-finish">Dingo *v.* Emu: A Fight to a Finish</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-chase-and-its-sequel">The Chase and its Sequel</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#concerning-wild-horses">Concerning Wild Horses</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-brumby-hunt">The Brumby Hunt</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-warrigal-s-strategy">The Warrigal's Strategy</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#how-yellow-billy-broke-the-warrigal">How Yellow Billy broke the Warrigal</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#a-day-s-shoot">A Day's Shoot</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-corrobberie">The Corrobberie</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#in-the-bushrangers-caves">In the Bushrangers' Caves</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-explorers">The Explorers</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#a-respite">A Respite</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-camp-by-the-sea">The Camp by the Sea</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#at-the-mercy-of-the-sea-tiger">At the Mercy of the Sea-Tiger</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#in-and-about-the-camp">In and About the Camp</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#off-to-the-gold-diggings">Off to the Gold Diggings</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#how-they-struck-gold">How they struck Gold</a></p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#bullion-and-bushranger">Bullion and Bushranger</a></p>
+</li>
+</ol>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="bold large">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#with-incredible-difficulty-yellow-billy-managed-to-pass-his-whip-thong-twice-round-the-brute-s-neck">With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip
+thong twice round the brute's neck</a><span> (missing from
+book) . . . </span><em class="italics">Frontispiece</em></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#suddenly-the-forest-monarch-topples-lurches-staggers-and-falls-with-a-mighty-crash">Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls
+with a mighty crash</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-neighbours-saw-far-out-on-the-wild-wreckage-strewn-waters-a-tiny-boat-with-four-slight-figures">The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters,
+a tiny boat with four slight figures</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-emu-failed-to-elude-the-panther-like-spring">The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#retreating-one-moment-and-advancing-the-following-uttering-war-cries">Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering
+war-cries</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-huge-brute-lashed-the-water-into-foam-and-swam-round-and-round-in-a-circle">The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round
+and round in a circle</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#we-ve-struck-it-rich-i-do-believe-cried-the-stockman">"We've struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman</a></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#behind-the-lantern-came-a-voice-that-more-than-the-lantern-or-even-pistol-cowed-them-stop-hands-up">Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or
+even pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*"</a><span> (missing from book)</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>The grey gums by the lonely creek</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The star-crowned height,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The wind-swept plain, the dim blue peak,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The cold white light,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The solitude spread near and far</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Around the camp-fire's tiny star,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The horse-bell's melody remote,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The curlew's melancholy note,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Across the night.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>GEORGE ESSEX EVANS</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="by-way-of-introduction"><span class="bold x-large">PALS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER I</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">"Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable
+barrier, and the sacred air cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean
+clay hamlets of reality; and man by his nature is yet infinite and
+free."—CARLYLE.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Comin' over to-night, Tom?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By jings!  I'd like to, Joe, but dad said this morning
+he was going to shell corn to-night.  You know what that
+means.  What's on?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh!  Sandy's stayin' in for the night; so I thought of
+gettin' Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy so's we could have
+bushrangers, an' stick up the coach by moonlight.  If
+they can't come, Sandy an' I'll go 'possumin' in the
+slaughter-house paddock."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say! what a jolly lark the bushranging'd be.  How'd
+you manage it, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We've planned that out all right.  We'd get Jimmy
+Flynn's billy-goat cart an' the billies.  He'd be mailman,
+an' it'd be gold-escort day.  Yellow Billy'd be the trooper;
+he's got a pistol, you know.  He'd ride the roan steer
+he's broken in.  Then you, Sandy, an' I'd be Ben Bolt's
+gang.  We'd do a plant in a lonely spot along the road
+an' surprise 'em.  I'd tackle Billy, you'd look after
+Jimmy, Sandy 'd collar the mailbags and gold boxes, and
+then scoot with the loot.  I think it'd be better to shoot
+Billy, so's to make it a bit more real; that's what Ben
+Bolt'd do."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But, Joe, where'd we get the guns?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'd get father's.  You'd have to make believe with a
+nulla-nulla.  We could stick a boomerang in our belts, it'd
+look like pistols in the dark."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But I say, Joe, ole chap, you wouldn't really shoot
+Billy?" said Tom in a tone that savoured both of fear
+and scepticism.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're a precious muff, Hawkins!  I was just kidding
+you.  No, you stupid, it's all gammon.  The noise the
+powder 'll make 'll scare the seven senses outer Billy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By golly! it'll be crummie enough.  Put it off till
+to-morrow, Joe, an' I'll come."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Can't be done, my boy.  Sandy'll not be here, for one
+thing.  Besides, I have to pull father down to Yallaroi
+Bend to-morrow.  It's his service night there.  Sorry you
+can't come, Tom.  We'll have to do our best without you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh Moses! to think that I can't join!" groaned Tom.
+"Look here, Joe, I—I'll do a sneak.  I'll be here somehow,
+you may bet your Sunday breeks," continued the eager
+lad, as he stepped into the little "flat-bottom" boat which
+had brought him over.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe!" he shouted when he had rowed some distance
+from the shore.  "I'll give a cooee if I can get, an' two
+cooees if the way's blocked.  So don't start till you hear."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Right-o!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The place where these boys lived, moved, and had their
+being was a district famed for its fertility, on one of the
+northern rivers in New South Wales.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The river itself had many of the elements of nobility
+and beauty as, taking its rise in the snowy heights of the
+New England ranges, it clove its way eastward, finally
+debouching into the blue waters of the Pacific.  The
+river-flats formed magnificent stretches of arable lands; too
+rich, indeed, for such cereals as wheat and oats, for
+their rank growth rendered them liable to the fatal rust.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here, however, was the home of the maize, the
+pumpkin, the sweet potato, the orange, the lemon, the
+plantain.  Here too, the natural sequence, in a way, of
+the prolific corn and the multitudinous pumpkin, were
+reared and flourished the unromantic pig.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Fed on pumpkins, with skim milk for beverage, topped
+off with corn, the Australian grunter—whether as
+delicious, crisp bacon, or posing as aristocratic
+ham—produces flesh with a flavour fit to set before a king.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Away from the river-flats the land becomes undulating
+and ridgy, and well grassed for cattle runs.  In the scrub
+belts, running back from the river and its affluents into
+the hilly country, are to be found valuable timbers, hard
+and soft; especially that forest noble, the red cedar.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Cattle runs of large extent exist in the back-blocks,
+formed in the early days by that class of men to whom
+Australia owes so much; the men who to-day are vilified
+by those not worthy to black their boots: the hardy,
+adventurous, courageous, indomitable pioneer, who more
+often than not laid down his life and his fortune in the
+interest of Colonial expansion and occupation.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At intervals along the river-banks are small settlements,
+dignified by the name of townships.  Tareela, the
+principal village, skirted both sides of the river, and was
+connected by a ferry.  Here were located the Government
+offices for the district, together with the stores, hotels,
+school, etc.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe Blain, the minister's son, was the leader of the
+village lads.  He had two pals, who were inseparable from
+him: Sandy M'Intyre, the squatter's son, whose father
+owned Bullaroi, a cattle station situated a few miles from
+the town, and Tom Hawkins, a farmer's son, the youngest
+of the trio.  These boys gave tone and direction to the
+fun and frolic of the settlement.  Of them it is sufficient
+to say at present that they were not pedestal lads.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At this time a noted bushranger and his mate were
+raiding the settlements.  All police pursuit was futile,
+owing to the resourcefulness of the 'rangers.  They had a
+keen knowledge of the open country and the mountain
+ranges.  Furthermore, they were generally mounted on
+blood horses, usually "borrowed" from the surrounding
+station studs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These men had many sympathisers among the lawlessly
+inclined, and, strange to say, among law-abiding settlers.
+The "bush-telegraph" was an institution in those days.
+Certain friends of the 'rangers kept them posted up in
+the movements of the police, sometimes by word of mouth,
+at others by writings on paper or bark, which were
+deposited in rock crevices or in tree hollows, known only
+to the initiated.  Sometimes a young lad, or even a girl,
+would ride scores of miles across country to give them
+warning.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The police were not wanting in bush lore or courage,
+and in the end invariably ran their quarry to earth.  But
+an outlaw often had a long career in crime, owing to the
+aid given, ere he was trapped.  Thanks to closer
+settlement, the advance of education, and the general use of
+the electric telegraph, bushranging has become a matter
+of history.  The species is now to be found only in the
+stage melodrama, the itinerating waxwork show, or
+embalmed in literature.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-bushrangers"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER II</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">"THE BUSHRANGERS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">"</span><em class="italics small">Poins</em><span class="small">: Tut! our horses they shall not see.  I'll tie them in the
+wood; our visors we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I
+have cases of buckram for the nonce to immask our noted outward
+garments.</span></p>
+<p class="noindent pnext"><span class="small">"</span><em class="italics small">Prince</em><span class="small">: But I doubt they will be too hard for us."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span class="small">SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>After leaving Tom Hawkins, or, to put it more correctly,
+after Tom had paddled away in his punt, Joe Blain
+proceeded to look up Jimmy Flynn, the blacksmith's
+apprentice, and Yellow Billy, a half-caste youth, whose
+father followed the occupation of a timber-getter in the
+ranges.  Yellow Billy was generally employed as yard
+boy at the Travellers' Best Inn, and a rough time he
+often had, especially when the timber-getters were
+dissolving their hard-earned gold in alcohol.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>One of Billy's duties was to milk the cows and tend the
+calves.  Among the latter was a yearling steer, which he
+broke in and rode on the quiet.  Many an hour's frolic
+the boys had in the moonlight in riding the steer.  This
+animal had a good slice of the rogue in its composition,
+with a propensity for buck-jumping.  When in a certain
+mood it would be as stubborn as a donkey and as savage
+as a mule.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After standing, say for some minutes, never budging, in
+spite of thwackings and tail-twistings, it would suddenly
+take to buck-jumping.  Oh, my, couldn't it buck!  Woe
+betide the unlucky rider when it was in this mood.  Torn
+from his hold—a rope round its brisket—one moment
+behold him sprawling over its back, the next whirling through
+space, finally deposited with more force than elegance on
+the turf.  All this, however, was great fun for the boys,
+who encouraged the brute in its bucking moods, each
+mounting in turns, to lie prone sooner or later on mother
+earth, amid the uproarious laughter of his fellows.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Billy was the exception.  He was a born rider.  Unable
+to shift him from its back, the brute became quite docile
+in his hands, and kept its tricks for the others.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Jimmy and Billy were ready and willing to fill their
+parts in the bill.  The former, at "knock off," went out to
+the town common to round his goats, and Billy promised
+to be ready, "steered," so to speak, by the time appointed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The road fixed upon was the track that led out from the
+township to a large sawmill, distant about six miles.  It
+was a solitary road, passing through a scrub-belt, crossing
+several minor creeks, threading its way over a rocky
+ridge, winding through a rather wild defile, and ending at
+the mill; the sort of place, indeed, to present numerous
+opportunities for the criminal enterprise on hand.  A
+spot where one could get "nice and creepy," as Joe said to
+Yellow Billy, much to that young man's disquiet.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The plan of campaign was simple enough.  Joe, Tom,
+and Sandy were to set out as soon as possible after
+sundown and choose their spot for attack; while Jimmy was
+to drive the Royal Billy-goat Mailcart, with Trooper Yellow
+Billy a little in advance, as per custom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The embryo bushrangers, unfortunately, had only one
+horse between them; the one Sandy rode to school.  Mr. Blain's
+horse, on which the boys counted, was being used by
+the minister to take him to a moonlight service some
+distance out from the river.  It was settled, therefore, that
+the three boys should bestride Sandy's stout cob, which was
+well able to carry these juvenile desperadoes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Mother!" shouted Joe, as he strode into the house in
+the late afternoon, from the wood-pile, where he had been
+chopping the next day's supply, "we're going to have
+grand fun to-night."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What sort of fun, my son?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bushranging along the sawmill road.  Can I go
+mother?  We've got such a grand plot."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, I don't mind; but don't be out late."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"S'pose I can have the gun?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The g-u-n!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, mother.  No need to fear.  It's all play."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, don't load it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Only with powder to make a bang."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I don't like the idea, my boy.  Gun accidents often
+happen in play.  You remember Jim Andrews——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh yes, mother, but that's different!  It was loaded."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In the end, owing to the boy's importunity, Mrs. Blain
+reluctantly consented.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Early tea being duly dispatched, the boys made the
+necessary preparations for their dark deed.  Joe produced
+a pair of knee-boots, the some time property of his
+father.  He made them fit by sticking rags into the toes.
+He thrust his trousers' legs into the boot-tops, and wound
+a red scarf round his waist, through which he stuck a
+boomerang and nulla-nulla.  A 'possum-skin cap adorned
+his head.  His final act was to fasten on a corn-tassel
+moustache, and to strap his gun across his back.  The
+broad effect of the costume was to make this youthful
+outlaw a cross, as it were, between Robinson Crusoe and
+a Greek brigand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Indeed he quite terrified his two sisters, as he suddenly
+entered the sitting-room to the accompaniment of a
+blood-curdling yell.  This the girls match with a shriek that
+wakes up the sleeping baby, bringing the mother in with
+a rush.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For a moment Mrs. Blain, seeing Joe in the half-light,
+thought some ruffian had entered.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's very thoughtless and wrong of you, Joe, to frighten
+your sisters.  I—I—I'm quite angry with you——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Very sorry, mater," said Joe, with a serio-comic air.  "I
+only meant to give them a start."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The girls, however, began to laugh, Joe looked such an
+oddity.  They turned the tables on him by quizzing him
+most unmercifully.  At last our young hero was very glad
+to beat a retreat to the backyard, where he found Sandy
+busy in saddling the horse.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe's confederate had roughened himself as much as
+circumstances permitted.  In lieu of a skin cap he tied a
+big handkerchief round his hat, and stuck a couple of
+turkey-tail feathers through it.  He had manufactured a
+brace of pistols out of short lengths of bamboo, with
+corn-cobs, stuck in bored holes at an angle, to form the stocks.
+These, with a boomerang and nulla-nulla slung at either
+side, and a short spear fixed in his belt at the back and
+standing over his head, made him in appearance more
+like a red Indian than a Colonial free-booter.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All ready, Hawkeye?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, ole pal.  The mustang is waiting, and the brave
+will vault into the saddle at Thundercloud's word of
+command," answered Hawkeye in bastard Cooperese.
+Fenimore of that ilk was Sandy's favourite author.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hast thou heard the signal of Red Murphy?" said
+Joe, falling into the strain of speech.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, Thundercloud.  No sound from our brither of
+the hither shore hath been borne on the wings of the wind
+across the——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, stow that rot, Sand—Hawkeye!  I wonder?——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yon's the cry of the chiel," broke in the would-be
+brave, as at that moment the cooee of Tom Hawkins,
+alias Red Murphy, rose in the still air, faint from the
+distance, but distinct.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A single cooee!  Rippin! he's comin'.  Let's mount
+and wait at the landing."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Hardly had the boys reached the river-bank ere Red
+Murphy appeared, attired much as the others, with the
+addition of an old blunderbuss belonging to his father.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's all right, boys!  Hurroar!  Dad broke the handle
+of the corn-sheller this evening, and sent me over with
+it to the blacksmith's.  I'm to wait till it's mended.
+Wait a jiff an' I'll be with you," cried he, as he ran to the
+smithy, returning as fast as his legs could bring him, with
+the news that the broken handle could not be repaired
+under three hours owing to other urgent work.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe rapidly detailed the plan, informing Tom, at the
+same time, that his name and character were to be that
+of Red Murphy, one of the blood-thirstiest and most
+rapacious cut-throats in the Colonies.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="a-desperate-encounter"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER III</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">"</span><em class="italics small">Falstaff</em><span class="small">: I am a rogue if I were not
+at half-sword with a dozen of them
+two hours together.  I have 'scaped by miracle.
+I am eight times thrust
+through the doublet; four through the hose; my buckler cut through;
+my sword hacked like a handsaw </span><em class="italics small">ecce signum</em><span class="small">.
+I never dealt better since
+I was a man; all would not do."—SHAKESPEARE, </span><em class="italics small">Henry IV</em><span class="small">.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Joe had barely made his explanations before the
+rumbling of the approaching cart was heard.  It was the
+Royal Mail starting on its adventurous trip.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Time to be off, pals!" cried the leader.  "Now then,
+Hawkeye, whip 'em up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Off started the trio, Thundercloud, Hawkeye, and Red
+Murphy; each delivering a blood-curdling yell which
+rang up and down the street, as they passed through it
+at a smart canter.  It had never fallen to the lot of horse,
+before, to bear upon its back at the same time three
+such ferocious outlaws, bent on so diabolical an errand.
+Behind them, and at a slower pace, came the Royal Mail
+goatcart, drawn by four strong billies, skilfully driven
+by coachman Jimmy, and attended by Trooper Billy
+astride his cud-chewing steed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After leaving the township the road skirted the river
+for a mile or so, then, crossing a plank bridge, bore away
+to the hills.  The silver moon shone from the clear sky
+through the pure air, making the tree shadows as they
+lay across the road to resemble fallen timber.  The
+nocturnal 'possum, having ventured to the ground to feed
+upon the tender grass, scudded up the trees, frightened
+by the rumbling vehicle and the baaing steeds.  The
+thud of paddy-melon[#] and wallaby could be distinctly
+heard, as they smote the earth in their jumping
+movements; while from the heights of some lofty tree the
+mopoke[#] tolled his mournful cry.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] "Paddy-melon," a small marsupial or pouch-bearing mammal.</span></p>
+<p class="noindent pnext"><span class="small">[#] "Mopoke," the Australian crested goat-sucker.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The coach had now passed the three-mile creek, and
+still there was no sound of disturbing element.  The
+coachman and trooper, having intelligence to the effect
+that the 'rangers were "out," and had threatened to "stick"
+up the gold-escort, were on the </span><em class="italics">qui vive</em><span>.  They surmised
+that the attack would come in the scrub-belt, and about
+the spot where the creek intersected.  Here the tall,
+overhanging trees, interlaced as they were with a thick
+vinous growth, effectually barred the moon's rays.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was the ideal spot for ambush, and the hearts of the
+boys beat faster, and a nervous apprehension amounting
+to fear seized them, as they passed among the shadows.
+Everything had a distorted appearance, and again and
+again they trembled, as it were, on the verge of attack.
+They had chatted freely until the darkness of the
+scrub closed in upon them.  Under its oppression, and
+by reason of the dread uncertainty, what had before
+seemed to be only a prime lark now presented itself as
+a grim reality.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They drove on slowly now, conversing only in whispers,
+for the night silences, the deepening shadows, and the
+unseen before them, all contributed to the mental mood
+which affected the boys.  The creek banks and bed, save
+for a solitary moon-ray which silvered the rippling water,
+were enwrapped in thick darkness.  Pulling up at the
+brink, the boys held a short conversation.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Goin' ter cross, Jimmy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I—I—s'pose so, Billy.  Measly black ahead, ain't it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're not frightened, are you?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wot! me?  No fear!  Y'are yourself!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I like that!  Wot's to be frightened of?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yet the boys, if truth be told, were a good deal alarmed
+by the unwonted darkness and stillness.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, s'pose we'd better be gettin' on.  Don't care how
+soon we git outer this hole.  You cross ahead, Billy, an' do
+a bit o' scoutin'.  I'll wait here till you git up the bank
+on the other side."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yellow Billy didn't like the prospect, and would have
+proposed turning back, but was afraid of being called a
+coward.  Therefore, despite an apprehension of the
+darkness, accentuated by his aboriginal strain, and very much
+against his will, the half-caste plunged down the creek
+bed, and mounted the other side without let or hindrance,
+greatly to his surprise and relief.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But where are the 'rangers?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Of them the darkness gave no token and the silence is
+unbroken.  Jimmy had some difficulty in getting his
+leaders to tackle the creek.  It was only after he left the
+cart, seized their heads, and half-dragged them into the
+water that he effected his purpose.  The scrub thinned
+out shortly after passing the creek, and the spirits of the
+boys rose with the increasing moonlight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They missed a grand charnce at the crick, Billy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By dad, they did that!  I wonder where they are.
+P'raps they've given us the slip."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The road took a sudden turn just here, leading over a
+rocky ridge.  At a farther sharp turn, under the lee of a
+bank, a big log lay across the road.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, here's a go, Jimmy!  You'll have to drive
+round.  No! you can't do that.  Wait a moment an'
+I'll——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bail up!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The cry, crisp and startling, rang out, as three figures
+darted from the shadow of a huge tree which stood near.
+Thundercloud, the leader of the band of bushrangers,
+pointed his gun at the driver.  Hawkeye made a dash at
+the trooper, while Red Murphy seized hold of the leading
+billies.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hands up!" cried Thundercloud in the highest style
+of bushranging.  "Your money or your life!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Trooper Billy was not disposed to yield without a
+struggle, and at the first cry he whipped out his pistol,
+firing at his aggressor point blank, missing the leader but
+hitting his confederate, Hawkeye, who tumbled down with
+a loud squeal, as unlike an Indian war-whoop as it is
+possible to imagine.  Simultaneously, Thundercloud
+discharged his gun at Jimmy the coachman, who, instead of
+putting his hands up at the challenge, began to lash the
+billies, and had just turned them off the log, when—pop,
+crash! went the two weapons.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now the unforeseen occurred.  The steer and the
+billies bolted!  Down the ridge and along the road they
+dashed at breakneck speed; the steer roaring and kicking,
+the four strong billies baaing, and neither driver nor
+rider could control the brutes.  Away they scurried along
+the rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over
+the ruts; every jump of the trap bringing a fresh bleat
+from the fear-stricken goats.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his
+steed unmanageable, getting frightened too, Yellow Billy
+slipped over the stern, and by good luck dropped upon
+his feet.  It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly hung
+on to the billies.  The creek was what he most feared, and
+it was very close now.  He had, however, got a pull on
+the beasts, and they were slackening a little, but, as
+ill-luck would have it, on going down a gully one of the
+wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized the cart,
+sending the driver head over heels into a clump of
+bracken.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who
+rushed on baaing; dashing at length down the steep
+incline of the creek, the cart righted itself as it tumbled
+adown the gradient.  They tore over the stream and up
+the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up
+in the scrub.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After lying in a stunned condition for a few minutes,
+Jimmy scrambled up.  But the moment he put his weight
+on his right foot he let out a yell, caused by the terrific
+pain that shot through his ankle.  It was unbearable, and
+he tumbled down in an almost fainting condition.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Meanwhile the outlaws stood aghast at the unexpected
+and startling turn of events.  Thundercloud was the first
+to recover his speech.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Great Cæsar! who would have dreamt of a bolt?
+Just listen to the brutes!" as the animals tore along,
+baaing and roaring in a way possible only to frightened
+billies and calves.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I—I—didn't know he'd loaded his pistol.  I—I—I
+thought for sure I was a goon coon," gasped Hawkeye, who,
+after lying for a minute under the impression that he was
+mortally wounded, got up, rubbing his face and head,
+half terrified as his hands became wet with flowing blood,
+and only reassured after Joe had declared that the blood
+was from his nose.  As a matter of fact, he had sustained
+a smart blow upon his prominent feature with the pistol
+wad; his cheeks, also, were scorched with the powder
+flare.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Red Murphy, who had just grasped the billies' heads
+when the guns were fired, was thrown down in their mad
+rush, and had his shins severely barked on the rocky
+ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Drat the brutes!  Oh, I say, here's a go!  Listen to
+the beggars!  Ain't they footin' it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"To horse! to horse, pals!" cried Thundercloud, making
+hasty strides to a patch of scrub where they had tied up
+the horse.  In a few seconds the three were mounted and
+away with a swinging canter, adding their yells to the
+cries of the beasts.  They were soon up to the spot where
+Jimmy had come to grief, when, thundering down the
+gully, the horse made a shy at the prostrate coachman,
+shooting off Thundercloud and Red Murphy.  They
+scrambled up quickly, none the worse for their spill.
+Hawkeye immediately reined in his steed and rejoined
+his dismounted companions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys were greatly concerned to find Jimmy in this
+condition.  The affair began to assume a serious aspect.
+They were no longer outlaws and police: they were pals,
+and Jimmy was suffering intense pain from his sprained
+ankle.  After a short consultation the boy was placed on
+the horse, which was led by Sandy.  The others followed
+behind, making a somewhat mournful spectacle.  In due
+course they reached the goatcart, now in possession of
+Yellow Billy, who had disentangled the team and was
+waiting for the others to come along.  The steer
+meanwhile continued his career at headlong speed, until he
+pulled up at the milking yards in an exhausted condition.
+Mrs. Blain, as the hours sped by, began to get concerned
+at the non-return of the boys.  Concern deepened
+into anxiety.  She became a prey to evil imaginings, as
+do all our dear mothers.  They are lost! ... Some dreadful
+accident has happened! ... That gun! ... Their legs, arms,
+necks, are broken!  And so on and on, running over the
+whole gamut of catastrophy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>She goes out to scan the streets, and listens with
+strained ears for some enheartening sound of footsteps.
+Lights are out in the village.  Even the dogs are sleeping.
+No shuffle of advancing feet; no rattle of wheels as they
+grind in the ruts: no sound, indeed, is borne upon the
+night wind save the mystic noises of the flowing river,
+which fill the air with a deep undertone.  Above this, at
+intervals, come the splashing sounds of the jumping fish;
+the smooth splash of the falling mullet, the tail flutter of
+the rising perch.  The wood-duck's soft quack-quack, and
+the red-bill's chuckle, are to be heard as they move among
+the sedges.  No landward sound!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Stay! a dark shadow swiftly steals along the earth like
+a spirit of evil omen, and passes through the house, across
+the street, as it strikes the walls.  While from above
+comes a wail as that of a lost soul.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The poor woman quivers and shivers at the unwonted
+sight and sound.  She knows not that the apparition is
+the shadow of a black swan, which is sailing high up in
+the heavens; it crosses the moon, and utters its melancholy
+note as it wings its flight to the feeding grounds.  The
+mother is now on the outskirts of the town, under the
+shadows of the trees.  Every leaf is a tongue; every
+tongue whispers—Something! which dries the throat and
+fills the ears with heart-thumps.  "Why did I? ... That
+gun! ... What will father? ... Why don't they
+come? ... Which track? ... Hark!  Yes, 'tis the
+galloping hoofs ... Oh, God! it is the steer! ...
+Riderless! ... This way, then....  On, on, on! ... At
+last! ..."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Cheer up, mother ... no harm done ... Jimmy had
+a bit of a buster an' sprained his ankle....  Scold us,
+mother, but—don't cry!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The hour is verging on midnight as five weary lads,
+four billies, one horse, and one thankful woman straggled
+into the silent township.  All romance, for the moment,
+had gone out of bushranging.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-great-match"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER IV</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE GREAT MATCH</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"God bless the grilling days of cricket!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>They're gone but I shall bless them ever,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>For good it is to guard a wicket</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>By sudden wrist and big endeavour."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>NORMAN GALE.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>"There's a breathless hush in the close to night,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Ten to make and the match to win,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>A bumping pitch and a blinding light,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>An hour to play and the last man in."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>HENRY NEWBOLT.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Hawkins, stand out!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Please, sir, I wasn't doin' nothin'!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, you wasn't doin' nothin', but you have been
+talking all morning, you tiresome boy!  Write out
+'disobedient' three hundred times after school."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The fact is, Tom was relating the bushranging episode
+to a schoolmate, and, like Tom Sawyer, he "laid over"
+considerably in his recital.  While in the act of enlarging
+he was brought to book in this peremptory fashion by the
+master, and had to do penance with as little relish as
+most boys.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sorry you can't come out and play, Tom," said Joe
+Blain, poking his head into the empty schoolhouse after
+dismissal.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a beastly shame!  What are you fellows up to?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Goin' to practise for the Dingdongla match.  After
+that we'll have a swim."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, rot it!" grunted the chagrined prisoner.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Say, Tom, don't forget to come along to-night an' help
+pick the team."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll be there, never fret."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, so-long.  Wire in, and keep your pecker up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Dingdongla was an up-river settlement; Tareela a
+down-river town.  The latter named was the older and
+more substantial place, being the headquarters of the
+shipping.  As a consequence it was instinct with the
+superior air generally to be met with in places of
+metropolitan pretensions.  In schools, too, the down-river
+town had the advantage.  Its school building was of sawn
+timber, with a shingle roof.  Furthermore, it possessed two
+teachers, and pine desks.  While, on the other hand, the
+up-river academy was constructed of roughly adzed slabs
+and a bark roof.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For the Dingdonglas to be thrashed in cricket by the
+Tareelians was not considered to be a disgrace.  </span><em class="italics">Per
+contra</em><span>, their victory was a splendid achievement, and a
+great humiliation to their opponents.  The latter was fairly
+beaten by the former last season, and naught would restore
+their prestige save the administration of an unmitigated
+licking.  So, at least, thought the match Committee, as they
+conned names, and analysed the merits of the candidates
+on the name list.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Needless to say, Joe, Tom, and Sandy headed the list of
+certainties.  Yellow Billy came next; for though a very
+irregular attendant at school, he was a tremendous swiper
+when he got his eye in.  Billy had dragged more than
+one match out of the fire.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Saturday morning broke fair.  Shortly after an early
+breakfast a cavalcade of about twenty youthful horsemen,
+followed by two teachers in a gig, were scampering along
+the bush road to Dingdongla, distant about nine miles up
+the river.  Oh, the merry, merry days of youth!  Those
+are the days of the superlative mood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was a merry, roaring, romping, racing crowd of
+youngsters that tore along the bush track.  They jumped
+fallen timber and gullies; chased the flying marsupial;
+and spurted in couples for short lengths.  There were
+minor accidents, 'tis true.  Pincher Putnan's horse, in a
+fit of pig-jumping, broke a girth, sending Pincher and
+saddle to mother earth.  Yellow Billy's half-broken
+brumby fairly bolted in a race, cleared off the road, and
+rushed through a belt of timber at breakneck speed,
+towards his native haunts in the Nulla ranges.  It was
+only the superb horsemanship of the half-caste that saved
+him from being dashed against the trees in the headlong
+flight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In due time Dingdongla is reached.  The horses are
+turned out in a maize stubble paddock, where is a fine
+picking, and the boys stroll on to the ground to have
+a look at the pitch.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatyer think of the pitch, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You'll have to keep your eye skinned for shooters
+Rody.  The ball'll keep very low.  Must keep a straight
+bat and forward play."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The stumps, like much of the material, were home-made.
+The Dingdonglas had only one "spring handle"; the others
+were chopped out of beech boards.  The Tareelians were
+not much better off for material.  They, it is true, had
+two "spring handles,"—more or less battered,—and
+could boast a pair of wicket gloves, but for the rest
+were like their opponents, sans leggings and gloves.
+That, however, was a small item; for every boy who
+possessed boots doffed them, rolling his trouser legs to
+the knees and his shirt sleeves to the elbows.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Got all your men, Wilson?" said Joe to the
+Dingdonglas' captain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, they're all here.  May as well toss for innin's, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Right you are," responds Joe, ejecting a jet of saliva
+on a piece of flat wood.  "Shall I toss, or you?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You toss, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Call you!" cried Blain, tossing the board with a twirl
+skywards.  "Wet or dry?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wet!" called Wilson, as the wood spun in the air.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dry!" exclaimed Joe, as it lay on the ground with its
+dry side uppermost.  "We've won, and go in."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tom," said he a moment later, "you and Yellow Billy
+go in first, an' you take the strike."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The batsmen were soon in their places, and the Dingdongs
+in the field.  The innings opened fairly well for the
+Tareelians.  Yellow Billy got quickly to work, and laid
+on the wood to some purpose; Tom playing carefully
+the while.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Facing the Dingdonglas' swift bowler, after a smart
+short-hit run Billy sent a well-pitched ball for four,
+a rattling, straight-hit drive.  But in trying to repeat
+the stroke off the next ball he misjudged, and, skying the
+sphere, was easily caught.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"One wicket for twenty!" of which the half-caste
+contributed fifteen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After this the troubles of the batsmen set in.  The
+Dingdongs were strong in bowling talent, and possessed
+a local Spofforth, whose lightning deliveries shot and
+kicked in a marvellous fashion.  Joe, going in fifth man,
+stayed the "rot" for a while, but was foolishly run out
+by his mate.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The Tareelians were all out in an hour for the small
+total of forty-seven.  If the down-river boys were
+despondent over this score, the up-rivers were correspondingly
+jubilant.  Going to the wickets with plenty of
+confidence, they rattled up ninety-nine before the last
+wicket fell; the captain carrying out his bat for a
+well-earned forty-two.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Adjournment for lunch was now made.  We call
+it lunch by courtesy.  It was a big bush feed.  This
+repast was served in the schoolhouse, the rough desks
+being converted into tables, which were literally covered
+with good things.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The Dingdonglas' mothers were determined that, whoever
+won, the boys of both sides should have a rippin' feed.
+A stuffed sucking-pig, whose savoury odour filled the
+room, lay at one end.  Roast wild duck and a cold
+pigeon-pie balanced it at the other.  An immense round of
+spiced beef, standing in the centre of the long table,
+seemed to say: "You may cut and come again."  Potatoes
+and pumpkins smoked in big tin bowls, and
+all the available space was filled with cakes, puddings,
+and pies.  Needless to say, the onslaught was terrific.
+They were all sloggers at tuck.  Meats, puddings, cakes,
+tea, and ginger-beer disappeared like magic.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>All good things mundane, however, come to an end;
+especially when the good thing happens to be a dinner.
+And now, after divers whisperings and nudgings, up stood
+Captain Joe, amid the cheers of his side.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe was silent a moment, nervously looking up and
+down the board, and heartily wishing himself at the
+bottom of the deep blue sea.  "Mr. Chairman" (addressing
+the local schoolmaster), "I—we—that is—us fellows
+from Tareela asked me to tell you—I mean to say,
+that—that—that—a—it gives us much pleasure—er—er—oh,
+hang it all!—I—I mean—er—this is the jolliest blow in the
+way of tuck we've ever had."  Joe subsided to the rattle
+of the knives on the bare board.  As soon as the noise
+ceased, Tom Hawkins jumped up and called: "Three
+cheers for the Dingdonglas!" which were heartily given.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Half an hour's lounge, and the battle began afresh.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We've got fifty-two to wipe out before we start even,
+boys.  We can do it, and score plenty more to win the
+game, if we keep our heads.  Anyway, we must have
+a big try.  Billy an' I'll go in first; Tom next, and then
+Pincher.  The order of the rest of you depends on the
+way things turn out."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look here, Billy," continued the captain, as the two
+batsmen walked to the wickets.  "They've got two
+slashing bowlers, but if we can manage to knock 'em out
+they've no one else of much account.  Get your eye well
+in before you do any slogging."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, Joe!  Do me best."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Your best means steady play and a big score.  I'll
+take the strike."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>If Joe was nervous in public speech it was not
+observable in action.  He played Ginger Smith's fast
+deliveries with confidence, punishing the loose balls and
+blocking the straight ones.  Billy, too, was playing with
+unwonted caution, and the score, though slowly, was
+surely mounting up; until after half an hour's play it
+stood at twenty-five, with no wickets down.  There were
+no boundaries, and every hit was run out.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, glory, what a swipe!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yellow Billy had got hold of one of Ginger's leg balls
+with a mighty lunge.  The ball seemed as if it would
+go on for ever, and finally rolled into a gutter.  They ran
+six for it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was great cheering among the Tareelians.
+Mr. Simpson, who umpired, forgot for a moment his
+impartial office.  Flinging his hat into the air, he cried,
+"Bravo, Billy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thirty-one an' none out.  Only twenty-one to get level!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys were now scoring faster; singles, twos, threes
+were coming with great rapidity.  Joe made his first
+four, a sweet, square cut.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Forty-nine an' no wickets down!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe faced the new bowler.  The local demon had
+begun to bowl wildly, and was relieved.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They'll never bowl them!" cried young Ben Wilde, as
+Joe took block for the new-comer—a lad with a reputation
+for slow left-hand twisters.  The first ball was pitched on
+the leg stump; just the ball for Joe's favourite leg glance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It went for two.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Only one to make us even!" shouted Tom to his
+captain.  The second ball was pitched in exactly the
+same spot, and Joe proceeded to treat it in the same
+fashion.  The sphere, however, had a little more twist on
+it than its predecessor, and, breaking on to the left bail,
+flicked it off.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was a great chorus of disappointment among the
+Tareelians, and hearty cheers from their opponents, as
+the captain's wicket fell.  His twenty-one, got by true
+cricket, was worth twice that number by reason of the
+spirit of confidence he had infused.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Billy and Tom carried the score to seventy-three, when
+the latter was caught for ten.  Pincher fell a victim to a
+very simple ball from an under-hand lob bowler, after
+making seven.  Sandy gave the bowlers some trouble,
+and got into double figures before he retired.  All this
+while Billy was scoring well, and, when Sandy's wicket
+fell, had made fifty runs.  All the boys scored less or
+more; and when the innings closed had compiled a total
+of one hundred and thirty-seven, of which Billy made
+seventy-one and not out.  This was a grand achievement,
+and the half-caste was carried off the ground amid great
+applause.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This left the Dingdongs eighty-six runs to win, which
+they failed to do by seventeen runs, Sleepy Sam stumping
+no less than three off young Ben's slow lobs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was great cheering as the victorious cricketers
+rode in the dusk of the evening through the main street
+of Tareela, after a grand day's fun.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-big-flood"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER V</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE BIG FLOOD</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"The day is cold and dark and dreary;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>It rains, and the wind is never weary;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The vine still clings to the mouldering wall;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>But at every gust the dead leaves fall,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And the day is dark and dreary."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>LONGFELLOW.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Drip, drip, drip!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Croak, croak, c-r-o-a-k!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Quack-quack, quack-quack!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Heigho!" grunted Tom Hawkins, as he turned over
+sleepily in bed.  "Is it ever goin' to stop rainin'?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For some days a steady rain had been falling, soaking
+the ground.  Every gully was a rivulet, and every
+depression a lake.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tom!" cried a feminine voice from an interior room.
+"Get up!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bother those frogs an' ducks!" muttered the lad, full
+of sleep in the grey of the early morning.  "Like ter
+choke 'em! waking fler——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tom!" cried a masculine voice, as a hand rattled the
+door of the lad's bedroom, and a boot gave a drum-like
+accompaniment on the lower panel.  "Git up this minit
+an' run the cows in, or I'll——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But Tom had jumped out of bed as nimbly as one of
+the frogs, between whose croak and his father's bass
+voice he seemed unable, in his sleepy condition, to
+discriminate.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, father!  I'm dressing," shouted Tom, as the
+word "dowsing" fell on his ear.  There had been times in
+master Tom's past when a sudden application of cold
+water was deemed necessary to expedite his slow movements.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dad's too mighty smart!  Thought I'd nick him with
+that button," growled Tom, as he stuck his legs into his
+pants; said button being an iron tee snip, fastened so as
+to act as a bolt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jemima!  ain't it dark!  Must be very early," muttered
+the reluctant boy, as he strove to lace his boots.
+"Drat it!  Shan't wear 'em; too wet."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My crikey!" cried he as he stood outside.  "Must
+have been rainin' cats an' dogs, an' lakes an' seas."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>His moleskins were rolled up to his thighs, while a
+cornsack, hooded at the bottom, and stuck on to his head
+like a nun's veil, gave him fair protection from the
+driving showers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I wonder if it's goin' to be a flood?"  The thought
+was not unpleasant to the lad.  It produced, indeed, a
+certain exaltation of spirits, forcibly expressed in Tom's
+vernacular by, "Ge-willikins! but won't we have fun!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Heavily laden clouds, in interminable succession, were
+drifting from the sea, forming, as they swung overhead
+in batches, an endless series of smart showers.  It had
+been an exceptionally wet week, and for the preceding
+twenty-four hours had rained without ceasing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The cows depastured in a paddock that ran back from
+a creek to the timbered country.  The creek itself was
+bank high and running strongly.  It was only by climbing
+along the branches of a dead limb, which spanned the
+water, that Tom managed to reach the kine.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was no small task to get them to face the stream.
+Small as was the creek in width, it was deep enough to
+make a swim, and the roaring, turbid, and muddy stream
+frightened the creatures.  But for the fact that the
+calves were in a pen at the milking yard all Tom's
+efforts would have been futile.  Their mooing and baaing,
+however, made a loud appeal to the maternal breast.
+Finally, when the old red poley, the mother of twins,
+made a plunge, the rest followed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>During the morning the river rose steadily, and large
+quantities of drift-wood passed down the stream.  With
+the rubbish was a good deal of heavy timber, and—what
+Tom had predicted—pumpkins.  This was an indication
+that the river up-stream had overflowed its banks in
+places, and was sweeping the low-lying farm lands.  Tom
+spent the morning in fishing out the floating vegetables
+that came within reach of his hooked pole.  Meanwhile
+the rain continued, and looked as though it might last for
+forty days and nights.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll pull over to the township this afternoon,"
+remarked Mr. Hawkins at the midday meal.  "I'm anxious
+about this rise.  Looks as if we're goin' to have an old
+man flood.  Might get some information about the state
+of things up-river.  If I leave it till to-morrow 'twill be
+a tough job gettin' acrost, as the timber's comin' down
+pretty thick now, an'll be worse by an' by."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Be sure'n bring tea and flour back with you.  No
+knowing how long the rise'll last."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Can I go with you, father?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; I'll require you to steer.  It'll be a pretty stiff
+job, I reckon."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The crossing was not without peril.  The current ran
+fierce and strong.  The landing-place on the other side
+was protected, in a measure, by a headland up-stream.
+Out from the influence of that, however, the boatmen
+felt the full force of the current.  The water seethed and
+foamed.  The violence of its rush created great
+whirlpools, which accentuated the difficulty of keeping the
+boat's head up-stream.  Logs and driftwood patches had
+to be dodged, and, what with fighting the current and
+outflanking the timber, by the time the river was crossed
+the boat had drifted quite half a mile down-stream.  On
+gaining the other side they found a shore eddy, in which
+they were able to paddle up-stream with ease, until they
+came to a point of land about two hundred yards below
+the town wharf.  As they lost the eddy here, and would
+have to encounter the full force of the flood when round
+the point, Mr. Hawkins wisely determined to tie up the
+boat in the slack water.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When Hawkins arrived at the store, where many of
+the townsfolk had congregated, he was informed that
+news had been brought down by the mailman that
+morning to the effect that heavy rains were falling at
+the head of the river, and that when the New England
+waters came down in full force the river might rise to
+the "high flood" marks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Cooees could now be heard from the settlers in the
+low-lying portions, adjacent to the township.  They
+proceeded from those who had neglected to move before
+being surrounded, and who were without boats.  The
+police were busily engaged in rescuing families by boat.
+Many townsfolk were engaged on the same merciful
+errand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>All through the day the waters, fed by the flooded
+creeks, continued to rise, and as evening approached
+anxiety deepened.  Things were so serious that
+Mr. Hawkins, whose farm, be it said, was situated on
+comparatively low-lying lands, acting upon the advice of his
+friends, returned home almost at once.  After hoisting
+the most valuable of his possessions to the rafters, and
+securing them there, he returned to the township with
+his family; gaining it as dusk was deepening into dark.
+The family was distributed among neighbours, Tom and
+one of his sisters being quartered at Mr. Blain's.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A group of men and boys throughout the day had lined
+the bank of the river, in the vicinity of the Government
+wharf, which was submerged.  They were engaged in
+gauging its rate of advance by pine laths scaled to
+inches.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Towards evening the wind, veering from east to south-east,
+increased in violence.  Laden with torrential showers,
+it smote the earth in great gusts, streaming through roofs
+and walls, and taxing the ingenuity of housekeepers to
+find dry spots for beds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite
+directions, conflicted with great violence.  The roaring,
+boastful wind, as it lashed the racing, defiant waters into
+angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds of the
+seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with
+and overbore all opposing forces, made storm music,
+compared with which the artifices of man touch the
+infinitely puny.  Darkness and the blinding rain had
+driven most of the river watchers indoors.  A few,
+however, braved the elements, among them the minister
+and the lads.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Whatever effect the flood may have had on others, the
+dominant feeling in Mr. Blain's mind was that of solicitude.
+As the rain continued, deep concern merged into alarm.
+There were few on the river who knew as intimately as
+he the general havoc of a flood.  The executive head of
+the Flood-relief Committee for many years, he had been
+the chief instrument in administering doles to flood
+victims.  In many cases the utmost relief was as a drop
+of succour in the ocean of need.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If the rise continues for another twenty-four hours, as
+it is doing now, it will beat the 'sixty-four flood, and, if so,
+God help our down-river friends," remarked the minister
+after examining Joe's gauge by the aid of a lantern.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The '64 flood was the highest known to white men up
+to the present.  The settlers still retained a vivid
+recollection of its disastrous effects.  Luckily, the township
+covered a piece of high ground, and though the low
+parts were covered in a moderate flood, the higher
+portions were some feet above the highest flood-mark.  It
+was in the farming settlements that danger lurked.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If this yere flood beats 'sixty-four, it'll be as you
+say, Parson; good-bye to many up-river an' down-river folk."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. Blain's words had impressed both men and boys.
+Suddenly Joe, who was in the midst of the group, sang
+out lustily—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hurrah! wind's changed!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's that?" shouted back Mr. Blain excitedly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't you feel it?" cried the boy, as he swung his
+arms windmill fashion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; thank God!  The lad's right," continued he.
+"The wind's chopping.  Don't you feel it, men?
+Ah! there's a decided puff from the north-east."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Take my word for it," said the ferryman, an old sailor,
+"the wind'll be blowing west afore morning."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pray God it may!" ejaculated the minister, and many
+a silent prayer was uttered.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys, let us return home.  We can do no good
+standing here.  We'll come back in an hour or so."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Listen!" exclaimed Tom, as the boys splashed through
+the water on their way home.  Laying his hand on Joe's
+shoulder, he cried, "Do you hear that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't hear anything but the roar of the river," replied
+Joe, as he stood in a listening attitude.  "What was it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hark! there it is again.  A cooee.  Seems to come
+from up the river, near the Bend.  Some un's in trouble."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys, make haste and get in out of the rain,"
+cried Mr. Blain, who had hurried along.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Some one's crying out for help at the Bend," shouted Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The minister paused on hearing this.  A moment later
+the cry came out of the night: faint, because of the
+distance and the turmoil of sounds, yet clear and convincing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Great God! some poor soul in dire straits, and no
+help possible before morning!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It would have been worse than madness to attempt
+any rescue till daylight.  To traverse the flood, even in
+daytime, anywhere near the Bend, were a hazardous
+experiment, owing to the enormous vortices caused by
+the current striking a high bluff on the near side, at
+the elbow.  The waters whirled like a merry-go-round
+under full steam, and boiled with an upward heave, in
+a fashion similar to the mud springs of Tiketere.  None
+but the stoutest boat and most experienced rowers could
+dodge these seething cauldrons, which caught into their
+cold and cruel embrace trees, fencing, stock; anything
+material, in fact.  The heaviest logs and tree-lengths
+were as wisps of straw under the influence of the mighty
+suction.  To attempt the traverse at night were as
+foolhardy and impossible as that of shooting Niagara in an
+open boat.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A little group stood with the Blains, listening to the
+weird cry.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Who d'yer think it c'd be, sir?" said one of the
+men, turning to the minister.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Not any of the Bend families.  We had word this
+afternoon saying that they had retreated to the high
+land before the waters reached them.  God help the
+poor soul, whoever it is, for vain is the help of man!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Throughout the live-long night the cry went up at
+intervals, like that of the minute-gun of a distressed
+vessel.  Shortly before daybreak it ceased.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>No man or woman in the township slept that night.
+A strict watch was kept on the river, so as to be ready
+for any emergency.  The waters continued to advance,
+but at a much slower rate.  Men and women cudgelled
+their brains to individualise the wailing cry.  Most were
+agreed that it was a woman's cry, though some held it
+to be that of a child.  Sometimes the voice was ghoulish,
+and made the flesh to creep and the heart to flutter.
+Then an intensely human note would prevail, full of
+anguish and terror, and women wept and stopped their
+ears, while strong men choked in the throat.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They would go out at intervals and send back a
+heartening cry; it was all that could be done.  There
+were many others throughout that fearful night who
+were engulfed in the flood, in various parts of the river,
+and, swan-like, wailed their death-song in the wild waste.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Shortly after midnight the rain ceased, and the wind,
+which had been chopping and changing for the past few
+hours, settled finally in the west.  This proved a
+conspicuous advantage.  It no longer checked the
+flood-waters as when in the east, and there was now good
+hope that they would recede ere long, as the rise was
+almost imperceptible.</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 61%" id="figure-65">
+<span id="suddenly-the-forest-monarch-topples-lurches-staggers-and-falls-with-a-mighty-crash"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with mighty crash.&quot;" src="images/img-032.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with mighty crash."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id1">43</a><span class="italics">.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When day had dawned a wild, weird scene was revealed.
+The town had become an island.  On all sides the
+flood-waters stretched out, covering gardens and farms, and
+completely blotting out the fair landscape.  On the
+riverside the turgid stream tore along in its hurry, bearing
+on its dirty, foam-crested bosom, as its spoils, the
+household gods, farm stock, and produce of many a settler.
+Horses, cattle, pigs, goats, dogs, fowls: these, swept off
+by the encroaching waters, and carried over fences into
+the stream, struggled, vainly for the most part, in the
+rapid, death-dealing current.  Haystacks, barns,
+wood-frame buildings intact, floated in the torrential waters,
+sooner or later crashing into the great trees that bore
+down-stream, making utter shipwreck.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="on-the-face-of-the-waters"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER VI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">"The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
+the floods have lifted up their
+voice; the floods lift up their waves."—Ps. xciii. 3.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Where's the dad, girls?" shouted Joe Blain early in the
+morning, after the events recorded in the previous chapter,
+dashing into the room as he yelled.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here!" came a voice from the back verandah.
+Running to the spot indicated by the monosyllable,
+the lad in breathless accents delivered himself to his
+paternal relative in this fashion—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Please, dad, can Tom, Billy, Jimmy, and I have the
+boat to paddle out on the back-water?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Um—er—well, as long as you keep in the slack
+water I suppose you may; but be very careful, my boy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, dad; we'll be careful enough.  It's all slack
+water you know, 'cept where the river water comes in;
+but that's a long way up, an' we'll be paddlin' mostly
+about this end of the slack."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>An explanation is needed here in order that the reader
+may intelligently follow the course of events (some of
+them dramatic enough, and even tragic) which transpired
+in the course of this eventful cruise.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It has already been stated that the flood waters so
+surrounded Tareela as to convert the township into an
+island.  It was so practically.  Accurately speaking it
+formed a peninsula, with the narrowest of necks.  On
+the river side there was a broad expanse of boiling,
+foaming, hurrying waters, narrowing here and there,
+where the banks rose above their usual height, but
+stretching far and wide where the river-flats intervened;
+sometimes touching the horizon, as it were.  On the other
+side lay a body of water, as far removed from motion as
+the tumultuous stream was instinct with it.  There it
+lay, a wide extent of placid, coffee-coloured water, broken
+at its surface by fence tops, belts of trees, and partially
+submerged houses.  This great stretch was almost currentless,
+and the débris that floated on its bosom appeared
+stationary; though, as a matter of fact, there was a
+slight outward drift.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The secret of its placidity lay in the fact that the
+river waters, when they reached a certain height, backed
+up a blind gully that ran almost parallel with the stream
+for some distance, then swerved from the river, and
+widened out till it became a depression of considerable
+magnitude.  This, in turn, merged into a swamp,
+contiguous to the township on its western side.  Low-lying
+and occupied lands surrounded the swamp for some
+distance.  The town end of these flats, which the river
+water backing up through the gully had submerged,
+making a long reach of stagnant waters, formed the area
+of the boys' row.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The minister's boat was a light yet staunchly built
+vessel, and belonged to the skiff variety.  Her capabilities
+were to be put to the utmost test.  Several of the town
+boats were moving on the face of the still waters, their
+occupants busily engaged in capturing the flotsam.  The
+owners of houses, in particular, were anxiously conning
+their submerged property, or gathering together floating
+domestic articles.  In this way a good deal of house
+property was recovered.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys found enjoyment in the novelty of the cruise.
+They pulled two oars, taking turns at the rowing.  Of the
+non-rowers, one acted as steersman and the other as
+bowman for the capture of the flood spoils.  Several
+melons and pumpkins were picked up, but they were not
+troubling about these.  For one reason, they did not want
+to be encumbered with spoil of that kind, and for another
+they were keen on pulling about the flooded houses.
+Their chief and most interesting rescue was a cat and
+two kittens, which had found an ark of refuge on a barn
+door.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, boys, we'll have a go at these oranges," said Joe,
+who was steering, as they were passing a small orangery
+which was half submerged.  This proposal received hearty
+and unanimous assent.  Accordingly Joe selected the
+most promising tree, and deftly ran alongside its outer
+branches.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look out for snakes!" cried he.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was abundant cause for warning, for each tree
+contained a number of serpents, some of which are very
+deadly.  These reptiles were flooded out of their holes in
+the ground, and from hollow logs and stumps, and made
+for the trees or any floating timber that offered refuge.
+Fortunately the snakes were more or less benumbed with
+the cold, consequently they were the reverse of lively.
+Had it been otherwise, to have made fast to the tree
+would have been foolhardy to a degree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Agreeably to Joe's warning, every eye was skinned and
+on the look out.  Indeed, the tree was fairly swarming
+with snakes of many sorts and sizes; though for the most
+part they consisted of "tree" and "carpet" varieties;
+one of the latter, lying across the top, being fully ten feet
+in length.  These two mentioned varieties are not venomous.
+The farmers, for the most part, look with a friendly
+eye upon the carpet species; so called by reason of its
+tawny and black markings.  The carpet snake in summer
+time is the best of all mousers and ratters.  It winds its
+sinuous way into places impossible to even puss or terrier;
+and is always a welcome visitor to settlers' barns.  There
+it becomes a pet, and will live on terms of friendship with
+its primal foe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There were snakes of a very different order in the
+orange tree.  Among them the "tiger," most aggressive
+and poisonous of all the genus.  There were also specimens
+of the black and the brown snakes.  All these are cobras,
+and therefore very deadly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The snakes, as related, were all more or less torpid
+with cold, and not pugnaciously inclined.  The boys,
+however, were very careful not to disturb them.  There
+was plenty of golden fruit upon the tree, and it was
+in prime condition.  The fruit was neatly cut off the
+stems by strokes of the paddle blade.  When a sufficient
+quantity was thus plucked, and lay bobbing in the water,
+they were poked out from the tree by the same means,
+and secured.  The boat lay off a little distance from
+the tree while the crew indulged in a feed of the
+luscious fruit.  A visit was then paid to a plantain
+grove, and a quantity, both of green and ripe fruit, was
+secured.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where away now, Joe?" said Tom Hawkins, who was
+crouched in the bow.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I vote," replied the one addressed, who in this, as in
+everything else, was leader of the band,—"I vote we
+pull up opposite Commodore Hill and have a look at the
+river."  The boy forgot for the moment the promise made
+to his father to keep mainly about the town end of the
+back-water.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Commodore Hill was well up the river, and on the other
+side.  The flooded gully by which the water obtained
+entrance, it has been explained, ran parallel with the
+river for some distance; in some places being not more
+than a few yards therefrom.  The boys were curious to
+see the river stretch above the Bend; also to note the
+numbers of flooded-out settlers who might be camped in
+that vicinity.  Accordingly the boat's bow is turned, and
+her course shaped in that direction.  By this time the
+river had fallen several feet, and, as a consequence, there
+was an outward drift of the slack waters, making a gentle
+current.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Member, Joe, what your dad said about takin' the
+boat into the stream."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Think I've forgot, stupid!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thought I'd remind you, anyhow," replied the
+bowman.  As a matter of fact, Tom had an uneasy feeling
+that his mate would not be content when they got to
+the mouth to remain there without having a dash at the
+stream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Listen to me; I ain't goin' to run any risks.  We
+won't go to the mouth entrance.  What we'll do is this:
+work up to the swamp end, have a look round, and come
+back again."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>With this defined object in view the boat continued
+its voyage, helped by the current, which, the farther
+up they proceeded, became stronger, as was to be
+expected.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But one thing had happened of which the boys were
+in entire ignorance.  And this particular happening was
+to produce startling and unexpected effects.  At a certain
+spot in the gully, and at a point where it began to
+deviate from the general stream, there was a branch
+gully, which bore inwards to within a few yards of the
+river's brink.  When the water was at its highest in
+the river, that in the lagoon was much higher at this
+point, inasmuch as the back-water was at the same
+level as at the entrance, some two miles higher up;
+the difference in height being the river's fall in that
+distance.  Roughly speaking, the water there was about
+ten feet higher than that in the river.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The rush of the stream on the river side had caused
+the bank to give way about this point during the night,
+and the lagoon, or back-waters, forced themselves into
+the river through the new channel, which widened
+considerably as a consequence.  On nearing this place the
+boys became conscious of a quickening of the current.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My golly, Joe! this big current," said Yellow Billy,
+who, with Jimmy, was at the oars.  "Must be goin' twenty
+mile."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Twenty mile! you goose.  We're goin' six or seven
+and that's mighty fast."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Joe," called Jimmy a second later, the boys
+having ceased rowing, for there was no further need,
+"bes' run her ashore, or we'll be carried out.  By gosh,
+she's tearing away!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, mates, keep cool.  There's the old mahogany
+ahead, we'll tie up there; we'll be there in a minute."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yes, the boys would need all their coolness, for Joe
+was reckoning without up-to-date knowledge, and that
+made all the difference in the world.  Rounding a clump
+of trees at this moment, or ever they were aware the
+boat fairly sucked into the channel of furiously rushing
+and tumultuously heaping waters that were finding their
+level by the newly made short-cut.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh! oh!  I—I say!" shouted Tom.  "We're being
+swept into the river!  Back water!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, quicker than the others, had hit the situation,
+and turned the boat's nose to a clump of bushes, but
+before the rowers could pick up their oars to help him
+the boat had swept past.  Tom, it is true, made a frantic
+grasp at the bough, but the way on the boat was so strong
+that the branch, when the full force of the current bore
+on her at her momentary check, snapped like a pipe-stem,
+and the little craft was fair in the turgid stream, which
+had now the velocity of a water-race.  The incident of
+the half-arrest, however, had turned her head up-stream,
+which was a providential thing.  The river break-away
+was at most three hundred yards away.  To turn the
+boat into the perpendicular sides of the channel was
+to court destruction; for, be it said, the maddened waters
+had excavated the banks until they rose sheer from the
+water's edge.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The necessities of the case came like an inspiration
+to Joe.  The boat was drifting, as we have said, stern
+first, the advantage of which will be seen.  Save Joe,
+whom the sense of responsibility braced to immediate
+action, the boys were speechless with consternation.
+One look at their blanched faces was sufficient.  They
+were certainly alive to the dangers of the situation.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pull, boys! pull with all your might!  We'll keep
+her head up.  This'll check her speed a bit.  It'll give
+her steerage way too, and save her gettin' broadside on."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pullers put every ounce of strength into their
+strokes, and this was very helpful.  The final rush into
+the cross-current was a most critical moment, and might
+easily have resulted in disaster.  This was averted only
+by Joe's coolness and dexterity.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oars out!" cried he as the boat swept into the angry
+and turbulent river.  Save for shipping some water, and
+drenching the crew with spray, the little craft weathered
+the river plunge.  An involuntary "Oh!" came from
+the boys as the boat shot the rapids and soused into
+the river.  Immediately she came under the influence
+of two currents; that going outward from the chute,
+and the swift down-river stream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This effect was to take them instantly well out
+toward the centre of the flood, with a strong drift which
+carried the boat into the vicinity of the Bend.  The
+river bend gave the current a direction which set across
+to the other side.  This diagonal movement was accelerated
+by the chute waters, which retained their impetus,
+in a measure, for a considerable distance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Downward then, and cross-wise to the northern bank,
+the frail craft sped, the sport and play of the watery
+element.  Dangers stood, or rather, drifted thick around
+the adventurers.  Picture for a moment a tiny vessel,
+some fifteen feet over all, whose timbers are of the
+proverbial egg-shell thickness, shot into an angry, bubbling
+cauldron, whose tumultuous waters heaved and swirled,
+hissed and roared, in inarticulate sound and motion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>That, in itself, were an experience of sufficient
+magnitude to quicken the blood, test the nerves, and try the
+courage of the hardiest waterman.  Add to the perils
+of that situation a thousand floating dangers, any one of
+which might crush that tiny, drifting cockle-shell out of
+existence, and you have the position which faced and
+surrounded the affrighted lads on the demon-ridden waters.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-death-of-the-forest-monarch"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER VII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"There's the white-box and pine on the ridges afar,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>There's many another, but dearest to me,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And king of them all is the stringy-bark tree."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>HENRY LAWSON.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>As several years had intervened between the present and
+the last flood of considerable dimension, every creek, gully,
+and river-flat of the upper reaches were contributing
+their quota of fallen timber, which in the interval had
+encumbered the earth.  In addition, the flood-waters had
+torn many a giant eucalyptus, roots and all, from its
+earthhold, and had borne it on its heaving and rebellious
+bosom, a mere plaything of its vengeful humour.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Up to the present a monarch of the forest, whose
+rugged bole bears indubitable evidence of its antiquity,
+stands skywards with its head in the clouds.  The
+Philistines are upon it.  Its innumerable roots, lateral
+and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as
+it grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe.  But the
+earth, which for years innumerable has mothered the
+forest lord, furnishing his daily portion of meat and drink,
+nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth and
+height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in
+every tussle with wind and flood heretofore, now turns
+traitor.  The soil dissolves in the swirling waters as they
+ravish the earth.  Above and underneath the roots it
+melts, and is carried away in the thickening stream.  The
+hold of the old monarch is weakening.  His limbs are
+trembling.  His strong body, that has withstood the
+pressure of a thousand fights with the hereditary foe,
+vibrates and sways now, as his remorseless antagonist
+grips him in cruel embrace.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id1"><span>His old comrades higher up, who have fallen earlier in
+this battle of giants, come drifting along, battered and
+torn; veritable shipwrecks, dismantled and broken.  One
+floating leviathan, flood-driven, sweeps onward full upon
+his writhing form ... a violent shock and shudder that
+runs from root to topmost leaf ... a last wrestle, strong,
+heroic, and pitiful! ... Then, betrayed and spent,
+under the last straw, as it were, of the fateful impact of
+his wrecked mate—now converted into a battering-ram—the
+grand old hero-king yields.  His foe has sought and
+found, like one in the olden time, his vulnerability in his
+heel.  Overborne at last, but not yet broken, he shakes
+his lofty head in the quiver of mortal spasm.  Suddenly
+he topples, lurches, staggers, and falls with a mighty
+crash, which is, indeed, a resounding death-cry.  Striking
+the enemy with a last, concentrated, savage blow, he
+splits her bosom, and sends great spurts of her muddy
+blood, spray-like, a hundred feet in air.  But the wound
+heals as speedily as delivered, and from thence he passes
+quickly, in company with his defeated brothers, an inert
+mass of strewn wreckage, to form, farther down upon the
+skurrying waters, a floating barricade of death-dealing
+timbers.  And so on and on, till the blue sea is reached,
+where it is heaved to and fro, a rudderless hulk upon the
+bosom of the ocean; until it is stranded at last as flotsam
+and jetsam upon the beach.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>By skilful manipulation of oars and rudder the boys
+managed to evade the timber masses.  The numerous
+whirlpools constituted a great danger.  Once or twice
+they were almost sucked under as they circled in a
+vortex.  Their position was extremely perilous.  The
+greatest danger lay from contact with the isolated logs
+and tree-trunks that sped down with great velocity,
+appearing and disappearing in the vicious eddies, rotating
+with the swirling stream, and popping up porpoise-like in
+unexpected quarters.  On one occasion, in dodging a mass
+of driftwood, they ran right on to a big tree.  Fortunately
+the tree was sinking at the time of impact under the
+influence of an under-current, and, at Joe's sharp
+command, the rowers rushed the boat across the submerged
+tree-bole.  Scarcely had they crossed the line ere the
+submarine monster rolled upward, till at least half its
+length was out of the water.  It was a narrow squeak.
+To have been caught on its rising movement would have
+meant utter shipwreck.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It has been stated that owing to the river bend, and
+from other causes, the current set diagonally across to the
+other side.  Drawing thus towards the farther shore, the
+boat's crew neared a timbered point, below which the
+water expanded over the low-lying country for miles.
+So far only the thickly fringed timber belts could be
+seen.  It was questionable if they could find any dry
+earth.  In all likelihood, however, even should there not
+be any landing-place, they would find protection from the
+current behind the thick wood.  As they got close in to
+the scrubby portion the boys saw, to their great
+disappointment, that the land was still submerged.  They
+had hoped to find a patch of earth.  All they can do now
+is to shelter behind the timber.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pull, boys, pull hard!" cried Joe, the while he turned
+the boat's nose towards a rear clump.  His quick eye
+discerned an eddy formed by a point higher up.  Rowing
+into this, the boat was eased in its downward track, and
+after getting well in behind the clump they were able
+to make headway against the stream, finally fastening to
+a big she-oak almost in still water.  Here they were
+out of the tract of the current and the perils of the
+driftwood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>What a relief to the half-dazed and frightened boys!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Captain Joe, be it said, though fearful enough while in
+the roaring waters, kept all his wits about him.  Often as
+his heart jumped into his mouth he as quickly swallowed
+it again.  More than once his resourcefulness saved the
+boat from certain disaster.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thank God!" exclaimed he, as Tom tied the painter
+to a strong limb, and the boat rode easy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It was a touch and go, lads.  Don't cry, Jimmy!" as
+that lad, yielding to a feeling of reaction, burst into tears.
+Tom was not much better, and furtively wiped his eyes
+under the pretence of blowing his nose.  In a few minutes
+the boys were themselves again.  The roar and rush of
+the waters filled their oars and souls as they lay at anchor.
+So deafening were the sounds that it was only by shouting
+they could hear one another.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Stretching inland, and reaching to the distant hills,
+nothing was to be seen but a waste of waters, with here
+and there a bushy hillock, a miniature island.  What
+remained of the settlers' houses looked like so many
+Noah's arks.  Moving figures could be seen on one which
+lay a long way off.  They were the unfortunate owners,
+who, by delaying their retreat until too late, were driven
+on to the very ridge pole for safety.  Fortunately they
+were in still water; so at least it seemed from the
+distance; consequently their position was not alarming.
+Tree marks showed the river to be falling at a fairly rapid
+rate.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now then, boys, let's hold a council of war!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wot's that, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's what they say in soldiering when the generals get
+into a fix," chipped in Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, gollies! let us get home as quick as possible.  If we
+don't they'll think we're drownded an'——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look here, Jimmy, stow that rot!  If we start talking
+in that fashion, we'll get unnerved.  Billy, you first!  Tell
+us what you think about the situation."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Long's we're here we're safe.  There's a 'possum
+in the spout above us.  I'll climb up and get 'im for tucka."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We can't cook 'possum in the boat, Billy.  No dry
+wood; no matches.  You're right enough about safety,
+though.  These trees have borne the brunt of the flood
+stream at its highest, and things are getting easier.
+Jimmy, what do you think of it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I—I—I dunno.  Oh, my poor m-other!" cried Jimmy,
+whose emotions again overpowered him.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Didn't I tell you to stow that water-cart business?
+Dry up, or I'll jolly well tan your hide for you, you soft
+milksop!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe's severity was partly assumed.  He was fighting
+himself about home thoughts.  He knew the folly of
+giving way at this crisis to such a natural sentiment.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You, Tom!  You've a notion, I'm sure," said Joe to his
+chum.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My opinion, chaps, is that we ought to be very thankful
+for bein' where we are, an' stay here a bit anyways.
+It'd be madness to attempt to recross the river.  What's
+to prevent us pullin' over there?" pointing to a hillock
+nearly a mile away inland.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tom's right, boys.  We must make up our minds,
+hard as it is, to camp on this side to-day.  It'd be easy
+enough to do as Tom says, row over to that island.
+Supposin', though, the water went down a lot during the
+night; we might have to drag the boat over a lot of mud
+to get to the river-bank to-morrow.  Bes' stay where
+we——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"S-s-h!  Listen a moment, Joe," interjected Tom from
+the bow of the boat.  "What noise's that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't hear anythin' 'cept the river.  What sort o'
+noise, Tom?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I heered it, Joe," said Yellow Billy.  "Bear cryin',
+I bin thinkin'.  Heer it now."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>All the boys could hear the sounds now, faint enough,
+yet distinct above the flood roar.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bear, I 'speck!  Have a good look round, boys."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>All eyes were bent in the direction of the sound.  They
+scanned the trees for that strange, pouch-bearing—half
+bear, half sloth—animal called the native bear.  Strictly
+speaking, it is neither bear nor sloth, being a perfectly
+harmless, tailless marsupial of the koala genus.  Its cry
+is intensely, and often pathetically, human.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For some time the search was unrewarded; while ever
+and anon a cry, strangely like an infant's wail, came to
+the ears of the searchers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"P'r'aps, after all, it's only the wind in the river oaks;
+or is it a——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look, boys!  look, look!" cried Tom excitedly.  "What's
+that over at the edge of the timber, up there in a fork?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whereaway, Tom?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See the clump beyond the back-water, out in the
+stream?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"M—y-e-s, I see.  Why, yes, my word!  I do believe
+it's a——"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="what-the-tree-held"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER VIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">WHAT THE TREE HELD</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Thereafter grew the wind; and chafing deaths</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>In distant waters, sent a troubled cry</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Across the slumbrous forest; and the chill</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Of coming rain was on the sleeper's brow."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>HENRY KENDALL.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"James!" exclaimed Mrs. Blain to her husband during
+this eventful morning, "it's dinner-time and those lads
+are not back.  I hope nothing has happened."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What do you expect could have happened, you dear
+old fidget?  I'm going to the post, however, and I'll have a
+look round."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Could Mr. Blain have beheld the lads at this particular
+time, the calm of his deep nature would have been broken
+up in a fashion rare to his experience; for at this moment
+the boat and its occupants are being borne on the rapids,
+presently to be flung upon the riotous and foam-crested
+waves of the river.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In moving along the street the minister met several
+persons who had been out on the back-water during the
+morning.  All had seen the boys at one time or another.
+One of the latest in, who had been farther up than most
+of the others, had passed the boys on his return not long
+before.  They were then heading up the swamp way.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't fear, Mr. Blain, the boys know how to take
+care of themselves.  Dinner's calling 'em loudly enough
+by this time, I wager ye."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Dinner-time came and went, but no boys.  As the
+afternoon wore on the mother's fears deepened until they
+became well-nigh unendurable.  The minister, rowed by two
+of the neighbours, set out to find the truants and fetch
+them back.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't lose faith, dear!  They're up to some prank,
+the thoughtless scamps!  I'll fetch them home none the
+worse, to laugh at your fears."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Following Tom's index-finger, the boys fastened their
+eyes upon a clump of river oaks that stood on the edge
+of the woods.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>High up in a fork of one of the largest trees, they
+could see what looked at first like a huge bundle of
+clothes fluttering in the wind.  After a short while the
+bundle seemed to take a somewhat definite shape.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What in the name of goodness is it all?  Seems like
+a lot of old clothes jammed in the tree forks.  Are you
+sure that the squall, or squeak, or squeal, or whatever it
+was, came from that direction?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, I think so," replied Tom.  "Listen, there it's
+again!"  A thin, treble cry rose faintly above the din of
+the flood waters.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See a woman's foot!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The speaker was the half-caste, whose eyesight, owing
+to his half-wild nature, was much keener than his fellows'.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A woman's foot, Billy!  What do you mean?  You
+don't mean to say really, that——!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See hand too!  Look along bark.  See fingers!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Thus directed, the three boys looked, and saw, though
+but indistinctly, what appeared to be a hand grasping
+the tree-trunk, a foot, also, was revealed at intervals by
+the fluttering garment.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After a short, staring silence, a flood of mental light
+broke upon Joe.  "I see now.  Why, it's the poor soul we
+heard cooeeing last night!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yes, there had been plenty of speculation in the village
+as to who it could be, and exactly where the voice came
+from.  None of those who heard the piteous wail that was
+borne across the floods in the black and wild darkness of
+that night would forget it for many a long day to come.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The mystery is now solved.  The boys are horror-stricken
+at the sight and its sequent thought.  They are now
+convinced that a woman is fixed in the tree.  Without
+reasoning the matter out, they identify her as the one
+whose cry over night produced such a sensation in the
+township, and to locate which the police boat with a strong
+crew had started out at daybreak, but without success.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">Is she alive or dead</em><span>?  The strange cry did not
+seem to be that of a woman.  There was something so
+eerie, so shocking in the thought, that the lads were
+fear-possessed for some moments.  Joe, as usual, recovered
+himself first.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a woman sure enough!  It's a human being, at
+any rate.  An', boys, we've got to rescue her if she is alive.
+The cry can only come from her, I'm sure, so that there
+must be some life left still.  How to do it I can't just
+see at this moment.  We must think a bit."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Think a bit they did.  Camped as they were at the
+lower end of the timber, it would be a matter of
+comparative ease to work up through the trees in the slack
+water, till they arrived opposite to the clump that stood
+out in the stream.  There the real difficulties would
+begin.  The rush of waters was still so strong, and the
+space for the play of the boat so small, that it became
+evident the rescue would be accompanied by some
+alarming risks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>One of two things must be done: either wait until the
+waters receded sufficiently to enable the rescuers to wade
+to the clump, or make an immediate dash.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How long d'you think it'd be before we could wade
+across, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dunno, Billy.  Beckon there's eight or nine foot of
+water out there.  Might be less.  At any rate it'd be
+hours."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hours!" cried Tom.  "An' s'posin' that poor creature's
+still alive?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That settles it!" exclaimed Joe, rising in his seat in
+excitement.  "Boys, what's to be done must be done
+quickly."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Seemingly all were agreed.  At least no objection was
+offered to this proposal, or, rather, mandate.  So it was
+resolved, after some cogitation, to pull the boat through
+the timber to a point some distance higher up than the
+isolated clump.  From thence the course would be
+outwards until the river current was met; an estimated
+distance of a hundred yards.  The boat was to be headed
+against the current when in the stream influence.  A
+vigorous row would be necessary to neutralise the current,
+to be modified so as to allow the craft to drift slowly
+down-stream.  Then, when opposite the clump, a dash for
+the tree whereon the unfortunate woman was lying was
+to be made.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Inasmuch as this tree was almost in the centre of the
+group, and the stream still ran with violence, it was easy
+to see that without skilful management, and some luck,
+the boat might be stove in against a tree-bole; or, worse
+still, might be impaled upon a submerged snag.  Any
+accident, such as missing way at a critical moment, or the
+snapping of an oar blade, might be fraught with the most
+disastrous consequences.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>During the short conference Jimmy Flynn had kept
+silence.  Towards the end, as Joe set forth the attendant
+dangers, he became considerably perturbed.  After sundry
+wrigglings and contortions, rubbing of hands and licking
+of lips, these visual twistings found voice.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Joe! don't—er—yer think that—er—we'd better
+wait a bit?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why?" chorused the boys.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh—I—I dunno.  Well—er—p'raps some other boat'll
+come over from the township d'reckly an'—an'——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"And s'pose no boat comes along?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, then, I—I—er—vote—that we—er——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By jing!  Jimmy," interposed Tom, with a jeer,
+"who'd 'a' thought you'd 'a' showed the white feather!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"White feather yourself, Hawkins!" returned the
+fearful but now angry boy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jimmy!" broke in Yellow Billy unexpectedly, for as
+a rule the half-caste was taciturn—the taciturnity of
+modesty in his case.  Billy, while carrying some of the
+defects of aboriginal descent, was a kind-hearted and
+easily contented lad.  "Jimmy!" said he, in a soft, quiet
+tone, "s'pose your mother was over there?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Jimmy Flynn, who was sitting with a sullen, hang-dog
+expression, quivered as though he had received an
+electric shock.  There was within him a consciousness of
+the truth of Tom's term.  He was a coward, and the very
+notion of it angered him, and at the same time made him
+resentful.  He shrank from the undertaking.  None of
+the boys were in love with it, for that matter.  Jimmy
+only, among the four, allowed his fear to overmaster him.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These few words of Billy, uttered in a quiet, even tone,
+went straight to the boy's heart.  His sullen brows lifted.
+The angry resentment which had disfigured his face
+vanished.  Straightening his bent figure, he seized the
+oar lying by his side.  Then, squaring his shoulders, as he
+inclined forward to grip the water, he said quietly, "Let
+her go."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Immediately on releasing the boat Joe steered her in a
+semicircular course, keeping out back where the standing
+timber was thinnest.  The boys pulled slowly, for there
+was always the danger of snags.  They were in fairly
+slack water, and so had no need to exert themselves;
+besides which, it were wise to husband their strength for
+the supreme moment.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom and Jimmy, both expert oarsmen, were the rowers.
+Yellow Billy was stationed in the bow, with instructions
+to keep a keen look out for snags.  He was armed with
+a stout pole in order that he might fend the boat on any
+critical occasion, or when the rudder might be inoperative.
+It formed a very useful instrument in Billy's practised
+hands, and enabled him to ward off the craft from many
+dangers that did not appear until the boat was almost
+upon them.  As it was there were several ominous
+scrapes, as the boat rasped over submerged branches.
+Fortunately they reached the point determined upon
+without any accident.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They paused here a moment before leaving the slack
+water for the swiftly running stream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys," said Joe, after a brief survey, "sit steady,
+and pull for all you're worth.  Mind you, no flurry.
+Keep an even stroke.  Got the painter coiled, Billy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pull then, boys, and stick to it like grim death to a
+diseased nigger."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boat having got good way on, Joe headed her
+out a little, when she immediately encountered the
+current.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Lay to it, my lads, lay to it!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys "lay to" with such vigour that the rapid
+current was counterbalanced, and she hung in the stream,
+neither making headway nor drifting.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Easy a little, my hearties!  We must let her drift
+down gradually.  Mustn't let her get out of hand,
+though."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In swinging the boat into the channel Joe kept her
+nose up-stream, and as near the slack water as possible.
+The boys easing a trifle at Joe's command, the current
+became the stronger of the two forces, and the little craft
+drifted slowly.  Blain eagerly scanned the clump for an
+opening.  This cluster, it may be remarked, was about
+two hundred yards long and fifty or so wide.  In some
+parts the timber was thickly scattered, in others the trees
+were bunched together.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boat is now about fifty yards above the tree
+containing the supposed woman.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's right, chaps, keep up as you're doin'!  We
+must drift very slowly lest we miss the chance of popping
+in.  It's too thick to venture in here.  It's thinnin' out,
+though," exclaimed Joe, as the boat neared the point
+abreast the tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here's an opening, I do believe.  Be ready, Billy!
+Pull, lads! pull, pull!  Look out all!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boat lay anglewise, so that the current worked
+upon her quarter.  Seeing a fair opening, Joe urged the
+rowers to do their utmost.  So hard did they pull that
+the current, playing upon her quarter as she hung a few
+minutes stationary, forced her through the gap and
+towards the tree.  The manoeuvre was splendidly executed.
+The boat was now within five yards or so of the tree, the
+boys putting every ounce of strength into their strokes.
+A minute or less now and they will either be fast to the
+tree or drifting down on to a solid block of timber just
+below.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yellow Billy, who had crouched in the bow, now rose
+up quietly, rope in hand, ready to act promptly in the
+decisive moment.  By good fortune a limb projected
+about five feet above the water, and branched out some
+distance from the tree.  Joe worked the boat straight
+up-stream, and then called on the rowers to ease the
+barest trifle.  The craft swung very slowly down, until
+she was fairly under the limb.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sling the painter over the branch an' make fast,
+Billy!" cried Joe, as the stern drifted under.  "Pull now,
+you beggars, a last spurt!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Billy whipped the rope round the limb, and made fast
+in a flash; the rowers, by a few desperate strokes, keeping
+the boat stationary.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hold her there a second.  Let the loop lie loose an'
+edge it to the trunk, Billy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe thus worked the boat over until she was just at the
+rear of the tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ease her off gently now, boys.  Steady still!  A
+wrench might snap the painter."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys accordingly eased off gradually, and finally
+stopped.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Two of you come aft, it'll ease the strain."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This done, the boat, which by burying her nose deep in
+the water was straining heavily on the rope, trimmed
+herself, and offered but the minimum resistance to the
+racing waters.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The tree-bole, which presented a somewhat broad
+surface, divided the waters, creating a narrow zone of
+neutral water in its wake.  In this eddying area the boat
+rode securely, making it an easy matter for the bowman
+to keep her nose up against the tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now each boy bent an upward glance to the fork.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-rescue"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER IX</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE RESCUE</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Death closes all: but something ere the end,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Some work of noble note, may yet be done,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>TENNYSON'S </span><em class="italics">Ulysses</em><span>.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Fortunately the she-oak was one of the largest of its
+kind, and forked out into four branches twenty feet or so
+from the ground.  This formed a rough cage, in which
+one could be held very securely if not comfortably.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In this fork, partially covered with a blanket, was
+huddled the form of a human creature, presumably a
+woman; one hand stretched along the trunk as in
+a painful grip, the legs hanging loosely.  There was no
+movement of limb or body.  What if she were dead?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A sudden chill accompanied this thought.  The situation
+was decidedly uncanny, and bred awesome, not to
+say fearsome, feelings.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Four boys in a boat!  Out on the flood-wastes, and in
+a particularly perilous position!  The insistent noises of
+the rushing tide; the hollow moan of the wind in the
+foliage of the she-oaks; shut out from all help; missed
+now at home, and </span><em class="italics">that thing above</em><span>!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>All these combined to create a creeping chill in each
+boy, which in a manner half-paralysed them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, as usual, recovered more quickly than the others.
+Gazing at the object above awhile, and then examining
+the trunk of the tree with his eyes, he broke the spell of
+silence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Take my place, Tom.  Some un's got to go at once to
+that poor soul aloft.  Pray God we're in time to save her.
+Keep her up tight against the trunk, Jimmy, an' I'll
+swing on to the limb."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Suiting his action to the word, Joe clambered on to the
+limb, and from thence proceeded to climb the tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The woman was fixed at the junction of the forks, and
+her feet and legs hung loosely down on each side of a
+minor fork.  One arm, as before described, was wound
+round the main limb, while the other firmly grasped her
+breast.  Her head was supported in the V of a branch.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On mounting to the spot, Joe raised himself higher by
+grasping two of the tree-forks, and, twisting his legs
+round the trunk, steadied himself while he gazed into the
+face of the dead.  It was the first time in his life that he
+had looked upon death.  The set expression that met his
+gaze, so full of anguish, so pitifully pleading, fairly
+shocked him out of his self-possession.  Little wonder at
+his turning sick and faint.  He clutched the branch
+frantically as he swayed a moment, and beads of cold
+sweat stood thick upon his forehead.  Indeed, so near
+fainting was he that his sight began to fade, and the
+whole world receded from him.  Strange noises buzzed in
+his ears.  Bringing all the reserve forces of his will to the
+front, he was beginning to gain the ascendency over his
+weakness, when a strange cry startled him into full
+consciousness.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why! she's not dead after all, thank God!"  The
+thought of life made all the difference to Joe.  In a
+moment his vision is as clear as ever, and his spirits rise
+high at the sounds of life.  "Yes, see!" whispered the
+lad, "there's a movement of the breast.  Hurrah, boys!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>cried he to his comrades, looking down and waving with
+one hand at the same time.  "She's not dead after all!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys at this set up a hearty shout indicative of
+their relief and joy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh yes!" he muttered reassuringly to himself as he
+took the second look, "the poor creature's alive.  Her
+eyes are half open.  Her chest is heaving.  Wake up,
+ma'am!  Rescue is at hand.  Me an' the boys in the
+boat below are goin' to take you down an' row you across
+to the township."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The woman made no response to this appeal and plan
+of salvation.  "Is she really alive?"  The eyes are half
+closed and seemingly peering; the form is rigid, the face
+immobile.  There was naught of that expression in this
+countenance that Joe, from hearsay, was wont to associate
+with death—the peace that passeth understanding.  Yet
+as the lad gazed at this apparently inanimate object there
+was a movement of the body.  The blanket, bunched into
+many folds across the breast, stirred visibly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Again that eerie, inarticulate cry!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Disengaging one hand from the tree, the boy stretched
+it forth to the woman's breast, which, covered as it was
+with the clothes, had all the seeming of life and
+movement.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe was in the very act of removing a fold of the
+blanket, when suddenly, and without the slightest warning,
+there rose up into the lad's face an angry, hissing,
+venomous snake, the deadliest of its kind.  Its beady
+eyes glittered; its forked tongue shot in and out with
+inconceivable rapidity; its sibilant hiss was accompanied
+with a musky odour, sickening in the extreme; its head
+and body for half its length were erect, and bent forward
+from the neck, vibrating and swaying in a rhythmic
+movement.  The reptile was within striking distance.  In
+another second that almost invisible death-stroke will be
+dealt; invisible, that is, by reason of its lightning-like
+speed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But this deadly intention is defeated by an involuntary
+movement on Joe's part.  This young man, for the
+briefest of brief moments, clung to the tree with a rigid
+grasp; eyes staring in amazement and terror, with mouth
+wide open in automatic gape.  Any attempt to defend
+himself were useless in the most absolute sense of that
+term.  In another tick, before he can move a hand, these
+poison fangs will be deep buried in his horror-stricken
+face, so temptingly near.  The only hope for the lad lay
+in doing a disappearing trick.  And this happened.  Had
+it been premeditated, however swiftly, the time taken to
+make up his mind, and to telegraph the resolution formed
+in the brain to the nerve cells and muscles, would have
+been sufficient for the lightning stroke to fall.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>What really happened was this: the apparition of the
+red-bellied, black snake simply petrified Joe.  An awful,
+blood-curdling, hair-raising, galvanic shock of abject
+terror, contradictory as it may seem, paralysed the lad.
+Simultaneously with that he is falling through space, an
+inert mass, to be soused into the water with a splash that
+sent the spray flying over the boat's crew.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At the moment of the splash, Joe's mind, will, and
+nerve were restored to their normal activity.  The
+instinct of self-preservation, so strong in all healthy
+natures, especially boys', did for the lad in an infinitesimal
+fraction of time as much and as effectively as though he
+had taken, say, half an hour to plan his procedure.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He had, however, in escaping Scylla fallen into
+Charybdis.  As soon as Joe reached the water he made
+for the boat.  Fortunately he did not fall into it, or this
+story might never have been told.  He fell into the
+stream, some two or three yards away from the skiff.
+Quickly as he was carried down-stream he managed by
+violent efforts to reach the boat at the stern.  Tom
+clutched him frantically by the shirt collar, enabling the
+swimmer to get his hands on the gunwale.  Joe, thus
+helped, clambered into the boat or ever the boat's crew
+had recovered from their consternation.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, Moses!" exclaimed, or rather gasped, he,
+"that—was—a go.  Whew!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My goodness!  How'd yer come to fall kersplosh like
+that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why!" pointing up.  "See! there's the beast.  See
+him crawling out there?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys, looking up, descried the snake winding its
+sinuous way along a lateral bough that grew up above
+the forks.  The disturbed and excited snake, having
+reached the limb, wound its course till it reached a
+clump of bushy branches on the limb's extremity.  On
+this it coiled itself, save the head and neck, which stood
+erect in vigilant attitude.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, crikey! was that </span><em class="italics">there</em><span> on—in the body's—the
+woman's body?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, Jimmy; right in the blanket on her breast.
+'Twas that brute moving under the blanket that I thought
+was </span><em class="italics">her</em><span> breathing.  Oh, my!" again exclaimed the youth,
+with a shudder, as he thought of the imminence of the
+danger which confronted him a moment before.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Is—it—her—dead, Joe?" asked Tom after an interval
+of silence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No doubt of it, boys."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wonder if the snake bit her?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"May have.  Anyway the poor thing is dead all right."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's bes' thing to do now?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"W-e-ll, I d-o-n't know——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Again that shrill wailing cry!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"</span><em class="italics">Can't</em><span> be the woman!" said Joe excitedly.  "Why,
+she's as dead as a herrin'!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I have it, boys!" shouted Tom, as he jumped up
+excitedly and cut a caper.  "It's the darned ole cat!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A look of great relief passed over each countenance
+at the thought.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom, meanwhile, lifted up the locker lid, disclosing
+the rescued cat, which, together with her two bairns,
+were stowed in the locker shortly after being saved from
+the flood.  The animals were snuggled together on a
+cornsack, and looked the very picture of contentment.
+The kittens were dining baby fashion, and the mother's
+purr declared the very excess of maternal rapture.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On seeing the boys, pussy gave a low, affectionate
+miaow, and made a sympathetic movement of the tail,
+as if to say: "Thank you a thousand times, young
+gentlemen, for the good deed which we never, never
+shall forget."  And then, motherlike, proceeded to "lick"
+her offspring.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's not the cat, Tom."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, what on earth, water, or air is it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The mystery is insoluble.  As the boys look down
+upon the happy and contented felines, they one and all
+reject Tom's confident affirmation of a moment before.
+If not the cat, what then?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Again the tiny, shrill cry arose, but not from the cat's
+mouth.  It came from the tree above, and as the startled
+youths looked up they saw the overhanging end of the
+blanket agitated.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, why—the poor thing must really be alive after
+all, chaps.  There's something more up there than I've
+discovered; so here's up again!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Acting on this impulse, Joe again ascended the tree.
+Those below watched intently, their feelings strained to
+the utmost tension.  As soon as our hero got to his
+former position in the forks, he received another shock.
+It was sudden as the other, but not so disastrous.  An
+inarticulate and involuntary cry brought fresh alarm to
+his pals, who all the while were staring up, too frightened
+to ask any questions.  The boy, despite the second shock,
+still clung to the tree.  The woman was dead beyond all
+doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life.  A brief
+and astonished survey, and the boy leans over the limb
+and speaks quietly to those below—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The woman's dead, boys, but </span><em class="italics">there's a baby here</em><span>.  It's
+tied to her breast.  It's alive!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of
+the statement, the babe lifted up its voice once more
+in a feeble cry.  The scene in that tree Joe never will
+forget; the like he will not see again though he rival
+Methuselah in age.  The only thing he can yet see is a
+little hand and arm, which have wriggled from the
+covering.  Moving cautiously along the branch to the
+converging point, leaning on one fork, and placing his
+feet against another so as to stiffen himself, the boy was
+able to use his two hands.  He first, and not without an
+inward tremor, removed the dead hand which lay upon
+the blanket, the stiffened fingers still clutching the
+clothes and holding them to the breast.  The last thought
+and the last act of the exhausted and dying woman was
+to succour and to defend her little one.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Straightening the arm so that it lay by her side, Joe
+opened the blanket from where the little hand stuck
+up.  There, on the breast of the dead, she lay, a
+sweet-faced baby girl!  The little one's face was puckered up,
+'tis true, and there were tears upon her pale cheeks.
+The cries and tears were not the symbols of pain, they
+were those of hunger.  Joe could plainly see that all
+the mother's thoughts were for the child.  It was snugly
+folded in the blanket end; then tied to her waist by a
+handkerchief passed round the body.  The remainder of
+the blanket was then arranged so as to thoroughly
+protect the child from the inclement weather.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Untying the handkerchief, the lad folded it in a
+peculiar fashion like as he had seen the black gins do.
+Carefully lifting the babe, he laid it in the widest part,
+made it secure to the body under the arms, and placed it
+on his back, bringing the ends of the wrapper together.
+round his neck.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This done, he prepared for the descent.  It was easily
+accomplished, even with the incumbrance of the child.
+Landing safely in the boat, which was kept well up to
+the tree, Joe placed her in the stern on the locker seat,
+where the little one lay squirming and crying piteously.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The news of the baby variously affected the boys.
+Jimmy Flynn, whose baby sister had died a few
+months before, looked very tenderly upon this nameless
+waif.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Make a place on the floor for it, Joe," said he.  "It'll
+lie there more comfortably, an' it'll be more like a cradle."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The advice was good.  The coats, which the boys shed
+soon as they entered upon the expedition in the
+morning, made a soft bed for the little one.  The wee
+mite was evidently about nine months old.  For all its
+adventure and exposure it seemed to have suffered little,
+and now in its cry is only voicing the pleadings of its
+empty stomach.  It was adequately, though very plainly
+dressed, and through all the rain of the preceding night
+had kept dry.  Fortunately, too, the snake which had
+been curled up in one of the blanket folds had not come
+into actual contact with the child.  There were only two
+things required to bring it to a condition of happy
+contentment: nursing and feeding.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Capable as this quartet of Australian lads were in
+many ways, in this they were novices.  So it was with a
+look of ashamed helplessness that they gazed at the new
+passenger, as she lay in the bottom of the boat on her
+back, kicking her heels in the air at a great rate, and
+doubling her dimpled hands first into her eyes and then
+into her mouth.  The cry went forth without ceasing, its
+only variation being the peculiar noise caused by an
+intermittent sucking of her diminutive fists.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By a happy thought of Jimmy the hunger difficulty was
+overcome.  The boys had picked up a fine lot of oranges,
+as well as some dozens of plantains, in the back-water.
+After they had eaten a quantity they stowed the balance
+away in the bow locker, and completely forgot them in
+the exciting events which followed.  Jimmy suddenly
+remembered the fruit.  Selecting a fine specimen, he
+quickly peeled and quartered it.  Then, seeding some of
+the quarters, he put one in baby's fist, guiding the same
+to her mouth.  The sweet, juicy orange was simply
+nectar to the famished child.  It sucked as only a
+hunger-bitten baby can.  The boys were highly amused at the
+way in which she mouthed the skin, and the difficulty
+Jimmy encountered in unlocking her little fingers
+order to substitute a full for an empty quarter.  It
+indeed a happy solution; an admirable recipe for tears
+and squalls.  As long as baby had an orange quarter it
+was peaceful.  After a little while Jimmy took the little
+one on his knee, giving furtive glances towards the
+others as he did so.  The boys, however, under all
+the sad circumstances forebore to chaff.  Substituting,
+at length, a ripe plantain for an orange section, the
+babe was taken to the seventh heaven of gastronomic
+bliss.</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 61%" id="figure-66">
+<span id="the-neighbours-saw-far-out-on-the-wild-wreckage-strewn-waters-a-tiny-boat-with-four-slight-figures"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures.&quot;" src="images/img-064.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id2">69</a></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And the while above them in the she-oak, whose
+thread-like leaves make mournful music to the wind, lies
+the mother who has sacrificed her life for that of the babe.
+There is no doubt of this.  The poor woman must have
+been exposed to the winds and waves long before she
+reached the tree refuge.  How she got there was never
+known.  She had almost denuded herself to protect the
+babe.  Little wonder that at some moment of that awful
+night vigil the vital spark should have quitted its
+terror-haunted tenement.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-return"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER X</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE RETURN</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"See the conquering hero comes!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>After baby's hunger was satisfied the boys' attention was
+given to their immediate surroundings.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What are we goin' to do about </span><em class="italics">her</em><span>?" asked Tom,
+pointing upward as he spoke.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's simply impossible for us to do anything.  If she
+were alive we would take any risk.  But as things are it
+is beyond our power to shift the body, it is jammed so
+tightly.  The only thing left for us to do is to inform the
+police when we get to the other side."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What'll we do now, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Get back to our former anchorage first.  River's goin'
+down pretty fast, I reckon; and it'll be all dry about here
+before morning if it recedes at the same rate.  The current
+is not nearly so strong as it was when we came over, and
+that will make it easier for us to get out of the clump.
+There's no need for us to go back by the same course.
+We can take a slant across to that red gum, and when
+we're there we're out of the stream."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The exit from the cluster of trees was very well managed,
+and in a few minutes from the time of casting adrift from
+the she-oak the boat was out of the clump and across the
+narrow stream into the slack water.  They continued on
+to their former camping place, and hitched on to the tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This gallant attempt at rescue, though not
+accomplishing what was in the minds of the boys, was not
+altogether a failure.  Indeed, it was the reverse of that.
+Though but little time is consumed in reading the account
+of this episode, it covered a goodly portion of the day.  By
+the time the boys had made fast to their former anchorage,
+the slanting sun-rays proclaimed the advance of eventide.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Let's have a confab, chaps, on what's best to be done.
+I don't s'pose any of us is wanting to stick here all night.
+What d'you say, Tom?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say pull over to the hillock on the other side of the
+slack.  See! the water's retreated from the high ground.
+We could camp there, I dare say, easy enough, and get
+home early to-morrow morning.  I don't think we ought
+to tackle the river to-night.  I bet you it'd be a measly,
+tricky trip.  So I vote to do as I said."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What d'you say, Billy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say same as Tom.  Plenty dry land over there.
+Might get matches in that house behind the hill.  I'll pull
+'possum outa spout, an' we'll roast 'im an' make bully
+feed."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Billy, as indeed were all the boys, was beginning to feel
+desperately hungry.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What have you got to say, Jimmy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Jimmy Flynn, who had been gazing wistfully across
+the flood waters, turned round slowly as Joe put the
+question to him.  "Oh, Joe! can't we get home to-night?
+The river isn't so bad as when we crost up at the Bend.
+There's not nearly so much timber goin' down now.  'Sides,
+it's easier crossing down here to what it was above.  I
+give a straight vote for—home!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bravo!  Well done, Jimmy!  You're a brick.  It's
+just the word, an' we're the coves to do it.  It's my vote
+too, my hearties.  We've half an hour of sun left: say
+an hour before it's right dark.  I reckon 'twill be about
+two mile an' a half from here to Tareela.  It won't be
+near as difficult as up by the Bend.  Yes, we'll do it, boys;
+an' the sooner the better.  Then there's the blessed little
+baby, you know!  Some of us would have to mind her in
+the night, an' what about your beauty sleep then?  I
+reckon the kiddie would be too much for the whole boilin'
+of us.  And I've a notion that too much fruit'll be worse
+for her than none at all.  S'pose she gets the jim-jams!
+And, lastly, as father says when he's preaching, what
+about the old folks at home?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was no need to say anything further.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm game, for one," said Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm game, for two," said Billy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm game, for three," said Jimmy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Put me down for the fourth," said Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys, that's settled.  We'll tackle the river
+straight away; for better or for worse, as dad says in the
+marriage ceremony.  And I say, chaps, let's ask God to
+help us."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Though there was no audible form of expression, the
+spirit of prayer was in each boy's heart.  He who sat
+above the floods heard and answered.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Billy and Jimmy are to take the oars.  We want the
+best men at the paddles.  Now then, Tom, let the painter
+go an' keep the pole handy for driftwood."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The painter is slipped, and the boat's head is turned
+riverwards.  She is soon out of the slack, and feels the
+full force of the flood.  The starting-point was nearly a
+mile and a half above the township, so that there was a
+liberal margin for drift.  The river was quite a mile wide.
+There was still a quantity of driftwood, and many
+difficulties beset them which made delicate steering and
+skilful management incumbent.  When they had travelled
+about half the distance, Tom, who was eagerly conning the
+other shore, gave a shout, pointing at the same time to
+a headland above the village.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Some 'un's waving!  See 'em, over there!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mrs. Blain was the first to spy the advancing boat.
+The boys' mothers had been trapsing the lagoon shore and
+river-side for hours, in a semi-demented manner.  The
+minister and the others had returned after a fruitless
+errand.  The police, with a strong crew in the Government
+whale-boat, were scouring the shores in the vicinity of the
+Bend, and had not returned.  The disappearance of the
+boys had seemed most mysterious until the break-away
+was discovered.  Then the accident as it really happened
+was immediately conjectured.  The profoundest sensation
+was created in the village, for the boys were dearly loved
+by all.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The feelings of the poor parents may be but faintly
+imagined.  Great was the relief, therefore, when Mrs. Blain,
+whose eyes were devouring the flood waters in her
+frantic eagerness to discover some hopeful sign, suddenly
+screamed out in an alarming manner, gesticulating wildly
+as she did so, and acting to outward seeming in a frenzied
+fashion.  Other searchers, scattered along the river-bank,
+hearing the piercing cry, and seeing the untoward gestures
+of the joy-possessed woman, came running towards her,
+thinking for the moment that she had lost her reason.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See, see!" screamed she, pointing to a distant spot on
+the waters.  "They're saved, they're saved!  God be
+praised, our lovely boys are returning all safe; yes, one,
+two, three, four—the darlings."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id2"><span>Looking in the direction indicated, the neighbours saw,
+far out on the wild, impetuous, wreckage-strewn waters,
+a tiny boat with four slight figures running the blockade;
+threading their course between the thousand objects which
+intervene and threaten destruction.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The good news is now shouted from end to end of the
+township, and in a few minutes the river-bank is lined
+with exultant and yet anxious spectators.  For the joy of
+the discovery of the lads is almost quenched at times by
+sights of the perils of the passage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped
+together, wrought up to such a pitch of anxiety as to be
+well-nigh silent.  They noted every danger and counted
+every oar-stroke.  The gallant rowers lifted their blades
+in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing
+waters.  Beyond a landward look the boys had no time
+to bestow upon the excited spectators.  Eye and mind, in
+close conjunction, are continuously engaged in evading
+danger and maintaining the boat's position.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We'll make the point," exclaimed Joe, after an
+interval of silence.  "We'll make the point, all right.
+Keep her steady, lads," turning the boat's nose, as he
+spoke, well up stream, at an angle inclining shorewards.
+"Now, pull like a prize crew for five minutes an' we're
+there.  We're out of the driftwood as it is."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The rowers needed no further stimulus.  They bent to
+the oars like old salts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Capital! just the stroke!  Keep it up!  Hear 'em
+cheering!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The cheering spurred on the boys, and in less than five
+minutes they landed in the midst of a wildly excited and
+loud-cheering crowd.  And wasn't there a hugging and
+kissing, and hand-shaking and back-slapping!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just as the women were up to their necks in it, to use
+a homely figure, some one happened to glance at the boat.
+The glance extorted a scream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A baby, a darling baby!  See, see, see! a little baby
+in the boat!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A moment's dazed surprise, and every one crowded to
+the boat.  Joe, who had not moved far from the boat's
+nose, and who only waited for the violence of the
+welcome to abate a little that he might call attention to
+the precious freight, waved the jostling crowd back, and
+in a few words related the incident of the rescue.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A great wave of feeling passed over the crowd as he
+spoke.  The women wept copiously as the scene was
+conjured us, and strong men unconsciously shed briny
+tears as the story reached its culminating point of the
+discovery of the helpless and orphaned babe, bound to
+the dead breast of her who had thus made the great
+sacrifice of motherhood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While Joe was reciting the story of the rescue, Jimmy
+Flynn held on to his mother's arm and whispered excitedly
+into her ear.  The narrator had hardly finished ere
+Mrs. Flynn stepped forward to his side and faced the crowd.
+Ordinarily, this woman was undemonstrative and shy.
+Now she is unconscious of any timidity.  The moment
+was an inspired one; to produce which Jimmy's whisperings
+had played an important part.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Mr. Blain, and friends all, give me the darling baby.
+It'll take the place of the one God took from me last
+month.  The clothes'll fit——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The bereft mother could get no further.  Any woman
+who has lost a child will tell you why.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My friends, you all know Mrs. Flynn, as I know her.
+If it were a matter of choosing between you, I should
+still say that no one in the town is better fitted for the
+sacred duty of mothering this little flood-driven stranger.
+None of us can say to whom the child belongs; whether
+there is a father or near relations.  But until it is claimed
+by those who can prove the right to do so, the very best
+of all possible arrangements, and one I regard as
+providential, will be for Mrs. Flynn to take this baby to
+nourish and cherish it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The murmurs of assent were unanimous.  Joe, without
+any more delay, stepped into the boat, and, picking up
+the child—which all this time looked round, wondering in
+its baby way at this ado—put the little one into its
+foster-mother's hands.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The river baby was evidently delighted beyond measure
+to receive a warm motherly embrace; judging, at any rate,
+by the way it gooed and crowed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As soon as she could get through the admiring throng,
+Mrs. Flynn hastened home, and before long the baby,
+washed and dressed anew, was filling its "little Mary"
+with sweet new milk.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-breaking-up"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE BREAKING-UP</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"With trumping horn and juvenile huzzas,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>At going home to spend their Christmas days,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And changing Learning's pains for Pleasure's toys."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>TOM HOOD.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Out through the gateway of the National School, on one
+sultry afternoon in late December, tumbled a pack of noisy
+boys and scarcely less noisy girls; the while they kicked
+up a fine dust, yelling in an uproarious fashion.  Were
+you, a stranger, to ask the cause of this demonstration
+of voice and capering limbs, you would be answered by a
+score of voices in rousing chorus—</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Hip, hip, hurray for Christmas Day!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>School's broke up, hip, hip, hurray!"</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>However strongly one might be disposed to question
+the quality of the couplet as he listened to the trumpetings
+of this cluster of children, he would cheerfully admit
+the gusto of the proceedings as the juveniles issued
+pell-mell.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>If truth be told, the master was no less pleased than the
+youngsters when the actual moment of dismissal came.
+Like all schools, this particular one was infected for weeks
+previously with a spirit of restlessness, which made it
+well-nigh impossible to secure the undivided attention of
+the children.  There was no disposition for serious study,
+and Simpson, who was a wise teacher, attempted no
+coercive measures.  Natural history was presented in its
+most attractive forms.  Grammar and arithmetic were for
+the most part tabooed, and instead of puzzling refractory
+brains with arithmetical and grammatical abstractions, the
+children lived in the jungles of India, crossed Sahara, took
+a trip to the Booties, wandered into Arctic circles, or,
+what was equally exciting, made transcontinental trips in
+company with Sturt, Burke and Wills, Leichhardt, and
+other great Australian explorers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Many were the schemes unfolded and plans laid by the
+boys during the last schooldays.  The holidays would not
+be an undiluted playtime to any one of the boys.  Many
+of the lads would work hard on the farms; their parents,
+bearing in mind the old adage of Satan and idle hands,
+will take good care to anticipate the sinister designs of
+that interfering old gentleman.  The wood pile stood as
+an unfailing object of labour.  Sheds were awaiting the
+whitewash brush.  Fowl houses loomed expectant.
+Fences demanded attention.  These, and many other
+duties about house and farm, were put off till the
+"holidays."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There were other anticipations, however, far more
+highly coloured and bewitching than these.  Charm the
+schoolboy never so wisely, his thoughts, with a dogged
+obstinacy or triumphant breakaway, return to the
+delectable things of the groves, streams, mountains, and
+plains.  Horse, gun, dog, rod, bat, duck, quail, pigeon;
+perch, bream, mullet; kangaroo, wallaby, dingo, brumby,
+scrubber!  These are the sources and instruments of
+pleasure; things that people the imagination, and make an
+earthly paradise.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sobering down, after an unusual indulgence in larks to
+mark the auspicious event, Joe, Tom, and Sandy, separating
+from the others, sauntered to the slip-rail entrance of
+the school horse-paddock.  Joe and Tom, at the express
+request of Mrs. M'Intyre, are to spend the holidays with
+Sandy on the station.  Here all kinds of fun and alluring
+adventure are promised the lads.  How well that promise
+was redeemed let the sequel bear witness.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now then, you fellows, don't forget that you are to be
+at Bullaroi on the morning of Christmas Eve without fail."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, ole boss, what does eve mean?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Eve!  Why, a—er—short for evening, I s'pose.  What
+makes you ask, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, if Christmas Eve is evening, how can we be
+there in the mornin'?—you savee?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're mighty smart, Blain, but did you ever know
+an evening that didn't have a morning to it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh—ah—yes, I see.  We're to come out on the
+morning of the evening.  Sure it's an Irishie ye ought
+to be instead of a Scotchie."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Scotchie or no Scotchie," replied Sandy, who was
+the essence of good-humour, "ye're not to be later than
+ten o'clock of the forenoon of the day before Christmas.
+There!  Will that fit you, you pumpkin-headed son of
+a bald-bellied turnip?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thanks, M'Intyre; I'm sure my father'll be delighted
+when I tell him the respectful titles you've given him,"
+returned Joe, with mock sarcasm.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"He'll no dispute the title of his son's head, anyhow,"
+flung back the Scotch lad, as, bridle in hand, he strolled
+on to round up his steed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This parthian shot nettled Joe, but the answer he
+would have given remained unuttered, for at this
+moment his eldest sister appeared and beckoned to him
+in an emphatic manner, at the same time calling upon
+him to hurry.  So, contenting himself with levelling
+Midshipman Easy's masonic sign at the retreating lad, he
+hurried along towards his sister.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Father wants you to go down the river with him in
+the boat."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where's it to?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Down to Beacon Point.  Tom Tyler's had a bad
+accident, and they've sent for the doctor; but he's away.
+He was called out to a bad case at Dingo Creek head
+station, and is not expected to be back till midday
+to-morrow.  So they've asked father to go down, and
+you've to hurry along.  Father's waiting down at the
+boat for you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. Blain was waiting at the boat with everything
+that was required for the trip.  As soon as the lad was
+in, he pushed off, and, taking the stern oar, with Joe at
+the bow, father and son started on their twelve-mile
+pull.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In answer to the boy's question the minister gave some
+details of the accident, and, further, informed the lad that
+it was his intention to call at Mrs. Robinson's, distant
+about five miles from Tareela.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They had now settled down to a steady stroke, and as
+the sun was on its westering wheel, and the sting out
+of its slanting rays, the row became enjoyable.  Mr. Blain
+was a sort of newsletter to the settlers, and in his
+trips up-stream and down-stream was frequently hailed
+and made the target of questioning from the riverbank.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Robinsons' was reached a little before sunset, where
+they were made abundantly welcome.  Some years
+previously Mr. Robinson met his death by one of those
+accidents all too common in new settlements.  Felling
+scrub timber is a risky performance.  It so happened
+that in felling a stout fig tree, Robinson failed to notice
+some lawyer vines that, hanging from the high branches,
+had attached themselves to the bare limbs of an adjacent
+dead tree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Standing at the base and watching the toppling fig
+tree, as it slowly swayed preparatory to its final crash,
+he was unaware that the cable-like vines were retarding
+its progress.  Gathering way, however, the falling tree
+brought a strain upon the vine, and tore away a heavy
+limb of the dead tree.  This falling upon the axe-man,
+killed him instantly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The widow was blest with a family of boys and girls
+who were true grit.  Misfortune breaks some people—it
+makes others.  The latter was the truth in this case.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In all the trying times Mrs. Robinson underwent, the
+minister was her friend and counsellor.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="down-the-river"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">DOWN THE RIVER</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"When the full moon flirts with the perigee tide,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>On a track of silver away we ride,—</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Oh, glorious times we have together,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>My boat and I in the summer weather."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The boat was sighted from Robinsons' some time before
+its nose grated on the shingle at the landing-place.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Isaac, the younger son, a giant in stature and a prime
+favourite with Joe, was at the landing-stage.  Seizing
+the bow what time it touched land, he half lifted, half
+dragged the boat two-thirds of her length out of the
+water, and made her fast to an old stump.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Mother's so glad you've come, sir.  She wants to talk
+with you about that boy of Maguire's, who's bin givin' us
+a lot of trouble."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Won't be able to stay long, Ike.  We've got to be
+at Beacon Point to night.  We just put in for a cup of tea
+and a bite.  Mother's inside, I suppose?  I'll go in and
+have a chat with her."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You'll find her in the kitchen, sir.  When we saw
+you roundin' Piccaniny Point we knew you'd be here for
+tea, and mother's lookin' after things."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I hope she won't go to any trouble.  A mouthful is
+all we want."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, you know mother, sir.  She feels that nothin'
+is near good enough."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Any pancakes for tea, Ike?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pancakes!  Why, of course.  That's what mother's
+makin' now.  She knew that'd be the first thing you'd be
+askin' fur, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Rather, Ike!" said Joe, pursing his mouth and drawing
+in his breath with the peculiar, half-whistling, unwriteable
+sound which boys instinctively make when visions of
+goodies arise.  More especially when such goodies come
+within measurable distance of consumption.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Master Joe had a healthy boy's appetite.  The rowing
+exercise gave additional spice to his hunger.  Pancake
+was at that moment the gate of entry to the boy's very
+material heaven.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tea won't be ready fur a few minutes, Joe.  Let's go
+down to the barn.  I was just goin' to rub some more
+mixture inter the skins when I seen your boat roundin'
+the point.  Sorry you're goin' on, my son.  When I seen
+you on the river I ses to meself, ses I, 'By George!  Joey
+an' I'll have a great night at the 'possums.'  I wish to
+goodness you'd been stayin'.  There'll be a grand moon ter
+night, an it's very temptin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By gum, ain't it just!  It'd be simply, rippin'.
+'Member last time I was down?  That was a grand bit
+of sport we had.  Forty-seven was it, or forty-nine?  I
+know it took a dashed long time to skin 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Forty-seven it was.  We'd do over fifty to-night."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, as mother says, 'What can't be cured must be
+endured.'  By dad! that's a grand wallaby skin!  Where'd
+you get it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Got it larst night."  Ike had the Colonial drawl to
+perfection.  "I was up at the top end of the scrub
+cultivation paddick, mooseying around after some cockatoos
+that'd bin skinnin' the corn.  It was just about dusk,
+an' I was waitin' in the corner for the cockies, as I knew
+they'd soon be leavin' fur their roosts, an' my bes' charnse
+at 'em was on the wing.  They're so 'tarnal cute, yer know,
+yer carn't git 'em on the corn."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I know.  Didn't I try my best to stalk 'em the last
+time I was down, Ike!  I got three altogether, you
+'member, an' you said it'd be a crest apiece to take home
+to the girls."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Waal, as I was sayin', I'd sarcumvented the ole boss
+cockie, which was keeping watch in the dead gum-tree
+that stood in the middle of the patch, an' was posted in
+the middle of the corner expectin' them ter fly over every
+minit.  But ole Pincher, who was chevyin' about, starts
+this ere boss outer the pumpkin vines; they're death on
+pumpkins, yer know.  The dorg made a dash at 'im, an',
+by jings! he did streak.  Greased lightnin' wasn't in it
+with 'im.  I tried to draw a bead on 'im, but, what with
+the dusk an' the bushes an' stumps, I couldn't get a good
+line.  I banged away one barril, but was yards off, I
+reckon.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pincher, he disappeared in a brace of shakes, an' I
+made sure the vermin ud get through a 'ole in the fence.
+I was makin' for 'ome, 'cause the cockies, yer know, 'ad
+all gone.  All of a suddent I heers a yelp, an' knew ole
+Pinch 'ad somehow 'eaded 'im.  Reckon 'e missed the 'ole,
+or the dorg'd never got near 'im.  Anyhow, 'e was
+a-streakin' a bit now, an' Pinch at 'is 'eels.  He was makin'
+fur the maize agen.  I lined 'im this time all right, though
+it was a longish shot; about sixty-five I reckon; an'
+dropped 'im clean at the very edge."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a prime pelt, anyway."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yaas, 'e was a grand ole buck fur a wally; about the
+biggest I've got this season."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How many skins have you taken, Ike?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Two more'n I'd 'ave six dozen."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Gettin' a good price for 'em?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Waal, Jack Croft, 'e offered me nine shillin' a dozen
+fur 'em.  There are about twenty kangaroos among 'em.
+Jack reckoned it was a stiff price, an' 'e sed 'e'd not offer
+anythin' near it but fur the kangaroo skins, which 'e 'ad
+a fancy fur."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Old Jack can put it on, you know."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I know Jack all right!  Me an' 'im's 'ad dealin'
+afore.  Jacky's not too bad, but 'e knows 'ow to draw
+the long bow.  Anyway, ole Eb Dowse's boat'll be along
+nex' week.  He's sent word ter say as 'e'd do a deal
+with me fur 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Better wait an' see what Eb'll shell out for 'em, Ike, I
+reckon.  German Harry, up the river, says he can always
+knock a shillin' a dozen more out of Eb than Jack."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I ain't hurryin', Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just then the welcome supper cooee reached their ears.
+The boys lost no time in getting to the supper-table.
+Joe instinctively eyed the contents.  Cold streaky bacon;
+a big dish of fried pumpkin and potatoes; a mountain
+of home-made bread, sliced; a basin of prime butter;
+Cape gooseberry jam galore, and amber-tinted honey in
+the comb.  What more could any hungry lad desire?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mary Robinson, a great tease, caught Joe's glance,
+and said, with an amused smile, "No pancakes to-night, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe was abashed for the fraction of a second.  Quickly
+rallying, he laughingly said, "Tell another, Mary, while
+your mouth's hot."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Very well, my boy!  If you don't believe me ask
+our black tom-cat.  He chased a mouse into the batter
+and upset the bowl; so there!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson.  "There's
+only a grain of truth in the pound of fiction she's giving
+you, Joe.  The cat, it is true, did chase a mouse; but
+it did not jump into the batter, nor was the bowl
+upset.  The pancakes are cooked, with currans in 'em;
+just the sort you like; and they're keeping hot by the fire."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe </span><em class="italics">you</em><span> anyway.
+As for Mary, she's like Sandy M'Intyre's old,
+toothless sheep-dog."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How's that, Joe?" interjected Ike.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bark's worse than her bite."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My stars! what originality, what refinement!
+Sandy's razor is not in it with master Joe Blain for
+sharpness.  I'll remember this, though, the next time you
+ask me to go out to the scrub with you for passion fruit.
+Anyhow, there's no resemblance between you and Sandy's
+wonderful barker."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"</span><em class="italics">Indeed!</em><span>"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No; your bark's noisy enough, but your bite's a
+hundred times worse—especially when pancakes are
+about."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>With this "Roland" Mary ran out to the kitchen
+to get the teapot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe made a royal repast, topping off with the hot
+pancakes at a rate which caused his father to dryly
+remark: "Too much pancake won't help the boat along,
+my boy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tea finished, the visitors prepare to continue their
+voyage.  With Ike's powerful assistance the boat is
+shoved into the water, and her nose pointed down-stream.
+In due time Beacon Point is reached.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="off-for-the-holidays"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS!</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">"Boyhood is the natural time for abundant play and laughter, without
+which rarely does high health touch young cheeks with its rose-bloom,
+or knit bones strongly for the fighting and the toiling that awaits
+them."—JOSEPH H. FLETCHER.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Now then, Norah, look slippy with breakfast!  It's
+half-past six, an' Sandy's to be here at seven.  Said he'd
+leave the station at five with the spare horse for me."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Begorrah! at the rate breakfast's cookin' it'll be
+midnight before it's ready.  'Tis the bastliest wood that
+niwer was."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Time the fish was fryin', Norah."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Fish, bedad!  For two pins ye wuddent have anny
+fish.  The thrubble Oi've had wid thim!  Phwat for did
+youse lave thim in the bag all night?  If ye'd put thim
+out on the dish, ye spalpeen, Oi'd have seen thim and
+claned thim long ba-fore Oi wint to bed.  'Sted of which
+it's tuk me two morchial hours to scale the brutes, they
+was that dry and hard.  Be Saint Pathrick, they scales
+was loike porky-pine's pricklies!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sorry, Norah; my fault as usual," remarked Joe
+good-humouredly.  "Father called out to turn the horse from
+the lucerne just as I reached the back door.  So I threw
+the bag down on the steps to chase the moke, an' clean
+forgot 'em when I came back."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, Oi'll forgive ye wanst more, which makes about
+a million tousandth toime; but, moind ye, 'tis——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All serene, Norah!  Oh, I say, Norry, I'd nearly
+forgotten it!  Paddy Lacey asked me yesterday to tell
+you that they want you to go to the Hibernian picnic on
+Boxing Day.  They've chartered the </span><em class="italics">Firefly</em><span>, an' are goin'
+down to the Bar."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"God's truth! 'tis only gammoning me ye are, Masther
+Joe.  It's a young thrick ye be, indade, with yure
+Hayburnion picnacs."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's as true as true, Norah.  No make-up this time.
+An' oh!  I say, d'you know what Jimmy Flynn tole Tom
+Hawkins?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Nawthin' good, bedad!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ain't it!  Well, opinions differ.  At any rate he was
+goin' to set a line on Friday night, an' as he was roundin'
+the point he hears somewheres ahead of him a noise
+between a smack an' a crack.  Then comes a bit of
+a squeal, an' a woman's voice sings out: 'Don't,
+stop it!'  Then there was another smack-crack, an'
+just as he got round the corner he sees a couple,
+for all the world like you and Paddy, sittin' on a log.
+No, 'twas Paddy that was on the log, an' you were on
+Paddy's——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ye loi-in spalpeen!  Oi'll pull yure tongue from
+betune yure teeth," screamed Norah, as, blushing furiously,
+she chased the nimble Joe out of the kitchen right into
+the arms of Sandy M'Intyre, as he was coming up the
+back doorstep.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Sandy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Joe!  What's row inside?  Norah givin' you
+the rounds of the kitchen as usual, eh?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Only jiggin' her about Paddy Lacey, an' got her </span><em class="italics">paddy</em><span>
+up a bit.  You're up to time, Sandy, ole man.  By jing!
+I see you've brought Curlew in.  Am I to ride him?  My
+word! it is good of your governor to let me.  I thought
+you'd a brought the piebald."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"So I intended, but he was limpin' when he was run
+into the stockyard; so father says, 'Take Curlew.'"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Curlew was Mr. M'Intyre's favourite horse, and Joe
+was highly honoured in being allowed to ride this
+mettlesome but lovely paced steed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just then breakfast appeared.  After a substantial meal
+Joe brought out his father's valise and strapped it to the
+saddle.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All ready, Sandy?  Good-bye, mother.  Good-bye,
+father.  Good-bye, girls!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And so, with kisses and cautions from the family, the
+boys mounted their steeds and cantered down the street
+to the punt, on their way to Bullaroi, as Mr. M'Intyre's
+station was called.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Across the river the boys were joined by Tom Hawkins,
+who was to accompany them.  Tom, who was mounted
+on a brisk pony, greeted them with a cheery cry as the
+punt reached the shore.  A jollier trio of young
+Australians could not be found than this chattering, capering
+band, who on that brilliant morning raced along the bush
+track.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Plans of fun and frolic were projected during the ride,
+including astounding adventures that would have taken
+half a year to carry out.  In anticipation the lads were
+already having tip-top fun.  Tom's riotous imagination,
+especially, made the spoils of the gun, the rod, and the
+chase to assume brobdingnagian proportions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In due course they pulled up at the slip-rails marking
+the Bullaroi boundary line.  Thence to the white gate
+seen in the distance, and which fronted the homestead,
+a mad race ensued.  In this Curlew was first, the rest
+nowhere.  Indeed, Curlew became so excited by the gallop
+and the shrill shoutings of the riders that Joe, who had
+made no attempt to pull him till the horse was almost on
+the gate, found it impossible to stop his steed, which was
+full of running.  Before the boy fully realised it, Curlew
+was soaring through the air, clearing the gate by at least
+a couple of feet.  Joe, parting from the "pigskin," was
+sailing through space on his own account, leaving a foot
+or two between his sit-down and the saddle seat.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, though a fair rider, was not a practised
+steeple-chaser.  He was not a horseman, as were Sandy and Tom,
+who were to the manner born.  Little wonder, then, that
+his heart rose with the horse and his rider, and for some
+brief moments palpitated furiously in his mouth.  That
+mysterious and natural law of the universe called
+gravitation was on hand, however, and saved the situation.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Curlew's hoofs struck the ground on the descending
+curve as lightly as a cat.  Joe's legs, which in this aerial
+flight had assumed the shape of an inverted V, came plop
+into the saddle at the right moment.  But his body was
+thrown forward, his hands clutching frantically at the
+horse's neck and mane.  In this condition, unable to
+recover his equilibrium, with but the loss of his hat, the
+rider is carried over the intervening distance to the
+stables, amid loud laughter from the station people, who
+had been attracted by the shouting of the boys.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy cleared the gate in pursuit of Joe, but failed
+to catch him.  Tom was obliged to haul up and open the
+gates, as the jump was too high for his pony.  Thus the rider
+of Curlew came in a winner, and all three dismounted
+amid laughter and teasings.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, Joseph, my lad," said Mr. M'Intyre, who
+possessed a pawky humour, "Johnny Gilpin couldna hae
+done the trick better.  You kep' up wi' Curlew, anyway.
+I thocht he was goin' to leave ye behind.  Ma certie
+it's deeficult to say which is the winner, you or the horse.
+We'll juist ca' it neck an' neck."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Take no heed to him, Joe," said Mrs. M'Intyre.  She
+saw through the lad's apparent good-humour a sense of
+humiliation at his unhorsemanlike entry.  "You did well
+to stick to him, not knowing his intention.  But come
+away in, boys; ye'll be ready for something to eat after
+that ride.  We're right glad to see you.  Sandy was so
+excited last night at the prospect of your coming that I
+am sure he didn't sleep a wink.  Why, he had the horses
+saddled at dawn, and was off without a bite if I hadn't
+stopped him and made him drink a cup of coffee."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The day was a busy one on the station.  Every one
+was engaged in finishing off jobs and cleaning up.  For
+during Christmas week, and until after New Year's Day,
+only that which was absolutely necessary in the way of
+work was expected.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>During the previous week drafting and mustering had
+been the all absorbing work on the run.  That finished,
+and a mob of "fats" despatched overland to Maitland to
+catch the Christmas market, the last few days were
+occupied in culling "boilers" and in branding calves.
+On this particular day all the available hands were
+engaged in tidying up; the whitewash bucket being in
+great request.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Willy and Jacky, the aboriginal boys, together with an
+Irish lad,—Norah's brother, in fact,—were enrolled as
+whitewash artists.  Their special work consisted in converting
+dingy looking hen-roosts, dog-kennels, pigsties, milking
+sheds, and the like into a brilliant white.  Meanwhile two
+of the men, with rough brooms made of stiff brushes, were
+sweeping the ground within a fair radius of the house.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Inside, the housework was prosecuted with great vigour.
+Two gins were set to work with the scrubbing brush;
+while in the kitchen, where Mrs. Mac and the two elder
+daughters were domiciled, Christmas cooking went on
+apace.  There was, indeed, such a weighing of flour and
+raisins, such a slicing of candied peel, such a dressing
+of flesh and fowl as to make Ah Fat, the cook, fairly
+amazed, and to wonder how in the name of Confucius the
+oven was to stand the cooking strain that was being
+brought upon it.  While from the kitchen an odoriferous
+perfume was wafted across the yard, assaulting all noses,
+and breeding high anticipation, most pleasurable from
+the standpoint of creature comforts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. M'Intyre, no patron of idleness either in man or boy,
+took the lads early in the day into the harness room, and
+set them to the task of cleaning the saddle and harness
+ware.  Saddles, girths, bridles, various sets of light and
+heavy harness, required attention.  All leather was to be
+well cleaned and oiled, stirrups and bits to be burnished,
+and broken straps to be repaired.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals threw themselves, </span><em class="italics">con amore</em><span>, into the work.
+It was hard to say which moved the more briskly, tongues
+or hands.  The afternoon was well advanced before the
+last piece of steel and electro silver was polished, the last
+girth and surcingle refitted, and the whole placed on their
+respective brackets.  This task finished, the boys felt that
+they had earned the promised reward—a glorious swim.
+Within a couple of hours of sunset the whole of the
+outside work was accomplished, and, for the time being, each
+employé was a free agent.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The homestead faced a large affluent of the river, which
+was known as Crocodile Creek.  Why the creek was so
+named was a sort of a mystery.  No species of the saurian
+tribe was ever known to infest its waters.  The name may
+have been given to it through some fancied resemblance
+in its course to the aforesaid reptile.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Crocodile Creek formed a fine frontage to Bullaroi run,
+being distant from the homestead about a quarter of a
+mile.  Immediately opposite, the creek widened out into
+a fine sheet of water some three miles long, and varying
+in width from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
+yards.  There was a particular spot which stood about seven
+or eight feet above the water.  Here Mr. M'Intyre had a
+spring-board constructed.  The water was fully twelve feet
+deep at the jump off, and, added to other advantages,
+formed an ideal spot for bathing purposes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Having finished their allotted tasks, the lads came
+bounding out of the harness-room and across the yard to
+the house, shouting, as they capered, "Who's for a swim?"  The
+stockmen certainly looked, and no doubt felt, that the
+one thing above all others necessary for their ease and
+comfort after the stable and the house-yard cleaning
+operations was a plunge into the cool, sweet waters of
+the creek.  If they were semi-black by reason of their
+employment, it was no less true that the black boys,
+Willy and Jacky, were semi-white.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Dennis Kineavy, the Irish lad, was the "broth of a
+bhoy," and all three were cram full of impishness.  No
+sooner were the finishing touches of whitewash decoration
+given, than Denny, sneaking up behind Willy and Jacky,
+who stood off a little from the hen-roost admiring their
+artistic handicraft—with capacious brush well charged
+with the sediment of his bucket—smote them in quick
+succession across the bare shoulders and breech, and then,
+with an Irish yell, darted round the stable.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Surprised for the moment, but nothing loath, the black
+boys snatched their buckets, wielded their brushes, and,
+shouting their native war-cry, dashed off in hot pursuit;
+Denny dodged them successfully for a while, but was at
+length outflanked, and then ensued a battle royal which
+only ceased when the supplies of ammunition (whitewash)
+were exhausted.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was at the tail-end of the fray that Sandy and his mates
+came racing along with the cry of, "Swim O!  Swim O!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Boys and men, black and white, were all ready and
+willing, nay, eager, for a jolly bogey.[#]  There was a rush
+by the whites for towels; then, in quick procession, the
+motley band made for the water.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] "Bogey," native name for bathe.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>After a plunge and a short swim to get rid of the dust
+and muck, an impromptu carnival was arranged.  First
+of all came the long dive.  This meant a run along the
+spring-board and a dive straight out.  The diver in
+each case, when reaching the surface, had to tread
+water, keeping as nearly as possible to the spot of
+emergence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom Hawkins led off, the others followed in order at
+twenty seconds' interval.  The blacks, by reason of their
+native abilities in this direction, were made to do the
+dive with arms interlocked, Siamese twin fashion.  The
+darkies were the whippers-in of this diving procession.
+Tom, who led off, faltered in his stride when leaving the
+spring-board.  He rose to the surface at about thirty feet
+from the bank.  Joe, who followed, dived a good ten feet
+farther out than Tom.  Sandy, however, when he shot up
+through the water, was fully fifty feet from the shore.
+Both of the stockmen beat Joe, but were behind Sandy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Then came the blacks, side by side.  With an even,
+measured, and springy stride they raced down the board,
+which was wide enough to admit of this manoeuvre.  They
+took the water without a splash, like a pair of frogs,
+leaving scarce a ripple.  It was naturally thought that by
+being coupled in this way matters would be evened.  It
+was the general opinion that they would fail to reach
+Sandy's limit, and probably not get beyond Joe's.  The
+boys eagerly awaited their reappearance, watching the
+water closely for some sign.  After what appeared to be
+an interminable period they were startled by a double
+cooee, and, lo! the twins, so to speak, had risen at least
+twenty feet beyond Sandy, or seventy feet from the shore.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Somersault diving followed the long distance trial.
+In thia Harry the stockman, who had been a circus
+rider and acrobat in his youthful days, outshone all the
+others.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Then came the exciting game of "catch the devil."  Willy
+was chosen devil.  It was his business to dive off
+the spring-board and run the gauntlet, the others being
+scattered in the water.  To catch the aboriginal seemed
+a comparatively easy matter, all things considered.  He
+was, however, a superb swimmer and trickster, diving
+and dodging like a cormorant.  A dozen times
+surrounded, he marvellously eluded his pursuers.  The game
+was at its height, and there was no knowing how long
+the "devil" would remain at large, when the station bell
+rang out a lusty summons to supper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This brought the carnival to an instant conclusion.
+And now each swimmer scrambled for the shore, and
+soon the whole company, with clean bodies and healthy
+appetites, were hieing along the track.  When the boys
+reached home they found a new arrival in the person of a
+young Englishman.  This gentleman was out on a business
+tour, and, being anxious to see something of station
+life, was recommended to Mr. M'Intyre by a mutual friend.
+Mrs. M'Intyre's hospitality was proverbial, and Neville,
+for such was the "new chum's" name, was heartily made
+welcome.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The day had been a long one, and, supper ended, the
+boys were quite resigned to go to bed, or at least to the
+bedroom.  The noises therefrom, after their retirement,
+were very suggestive of prime larks, and continued long
+after lights were out.  The pals were domiciled, to their
+great delight, in a big spare room, which contained a
+double bed and a single one.  Joe and Tom shared the
+former, while Sandy camped on the latter, which was,
+indeed, his stretcher brought in for the occasion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Silence reigned supreme at length within, and without
+was broken only by the hoarse croaking of the frogs, an
+occasional call from a night owl, and the weird wail of
+the curlew.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="christmas-fun-and-frolic"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XIV</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"It was the time when geese despond</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And turkeys make their wills;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The time when Christians to a man</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Forgive each other's bills.</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>It was the time when Christmas glee</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The heart of childhood fills."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>BRUNTON STEPHENS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Daylight had barely broken.  The only stir in the
+household is that produced by Joe, whose slumber had
+been disturbed by the persistent crawling of flies across
+his face.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There are three things in animated nature which run
+each other very closely for the supremacy in downright
+tenacity to purposeful cussedness.  Pig, Hen, Fly—these
+three!  And of the three, the cussedest and most
+exasperatingly tenacious to its rooted purpose of squeezing
+in between one's eyelids, sinking a well in the corner
+of one's eye, or climbing the inside walls of one's nose, is
+the Australian species of the common house-fly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It is possible at times to circumvent the "gintilman
+wot pays the rint," and persuade him to return through
+the same hole in the fence which gave him escape, by
+appearing to be anxious to drive him out on to the plain.
+That is pig strategy; or rather, strategy with a pig.  He
+is beaten, so to speak, by the law of contrairy.  When all
+resources fail in persuading the hen that the flour-bin, or
+the linen basket, is not specially constructed to suit her
+convenience in the daily duty of egg producing, one can
+at the last resort requisition the services of Madame la
+Guillotine.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But neither strategy nor tactics, neither force nor fraud,
+avail anything when the early fly, with recruited energies
+and fiendish intent, starts on her mission of seeking whom
+and what she may annoy.  She—it is quite safe to put
+the insect in the feminine gender—can be neither coaxed,
+persuaded, shoo'd, deceived, frightened, nor driven from
+her prey.  The fly always wins—in the end.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Driven from Blanket Bay on this eventful Christinas
+morning by the incorrigible fly, Joe proceeded at once to
+reverse the Golden Rule, and promptly made war upon
+his mates on that morning which, of all the days in the
+year, makes for peace and goodwill among men.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom had sought refuge from the fly in the bed-clothes,
+and muffled nasal monotones made a sonorous chorale.
+On the other hand, Sandy, impervious to all impious fly
+assaults, lay on his back, mouth wide open, breathing
+heavily and steadily.  Sandy was of the pachydermatous
+order.  Neither mosquito nor fly troubled him.  The
+flies evidently found his eyes to be a dry patch, while
+they were unable to obtain a permanent foothold at his
+nostrils owing to the intermittent, horse-like snorts which
+blew them as from the mouth of a blunderbuss.  But they
+heavily fringed his mouth, eating with manifest relish
+their bacilli breakfast.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a jiffy the bed-clothes are whipped off the slumbering
+lads, and in less than no time the latter, pillows in hand,
+make common cause against the aggressor.  Joe puts
+up a gallant fight, but the odds are too much for him;
+he is driven into a corner at last and unmercifully
+pelted.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This prelude to the day's enjoyment concluded, the
+pals jump into their clothes and proceed to execute the
+second item on the day's programme, namely, a horseback
+scamper through the bush before breakfast.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Oh, the glory of it!  Out from the confines of four
+walls into the open spaces of the world when night is
+merging into day; to move in the dawn of a new day;
+to stand enwrapped in its pearl-grey mantle ere the
+mounting sun has turned its soft shades to rosy brilliance;
+to inhale the spicy breeze which, during the night watches,
+having extracted the perfumes of the forest flowers, comes
+heavily freighted o'er gully and range, and diffuses the
+sweet odours as the reward of the early riser.  And then—to
+watch the daily miracle of sunrise!</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"See! the dapple-grey coursers of the morn</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Beat up the light with their bright silver hoofs</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And chase it through the sky."</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Sandy, on old Rufus, kept for that work, soon
+rounds-up and yards several steeds from the horse-paddock.
+From these three are picked and saddled; and ere the
+rising sun has walked "o'er the dew of yon high eastern
+hills," the lads are scampering through bush and brake,
+o'er dale and hill.  They chivy the silent kangaroo
+through the lush grass; have a glorious burst after a
+belated dingo; rouse screaming parrots and paroquets
+from their matutinal meal off the honey blossoms of box
+and apple trees; pulling up at last on the summit of a
+dome-shaped, treeless hill, from whence, with the bloom
+of the morning still upon it, the landscape extends in a
+vast stretch of undulation, broken at irregular intervals
+by silver ribbons of creek and river.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Belts of scrub and forest, rich pasturages and arable
+lands, are dotted here and there, with minute spots from
+which rise slender threads of smoke indicating settlers'
+houses; while away in the background are the purple
+hills and the blue mountains.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Boys are not usually considered to be impressionable
+creatures on the æsthetic side of things.  Herein we
+wrong them.  They may not attitudinise, nor spout
+poetry when under the supreme touches of nature, for
+the boy is too natural to be theatrical.  But, without
+doubt, the morning and evening glories of dear old
+mother earth do touch their sense of beauty; and though
+these impressions may seem to be effaced by other and
+more sordid things, nevertheless they linger through the
+long years, called up from time to time in sweet
+association with days that are no more.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The lads, while they rested their steeds, stood in silent
+and wondering gaze, broken at last by Tom, who, pointing
+across the intervening spaces to the broadest of the
+many silver threads, exclaimed, "Tender's Tareela!"  Many
+miles away, as the crow flies, lay the river village,
+a small cluster of dots, a few of which glistened in the
+sunlight.  These shining spots indicated the "superior"
+houses that sported corrugated iron roofs, new in those
+days.  For the most part the "roof-trees" were shingle
+or bark.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now, homeward bound, the horsemen slither down
+the hillside, plunge into a pine scrub, to emerge therefrom
+on the border of a small plain, and chase a mob of
+brumbies grazing thereon.  They, with snorting nostrils
+and waving manes, headed by a notorious grey stallion—of
+whom more anon—dash up a ravine into the fastnesses
+of the scrub, and, though followed some distance by the
+reckless riders, vanish from sight with a celerity possible
+only to wild bush-horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Skirting now the banks of the Crocodile, they disturb
+flocks of teal, widgeon, water-hen, and other aquatic
+birds.  At length they give a view halloo, for the old
+homestead is in sight.  This scares a flock of cockatoos
+that are camping in the river gums, after an early
+morning's poaching expedition to the adjacent maize-fields,
+and brings out the station dogs with a babble of
+barking, as they pound up the track with a final spurt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Breakfast ready, Ah Fat?" sings out Sandy, as the
+boys come rushing into the kitchen from the stables.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Leddy?  Tes, allee globble upee!  Missee say no kleep
+anyling for bad boy.  Lockee allee glub."  Ah Fat's
+twinkling, humorous eyes redeemed his hatchet face and
+stolid countenance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's all right, fellows.  He's only pokin' borak at us,"
+said Sandy, giving the Celestial a familiar slap.  "Come
+along, I'm as hungry as a hunter.  They've only started,
+I know."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The family were seated, heads were bent, and
+Mr. M'Intyre was saying the long Scotch grace, when the
+boys burst into the room with a fine clatter.  The rude
+intrusion brought a severe remonstrance from that
+gentleman when the exercise was concluded.
+Mrs. M'Intyre—always ready to defend the boys and to
+champion them, to condone their faults and to extol
+their virtues, in which she was wise or otherwise, as the
+reader may decide—broke in with a Christmas greeting.
+For a minute there was a fusillade of "Merry Christmas
+to you and many of them!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys, take your seats before breakfast's cold."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On proceeding to their places the boys stood stock still,
+for there, resting against their respective chairs, stood
+three brand-new, double-barrel shot-guns.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, bairns!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre, with quiet
+amusement, surveying the amazed boys as they gazed at
+the weapons.  "What are ye frichtened at?  Is it
+snakes y're lukin' upon?  Why dinna ye sit doon to
+yure food?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, father! mother!" cried Sandy at last, picking up
+his gun, pleasure beaming from his face.  "This is what
+Harry meant when he said last night he'd brought out a
+parcel from the town that'd come by steamer."  Then
+with a rush, Joe and Tom at his heels, he danced round
+the abashed Scotchman, and gave him a hug, repeating the
+dose with interest on Mrs. M'Intyre.  It was hard for
+the boys to settle down to breakfast and dislodge their
+eyes from the weapons.  What their souls coveted most
+was a gun.  The clamant claims of hunger, however, are
+not to be disregarded; so, stacking their guns in a corner,
+the boys did ample justice to a generous meal.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning, boys?"
+inquired Mrs. M'Intyre.  "You've not been out on the
+run before, Tom, have you?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, ma'am.  We'd a good time, though!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How far did you go, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"To the top of Bald Hummock, mother."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Splendid view from the top, is it not, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Not bad, Mrs. M'Intyre."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's a negative descreeption o' ane o' the graundest
+sichts the hale deestric' can boast," said Mr. M'Intyre,
+with emphasis.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe became conscious of the banality.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"An' why did ye no' tak' Mr. Neville wi' you, boys?
+Ye did wrang no' to invite him to ride wi' you.  I think
+ye owe him an apologee, Saundy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm very sorry," said the lad, turning in some confusion
+to Mr. Neville.  "If I'd thought——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I shouldn't have dreamed of going out at such
+an early hour, my lad," replied Neville loftily.  He had a
+somewhat affected accent and a superior air.  "I nevvah
+exert myself before breakfast.  Besides, I am not sure
+that I should find a safe escort in a parcel of—er—schoolboys.
+With the young ladies, now," he continued, fixing
+his monocle and bestowing a patronising stare upon
+Sandy's sisters, Maggie and Jessie, "I—I—should be
+delighted to go for a bush ride, as I think these equestrian
+expeditions are called in Awestralia, in the cool of the
+afternoon."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We don't call them even bush rides out here,
+Mr. Neville," answered Jessie saucily.  She resented
+patronage.  "We call 'em spins.  Boys, I vote we all go for a
+spin this afternoon.  Let's ride as far as Ben Bolt's cave.
+It'll be something interesting to show Mr. Neville.
+Ben Bolt's a famous bushranger hereabouts, you know,
+and the cave is a favourite rendezvous for his gang, as
+well as a safe hiding-place.  At least, it was so until a
+few months ago, when the police and black trackers
+discovered it, and nearly nabbed him.  Fancy having a
+bushranger's camp on the Bullaroi boundary!  But Ben
+never uses it now.  So let's ride out to it.  Are you
+game, boys?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Game!" snorted Sandy.  "What's to be game about?
+The main thing is, will Mr. Neville care for an
+eighteen-mile spin?  If not, we could go for a short ride down
+the Crocodile."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Please don't question my ability, boy!" retorted the
+new chum, who resented the implication contained in
+Sandy's remark.  "I find," continued he, addressing his
+host, "you good people out heah seem to think that
+Awestralia is the only place where horseback riding is
+indulged in——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We ride steers also, an' billies too," slyly interjected
+Joe, with a wink at the girls.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"And we read that they ride donkeys and—er—hobby-horses
+in England," chipped in Jessie, whose eyes
+sparkled with mischief.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good for you, ole Jess!  Let 'em bring out their
+English fox-hunters an' steeple-chasers that they brag
+so much about, and we'll give 'em a dingo run, or a go at
+cutting out scrubbers,[#] an' see how they'd be with their
+pretty coats an' breeches, at the tail of the hunt!"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Wild, unbranded cattle, frequenting scrub country,</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Are ye addressing the English nation or oor guest,
+Saundy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>M'Intyre could be caustic when he willed.  He had
+no liking for Australian blow, and hit at it as he would hit
+at a snake, whenever occasion arose.  He now turned the
+laugh against his son, Jess laughing loudest of all.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's settled, then, that we ride out to the cave this
+afternoon?" said Maggie, with an inquiring eye on
+Neville.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm shore 'twill be a pleasant jaunt, Miss M'Intyre,"
+replied the Englishman.  "I shall have pleasure in acting
+as your escort.  But this—er—famous—er—notorious—er—highwayman,
+is it—er—safe?  I mean—er—I'm
+thinking of the—er—ladies, you know."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's to be afraid of?" quoth Jessie.  To her, risk
+meant spice, an added zest.  Her whole heart went out
+to the life of the open air and the pleasures of the chase.
+Her greatest delight was in a mad scamper through the
+bush behind the dogs, in the kangaroo hunt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Neville; Mag and I'll protect
+you should the—er—famous—notorious—bushranger—highwayman
+turn up," went on the audacious minx.  "I'd
+dearly love to see Ben Bolt.  I think he's a lot better
+than many who run him down.  Oh my! wouldn't it
+be fun if we surprised him in the cave?  I'd——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Stop, Jess; cease your blether!" said Mr. M'Intyre
+sternly.  "The mon may no' be as black as he's pented,
+but he's no' an honest mon.  Misguided he may be to an
+extent, and no' a'thegither answerable for some of the
+steps in his doonward career, but a creeminal for a' that,
+whom the country were weel rid o'.  But as for the
+reesk, there's na reesk in ridin' to the cave.  The
+Sub-Inspector telt me a few days ago that Ben Bolt's gone
+o'er the border.  News is to hand to the effect that he
+stuck up a Chinaman on the Brisbane road.  So the
+cave's safe enough."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's settled, then," broke in Maggie.  "If we leave
+here about four o'clock 'twill be early enough, and will
+give us plenty of time to get back by dark."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Maidie, my pet," said Mrs. M'Intyre to her little
+three-year-old, a dainty, precocious miss, "what are
+you staring at?  It's rude to stare at any one like that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, muzzer!" exclaimed the child, turning her bright
+eyes mother-wards for a moment and then fixing them
+with a fascinated gaze upon the Englishman.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What is it that interests you, little girl?" remarked
+Neville in a patronising tone.  "Is it the colour of my
+tie?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Maidie shook her curly head, and, without removing
+her eyes from Mr. Neville's face, leaned towards Jessie,
+who sat next to her, and whispered, "The genkilmun's
+got somesin' on his fevvers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Suspended from the tip of one of Neville's incipient
+moustaches was a yellow string of egg-yolk.  Jess had
+observed this for some time, with a tendency to hilarity
+whenever it caught her eye.  Maidie's comical description
+added fuel to the fire of the girl's merriment, sending
+her into convulsive laughter.  She answered looks of
+interrogation by pointing to the dangling egg thread,
+and saying as well as circumstances permitted, "Maidie
+says—ha—ha—ha!—that Mr. Fevv—he—he—he!—Mr. Neville's
+got egg on his—fev—feathers."  This explanatory
+and ludicrous mixture created a general explosion
+among the young folk.  The situation, however, was
+promptly ended by Mrs. M'Intyre, who discreetly rose on
+seeing that the guest did not join in the general laugh.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was nothing much for the men-folk to do; but
+the boys were burning to try their new fowling-pieces,
+The squatter, seeing their intent, directed them to use
+their skill on the cockatoos and king parrots that were
+devastating the maize crop.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These birds, especially the former, proved wily customers,
+so that not many opportunities offered for testing the
+guns.  Enough was done, though, to prove that the guns
+were no "slouches," and great things were predicted
+when the lads should "know" their respective weapons.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatyer think of the new chum, Joe?" said Sandy
+to Blain, as they sat on a log under a low-spreading
+wattle tree, on the look out for a flying shot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Goes thirteen to the dozen, ole man, don't he?
+Knows a lot more'n us, he reckons, and can't help
+showin' it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, he can't stand us chaps at no price.  By George!
+Jess's got his measure, and Mag too, for that matter.
+They'll take his nibs down a peg or two before he goes,
+I bet tuppence."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Little Maidie fitted him all right," chipped in Tom.
+"Fevvers—ha—ha!—yes, goose feathers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was evident that the visitor was not in favour with
+the young people.  He had struck a false note.  No one
+can be quicker than boys to detect superciliousness and
+to resent it.  The patronising air is to them the
+unforgivable sin.  Henceforth Neville went by the name
+of "Fevvers" among the boys, to the great amusement
+of the girls, who, unfortunately for the Englishman, had
+assigned him a place in prig-dom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville, it must be confessed, was a bit of a prig; but
+at heart he was not at all a bad fellow, and there came
+a time not far ahead when respect supplanted contempt
+in the pals, and the ridiculous nickname was dropped;
+while he on his part discontinued the use of the irritating
+comparison, "the way we do things in England," which
+at the beginning he was for ever introducing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The household was enjoying a siesta after the typical
+Christmas dinner which was partaken of at midday.  Stillness
+reigned within the house, save the cracking of house
+timbers under the influence of the heat.  This seductive
+calm and the sweet sleep of the girls was at length
+rudely broken by Sandy, who in the exercise of a
+brother's privilege shook the door violently as he
+shouted, "Now then, lazies, get up and dress!  It's
+half-past three."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bother you, Sandy, you </span><em class="italics">are</em><span> a nuisance!" sleepily
+complained Jessie.  "I—I—was having </span><em class="italics">such</em><span> a lovely
+dream.  Neptune was just on the heels of a blue flyer,[#]
+and I was galloping alongside him.  The chase led us
+to Blind-fall Gully, and we three took the jump together,
+and were almost landed on the other side when you
+thumped the door.  I thought at first it was the thud of
+Kangie's tail, but no! there she was flying through——"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Maiden kangaroo, a very fast runner.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"That comes of eating too much plum-duff an' mince-pie,
+my girl.  But I say, you two, look slippy, or you'll
+be too late.  I told Jacky to saddle Nigger for you, Jess.
+What'll you take, Mag?  Rainbow or Sultan?  They're
+both up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't care, Sandy.  I'll take Sultan, I think.  No,
+I'll take Rainbow.  Wait a moment, p'r'aps——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh! stop your silly nonsense.  I'll put the saddle on
+Sultan," shouted the impatient boy, as he made off
+through the house to the stockyard.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Say, Sandy!" cried out Jess, who was now wide
+awake.  "Have you roused Mr.—er—Fevvers yet?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Ssh! mother'll hear you," exclaimed the boy warningly,
+as he returned to the door.  "He didn't have a snooze.
+Says it's unbusinesslike to sleep in the daytime.  Says
+they never do that in England.  England be blowed, say
+I.  An' whatyer think?  Harry offered him the loan
+of his leggin's, but he wouldn't have 'em.  Says they
+smell of the stockyard, ha—ha!  Says they don't wear
+'em in England.  Listen!  He's got on a pair of white
+duck britches, an' my crikey! they won't be white any
+longer.  He asked Harry for his fourteen-foot stockwhip.
+Says he was told an 'Awestralian' horse would never
+budge without one.  Only dad was there I'd 'a' put his
+saddle on Dick Swiveller, an' by jing! we'd 'a' had some
+sport.  We'll knock fun out of him as it is, I reckon.
+But look alive, girls, or y'll be left behind."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="a-bush-ride-and-its-consequences"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XV</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Then hey for boot and horse, lad!</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And round the world away;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Young blood will have its course, lad!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And every dog his day."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>KINGSLEY.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The weather in Australia at Christmas is not ideal for
+riding parties.  Midsummer heat and dust, together with
+hordes of flies, largely countervail the delights of the
+saddle.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The enthusiastic party that cantered along the tracks
+leading from the Bullaroi homestead on this particular
+Christmas, with one exception, made small bones about
+either dust or heat.  Neville, however, was irritated by
+the dust which the horses' feet knocked up.  Nor would
+he seek alleviation as did the others by leaving the track
+at every opportunity.  The victim of prejudice and
+conventionality, expressed in terms of cussedness, he
+obstinately stuck to the dusty track.  The boys and Jessie
+frisked here and there, making short cuts, jumping
+gullies and logs, and generally enjoying themselves.
+They raised, it is true, clouds of dust, to the annoyance
+of the new chum, as they pounded along the track on
+their return to the others, after having forged ahead
+some distance; behaving, in short, like gambolling dogs.
+Mag would have dearly loved the frolic, but hospitality's
+demands made it imperative that she—the eldest—should
+partner the guest.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville was no rider.  His knowledge of the ways of the
+horse was of the most elementary kind.  Had he had the
+common sense to have admitted that palpable fact, many
+of his painful experiences, and indeed tortures, would
+have been minimised, if not altogether avoided.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Like all inexperienced riders, he responded to every
+movement of the horse.  He had no sense of balance.
+He held the reins shoulder high, and was for ever
+jerking them.  When his body was not stiffly straight it
+inclined forward.  The inevitable result was made
+abundantly manifest in chafed limbs and aching bones.  With
+Neville, as with most new-chum riders, the trousers legs
+</span><em class="italics">would</em><span> work up from the bottom, displaying a section of
+calf, to the great amusement of the boys, who baa'd most
+vehemently at such times.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This, however, must be reckoned for grace in Neville:
+he made no complaint, nor admitted any discomfort.  He
+was forward in his criticisms of the boys' style of riding:
+their seats were un-English and cowboy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>No greater contrast between the riders could well
+be imagined than that which the new chum and the
+pals presented.  Theirs was to the manner born, to be
+confounded neither with cowboy nor military.  While
+there is an utter absence of stiffness in the Australian
+style, there is at the same time nothing bordering on
+the truculent as affected by the cowboy.  The movements
+are willowy and rhythmic.  Horse and man are one and
+indivisible.  This means to both the minimum of work
+with the maximum of ease.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>How far removed from this attainment was poor
+Neville!  His figure was of the ramrod pattern for the
+first few miles—ultra military, so to speak.  His feet,
+well through the stirrups, inclined outwards at a sharp
+angle; his left arm, held at right angle as rigid as a
+semaphore, gripped the reins; while his right clutched
+the stockwhip with tenacious grasp.  The steed, a fair
+pacer in experienced hands, in his became a veritable
+jogger.  He rose and fell in springless fashion with every
+motion of the horse.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was not in Neville's power to maintain that iron
+rigidity, and so he gradually inclined forward.  His back
+became bowed, and his nose at times was in imminent
+danger of the horse's head.  His arms, too, hung listlessly
+at either side, until at last his appearance resembled
+nothing so much as a doubled-up Guy Fawkes perched
+on a rail.  Yet his dogged spirit, essentially British, half
+courage, half cussedness, bore him up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nearing the caves, the party, with the exception of
+Neville and his companion, raced ahead, and by the time
+that the latter arrived were cooling off beneath the shade
+of some coolibahs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now disaster of such a character as to shake from
+him the last remains of superiority and propriety,
+overwhelming him in the depths of humiliation, overtook
+poor Neville.  These mortifying results were brought
+about by his attempted gallantry.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The selected camp, as related, was beneath the grateful
+shade of a cluster of coolibah[#] trees that grew on the
+banks of a mountain stream, close to the mouth of the
+caves.  Seeing that Maggie was about to dismount
+unassisted, the youth exclaimed in eager tones, "Wait
+a moment, Miss M'Intyre!" and so saying, threw
+himself from his horse in order to do the gallant by
+helping his companion down, "as they do in England."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Water gum trees.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Sad to say, however, so cramped and stiff were his
+limbs, especially his nether extremities, that the instant
+he touched ground his legs doubled in a powerless
+condition, and he fell prone to the earth.  Unfortunately,
+the ground at the spot where he tumbled down began
+to slope towards the creek.  In his frantic efforts to rise
+quickly to his feet he overbalanced himself, and began
+to roll down the incline.  He saved himself for a second,
+and the impending disaster might have been averted
+but for the confounded stockwhip, which led to his
+undoing in a most effectual way.  This weapon, which
+he still held in his clenched right hand, got entangled
+with his legs by some means, lasso fashion, bringing
+him smartly to the ground again in a fresh attempt to
+rise.  The sloping bank at this point became almost
+precipitous: with a rapid turn over-and-over, he rolled
+down the steep gradient, crashed through an undergrowth
+of bushes and bracken that fringed the perpendicular
+bank of the creek, and shot out into its clear, deep
+waters.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This unrehearsed performance, taking less time to
+act than to relate, brought a powerful shriek from
+Maggie, who, arrested in her intention to dismount
+unaided by Neville's proffered aid, beheld from her
+horse the undignified collapse of her escort, with its
+quickly succeeding acts of comedy and tragedy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The others, who were witnesses of this performance,
+hugely enjoyed it, giving a loud hurrah as the new chum
+splashed into the creek.  There was one exception.
+Sandy, who was on his way to the creek with the billy
+can, and who realised in a moment that the discomfited
+Englishman had fallen into a deep pool,—the very spot
+where he had often fished for big perch,—threw away the
+billy and rushed to the spot where the unfortunate man
+had fallen in.  Only that day had Neville declared that
+"my water exercises have been confined to the house bath."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Beyond the agitated surface there were no signs of
+their visitor in the water.  Without pause, the lad took a
+header to the bottom, which was at least ten feet from the
+top, discerned the sunken man kicking and clawing,
+hauled him to the surface, and towed him to the bank.
+Here willing hands were ready to grip the victim of this
+misadventure and pull him to land.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As soon as he was dragged to safety, the cause of his
+abject helplessness in the water was revealed.  The
+stockwhip had so encircled his legs as to prevent the free use
+of them, besides which the shock of the whole accident
+had to an extent numbed his senses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In sooth he was a sorry sight as he lay on the turf.
+The immersion did not cover more than half a minute;
+it was long enough, though, to take him to the verge
+of unconsciousness and to fill his lungs and stomach
+with water.  The boys speedily unwound the whip, and
+subjected Neville to some rough but wholesome treatment,
+during which process the water was rapidly ejected
+from his interior regions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The girls, as soon as Neville was landed, discreetly
+withdrew.  Merriment had dissolved into pity.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Poor Mr. Neville!  I'm </span><em class="italics">so</em><span> sorry.  Isn't it a shame, Mag?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Seems like a dream; it all happened so quickly and
+unexpectedly.  I'm afraid father'll be very angry about it.
+The poor fellow was going to be so gallant, too.  'Permit
+me to assist you,' he said, and the next moment——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here the whole scene comes up so vividly and comically
+that, strive as she may, Maggie cannot withhold laughter
+of a somewhat hysterical kind.  And so, between laughter
+and tears, the two girls superintended the billy-boiling
+and tea-making business.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Meanwhile the lads, stripping Neville under the lee
+of the bank, wrung his clothes, and then re-dressed him,
+bringing him up to the fire little the worse for his cold
+douche.  The girls quickly recognised the finer qualities
+of Neville's character, which broke through the crust of
+his artificiality in the hour of adversity.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm very sorry to have caused this trouble, Miss
+M'Intyre.  No one's to blame but myself.  Your brother
+and his mates have been exceedingly kind to me.  Indeed, I
+owe a debt to your brother that I can never repay, for
+without doubt he saved my life.  I was utterly helpless
+with that wretched whip curled around me."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Indeed, it was true.  The accident might easily have
+had a fatal termination, and the thought of it (for all that
+Neville cut such a grotesque figure in his shrunken
+clothes) drove the last remains of latent hilarity away.
+Maggie assured the forlorn-looking youth that no thanks
+were due to any one; that all deplored the accident,
+and were thankful that the finale inclined rather to
+the comic than the tragic.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Take this pannikin of hot tea, Mr. Neville.  Father
+says that whisky's not in it with tea for recruiting one's
+jaded energies."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As there was no need for starting on the return ride
+awhile, the three boys, leaving the girls and Neville at
+the camp, proceeded to the caves.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The caves, three in number, were connected with one
+another by narrow entrances.  The outermost one had
+an inlet through a narrow crevice.  This opening was
+concealed from the casual eye by a sentinel-like boulder
+which stood directly opposite, and about eighteen inches
+in advance of the wall of rock.  It was a squeeze
+for any one above the average size to get through.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Before its occupation by the bushrangers the outer
+cave, by evident signs, formed a favourite wallaby
+haunt.  These had been disturbed and hunted by the
+bushrangers, who from time to time, according to
+police report, used it as a hiding-place.  They had often
+lain there when the district was filled with troopers.
+On one occasion, as was afterwards known, Ben Bolt
+and his mate, a youth of eighteen years, lay concealed
+for weeks.  The boy had been badly wounded in the
+thigh during a brush with the police in the New
+England ranges.  Ben Bolt, who was passionately
+attached to him, by incredible labour and consummate
+skill—for the pursuing police were on their tracks
+all the time—brought his wounded mate to the caves
+in order that he might lie in safety until his sores
+were healed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy was the only one of the lads who knew anything
+about the caves.  In company with his father he had
+visited them a few weeks previously.  He therefore
+acted as a guide to the party.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The fissure, a mere crack in the limestone rock,
+extended in tortuous fashion for some distance.
+Lengthening out and making a curve, it suddenly
+broadened into a chamber of respectable dimensions.
+At the entrance of the crevice Sandy had lit a candle,
+one being sufficient for the cramped passage.  Before
+entering the cave proper, all three candles brought for
+that purpose were lit.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The cave was bat-inhabited.  Large numbers of these
+uncanny creatures, which were clinging to the roof and
+sides, disturbed and dazzled by the light, flew about
+in aimless fashion, often striking the boys in their
+uncertain flight.  Numbers of them fastened on to
+their clothes and limbs with their claw-like pinions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe and Tom, to whom this was a new experience,
+were uneasy and a good bit scared.  Their nervousness
+increased when the fluttering nocturnals more than once
+extinguished the lights.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You must do as I do, boys!" sang out Sandy,
+who was in advance, as they walked cautiously over
+the uneven and stone-littered floor.  Sandy had
+removed his hat and held it over the candle.  This,
+while it darkened all above, gave ample light on the
+floor space, and protected the candle from the nocturnals.
+The others thereupon followed suit, and soon reached
+the opening on the opposite side that led to the second
+chamber.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This narrow passage made a stiff ascent for some
+yards, inclining to the left, and then extending like
+a funnel.  Sandy was proceeding very cautiously, for
+the opening into the interior cave was made at about
+ten feet from its floor.  A rough ladder of lawyer
+vines hung from the opening in the wall to the
+basement.  Down this the boys speedily slipped, and
+found themselves in a dome-like space, bigger by far
+than any room, barn, or church that they had seen.
+The atmosphere was very chill, and the continual
+drip of falling water made a monotonous sound.  A
+narrow, clear stream of running water flowed along
+one side, disappearing in a floor crack near the far
+corner.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Contrary to what one would have expected, the
+lime crystals were few, and for the most part small;
+not to be mentioned in the same breath with the
+matchless statuary of the far-famed Jenolan Caves.
+On the ground, however, were some interesting
+stalagmites, whose grotesque figures highly amused the
+boys.  At the first sight, though, a fearsome feeling
+possessed them.  They were children of the sun, and
+this new and cryptic experience in the cold, dark, vaulted
+chamber quickened their pulses and shortened their
+breaths.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Everything seemed to have a ghostly appearance to
+the pals.  It was a fitting abode for spectral creatures,
+and they had a feeling that at any moment such might
+appear.  This sensation, however, was of short duration.
+A few minutes' familiarity with their surroundings
+dissipated it, and the lads moved freely in their
+investigations.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Didn't you say there was another cave adjoining this,
+Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, I'll show it to you in a few minutes."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While the question was being asked and answered,
+Sandy was peering into a crevice immediately behind a
+huge stalagmite, and in a dark corner of the cave.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"This looks as if it might open out somewhere, but the
+opening's jammed with a big limestone boulder."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Let's have a pull at it," said Tom, as he leaned forward
+to take hold of a projecting point.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No go, Tom.  Look at its weight!  See how tightly
+it's wedged!  You'll never budge that.  It'll need a
+crowbar to shift it.  Come along, boys, and we'll take a
+peep at the other cave, just to say we've seen it; then
+we must make tracks back."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy, however, bore in mind this sealed chamber
+which was destined later to yield important and
+far-reaching results.  He made for a low, narrow aperture in
+the wall, at a far corner, which opened directly into a
+vault-like ceil—a small bedroom or pantry, as the case
+might be.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here's where the rangers camped," said Sandy, when
+the boys had struggled through.  "Here's their beds, an'
+there's where they had their fire."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A couple of sheets of stringy-bark, placed stretcher-fashion
+on crossed sapling frames, formed the sleeping-bunks
+of the outlaws.  On these were placed a quantity
+of bracken which made a comfortable resting-place for
+men who more often than not slept upon the ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Sandy," remarked Joe, after standing a moment
+in deep thought, "this is an all-right place for hidin' in,
+but where'd they keep the mokes?  That's what beats me."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It beats more'n you.  It beats father.  It beats the
+police.  Yes, they can't get a clue.  Must have had the
+horses handy, too; for when the police got into the cave
+the time they tracked 'em here, the rangers couldn't have
+been gone more'n a few minutes, 'cause a fire was still
+burning in Ben Bolt's room, as they call it.  The bobbies
+have searched inside and outside and all over the ridge
+for another opening, but can't find it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They've clean bunged the p'lice, the cute beggars!"
+exclaimed Tom, with a grin.  "Wonder if they'll ever
+come back again.  Ole Ben's a game un.  They say he
+wears a reversible suit of different colours.  An'
+sometimes he straps up a leg an' fastens a wooden peg on it
+an' stumps along, led by a dog on a string like a blind
+beggar."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"He's always bluffin' the police, anyway," said Joe.
+"The Sub-Inspector was at our place about a month ago,
+telling father how he an' the others were fooled not so
+long ago."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell us, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, 'twas like this.  A bushman on a piebald horse
+rode up to the police camp out Kean's swamp way,
+bearing a note from Sub-Inspector Garvie, ordering them to
+cross the ranges an' get into Walcha secretly, as he
+possessed reliable information to the effect that Ben Bolt
+intended to stick up the bank two days later.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It appears this same man called at the Sub's quarters
+earlier in the day, who was laid up with a sprained leg.
+This chap told how he'd been in Ben Bolt's company
+two nights previously.  The ranger and his mate—the
+same boy as was wounded—came upon him as he
+lay by his fire in the evening, and asked permission to
+camp alongside.  They pretended to be stockmen in
+search of strayed heifers, and made out that they had
+come across their tracks just at nightfall.  As it was a
+goodish way to the station, they would be glad to sleep
+by his fire and get after the cattle at dawn.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The man said that as soon as he spotted 'em he knew
+'em, but he was too frightened to let on.  He gave 'em
+some grub, an' then lay down in his blanket.  As soon as
+they had scoffed the prog they lay down too, on the off
+side of the fire.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The man didn't go to sleep, though he pretended
+to.  By an' by the two men began to talk in low tones.
+He could hear 'em, though, pretty well, and found out
+that they were goin' to stick up the Walcha bank.  The
+date they named was four days from that night.
+Although the chap lay as if he were dead he didn't sleep
+a wink.  Just before daylight the coves saddled their
+horses, which had been short-hobbled, and singing out,
+'So-long,' they galloped off.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'And what prompted you to bring this information?'
+said the Sub.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Well, if you cop the rangers,' he answered, 'I shall
+expect something substantial for supplying these particulars.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'As for that, you'll get your share.  And now you
+can do something further that'll help you in the matter
+of reward.  Take this note to Sergeant Henessey, who is
+camping with four police and a tracker in the foothills,
+at the head of Kean's swamp.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The Sub-Inspector, who had hastily written a note
+of instruction to the Sergeant, handed it to the man,
+who said his name was Sam Kelly.  Sam promised to
+deliver it by daybreak; which he did.  As soon as the
+Sergeant read it, he roused up the men, and after a hasty
+meal it was 'Saddle up.'  A few minutes later the
+troopers were on their way to cop the rangers.  Now
+listen: that very day, towards evening, the Port
+Macquarie mail was stuck up!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My eye!" said Sandy, "weren't the p'lice sold!  Fancy
+ole Ben goin' into the lion's den with his information
+an' then takin' the letter out to the camp, an' none of
+'em cute enough to twig 'im!  He's a downy cove is Ben.
+Ain't he, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They say," concluded Joe, "that the piebald he
+rode was his favourite horse, the blood-bay he calls
+Samson."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But how was it he turned him piebald?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"</span><em class="italics">Painted patches of pipeclay on him!</em><span>"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, then," exclaimed Sandy, pulling out his watch,
+"we've only a few minutes left, an' we mustn't be late,
+as Mr. Neville won't be able to ride fast."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Poor old Fevvers!" exclaimed Tom reminiscently.
+"This hasn't been much of a treat for him."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-dingo-raid"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XVI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE DINGO RAID</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"What's up, old horse?  Your ears you prick,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And your eager eyeballs glisten.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>'Tis the wild dog's note, in the tea-tree thick,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>By the river to which you listen.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Let the dingo rest, 'tis all for the best;</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>In this world there's room enough</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>For him and you and me and the rest,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And the country is awful rough."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>ADAM LINDSAY GORDON.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Here's a fine how-d'ye-do!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre
+wrathfully, as he strode into the house, one hot morning
+shortly after the events recorded in the previous chapter.
+"Why sic rubbish were ever created passes
+understanding!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The irate squatter, contrary to his usual habit, clattered
+through the hall and out on to the front verandah,
+slamming the door most vigorously as he made his
+exit.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatever's stung dad this morning, Jess?" remarked
+Maggie to her sister, as their excited parent made his
+noisy intrusion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Something bad, you may be sure, to cause dad to
+parade in that fashion.  I expect the blacks have been
+performing.  They madden father at times by their 'want
+o' intellect,' as he calls it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll—I'll cut the livers out o' them, the sneakin'
+hounds!  Rot 'em, I'll pizen every faither's son o' the
+dirty vermin!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, father!" cried Jessie, "you surely are not going
+to poison the poor things?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pizen 'em, that am I!  Pizen's ower guid for them,
+thieving brutes that they are!  'Puir things,' as you
+ca' the wretches," continued he sarcastically, "I'll hae the
+life o' the hale o' them, if it tak's a' the pizen in Tareela!"
+barked the exasperated man.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Then you're no father of mine!" blazed out Jessie.
+"What have the poor boys done that you should
+threaten such dreadful——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"W-h-a-t!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, poor Willy and Jacky: what have they done
+that you should——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What on earth is the lassie haverin' aboot?" roared
+Mr. M'Intyre to Maggie.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The blacks, father.  Didn't you say that you were
+going to poison them?  But I don't believe it for a——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The blacks!  Wha's talkin' o' blacks?  It's the
+reds, the blessed dingoes, wha've been playin' havoc wi'
+the calves.  The blacks?  Ma certie!" continued he, as
+the humour of the situation seized him, forcing a smile.
+Turning to his daughter, he exclaimed, "Ye're a fine
+bairn, I maun say, to be accusin' yer ain faither o' </span><em class="italics">black</em><span>
+murder!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Forgive me, dad!" cried the impulsive girl, as she
+threw her arms round his neck; "I never thought of the
+dingoes.  I—I—I made sure the black boys had been up
+to tricks, and never dreamed——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There, there, that's enough, my lassie!  It's a case of
+'misunderconstumbling,' as Denny Kineavy would say.
+But it's enough to make ane feel wild and gingery.  Eleeven
+fine yearlin's killed!  It's the wantonness mair than the
+actual loss that vexes me: though the latter is bad
+enough, for some o' the best, of course, are sacrificeed to
+their slaughterin' instincts."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>That evening, in conference with his chief stockman,
+Mr. M'Intyre laid his plans for the extermination of the
+pack of dingoes which had just given an exhibition of
+their destructive powers.  In this particular instance the
+brutes had driven a number of yearling calves, weaners,
+into a blind gully.  Having boxed them up in this </span><em class="italics">cul de
+sac</em><span>, the rapacious dogs found them an easy prey.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The Australian wild dog is a combination of several
+very excellent qualities—from the canine standpoint,
+that is.  He possesses more sagacity than any other wild
+thing of the bush.  Keen of sight, quick at scent, subtle
+of wit, noiseless in tread and bark, tenacious to rooted
+purpose, he pursues and stalks his quarry, whether bird
+or beast, with all the odds in his favour.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There he stands, this indigenous dog, with a great,
+broad forehead, his eyes narrowing in sinister expression;
+well set in body, showing big sinews and a good muscular
+development; strong jaws, with teeth like ivory needles;
+white in paw and tail-tip, bright yellow everywhere else,
+save the chocolate-coloured streak running along the spine
+from neck to tail.  There he stands: but that is a figure
+of speech, for a more restless animal than this same dog
+does not exist.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Australian cattle-dogs have a world reputation, and
+the very best are they which by crossing inherit a strain
+of dingo nature.  That which makes the dingo so hated
+by stock owners—who pursue him relentlessly—is the
+killing lust which possesses him.  Were he to simply kill
+for food, and be satisfied with a victim that would furnish
+enough for present needs, settlers would be far more
+tolerant of him.  The plain truth about him is that his
+predatory instinct is so strong as to practically intoxicate
+him.  The sight of a flock of sheep or a bunch of calves
+makes him "see red," and then he simply runs amok.
+One snap—he does not bite in the ordinary sense—of his
+steel-like jaws is enough.  The mouthful of flesh and
+muscle is torn out in an instant, and the victim
+invariably dies of shock.  One dingo in a sheepfold will kill
+fifty sheep in a few minutes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These dogs are more troublesome in bad than in good
+seasons.  When the cattle get low in condition and
+weak, they become a comparatively easy prey, then the
+cunning of the dingoes becomes manifest.  They will
+select their victim and drive it towards a water-hole or
+swamp.  In dry times these are mere puddles and
+exceedingly boggy.  The object of the canine drovers is to
+reduce the bullock to helplessness by bogging it.  The
+drive will sometimes take hours, and no experienced
+drover could do the work more cleverly.  Finally, when
+their quarry is down in the mire and practically helpless,
+he is tackled and bitten to death.  In good seasons, when
+the cattle are strong, Mr. Dingo, save for an occasional
+foray on the calves, has to content himself with his
+natural diet—kangaroos, 'possums, and emus.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Fortunately, there was at the station at this time an
+eccentric bushman who combined the work of horse-breaking
+and dingo-trapping.  Nosey George was reputed
+to have a sense of smell equal to that of the dingo itself.
+Certainly, his slouching gait made it often appear as if he
+were "nosing" the tracks of the game.  But in truth he
+owed his prowess as a trapper to a pair of eyes that
+knew no dimness.  At first sight of Nosey, one saw
+nothing but his nose.  But when you noticed his eyes
+you forgot the nose, and lived in the presence of a pair of
+eyes that sparkled like diamonds, or as searchlights that
+permitted nothing to escape their scrutiny.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nosey's feats of tracking were really marvellous.  On
+one occasion he got on to the trail of a dingo bitch which
+had raided his hen-roost, and followed it for twelve miles,
+mostly through scrubby and rocky country that was
+criss-crossed with innumerable tracks of bush vermin.
+For all that, this human sleuth-hound tracked Mrs. Dingo
+to a cave in the mountains where she had five pups,
+and returned with six scalps.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The dingo trapper rode out early the next morning in
+company with Harry the stockman and the boys to the
+scene of the slaughter, there to devise means, for which
+he had received </span><em class="italics">carte blanche</em><span> from Mr. M'Intyre, for the
+capture of the raiders.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The weaners' paddock was about three miles from the
+house, and had an area of five thousand acres.  Most of
+the enclosure consisted of plain, but a corner of it
+contained a belt of scrub; and it was in this corner, where
+the weaners camped for warmth in the night-time, that
+the drive and slaughter had been made.  The beasts,
+most of them, lay huddled, showing evidence of mangling;
+others had struggled out of the gully into the scrub.
+After gazing awhile at the slain, Tom Hawkins broke the
+silence—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Nosey, ain't this a go?  Poor brutes!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here, you kid," cried the trapper, turning sharply on
+Tom, "who gave you leave to call me names?  Like
+yer blessed cheek!  How'd yer like me ter call yer
+monkey-face?  If yer had a decent nose, I'd tweak it fer yer."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nosey, who was very sensitive on this question of
+nickname, and had had many a fight over the same, made
+such a menacing move towards Tom that the lad shrank
+back in fear.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That'll do, George," said Sandy.  "Leave the boy
+alone.  He didn't mean anything.  It's what everybody
+calls you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm not goin' to let brats of boys miscall me, anyhow.
+Don't know why the boss sent you blokes, for all the
+good y'are!" growled the grumpy, cross-grained, but not
+really bad-hearted old man.  "Youse better be keepin'
+quiet, anyways, till me an' Harry has a look round."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Let him be," whispered Harry.  "If you get his
+dander up he's as likely as not to chuck the whole blame
+thing.  He always jibs at that name; carn't stand it
+from kids nohow."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nosey, or to be respectful, George, now proceeded to
+examine the surroundings of the carcasses.  Bending
+forward until his protuberant nose almost touched the
+earth, the trapper moved his eyes swiftly, now concentrating
+on twig or grass-blades, now wildly roving and
+all-comprehensive.  The rest of the party were following at
+his heels, when he turned round and fiercely waved them
+back.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, Nos—George!" sang out Joe.  "I see; you
+want to keep the tracks clear.  We'll stay here till you've
+finished."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Drawing on one side, the group watched the proceedings
+with great interest.  The ground was hard and stony;
+quite unimpressionable and barren of sign to the pals'
+untutored sight, yet to this man of the woods, who was
+ignorant of the alphabet, the rough earth surface was
+all-revealing, and made known to him in unmistakable
+characters the story of the attack.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Having at length concluded his investigations, the
+trapper straightened his back and moved to where the
+others stood.  Producing his knife and a plug of tobacco,
+he began to shred a pipeful, making no remark to the
+expectant onlookers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Reckon we'll have to drag it out o' the old un," said
+Harry to Joe in a low tone.  Then raising his voice, the
+stockman began to question the man.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Had a good look round, George?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nod.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ain't missed anything worth seeing, I bet?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Head-shake.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatyer make of it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Razorback pack," replied the old man of frugal
+speech, as he cleaned out his pipe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Razorback pack?  You surely don't mean it!  Why,
+that is a matter of twelve mile or so!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Suppose it is; what of that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Harry dubiously, yet not
+wishful to offend the old man's susceptibilities.  "Of
+course you know best, George.  How many of 'em do
+you consider they'd be?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Five dorgs an' two bitches."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good gracious, Nosey!" cried Tom the unlucky, the
+next moment beating a rapid retreat as the dog-trapper
+made a vicious dart at his caudal appendage, finally
+coming to grief over a fallen log which lay in the line of
+retreat.  The pursuing foe, even, had to stop and join in
+the laugh raised at the ludicrous figure which Tom cut as
+he lay, head down, heels up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Beg pardon, George!" he cried breathlessly the next
+moment, as he recovered his original position.  "It slipped
+out, old fellow.  I—I didn't mean it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come, now, George, that's handsome.  You must
+accept the apology," interjected Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper nodded assent, and the incident passed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How </span><em class="italics">do</em><span> you know what pack it is, George?  Blest if
+I can understand how you find out all these things!  First
+you tell us the sex an' then where they come from."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell it by their paws."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By their paws!  How on earth can you tell they've
+come all the way from Razorback by their paw marks?
+Mightn't it be the turkey scrub lot?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It carn't be, an' isn't, 'cause I knows the pack."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How's that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Got two of the vermin in the traps six months ago
+over at the mountains, an' a cove wot got away left two
+toe nails of his near hind-foot in the trap."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Too fly for poison, eh?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Twould be a waste of good strychnine over the
+rubbage," replied the trapper, waxing more communicative.
+"They know a bait better than a Christun.
+'Sides, I tried them over at Razorback.  Got plenty o'
+cats, gohanners, an' crows; an', be gosh! laid out one of
+my own cattle puppies, but ne'er a dingo."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The traps'll fetch 'em, won't they, George?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>George returned no answer, but "smoled" a cryptic
+smile.  Mounting their steeds, the party turned in the
+direction of home.  Mr. M'Intyre received the trapper's
+report without interruption, and then consulted as to the
+best way to work their destruction.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hunting them is out of the question," said the
+squatter in reply to a remark of his son that it would
+be grand sport hunting them.  "We'd only ruin the
+horses in that country and miss most o' the dingoes.
+Na! the traps are the best an' safest.  If ony ane can catch
+'em in that fashion, George is the mon.  I leave the hale
+matter in his hands.  He kens best what to do to
+circumvent the brutes; so go your own way to work,
+George.  What aboot traps?  Have ye enough?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Got seven or eight, dunno for sure.  Ought to have
+a dozen."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Varra weel; ane o' the laddies will ride to Tareela
+and get ither fower."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Accordingly, Joe and Tom mounted their horses and
+rode into the store for the additional traps.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A dog-trap, it should be explained, is simply an
+enlarged spring rat-trap, with extra strong jaws and
+saw-like teeth.  These instruments of capture weigh
+about ten pounds, and are planted in likely spots.  The
+native dog is an exceedingly suspicious animal.  His
+reasoning faculty is large.  A mere glance at his head
+will convince one as to his capacity, and those who have
+had to do with him count him as the slimmest of the slim.
+Hence, only by outmatching him in cunning may his
+adversary succeed.  In this Nosey George was an adept, and
+Mr. M'Intyre did not overstate the facts when he declared
+no one to be capable of matching the dog-trapper in the
+art of setting lures.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals readily obtained leave to accompany the
+trapper next morning to watch the proceedings, on the
+understanding that they were in no way to interfere with
+him.  Each lad had a pair of traps slung across his horse's
+withers, and George carried the balance on the neck and
+croup of his steed.  They made their way to the weaners'
+paddock, and after a brief inspection of the carrion the
+trapper declared that there had been no return of the dogs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I didn't expect them larst night," remarked George.
+"They're like the blacks, can eat enough at one meal to
+do 'em fur days.  A gorge is Chrismus to 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What do you intend doing with the dead beasts, George?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Leave 'em be, o' course.  They'll help me more than
+anythin' else.  Dogs'll come again to get another feed
+or two; an' as boss's took the weaners away to a safe
+paddock, they'll go fur these dead uns like winkie—likes
+'em a bit high, in fact.  Supposin' we burn these wretches,
+the vermin'll keep about their own haunts.  They're
+out of their beat when they come over here, while they
+knows every stick an' stone of their run.  Consequently,
+it gives me a better charnse with 'em on unfamiliar
+ground."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, the cunning hunter proceeded to carry out
+his plan.  The dingo has a well-defined method of
+carving his veal, so to speak.  The hide of the animal is
+not uniformly thick.  The softest and tenderest part is
+that underneath and between the thighs.  The ravager,
+therefore, attacks this tenderest and most susceptible
+part.  He tears a big hole through the skin and into the
+flesh in a short time, and literally eats his way into the
+body; until, when he and his fellow-feasters have finally
+finished, and cleaned paws and jaws with that
+self-provided serviette the tongue, nothing of the animal
+remains but the skin and bones—always providing that
+no foe appears to stay proceedings against the gourmands.
+This finish, of course, entails several feasts when the
+course happens to be a bullock, or, as in the present case,
+toothsome veal.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper proceeded to lay a trap facing the torn
+portion of each carcass—that, of course, being the place
+of attack on each occasion of the canines' visits.  After a
+careful consideration of the ground surrounding each
+beast, he dug a hole in the earth and then placed a trap
+in it.  He next produced some sheets of the inner bark
+of the ti tree, which is as flexible as paper and softer.
+A sheet of this is laid over the gaping jaws of the trap,
+which is, of course, properly set.  The "jaws" are now
+level with the ground.  Over this fine earth is sprinkled
+until all appearance of the trap is hidden.  The superfluous
+soil is now removed with care, and the surroundings
+are made to look as natural as possible.  This in itself is
+a work of art; for the slightest appearance of disturbance
+or make-up alarms the wary dingo, and nullifies the
+trapper's design.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There is one thing, however, that Nosey George had
+not reckoned upon when starting his operations—the
+number of carcasses to be treated.  It will be remembered
+that eleven animals were slaughtered in the dingo raid.
+This would mean the use of eleven traps, were every
+animal to be used as a lure.  But it is contrary to the
+design of the trapper to use up all his traps in the
+vicinity of the beasts.  Some are to be set along the line
+of approach.  A number of carcasses, therefore, must be
+removed.  With the help of the boys, five of the beasts
+are dragged about two hundred yards away, put in a heap,
+covered with dry wood, and then burned.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This left the trapper with several traps to use in other
+directions.  Having laid six traps in the vicinity of the
+calves, he proceeded to follow up the tracks of the dogs.
+The first gin was laid in a soft patch of ground directly
+in their footmarks.  This he continued at intervals, until
+the last one was placed at a spot about two miles
+distant.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How many dingoes do you think you'll nab, George?"
+exclaimed Tom, as the party rode homewards in the
+late afternoon.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say the whole bloomin' lot," loudly proclaimed the
+sanguine Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper's prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to
+the traps in the early morning by the expectant and
+impatient boys, in the company of Nosey George, to the
+surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not a trap
+was sprung.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper, who while examining the ground had
+maintained a sphinx-like attitude, broke silence at length
+under a fusillade of questions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog's
+copp'd?  Simple enough.  Dogs didn't come."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="dingo-v-emu-a-fight-to-a-finish"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XVII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">DINGO </span><em class="bold italics medium">V.</em><span class="bold medium"> EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Afar I mark the emu's run;</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The bustard slow, in motley clad;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>And, basking in his bath of sun,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The brown snake on the cattle-pad,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And the reddish black</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Of a dingo's back</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>As he loit'ring slinks on my horse's track."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The next morning's visit told another tale.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The dingoes, having recovered from their surfeit,
+hunger-induced, made a second nocturnal trip to the
+feeding-grounds.  Cunning and wary as they habitually
+are, they fell, some of them at least, before the wiles
+of the trapper.  Four of their number paid the death
+penalty.  Two female dogs were caught in the traps set
+about the calves.  The trapped animals had not moved
+any great space.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It should be said that the traps are not fastened to
+the spot whereon they are laid; because, were they
+stationary, the dingo, especially the dog dingo, in his
+frantic efforts to escape, and by reason of his great
+strength, will frequently save his life at the expense of
+his paw.  That dog, it is safe to say, will never be
+trapped again; as on the principle of, once bitten twice
+shy, he will ever eschew the most deftly constructed
+device of man.</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 61%" id="figure-67">
+<span id="the-emu-failed-to-elude-the-panther-like-spring"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring.&quot;" src="images/img-128.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id3">134</a><span class="italics">.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On the other hand, should there be no fastening, a
+strong dog will carry a trap for miles, especially if caught
+by the hind-leg.  In order to remedy this, a device,
+similar to that which sailors use, called a sea anchor,
+is attached.  A block of wood not too heavy is tied to
+the trap by a chain or a piece of wire.  This acts as
+a check to the animal, besides leaving a broad trail that
+is easily followed up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the trapped dingoes were approached they set
+up a dismal howling, which turned to a vigorous snapping
+with their teeth; the while they tore the earth with their
+paws in vain efforts to escape.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Put the poor wretches out of their pain," cried Sandy,
+after watching the agonised efforts of the canines for a
+few seconds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper, armed with a heavy "nulla-nulla,"
+dispatched the brutes, and scalped them; for the district
+Stock Board, to induce their extermination, gave £1 per
+scalp, and experienced trappers like Nosey George did
+well at times.  They concluded that there was at the
+least one other victim; for while the bitches were
+snapping and howling, answering howls of rage and
+sympathy could be heard in the distance along the trail.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The next act was to cremate the slain, which was
+speedily done.  After this the group proceeded to follow
+the track along which the other snares were secreted.
+The very first trap contained a dog.  It was set in the
+centre of a soft depression, at the edge of the scrub belt
+on the farther side.  The dog had dragged the trap about
+three hundred yards, when the "anchor," fouling in some
+saplings, his retreat was stopped.  The beast was
+immediately brained and scalped, and the body flung into a
+clump of bushes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was still another victim.  The farthest out trap
+was gone.  Nothing was to be seen but the trap-hole.
+George, however, was soon upon the trail.  The country
+here was fairly open, and offered little obstruction to
+the determined dog.  The track led on and on with little
+deviation until a course of three miles or so had been
+traversed.  It now curved outward and down toward a
+patch of scrub.  Nosey suddenly stopped and pointed to
+the ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's up, George?" exclaimed Joe, who stood
+nearest the trapper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look an' see fur y'reself."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Bending over, Joe saw in a sandy patch the deep
+impress of the toes of a large bird.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I can't make it out.  What in thunder is it?  Far
+too big for a crow; bigger even than an eagle or a
+bustard."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"As big as two eagles, young mutton-head," declared
+the old tough.  "Tell 'im, Sandy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, you greeney; that's an emu track!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Emu!" shouted Joe in great excitement.  "It's the
+first time I ever saw an emu track.  What an enormous
+foot he must have."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ye'd know it, me boy, if ivver ye got a kick," grunted
+the trapper.  "I've seen them break a dog's leg like a
+carrot."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Blest if I don't think he's follerin' up the dingo!"
+continued Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Just wot 'e </span><em class="italics">is</em><span> a-doin' of," answered the man.  "These
+'ere emus is more curious nor a woman."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father
+used to lure the emu he was stalking within shot of his
+fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly waving his
+handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even
+doubling his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating
+his hat on the foot thus raised.  With slow and hesitating
+yet irresistible steps, fascinated by the mysterious object,
+or a victim to curiosity, the bird would approach to its
+undoing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This particular emu was no stranger to the dingoes,
+nor they to him.  Never before, though, had he beheld a
+dingo with such an appendage, or in such difficulties.
+The unwonted appearance of the canine furnishes the
+bird with an unusual sensation, and queries in rapid
+succession flit through its brain.  "What on earth is
+the matter with the limping, whimpering brute?  What
+is that object trailing behind the horrid creature?  Let
+me draw near and behold this great sight!"  Fate has
+delivered his old-time enemy into his hands.  That
+lolling, swollen tongue, those blood-shot eyes, that
+painful whimper, the wild despairing glances; all these
+loudly proclaim his downfall.  "Well, what matter!
+He's getting his punishment now.  What is there to
+prevent me wiping out old scores?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And so, with cautious yet confident step the huge bird,
+second in size only to the ostrich, strode on at a short
+distance behind his enemy; and in a few minutes both
+are swallowed up in the scrub.  The huntsmen follow
+well on the heels of the animals.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I wonder if the bird's still following?" asked Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Soon see," answered the trapper, carefully examining
+the ground.  "Not a quarter of an hour since he passed
+this spot: must be in the scrub still."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A minute or so brought them to the edge of the scrub.
+Pushing along, they were soon enwrapped in its gloom.
+Following the advice of George, the boys tied their horses
+to saplings at the outskirts of the belt, and proceeded on
+foot.  Suddenly the trapper, who was leading, stopped dead
+in his tracks, and uttered a warning note in a low voice.
+Motioning the pals to remain where they were, he
+noiselessly moved forward, and was soon lost in the thick
+foliage ahead.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wonder why ole Nosey made us stay back?" muttered
+Tom, after the lads had stood silently awhile.  "What
+can be in the air, now?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hist!" exclaimed Sandy in a whisper; "he's returning."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At this moment the trapper reappeared.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Follow as quiet as mice, an' ye'll see summat like wot
+ye've ne'er seed afore."  There was an unusual gleam
+in the man's eye as he made this deliverance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Cautiously and silently the party moved Indian fashion
+through the wood.  After going in this way a hundred
+paces or so the hunter stopped again, and beckoned the
+boys, indicating a stealthy approach.  Very gingerly they
+trod until they were abreast the man.  Following his
+muttered directions and example, they quietly parted the
+intervening brushwood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was an unique sight on which their eyes fastened;
+one they would not readily forget.  Beyond them was a
+small natural clearing, such as often occurs in the densest
+scrub.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was circular in form, and about fifty yards in
+diameter.  Here, almost in the centre of the clearing,
+the bird had bailed up the beast.  Curiosity in the emu
+had grown into anger, and was at a white heat, judging
+from the manner in which it pirouetted and menaced the
+dog, keeping up the while an incessant gabble.  The
+gabble, rightly interpreted, declared that the time of
+vengeance was at hand.  The fates were thanked for
+being so kind as to furnish this fitting opportunity for
+paying off old scores: "Here, you sneaking thief and
+flying murderer, stop!  It's you and I for it now; so, off
+with your coat and roll up your sleeves!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nor was Master Dingo disinclined to accept the
+challenge thrown down by the strutting bird.  Weary as
+he was and full of pain, he was in no humour to eat
+humble-pie, or to fly before another foe.  His warring
+instincts rose to the gage of his hereditary enemy.  Many
+of his kind were scarred with wounds from the terrible
+emu kick, or deep score made by the horny toe of this
+formidable antagonist.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Nor could he retreat, if so inclined: behind him, to a
+certainty, was the monstrous biped; far more to be feared
+than this animated piece of impertinence, whose wicked
+eye squinted and winked in defiance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the
+visible bird or the invisible pursuers.  Handicapped as he
+is, and goaded by his pain and shameful condition, the
+dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by making a sudden
+jump at the emu's throat, narrowly missing it, and still
+more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it
+made its counter-stroke.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and
+devices of animal warfare.  Each knows the tactics of the
+other.  But for the disability of the dog through the
+tenacious trap the chances would be in his favour; but
+his exhaustion and encumbrance give the odds to the
+other.  Still, he makes a gallant fight, and the bird needs
+all its wits and agility to escape his savage snaps, one of
+which, had he been able to lay hold, would tear out the
+neck from throat to breast.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The combat was at its height between these gladiators
+when the pursuers sighted them.  The boys hold their
+breath in fair amazement as they eagerly watch the two
+figures in the sunlit arena struggling for the mastery.  So
+engrossed are the combatants that the spectators may
+come out into the open and surround them, for all the
+notice that will be taken of them.  As it is, the boys'
+astonishment is quickly transmuted into animal excitement
+and battle-lust.  They take sides, and cheer, now the
+beast and now the bird.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id3"><span>But the end comes quickly and tragically enough.  The
+pace of the conflict tells terribly upon the dingo.  He is
+now weakening fast; can hardly see, so bloodshot are his
+eyes.  Yes, he can hold out but little longer.  Realising
+this, he fights purely on the defence for breath.  Then,
+concentrating all his energies in one last irresistible
+stroke, he springs, arrow-like, and this time strikes fair
+on the bullseye—the neck of his adversary.  The emu
+had failed to elude the panther-like spring.  But now the
+counter-stroke!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the dingo's fangs close vice-like upon the emu's
+throat the bird's fate is irrevocably sealed.  The jugular
+vein is torn out with a mouthful of flesh and muscle,
+and the skin is stripped to the bosom.  What time
+this savage and fatal stroke is given the vengeful bird,
+by one terrific downward blow of its powerful leg and
+toes, disembowels the hanging dog; and then with a
+lightning side-stroke, delivered full on the forehead of the
+prone beast, smashes in its skull.  A vain attempt to
+crow a note of victory; a few short, uncertain, rotatory
+movements, life-blood gushing the while from its severed
+jugular, then a collapse, falling across the body of its
+slain adversary!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Which of the two is the victor?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The surprise of the boys, at the sudden and bloody
+termination of the fight, may be better imagined than
+described.  They stared aghast for some moments at the
+spectacle, too dazed to move or speak.  Even the
+hardened bushman, George, was moved.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, of all the fights I ever seed, this licks creation;
+it's better nor cock-fightin'.  Be gosh, 'twas a grand fight
+to a finish!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper now busies himself with the scalping-knife,
+and, as the boys stand around, a feeling of sadness
+rises within as they contemplate the slain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Poor brutes!" said Sandy feelingly, "I've a notion,
+lads, that they deserved a better fate."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The boss wouldn't agree to that as fur as the dorgs is
+concerned.  As fer the emu, he's neither good nor bad,"
+grunted the old man.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, after all," broke in Joe, "it's their nature, as
+old Simpson is always preaching to us in school.  They're
+not to blame for following their instincts.  By jings! there's
+no coward's blood in these poor brutes,—they're as
+brave as brave."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But such moralising was beyond Nosey George.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Emus is sight enough in a way, an' only eats grass an'
+roots,—but dingos! they're vermin, an' any death's good
+enough fur them.  By the hokey!" exclaimed he as he
+looked at the trap; "I'm blamed if here isn't the blessed
+paw!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was true.  The wretched beast's foot was evidently
+so lacerated and broken by its efforts to escape, and in
+dragging the trap, that when it made the last and fatal
+spring the imprisoned paw parted from the leg in the
+very act, and that severance enabled it to reach the emu's
+neck.  Having secured the trap and the scalp, the group
+retraced their steps to where they had hitched the horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The haul proved successful beyond measure.  To secure
+four dingoes in one scoop was a great stroke of luck.  Not
+so much luck, on reflection, as skilful management.  An
+amateur might have set a hundred traps with seeming
+skill and not have bagged a dog.  No one save a trapper
+like George could trap with any degree of certainty.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I s'pose you'll bag the balance to-night," remarked
+Tom to the trapper when they had remounted.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No jolly fear!  Never catch any more along this line."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How's that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, d'yer think a dingo's no sense?  Be gosh! all
+the calves in creation wuddent tempt what's left of the
+vermin to come along this track again.  Wish we'd a' got
+the old dog, though."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What are you going to do next?" inquired Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Fust an' foremost thing is to collect the traps, then
+we'll burn the weaners."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Won't you try for the other dogs?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My oath, won't I?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Give us your programme, George, there's a good fellow."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll try 'em about Razorback with the traps, as soon
+as they've quietened down a bit.  They've been scared
+out of their precious wits by this 'ere business."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In due time the party arrived at the homestead.
+Mr. M'Intyre expressed his gratification at the result of the
+trapper's work, and praised his skill.  He further bade
+George continue his work until the beasts were
+exterminated, promising him a liberal reward should he
+achieve this end.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys related with great gusto, to an almost
+incredulous household, the particulars of the fight to a
+finish.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper fixed his camp in the hills, and employed
+his best endeavours to trap the remaining dingoes with
+but partial success, securing one only.  The old dingo,
+which on a former occasion had left two of his claws in a
+trap, and now had received this additional fright through
+the ensnarement of his comrades, was not to be lured by
+any device, however crafty.  George, who knew their run
+intimately, surrounded them with traps.  'Twas all in
+vain, set them never so wisely.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This defiance and immunity irritated the old man
+beyond endurance, and he swore by all the dignities to
+get their scalps, if it took him till the crack of doom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As he was camped on the ranges, in the vicinity of
+Razorback, his weekly ration was taken out to him by
+the boys, who were keen on this matter.  They had been
+out twice with the rations, and now were being sent out
+the third time.  What befel them on that trip will be
+related in the next chapter.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-chase-and-its-sequel"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XVIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE CHASE, AND ITS SEQUEL</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Proclaim a hunting morn;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Before the sun rises away we go,—</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The sleep of the sluggard we scorn."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>OLD SONG.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Now then, sleepies,—up you get!" cried Sandy in the
+early morning, as he performed his usual preliminary of
+whipping off the bed-clothes from the sleepy-headed Joe
+and Tom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sun's laughing at you through the windows.  Come,
+Master Hawkins!" cried he with a grin as he tumbled
+that grunting individual on to the floor, piling the
+bed-clothes on top of him, and then seating himself on the
+wriggling pile.  "If soft measures won't avail I am
+prepared to adopt severe ones."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom, now thoroughly aroused, and as peppery as you
+like, shouted and yelled and writhed, getting his arm at
+last round his persecutor, the laughing Sandy, and by
+a violent effort pulling him on to the broad of his back,
+thus reversing their positions.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You red-headed Scotchman, I'll teach you meddle
+with—" pommel—"me again"—pommel, pommel.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here a cold douche arrested the uplifted arm of the
+irate Tom, and took his breath for a moment, as it
+descended upon the prone bodies, accompanied by sundry
+"ouchs" and shrill yells.  As the boys scrambled to their
+feet they joined forces and rushed the dodging Joe, who,
+after a few ineffectual dives, was caught and jolly well
+punched.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The usual early morning diversion ended, the lads, rosy
+with health and brimming over with animal spirits—the
+essence of good nature for all their rough play—dressed
+with haste and made for the stockyard, to pick their steeds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This occupied their time till the seven o'clock breakfast,
+after which they secured from the storeman the rations
+for the trapper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now Sandy, my boy, ye'll no forget to tell George
+what I named at breakfast."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"M-yes, about the dingoes, father?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, stupid.  Didna I ask you to tell him that, dingoes
+or no dingoes, he is to come next week at the latest, to
+handle the colts?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh yes, dad, I won't forget.  I expect he'll growl a bit,
+as he's mad on getting the dogs and the reward.  He's
+quite cranky over it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"He'll come richt enough if ye gie him my order."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The trapper's camp, as previously stated, was situated
+about eleven miles from the homestead.  Four miles or
+so from home the track roughened, and became what is
+known as broken country, all hills and gullies, for the
+most part very rocky, and heavily wooded in places.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys' progress was but slow, owing to the nature of
+the ground, and it took them nearly three hours to reach
+the camp, which they found unoccupied.  After cooeeing
+in vain for the absentee, they proceeded to light a fire in
+order to boil the billy, spreading the substantial lunch
+which Mrs. M'Intyre had furnished them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bother old Nosey; wish he'd turn up!" exclaimed
+Sandy, when the boys had finished their repast.  "We
+can't go till he comes.  There'd be no end of a row if we
+went home without delivering the message."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, he'll be here before long," interjected Joe.  "I
+vote we do a camp in the shade for an hour or two; it's
+hot enough to fry a steak."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This was good advice, and the boys made themselves as
+comfortable as circumstances permitted under the shade
+of the trees.  So the hours passed without any sign of the
+trapper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, I declare," exclaimed Tom for the twentieth
+time in the course of the last hour, "it's too bad of Nosey.
+I'm full up of waitin' here with nothing to do.  Can't you
+leave a message somehow for the ole cuss?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How is it to be done, Hawkins?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh bother! write a note, of course."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, you are a greeney, Tom.  Where's the pen, ink,
+and paper to come from?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, hasn't ole Nosey——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Old Nosey, be hanged!  Of course he hasn't, any more
+than he's got a dress suit and a toilet mirror."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I've got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No good in the world; where's the paper to come
+from; an' supposin' we had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads,
+writing desks, and whatever else you like to name
+in the scribbling line, what good 'ud it all be?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Meaning——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Meanin' this, you dunderheads—it's got to be read."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well!—of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns,
+hodges, and idiots that ever I came across——!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here, draw it mild, young porridge-pot.  There's two
+to one against you: mind that, you red herring!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll </span><em class="italics">mind</em><span> more than that, if I am the son of a Scot, which
+is no great disgrace, after all," replied Sandy jeeringly.
+"But look here and listen, chiels.  I'll tell you a story—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Once upon a time, when pigs were called swine an'
+monkeys chewed tobacco, there lived a bully English
+captain, the commander of a man o' war.  This frigate,
+sailing up the channel on her return from foreign parts,
+sighted a French ship, not more'n about twice her size.
+Instead of closing with the Frenchy slap bang, an' givin'
+her what-for, she turned tail an' showed her a clean pair
+of heels.  This outrageous proceeding on the part of a
+British sea-dog demanded instant investigation, and so
+the jolly captain was promptly court-martialled.  After
+the case had been put by the prosecuting officer, and not
+denied by the prisoner, he was asked by the president of
+the court why he did not engage the enemy.  The captain,
+in reply, said that he had ten reasons.  'Name them,'
+says the boss officer.  'The first is: I had no powder;
+it was all used up.'  'Enuf sed,' sings out the judge.
+'We don't want the other nine.  You're discharged, my
+man, without a stain on your character.'"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, that's all right for a yarn," cried Joe; "but I
+want to know what it's got to do with your father's
+message to Nosey?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Just as much as it's got to do with the grass of a duck
+in a forty-acre paddock," jeered Sandy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a story with a moral, boys; and as Captain Kettle—no,
+I mean Cuttle, says in that book of Dickens, the
+moral of the story lies in the application."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Apply it, my wise man."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here then: old Nosey has ten reasons for not gettin'
+a written message."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Name the first!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"He can't read."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now then, Joe," said Tom, turning to that worthy,
+"what's the verdict of the court?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I s'pose we'll have to discharge the prisoner without a
+character," replied Joe with a wink.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Blow these bally flies!" cried Tom, after an interval.
+"They're here in millions.  Faugh!—splutter—there's
+one down my jolly throat.  Say, Joe, what are you goin'
+to do?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Boil the billy," replied that youth laconically.  "May
+as well do something, an' kill time."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So the hours sped until the sun was well on its descending
+curve in the late afternoon.  Their patience was now
+thoroughly exhausted in waiting for the trapper.  They
+canvassed the reasons for his non-appearance, until they
+were mortally sick of discussing the subject.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell you what, boys, message or no message, Nosey or
+no Nosey," cried Sandy at last, "we must make tracks for
+home.  We are not to blame for old George's absence.
+They'll be wondering what's become of us.  It'll take us
+all our time to get there before dark as it is.  At the
+worst, we'll have to come out to-morrow."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It took but a few minutes after this to secure the
+horses, saddle them, call the dog which had accompanied
+them to heel, and set out on the return journey.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After jogging briskly for a couple of miles or so the
+cattle dog, a strong wiry hound and a noted warrior
+among his species, began to sniff about, uttering a series of
+low, short barks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Brindle, what's up?  Got 'possum scent?
+Bandicoot, I 'spect.  Fetch him, boy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just at this moment Brindle made a dash forward,
+what time a big dog-dingo started out from under an old
+log a hundred yards or so ahead.  The route taken by
+the chase lay up a long gully.  This gully was, more
+correctly speaking, a depression, lacking abrupt and
+precipitous sides, and was comparatively free from rocks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys hesitated a moment, but the temptation was
+too strong.  Joe, clapping his spurs to his steed's sides,
+started off with a clatter, the others following pell-mell.
+The gully was long and winding, and to this, for some
+reason, the dingo stuck.  The hunters now began to gain
+a little on the beast, and were in full sight, the cattle
+dog just holding his distance.  At length the gully
+petered out at the base of a ridge, over which the quarry
+sped, the dog and boys in full chase.  The other side of
+the ridge was more precipitous, and covered with bracken
+and stunted bushes.  Down this the pursuit thundered,
+Joe in the lead and well to the cattle dog's heels: the
+dingo leading by not more than seventy yards.  So
+absorbed was the boy in the hunt that he remained in
+ignorance of a calamity that was even now happening to
+one of his mates.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom's horse, in bounding down the ridge, and when
+close to the bottom, put his foot in a wombat's[#] hole
+that was hidden by bracken.  Over came horse and rider,
+Tom striking the ground on head and shoulder, while
+Sandy, who was about a length behind, narrowly averted
+collision with the fallen steed and boy.  As quickly as
+possible he pulled up his galloping animal, shouting out
+as he did so to Joe, who was too far away and too much
+engrossed in the chase to hear the call.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Wombat—-a burrowing marsupial.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Returning to the collapsed pair, Sandy jumped off and
+lifted Tom's head, for the lad lay stiff.  His appearance
+frightened the boy as he lay still and death-like.  To his
+great joy, however, on feeling Tom's wrist, Sandy detected
+a feeble pulse-beat.  Laying his stricken mate gently
+down in the bracken, he made a hasty examination of his
+head.  It bore no trace of wound, save some gravel
+scratches and a nasty bruise under the left eye.  The
+relieved boy hurried to the bottom of the ridge, where by
+good hap was a rill of water.  Filling his hat he returned
+and laved the brow and wrists of his companion.  After
+some twenty minutes or so Tom began to stir, and
+quickly regained consciousness.  No bones were broken,
+but the boy was badly shaken, and all thoughts of further
+pursuit were out of the question.  The horse, by a
+miracle, was without hurt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few
+minutes.  "From the way you crashed down I made
+sure every blessed bone in your body was broken.  How
+do you feel now, ole boss?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I'm all right," replied Tom feebly.  "Shoulder's
+the worst.  It's not dislocated, but it pains a lot.  Phew! but
+it does hurt when I move it.  I expect it felt the full
+force of the tumble.  But—where's Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe's ahead.  Goodness only knows where he's got to
+by now.  He hasn't a ghost's show of getting the dingo if
+he makes for the hills."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I tell you what," continued the boy; "we'll get off
+home as soon as you feel fit.  It's no use waiting for Joe.
+He can easily catch us.  You'll have to go slow, old man,
+you know."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This was true, for Tom's shoulder was in an agony of
+ache, which the movement of the horse, after they had
+mounted, intensified to an almost unbearable degree.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was long after dark ere the pair sighted the
+homestead lights.  They had not been overtaken by Joe, much
+to their surprise.  They were met at the slip-rails by
+Harry and Jacky, who had just been dispatched to look
+for them, as the family were getting uneasy at their
+prolonged absence.  The men returned with the lads to
+the house.  Beyond a severe word to Sandy for being
+tempted to pursue the impossible when on the homeward
+track, the squatter justified their act of returning from the
+camp; also in not waiting for Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I expect the rascal will turn up in a few minutes.  His
+horse would soon be knocked up in that country, and he
+would therefore be unable to catch you after he abandoned
+the dingo.  The cheek of you boys, to think you could run
+it down in that country!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The minutes sped without sight or sound of the huntsman.
+Anxiety deepened in the women; the men, too,
+became uneasy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Some one ought to go after the lad," broke in the
+perturbed mother, at length.  "The poor laddie must
+have met trouble.  His horse has knocked up.  Perhaps
+he has lost himself.  Perhaps he——!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Perhaps nothing of the kind has happened, except
+that the horse may have knocked up.  You women will
+always jump to the worst conclusions.  Willy, you and I'll
+ride back a bit; come you too Sandy, if you're not too
+tired."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. M'Intyre feared more than he showed.  It would
+be easy enough after all, he reflected, for a boy who was
+ignorant of the lay of the country and who had no
+experience in bush travelling, to lose his way.  He
+determined, therefore, to take his son with him, so that
+he might lead them to the spot where the accident
+occurred, if it were necessary.  Accordingly the three
+set off on the track.  Fortunately it was moonlight and
+clear, so that they were able to make good headway
+through the bush.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>It is time, however, to return to Joe.  That ardent
+hunter had followed the chase for some distance ere he
+missed his pals.  What with the severity of the pace and
+the increasing roughness of the course, its twistings and
+turnings, all his attention was focussed on the quarry.
+If he did think at all of his companions, it was to picture
+them following close behind.  But in the heat of the chase
+he had little thought for others.  When it did dawn upon
+him that he had outdistanced his companions, as happened
+eventually, he attributed little importance to that.  They,
+no doubt, had good reason for slackening their pace.  His
+horse, as he well knew, had a dash of speed denied to
+theirs.  Maybe their steeds had caved in.  Anyhow, he
+was having a glorious time, and "the finish" was touched
+with roseate hues to his imagination.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>His horse was justifying the reputation given of him to
+Joe by Harry, the stockman, one day when they were
+discussing the relative merits of their mounts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"For a hack," that worthy had remarked, "there's
+nothing on the run equal to the little thing you're ridin'.
+With a light weight up like yourself she can show a dash
+of foot an' staying powers that'll take a tremendous lot of
+lickin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This was a just criticism, as events were proving.
+Still, the pace was beginning to tell, and Joe was forced
+to ease the mare somewhat, even at the risk of losing
+sight of the quarry.  The rough ridges, too, made the
+going to be precarious.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Things were as bad with Master Dingo, however.  The
+pursuit was hot enough to extend him to the fullest.  He
+was always in view, and could not shake off the foe.  As
+long as he remained in sight it was impossible to resort to
+any trick by which he might gain time or wind.  The
+ordinary pace of the dingo when on the chase may be
+described as a lope.  This can be kept up the live-long
+day, and thus wear down the fleetest victim.  To keep
+extended at full gallop in this unwonted fashion is not at
+all to the dingo's liking, and the sooner he can reach the
+distant scrub, which is his objective, the better pleased he
+will be.  The cattle dog, though not ordinarily a hunter,
+is strong and tough, and possessed of a good pair of
+bellows.  He started the game with the utmost alacrity,
+and now continues it with the greatest vim and
+determination.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So the chase continues, and is now but little more than
+a mile from the scrub belt which fringes the base of the
+hills.  To this ark of safety, therefore, the dingo strains
+every muscle, and seizes every small advantage which his
+instinct discerns.  No less strenuous is the cattle dog.
+He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs
+to win.  In this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry
+over bush and brake, over stony ridges and across
+intersecting gullies.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Within half a mile of the scrub the country flattens out,
+and this gives an advantage to the cattle dog, who closes
+up.  Joe's horse is now in distress.  The course has been
+long and rough, the pace severe, and the grass-fed steed
+is weakening, can make no headway, is indeed losing in
+the race.  The lad sees this, and chevies the dog on, for
+he can plainly mark now that unless the chase be ended
+on this side of the scrub all hope must be abandoned,
+Oh, to win!  A supremely glorious thing were he to
+achieve the impossible!  There are chances.  Lots of
+things might happen yet.  On, on, good doggie!  Catch
+him, Brindle!  Hurrah, Brindle is closing; is surely
+creeping up!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They are now about three hundred yards from the
+timber belt, and the dingo is slowly but surely being
+overhauled.  Visions of the scalp as a proud trophy fill
+the boy's imagination.  If only Brindle may seize his
+victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute
+its quietus with the stirrup iron!  Brindle is now not
+more than four lengths behind, and the beasts are still a
+hundred yards from the scrub.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe
+across the widely intervening distance.  The voice is borne
+faintly to the dog's ears, and nerves him to heroic effort
+in this the final stage of the struggle, the last lap, so to
+speak.  Breath is too precious to be wasted in answering
+cry, but the spurt of the hound speaks volumes: "I shall
+catch him, master, never fear: I am gaining; but ''twill be
+on the post."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Both dogs, wild and domestic, are stretched to their
+fullest extent.  It is the crowning burst.  They are
+labouring heavily, staggering, and rolling in their stride.
+The pace is slow but hard.  It is a question of endurance.
+Every ounce of strength in each body is laid under
+contribution.  Once within the scrub the chances in favour
+of the dingo will immediately increase a hundredfold, for
+in doubling and dodging through the densely timbered
+belts the native dog has no equal.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Only thirty yards now lie between the dingo and his
+salvation—the good thick scrub that will swallow him
+up; but—the breath of the pursuer blows hot upon him.
+Throwing his head over his shoulder for the fraction of a
+second, the desperate beast sees that only by a miracle
+can he escape.  The adversary is upon his quarters, and
+in another second the brute's fangs will be buried in his
+back.  It is a supreme moment.  Now or never!  Making
+a super-canine effort, the fear-stricken thing draws away
+from its enemy in the last dozen strides.  Saved, saved!
+Alas, alas!  Right at the very fringe, and within a single
+step of safety, he tumbles in a heap, and with a convulsive
+gasp rolls over and gives up the ghost: the prolonged
+exertions have broken his heart.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>You can work your will on the hunted one now,
+Brindle: no need to fear the vicious snap that was
+reserved for you should the worst happen.  But the
+dog's instincts inform him that all power of resistance
+has gone from that mute and still form; indeed, he has
+no strength to worry should the call be made: the last
+spurt has left him without a vestige of strength.  And
+so, when Joe appeared upon the scene a few minutes
+later, it was to behold the motionless dingo, and by his
+side, with lolling tongue and cavernous mouth, the panting
+and exhausted Brindle.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a moment the boy has slid from his horse, and is
+dancing a grotesque fandango, expressive of his unbounded
+joy.  But, when in a calmer moment he understood the
+tragedy of it from the dingo's side of things, a feeling
+of compassion possessed him, yet joy persisted.  "He's a
+noble fellow, and has given me the grandest sport I've
+ever had.  I'm sorry, and yet I'm glad," quoth the lad.
+"What'll old Nosey say to this!  My stars, ain't the boys
+out of it!  Wonder where the poor beggars have got to.
+Hope nothing's happened to them.  Poor beast!"
+apostrophising the dingo, "you made a royal struggle and
+deserved to escape, but the fates were against you.  And
+you, good old Brindle; my word, you've covered yourself
+with glory, sir!  Poor fellow, you are done up; can only
+blink your pleasure; can't wag even the tip of your tail.
+Good doggie, I'm proud of you!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm blest if I don't skin the dingo," exclaimed he, after
+a moment's pause.  "I'll keep it as a trophy.  Something
+to look at in after years when I'm a grey-beard,"
+chuckled the youth.  So saying, he whipped out his
+knife.  Joe had never before skinned a dingo, but as he
+had performed that office on many a wallaby and 'possum
+he was fairly expert, and in a few minutes had achieved
+his object.  Rolling the pelt in the approved manner,
+the youth bound it with a stout piece of cord which he
+extracted from his pocket, and fastened it to the saddle
+ring.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Next thing's to get some water.  My word!  I'm as
+dry as leather, an' could drink a tank dry.  The animals,
+too, are clean done up, an' I'll get nothing out of them
+unless they have water.  Good gracious! why—the sun's
+down, an' it'll soon be dark."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Not until this moment did the young hunter realise
+his position.  "Must be miles and miles off the track,"
+muttered he as he took a brief survey of his surroundings.
+"I'll have to make tracks with a vengeance!  Won't do
+to be nipped here.  Let's see; yes, the way back is across
+that flat for a certainty, and then over yon stony ridge.
+Beyond that we bend to the right till we reach a rocky
+creek."  In this way the hunter strove to recall the
+innumerable bends and curves taken in the chase.  "Ah,
+here's the moon rising: good old moon!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe had plenty of heart, nerve, and resource.  His
+good spirits were proverbial.  Yet the situation was not
+at all inviting.  Fourteen miles or so from home on the
+eve of night.  A complete stranger to this rough and
+trackless region, and his horse badly used up!  These
+were things calculated to try the nerves and tax the
+courage of the benighted youth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He made small bones of these, however, and started
+off at a slow pace on his return.  The dog had recovered
+sufficiently to drag himself along at the horse's heels.
+The boy eagerly scanned the country for signs of water
+for this would afford the greatest relief to man and beasts:
+all of whom felt an intolerable thirst.  At last they dropped
+across a small pool in a stony creek, to their great
+delight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Both horse and dog drank as if they would never stop.
+This, the boy felt, would be bad for the animals, and he
+sought to stay them.  He with difficulty checked the
+horse, but the dog would not quit lapping until he was
+as tight as the proverbial drum.  Joe himself drank
+sparingly, and then moved onward.  The dog soon began
+to vomit, and appeared to be on the verge of collapse.
+So after vain waiting and entreaty the lad was forced to
+leave it behind, in the hope that it would recover during
+the night, when he had small doubt as to its ability to
+find its way home.  The horse went easier, now that she
+had assuaged her thirst.  All light had vanished save
+that of the moon, which shed an uncertain light, making
+puzzling shadows on the rough ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's time I was at the head of the long gully,"
+muttered the lad.  "From there it's only a mile or so
+to the home track.  Get up Jill, and moosey along.  The
+other chaps are home by this time I expect, and they're
+wondering what's become of me."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Strange to say, the long gully refused to appear, until
+it dawned on Joe at last that he was off the track.  None
+but those who have experienced it can understand the
+weird feeling that possesses one in the dawn of that
+consciousness.  To be in the lonely Australian bush,
+where the silence is an oppression, is something like
+being cast adrift in mid-ocean on a raft, with nothing
+in sight save the wild waste of waters.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>That he had lost his bearings became increasingly
+evident to the wanderer as he moved along.  He became
+a prey to disquieting qualms and the creeping chill of
+apprehension.  Gruesome accounts of the fate of lost
+travellers had often been related at the home fireside, and
+these memories awoke in his mind.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm off the track all right; still, I'm sure to cut
+across the Razorback trail; it'll lie over in that
+direction."  After a pause he determined to adhere to the
+way that he had been pursuing for some little while.  On
+then "breast forward."  There is no semblance of a track,
+and presently the lad gets into very difficult country.
+It would be bad enough to travel through in daylight,
+but now the trouble is accentuated; yet the boy, with
+strong faith in his ultimate emergence from this chaos,
+bravely faces the situation.  Up hill, down dale,
+across gullies, forcing the patches of scrub, slithering
+down ridges, going on hands and knees, ever and
+anon, to feel for the hoof-prints on what appeared
+to be the longed-for track—an unceasing march goes on.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief
+over a tree root, and tumbles to mother earth.  The
+rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare, who has strained
+her fetlock.  What is to be done now?  It is a serious
+mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation.
+The only thing to be done is to relieve his steed of
+saddle and bridle, cache his accoutrements, and trudge
+along on foot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad.
+"Poor Jill!  I don't like leaving you; but it won't be
+for long, my beauty.  Your master will send some one
+to look after you to-morrow.  To-morrow!—Why, it
+must be past midnight now!  Good-bye, Jill."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On speeds the gallant youth, whistling and singing
+snatches as he tramps the interminable bush.  "Might
+be worse," he reiterates in thought.  There's a chill in
+the midnight air, and the walk will warm him nicely.
+On, then, through the still hours!  Not even the hollow
+note of the night-owl or the familiar thump made by
+the feeding marsupial breaks the monotony of silence.
+No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the traveller's
+boots on the rough ground.  How long drawn out the
+day has been.  It seems an eternity since he dowsed
+Tom and Sandy on the bedroom floor.  Lucky beggars,
+they are snug and sound under the blankets, dreaming
+the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is
+tramp, tramp, tramping.  At length the thought of his
+comrades' sweet repose fills him with longing for rest and
+sleep.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How long ago it is since I broke my fast?  Must
+be eight, ten, twelve hours; yes, twelve mortal hours!
+Eat!  Oh, for a slice of damper and salt junk!  That
+were a feed if you like.  Puddings, tarts, cakes!  Bah!
+Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey's damper, an' a slab of
+that corn-beef."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>What a sinking seems to fill his being!  How heavy
+his boots have grown!  How steep those everlasting
+ridges have become!  How lovely to crouch down on
+that patch of bracken—for five minutes only!  He must
+stop and rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get
+his wind and ease his tired limbs.  Shall he——?  But
+no! he must first cut the track—then!  His limbs are
+trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall.  On,
+on—to the station track!  Onward, then, creeps the
+tottering, stumbling lad.  Whistle and song have long
+ceased.  Fatigue reigns supreme, and sheer weariness
+confuses his brain, and bears heavily on will.  Mechanically
+now, the dear lad staggers over the pathless waste.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But see!  Yes, there is a change.  What is that line
+ahead?  Is it on the ground or in the air?  It rises and
+falls in the moonlight, but still persists.  The ground, too,
+is getting smoother.  The ridges have disappeared.
+Hurrah!  Is not this the end?  A few steps more now,
+and—the station track!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On trudges the lost boy with rising hope.  But, alas! the
+line thickens, darkens, deepens, until it stands out
+solid, an impregnable scrub.  How weird it all is; how
+awful!  In a moment the benighted lad is stripped of
+hope.  He is frightened beyond words.  With a momentary
+strength born of despair the wretched youth coasts
+the dismal scrub, seeking an opening in vain.  Suddenly
+he stumbles over a soft, dark mass, and falls to the
+ground.  Putting out a hand instinctively, he touches
+the substance.  Great Cæsar, it is the dingo!  Yes, it
+has happened to poor Joe Blain as it has to many a one
+more experienced in the ways of the bush—he has
+circled!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This shock is the last blow.  Nature is drained of her
+resources and can hold out no longer.  The lad sinks
+back into a half-swoon, which presently merges into
+a dreamless sleep.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Joe, old fellow, wake up!  Wake up, I say; Joe—Joe—d'ye
+hear?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"W-w-w-what is it?  Drat you, lemme lone.  'Snot
+mornin'.  There's goo-good fler, so s-s-sleep——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe Blain, eyes sealed, dead with sleep, rolls over on
+the ground, and never was any creature more gently
+rocked in the arms of Morpheus than he.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Another voice now breaks the silence, sharp and
+penetrating.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hi! hi! there, you sleepy lubber.  Are ye going to
+lie there all day?  Rouse up, laddie!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This imperative speech was accompanied by vigorous
+shakings and rollings.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, well," grunted the half-awakened boy, "sounds
+like Mr. M'Intyre's voice.  Never knew him to come
+into the room be-before.  Wish they'd leave us alone.
+Can't open"—and the next moment Joe had relapsed
+into sleep.  Only for a moment, though.  The next he
+was taken neck and crop, lifted to his feet, and shaken
+violently, what time a voice rasped his ear drum: "Wake
+up, wake up, ye young Rip Van Winkle!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Opening his eyes, the dazed Joe starts at the unwonted
+scene.  He is not in his bedroom, then!  What on earth
+has happened?  Who are these that surround him?
+Why—he's in the bush!  And then the truth dawns
+upon the weary and weakened lad; he was really lost,
+and—thank God he is found!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He greets the squatter with a wan smile, and, with the
+grace characteristic of the boy, begins to thank him.
+But Mr. M'Intyre, patting him affectionately on the
+back while supporting him with his arm, extracts the
+cork of a pocket flask with his teeth, and puts it to the
+lad's mouth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tak' a pu' at this, ma laddie; it'll revive ye wonderfu'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The brandy worked wonders on the boy, so unaccustomed
+to it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We—we ran the dingo down, sir—Jill and Brin—why,
+here's ole Brindle!  Left him at the water-hole; too sick
+to follow.  The horse too——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Horse's all right, Joe.  We picked her up at the
+water-hole, where we'll leave her for a few days, as she's
+limping badly.  Can you sit on the saddle before me?"  Joe
+is sure he can, and no time is lost in starting
+homewards.  M'Intyre, to whom the country was an open
+book, knew a short cut that would take them home
+in ten miles.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>During the ride Joe recited his experiences to the
+squatter, who in return related how Willie had picked
+up the tracks, sighting first the horse and then the dog,
+and followed the trail till they came upon the sleeping
+lad.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was a weary but not unhappy boy who reached the
+homestead at length.  The household, duly apprised
+by Willy, who had ridden on ahead, were in readiness
+to cheer the conquering hero.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="concerning-wild-horses"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XIX</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">CONCERNING WILD HORSES</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Now welcome, welcome, master mine,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Thrice welcome to the noble chase:</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Nor earthly sport, nor sport divine,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Can take such honourable place."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><em class="italics">Ballad of the Wild Huntsmen.</em></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Where's Floss and Jeannie, Harry?  Don't see 'em in
+the yard this morning."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, sir, they didn't come in with the others."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hoo's that, mon?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I harsk'd Jacky about 'em when he yarded the others,
+an' he said they wasn't with the rest.  Too lazy, I bet, to
+look after 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But I dinna see Tallboy or Dolly, eyther," said the
+squatter as he peered through the rails at the horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I speck they're with the mares down by the dam, or
+p'raps campin' on the box ridge."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, see that they're no missed the morn.  Here
+you, Jacky," to the black boy; "come along here."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's matter, Boss?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What for you bin no yard all yarraman?"[#]</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Yarraman—native name for horse.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Bail me see some, Boss."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You bin getting lazy.  I'll hae to gie you a taste o'
+the stock whip."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Me no 'fraid you, Boss," replied the black with a grin.
+"You not like my ole boss, Cap'n White.  Him murry
+quick with whip.  Sandy bin tellin' me you only gammon."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See that you drive in every hoof to-morrow morning,
+or, Sandy or no Sandy, ye'll get a surprise, my boy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I cam across some brumby tracks yesterday aifternoon
+in the springers' paddock," continued the squatter
+to Harry, the head stockman.  "Meant to hae spoken
+aboot it afore."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They're a rare nuisance, they brutes!  There maun
+be a gap in the dog-leg fence at the far side for 'em to
+ha'e got in.  You'd better tak' Jacky and Denny at once,
+and mak' the fence secure.  That pack o' rubbage'll be
+doing a lot o' mischief among the springers wi' their
+galloping.  Ye'd better go across by the horse-paddock,
+an' see if ye can get a sicht o' the mares.  It's almost as
+near as the other track."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All right, Boss.  Jacky, you go to Ah Fat an' tell 'im
+to put up some grub.  Git the billy an' tots, an' bring 'em
+along.  Tell Denny I want 'im.  He's working in the
+garden."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I say," bawling after the retreating boy; "tell
+Denny to git the small cross-cut, an' a couple o' tommies,
+an' a bit o' wire to do the mendin' with.  Slither away,
+now, ye son of a black buck!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a few minutes the men are on their way through
+the horse-paddock to the slip-rails in the far corner, to
+carry on the repairing work in the springers' enclosure.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It may be explained to the uninitiated that the horse-paddock
+is that nearest the homestead, where the station
+horses in use are kept; a larger or smaller mob according
+to requirements.  These are yarded at daylight every
+morning.  When the horses required for the day's work
+are selected the balance are turned loose for the day.
+The springers' paddock, reserved for the breeding cows,
+was a large one; one of the best on the run, in fact.
+The men as they rode along kept a sharp look-out for
+the missing steeds.  Separating as they neared the dam—which
+was a large sheet of water backing up in the gullies
+for a mile or so—they rode on either side, coming
+together at the box-tree ridge where the slip-rails were
+located.  No sign of the horses!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Strange, chaps!  Wonder where they can be.  Floss
+an' Dolly are fair terrors for hidin'.  But—hello! there's
+the slip-rails down!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sure enough, the two topmost rails were down.  Who
+could have done it?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The mystery is soon solved; the ground on the outside
+being trampled with horse hoofs.  It told its tale of cause
+and effect quickly enough to these bushmen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The blessed brumbies hev got in an' coaxed 'em out,
+sure enough.  It's the warrigal's[#] mob for a quid.  Fifty
+of 'em, if there's a hoof.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>[#] Warrigal—wild, savage; applied indifferently by the natives to
+animals and men.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How d'yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum
+at this kind of work.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, it's the ole warrigal's work o' course.  Trust 'im fur
+findin' out a way o' gettin' up a flirt with the ladies.  He's
+the cutest cuss in Australia, bar none.  Full o' blood he
+is too.  New Warrior strain outer a great arab mare of
+Kurnel Dumaresque.  I know 'im well, fur I was with
+Captain White just after he'd bought both dam an' foal
+from the ole Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque
+swopped 'em fur a stud Hereford 'e was terribly struck on.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; he was allus a wild un.  My word, you should
+'a' seen 'im as a yearling!  Allus leadin' the other
+youngsters into mischief; breakin' into the lucem paddocks,
+an' chasin' the dorgs till they was in mortial terror of 'im;
+gettin' mad fits among the horses; kickin' an' squealin'
+an' chiveyin' em', till one day the Captain gits in a
+towerin' rage an' says to me an' one-eyed Bob, who was
+workin' fur 'im then: 'Run in that dad-busted, bloomin'
+brute an' fix 'im; it's the only way ter take the divvil
+outer 'im.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You see, 'e was a grand, upstandin' beast as a colt, an'
+the Captain wunst thought to have 'im fur stud purposes,
+fur all 'e was a mix breed; but 'e soon seed that was
+outer the question.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, as I was sayin', the Captain orders me an'
+one-eyed Bob to yard 'im.  'Twarn't no easy job nuther, I
+tell you; for the brute soon cottoned what we was up
+to.  At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards 'im, and
+with 'im a couple o' colts an' a lot er fillies.  Bob threw
+the lasso a dozen times afore 'e noosed 'im, cause 'e kept
+dodgin' in an' out among the fillies.  It was the deuce's
+own job to separate 'em.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"At larst, I say, Bob fixed 'im, an' didn't 'e perform.
+Howe'er, Bob 'olds 'im, an' I gits 'old of the slack to give
+a turn round the post, so's ter bring 'im up.  But all of
+a suddent 'e makes a mad rush at Bob, sendin' 'im
+sprawlin' with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer
+my hands, an' streaked fur the slip-rails—six on 'em
+there wor—an' by 'evans! jumps like a cat at 'em;
+comin' down with 'is belly on top, smashin' the rail, but
+fallin' on the outside; never, of course, breakin' 'is bloomin'
+neck—an' galloped orf like mad.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Must 'a' bin red mad sure enuff, fur 'e broke through
+the wire fence the Cap had round 'is 'orse-paddock; and
+that's the larst we seen of 'im fur months.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin' after
+some steers, when I come acrost 'im in a mob of
+brumbies he'd chummed up with.  'E was 'aving a pretty
+rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o'
+stallions in the mob as wasn't agreeable fur 'is company
+in the 'arem; an that's 'ow we come ter git 'im a few years
+after, I 'spect."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thin you did git hould iv th' grey divvil?" exclaimed
+Denny.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; we got 'im all right.  But, look here, chaps, no
+time's to be lost.  These beggars may be still in the
+paddock.  If not, they've got out the way they came in, an'
+are 'eadin' fur the ranges.  We'll cut across to the north
+end where the fence crosses Rocky Crick.  I 'spect that's
+where they've broken in.  It looked a bit shaky a fortni't
+ago, as I come by.  I don't think they've got in at the
+dog-leg end, that the Boss spoke about.  Anyhow, we'll
+try the Crick fust."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A sharp ride of about four miles brought the men to
+the spot indicated by Harry.  It was a rocky bit of
+country, and sure enough they found the "shaky" post
+and rails lying on the ground.  The immediate cause of
+this was a big limb of a dry stringy-bark tree, which had
+fallen upon the weak spot and smashed it down.  The
+horse tracks about the spot showed conclusively that the
+mob had gone in and out by this means.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>According to Jacky, the black boy, the inward tracks
+were about three days old; the outward, a few hours.
+Without doubt, the brumbies had "nosed" the rails to
+which the mares had been attracted by their neighings,
+early in the night.  Then in the dawning of the morning
+they had moved out to one of their haunts in the
+ranges.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The only thing now is to get back an' tell the Boss.
+'E'll be mad when he knows, you bet; thinks no end o'
+Floss an' Jeannie.  Put up the rails, boys, quick an'
+lively."  In a few minutes the men had fixed up the
+broken panels securely, and then rode homewards.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Saay, Harry, me bhoy, how'd yees yard th' ould stag,
+as ye was sayin' when ye was talkin' forninst th'
+slip-raales?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wasn't an old stag then, an' isn't now, fur that matter,
+the brute's in 'is prime yet.  Let's see, 'e's risin' 'leven
+now, an' we got 'im just afore I left the Captain fur
+the Boss here.  Lemme think.  Yes, it's just over five
+year ago; he'd be about six, then.  Fur all his tricks,
+the two stallions had driven 'im off their beat.  'E'd got
+a couple o' mares, though, an' kep' 'em in the range
+country on the out-station; but it was all of an accident
+that we got 'im.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"One day me an' the Captain was ridin' through the
+run, havin' a good look at the stock; fur we had a
+notion of cuttin' out a mob o' fats.  Well, as I was
+sayin', we was ridin' along the back part of the run,
+an' we came acrost a couple o' brumbies, each with a
+foal.  'Stead o' scootin', as they does in giniral, the mares
+galloped in a circle, but didn't clear.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'It's mighty strange,' ses the Captain.  'What are
+they 'angin' about fur, an' where's their mate?  Never
+seed 'em parted afore.'  'It is strange,' ses I; 'an' there's
+only one thing to account fur it, an' that is the cove's
+about sumwheres 'andy.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We moved on to a rocky gully that opens out on
+to a big plain.  At one place a log fence runs acrost
+to keep the stock in.  Bymby we comes plump onter
+it, an', great gosh alive! if there weren't the grey.  'E
+seed us as soon as we spotted 'im, an' set up a great
+squealin' an' pawin', but cuddn't get away.  There 'e
+was, like a bandicoot in a V-trap.  'E was caught by the
+off hind-leg, between two big logs that lay clost
+together.  'E was jammed tight enough.  Wunder was
+'e didn't break a leg.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"When the Cap saw the fix 'e was in, didn't 'e just cuss
+fur joy.  Then 'e sends me back to the hut, about two
+mile away, fur ropes, an' ole Jack the keeper.  Well, I
+streaked fur the hut, you bet, an' was there less'n no time.
+Soon me an' Jack, with two green 'ide lassoes an' an
+'emp one, also a axe, was on the spot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"When the 'orse sees the ropes 'e yelled, an' roared,
+an' pawed, an' snapped 'is teeth, fur all the world like a
+trapt dingo.  An', wud you believe it? </span><em class="italics">the blarmy mares
+hadn't follered us up</em><span>!  There they was just ahind us,
+whinneying and screamin'; their way o' swearing an'
+cussin' I s'pose.  Wish-I-may-die if we didn't have to
+put the stock whip on 'em to roust 'em away.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'How are yer goin' ter manage 'im,' ses I to the Cap
+when I comes up with the things.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'I'll soon let yer see,' ses 'e.  'Fust of all we'll pass
+a rope round 'is free 'ind-leg well up on to the shank.
+Then we'll put another on the front fetlock an' acrost 'is
+flanks.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, it took us a goodish bit to fix 'im up.  I forgot
+ter say that we tied the third rope round 'is neck, an'
+that was no easy job, fur every time the Cap threw the
+lasso he'd dodge it with 'is 'ed like a fightin' kangaroo.
+But, ter make a long story short, when we'd roped 'im, we
+levered one of the logs with saplin's so's ter git 'is other
+leg free.  Then, didn't 'e play up!  But by the time we'd
+given 'im arf a dozen falls, an' two o' them riglar croppers,
+'e seed it was no use, throws up the sponge, an' comes
+along quietly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We didn't give 'im any charnse, you bet, as 'e was
+such a sly demon.  So we got 'im ter the stockyard at the
+'ead station, a matter o' thirteen mile or so.  We put 'im
+in the crush fust, then got a 'evvy 'alter on 'im, an' tied
+it to 'is front off leg so's 'e cuddent jump; in that way
+we fixed 'im fur the night.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Early nex' morning, just as I was thinkin' o' gittin'
+up, there comes a tremenjious 'ammerin' an' bangin' at
+the door, shoutin' out sumthin' I cuddent understand.
+I jumps up an' opens the door, an' there was ole Jack
+singin' out an' makin' a great fluster.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'What in thunder's the matter, Jack?' ses I.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Warrigal's gone!' ses 'e, all tremblin' like.  'Cleared
+right out in the night.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Off I rushes ter the yards, an' sure enuff, the beast
+had cleared; yet the rails was up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"''Ow the dickens 'e got out, Jack?' ses I, lookin'
+round.  Presently I comes ter the slip-rails, an' soon spots
+'ow 'e done it.  I'm blest if the ole cuss didn't lay down
+ter it at the rails an' 'riggled 'is way out sideways.  You
+cud see the ground all tore up by 'is 'oofs as 'e inched 'is
+way out.  There was a knot at the lower side o' the rail,
+an' it was covered with 'air an' blood, which shows what
+a tight squeeze it was."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But 'ow the blazes did he gat out iv th' pathock whin
+he was knee-haltered?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Like enuff 'e worked 'is 'edstall off as 'e 'riggled
+through.  We thought we'd made it tight enuff fur
+anythin'.  Anyways 'e cleared, an', what's more, 'e an' the
+mares moved off the run an' wasn't 'eard of fur long, then
+'e was found bossin' a mob on Bullaroi."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By this time the men had reached the homestead.
+Leaving the others at the stockyard, Harry proceeded to
+the house to break the bad news to the owner.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the
+affair had taken.  Two of the horses were brood mares
+on which he set a high value, and for which he had given
+a big price.  They were full of breeding, having the
+famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire's side.  The
+occurrence was no less than a calamity in more ways
+than one.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Their location was in difficult country, and with such
+a rogue as the grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job
+of rescue seemed by no means easy or certain.  Mr. M'Intyre,
+however, was determined to regain his mares,
+and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine
+demon.  One thing in his favour was the fact that in
+midsummer there was a scarcity of water in the ranges,
+and their run, for a while, at any rate, must be in and
+about the foot-hills.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders
+were invited to join in the brumby hunt, which
+is, as a rule, the most exciting, and, at times the most
+dangerous, sport that Australia can furnish, keenly
+relished by bushmen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than
+the mustang is a native American horse; that is to say,
+it is not indigenous to the country.  Brumbies are the
+descendants of imported horses which have escaped into
+the bush and bred there.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When Australian settlements were confined to the
+barest fringe of the continent, it was very common for
+stock, both horses and cattle, to stray from the settled
+areas into the great wilderness beyond.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis
+of colonial expansion.  When the first expedition sailed
+from England, not only were officials, soldiers, and
+convicts shipped; but also an assortment of domestic
+animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony
+proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many
+beasts strayed beyond the borders of the occupied country
+to the interior forests and plains; and before very long
+"brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers" (wild cattle)
+covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the
+advancing line of settlers.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-brumby-hunt"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XX</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE BRUMBY HUNT</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o'er,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>All the lowlands are filling with sound;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>For swiftly we gain where the mobs of the plain</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Like a tempest are tearing the ground!</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>And we'll follow them hard to the rails of the yard,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Over gulches and mountain-tops grey,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Will die with the echoes away."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>HENRY KENDALL.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"How many are coming to the hunt to-morrow, dad?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"About a score all told, my son.  That is," continued the
+speaker somewhat inconsequently, "if they a' turn up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Gills coming, ain't they?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; the old man, son, and ane o' the stockmen'll
+be here this evening, so as to be ready for the early stairt
+the morn's morn.  That reminds me, I've no telt your
+mother.  They'll be here aboot supper-time."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Captain White coming, I s'pose?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If he's above ground.  We'd best coont 'em up.
+Get a bit o' paper, Saundy, and pit doon the names.
+Then we'll ken for sure."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ready, father."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pit doon oor ain lot first.  Mysel', you, Hairry, the
+blacks, Denny, the bullock driver, the ration carrier,
+Redgate and Broon from the oot-station, Joe, Tom,
+N-eville—I suppose.  Hoo mony's that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thirteen."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"So mony's that?  At that rate we'll hae ower a score.
+Weel, that's a' the better.  Let's see, noo: pit doun the
+Gill lot, that's three more.  Then there's Captain White.
+Old Dumaresque says he'll be along, but I dinna reckon
+on him, so you needna coont him in.  White's going to
+bring twa men wi' him.  And, m-yes, there's Davison
+o' the bank, and Dickson the lawyer.  Told 'em the
+other day I'd let 'em know.  They'll need to be here
+the nicht, too.  We'd better send Willy in wi' a message
+at once.  That's a' noo I think.  Hoo mony does that
+tot up?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Twenty-one not counting the Colonel."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, I hope they'll turn up, that's a'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, father, could Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy come?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Eh?  Weel, I—I dinna ken.  Can they ride?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ride?  Listen to him!  Why, Yellow Billy's the boss
+rider among the boys.  You know his steer——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ah weel," said Mr. M'Intyre laughingly, "we'll hae
+'em.  Send word by the boy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Accordingly, the invitation was taken to the four
+Tareelians.  Gill and party turned up about dark, and
+shortly after them the town lot, all of whom were
+welcomed by their hospitable host.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>M'Intyre had made extensive preparations for the
+hunt.  There are various methods for trapping wild
+horses.  The one in vogue at Bullaroi and the surrounding
+stations was that called the "wing" trap.  This
+consists, first of all, in determining the usual brumby
+run.  The next work, and an important one, is the
+building of yards in a locality specially selected, the
+object being to get as near as possible to the natural
+line of the horses' travel when stampeded.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The yards must be well constructed, with a high, strong
+fence, having an open mouth so wide as to give the
+hunted steed no suspicion of running into a trap.  The
+upper and nether lips of this mouth, after running
+parallel a short distance, gradually converge to the
+throat, as it were, finally meeting, and forming a
+cul-de-sac.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>From the mouth extremity a vast roll of canvas, or,
+rather, calico strips about six inches wide, is made fast
+to one of the fence terminals, and from there, at a slight
+outward angle, is often taken for miles, being secured at
+intervals to trees or stakes which are driven into the
+ground.  The wing is fixed breast high.  This, to the
+inexperienced, seems but a flimsy obstacle; but the calico
+barrier, frail as it appears, acts as an effectual boundary.
+Brumbies are both timid and suspicious, and very rarely
+charge a wing.  When driven on to one they wheel
+either to right or left, with never a thought of breaking
+through or jumping it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The strategy of the "drive" is to station men at
+intervals from the terminal point of the wing; each
+man is armed with a heavy stock whip, a cruel enough
+weapon in the hands of an adept.  Others are left at
+the trap-yard mouth on the outward side, concealed as
+a rule, and ready to dart out and head the mob should
+it scent danger when nearing the opening.  The remainder
+of the men proceed to locate and enflank the mob, and
+drive them in the given direction.  This, often, is a very
+difficult matter, and sometimes the best laid scheme is
+defeated by a determined and irresistible rush of the mob
+in the teeth of their assailants.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Premising the "round up" and drive to be successful
+as far as the wing, the wing supports wheel them in the
+right direction; then close in and pass to the outside to
+strengthen the flank men, who now form a parallel line
+with the racing brumbies.  Thus, with the calico wing
+on one side, a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on
+the other, and a harrying force behind, the spectacle is
+as brilliant and as exciting as Australia can furnish in
+the line of sport.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the
+Bullaroi party, well mounted, wend their way to the
+appointed rendezvous, from whence the amalgamated
+forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The men and boys are variously mounted.  All the
+horses, however, are used to stock work; some of them,
+within certain limits, being as intelligent as the men who
+bestride them.  Many of them are what is known as
+"camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and
+cutting out work on the cattle camp.  Quick to wheel,
+to dodge, to out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even
+to divine the enemy's intention; skilful in wedging
+through a pack; ready to advance backwards, so to
+speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders unavail;
+needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the
+work, the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a
+cattle run.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Both M'Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted
+on favourites of the above-named variety.  The price of
+each was regarded by its rider as beyond rubies.  Both
+men were strong-boned, grizzled, and expert bushmen,
+with not a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bodies.
+Neville was of the company.  He had learned many
+things in the intervening days; the first, and most
+essential, was that England could furnish no precedent
+to Australia in things that are peculiar to station life.
+He gradually dropped his pet phrase, "The way we do
+things in England."  The scales had fallen from his eyes
+concerning many things "Colonial."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. M'Intyre, who liked him, paid him no little
+attention.  He rode out on the run with him, giving
+common-sense hints in his dry way, from time to time,
+which his guest was ready enough to take.  He learned to
+ride fairly well, and, after many mortifying failures, could
+crack a stock whip without entangling it in the horse's legs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. M'Intyre was dubious about Neville going.  The
+Englishman, however, was so set on joining the cavalcade
+that to object seemed discourtesy.  All hints of the
+danger attached to this expedition were scouted.  So, on
+this eventful morning, mounted on his host's favourite
+hack, Curlew, the visitor formed one of the company.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The others need no description.  With spirits mounting
+high in anticipation they pass over open plain, through
+brigalow scrub, along box ridges, and across country on a
+ten-mile spin to a spot on Rocky Creek called the Glen—a
+place already decided upon.  As there was no knowing
+to what extent the powers of both men and horses would
+be tried during the day, the journey was made at a
+moderate speed, so as to spare them for the arduous task
+of the drive.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals, on this occasion six in number, were
+compelled to curb their tendencies to fun and frolic; though
+there were some very tempting and well-nigh irresistible
+inducements to spurts as the game rose or
+scudded before them.  Inviting jumps, too, lured them;
+but high jump or low jump, kangaroo or emu, charm
+they never so wisely, are resisted.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But their tongues are uncurbed.  How they did chatter,
+to be sure!  It did the older members good to hear their
+gay and joyous prattle.  Their views of life in general, and
+brumby hunting in particular, were novel and unconventional.
+They settled everything touching the day's
+proceedings, from the place of the "find" to the number
+yarded.  All that the warrigal might do, and all that
+they would positively do to circumvent him, together
+with many other things, were discussed with the
+self-confidence of youth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In due time the Glen is reached, and the Bullaroi party
+find that they are first upon the scene.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Off saddles all o' you.  Must ease the horses a' we
+can.  Saundy, you and the boys mak a fire and get the
+billy going.  Denny, bring the tucker-bag from the
+pack-saddle.  Mr. Neville, what in the name of common-sense
+are ye tying yure nag to that dead tree for?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's wrong with it, sir?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's richt wi' it, mon?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I—I—don't know what you mean."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Boss means yer a fool ter tie the moke up in the
+blazing sun," said Harry in an undertone, as he passed by
+the new chum.  "Put 'im under a shade tree same as the
+rest of us."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Beg pardon, yes—er—I see," answered he, mortified
+for a moment, as he moved from the leafless trunk to
+a clump of currajongs, whose thick foliage effectually
+screened the sun's rays.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wot sort of a bloke's that 'ere cove?" asked Jimmy
+Flynn of Tom Hawkins.  "He's a regular greeny, ain't he?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, a good enough sort!" replied Tom.  "He's new,
+but he's a learner.  He picks up pretty fast, considering.
+You should 'a' seen him when he came here first; my
+word, he was a greenhorn then!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here's the Captain, father!" sang out Sandy, as three
+men cantered up the track.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Guid-day, White!  Guid-day, men!  Glad to see you.
+Off saddle and join us in a tot o' tea and a bite."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good-day, M'Intyre!  By George! you've got quite a
+troop, man.  Day, Dickson!  Day, Davidson!  What on
+earth do you townies think you're going to do?  Stand
+a good chance, Dickson, of cracking your skull and
+spilling all that legal soph—I mean lore, that's bottled up
+there.  Oh, I say, Mac, old Dumaresque's coming along,"
+rattled on the Captain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll believe it when I see him, no' afore.  The auld
+boy's better at hame when this wark's on."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, all I know is that he sent me word last night
+by one of the men, and cautioned me to be sure and tell
+you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If he comes he comes, and if he disna he'll no' be
+much missed.  Noo, boys, bring in the tea!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By Jove!  M'Intyre, your wife's a sensible woman:
+this is the sort of grub to work on.  Last month I was
+over at the Glenormiston mustering.  De Little asked me
+to join him at midday after a heavy morning's work, and
+as I was as hungry as ten hunters I readily consented.
+What d'ye think he produced from his tucker-bag?
+Some lettuce sandwiches, no less; and cream puffs!  De
+Little's as good as gold, you know, so I couldn't refuse to
+take some; but, I give you my word, I strolled over to his
+men as soon as I could get away decently, and got a slice
+of beef and a chunk of damper."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hoo's De Little getting on?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, between you and me and the billy-can, he's no
+more cut out for a squatter than for an archangel.
+Pity he ever left London.  He'd be more at home in
+Rotten Row.  Hello! here's the old Colonel and two
+boys.  Seeing will dissipate even your scepticism, Mac."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Dumaresque was a choleric but plucky old superannuated
+Indian officer, who on his retirement came over
+to Australia and purchased a small cattle run, living
+bachelor fashion.  He was now quite old, yet fancied
+himself equal to any toil.  To hint at his age infirmities
+was to raise a very sirocco of indignant language.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Cornel! wha'd 'a' thocht that you——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Stop, M'Intyre, stop!  I know right well, sir, what
+you are going to remark.  If you, sir, look upon a bit of
+a brumby hunt as an extraordinary thing, let me inform
+you that to me 'tis but a trifle.  Why, man, when I was
+stationed on the northern frontier——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, yes, Dumaresque," broke in the Captain, who
+knew the other's weakness, "we're all delighted to see
+you.  Just in time for a pannikin of tea and a mouthful.
+Here you, Dick, Tom, Harry, one of you, take the
+Colonel's horse."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A few minutes later the men filed out of the Glen, and
+proceeded along the creek to a spur in the foot-hills.
+Then they left the water-shed, crossing the spur, from
+which they continued up a grassy valley which extended
+nearly three miles before it broadened out into an open
+plain, lightly timbered at the upper or ridge side, but
+perfectly treeless at its other extremity.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Two-thirds of the way up the valley, in a belt of box
+trees, was the trap-yard.  The trap mouth, before
+described, extended across the belt to the outermost verge.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After a short inspection of the yard the calico wing
+was fixed.  It was attached to the terminal post of the
+yard mouth, nearest to the ridge that skirted the valley
+on the top side.  From thence it was taken in a straight
+line on the ridge side of the valley, until the plain was
+reached.  From this point, inclining slighting outward and
+made fast at short intervals, it extended right across the
+plain, ending in a clump of iron-barks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Noo, men, ye'll jist hae a wee bit grub and then we'll
+stairt."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The meal was soon dispatched, and a short consultation
+ensued.  M'Intyre apportioned the men their places.  Six,
+under Gill, were located in the iron-bark clump.  Five
+others were sent back to the trap-yard, two miles distant,
+to assigned duty there.  The remaining sixteen were to
+execute the task of first "feeling" the enemy; then of
+outflanking them; and, finally, directing the stampede.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-warrigal-s-strategy"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE WARRIGAL'S STRATEGY</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Hast thou given the horse his might?</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The glory of his snorting is terrible.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>He goeth out to meet the armed men.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>He smelleth the battle afar off:</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>JOB.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Noo, men, we'll be on the move."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The leader sprang to his horse and directed him on to
+the plain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where do you expect to pick 'em up, Mac?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Micht sicht them at ony minute, maybe no' for hours;
+maybe no' at a', Captain."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Willy and Jacky, you gang on aheed and keep your
+een weel peeled for signs.  No sae fast, lads; mustna spoil
+the sport at the stairt.  Let the blacks get weel aheed.
+We maun sicht them afore they tak alairm, or it'll be a
+hopeless stern chase."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, Tom, and Sandy, greatly to their delight, were
+with the "flying column."  Yellow Billy was with the
+trap contingent, while Jimmy Flynn was stationed with
+Mr. Gill in the iron-bark clump.  Neville, at his earnest
+request, was given a place with Mr. M'Intyre.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As soon as he touched the myall country, the leader
+cautiously skirted it, until the party were well out and
+away from the range of hills that continued on the eastern
+side.  He then took an inward course, and made a slant
+which carried them back to the foot-hills.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So far there was neither sight nor sound of the mob, nor
+were there any indications of their presence at any recent
+date.  From the range base another tack was taken, which
+brought them upon the edge of a scrub that had wedged
+itself into the plain.  By this time the column had
+covered a lot of ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We'll fringe the timber for a while, and then, if we've
+nae luck, we'll hae to divide; half to go into the ranges,
+and the other to keep richt along the plain.  Keep
+weel in, lads, we'll cut that pint," continued the leader,
+as the men moved on through the outer fringe of
+scrub; while out on the plain, which was dotted with
+rosewood and myall clumps, the black boys moved with
+lithe and stealthy movements.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Father, I hear a whistle!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hist, men! quiet all o' ye!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There it's again!" exclaimed Sandy after a moment's
+silence, as a low whistle came from the plain.  "That's
+Jacky's whistle, dad, sure enough.  I'd know it among
+a thousand——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A' richt, my boy.  Jacky's got something.  We'll
+move oot quietly and see."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Wheeling to the right, the column soon arrived at the
+spot indicated by Jacky's whistle.  The black boy stood
+by the side of his horse, pointing to some fresh droppings
+and to numerous hoof-tracks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What is it, Jacky?" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre as the
+men rode up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Blendy brumby bin here, Boss, few minutes ago."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The tracks and signs were so fresh that, as the black
+said, it was only the question of a few minutes since they
+occupied the spot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Most fortunate we've got ahint them.  They're near
+by.  At ony moment we micht sicht them.  Ye'll fa' into
+a doubble column, men.  Captain, ye'll tak seeven men
+and I'll keep the ithers.  We'll hae twa columns a hunder
+yairds apairt."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In this fashion the men proceeded slowly, with a
+black boy ahead of each column as a scout, and following
+the tracks of the brumbies.  As predicted, in a few minutes
+Willy held up a warning hand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The columns quickly closed up to the scouts, and their
+leaders saw, through the willow-like branches of a myall
+clump, the long-sought-for mob.  The horses were standing
+close together in an expectant attitude.  Their suspicions
+were aroused.  Though they had not scented the wind of
+their pursuers, nevertheless, with that wonderful </span><em class="italics">something</em><span>
+so common in wild things, they </span><em class="italics">felt</em><span> the enemy's presence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The intervening distance was about three hundred
+yards.  According to arrangement, each column opened
+out at its head, with the object of outflanking the horses.
+Silently the columns wheeled to the left and right sharply,
+and then moved forward.  While in the act of executing
+this tactic their presence was detected, and scanned in a
+moment.  Then, with a snort, or rather a fusilade of
+snorts and neighs, heads erected, manes and tails streaming,
+away flew the alarmed steeds; and in swift pursuit,
+maintaining their formation, the men followed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was no intention of unduly alarming the brumbies,
+therefore all shoutings and stock-whip crackings were
+restrained.  And now the hunters begin to feel the ardour
+of the chase, both horses and men; for so eager were the
+station horses to join in the hunt that the riders were
+obliged to take a double pull on them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville, in the excitement of the raid, forgot the orders,
+and broke his line, making a rush for the tail of the flying
+mob.  The Captain, however, nipped his intention in the
+bud with a few red-hot expletives, ordering the Englishman
+back to his place in the line.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The brumbies, when started, were about eight miles from
+the wing, and headed directly for it, going off from the jump
+with a fine burst.  The wily warrigal, however, was not going
+to be run off his legs in a spurt; in a short time the
+breakneck pace is moderated, and the straggling mob close up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The horsemen hung on the flanks of the galloping steeds,
+steadying into an accommodating pace, and, as previously
+directed, making a semicircle, whose points extended
+beyond the sides of the retreating animals.  The station
+mares were in the mob, capering for the moment as wildly
+as any in their company.  Tallboy lagged somewhat in the
+rear.  He had evidently received scant courtesy from the
+brumbies.  It was observed that his heart was not in this
+matter.  Had they wished, the horsemen could easily have
+cut him out of the mob.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The flying steeds—about fifty, young and old—had
+covered about two-thirds of the distance to the terminal
+point of the wing, and had not once swerved from this
+direction.  The men were in high glee.  So far it was
+nothing more than an exhilarating gallop, and they kept
+up the formation beautifully.  The horses, too, although
+the day was very hot, had not yet shown any sign of
+distress.  It was a different thing with some of the hunted
+animals, however.  There were some very old stock among
+the mares.  The pace and the heat combined were telling
+heavily upon them, and they that rode could read.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>One of these was a chronic "roarer," and her distressed
+gasps were plainly heard above the thunder of the hoof.
+Two of the mares began to lag in a palpable manner,
+despite the encouraging whinneying of the stallion, as he
+turned from side to side with a troubled look.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They who belittle the intelligence of animals, and treat
+them as lacking heart and soul, can have had little
+experience of their nature and ways.  The old sheik of
+the wilderness was full of concern for his many wives.
+Love, despite all that the poets may say, is not blind; it
+is open-eyed and alert.  Had he been alone the warrigal
+would have snorted at his foes with the utmost disdain, and
+led them such a dance as not all their imaginings had ever
+conceived.  But, alas! some at least of his faithful ones
+would be overtaken; were even now in peril.  Desertion?
+Never!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Rescue! but how?  Yes; he will plan, he will outwit.
+He will use strategy against strategy, and at once, by
+which he may draw these merciless foes from the weaklings
+and give them an opportunity of escape.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Quickening his pace, he raced along, closely followed by
+his company—save some half-dozen of the more exhausted
+mares, who were now widely separated from their mates.
+Then, wheeling sharply, the flying squadron dashed across
+the plain towards the foot-hills in a furious gallop.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Divining his altered tactics, the Captain and M'Intyre
+increased their speed, taking no notice of the hindermost
+horses, and closely watching the head and ruck of the
+flying squadron.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On, on! in mad gallop, whip and spur going freely
+now, sped the hunted and the hunters; and as they
+suddenly dashed across the face of the Captain's column, it
+seemed as if nothing human could stay their flight.  The
+bold Captain and his men, however, nothing daunted nor
+surprised, wheeled a little more to the left, having some
+advantage in being well out, as well as being high up on
+the brumbies' flanks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys," cried Captain White, "head 'em, rush
+'em!"  Saying which, he rode straight for the stallion's
+head—who was leading—with four men pounding at
+his heels.  It was a splendid attempt to head the mob,
+and succeeded save with one exception.  That exception
+was the warrigal!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The bunch of men hurled themselves on the leader,
+and had he not swerved there would have been a terrific
+impact, which might have spelled disablement or death
+to more than one.  When a man's blood is up in riotous
+chase he joyously challenges death in ways that chill him
+to the bone in cool blood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The grey demon, however, swerved to the right with
+tremendous speed, and the Captain crossed his course
+within a couple of feet of his stern; his only revenge
+being a savage cut with his whip across the retreating
+animal's flanks.  But if the men's rush failed with the
+leader, they stopped the stampede of his immediate
+followers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Floss and Jeannie, who were hard on the heels of the
+warrigal, were intercepted and turned.  The stock whips,
+cracking like a blaze of musketry, played upon the ruck
+of the confused animals in merciless fashion, scoring
+their flanks and ribs.  In a few seconds they were driven,
+pell-mell, back to the line of retreat.  In the meantime
+those immediately behind the mob, and those on the
+right flank, kept the balance going and together.  Thus
+the defeated ones regained their fellows, discomforted,
+and not a little cowed, in their leaderless condition.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And what of the warrigal?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>To continue the chase of him were only to knock the
+horses up in fruitless pursuit.  No! he must be
+abandoned.  With liberty uncurtailed let him roam the wilds,
+fancy free.  The station runaways remain, as well as
+others that will be of value and service.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So wisely reasoned man, but not so the warrigal.
+Foiled in his purpose, regardless of his own pursuit,
+the great equine leader wheeled in a wide circle, uttering
+the while shrill neighs to attract his consorts.  'Tis
+for naught, however, that he utters challenge to his
+enemies and appeal to his mates.  The stockmen have
+ringed the mob, and now at a slower pace they continue
+the drive; the men opening out, and keeping abreast the
+leading horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now the iron-bark clump is near at hand.  To
+this the enraged stallion gallops.  The wing men, on the
+alert, watch this last manoeuvre, and line out to intercept
+him should he make for the hills.  Such was not his
+intention, though; and their appearance only accelerates
+the execution of his determination, which was simply
+to regain his companions; this he did with a rush, no
+one saying nay.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>M'Intyre and his men were careful not to push the
+driven beasts, but were content to let them make the
+pace.  And now at a swinging canter—old mares well
+up, despite all fatigue—-they struck the clump, and passed
+the point to which the wing extended.  The wing men,
+joining in the cavalcade by orders of their leader, pass to
+the right flank and reinforce the drivers there.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They are now within half a mile of the trap.  At a
+preconcerted signal the men close up, and amid an
+unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings the beasts
+are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The calico wing acts effectually on the one side,
+allowing a strong line to form up on the other.  Barring
+accidents, the hunt is as good as finished; for in a moment
+or two the horses will be entering the trap mouth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the
+yard.  But, stay!  His keen eyes sight the fence.  </span><em class="italics">It is
+a trap</em><span>!  Past adventures flood his recollection and shape
+judgment and determination.  Inside the trap, death
+or slavery!  Outside, liberty!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Is it too late?  No!  By the ashes of his fathers he
+will elude his would-be captors!  His faithful spouses,
+naught, alas! will save them.  Let those who dare follow
+him!  Away, then!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>With a wild rush, when within some two hundred
+yards of the trap mouth, he turns swiftly to the right
+at a tangent, so as to head his enemies and cut away on
+the outside of the fence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The gallant grey well deserves his freedom.  His
+courage, devotion, and intelligence should surely prevail
+upon the men.  But the pursuers were not indulging
+in any sentiment just then, and as soon as his last tactic
+was revealed the race of interception was begun.  He
+might yet have escaped, for he was full of running, but,
+alas! the unseen foe!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The five men detailed at the trap mouth, were grouped
+thereat, just behind a cluster of silver wattles, ready for
+any emergency.  It seemed to them that their services
+would not be required.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But, see! the warrigal!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There is no time to reason.  In a flash they streak out
+from cover and ride straight at the flying barb.  Something
+must happen.  The fearful impact, narrowly escaped
+but an hour ago, occurs.  There is no attempt on either
+side to avoid the issue.  With a mighty bound and a
+savage snap of his teeth the warrigal flings himself at
+the foremost, bringing horse and rider down with a crash,
+both lying motionless upon the plain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At the same moment, and scarce a length behind, came
+Yellow Billy.  His attempt to head the runaway was
+blocked by the impact of the steeds.  Too near to swerve,
+his horse struck the leading beast on the hind-quarters
+at the moment of the crash, adding to the confusion, and
+coming down a cropper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Staggered by the violent collision, the stallion is brought
+to a sudden stop, but not to the ground.  And now an
+astounding thing happens.  Yellow Billy, while falling
+with his steed, to save himself from the warrigal's feet
+clutched frantically at that animal's mane, and, by a
+clever vault, to the amazement of his comrades, sprang
+upon the outlaw's back.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It would be hard to say if at that particular moment
+the horse himself was cognisant of the act.  The pause
+covered but the fraction of a second.  With a bound he
+leaped the fallen bodies, and, there being no one in front
+to stay him, tore off in a direction that skirted the trap
+fence.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="how-yellow-billy-broke-the-warrigal"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">"The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:
+at the sound of the
+neighing of his strong ones the whole
+land trembleth."—JEREMIAH.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The tragic ending of the last rush held all breaths
+for some brief moments.  Such a contretemps had never
+happened before.  It beat all previous experiences.  The
+vanishing horse and rider seemed a wild fantasy of
+the brain, that passes like the breaking of a soap-bubble.
+There, before their very eyes, lay the slain; the victims
+of the mad charge.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Several of the men dash after the desperate horse and
+his acrobatic rider.  Simultaneously, a small group of
+men—among the foremost is Mr. Gill—rush to the
+fallen men and beasts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was
+known as a fearless and somewhat reckless rider.  At
+the critical moment, with the lust of the chase upon
+him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed.
+To swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain
+attempt.  "I'll ride the beggar down!"  With naught
+of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of consequence,
+hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves.
+These, alas! more than defeat the object of the horseman.
+The warrigal's last hope trembled in the balance.  A
+narrow gap of open space, and—liberty!  This way
+then, with slap-dash speed!</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>We have already related the countervailing efforts
+to stay that rush: how that hidden horsemen flash
+from their ambush; how that one, a little in advance,
+moved to the strike with tornado-like velocity.  Then
+Greek met Greek.  Comes the inevitable, the sickening
+thud; and then—oblivion!  Come running men who
+lift young Dick with all the gentleness of women, and
+bear him to the shade trees.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yellow Billy's horse lies stone dead with broken neck.
+Dick's, with broken back, vainly strives to rise.  Its
+great brown eyes look round with painful entreaty
+that sends Harry silently to the camp for a rifle, and
+then the handsome filly joins her companion in the
+happy hunting grounds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Meanwhile, under the shade trees, Dick Gill lies,
+the image of death.  An examination reveals a fractured
+forearm; while a blue-black bruise on the right temple,
+as big as a crown-piece, attests the violence of the
+blow.  The general verdict is that Dick, the life
+and soul of his company, will never more crack joke,
+sing song, or join in the merry chase; and so the
+conclusion is, dead, or as good as dead—a distinction with
+a slight difference.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There were two, however, who clung to some shreds of
+hope; the father of the boy and the Colonel: the latter
+with obstinacy and emphasis.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I've seen 'em on the frontier far worse than your boy,
+Gill, and get better.  The lad's stunned with that dickens
+of a blow; but he'll rally directly and be as spry as ever."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Poor Dick is alive yet; of that I feel sure, even
+though I cannot detect any pulsation.  What the issue
+may be, Dumaresque, neither you nor——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tut, tut, man! he's young, and as tough as leather.
+Neck's all right.  Keep up heart, old man.  I'll trot
+down to the yards and see what they're doing to the
+brumbies."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>With that the old officer, whose words were braver
+than his heart, strode to the yard, where all the
+others had congregated, save Joe and Sandy, who
+were in the rear-guard when the accident happened;
+and who, chilled at heart and filled with apprehension—all
+zest in sport gone—remain by the side of their
+companion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the warrigal broke, the others of the mob were
+in full gallop, being rushed by the men.  They are
+subjected to a battery of flogging whips, and swept into
+the trap-yard; down the converging sides of this they
+hustle, only to find an impasse.  There they huddle, a
+compact mass of sweating, shivering, and cowed brutes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The horsemen form a line across the way of retreat,
+until half a dozen wires are stretched.  The rest is a
+matter of detail which expert bushmen make small
+bones about.  When all is secure the men inside cut
+out selected horses under the direction of Mr. M'Intyre,
+who, with those not actively employed in the arena,
+occupies a place on the rails.  The brumbies designed
+for use are thrown and branded, etc., then haltered
+and made fast to the rails.  The station runaways
+were secured early in the proceedings, which, from
+first to last, consume a couple of hours.  The final
+act is one of horse massacre; all the discarded stock
+are shot down.  It is cold-blooded but necessary work,
+for brumbies are rightly regarded as a pest on a run.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By this time the sun is well down in the west, and
+having finished their work at the yards, the men repair
+to the camp for a bite and a drink.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>To their great surprise and delight they find Dick
+Gill "nather dead nor spachless," as Denny Kineavy
+put it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While his father and the boys anxiously watched him,
+hoping against hope for signs of life, the unconscious
+lad suddenly stretched his limbs and opened his eyes,
+as one just awaking from a sound sleep.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The as-good-as-dead youth sat up in wonderment,
+falling back in pain and weakness the next moment.
+A wave of joy surged through Gill's heart at this
+manifestation of life.  "God be thanked for His mercies!"
+he exclaimed.  Putting an arm under the sick boy's
+shoulders, and carefully raising his head, he held the
+Colonel's brandy flask to his lips.  "You've had a
+spill, that's' all.  A bit of a knock-out.  Your left
+arm is broken, and there's a nasty bruise on your
+forehead.  Sip a little of this spirit; it'll brace you up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A pull at the flask revived the youth, and he pillowed
+his head on his father's arm, who laved the bruised
+head with cold water.  This greatly helped in the
+work of restoration.  By the time the men had finished,
+Dick was able to sit up, and expressed a desire to
+have a look at the brumbies.  Beyond acute pain in
+head and arm the lad seemed but little affected.  He
+enjoyed a feed with the men, and especially was he
+grateful for a pannikin of tea.  Good billy tea is
+better for the tired feeling than all the grog ever
+invented.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After a short consultation it was decided that Dick
+and his father, with Sandy, should proceed to a selector's
+house about three miles distant.  They would be sure
+to get the loan of Mrs. Mulvaney's spring-cart, and by
+that means reach Bullaroi.  This was carried out despite
+Dick's protests that he was fit to start on another brumby
+drive.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>What of Yellow Billy and the bolting warrigal!  Have
+they been forgotten?  Not by long chalks!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As soon as Mr. M'Intyre had selected the horses that
+were to be saved and used, he left the other work to the
+Captain, and, accompanied by Jacky, started off on the
+tracks of the outlaw.  Before long they met some of the
+pursuers returning.  Their horses were knocked up, and
+they had failed to trace the runaway.  "Deeficult as the
+country may be," mused Mr. M'Intyre, "Jacky's equal
+to onything in the trackin' line.  It's only a maitter o'
+time when we'll run 'em doon."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was much speculation at the camp over the fate
+of the half-caste.  It did not lean to pessimism, though
+jeremiads were uttered by some.  The pals, who knew
+Billy's ability better than the others, had unlimited faith
+in their mate.  Whatever happened to the steed, the
+boy would turn up safe and sound.  The steer rider, in
+their opinion, could ride bare-back the toughest outlaw
+that ever sniffed the wind.  "You'll see," said Tom
+confidently to the Captain, "Billy'll more'n hold his
+own."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Didn't youse tell us the other day thet at your gra-at
+billy-horse-ma-ale-robbery, the steer slung the yallar
+bhoy——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh!" retorted Tom pettishly, "that was only——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just then the returning men rode up.  They had no
+good news to relate, but said that by Mr. M'Intyre's
+orders all were to proceed to the Glen, and if the missing
+boy was not brought in before dark they were to disperse.
+Let us now follow the fortunes, or misfortunes, of Billy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the
+yellow boy held fast with knees and hands, the stock whip
+over his shoulder trailing in a long line behind the flying
+pair.  To stick on the racing horse was a comparatively
+easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick
+should unseat him.  But to guide the scurrying brute,
+unbitted, unreined, were as impossible as to turn and
+check a Mont Blanc avalanche.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the
+trap-yard was to dismount his rider by violent means,
+but there are eager pursuers on the track—so away!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley
+apace, twists up a gully with a swerve that almosts
+unseats Billy, dashes into Glen Creek, and mounts the bank
+to enter a defile.  The first shock over, the half-caste
+begins to realise his position.  For a moment a pang of
+fear seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the
+ride dawn upon him.  This soon yields to a different
+sensation as they rush through space.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which
+goes out in unconscious sympathy for the bestridden
+beast.  Despite the mutual antagonism, which, after all,
+is not that of hate, there is in some way a sense of
+kinship.  Wild answers to wild.  Man nature comes thus
+into close gripping quarters with horse nature.  There
+is no intervening saddle.  Flesh mates with flesh, and
+spirit answers to spirit.  Whose, then, shall be the
+victory?  The strains of many generations of desert lords
+is in the quadruped.  But what of the biped?  A curious
+admixture of blood there!  On the white side are the
+well salted strains, which hark away back to the old
+Vikings.  On the other and darker, the stream points
+backwards to the misty past, when his ancestors, subtle
+and slim, moved southward from the older civilisations
+of the north, and swarmed the valleys of the Ganges
+and the Indus, fighting for a foothold.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild
+blood of the human?  It riots through the youth's veins,
+giving vim and sparkle to his courage.  Who shall win
+the lordship?  Away then, and away!—through the
+mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast
+and thighs are torn and blooded with innumerable scores;
+slithering down the gorges to the accompaniment of
+rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and smashing
+through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded
+away—the infuriated steed holds his course.  On, on! ever
+up to the inaccessible heights.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But, has the half-breed been doing nothing save
+holding on, meanwhile?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id4"><span>With incredible difficulty, owing to the mad career of
+the horse over the wilds, Yellow Billy has managed to
+pass his whip thong twice round the brute's neck.  This,
+knotted together, forms just the sort of hold-fast the
+boy has been accustomed to on his steer rides.  The
+grip gives him a great advantage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But the horse is now scrambling up a gully, which
+becomes sharper and steeper as he advances, merging
+into a deep gorge at last, with precipitous sides and
+frowning, unscalable face.  A cul-de-sac, indeed!  Even
+this the indomitable warrigal essays.  Again and again
+does he rush the battlements, and mount some distance;
+only to tumble back with sobbing breath but dauntless
+energy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Cannot Yellow Billy now dismount in safety?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As easily, oh, reader, as one might slip off a rocking-horse.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Why not, then, fling himself off; abandon the desperado,
+and be thankful for life and limb?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>What!  Billy show the white feather?  Billy throw
+away his chance of the honour and glory of capture
+thus?  Not for all the wealth of Australia!  This is the
+most ecstatic moment of his existence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Foiled in his attempt to scale the heights, Bucephalus
+begins to think more seriously of the foe upon his back.
+Were he dislodged, what might not become possible?
+Here then!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So began the battle royal between these well-mated
+antagonists, to be fought to a finish, there, on that small
+patch of earth in the rocky fastness; with none in the
+arena to interfere or to applaud.  None, indeed, to witness,
+save the rock wallaby perched high on a beetling crag,
+who may have moralised on the unwonted spectacle of
+the whirling grey-and-brown mass of flesh and blood
+below.  Higher still, wheeling in mid-air, is an eagle
+hawk, who keenly watches the solitary duel down there,
+with unwinking eyes of insatiable greed; caring not a
+doit which wins the mastership, so that the issue may
+provide a fit object for tearing talons and lacerating beak.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But below there!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The warrigal, with bloodshot eyes flaming in rage and
+malice, ears set back, head and neck well down between
+the forelegs, back arched like a bent bow, bucks and
+squeals, kicks and twists.  Forward, backward, sideward;
+round and round; up and down; now in the middle of the
+patch; now trying to rub the boy against the rough sides
+of the rocky canon, but all in vain.  Not even the young
+Mazeppa, lashed to the wild horse, was more securely
+bound than was Billy to his steed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There he is; Yellow Billy!  Behold him!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Grasping with both hands the encircling stock whip,
+head and shoulders inclined backwards, his knees grip
+the horse's sides like a vice.  The horse's hoarse neighs
+are answered with shrill shouts.  And so, amid battle-cries,
+dust and flying pebbles, sweat and foam, with
+evolutions to which those of the circus ring were flat
+and monotonous, the tug of war for supremacy between
+man and beast goes on.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Presently, however, the bucking desperado moderates.
+There is a lull.  He shifts from side to side, making at
+the same time a slow gyral movement.  Is this premonitory
+of collapse?  He is blowing like the proverbial
+grampus, and ejecting steam from quivering nostrils like
+an exhaust pipe.  The sweat flows from neck, belly,
+and flanks to the ground in streams.  Spasmodic sobs
+like those of a broken-hearted child send shudder after
+shudder through his whole frame.  See! his head is
+hanging upon his breast; the symbol of despair.  Yes! he
+is done, conquered!  He is broken.  Well done,
+Billy!  But the most dangerous moment of Billy's
+existence is at hand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Suddenly rushing backwards, the demon rears and
+throws himself to the ground, almost turning a complete
+somersault in the act.  Crash! down come body and hoofs
+and—Billy.  The boy is taken unawares, and can do
+little to avert the consequences of this trick.  Still, the
+little saves him.  When, in the fraction of a second, he
+sees the inevitable, a spasmodic jerk flings him just
+beyond the horse's legs, which are working like the
+arms of a windmill.  Scarce has the animal regained his
+feet ere, with panther-like spring, the half-caste is
+reseated.  Again the horse is down, but now he is
+weakening—is rapidly nearing the limit of endurance.
+All the reserves have been called up.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Again, behold! a rapid change of tactics.  The outlaw
+whips round his head with open mouth and snaps at the
+rider's leg.  Again and again, on both sides, and it is only
+by the utmost dexterity that the lad escapes.  This, more
+than anything else, begets fear; for Billy, like the horse,
+is fast tiring.  With despair in his eyes the boy looks
+round him for help, and catches sight of the whip handle,
+which is hanging, with some two feet or more of thong,
+from where it is tied to the neck.  In a trice his knife
+is out and the thong is severed near the knot.  This
+end, coiled round his hand, becomes a weapon of offence.
+A loaded stock-whip handle is as formidable as an
+Irishman's shillelah.  And now every snap is met with a
+cruel smack, and this not for long can even the warrigal
+stand.  Yellow Billy does more, he rains blows upon the
+steed's shoulders and head with such severity as almost
+to paralyse the brute.  The end is coming fast now.
+Worn, blown, trembling with weakness, dazed, the battle
+has indeed turned.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There is a point in horse-nature up to which no man
+may call himself master.  In some animals it lies low
+down.  In others, the warrigal, to wit, it is placed at
+the apex of his mettlesome temper.  Let that point in
+mastery be taken by the adversary and all is yielded.
+That citadel stormed, there is naught left but the white
+flag.  The independence once surrendered is never
+regained.  In other words, once the complete master,
+always the master.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>See now the lord of the wilderness! the equine
+conjurer of tricks!  There he stands with shrunken form,
+drooping head, lack-lustrous eyes, motionless and clinging
+tail, subservience incarnate: fit statue of unconditional
+surrender!  The struggle has been gallant, heroic,
+prolonged; the capitulation is complete.  A well planted
+blow, now, between the ears, and that noble creature;
+that thing of bone and muscle, of arching neck and
+glossy coat; that creature of will and courage, which
+made him emperor among his kind by right of merit—with
+a stride worthy the envy of Lucifer!  Just one
+blow in the right spot—he staggers, trembles, and falls.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yellow Billy is standing at the horse's head.  'Twas
+a glorious ride, a royal fight, a grand victory.  Nothing
+is left now but—pity!  And so, with soft and cheery
+word, rubbing the nostrils, wiping the drying sweat,
+massaging the trembling limbs, the boy is mercifully
+engaged when footsteps are heard, and in a moment
+the squatter, Jacky, and a couple of men ride on to
+the battle-field.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Darkness is mantling the earth, and the men at the
+Glen camp have all gone, save a few, including the boys
+and Neville, who are still anxiously waiting.  The striking
+of iron on the flints of the creek-bed breaks the dismal
+silence, as a group of horsemen steal out of the surrounding
+gloom, and stand half-revealed in the light of the camp
+fire.  Yellow Billy is perched on the croup behind one
+of the men, while, with a stock whip converted into a
+halter, Jacky leads the bone and soul sore warrigal, who,
+in this abject spectacle, drinks the cup of humiliation
+to its bitterest dregs.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="a-day-s-shoot"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">A DAY'S SHOOT</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Alas! that, when the changing year</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Brings round the blessed day,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The hearts of little native boys</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Wax keen to hunt and slay,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>As if the chime of Christmas time</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Were but a call to prey."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>BRUNTON STEPHENS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"S-a-n-d-e-e!  S-a-n-d-e-e!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"H-e-ll-o!  H-e-ll-o!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where—are—you?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Down—here."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where's here?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Find—out!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where's that horrid Sandy, Joe?" exclaimed Jessie
+M'Intyre to Joe Blain, as she came out into the back yard,
+shortly after breakfast, one fine morning a few days after
+the brumby hunt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Can't split on me mates, Jess."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're a nasty, good-for-nothing boy, Joe Blain: that's
+what I think of </span><em class="italics">you</em><span>, and I don't care if you </span><em class="italics">do</em><span> know it."</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Tweedlum, tweedlum, tweedlum twee,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The cat and the rat ran up the tree,"</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>quoth Joe, as he capered about just out of reach of the
+girl, who chased him round the room with a broom.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It so happened that as Joe was dancing past the
+kitchen window, Ah Fat the cook was in the very act of
+throwing out a dish of kitchen slops, and the contents
+struck him fair on the head and shoulders.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This unintended but well-delivered blow came so
+swiftly and so unexpectedly that for the moment Joe
+was stupefied, gasping and spluttering between wind and
+water, so to speak.  He cut so ludicrous a figure that
+Jessie had to fairly hold her sides with laughter.
+Meanwhile the innocent Ah Fat stood gazing at the spectacle
+in amazement.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, Missee Joe, I welly solly.  Me neffer see you when
+me tlew um——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You jolly Chinaman!" cried Joe, in great wrath.
+"You—you—yellow joss!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>With that the irate boy jumped through the window
+and vigorously assaulted the cook with hands and feet.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh!—Missee Joe—welly solly.  O—h!  Oh, Clismus!
+O-u-c-h!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At first genuine sorrow controlled the Celestial.  And
+indeed the onset was so furious and determined that the
+Chinaman had enough to do in fending blows, and was
+not a little alarmed.  But when Joe, in closing, clutched
+him by the head, and essayed to unwind his pig-tail,
+alarm yielded to horror at this unexpected indignity.
+An ominous glitter came into his eye, and a string of
+curses in his native tongue flew from the angry heathen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boy, having loosened the tail, wound a coil of it
+round his hand, and began to give fierce tugs.  Passion
+in an Oriental may take any turn.  A passion-fired
+Chinaman, however well-disposed and peaceably inclined
+at other times, will wreak his vengeance regardless of
+moral issues.  With a yell of mingled pain and rage the
+maddened man executed a Chinese edition of Jiu-jitsu,
+sending his youthful antagonist whirling through the air,
+to come down with a rattling bump that shook the breath
+from his body.  Fortunately for Joe, the part of his
+anatomy which bore the brunt of the contact was that
+least susceptible to damage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This act would have been followed by one severer still
+had not Mrs. M'Intyre at that moment run into the
+kitchen, and, seeing the fallen boy at the mercy of the
+rage-possessed Chow, who was in the act of assault and
+battery, made for the man with a shrill scream, and
+hauled him off the prostrate lad.  All the while, John
+Chinaman was in a state of wild excitability, sending
+forth a torrential stream of pidgin-English.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe tumbled to his feet none the worse for the bout
+save a bruise or two.  The sight of Ah Fat with
+flowing pig-tail and grotesque gesticulation sent the lad
+into fits of laughter.  This only the more incensed his
+adversary, who made another effort to get at him,
+being hardly prevented by Mrs. M'Intyre.  In this
+hilarity Joe was joined by Jess, who had followed her
+mother and stood first in terror, but now with hearty
+laughter.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe Blain, get out of this kitchen this moment, you
+wicked boy!  Be quiet, Ah Fat, or I'll call for one of the
+men!  Stop laughing at once, Jess, you bold hussy, or I'll
+box your ears!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Both Joe and Jess disappeared in a flash, and this had
+the effect of calming the Chinaman, who told the tale to
+his mistress as well as his perturbed condition and broken
+English would allow.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Me thlo dirtee watah outa window.  Joee comin'
+plast.  Me no see him.  Watah 'it 'im head and soljer.
+He jumpee tloo window, pullee hair, welly angly.  Me
+get angly too, and thlo 'im down."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Quite true," said Joe, who suddenly appeared at the
+window.  "It's all my fault.  He didn't see me, I'm sure,
+when he pitched the stuff out.  My paddy got up, an' I
+went for him like a terrier.  I think the terrier's got the
+worst of it, eh, Ah Fat?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The quick acknowledgment of wrong produced an
+immediate effect on Ah Fat.  There was a winning grace
+about Joe that few could withstand.  Hitherto he had
+been the cook's favourite.  And now, no sooner did he
+express his sorrow for the summary proceedings, and own
+his defeat, than the mantling frown of anger on the
+Chinaman's forehead vanished, and his dingy and stolid
+countenance lit up with a smile.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Me welly solly——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, stow that!  No harm done.  I'm off to get rid of
+this muck," cried Joe, as he disappeared from the window.
+A few moments later, Joe was in the act of passing this
+same opening to convey a message to Sandy, who was
+doing a job for his father in the carpenter's room, at the
+rear of the stables.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The act was observed by Ah Fat, who made a rapid
+move to the window.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Joe!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Ah Fat!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come here, Joe," said the Flowery-Lander, beckoning
+as he spoke.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No more soap-suds, Ah Fat?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No mo dirtee watah," said he of the pig-tail
+grinningly.  "See a-here, Joe"—displaying a jam pasty,
+hot from the oven.  "You takee dis plastee.  Stlawbelly
+jam, welly good."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By Cæsar!  Ah Fat, you're no end of a brick!" cried
+Joe, as he received the peace-offering with eager hands
+and glistening eyes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Saundy, ye scoondrel!" shouted he a moment later,
+bursting in upon Sandy, who was spoke-shaving a piece of
+timber designed for a swingle bar.  "Didn't you hear
+Jess call you a few minutes ago?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I did hear some sort of a cackling an' flustration.
+What's up?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We've got to go an' shoot some ducks."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That all?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That all, ye cauld-blooded Scotchman!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"An' when have we to go?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, at once, immediately, if not sooner, ye spalpeen."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ye're an odd mixture of Scotch an' Irish this morn,
+me hairy-breasted hero, an' a bad hand at either.  But
+why all the hurry about the ducks?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Your mother's just got word to say some chaps are
+coming out from Tareela to dinner this evening, an'
+they're sure to expect game."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All serene.  Tom comin'?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, he ain't.  He's out with Harry on the run.
+There's only you an' me for't."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll be with you in a jiff, my son.  Just finishing this
+bar."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Where'll we go for the birds, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Up the creek, I s'pose.  Too far out to the swamp if
+it's to-night they want them.  There's a mob o' woods I'd
+like to get a smack at—the ones we saw when we were
+fishin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jacky told me yesterday he saw 'em the other night
+roosting on the old dead gum just at the junction of
+Mosquito Crick an' the Crocodile.  How far d'ye call that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Bout three mile."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Your mother said we are to try and get some pigeons
+when we're out."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Used to be a lot o' pigeons in the scrub; but the
+last time Dickson and some other coves came out shooting,
+they went through the scrub, but didn't see a feather—so
+they said."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No good goin' there, then?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, I don't know.  We can give it a try, I s'pose.
+What's the time, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Struck ten as I came along; so we'd bes' be off in
+less'n no time, sonny."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a few minutes the boys were loaded up with guns,
+ammunition, sculls, and the tucker bag.  They decided to
+take the skiff and try their luck on the water, instead of
+stalking the game along the banks.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't be later than four o'clock.  Try and be back
+before, if possible."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All serene, mother; we'll be back on time, luck or no
+luck."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We'll fetch you some shags anyhow for fish soup,"
+yelled back Joe as the lads walked briskly along.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy took the oars at the start, Joe sitting in the
+stern with his muzzle-loader.  Breech-loaders were at
+that time a rarity in Australia.  There were handicaps in
+shooting in those days of the muzzle-loader, the powder-horn,
+and the shot belt, when compared with the modern choke-bore,
+smokeless powder, etc.  But there were compensations.
+Men were far more careful of their ammunition.  Loading
+itself was an art in which the expert took considerable
+pride.  To every novice the formula was carefully given
+by the senior—</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Ram your powder well, but not your lead,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>If you want to kill dead."</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>But, beyond all other considerations, there was more
+of the element of sport in it.  There was a greater call for
+skill.  The very limitations of gunnery in those days put
+the game on a nearer footing of equality with the hunter.
+There were greater chances for the quarry, and therefore
+greater merit in the kill.  These are the days of
+machinery, and even in gunnery there is a disposition to
+do the work by turning a handle—"pumping the lead
+into 'em," as the moderns put it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy's father was the possessor of a renowned Joe
+Manton, and many were the tales told by the lad of his
+father's prowess and the wonderful distances at which
+this Joe Manton could kill.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The creek on both sides was lined for the most part
+with rushes, weeds, and water-reeds, which afforded fine
+cover and food for the wild-fowl.  It was possible to pass
+within short distances of the ducks in the rushes without
+being aware of their presence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Keep your eyes skinned along here, Joe," remarked
+Sandy, after rowing some distance.  "Might start a brace
+at any time."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth when a
+bird rose out of the reeds with a great flutter.  Joe's gun
+was up in a trice, and before it had flown a dozen yards,
+it fell into the water with a splash.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good shot, Joe; but what's the use of wasting powder
+and shot over a red-bill?  Thought you knew a coot from
+a duck."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well—I—I'm blest!  If I'm not a dumplin'-headed,
+double-dyed duffer!  As if I hadn't shot tons of 'em.
+Well, well, well!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's not well at all," answered Sandy with a grin, as
+the boat glided past the beautiful glossy black and
+purple-hued bird, which, though edible enough, generally
+ran to toughness, and was not classed as game.  Yet a
+plump red-bill that has fattened on the river-end patch
+of the settlers' maize is by no means to be despised.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe quietly reloaded, and was doubly on the </span><em class="italics">qui vive</em><span>
+after the misadventure.  He had his revenge before
+long, for on rounding the point they ran into a mob of
+teal which were camping on a shady mud-beach.  The
+teal rose in a very alert fashion, flying back over the boat.
+Quickly turning, Joe poured the contents of right and
+left barrels into the retreating birds.  Three of them
+soused into the water, two of which were stone-dead.
+The third, though badly wounded, was nevertheless
+exceedingly agile in dodging the boat by diving.  After
+some trouble the boys managed to secure it, and so a
+good start towards a full bag was made.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Then their luck departed for a while.  Two or three
+pairs of black duck rose, but out of range.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here, Sandy, let me take the oars and give you a
+spell," said Joe, after proceeding about two miles from the
+landing.  The positions were reversed, and the boat sped
+on its way to the junction.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pull easy, Joe," said Sandy, as that point came in
+sight.  "There's a chance of the wood-duck on the spit.
+We mustn't miss this lot, anyway.  You'd best land me
+here, ole man, an' I'll stalk 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, whose back faced the spit, to coin an Irishism,
+turned round to survey the birds, which clustered thickly
+on the spit-end.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See 'em, Joe," said Sandy excitedly.  "It's a grand
+mob.  If I don't knock half a dozen, you may——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bag the whole bloomin' lot if you like, Sandy
+M'Intyre," replied the rower, who had been gazing
+intently on the birds, and now turned to his mate with
+an amused smile.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why—why—whatcher mean?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Mean!  Mr. Alexander Duff M'Intyre, bushman,
+waterman, sportsman, and naturalist by profession, but
+only a Scotch mixture of bat an' mole for all that!
+Why——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Do you mean to insinuate, Joe Blain, that yon's not
+a mob of wood-duck?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; and ready to swear to it till all's blue.  I </span><em class="italics">did</em><span>
+think you knew the difference between a duck of any
+sort and a plover!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You call 'em plov——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here one of the birds stretched its neck, flapped its
+wings, gave a hop and a short run, plover-ways, and
+finished with the typical harsh note.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Great Donald! you're right, man!" finished the boy,
+in a mortified tone and with a considerable amount of
+disgust.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, well," he resumed, after a moment's silence, "a
+few plover won't come amiss, especially if we don't collar
+any more duck.  Like 'em myself, grilled, as well as
+anything; they've such plump little breasts.  Pull on, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe made for the spit, coming in so quickly with a few
+quiet but vigorous strokes that Sandy was able to get in
+a pot and a flying shot, accounting for no fewer than five.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I vote," exclaimed that youth, when they had bagged
+the plover, "that we pull into the mouth of 'Skeeter
+Crick, tie up to the bank, an' stalk the crick for a mile or
+so; then we can cross over to the scrub by the old tree.
+We'll chance to get a pigeon or two, or I'm mistaken.
+P'r'aps we'll have better luck with the ducks on our way
+back.  Never saw 'em so scarce on the Crocodile before."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Accordingly, they landed a hundred yards or so up the
+creek, assailed the contents of the tucker bag, and then
+proceeded to skirt the right bank, on the look out for
+duck.  A single bird, a very fine drake, fell to Joe's gun
+near the fallen log which bridged the narrow stream.
+This crossed, the boys entered into a belt of virgin scrub
+that extended back a mile or so from Crocodile Creek,
+abutting Mosquito Creek along its breadth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We'd bes' separate, Joe," said Sandy, when they had
+gone a little distance into the jungle.  "You keep on a
+few hundred yards, and then bear on the left towards the
+Crocodile.  I'll make straight for there from here.  It'll
+be hard if we don't account for a bird or two."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The scrub was very thick and interwoven in places.
+It contained a number of native fig trees of great height
+and spread.  These trees were in fruit, therefore there
+was a better chance of getting pigeon, some varieties of
+which are exceedingly fond of the native fig.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The umbrageous trees formed a lofty canopy whose
+cool shades were very agreeable after a couple of hours
+on the water under a January sun.  The lawyer and
+other cane vines hung from the great trees in long
+festoons, varying in thickness from ropes no thicker than
+one's little finger to the great cables extending downward
+from the huge limbs of the fig trees.  Besides these
+growths were scrub bushes, many of which were covered
+with blossom, and still others with berries, blue and red.
+There were also spaces of bare ground, occupied only by
+giant fig and other columnar trees.  These, by natural
+formation, made arched aisles, whose loftiness, lights,
+distances, and vistas constituted a grandeur, and even
+splendour, unapproached by any of the great cathedrals
+of earth.  These, however ancient, are but things of
+yesterday when compared with nature's porticoes,
+cloisters, and altar spaces.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys, however, took little heed of these things.
+They were in the scrub neither for architectural nor
+devotional purposes.  Pigeons and other scrub game
+alone had any attractions for them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After separating they walked warily, listening with both
+ears and scanning with both eyes.  Sounds there were in
+abundance.  The ubiquitous minah, as the noisy and saucy
+soldier-bird is called, is as widespread as the gum tree itself.
+The thrush, though smaller than its English namesake, and
+with a differing note, is equally melodious.  Then peculiar
+to scrub country are the musically metallic notes of the
+pretty but exceedingly coy bell-bird.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Henry Kendal, the greatest of Australian nature poets,
+has limned it in song.  Here is a stanza—</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>They sing in September their songs of the Maytime.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>There is also the merry Coachman, who cracks his whip
+with his beak, so to speak, in such verisimilitude that
+the wandering new chum looks round eagerly for a coach-team.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Added to these are the soft coo-coo of the doves and
+the stronger and booming note of the pigeon tribe.  And
+beyond all these, the calls, chirpings, and chatterings of
+scores of feathered favourites.  They who call the
+Australian bush songless libel it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pigeon has a coo that is as monotonous and
+far-reaching as a fog horn.  For this sound the boys are
+now cocking their ears.  Presently the loved note reaches
+Sandy's ears: coo—coo—coo!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A wonga for a dollar, and where's one is sure to be
+another."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>To locate a pigeon by its note is often a most difficult
+thing in the scrub.  It may be on the tree under which
+one happens to be standing, or hundreds of yards away.
+To run down a pigeon by its note is a work that needs
+experience and patience.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy listened intently, mind as well as ears working.
+"Not high up, that's certain.  Seems to be right behind
+me.  Bet tuppence he's on that white cedar," said the
+boy to himself after a further scrutiny in the supposed
+direction.  Away in the locality indicated, distant a
+hundred yards or so, rising above a clump of myrtles, was
+a white cedar tree, its shining yellow berries revealing
+its presence as seen through the tree boles and shrubs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Stealthily moving through the undergrowth and timber,
+the lad cautiously advanced towards the cedar.  Gaining
+the myrtle cluster, he was thereby screened to some
+extent even when viewed from above.  Just then a coo
+gave him the location.  Moving to the edge of the
+saplings, he now got a fair view of the tree beyond; and
+there, on a lateral limb, distant from him not more
+than thirty-five yards, sat a glorious wonga-wonga, the
+finest species of Australian pigeon, not to be beaten for
+table purposes throughout the wide world.  The specimen
+before Sandy was a male bird as big as three ordinary
+pigeons.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That fellow's calling his mate, and she's not far off,
+by the way he's noddin' his head," surmised the youth.
+"Shall I pot him, or wait for his mate and cop 'em both?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The question was soon settled, for suddenly, and with a
+great whirr, the hen rose from the ground, or rather, tiny
+water pool: for she had been drinking and bathing and
+admiring her reflected image in the glassy water.  Her
+return, alas! is the signal of death, for what time she
+alighted on the bough at her spouse's side, the remorseless
+hunter, with hasty but true aim, brought both fluttering
+to the ground.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Their necks are wrung and they are bagged instanter,
+with a laconic but satisfied grunt from the sportsman:
+"Not so bad."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At this moment a double shot broke on Sandy's ears.
+This was immediately followed by a deep, mellow sound
+that formed the common signal of the pals.  Putting his
+two hands with hollowed palms together, conch-shell
+fashion, the boy raised them to his lips and blew a
+prolonged and resonant note followed by three short notes
+staccato, which conveyed to the other's ears the answer:
+"Heard you, am coming."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe wants me for something.  Got into a covey of
+bronze-wings, or maybe a mob o' flocks," muttered the
+lad as he made in the direction of the sound.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He soon espied his mate at the butt of an enormous
+fig tree, and signalled his advent.  The moment Joe
+perceived Sandy he stooped down and picked up a couple of
+large black-looking birds, and waved them excitedly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My word! ole Joe's run into a flock of turkeys.
+Hurrah! here's luck."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Yes, Joe had been fortunate enough to "rise" a fine
+lot of tallagalla, to call them by their native name, better
+known as scrub turkey.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Unlike the so-called turkey of the plains—which,
+indeed, is not a true turkey, but a bustard—the scrub
+turkey is true to its title, being seldom or never seen out
+of thickly wooded country.  Its breeding home is a huge
+mound raised by scratching together the dry leaves and
+bits of rotten bark and wood.  On the top of this elevation
+of débris the eggs are laid, some scores of them, and
+barely covered.  As the birds use the same spot for many
+years, the nests become in time mounds of vast dimensions.
+Turkey nest, as it is called, becomes in time a rich
+compost of leaf-mould, and is eagerly sought for garden
+purposes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The bird itself is stronger in the legs than in the
+wings.  Unless startled and rushed, it will not rise, but
+scuttles through the undergrowth with inconceivable
+speed, and he is a fortunate man who is able to draw a
+bead as it darts through the thousand obstacles of the
+scrub.  Hence the necessity of a good dog to rush the
+birds pell-mell and startle them into immediate flight,
+when they almost invariably seek refuge in the trees
+near by.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, fortunately, heard the drumming and clucking of
+a turkey gobbler before he was seen of them.  Moving
+with intense caution through the bush, which was very
+thick at this spot, he saw at last through the intervening
+leaves, on a patch of bare ground, scratching among the
+decayed vegetable matter for grubs, a flock of turkeys
+containing a score or more.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They were exceedingly active, running hither and thither;
+many of them, just at the pullet stage, indulging in mimic
+warfare.  The elder ones were busily engaged grubbing.
+Joe could easily have shot two or three of them as he
+stood an unseen watcher.  There was a better way than
+that, however.  Once "tree" them, and one could leisurely
+pick his birds.  How are they to be got into the trees?
+He'll be his own dog.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Bursting out from his cover with a hair-raising and
+blood-curdling yell, making at the same time a high
+jump and wildly waving his arms, the stalker rushed into
+the midst of the mob, catching, indeed, a young one by
+the leg, and generally making such a hullabaloo as to
+scare them into instant flight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It is a peculiarity of this bird, like that of its American
+brother, when once "treed," to remain there.  Wanton
+shooters, taking advantage of this trait, will often shoot
+a flock right out.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The birds put up by Joe, with one or two exceptions,
+flew into the trees surrounding them.  The lad's first act
+was to slip a piece of string round the captured turkey's
+legs and swing it from a tree limb.  This done, he took
+a couple of pot shots, bringing down a young gobbler each
+time.  Having made sure of a brace, he signalled to his
+mate, as described.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The shooters, with true sporting instinct, refrained
+both from wanton destruction and from shooting at the
+hens.  They picked out half a dozen of the biggest males,
+leaving the others on their perches.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Needless to say, the boys were greatly pleased with
+their success in the scrub.  On their way home good
+fortune followed them.  Though they did not sight the
+mob of woods, they surprised a pair, which they promptly
+secured.  Though the bag could not be considered a big
+one for those days, it was a good one for variety.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Greatly to Mrs. M'Intyre's delight, the boys reached
+home a little after three o'clock.  During their absence of
+five hours they accounted for the following game: one
+black duck, two wood-duck, three teal, five spur-wing
+plover, six fat turkey gobblers, two plump pigeon, and
+the captured turkey.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You are dear, good boys," was Mrs. M'Intyre's
+comment as the game lay side by side on the bench at
+the rear of the kitchen.  "What fine birds! what a lovely
+variety!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mrs. Mac., while not an epicure, was a noted housewife,
+and dispensed hospitality in such a whole-hearted fashion
+and in such an acceptable manner that her dinners were
+things to be remembered with delight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Go into the kitchen, boys, and get a snack: you'll be
+dying for something to eat.  After you've finished you
+can bear a hand with the plucking and cleaning, as
+Denny's the only one about.  Come here, Ah Fat!  What
+do you think of the birds, Ah Fat?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dem welly good, missee."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, they'll do very well.  The boys'll clean them for
+you—at least the ones we're using to-night.  We'll hang
+the rest.  Let me see! they had better clean the pigeons
+and plover first.  You can put them on to stew: we'll
+turn them into a game pie.  Grill the teal, and roast a
+pair of ducks and two gobblers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Allee lita, missee; I do 'em.  That all?  I mos go back
+an' look after puddens."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Denny and the boys set to work on the fowl, and were
+soon feathers and down from head to foot.</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 61%" id="figure-68">
+<span id="retreating-one-moment-and-advancing-the-following-uttering-war-cries"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries.&quot;" src="images/img-208.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id5">219</a><span class="italics">.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell me, Joe, me bhoy, did ye or Sahndy here shute
+the most b-i-rr-ds?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Honours are easy, Denny."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Begorra! phwat th' divvil's thot?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It means that each shot an equal quantity."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"An e-qu-a-al quantitee!  Be jabers, wheres did ye
+put 'em?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Put what?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whoi, th' pair iv e-qu-a-al quan——  Be Saint Michael,
+it's a new sort iv a b-i-rr-d ye've shuted!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Denny was not so dense as he pretended to be.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're a downy cove, Denny," laughed Joe, who caught
+a twinkle in the young Irishman's eye.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's true for ye, Joe," retorted the wit, surveying
+himself; "but, bhoys, why doan't ye's take me wid youse?
+Sure an' it's a foine shot Oi am."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's news, Denny.  Didn't know you'd ever let off
+a gun."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Manny an' manny's th' wan Oi've seen me farther
+bang off, annyways.  Did youse never hear tell iv me
+farther's shutin'?  Shure he was a sealabrity in
+Killarney!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Never.  Tell us."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, la-ads, wan da' he was rowin' th' Dook iv
+Dublhin, who was a g-rr-a-at sport, on th' woild la-a-kes
+iv Killarney.  They was lukin' for dooks."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Set a duke to catch a 'dook,' eh, Denny?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Be aisy, Marsther Joe.  It's th' flyin' dooks Oi'me
+dascribin'.  Be jabers! farther rowed about a tousan'
+moile, and th' only dook th' g-rr-a-at mahn shuted was
+a gull, though they was there in g-rr-a-at mobs."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The gulls or the ducks, Denny?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If you'd 'a' bin there they wud 'a' bin two gulls,
+annyhow, me mahn."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good for you, Denny.  Let him finish, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, shure, saays farther at last, ses he, 'If y're
+Riall Hoiness wud let me have wan shot, maybe Oi'd
+bring ye luck.'  An' he did it.  So farther, he gits th'
+Dook's big gun, an' th' Dook he tuk th' pathles, an' bynby
+they see a mob iv dooks all in a loine acrost th' boat's
+bows, saalin' for all th' warld loike th' owld loin-iv-batthle
+ships in th' pictures, stim an' starn.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Howld aisy,' saays farther, ses 'e, whin they got abreast
+thim fowls.  With that he pinted th' gun at th' la-adin'
+dook, an owld dr-a-ake be th' same token—pulled th'
+thrigger an' let her off.  Wud ye bela-ave me, so quick
+was he that before all th' shot had got out iv th' way-pon
+he'd got her down to th' tail-most birr-d, an' betune you
+an' me an' little Garr-ge Washintong in th' Bible, ivry
+sowl iv thim dooks lay spaachless dead upon th' wather.
+Now thin, phwat div ye think iv that f'r shutin', ye
+gosoons?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Think of it, Denny," said Maggie, who had been
+standing at the kitchen door, unobserved of the boys, an
+amused listener.  "Why, you'll be writing a book one
+day that will put the Kybosh on Baron Munchausen."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, if iver Oi does, Miss Maggie," replied the
+incorrigible Irish boy, "Oi'll pit y'reself in as th' laaden
+acthress—Oi mane th' herr-owyne."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Maggie!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Coming, mother."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-corrobberie"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXIV</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE CORROBBERIE</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Deep in the forest depths the tribe</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>A mighty blazing fire have spread:</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Round this they spring with frantic yells,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>In hideous pigments all arrayed.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>One barred with yellow ochre, one</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>A skeleton in startling white,</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Then one who dances furiously</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Blood-red against the great fire's light.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>*      *      *      *      *</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Like some infernal scene it is—</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>The forest dark, the blazing fire,</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The ghostly birds, the dancing fiends,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Whose savage chant swells ever higher."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>WILLIAM SHARP.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Jacky and Willy want to know if they can have some
+raddle,[#] whitning, and blue: can they, dad?"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Raddle: a red pigment used for marking sheep, etc.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"They're very reasonable, I maun say.  And what are
+they aifter noo, the scamps?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I thought you knew, dad!  There's going to be a
+grand corrobberie to-night.  Old Tarpot has sent in a
+messenger for them to go out, and take this stuff with
+them, and——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Precious cool cheek on the pairt of Tarpot, and o' the
+boys as weel.  Why couldna they come oure and ask me
+properly?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dunno, dad."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's the blacks' way all over, dad," said Maggie.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dad, dad," interrupted Jessie, who was eagerly waiting
+a chance to get in a word, "you said, the last time there
+was a corrobberie, when you refused to let us go, that
+you would the next time.  Now then, dado, you can't
+refuse to let us this time.  Say you will.  Ah, I know by
+your eyes you will say yes!  You dear thing, it's worth a
+kiss and a hug."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the ardent girl had bestowed these filial pledges
+she turned round to Sandy and the others, out of whose
+sails she had taken the wind in a manner.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There now, young people, we are all going, for which
+I ought to be thanked.  Only for my good memory, I'm
+afraid the dear man would have said no! wouldn't you,
+dadums?  We'll make up a party, and Mr. Neville will, I
+am sure, be delighted at the exhibition."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My stars, Jess, but you're gettin' 'em bad!  You will
+be applying for a school teacher's billet next.  Such
+consideration for Mr. Neville, too!  Why——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, brither mine, bless your poor thick skull; it's
+positively no use you trying to be funny—you simply
+can't.  Oh, it'll be glorious fun," continued she, turning
+to the Englishman.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But, Miss Jessie, please!  In the first place, what is
+this corbobbery?  Is that the way it is pronounced?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, sir, it is not; though to be sure they do kick up a
+tremendous bobbery."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, whatever the name, I suppose it stands for an
+aboriginal ceremonial or pastime?" said Neville smilingly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Exactly.  Cor-rob-ber-ie is their Café Chautant, a
+free-and-easy; with this difference, though—all their
+performers appear in full dress; got up to kill by the aid
+of the tribe tonsorial artists and valets.  The young bucks
+are perfect pictures, I do assure you; and as for the
+girls——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't take any notice of the saucy kid, Mr. Neville,"
+broke in Sandy, who felt that he owed his young sister
+one.  "She's only jigging you.  It's their native dance
+and song by the firelight; she's right there.  The men
+do the dancing, and the women simply play the music."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Music!  I had no idea that they were——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Musicians.  Oh well, not exactly that.  They beat
+time for the men.  They, the men, are all painted up and
+armed.  It's a sort of action song, but it's jolly fine, a
+tiptop sight, especially when there's a big mob of them.
+Sometimes four or five tribes get together for what they
+call the 'great corrobberie.'  Then you see something;
+for there's generally ructions before they finish,
+particularly if there has been any grog in the camp.  In that
+case they usually wind up with a fight, and then there's
+the killed and wounded to count when the cleaning-up's
+done.  It's all right to-night, though.  There will be only
+two tribes in it, and they've always been friendly.  Would
+you like to come?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come!  I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Yes, you
+may reckon on me for one—that is, of course, if your
+father is agreeable for us to go."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I suppose, dad," said Sandy, turning to his father,
+"we may all go?  It's to be held at the old spot."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, weel, I suppose you'd think me hard-herted if I
+said no?  I'll jist mak' one condeetion, and that is, dinna
+interfere wi' the blacks.  You maunna mak' ony attempt
+to boss them.  Let them cairry oot things in their ain
+way."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"All serene, dad."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Can the boys have the whitnin' and other things from
+the store?" repeated Sandy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Consent is given, and the heart of Tarpot, the King of
+Bullaroi, is made glad with a goodly parcel of pigments.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>That night after tea the party, including Denny
+Kineavy, mount their steeds and ride out to the corrobberie
+grounds, a matter of three miles.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was situated on a lightly timbered box-tree flat,
+where a cleared space occurred forming a natural
+amphitheatre, wherein the aboriginal tribes foregathered
+periodically and disported themselves in their national
+characters and games at night time.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The blacks make a distinction in these festivals.  There
+is the corrobberie and the cobborn (or great) corrobberie.
+It was one of the former that the whites were to witness.
+The latter occurred only at long intervals, and was a time
+of feasting as well as amusement; both feasting and play
+being prolonged often for weeks, and generally attended
+by all the tribes within a radius of hundreds of miles.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Each tribe would bring its song and dance (corrobberie),
+in many cases composed for the special occasion.  This
+produced the exciting element of competition.  A
+corrobberie of exceptional excellence would be learned by the
+other tribes, and on their return to their own country
+passed on to the surrounding tribes.  Thus it happened
+sometimes that a corrobberie of singular merit travelled
+round and through the continent.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These folk-songs were associated with the dances, and
+treated on elemental themes, as war, the chase, the feast,
+love, birth, death.  Often some humorous theme would be
+introduced, causing immense fun.  As a rule each tribe
+had clowns, whose grotesque attitude and voice intonations
+were mirth-provoking to a degree.  The Australian native
+manifests a keen appreciation of a joke and has an inborn
+tendency to laughter.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The preparations were far advanced by the time the
+station party arrived at the camp.  The gins, to whom fell
+all labour of a manual sort, were lighting the fires, while
+the bucks were busy "dressing" for their parts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The girls remained in the clearing talking to some of
+the old gins, while the males proceeded to the outskirts
+of the forest, where the work of adorning went on apace.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For this no pains were spared.  The naked bodies of
+the dancers were treated by the tribe experts, and some
+fearfully and wonderfully startling effects were produced.
+Take His Majesty, Tarpot, as a sample.  The ordinary
+court dress of the King consisted of a tattered police
+uniform, together with a crescent-shaped brass plate that
+adorned his breast, where it hung, suspended by a chain
+from his neck.  The plate—presented to him on one
+occasion as a joke—bore upon it the inscription—</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>TARPOT, KING OF BULLAROI</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>But to-night Merri-dia-o is resplendent in a warrior's
+full rig.  A hole bored through the cartilage of his nose
+peak displays the bone of an eagle's wing, about four
+inches long, the insignia of his maturity and dignity—his
+knighthood's spurs, so to speak.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Behold, then, athwart his nose, the polished bone,
+gleaming like ivory against the ebony background!  His
+grey hair is trussed up, forming a big top-knot, and is
+adorned with the sulphur-hued crest of the white cockatoo,
+also with turkey-tail feathers.  Wound several times
+round his somewhat corpulent body is a belt of human
+hair.  This serves to hold the boomerang and other short
+weapons.  A dingo-tail skin, split up the middle to the
+brush, and bound round the forehead with the brush erect
+and plume-like, gives grace and height to the stature.  But
+the body and limb painting is the principal part.  Each
+tribe has its devices.  Pigments are largely used.  The
+greater the number of colours the more fantastic is the
+effect.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the boys strode up to the "dressing-room"
+where the tribe artiste were engaged, they found that
+most of the men had completed their adornments and
+were strutting about casting admiring or envious glances
+at one another.  Merri-dia-o, however, was still in the
+hands of the dressers, and his markings were a triumph.
+Being a large-framed and portly fellow, he showed the
+designs to the best advantage.  The colour scheme was
+brilliant, if nothing else.  On his massive chest, which
+was whitewashed for a background, were drawn an emu
+and a kangaroo.  The bird's plumage was bright blue,
+while the marsupial was as glaring as red ochre could
+make it.  These cartoons covered breast and belly, the
+limbs being like animated barber's poles in red and white.
+On his back, upon a white ground, was coiled an enormous
+carpet snake, with erect head and protruding tongue.
+When seen in the corrobberie, armed with spears, shield,
+and boomerangs, this fantastic figure was without peer
+among the warrior-clowns, the whole effect being an
+extravaganza at once whimsical and wild.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By the time these preparations were ended the great
+central fire was blazing furiously, fed as it constantly was
+from a dry tinder stack.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The "orchestra," to the number of six, sat in a cluster
+behind the fire and beat time to the primitive measures.
+The musicians for the most part were old women, who
+were well-practised performers.  Their instruments were
+as primitive as the songs they accompanied, consisting
+generally of a tightly folded opossum rug or a shield.
+These were operated upon by the palms of the hands or
+by sticks; a vigorous slapping of the thighs also gave
+variety to the combination.  At any rate, a surprising din
+was raised.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It has been stated that two tribes participated.  The
+Ding-donglas were the guests of the Bullarois, who had
+provided a grand supper of fat grubs, native yams, and
+roast kangaroo for the festivities.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>According to immemorial precedence the visiting
+tribe "took the flure" first, and gave a most interesting
+and picturesque display.  The subject of the corrobberie
+was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident,
+presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter.
+The descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort
+of runic lay, beginning in a low and monotonous key and
+gradually waxing louder as the chase progressed, finally
+ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what time the
+animal is overcome and slain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The spectators, black and white, applauded most
+generously, our old friends Jacky and Willy being
+among the loudest.  The station boys were in no ways
+different from their brothers in get up.  For the moment
+they had abandoned the role of station hands for that of
+barbaric magnificoes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The whites, especially the girls and Neville, who
+witnessed the spectacle for the first time, were delighted
+beyond measure.  The silence following the huntsman's
+song was of short duration.  The story-teller
+of the visiting tribe now advanced within the circle
+of light, and in sing-song tones recited one of their
+folklore stories.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>THE COCKATOO'S NEST.[#]</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Tom Petrie's Reminiscences.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Once upon a time there lived happily together on an
+island three young aborigines, a brother and two sisters.
+This land was not very far from the mainland, and the
+three often used to gaze across at the long stretch of land,
+and think of journeying forth from their island home to
+see what it was like over there.  They felt sure they
+would find lots of things to eat.  So one day by means of
+a canoe they really did cross over, and began without
+loss of time to seek for 'possums, native bears, and so
+forth.  In this search round about they at length espied
+a hollow limb, which looked uncommonly like a place
+where a nest would be, and so, going into a scrub near by,
+they cut a vine for climbing up.  Up went the youth, while
+his sisters waited beneath.  When he had cut open the
+limb, he found to his great joy a cockatoo's nest with
+young birds in it, and these latter he proceeded to throw
+down one by one to his sisters, the fall to the ground
+killing the poor things.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Now it so chanced that as the young fellow picked up
+the last little bird from the nest, a feather detached itself
+from its tail, and floating away on the air, at length
+settled fair on the chest of an old man asleep in a hut
+some distance away.  This old man was really a ghost
+who owned the place, and the feather disturbed his rest
+and woke him up.  Divining at once what was happening,
+he arose, and getting hold of a spear and a tomahawk,
+sallied forth to the tree, where he arrived before the
+young fellow had started to climb down.  Seeing the
+birds dead, the old man was very angry, and said, "What
+business you take my birds?  Who told you to come
+here?"  He then commanded the tree to spread out and
+grow taller and taller, so that the young fellow could not
+get down, and, taking the dead birds, he put them in a
+big round dilly, and carried them to his hut.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Although the old man did not wait, the tree did his
+bidding, becoming immediately very wide and tall, and
+the young fellow tried his best to come down, but could
+not.  So at last he started to sing to the other trees all
+around to come to him, which they did; and one falling
+right across where he stood, he was able to get to the
+ground that way.  Somehow, though, in coming down he
+got hurt, and the gins had to make a fire to get hot ashes
+in order to cover him up there.  He lay covered up so for
+half an hour, at the end of which time he was all right
+again.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Of course these three felt very indignant at the old
+man's behaviour, and they thirsted for revenge.  So,
+calling all the birds of the air to them, they sought their
+assistance.  These birds went in front, while the three
+cut their way through the thick scrub to the old man's
+hut; and ever as they went, to drown the noise of the
+cutting, the birds sang loudly, the wonga pigeon making
+a tremendous row with his waugh! waugh! waugh!
+When they had got nearly to the hut, the old man, who
+had been trying to make up for his disturbed sleep, heard
+the noise of the birds, and called crossly to them, "Here,
+what do you make such a noise for?  I want to sleep!"  But
+even as he spoke he was dozing, and presently went
+right off, suspecting nothing; and when the three reached
+the doorway, looking in, they saw him quite soundly
+sleeping.  So the three clutched their weapons tightly,—the
+man his spear, and the women their yam sticks,—and
+advancing into the hut, they all viciously jobbed down at
+the old man, and lo! he was dead.  His body was dragged
+forth and burned, and after the hut was robbed of the
+young cockatoos and all objects worthy of value it also
+was burned, and the three found their way back to the
+canoe, and departed home to their island laden with the
+spoil.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst" id="id5"><span>At the conclusion of the "yarn" the Bullarois retired
+to the trees fringing the clearing on the side directly
+opposite the audience.  After a short harangue from
+Merri-dia-o, the braves, about twenty in number, fully
+armed and in their war-paint, issued from the forest,
+headed by their chief, shouting their battle-cry, gesticulating
+wildly, and making a great clatter with their weapons.
+Advancing upon the foe, now in line and now in sections,
+they battled with the enemy, crouching one moment
+behind their shields to receive the shower of imaginary
+spears thrown by their assailants, the next springing
+erect and casting, as it were, their weapons of offence.
+Following up this round, they bore upon the visionary
+foe and engaged in personal encounter.  Retreating one
+moment and advancing the following, uttering war cries
+and fierce challenge, hurling coarse and stinging epithet,
+they gradually approached the fire; the gins meanwhile
+beat time, giving coherence and harmony to the
+bellicose proceedings.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was such reality in the battle-play, the men were
+so earnest, their cries so passionate, their taunts so bitter;
+in short, there was such a ring of sincerity, such a
+presentation of the actual, that the white spectators were
+carried away as in the drama when the master mummers
+live their parts.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys were in a condition of exultancy.  They were
+inspired by the martial display to a participation of
+fellow-feeling with the warring company.  Neville, too, was
+fairly captured by this weird yet fierce and savage
+sham-fight.  The thrill of combat held him so strongly that he
+could not refrain from leaping to his feet and yelling with
+the rest—urging them, indeed, to greater slaughter.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was different with the girls.  Fear laid hold of them
+at the unwonted sight.  At first they joined in the
+hurrahs, but when the fighters neared them, and it
+seemed, as was indeed the case, that the very actors
+were being carried away by frenzy and battle-lust, their
+tongues ceased and a cold chill of apprehension seized
+them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The warriors are now right up, fronting the fire.  In
+a few minutes the grand finale will have been enacted,
+and the curtain rung down.  Unfortunately, however, one
+of the young men has a quarrel with a youth belonging to the
+visiting tribe.  In the culminating point of this sham fight
+he sees his enemy among the crowd of onlookers, and, urged
+by his excited feelings, he directs insulting remarks full at
+this man, who, running out into the clear space in front
+of the fighters, returns these with interest.  This so
+enrages the Bullaroi youth that, darting from the ranks,
+he slings his spear full at the enemy, and transfixes him
+in the breast.  Loud cries of consternation come from the
+women, and a moment's awful stillness from the men.
+Then, as if by magic, the Dingdonglas have risen in
+their wrath, arms in hand.  The play has vanished, and
+downright fight and bloody battle ensues.  Spears hurtle
+and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of
+nulla-nulla on shields supplants the music of the orchestra,
+the while the gins flee in sheer terror from the bloody
+scene to their huts in the forest, rending the air with their
+shrill screams as they speed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But what of the whites?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging
+human cyclone.  At first the grim reality seemed unreal,
+just as previously the sham battle-action appeared real.
+Joe is the first to size up the situation.  Not only are the
+blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril to
+the spectators.  The combatants are surging to and fro
+in the strife of conflict, and circling as though in a vortex.
+At any moment the spectators might be drawn into the
+battle zone through the movements of the belligerents.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come, Mag, Jess, quickly!" cries that youth, seizing
+the girls as he speaks and drawing them away.  "The
+brutes are at it in real earnest.  Come! we must bolt to
+the trees.  Great Cæsar, look at that!"  A spear whistled
+through the air and impaled itself in a tree near by.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Just then, one of the fighters detached himself from
+the scrum and came bounding up to the little group, spear
+extended.  As he seemed to be on hostile intent, the
+youths lined up in front of the girls, ready to defend them
+and grapple with the foe.  On nearing, Sandy knew him
+to be Willy the station boy.  Willy, loyal to the family,
+came to entreat them to leave the field.  There was little
+fear of any direct attack upon them, though it were hard
+to say what turn the savage mind might take.  The
+apparent danger was from fugitive spears and boomerangs.
+So Willy paused but to cry out, "Take 'em girls to
+horses: safe there; no safe here.  Go!" and then skipped
+back to his band, throwing himself heart and soul into
+the fray.  For the hour the boy was as great a savage as
+any of the young men of the tribe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The girls, now really terrified, need no pressure to leave;
+so they scurry from the field and reach their horses, some
+distance beyond spear reach.  There they watch the tide
+of battle as it ebbs and flows until it dies, which it is not
+long in doing, from its very violence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the casualties were reckoned it was found that
+most of the combatants had received bruises or gashes,
+limbs were broken, but the only fatalities were those
+of the lads who began the quarrel.  Now that the fight
+is over, both sides settle down to supper in the best of
+humours.  The slate has been cleaned in this primitive
+fashion, and now friendships are renewed over handfuls of
+luscious tree-grubs and hunches of roast kangaroo.
+To-morrow there will be weeping in common over the biers
+of the departed braves.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, Denny, what do you think of this dreadful
+corrobberie?" exclaimed Jessie to the Irish boy as they
+rode home about midnight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Phwat div Oi think iv it, Miss Jassie?  Whoi, it's
+been a lovely foight, shure.  Och, they're the very divils
+ontoirely!  Nivir seen sich a bit of divarsion since Oi
+left owld Oireland, bedad!  Begorrah, it'd ta-ake owld
+Tipperary itself to bate it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Do you know what I've been thinking of, Denny?"
+continued the mischievous girl.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Nawthin' but lovely thoughts, Miss Jassie."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You of course are the best judge, Denny, being an
+Irishman.  What I was thinking was this: scratch an
+aboriginal, and you have an Irishman."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Och, dear-a-dear, Miss Jassie, to maline me poor
+counthrymen loike that!  Troth, then," cried the lad, with
+a serio-comic air and the suspicion of a wink, "there's one
+thing indade which Irishmen have in common wid these
+poor naggurs."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What is that, Denny?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We both suffer at the hands of Saxon landlords."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And Jessie had no answer.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="in-the-bushrangers-caves"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXV</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">IN THE BUSHRANGERS' CAVES</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>A stately pleasure-dome decree,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where Alph the sacred river ran</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Through caverns measureless to man</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Down to a sunless sea."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>KUBLA KHAN.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Joe!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Silence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"J-o-o!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>No answer.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"J-o-o-o!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Profound stillness, broken only by a buzzing fly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If you don't answer within five seconds, an' short
+ones at that, look out for squalls.  You're only 'possumin',
+you rascal!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Presently a hurtling pillow, and not too soft a one
+either, struck Joe Blain, who lay flat on his back, with
+open mouth, closed eyes, and deaf ears.  The missile hit
+him fair and square on the face, hermetically sealing his
+breathing apparatus for a moment.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A muffled sound, a quick contortion of the body, and an
+instinctive clutch of the hands got rid of the obstruction,
+which in a twinkling described a trajectory that impinged
+on Tom's left ear.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, what's in the wind, now?" asked Joe, after
+this customary exchange of shots, which was an everyday
+occurrence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I've an idea, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Howly Moses, you don't mean it!  Terrible, terrible!
+Where did you catch it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Catch your grandmother's sister's cat!  Only, you're
+such a numskull, I'd try an' put it in your head."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What! my grandmother's sister's——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, you ass; a simple idea!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Then I'll bet tuppence it's simple enough, you goat!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After this complimentary interchange Tom proceeded:
+"When we went out to the caves the other day, we said
+we'd return before the holidays were ended, an' we've
+come to the larst day, ole man.  Ding-bust it! we'll have
+to make for home to-morrer, an'——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ugh! don't mention it!  Go on about the caves."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, then, that day we went out——  Oh Joey! shall
+we ever forget the sight of 'Fevvers' rollin'——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look here, Hawkins, if you can't spit out that idea
+of yours quick an' lively, you'd better swallow it!  If you
+think to waste my valuable time——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Your time wasted!  Pish!  Listen, then.  I vote we
+go out to the caves an' have a look round for the place
+where Ben Bolt kep' his horses.  It'd be no end of a
+lark for us to find, after the police an' others have given
+it up.  What say?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There's not much in your notions, Hawkins, generally
+speaking; still, you've struck ile this time, sonny.
+Gewhillikins! it's all right.  Let's have a talk with ole
+Sandy about it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, he's sure to be nuts on it!  He's always talkin'
+about the mystery."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Up, guards, an' at 'em! as Cromwell sang out at the
+battle of Marathon," quoth Joe, in slight historical
+confusion, as he tumbled out of bed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They dressed quickly and then rushed out to find Sandy,
+who had risen earlier to yard the horses.  Sandy was
+nothing loth.  Indeed, he was as eager as the others, if
+not more so.  He had often brooded over the puzzle, and
+discussed it at times with his mates, but oftener with
+himself.  Like the others, he had theories.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I've got to take the harrow to the cultivation paddock
+after breakfast, an' then I'll be free."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Can't you take it now?" suggested Tom.  "Good
+hour yet to breakfast.  You'll have whips of time, an'
+we'll help you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy was agreeable, and the boys soon hoisted the
+harrow on to the cart.  They returned in good time for
+breakfast, and got Mr. M'Intyre's consent.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Best take us with you, Sandy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Girls 'd only be in the way, Mag."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thanks, me brither!  Just wait till you ask me to cut
+your lunches!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, mother'll do that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; rin to your mither and hold on to her apron-strings.
+For selfishness and for cheek, commend me to a
+brother!  You're all alike.  I expect Tom and Joe are no
+better at home, for all they put on mighty innocent airs
+here," prattled the girl, in mock sarcasm.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I hope you'll count me in, boys?" said Neville.  "I
+have intimated to Mrs. M'Intyre that I shall be forced
+to tear myself away from her unbounded hospitality,"—"Fevvers"
+was still a trifle stilted,—"but she will not
+hear of my leaving till the end of the week.  You know,"
+he went on, "I did not have an opportunity—the last
+time I—er—we were out there—and——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You lassoed an Englishman with a stock whip," broke
+in Jessie the tease.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"And behaved like a brick," interposed Maggie, who
+noticed the involuntary wince on the part of the
+Englishman.  This was, indeed, a sore spot; but he was growing
+rapidly in grace.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville winced under Jess's sally, but took it in good
+part.  "It's all part of the breaking-in process, Miss
+Jessie.  I believe I can dismount now a little more
+gracefully.  I shall be glad of an opportunity to see the
+famous bandit's caves.  It will be something to relate in
+England."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It did not take the boys long to get ready.  Half an
+hour later the party was </span><em class="italics">en route</em><span> for the caves, determined
+to solve the puzzle.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You'll do nothing rash, boys?" said the careful mother
+at parting, "Have you enough candles?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Plenty; also ropes and tucker.  Don't worry about us,
+mother; we may not be back till near bedtime—depends
+on what luck we have."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You've got a scheme, Sandy, I s'pose?" remarked Joe,
+as they jogged along the road.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, Joe, I've an idea; but of course only testing it
+will prove its worth.  The caves are situated in a spur
+running north and south.  The opening, we know, is on
+the east side.  Nothing bigger than a wallaby or a dingo,
+save of course a man, can squeeze through that opening.
+Either there is another and separate cave adjacent, where
+the 'rangers stalled their horses, or there is an easier
+entrance somewhere in the spur that has a connection
+with the ones we have already visited."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You must remember, though, Sandy, that Inspector
+Garvie and his men spent days in searching the locality,
+an' how are we chaps to do in a day what they failed to
+do after several days, and with black trackers, too?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm not likely to forget that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I vote, then," said Joe, "we go straight to the caves
+an' explore 'em first."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It'd take us all day to search those ravines and bluffs
+on the west side," added Tom, "so I'm in favour of Joe's
+proposal."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm not sure that I should have a voice in this
+matter," spoke Neville.  "You fellows will have to settle
+it between yourselves.  Whatever you decide upon will
+be agreeable to me."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Matter's decided, then," answered Sandy.  "Joe and
+Tom are for the caves direct.  Honestly speaking,
+although I would dearly love a try at the western side,
+for I'm convinced that the outlet lies there, I think, on
+the whole, we'd better stick to the caves, giving them first
+show, anyhow."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Carried unanimously by a large majority, as Denny
+would say," cried Joe the spokesman.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On arrival at the camping grounds, the place of the
+late serio-comic adventure, the explorers—for such we
+must call them—unsaddled, and short-hobbled their horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I vote," said Joe, "that we boil the billy an' have a
+go at the tuck before we tackle the caves.  It'll be better
+than taking the prog with us, an' 'll save us coming out for
+lunch."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Agreed!" chorus the rest with a readiness and gusto
+which in matters of meat is almost an instinct of
+boyhood.  Accordingly the wood is gathered, and ere long,
+with whetted appetites, they are absorbingly engaged on
+a substantial meal.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There are three things to remember, mates.  First of
+all, the candles.  We'll divide them equally, three apiece.
+Here's a box of matches for each.  Father gave me a
+caution, about lights.  We're to carefully watch the
+candles as we proceed through the passages.  He says the
+poisonous gases collect in places that are not well
+ventilated, an' that means death in no time if we remain
+in such spots."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How'd we know, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I was just going to tell you.  If we get into such
+places, father says, the candle will burn dimly, an' if it's
+very bad, will go out altogether.  When we happen on
+such spots, if there are any, we are to retreat immediately;
+so don't forget, boys, should we be separated."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That," said Neville, "is most important."  He related
+one or two incidents of fatal accidents in connection with
+English collieries through fire-damp.  That danger, though,
+is seldom encountered in such caves as the boys were
+intent on exploring.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's the third thing, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The third thing, Hawkins, is to make fast to this
+green-hide.  It is twenty-five feet long, an' we'll tie on to
+it as we go through the passages.  Father says there are
+often holes in the floors and very steep inclines.  Best to
+be on the safe side, though I don't suppose we'll really
+need it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say," queried Neville, "hadn't we better take some
+stout cudgels with us, for fear of snakes and wild beasts?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Happy thought, Mr. Neville.  Not for wild beasts,
+though an old-man kangaroo can be as dangerous as a
+bear with his paws when he's bailed up by the dogs."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What about monkeys, then?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Monkeys?  We haven't any."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, I heard one of the travellers say, while he was
+having a feed at the men's hut, that he'd been engaged to
+go for a mob of monkeys."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ha—ha—ha!  Well, you are a——Why, the man
+was talking about sheep.  Monkey is a pet name for
+them.  We'll want some sticks, though, as well as
+the tomahawk."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, Sandy proceeded to hack at a cluster of
+gum saplings, and cut three waddies about five feet in
+length, and a fourth one eight feet long, and proportionately
+thick.  Armed with these and carrying the other
+necessaries, including a billy of water and a snack of food,
+the exploration party proceeded to the cave entrance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After gaining access to the first cave, the boys allowed
+Neville a few minutes' pause to get at home with his
+surroundings, before going on to the second or cathedral
+chamber.  They then pursued their way through the
+tortuous and difficult passage between the two chambers,
+till at length they arrived at the opening.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello!" exclaimed Sandy, who was in the lead, with
+an involuntary gasp.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's up?" cried Joe, who was immediately behind him.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, ladder's gone!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jemima! you don't say so.  Why—how——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's gone, all right," replied the leader, as he peered
+by the light of his candle into the gloomy recesses of the
+cave.  "Clean gone!  Don't see it on the floor below,
+so it can't have dropped."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, squeezing abreast Sandy, and doubling the light
+power, added his eyes to those of his mate in the search.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No go," said he, after a keen but vain search.  "Anyway,
+I can see how to get down easy enough."  So saying,
+he placed his stick across the mouth of the passage,
+jamming it on either side into an interstice.  "There!"
+he exclaimed, as he hung his weight upon the transverse
+beam, which, though bowing, did not crack when bearing
+his weight.  "Let's put the rope round this, an' we'll slip
+down less'n no time."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wait a jiffy, Joe," said Sandy, who had been critically
+eyeing the staff.  "We'll make 'assurance doubly sure,'
+as your father said in his sermon last Sunday,"—poking
+his stick while he spoke, into the same cavities as the
+other occupied.  "That will stiffen it.  It's easy enough
+getting down: we could jump, for that matter.  It's the
+getting up that's the problem.  There, it's as stiff as a
+fire-bar now.  Here's the first to go down."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Holding the rope, the boy swung off, and was soon
+standing on the floor of the lower cave.  The others
+followed rapidly.  They could find no trace of the missing
+ladder.  Not only was the ladder spirited away, there
+were other signs which showed that the caves had been
+entered since the last visit of the boys, and on proceeding
+to the third chamber, where the bushrangers slept, there
+were manifest signs of disturbance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Some un's been here, that's certain."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy gave voice to the one opinion.  The bark bunks
+occupied by the outlaws were thrown off their trestles to
+the ground.  There was no gainsaying Sandy's statement.
+The situation was peculiar.  The boys might well be
+pardoned for being a little fearsome and creepy under the
+circumstances.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I heard Dickson tell your father, Sandy, at the brumby
+hunt, that a party was comin' out from Tareela to visit
+the caves.  P'r'aps it's them that have moved the ladder."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't think it could have been," persisted Joe.
+"There's no sign of their camp outside."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What about the 'rangers?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The thought was decidedly unpleasant, and when
+voiced it struck a chill in the hearts of all.  As a
+matter of fact, the thought had lain in Sandy's mind
+from the time he missed the ladder.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Ben Bolt was not a desperado of the Morgan or Kelly
+type—men who were conscienceless, treacherous, and full
+of the blood-lust.  Many, indeed, of his acts of gallantry
+and open-hearted generosity, if theatrical, were nevertheless
+redeeming qualities in the old-time bushranger.  A
+man of great resource and daring, a thorough bushman, a
+superb rider, mounted always on the finest of horses,—stud
+stock mostly, which he "lifted" from celebrated
+breeding stations,—the 'ranger was, in some respects, a
+picturesque figure, and had a most adventurous career.
+Often located and even sighted by the police, he was
+always able to make good his escape, either by bush
+strategy or by an amazingly daring piece of riding in
+rough country, at which even his intrepid pursuers,
+themselves accomplished horsemen, stood aghast.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was a spirit of romanticism about the fellow.
+His dress and appearance gave colour to that.  He was
+passionately attached to his wife and children, and often
+incurred desperate risks in visiting them when
+"home-sickness" seized him.  His house was ever under the
+surveillance of the police, who fondly hoped to catch him
+by that lure.  Yet, though often within an ace of capture,
+he always escaped.  Outwitting the subtlest efforts of the
+police, he was their despair.  Though of a sanguine
+temperament, there were seasons when he was the victim
+of a black mood.  At such times he was most dangerous
+and cruel.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It could hardly be Ben Bolt," said Sandy at length.
+"It's quite possible that the town party has been.  How
+could Ben be here an' in Queensland?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, what's next, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'd like us to explore the opening in the passage first,
+Joe.  Come, boys, let's shin up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This was speedily accomplished, and the pals proceeded
+to the spot that was in Sandy's eye, so to speak.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here's the place I meant!" exclaimed he, when they
+had retraced their steps some distance through the
+passage.  The opening, at first sight, appeared to be
+a deep recess.  Upon close examination, however, it was
+found that the wall and the roof did not meet.  There was
+a hole some two feet in diameter.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I spotted this when I came with father," explained
+the leader.  "Now, if one of you fellows will give me a
+hoist, I'll get my head and shoulders into that opening
+above, and find out whether it's a chimney, or takes a
+turn and forms a passage."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Accordingly Joe, stooping a little, received Sandy on
+his shoulders, by which he was able to rise into the hole.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hurrah—hurrah!" he exclaimed a minute later.  "It's
+a passage all right, boys.  There's a sort of landing,
+anyway, and it looks as though there's a passage beyond.
+Hold steady, Joe, an' I'll try an' get my hands on the
+ledge."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boy made several efforts without avail, for he was
+an inch or so too low.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Step on my shoulders, Sandy."  It was Neville who
+had placed himself alongside Joe.  His shoulders were at
+least three inches higher.  Thus raised, Sandy had no
+difficulty in grasping the ledge of the landing.  Catching
+the lad's feet with his hands, Neville pushed the boy
+higher, and soon he worked his way on to the floor of the
+ceiling, as it were.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This done, he proceeded to light his candle and explore,
+for it was impenetrably dark.  Following the passage
+inwards, the boy advanced some distance.  He found
+that it widened as he proceeded, and became easier to
+traverse.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'd better return now for the other chaps," muttered
+the lad.  Accordingly he retraced his steps and explained
+matters to the anxiously waiting group.  By the aid of
+the green-hide lariat, the others were soon up with the
+leader on the landing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here, then, was a new situation.  In all probability the
+foot of man had never trodden this place.  There were no
+traces of any living thing.  It was in no light mood,
+therefore, that the boys made a start.  Their position
+was unique and thrilled them.  They might, in a literal
+way, bring to light the hidden things of darkness.  Not
+for ages, or ever, in all likelihood, had those walls been
+lighted up and gazed upon.  Whither would the pathway
+lead?</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Proceeding, they encountered no difficulty for some
+time, as the passage widened in places, enabling them to
+walk abreast.  Soon, however, it began to contract, and
+in places it became a squeeze.  The roof, too, dipped
+considerably, so that it could be touched by the extended
+hand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy, who was still leading, began to experience a
+tired feeling.  There was a peculiar sensation in his ears,
+and a tightening in the throat.  After advancing a few
+steps farther he stumbled and almost fell.  His candle,
+too, began to burn very dimly.  His followers were
+experiencing similar feelings.  In a moment the cause
+of this untoward feeling came flashing across his mind.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, behind him, cried out, "I say, Sand ... I'm
+gettin' ... short..."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Back, everybody!  Fire-damp!" cried the leader in a
+raucous voice, after a violent effort.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was a narrow squeak.  Though only a few minutes
+in the poisoned air, they were all on the verge of
+unconsciousness.  Gasping, trembling, the sweat oozing from
+every pore, they struggled on until they reached the
+widened area of the passage, and then sank, exhausted,
+to the ground.  Tom, who was at the tail of the procession
+was not so bad as the others, not having penetrated so far
+into the poison zone.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pure air soon revived them.  Their respiration,
+which was very laboured at first, improved as soon as
+the sweet, dry air entered their lungs, and ousted the
+putrid gas which had lodged there.  A pull at the water-can,
+which fortunately they had brought with them, helped
+them a lot, and in a short time they were themselves again.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That ends chapter one," said Joe dryly.  "Whereaway
+now, Captain?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"We've come to the end of our tether sudden enough,
+and with a vengeance.  It'll be something, Mr. Neville,
+to tell 'em in England.  Let us get back to the old passage.
+This is nothing but a death-trap."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-explorers"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXVI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE EXPLORERS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">"'The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest,'
+replied my uncle Toby."—STERNE.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">"That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast
+on the lip of a lion!"—SHAKESPEARE.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"How quickly we ran into that poison-trap!  No smell
+or anything to warn us," remarked Neville, when the
+normal condition of the lads was restored, "save a nauseous
+feeling which supervened."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatcher think made it hang like that, Mr. Neville?
+Seemed to me like an invisible fog that we suddenly
+encountered."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That is really what I believe it to be, Tom.  I know
+from what I have read and heard, the gas is colourless
+and quite heavy.  An uncle of mine is a colliery manager
+in Wales, and this fire-damp, or choke-damp, as it is
+sometimes called, is often fatal, because it fills the lungs
+so that no other air can enter, and in this way suffocates
+its victims.  We were just on the fringe of it, I think.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"As I was saying, this fire-damp, which is always
+much more dangerous after an explosion in the mines,
+is generally formed by the decomposition of certain
+substances in vegetable fibres, or in veins of carbonised
+mineral.  That is why it is called carbonic acid gas.  It
+is much heavier than the air.  You remember the passage
+was contracted, and the air seems to have become
+impregnated at that particular place."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, whatever it is," said Joe, who had just made
+a few spasmodic heaves, "it's good enough to keep out
+of.  Let's give the acid, or gas, or damp, or whatever it's
+called, leg bail."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The party of defeated but not disgraced explorers now
+retraced their steps.  Eagerly scanning the walls as they
+retreated for signs of diverging passages, they soon found
+themselves at the landing, whence they swung down into
+the blind alley that led to the main passage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sandy," said Joe, when the party had emerged, "give
+that passage a name.  Leichhardt gave names, you know,
+to all the creeks, hills, and water-holes he discovered in
+his travels.  I reckon yon's our discovery.  Faugh!"
+ejecting a mouthful of saliva, "it tastes like rotten
+soda-water.  Let's call the beastly place by a name that'll
+fit it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Christen away."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Me!  Well—er—how'd 'Poison Pot' do?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>'"Death Trap' would be better," replied Sandy.  So
+thought the others, and it was accordingly named "Death
+Trap Passage."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, chaps, let's get back to the cathedral.  There's
+a likely spot there—that hole, I mean, where the boulder
+was jammed."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's the time, Mr. Neville?" asked Joe, on arrival
+at the big chamber.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Quarter to one."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, we've hardly been three hours in!  I made sure
+it was about six."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I vote we have a go at the prog," chipped in Tom.
+"It'll help to take the nasty taste away."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good idea!" was the general verdict.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals had lost a good deal of their natural spirits.
+Three hours groping in semi-darkness, with a throat full of
+choke-damp thrown in, was enough to stale the strongest;
+yet they had no thought of surrender.  They were
+"baffled, to fight better."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a few minutes the outer entrance is gained, and in
+another five minutes they reach camp.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The hot tea was particularly acceptable.  Nothing in
+the wide world could have been more refreshing and
+stimulating.  Billy-tea boiled with gum sticks, just so
+far sweetened as to countervail the natural roughness
+without impairing the aromatic flavour, stands at the
+head of all beverages—whether aerated, brewed, distilled,
+or concocted.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My word, this is bully tea, ain't it?" cried Tom,
+smacking his lips with satisfaction, after emptying his
+pannikin for the third time.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville in particular—to whom the outing and the
+exploration was a new experience—felt, as he puffed at
+a cigar, the stirrings of a larger and a nobler nature than
+that which had hitherto exercised him.  Business life
+seemed flat and stale compared with this al fresco
+existence.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Time to be goin' back again," said the practical Sandy,
+breaking in on a post-prandial reverie.  "Gimme the
+tommie, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tomahawk in hand, the boy walked to the sapling
+clump, and selecting a stout specimen, vigorously attacked
+it with the weapon.  From this he cut two six-foot
+lengths, sharpening the thicker ends, crowbar fashion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's that for, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"To prise the boulder.  They'll make capital levers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Armed with these additional implements, the lads
+returned to the caves, and in due course lowered
+themselves into the cathedral.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The spot which Sandy had mentally marked as a likely
+one has already been described.  It was a cleft in the
+floor at its junction with the wall, and immediately behind
+a huge stalagmite.  It must have escaped the vigilant
+eyes of the professional trackers.  The corner was a very
+dark one, and unless one looked closely behind the
+boulder the cleft would not be observed.  Sandy had lit
+upon it in a promiscuous search, and was impressed by
+its possibilities as another outlet, or inlet, to other
+cavities.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>No sooner had the boys arrived at the spot, and Sandy
+had cast his eye upon it, than he exclaimed, "Somebody's
+been here!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How d'yer know?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"This stone is not in the same position as when I last
+saw it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Who could it 'a' been?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dunno.  I'm crack sure, however, that this stone was
+not square down the other day.  The flat of it was down
+and the point of it up.  Now it's reversed.  Besides, here
+are crowbar marks."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It'll be hard enough to get out—much harder than it
+would 'a' been if it hadn't been touched."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Must have been a strong chap that turned it!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Strong?  No one man could ever have done it!  It
+would be difficult for two.  Why, that stone's not a pound
+less than four hundredweight!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, time's goin'," said Joe, "and what's done's done.
+Let's at it, Sandy.  Up-end her, and throw her over on
+the floor."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The lads vainly tried to insert the wooden bar.
+The cracks between the lid, so to speak, and the
+edge at the opening were not sufficiently wide to admit
+this.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It won't do," said Sandy after a while; "we're gettin'
+no forrader."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I suggest," interposed Neville, "that you widen the
+cracks."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How can we do that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Will you let me have a try?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My!—rather.  Anything to get the blame thing out."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville picked up the tomahawk that was lying near
+at hand, and began striking the edges of the hole where
+Sandy had been prising.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's the stitch!" cried Tom.  "Well done, Mr. Neville!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The limestone readily yielded to Neville's strokes,
+and the crevice was soon wide enough to take in the
+thick end of the stout gum sapling.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy and Neville, taking a pull at the end, levered
+the stone high enough for Joe, who had the other bar
+ready to insert between the raised end and the floor stone.
+With this additional lever power the "stopper" was
+canted on one side, high enough to put the stone chocks
+in.  Another application of the bars, with two boys
+hanging on each and pulling simultaneously, brought the
+"stopper out of the bottle," and toppled it over with
+a thud that shook the floor; bringing down a stalactite
+with a crash, fortunately without harm to the exploring
+party.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Before venturing down, Joe, in whose mind an idea
+had been fermenting while the stone-raising business
+was being carried on, critically surveyed the stone
+"stopper."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look here!" remarked he, "these are the marks of an
+iron crowbar.  Whoever removed this had the proper
+tools for it.  Whatcher make of that?  That upsets the
+town party theory, don't it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It certainly makes the puzzle harder," said Neville.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Think so?  Makes it easier to me," quoth Sandy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How's that?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Looks more'n more like Ben Bolt's work."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Think he's in there now?" exclaimed Tom, in an
+awed whisper.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, I don't think that.  But it shows me that he's
+knocking about here again, an' he's been in the caves
+quite recently."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys looked into each other's faces, and felt—well,
+just as you would feel, brave reader, were you in the
+cavernous depths of earth, in the very haunts of
+proclaimed outlaws, not knowing at what moment they
+might spring upon you.  Standing in the cold, damp, dim
+underground, at the mouth of an unknown passage, which
+might take you to the innermost den of the outlaws, could
+you contemplate advance without an attack of the creeps?
+The crevice, after going down sheer a few feet, turned
+on a level plane, right across the floor of the cathedral,
+in a westerly direction.  How far could be known only
+by actual travel.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come on, boys," said Sandy, after a moment's silence;
+"it's what we've come here for.  I believe, for one, we're
+goin' to solve the mystery."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>One by one the lads dropped into the bottom of the
+well.  The passage was of unequal width, but always wide
+enough to allow the party to proceed without squeezing,
+and had a fairly level floor.  The floor, after extending
+two hundred paces or so in a westerly direction, began to
+decline somewhat sharply, and presently Sandy gave a
+warning shout—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Water ahead!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The others crowded round him as well as they could.
+There, at their very feet, was a pool of water of unknown
+depth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here's a go, chaps!  Looks as if it might be a swim."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pool covered a fairly wide stretch, and was in a
+dip of the passage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't think it's a swim myself," remarked Joe.
+"Let's take off our boots an' pants.  I fancy we'll find it
+only a wade.  We can move cautiously and test it with
+a bar as we proceed."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The party did as suggested, and found to their satisfaction
+that the water did not rise above their knees; for
+none of them relished a swim in the icy water.  After
+re-dressing, the company moved forward, and soon
+emerged into a spacious cavern that fairly sparkled with
+lime crystals.  Little time, however, was spent in
+admiration.  They moved across it in the same direction, and
+found two exits.  After a short consultation, they decided
+to take the larger of the two passages, because it seemed
+to be a continuation of the old track.  Just as they
+started, Tom, who was in the rear, on looking round, saw
+what appeared to be a bundle on the floor of the cave,
+some distance to the right.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Wait a moment," cried he, as he ran to the object.
+"Oh, I say, here's a find!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The others, who were in the entrance, backed out,
+and ran to his side.  Tom held the old vine ladder in his
+hands.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There was no longer any doubt.  There could be only
+one conclusion.  At the sight of this the boys had a bad
+attack of the creeps.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's the 'rangers all right.  They've slipped the police
+again."  There seemed to be no alternative to this
+conclusion.  "Seems to me," continued Joe, who was
+the quickest of the lot in reasoning out a thing, "that
+they've been back here again, and knowing that the
+bobbies'll be on the watch to trap 'em at this spot,
+they've locked up the house, in a way of speakin', an'
+thrown the key inside.  I vote that we go on."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>No one said nay, and so the advance was made.  The
+passage presented no serious obstacle, widening and
+narrowing at intervals, but never too narrow to proceed.
+As they were squeezing through a difficult place, Sandy
+again sounded the alarm.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's up now?" said Joe, who was just behind.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Nother big cave, an' a deep drop into it, same as the
+other.  There's a bar across here where they've slung
+ropes.  Undo the lasso, chaps."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Let's hope we're getting near the end of it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The speaker was Joe.  The truth is, the work was
+most tiring in its nature, and the spirits of the party were
+yielding to a very uneasy feeling, despite Joe's plausible
+theories that the end might be the reverse of pleasant.
+Should Ben Bolt, after all, be in hiding, well—the worst
+might happen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Fixing the rope, they slipped down to the floor of the
+new cave.  This, though not remarkable for beauty, was
+commodious enough, and had several outlets, in one of
+which there were indubitable evidences of the one-time
+presence of horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello! here's the stable," cried Tom, who was first in
+this recess.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sure enough in a vault-shaped but very roomy cavern,
+entered by a wide passage, was the robbers' stable.
+Several bundles of bush hay were stacked in one corner.
+A manure heap filled the other.  All this pointed to a
+prolonged occupation.  The idea of the robbers' presence
+had so materialised by these later evidences that the
+boys felt they might be confronted at any moment by the
+desperadoes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What'll we do, Joe?" said Tom.  "Slip quietly back
+again?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Slip back again, after getting this far!  Don't be
+frightened, Tom."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm not; y'are yourself."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well," replied Joe, with a smile, "I'll not deny that
+I've felt like it more'n once.  But there's one thing
+you've not noticed, chaps."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's that?" chorused the group.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There's not been any horses here for weeks."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How d'yer know?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No fresh droppings."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>That fact was indisputable, conclusive, and enheartening.
+It lifted a load of apprehension, to call it by
+no harder name; and now, with buoyant spirits, to
+which they had been strangers for some time, the boys
+continued the search.  The end, indeed, was close at hand.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look out sharply for tracks," was the command of
+the leader on leaving the stable, stooping low as he
+spoke, and eagerly scanning the floor.  Hoof-prints were
+discovered and followed.  They led to a corner of the
+big cave which narrowed at that point, and continued
+on as an opening.  After going a few paces, Sandy called
+out, "Hurrah—hurrah!  Light ahead!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sure enough, a few yards farther the passage was
+lighted with natural rays that shot through a small
+opening some distance ahead.  The party was exultant,
+and needed no telling that this was sunlight.  In this
+subterranean fashion the explorers had traversed,
+mole-like, the range spur, and proved the theory of the dual
+entrance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Like as the exultation of Columbus when the first
+sight of the new world convinced him that he had solved
+the riddle of ages, or as Leichhardt felt when he and
+his dauntless band stood upon the shores of the great
+northern gulf, after having passed through the very heart
+of Australia's </span><em class="italics">terra incognita</em><span>, so did the breasts of these
+brave youths swell with the spirit of triumph when
+that ray of light revealed the joyful fact that they, a
+group of mere youngsters, had succeeded where the
+experts had failed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The whole company darted through the spacious passage
+to the opening.  It was in the face of a cliff, and fully
+fifty yards from its sloping base.  So steep was the cliff
+that, viewed from a distance, it appeared perpendicular;
+forbidding to anything save rock wallabies and—Ben Bolt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Its very roughness, however, made its ascent a
+possibility.  Had it been a smooth face, no horse, however
+capable, could have climbed it.  Ben Bolt was always
+able to achieve the possible.  Many of his wild rides
+bordered on the miraculous.  His personality magnetised
+his steeds.  Wherever he led they would go, and so the
+steep ravine that rose from the rocky base to this
+entrance afforded a precarious footing for the outlaw's
+horses.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now then, boys, before we go down, let's give a
+cheer," said Sandy.  Led by the leader, the group signalled
+its victory—for such it was, and no mean one—by a
+rousing cheer that woke the echoes of the precipice and
+spread wave-like over the landscape beyond.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It penetrated the ears of two men who were riding
+quietly in the bush that lay beyond the rocky plateau
+which formed the base of the cliffs.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's that?" exclaimed the elder to the youth who
+rode at his side.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sounds like a cheer," replied the youth.  "Who can
+it be—traps?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Turning their horses' heads, they rode swiftly but
+silently to the edge of the scrubby timber which they
+were traversing.  Halting just within the bushy barrier,
+they parted the leaves, and there, perched high up the
+cliff's side, were four youthful forms—the band of cave
+explorers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Now, boys, we'll go back an' have another look round
+before we leave.  Might find something belonging to Ben
+Bolt worth carryin' away.  We can easily get out on
+this side, and cross the spur a little higher up, where
+the cliff runs out.  'Twon't take long neither!  I
+say—won't we have a yarn to spin to-night!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But the unexpected is yet to happen.  The company
+retraced their steps to the cave, and did a little
+exploration; finding nothing, however, but a couple of leather
+mail-bags and some opened letters—the remains of
+coach-robbery spoils.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"This is the last one, mates," remarked Sandy, as the
+group entered the mouth of a passage.  After traversing
+its course a little distance, it opened up into a small
+cave, twenty feet square.  On one side of it were bunks
+similar to those in the other cave.  While in the act of
+examining it, Joe fancied he heard a footfall.  Stopping
+a moment to listen, he distinctly heard the sounds of
+stealthy footsteps.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'S-s-sh-h-h, boys!  Some un's followin'!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At this startling statement the boys halted and turned
+round, to be confronted by two forms hardly distinguishable
+in the surrounding gloom.  The pals gave a gasp of
+terror as the call peculiar to highwaymen smote their
+ears and they faced two weapons, levelled point blank.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hands up!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Candles are dropped in sheer fright in an eye-wink,
+and hands go up in gross darkness.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The sun had just set as the four youths, in company
+with two men, mounted their horses and took the track
+leading to Bullaroi.  Strange to say, the lads showed no
+signs of fear, nor were they bound with cords.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By jingo!" cried Tom, who had just put his horse
+at a big log and cleared it in fine style, followed in
+order by Joe, Sandy, and Neville, "this is the grandest
+outin' I've ever had!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a' very weel," answered Mr. M'Intyre, who with
+Denny Kineavy had been following the tracks of some
+strayed cattle which were making for the ranges, and
+were passing the cliff opening while the cave explorers
+were ringing the welkin with cheers, "but supposin'
+that instead o' us, it 'd really been the bushrangers
+returnin' and catcht ye trespassin'?  What then, ma
+laddies?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This query raised visions of possibilities that sobered
+the vaulting spirits of the pals for some brief moments.
+Very thankful were they in a moment of reflection that
+they had been bailed up by a friendly enemy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Heigho!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's matter, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Fun's all over: measly school opens to-morrow!"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="a-respite"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXVII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">A RESPITE</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Ah! those were the days of youth's perfect spring,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>When each wandering wind had a song to sing,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>When the touch of care and the shade of woe</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Were but empty words we could never know,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>As we rode 'neath the gum and the box trees high,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And our idle laughter went floating by."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Joe little thought when making the melancholy statement,
+"measly school opens to-morrow," how prophetic the
+utterance was.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The first words that greeted the party on their return
+to the homestead were: "School won't open for another
+three weeks; the town's full of measles."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals tried hard to look sober and concerned as
+Mrs. M'Intyre dilated upon the nature of the epidemic.
+It was a vain attempt.  To their credit be it said, they
+were very poor hypocrites.  Whatever sorrow they might
+feel on account of their friends who were in the grip
+of the disease was more than counterbalanced by the
+blissful intimation that, owing to the epidemic which
+had unexpectedly broken out, the school authorities had
+resolved, for at least three weeks, to keep the school
+closed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There's no going home at present, boys.  I wouldn't
+dream of letting you return.  I'll just write to your
+mothers to say I intend keeping you here, unless they
+want you particularly.  I feel sure they will be thankful
+for your absence at such a time.  So you'll have to
+make the best of it, boys.  Are you sorry?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well—er—of course—I'm a——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes—a—of course—you're—a—shedding tears at the
+thought of staying here another fortnight or so—aren't you,
+Joe?  You and Tom do look as miserable as moulting fowls
+in wet weather at the bare thought of holiday extension."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The lads burst out laughing at Jessie's sally, and
+declared that it was the crummiest news they had received
+during the holidays.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's a' very weel, and ye needna fash, laddies,
+that you'll ootwear your welcome.  But here's some news
+that may no' be so pleasant," said the squatter, who had
+been busy with his mail.  "Here's a letter frae Inspector
+Garvie to say that Ben Bolt and his mate are in the
+deestric' again.  He stuck up Dirrilbandie Station three
+days ago, drivin' a' the hands aboot the homesteed, along
+wi' Wilson and his faimily, into ane o' the men's huts,
+in which they were held by his youthfu' confederate
+while he ransacked the place."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh! the poor Wilsons!  Did he hurt any of them? and
+did he get much?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In reply to a fusillade of questions from the excited
+household, M'Intyre stated that though Ben Bolt was in
+one of his black humours, was in fact on the point of
+shooting one of the men for cheeking his mate, and was
+only dissuaded from this atrocity by the pleading of
+Mrs. Wilson, no one was injured.  He had taken a considerable
+amount of loot, however, in the shape of jewellery;
+also a pair of new improved revolvers, as well as three
+horses, one of them being Wilson's handsome chestnut
+gelding, the finest hack in the district, and for which
+he had a short time previously refused seventy pounds
+from the police authorities.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There had been an outcry against the Government
+for not having provided a better class of mount for the
+troopers.  Again and again the schemes of the police
+to capture the bushrangers in various parts of the
+colony failed, chiefly because they were out-classed in
+horse-flesh.  A tardy Government, aroused at last to
+action by the clamour of the people, was doing its best
+to remedy this unequal condition.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I suppose, sir, the police are in full chase of the
+desperadoes?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"They're doin' their best, ye may be sure, Mr. Neville.
+Garvie has two pairties oot scoorin' the country, and is
+holdin' himsel' in readiness to move to ony pint at a
+moment's notice.  As the scoondrels hae cut the Walcha
+telegraph line, the presumption is they will be raidin' the
+place, and Sergeant Hennessey is following up with the
+utmost speed.  The Sub wants the loan o' Jacky or Willy,
+or both, as trackers, and to let him ken at aince should
+there be ony signs o' them on Bullaroi, 'specially aboot
+the caves."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Are you goin' to lend him the boys, father?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, it's very awkward, but I'll hae to assist the
+coorse o' juistice when ca'd upon.  We maun dae oor
+pairt to catch the rascals."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Suppose you </span><em class="italics">had</em><span> tumbled across the 'rangers in the
+caves, boys?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well! an' s'p'osin' we had, Miss Jessie?" replied
+Tom, whose answer in tone and query suggested unspeakably
+bad things for the outlaws had they been unfortunate
+enough to meet the cave heroes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Let me pit ye a sum in arithmeetic, Thomas,
+ma laddie; juist a sma' sum in proportion.  If twa
+stock wheep hondles, pinted at fowr cave explorers,
+each wi' a lighted candle in his hand, would cause
+the said candles to drop to the flure and fowr pair
+o' hands to go up like a toy acrobat when ye pu' the
+strings, what attitudes would the aforesaid explorers
+strike if a pair o' rale loaded peestols had been
+presented?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tom is always a duffer at proportion," interjected
+Joe laughingly.  "He has a trick of givin' answers that
+make Simpson sit up.  To tell you the truth, sir, I don't
+think that the real article could have given us a greater
+shock.  Speaking for myself, I confess that I've never
+had so bad an attack of the shakes before.  My skin
+went goosey in a moment, an' my hair stood up like a
+hedgehog's spikes.  I couldn't 'a' said a word for a
+hatful of sovereigns.  You see, sir, </span><em class="italics">it was all very real
+to us for the moment</em><span>, and none of the others felt any
+better than myself, I bet tuppence."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe's quite right, sir.  I had a most dreadful feeling
+as we stood there in the black darkness.  It seemed as if
+a vast abyss had suddenly engulfed us and we were
+sinking to fathomless depths."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll back up Joe and Mr. Neville, dad.  My word,
+when you spoke, it was as if some one had suddenly pulled
+me out of a dreadful nightmare."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The pals went to bed early, as they were tired out after
+the unwonted exertions of the day, but not to sleep.
+They were too excited for that.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, chaps," exclaimed Sandy, jumping out of bed
+after he had tossed about for a few minutes, dragging his
+stretcher alongside the bigger bed, "let's settle what we're
+goin' to do."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Was just thinking of doin' a sleep, Master M'Intyre,
+when you commenced to drag the jolly stretcher with
+enough noise to wake the seven sleepers.  An' as for ole
+Tom, I fancied I heard a snore comin' through a hole
+in his pumpkin——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pumpkin yourself, Blain.  I'm as wide awake as you,
+or that grinnin' ape Sandy."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"How d'yer know I'm grinnin'?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Cause I can see your jolly teeth shinin' in the dark.
+But I say, ole chap, I'm on for a confab.  Ouch! my legs
+</span><em class="italics">are</em><span> stiff.  Wish I'd taken that hot bath your mother
+advised.  Whatcher got in your ole noddle?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Something big, mates, but the difficulty will be with
+mother.  You see, now ole Ben's prowlin' about, mother'll
+be hard to persuade."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, tell us what's up your sleeve; we can discuss
+ways an' means after."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's this: go on a campin' trip to the Bay, where
+there's grand fishin'; then go out to the gold-diggin's, an'
+put in a couple o' days with the fossikers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jemima! that'd be no end of a prime lark!  It'd top
+off our stay here, wouldn't it, Tom?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Susan Jane! it would that, Joe.  My word, it'd be
+a scrumptious finish! but what charnce would we have of
+carrying it out?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I don't think that either your Jemima or Susan Jane'll
+have much to do with it.  Mother'll be the chief obstacle."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What about a tent, Sandy?  We'd have to get one,
+wouldn't we?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There'll be no trouble about that part of the business.
+There's a big drover's tent in the harness-room; 'sides,
+Harry has a small one he'd lend if necessary.  Lemme
+see: what </span><em class="italics">would</em><span> we want?  First an' foremost, a tent
+or tents, an' a packhorse to carry 'em an' the other things.
+Then plenty o' prog, o' course: fishing lines—there's
+tip-top schnapper-fishin' down the Bay, to say nothin' of
+jew, bream, an' whitin'.  Then, the guns—we ought
+to get some good shootin'; both fur an' feather."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A fryin'-pan and a camp-oven 'ud come in handy,
+pannikins too, and some tin plates."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, yes, we'll need those; at any rate, the fryin'-pan
+for the fish.  Don't think there'll be any need to
+bother about a camp-oven: it's a plaguey thing to carry;
+we wouldn't use it 'cept for bread, an' we can make
+plenty of damper in the ashes.  But I'll tell you what
+we must have, an' that's a couple o' small barrels an' a
+good few pounds o' salt."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, what for?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Fish.  We'll be down at the Bay pretty near a week,
+I reckon; an' as we'll catch whips o' fish, it'd be a fine
+chance to dry some, an' salt some as well.  Mother's
+got two good barrels that hold about half-a-hundred-weight
+each; they're salmon casks.  The salmon's all
+used, an' I reckon schnapper is as good as salmon any
+day.  That reminds me we'll want three or four sheath-knives;
+they'll come in handy for scalin' an' splittin'
+the fish."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Sandy, when'll we start?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Start!  Ah—well—we'll talk about that when we
+get leave—which, let me tell you, is pretty doubtful.
+'Twouldn't take long to get ready once we have
+permission: a day at most.  I declare I'm gettin' sleepy.
+Good-night, chaps."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys opened at short range during the breakfast
+hour the next morning.  In other words, they pled most
+vigorously for permission to camp out for a week or so,
+according to the programme concocted the night previously.
+The chief objection lay in the reappearance of Ben Bolt
+in the district.  It was all in vain that the boys insisted
+that even were the redoubtable 'ranger to visit their
+camp, which was most unlikely—he would not harm
+them: would, in fact, have no interest in bailing up a
+parcel of boys.  Mr. M'Intyre showed palpable signs of
+yielding, and had it been left to him would have granted
+a reluctant permission.  The insurmountable barrier, as
+indeed the boys knew beforehand, lay in Mrs. Mac's
+excessive fear.  She held the fort, so to speak, against
+all comers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'm more sorry than I can tell you, boys, to say
+no, but nothing you could say would alter my mind.
+Neither Joe's mother nor Tom's would dream of letting
+them go camping out while those dreadful men are about."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals felt the reasonableness of the refusal, and
+showed not a flicker of resentment, though of course their
+disappointment was keen.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, chaps, let's put in the mornin' fishin',"
+suggested Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The vote was unanimous, and in a few minutes, armed
+with rods and lines and a tomahawk—the latter for
+use in cutting grubs out of the honeysuckle trees—the
+boys were </span><em class="italics">en route</em><span> to some of the deep pools in the
+creek.  They had a really good time with some giant
+perch.  The dangling grubs formed an irresistible lure
+to these voracious denizens of the water-holes, and the
+fishermen had no reason to grumble at the result.  On
+their return home to lunch they were dumbfounded with
+the news shouted out by Denny as soon as they were
+within speaking distance, "Owld Ben's dead!—shot by
+the p'lice in th' ranges."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The whole household was greatly excited by the news,
+which had been brought by a stockman from Captain
+White's station.  There seemed no reason to doubt the
+intelligence, which had come via the "bush
+telegraph."  Hennessey's lot had picked up the 'rangers' tracks and
+partly surprised them in the mountains.  The outlaws
+promptly but barely succeeded in getting away.  They
+gradually drew away, however, from all save the Sergeant,
+who was on a new mount—one of the Tocal noted
+breed—which proved to be a "ringer."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The leader and his companion, who was a light weight,
+tried every dodge to shake off the pursuit, and in this
+they were past masters; but they had to reckon with
+Hennessey, who was one of the finest troopers in the
+force—as dare-devil a rider as Ben Bolt himself.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After some marvellous riding among the ravines and
+tangled mountain scrub—during which a few long-range
+shots had been exchanged—Hennessey began to draw
+upon the outlaws.  Even that equine magician, Samson,
+was reaching his limits.  The capture of this illusive
+freebooter seemed now a certainty, could the Sergeant
+hold out another ten minutes.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He was now within a hundred yards of his man.  He
+lagged a little behind his youthful mate, who was riding
+the chestnut gelding looted from Wilson's station.  Had
+he wished he could have shot the 'ranger down; but
+being extremely anxious to capture him alive for the
+bigger reward, he refrained.  The only advantage Ben
+Bolt possessed was an intimate knowledge of the ground,
+by which he often gained a bit.  They were now racing
+up a steep ravine which presently terminated abruptly
+at a precipice.  Down this the outlaws apparently flung
+themselves; or so it appeared to Hennessey.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Arriving at the spot a few seconds later, the trooper
+perceived a winding, narrow pass.  He was a stranger
+to the precipitous track, but both the bushrangers and
+their horses were familiar with it, for they slithered and
+scrambled down at breakneck speed: a single stumble,
+and man and horse would inevitably be dashed to pieces.
+In vain did the gallant Sergeant spur his steed towards
+the pass.  His horse resolutely refused to face it.  His
+chances of capture are fast diminishing to a vanishing
+point, as in a few minutes his prize will have escaped.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The outlaws have now reached the comparatively even
+ground below, distant about five hundred yards from
+where the trooper stood gnashing his teeth in rage, and
+praying that they might break their necks before they
+reach the bottom.  Fortune favoured them, however, and
+they might have made good their escape without further
+trouble.  But, instead of galloping off to safe cover, they
+reined up their steeds, while Ben Bolt, standing in his
+stirrups, shouted at the top of his voice an insulting
+message for the Sub-Inspector, making at the same time
+an ironical bow.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While this little piece of comedy was being enacted,
+and just as the bushranger was in the act of bowing,
+the Sergeant had dismounted.  Swiftly throwing his rifle
+to his shoulder and adjusting his sights in an eye wink,
+he made a hasty but true shot.  The outlaw had not
+finished his bow ere he toppled from his steed and lay
+prone, shot through the heart.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Such was the news brought by the stockman, and
+accepted by the station folk.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, it was bound to come sooner or later.  It's what
+happens to a' law-breakers—simply the choice of bullet
+or rope.  It's no' for us to ca' the unfortunate and
+misguided mon names.  If a's true, he suffered a grave
+injuistice at the hands o' the police when but a youth,
+which embittered his whole life an' gave a moral twist
+to his actions.  We maun leave him to Ane above wha
+mak's nae mis-judgments."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="the-camp-by-the-sea"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXVIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">THE CAMP BY THE SEA</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"Bright skies of summer o'er the deep,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>And soft salt air along the land,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Sinks gently on the yellow sand;</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>And grey-winged seagulls slowly sweep</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>O'er scattered bush and white-limbed tree,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where the red cliffs like bastions stand</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>To front the salvos of the sea,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Now lulled by its own melody."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"And now, boys, what about the camping-out project?
+I see no reason why you shouldn't carry out your little
+plan, now all danger's removed; indeed, I should love you
+to have the jaunt.  Who were going?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys could hardly believe the good news, it was
+so sudden.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Us three, and Denny, if father could spare him,
+mother," was Sandy's remark.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, ye can tak' the laddie.  He's due for a holiday,
+onyway.  So's Harry, for that matter.  I can do wi'oot
+'em for a spell."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Harry was nothing loth, and entered into the scheme
+with considerable enthusiasm.  As an old bushman he
+was able to give good advice in the matter of camping-out
+requirements, and was later to render signal service by
+which a life was saved.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Behold the party, early the next morning, accoutred
+and ready for the road; making, as they held their steeds,
+quite an imposing cavalcade.  Two stout roadsters were
+requisitioned for packing purposes; for the maternal
+solicitude of Mrs. Mac was both prolific and varied,
+judged by the articles of food and service which she
+forced upon the travellers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The squatter's pawky humour found ample scope for
+indulgence.  He expressed a hope that "the pairty would
+keep a guid look oot for traces o' the lost Leichhardt
+expeedetion; and look oot for alleegaitors when ye strike
+the Gulf o' Carpeentairia."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The girls, too, indulged in good-humoured banter,
+raising hearty laughs against the boys, in which the
+victims joined as lustily as any.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Said Maggie, striking a grandmotherly attitude,
+"There are three things I would warn you against, boys;
+damp socks, draughts, and earwigs.  Don't leave out the
+flour when mixing the damper.  Have you packed the
+tape measure, Sandy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tape measure!  What in the name of Madge Wildfire
+do you mean?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why," cried Jessie, breaking in, "to measure the
+giant jew fish that will snap Joe's line as he is in the
+very act of landing it."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whatcher givin' us, Jess?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It will also come in handy," continued the saucy girl,
+turning on Tom, "to record the girth, length, and throat
+capacity of the monster snake that you, Tom, are sure to
+see when roaming alone in the scrub."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's one for your nob, Tom!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Your turn next, Sandy," retorted that youth.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Then there's the 'old-man' kangaroo that me brither
+Sandy will shoot at, missing by 'just an hair's-breadth,'
+of course, and which he will declare—when he returns to
+camp—to be as 'high as one of those extinct mammals
+that Simpson has in his natural history book'; at any
+rate as 'big as Bullocky Bill's off side poler.'"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But, Miss Jessie, how wud th' bhoys put th' measure
+on th'——?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"As for Dennis Kineavy," continued the sprite, "he
+will be sure to run into a group of mermaa-des, when
+diving in the deep blue sa-ay, who will be discussing
+the all-important question of waist measurement.  As
+Denny's an expert in fairies and hobgoblins, he will be
+appointed judge and referee."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So, amid laughter and banter, and final good-byes, the
+gay party start for the Bay.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Neville was prevented from joining them through
+important business interests in Sydney.  The "call" of
+the bush, however, was strong and insistent, and, as he
+bade farewell, he announced his determination of
+returning at no long date to settle as a landholder.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The road to the Bay passed within a short distance
+of the caves, and, despite the news of the tragic end of
+Ben Bolt, the lads, as they jogged past the neighbourhood,
+were unable to rid themselves of a feeling that the outlaw
+still lurked about his old haunt, and felt relieved when
+they had left this region behind them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The journey to the Bay proved uneventful save in one
+particular.  In mounting a very steep incline, the cinch
+strap, that formed the final fastening of the pack on
+one of the animals, broke, whereupon the pack-saddle,
+being loosely girthed, worked backwards.  Some of the
+contents, also, fell to the ground, frightening the horse,
+who bolted along the road, parting with sundry utensils
+and eatables, which lined the track for some distance
+at irregular intervals.  The frightened steed was at length
+secured, the wreckage gathered and replaced—this time
+more securely—and the journey resumed.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The Bay is reached without further mishap or adventure.
+After coasting it for some little space the party
+cast anchor, in seamen's parlance, on a miniature
+promontory which jutted for a furlong or so into the waters
+of the Bay, forming a grassy, treeless plateau throughout
+its area.  The advantage of this site was apparent to
+the group of campers, inasmuch as the foreshores of
+the Bay were covered for the most part with a stunted
+scrub that extended to the beach.  The advantage was
+twofold: it obviated the necessity of clearing a space
+for the tents, and it was comparatively free from bush
+vermin.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>To the southern part of the Bay, distant some six miles,
+was the Pilot Station; while towards the northern
+extremity, where a large creek debouched into the sea,
+was a camp of cedar-getters.  Otherwise, in its shore
+vicinity, the Bay was uninhabited.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Two hours of daylight yet remained, and the members
+of the party made instant preparation for pitching camp.
+The necessary tent poles and pegs were speedily secured
+from the neighbouring scrub, and, under the direction
+of the experienced stockman, willing hands are busily
+engaged in the erection.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The bigger tent was set upon a ridge pole that rested
+in the forks of two upright saplings which had been
+firmly fixed in the ground.  When the requisite number
+of pegs had been hammered into the ground, the tent
+was hauled taut by cords passed through eyelet holes
+at intervals along each side, and about thirty inches from
+the bottom.  This under section of the tent assumed
+a perpendicular position, forming the walls, which were
+secured by the same method.  This formed the pals'
+cover, while the smaller tent sufficed for the other two.
+A rough shed formed of four uprights, with a brushwood
+roof, held the provisions and saddles.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So expeditiously were all these arrangements made
+that ere the darkness fell they were completed, and
+Denny—who was promoted to the responsible position of
+cook—was building a fire for tea-making purposes.
+Meanwhile the horses were led to a small, freshwater
+lagoon in the vicinity, where they were belled and
+short-hobbled, and left to browse on the succulent
+grass.  The last act of preparation was that of cutting
+a quantity of gum bushes for bedding.  No sweeter or
+healthier bed can be contrived than a layer of fragrant
+eucalyptus leaves.  The beds had scarcely been made
+ere the welcome summons to supper came, in the Irish
+boy's best brogue: "Jintilmen, will yees come to ta-ay?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There is a charm peculiar to an evening meal taken
+in the open.  The charm is heightened in the present
+instance by the contiguity of the sea.  The youths dine
+to the musical accompaniment of the rolling waves, which
+strike the beach in deep, muffled thunder-tone, rising
+crescendo fashion as they race to a finish along the
+shelly incline.  Then, landward, are the insistent noises
+of the things of the forest.  Ever and anon the soft
+tinkle-tinkle of "The horse-bell's melody remote" is
+to be heard as the cropping animals move over the
+lush grass.  The illimitable dome above is alive with
+sparkling lights.  Thus an environment is created which
+gives a sacramental aspect to the feast.  At least it
+forms a romantic picture which centres in the fire-lit
+faces of the happy, care-free youths.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Supper ended, they eagerly discuss their projects, the
+while they clean their guns and fix the fishing tackle.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On the morn, at earliest dawn, they will try likely spots
+for fish, and have a swim in the briny.  And now the
+slow movements of the tongue, with frequent yawns,
+proclaim the nightly toll which nature is wont to exact.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Ere the pale dawn is flushed the pals, sleep banished,
+half-dressed, tongues wagging, trudge along the beach to
+the rocky point of the promontory, stopping here and
+there at likely places to dig in the sand for whelks,
+which make capital bait.  The water is fairly deep where
+the nose of the promontory marks the terminal point,
+and soon lines are unwound, hooks are baited, and
+practised hands fling the lead-weighted hempen cords far
+into the Bay.  Fair success rewards their efforts.  Sandy's
+line hardly reached the bottom ere he experienced the
+delightful thrill of a fierce tug, followed by a smart,
+strong rush which betokened a good fish.  After a few
+minutes' play he landed a fine specimen of black bream,
+scaling over two pounds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy and Tom had varying luck with black and
+white bream, and flat-head.  Joe, however, was out of it.
+He did, indeed, have a gigantic bite soon after Sandy had
+captured his first fish.  The line whizzed through his
+fingers with a rush that skinned them as he began to take
+a pull.  When the line had reached its limit it snapped
+like a piece of pack-thread.  The biter was either a
+young shark or a big jew fish.  After this no fish troubled
+the boy.  His mates struck their fish at frequent
+intervals, while his line remained motionless.  After a
+time he wound up and left his companions.  Retracing
+his steps some distance along the beach, he halted at a
+shelving rock that ran out into the water.  It looked a
+likely spot, and he determined to try with a lighter line
+than the one he had been using.  Baiting his hook with
+a soldier crab, he made a cast, and almost immediately
+had a bite, hauling in a black-back whiting.  It was a
+good specimen, weighing at least a pound.  He had
+good sport for about half an hour, catching in all about
+a dozen whiting and half a dozen soles.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The sport began to slacken about an hour after sunrise,
+and the pals, having captured sufficient for the day's
+requirement, set to work and cleaned their catches.
+This task finished, they have a plunge in the sparkling
+and cool waters of the Bay.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Meanwhile Harry attended to the horses, and did
+little jobs about the camp, whilst Denny devoted his
+attention to the preparation of the breakfast.  The lads
+returned in due course with the spoils of the sea, and
+with appetites as keen as a razor.  In a few minutes the
+pan is full of sizzling fish, which are presently transferred
+to a hot dish, and the pan is filled with a fresh lot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Goin' to try 'nuther panful, Denny?" said Tom, when
+the second lot had been demolished.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Anuther pan!  Howly Moses! div yees hear him!
+Och, thin, me bhoy, ye'd soon rise th' price ov fish.  Not
+anuther scrap will Oi cook f'r yees.  Oi've kep' th' rest
+f'r dinner?  Sure, if we go on loike this 'twill be Fridah
+ivry da'; glory be!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The morning was devoted to a go-as-you-please
+programme, in which there was much disporting in the
+water; even the juvenile pastime of building castles in
+the sand was not considered </span><em class="italics">infra dig</em><span>.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In the afternoon the whole party set out for Schnapper
+Point.  It was on this spot that the fond expectations of
+the lads were centred.  It was reputed to be the best
+fishing ground in the extensive Bay, and owed its name
+to the fact that school-schnapper frequented its vicinity.
+A schnapper trip—taken as a rule in a small steamer—is
+voted one of the finest outings by Australian sportsmen.
+This highly prized fish, be it said, is known variously,
+according to its age and changing habits.  It often
+attains large dimensions, weighing up to thirty pounds.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>None of the party had previously visited the Point.
+Their great concern was to find out if suitable bait
+could be procured in its neighbourhood.  The principal
+bait was a small species of whiting.  These, they
+discovered, were to be obtained without much trouble on
+shelly patches along the beach.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Early next morning the campers are astir, and busily
+engaged in necessary preparations.  After a hearty
+breakfast, in which the corned round and the spiced beef
+are conspicuous features, behold the young sports jogging
+along the beach towards Schnapper Point.  A stoppage
+is made at the whiting patch, where the fishermen are
+kept going for an hour with very fine lines.  By this time
+they have secured about two hundred small fish as bait.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>And now, having arrived at the fishing ground, leaving
+Harry and Denny to attend to the horses, the pals, all
+eager for the promised sport, unwind their heavy
+schnapper lines, and prepare for the catch.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was agreed that the boys were to fish, while Harry,
+who voted fishing a bore, and was devoted to the gun,
+would scour the adjacent scrub for birds, and the forest
+beyond for kangaroo; Denny having promised the boys
+a "foine boilin'" of kangaroo-tail soup.  To quote the
+actual words in which he preferred his request—"If
+Harry wud shute wan iv thim fellas as hops wid their
+ta-ales, and carries their childre in their pockets,[#] Oi,
+wud ma-ake sich a soup as niver was."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] The natural pouch of the marsupial for bearing its young.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The shooter, armed with a fowling-piece and a short
+rifle, after attending to the horses, disappeared in the
+scrub in search of game.  Meanwhile the fishers, having
+cast their lines, assume an expectant attitude.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>To their great disappointment there are no bites; not
+even the stimulating nibble.  The patience of these
+amateurs is sorely tried.  A whole hour passes without
+the slightest sensation of a bite.  Lines are cast and
+recast.  The fishermen move to and fro, to no useful purpose.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, of all the rotten frauds of places for fishin', this
+takes the bun!  Dash it! we'd better have stayed at the
+camp an' fished there.  At least we'd——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Howld yer whisht, bhoys!" said Denny in an excited
+whisper.  "Oi'm jist goin' to git a boite; th' line's
+thrimblin' sure.  Faith 'tis a Dutchman smellin' the ray-shons,
+Oi'm thinkin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's not a schnapper, if that's what you mean by
+a Dutchman.  No nibblin' about a schnapper, Denny.
+More likely a crab."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By Saint Michael!  Joe, div yes call that a crab?
+Be dad, thin, it's a big sa-ay whale, or maybe one iv
+thim mare-mades Miss Jassie warned me aginst.  Be th'
+hokey, th' loine's cuttin' me fingers!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The line, which for a minute or two had given faint
+twitches, and a few premonitory shakes, now suddenly
+whizzed through the Irish boy's fingers.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Take a pull on her, an' steady her!" cried Sandy.
+"You'll lose fish an' line, too, if you're not mighty smart."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Denny thereupon made a "brake" of his fingers, which
+steadied the fish after it had run out about fifty yards or so
+of the line.  He began to haul it as if it were attached to
+a sulky calf.  The fish was a heavy one, and a fighter;
+but what Denny lacked in skill he made up in strength.
+Fortunately for the angler the line was stout and new, or
+it would surely have snapped in the struggle.  By sheer
+strength the fish is drawn to land.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="at-the-mercy-of-the-sea-tiger"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXIX</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER:
+<br />A NARROW SHAVE</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The pals watched the seaman-like efforts of Denny to
+land his "sa-ay whale," or "mare-made," with great
+curiosity.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's no schnapper, unless, maybe, a real boss 'un.  More
+like a young shark," was the remark passed by Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Their curiosity is soon satisfied; the fish is now in the
+shallows, and the next moment is drawn to the water's
+brink.  Denny has landed a monster sting-ray.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was the first of the kind the Irish boy had ever seen,
+and, as he pulled the struggling ray into the shallows and
+exposed its body, he was struck mute for a few seconds
+with astonishment, and not a little alarm, at its uncanny
+appearance.  Dropping his line in the excitement, he half
+turned to the boys, and, pointing to the floundering fish,
+exclaimed, "Begorrah! 'tis th' div-vil himsilf.  Saints
+presarve us, but if yen's not he'es ta-ale!  Or, ma'be 'tis
+th' dhragon phwat Father Daly towld us about at Mass
+larsht Sun-day."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"He'll be a drag-off in a moment," cried Joe, making
+a clutch at the line, for the brute was wriggling into the
+deeper water.  The next minute the ray was smacking the
+earth with his flappers, and whipping it with his tail.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Phwat be th' crathure, anny ways, Sahndy?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's a stingaree, Denny.  Mind you don't touch its tail,
+or you will find out to your cost that it's the dragon, black
+angel, an' 'th' owld bhoy,' all mixed up like an Irish
+stew.  Run for the tommy, an' we'll whip it off."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"And does it bite wid its ta-ale loike a schn-ake, bhoys?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, you precious duffer! it's got a spike near the tip
+that it rams into you like a needle, an' then look out!
+Yellow Billy trod on one once when he was havin' a bogey
+down below Tareela, in the river—they make a hole in the
+mud an' lie there—an', by jings! he was ravin' mad in
+twenty minutes.  The doctor had to shove a syringe into
+his arm, and squirt laudnaum, or somethin', to quiet him
+down.  There!" flourishing the tomahawk, "that's off,
+clean as a whistle!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My word!" continued Sandy, a moment later, "we'll
+keep the tail for Harry.  He promised Bill Evans, the
+jockey, to get one for him if he could.  He's goin' to ride
+White's horse at the Armidale races, an' he's the laziest
+o' mokes he reckons.  Bill says it'll be only by sheer
+floggin' that he'll fetch him along.  Says if he only had
+a stingaree-tail whip[#] he could do the trick."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] The sting-ray tail is sometimes used for this purpose.
+It is a cruel
+instrument of flagellation in the hands of an unfeeling rider.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"This is not schnapper fishin'," interjected Joe.  "My
+word! the stingaree'll make stunnin' bait.  Put a bit on
+your hook, Denny, it may entice 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Sandy cut off a slice from the flapper and baited Denny's
+hook with it.  The line had hardly reached the bottom
+ere it was seized by a fish—a monster.  The fish did not
+rush, he bored; the resistance was of a sullen nature.  Joe
+came to Denny's help, and between them they drew the
+fish to land.  It proved to be a huge rock cod, or groper,
+as it is more commonly called, scaling close upon a
+hundredweight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"A jolly groper, by dad!  We're in luck all right,"
+exclaimed Tom.  "We'll have groper steak for supper
+to-night; besides, we can pickle one half of this cove and
+dry the other."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Their luck had changed in more respects than one.  The
+ray and the groper seemed to be avants courier for the
+school-schnapper, which now began to bite freely.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>For the next two hours the boys were kept well
+employed, landing near upon forty fish, varying from three
+to twelve pounds in weight.  The tide now began to ebb,
+and after that there were no more bites.  It was just as
+well, for by this time they had caught as many fish as they
+could cure.  Counting the groper, they had nigh upon
+three hundredweight.  The weight of these when scaled
+and cleaned would be reduced by at least one-fourth,
+leaving about two hundred and fifty pounds of choice fish.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What's bes' thing to do now, Joe?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"W-e-l-l—er—I dunno.  Oh, I say, how'd a jolly swim
+go down?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Spiffin'!  A swim, a feed, an' then start cleanin' the
+fish an' gettin' 'em ready for smokin' an' saltin'.  'Bout
+noon I reckon it is."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Come on, Denny," cried Joe, as they walked down to
+a sloping beach a little back from the Point; "come an'
+have a dip in the briny."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bedad, thin, that same will Oi not.  'Twu'd be threadin'
+on wan iv these stinkin'-rays Oi'd be.  Oi can seem to feel
+th' brute's dirty pisen fangs already in me leg.  No, no,
+thanks be, Oi'm not takin' th' wather tra-atement at
+prisint.  Oi'll go an' start the foire so as to be ready f'r
+yees; that is, if th' sharks div not ma-ake mince-ma-ate
+of yees."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Was it a premonition which caused a cold, tingling
+thrill to run along Joe's nervous system, from tip to toe;
+to be followed by the creeps, which made goose-flesh of
+his smooth skin?  Disagreeable as the sensation is to the
+lad for the time, it lasts but for a moment, and in less
+than no time, so to speak, he is revelling in the glories
+of the crisp, emerald-tinted wavelets of the Bay.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It should be stated that Schnapper Point did not extend
+into the Bay at right angles to the beach.  It inclined
+northward, and at the spot where the boys were bathing
+was not more than two hundred yards from the beach.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Say, chaps," shouted Joe, who was some distance out,
+"I'm going to swim over to the main beach."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, he swam slowly towards the other side,
+enjoying to its fullest extent the luxury of the exercise.
+He had covered about a third of the distance when he
+heard a great commotion behind him.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Denny, who had been attending to the fire, had his
+attention attracted by a moving object in the sea.  Gazing
+intently thereon for a moment, he left his occupation and
+ran swiftly towards the boys.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look, bhoys! look at that gra-ate fish sa-alin' in
+forninst the Point.  Troth, it's a monsther groper, Oi'm
+thinkin'!  Glory! but he'es a gra-ate big bullock-groper!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, Denny came towards the boys with a puzzled
+air, as though his description of the object to which he
+was pointing did not exactly determine its species.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whereaway, Denny?" exclaimed Sandy, who was
+paddling in the surf, standing up and gazing in the
+direction indicated.  "A bullock-groper.  That's a new
+creature surely.  Never heard——Hello! why, it's a——
+Hi, hi!  Joe!  Joe!" shouted the lad in a wildly excited
+state.  "Joe, there's a big shark roundin' the Point an'
+coming this way.  Come back, quick! quick!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Joe, who was almost on a level with the water, was
+unable to locate the enemy as quickly as the others.  It
+was not until he began to tread water that his eye caught
+the moving object.  In a flash he realised his danger, for
+it was a large tiger-shark, the man-eater of the sea.  Not
+even the man-eater of the jungle, roused through the
+blood-lust to a killing frenzy, could be more merciless to
+his victim than this cold-blooded, pitiless, silent tiger of
+the seas.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Terrible as was the shock, his courage survived.  He
+conned the situation, and formed his judgment in a moment.
+The shark was eighty yards or so above him, swimming
+parallel with Schnapper Point beach, and within thirty
+yards or so of it.  As far as he could judge the fish was
+ignorant of his presence, but were he to return to his
+companions he could not expect to escape its vigilant eyes;
+would be crossing its bow, so to speak; and, were it in an
+attacking mood, would not have the ghost of a show.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>His only hope of escape lay in keeping along his course,
+getting to the farther shore in the smallest number of
+minutes possible.  All this cogitation did not cover twenty
+seconds, and the boy resumed his swim with the utmost
+vigour.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Had not something happened to divert the shark from
+its course nothing alarming would have occurred, for Joe
+was rapidly widening the distance, and every stroke was
+improving his chances.  The boys on shore, with the hope
+of frightening the monster away altogether, began to make
+a great clatter; pelting the shark at the same time.  No
+more fatal policy could have been adopted.  The only result
+of their tactics was to divert the shark from its course,
+and to drive it out in the direction of their comrade.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Almost as soon as the brute's course was changed it
+sighted the swimmer.  This it indicated by giving two
+or three strong strokes with its powerful tail, and gliding
+at a rapid rate in the wake of the lad.  Joe was made
+acquainted with this change of course by the frantic
+cries of his mates.  Throwing his head over his shoulder
+for a moment, he saw the shark heading directly for him.
+He knew in that moment that unless the miraculous
+happened his hours were numbered, and in a few
+seconds—or minutes at most—his body would be mangled by
+this pitiless sea-tiger.  Yet, although this terrible result
+appeared an absolute certainty to the fleeing youth, he
+did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and steady
+stroke.  There is such a thing as hoping against hope.
+He would not surrender life; it must be torn from him.
+Joe's home upbringing, with his father's daily chapter
+and prayer, sent his thoughts heavenwards in this his
+moment of extreme peril: "What time I am afraid I
+will put my trust in Thee."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Here was the situation.  Joe was about sixty yards
+from the beach, while the relentless pursuer was within
+thirty yards of him.  His mates were powerless to aid
+him, and were racing round to the spot where he intended
+to land as swiftly as their legs could carry them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The shark glided within a few yards of the lad, and
+then swam round him, while conning him.  This the
+boy felt to be simply the preliminary, yet every stroke
+was taking him nearer the shore.  The water should
+be even now shoaling.  Might he dare to sound it?  But,
+alas! the enemy seems to understand this, and gives
+a cunning look as it half-raises its body from the water,
+and scrutinises its helpless victim preparatory to making
+its final swoop.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"God help me!" cries the youth, with a dry sob; his
+last moment has come.  In that supreme moment—as
+in the case of drowning men—the whole past came
+before him.  Home, parents, sisters, brothers, pals!
+There, almost within arm's-length, is his merciless foe;
+while there is still quite a stretch of water between him
+and the beach.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The great, cold-blooded, insatiable fish is poised for
+the final spring.  A single second now, and——</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id6"><span>Instead of falling upon its victim, the huge brute
+lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round
+in a circle.  What had really happened Joe knew not.
+He no longer swam shorewards, but, half stupefied,
+watched the "flurries" of the frenzied fish as it lashed
+the water in rage or pain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Then he heard a great splashing shorewards, and
+a voice shouting encouraging words.  Turning in that
+direction, the boy beheld, with unutterable joy, Harry,
+rifle in hand, rushing through the water to him.  In
+a few seconds the stockman is abreast Joe, the water
+being only up to his arm-pits.  Pointing the rifle at the
+fish, which was circling in blind fashion, but a few
+yards off, the rifleman—for it was he, under God, who
+worked the miracle—drove a bullet through the shark's
+brain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My word! 'twas a touch-and-go, old feller!"
+exclaimed the man, as he put an arm round the boy—who
+had, in a sense, collapsed—and drew him to the
+shore.  "There now, Joey, me brave boy.  Y're all right,
+ain't ye?  Y're not the chap ter faint, I know.  Here's
+the others," as the rest dashed up, breathless; the Irish
+boy fairly crying with excitement.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They could do nothing for a while but look at Joe
+as he sat leaning against a mangrove—where Harry had
+placed him—making a brave but weak effort to smile.
+The reaction had set in, and the boy felt it was only
+by the most resolute exercise of his will that he kept
+from swooning.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tom, who was blowing like the proverbial grampus,
+stuttered at last: "Let's m-make tr-racks h-home, b-boys.
+I-I'd rather be b-b-bailed up by a thousand 'r-rangers,
+than w-w-w-one of th-hose sea-devils.  Oh! the sight
+of the m-monster as he r-rose to make a d-dive at p-poor
+Joe!  Y-yes, let's c-clear."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Clear, be hanged!  What are you drivelling about,
+you jolly idiot?"  It was just the tonic Joe needed.
+"We're not goin' to let a thing like this spoil our sport,
+not by a long shot.  I'm all right.  Was a bit knocked
+out for a few minutes, I will confess.  Tell you what,
+boys; I'll never be nearer death till my last moment
+comes.  That I am alive is due, first to God, an' then
+to ole Harry, here.  'Twas a great shot, that first one
+of yours.  'Nother second later an' 'twould have been
+too late.  Ugh! don't believe I'll ever get the green
+glitter of the thing's eyes outer my mind.  Tell you
+what, I'll jolly well punch the first cove that hints at
+goin' home.  I vote we go back an' scale an' gut the
+jolly fish."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Bedad, thin, it's a plucky wan y'are, Joe, me bhoy!
+Y're th' mahn f'r me money ivry toime.  But, ye'll not
+do a sthroke iv wark till yees have a feed.  Faith, Oi'll
+do a sthreak an' get th' billy boilin' f'r a pipin' hot
+cup o' tay.  It's what we all want; Joe in particular."  Suiting
+his action to the word, the cook strode off in
+quick time to prepare the lunch.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Meanwhile the dead shark had drifted into the
+shallows until it stranded on the beach.  The party
+now made a closer examination of the brute.  The first
+shot, fired from the bank as the creature raised itself,
+had caught it in the throat; the second passed through
+the eye to the brain.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Why, it's a tiger-shark!" exclaimed Harry; "twelve
+foot if he's an inch.  Thought 'twas a blue-nose at fust;
+they're bad enough, but this joker's the worst kind that
+swims the sea.  My word, Joe, it'd been all U P if
+this chap'd once got 'is teeth intil yer."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Budgeree, budgeree, you bin shootem shark?  Him
+murry bad p-feller.  Catchem plendy black p-feller;
+eaten.  This p-feller live longa Point plendy years."</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 61%" id="figure-69">
+<span id="the-huge-brute-lashed-the-water-into-foam-and-swam-round-and-round-in-a-circle"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a circle.&quot;" src="images/img-272.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a circle."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id6">271</a><span class="italics">.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The group, which had been intently gazing at the
+carcass, turned round in a startled manner on bearing
+these guttural sounds.  Immediately behind them was
+a cluster of aboriginals, five in number, who had stolen
+silently upon the scene.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hello, Cock-eye! that you?" cried Harry, as he
+surveyed the blacks.  "Where you bin sittin' down, eh?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Cedar Crik.  We bin come longa here get fis' for
+choppers."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, the timber-getters, hey!  Well, you seem ter
+know this ole boss.  You bin see 'im afore?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Plendy times.  Bin often try catch 'im.  He kill-ee
+mine sister.  He too much lika dingo; no take bait."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, you can git even with this joker, Cock-eye.
+He eat your people; now you chaps gobble 'im up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The blacks are inordinately fond of shark's flesh,
+and—cannibal as this sea-tiger is—no question of sentiment
+may stand between these primitive men and a gorge.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Harry, cut that dorsal fin off for me, there's
+a good man, before these niggers tackle it.  I'd like to
+keep that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After a considerable amount of hacking, the stockman
+managed to separate the fin, and, leaving the blacks in
+undisturbed possession of the carcass, they returned to
+the Point, to feed, and to finish their work.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="in-and-about-the-camp"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXX</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"O mellow air!  O sunny light!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>O Hope and Youth that pass away!</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Inscribe in letters of delight</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Upon each heart one golden day—</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>To be there set</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>When we forget</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>There is a joy in living yet!"</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>G. E. EVANS.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The fish cleaning occupied the best part of the afternoon;
+and when the party reached camp, about sunset, they
+were dog-tired; inclined for little else than supper and
+sleep.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"But you haven't told us how it came to pass that you
+were just on the spot to prevent the shark scoffing Joe,"
+exclaimed Tom to Harry.  "We didn't expect you back
+for hours."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Niver had such a thing 'appen afore, I give yer my
+word.  Lost me way in the dashed scrub; carn't understand
+it nohow.  As a rule yer carn't lose me in a scrub;
+can feel me way be day or night.  Instinct, they calls it.
+Ole Dumaresque says ter me one day, when we'd bin
+ridin' fer hours through heavy pine country after some
+strayed heifers, gettin' caught in the dark long afore we
+makes the homestead: 'How do you manage to tack an'
+criss-cross this beastly country without track or compass;
+not even a star to guide you?  It fair beats me, my man.
+Why, I'd 'a' bin lost a dozen times over but fer you.  You
+always seem ter be goin' wrong, yet always come out
+right.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Carn't explain it, sir,' ses I.  'I jist do it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'It's all instinct,' ses 'e.  'It's like wot the dingoes an'
+blacks 'ave.'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Instinct or no instinct, I got bushed all right ter day.
+There's something erbout it I carn't understand.  'Twasn't
+that I was careless, an' takin' no notice.  I 'ad worked
+through the scrub a distance of four mile or so when, all
+of a suddent, I ses ter meself, ses I, 'Where the dickens
+am I?'  Well, as soon as I put the question to meself I
+knows I was bushed, an' fer the fust time in me life I
+begins ter feel quite creepy like.  I didn't know which
+way ter go.  At larst I starts out in a direction that
+seemed the likeliest, but, somehow, I cud make no
+headway.  Something seemed ter clog me feet, an' I was allers
+gettin' mixed up with vines an' brushwood.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Dash it all,' ses I, 'this won't do.  Don't believe I'm
+goin' the right way, after all.  Believe this ere way's
+leadin' me back to the Bay, an' I wants ter git through
+this blarmy scrub ter the forest, fer 'oppers' tails.  I'll
+righterbout face, danged if I won't!'  So round I turns,
+an' as soon as I started I got on fust clarss.  Didn't git
+mixed up an' stumble as afore, but gits through the
+brushwood as slick as a bandicoot.  'Mus' be nearly
+through the belt,' ses I, after goin' fer an' hour or so.
+'Mus' git the rifle ready, fer I might sight a kangy any
+moment now.'  So I unslings the rifle from me back an'
+puts the gun in its place, an' stops a minit ter load 'er—the
+rifle I mean.  I'd jist finished when I heers voices
+shoutin', an' then a great yellin', as if somethin' orful was
+'appenin'.  So orf I rushes through the scrub, an' comes
+out on the beach.  I was knocked inter a heap, I gives
+yer me word; fer there before me was the sea, an' I
+thought I was on t'other side of the scrub altogether.
+Then, in a flash, I sees wot was really 'appenin'.  Jist
+afore me very eyes was Joe.  He was strugglin' in the
+water not more'n a hundred yards away, an' that 'er
+brute seemed as if it was jist a-fallin' on 'im.  Why, I
+fired the rifle a'most without pintin' it.  Somethin'
+seemed ter say, 'If yer waits ter aim yell be too late.'  Be
+gosh!  I'm thinkin' 'twas the Almighty Hisself directed
+that shot."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If ye'd not losht your enstink, as ye calls it, ye'd be
+moiles an' moiles awa-ay at th' toime th' shark was goin'
+to gobble Joe up, wuddent ye?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"In course I wud."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, don't ye think th' good God had a hand in
+losin' ye in th' scrub?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's wot yer father'd call an answer ter prayer," replied
+the stockman, turning to Joe as he spoke.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By this time the camp-fire—around which the group
+had been sitting—was burning low, and the party was
+quite ready for bed after the exciting and tirng
+adventures of the day.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The campers were astir at an early hour next morning,
+to make the final preparations for curing the fish.  After
+filling both barrels, there was a quantity available for
+smoking.  To carry out this object a sapling frame, about
+four feet square and seven feet high, was constructed, and
+enclosed with bushes, leaving an opening at the top and
+bottom.  The fish were hung by stout cords, and a fire
+kindled on the earth inside the curing shed.  Some green
+wood was used with the dry, to produce a fair, volume of
+smoke; and so the curing went on apace.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Leaving Denny in charge of the camp, the others spent
+the afternoon shooting over a chain of lagoons that lay
+back from the beach a couple of miles or so.  The ducks
+were plentiful, and they returned to the camp well laden.
+They passed the two following days shooting and fishing,
+both fins and feathers being exceedingly plentiful.  By
+this time they judged the fish to be cured, and packed it
+in a maize bag.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Tell you what, boys!  S'pose we ride over to the Pilot
+Station to-day?  It'll be a change, won't it?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The others received Joe's suggestion with ready
+approval, and before long were racing along the beach
+towards the Pilot Station.  This was situated at the
+mouth of the river, and consisted of the residences of the
+pilot and the boat's crew.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It should be said that at the mouth of every Australian
+river flowing into the Pacific is a sand-bar.  These sand
+barriers frequently shift their position, owing to tidal and
+other ocean influences.  This makes entrance and exit to
+be a somewhat dangerous proceeding, and many a craft
+has come to grief on these treacherous sands.  To reduce
+this danger to a minimum a pilot station exists at each
+river entrance.  The pilot is generally a sea-captain with
+a large experience of these treacherous bars.  It is his
+duty, weather permitting, to take daily soundings so as
+to locate the exact position of the bank, and by means of
+signals to apprise incoming and outgoing vessels of the
+position and depth of water on the bar; also, when
+required, to pilot the vessel over the dangerous spot.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Captain Craig, the pilot, was an old salt, with nearly
+half a century's experience of the eastern rivers of
+Australia.  He received the boys very kindly, and, after
+offering them refreshment, took them to the signal station
+and look-out.  When he had explained the methods of
+signalling, he allowed them to look through a very fine
+telescope.  He was justly proud of this instrument, it
+having been presented to him by a company of passengers
+for his gallantry and seamanship in extricating his vessel
+from a rocky shore in a hurricane.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The time had now arrived for taking the bar soundings.
+Much to the boys' delight Captain Craig invited them to
+accompany him in the life-boat, and a few minutes later
+the crew were pulling the party from the miniature cove
+to the bar.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The water here, owing to the bar formation, was
+generally in a turbulent condition.  Although it was a
+calm day, they found the boat exceedingly lively as she
+moved to and fro over the bar while soundings were being
+taken.  They experienced sundry disagreeable qualms,
+and a certain screwed-up feeling in the region of the
+"bread-basket."  The clacking tongues of the youngsters
+grew suspiciously quiet, and Tom's ruddy cheeks paled to
+an exceedingly bilious complexion.  Had you quizzed
+these boys upon their sickly looks, they would have
+protested with might and main against the insinuation of
+mal-de-mer.  Nevertheless they were mighty glad when
+the pilot, after half an hour's sounding, having
+accomplished his purpose, turned the boat's nose in the
+direction of home.  Once out of the troubled waters, the
+sick feeling passed away, and at the solicitation of the
+lads "for a pull," the pilot good-naturedly allowed them to
+row to the landing-place.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Before leaving, the pals recited the story of the shark
+adventure, ending in the death of the tiger shark.
+Captain Craig listened with great interest, and not a little
+excitement, to this narration.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You have had the narrowest of escapes, Joe Blain,
+and have very much to be thankful for," exclaimed he.
+"That shark was a most notorious character.  He has
+roamed the Bay for years and years, and has destroyed
+many human lives.  Innumerable efforts for his capture
+have been put forth by the fishermen, and by my own
+men, but in vain.  Often sighted and fished for, he has
+resisted the many lures set for him.  Again and again,
+when enclosed in their nets, he has broken through, and
+has long been their despair.  Now, however, thanks to a
+good Providence, and to the clever shot of your friend
+here, this dreadful man-eater has been removed."  Advancing
+to the stockman, the pilot shook him warmly
+by the hand, and thanked him in the name of the community.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As the party rode home in the cool of the evening, they
+decided to break camp next morning, in order to carry
+out their original intention of paying a visit to the old
+diggings.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="off-to-the-gold-diggings"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXXI</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"The mountain air is cool and fresh,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Unclouded skies bend o'er us,</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line"><span>Broad placers, rich in hidden gold,</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>Lie temptingly before us."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>SWIFT.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Tents were struck, and the campers' impedimenta securely
+fastened to the pack-saddles, in the grey dawn of the
+following morning—the party having breakfasted by
+starlight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The gold diggings about to be visited was situated in
+the ranges, equi-distant from Bullaroi and the Bay.  The
+route from the Bay lay along the homeward track as far
+as the caves.  At this point the trail turned due
+north—winding among the rugged country to the site of the
+mining camp, which, in its palmy days, covered a flat
+that lay between some precipitous hills and a swiftly
+flowing mountain stream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The diggings in question was deserted, save by a few
+fossikers, or gully-rakers, as they were generally
+called—men who earned a precarious living by following up the
+dry gullies, and picking out wash dirt from between the
+rocks; or else dry-blowing likely spots of the surface.
+The lure of gold—so common to all—fed the imagination
+of these men.  They became nomads; lived in the most
+primitive ways; faced and endured untold hardships;
+and, if not cheerful, were always hopeful.  They saw
+visions and dreamed dreams—of gold.  The years passed,
+age pressed heavily, eyesight grew dim, and limbs palsied
+with weakness: but even when broken down and encompassed
+with infirmity, their very senility sustained its
+spirits upon visions of the rich find that was surely
+coming—to-morrow.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>When the diggings "broke out," and the rush "set in,"
+the flat was white with tents, the population running
+into four figures.  It was an alluvial diggings; that is,
+the gold was washed from the earth, and not crushed
+from the quartz.  In the flush days of Rocky Gully, rich
+"pockets" of gold were struck, and huge fortunes made.
+Life then, in the character of its splendours and pleasures,
+was barbaric.  Lucky diggers, with the spending lust upon
+them, ordered champagne baths, lit their pipes with
+five-pound notes, shod their horses with plates of gold,
+squandered their suddenly acquired riches on camp
+wantons, and among the harpies of the gambling hells.
+There were many exceptions to this foolish course, 'tis
+true; but such is the mental intoxication consequent
+upon a lucky find, and the sudden acquisition of wealth,
+that the majority of lucky diggers succumb, and in a few
+weeks or months, shorn of their possessions, either blow
+out their brains in remorse, or challenge fortune once
+more upon the same or some other goldfield.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Rocky Gully was now a worked-out diggings, and its
+population had long ago drifted away to other fields.
+Naught remained to remind one of its glory now but a
+few tumbledown houses, and the wood skeletons of iron
+buildings, together with countless heaps of empty tins
+and other refuse.  Naught, that is, save a dozen or so
+of fossikers, who were distributed over the field; each
+having his area, into which the others never intruded.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>How was it, then, that the Bullaroi party should have
+included a trip to the deserted mining camp in their
+programme of sport and adventure?  There was nothing
+inviting in the region so far as game was concerned; nor
+was there the rough excitements of a live diggings.
+The truth is, it was the outcome of a suggestion of Harry.
+The stockman had a yarn he was very fond of relating,
+which included some tragic incidents associated with
+Rocky Gully.  As a youth he lived there in its "boom"
+days, and towards the close of his stay there he was
+mates with Humpy Bob.  Humpy Bob was an eccentric
+character, well known on a dozen goldfields, whose
+shrewdness as a gold finder was countervailed by his
+incredible folly in spending his riches.  On one occasion,
+when he had struck a "pocket," from which he drew
+over a thousand ounces, he began a carouse which
+continued until the last penny was spent.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>As illustrative of his folly during that spree, he
+purchased a general store for the sum of one thousand
+pounds.  The same evening, in company with the drunken
+guests of a champagne party he had given, he proceeded
+to the store, deliberately fired it, and, with the other
+banqueters, stripped stark naked, danced a wild
+corrobberie while it burned.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Bob sober was the antithesis of Bob drunk.  Abstemious,
+taciturn, industrious, solitary, with a genius
+for divining likely places, he followed the pursuit of
+gold: seldom failing to earn good wages; often winning
+handsome profits; occasionally making a pile.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Humpy's end came suddenly and tragically; and of
+this Harry was a witness.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The two men were driving a tunnel at a likely spot in
+the bank of a blind gully about three miles from the main
+camp.  They worked in relays, and had driven in about
+a score of yards, when Harry suggested shoring it with
+saplings for safety.  Humpy Bob, however, who was
+always running risks, made light of the suggestion.
+They had just struck a vein of promising stuff, which
+gave "prospects" of several grains to the dish.  When
+it was Bob's turn to go on, Harry again suggested shoring
+up certain loose spots; especially one near where he had
+been picking, for there had been a small fall during his
+shift.  This the other would not consent to, though his
+partner pleaded earnestly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There's a hundred to one chances against there being
+anything serious, mate, and I'm not goin' to waste any
+time in propping up the blessed tunnel.  It's not worth it.
+We'll most likely clean it out to-morrer.  So-long!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, the digger entered the drive, and was soon at
+his work.  Harry, having nothing to do for a while, went
+to the tent and stretched himself on his bunk for a rest,
+intending to return in an hour or so to wheel out the
+mullock.  Unfortunately he fell asleep, and hours passed
+by before he awoke.  When he did, he jumped from his
+bunk and ran out to the drive, scolding himself for his
+negligence.  The barrow was missing from its usual place,
+and, after a hasty search, the youth went to the tunnel's
+mouth and shouted to his mate.  There was no response,
+nor were the usual pick sounds to be heard.  The light
+was still burning at the end of the tunnel.  Hastily
+traversing the drive in a half-stooping position, as indeed
+compelled by the size of the tunnel, the youth covered
+about half the distance when he stumbled over the
+barrow, severely barking his shins.  Using hot language
+against the carelessness of his mate at leaving the barrow
+in such a place, and with a half fear at the unsatisfactory
+look of things, he scrambled up and went on towards the
+end of the tunnel.  He had not taken more than two steps
+when he again stumbled; this time over a softer substance.
+It was his mate!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Humpy Bob was lying unconscious, half-covered with
+a mass of fallen earth and rocks.  Groping his way across
+this pile of débris, the excited and frightened youth
+reached the end of the drive, seized the light and returned
+to his mate.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Tearing frantically at the soil and stones, he liberated
+old Humpy, and, as gently as possible, drew him to the
+tunnel mouth.  Then dashing to the little stream below,
+he brought water in a billy, and made the customary
+attempts to restore his stricken mate to consciousness.
+His utmost attempts availed not.  The vital spark had
+fled.  Not all the resources of medicine or surgery could
+bring light into the half-closed eyes, or life into those
+rapidly stiffening limbs.  Humpy Bob would never again
+unearth a nugget, rock a cradle, appraise the value of a
+prospect, or get on the "razzle-dazzle" and "paint the
+town red."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It would seem that after working for a while, and
+making a heap of mullock, the digger had come out of
+the tunnel for Harry.  Not seeing him about, the old man
+seized the barrow with the object of wheeling out some
+of the earth.  He had loaded it, and was in the act of
+wheeling it along, when a mass of earth fell full upon his
+back, fracturing the spine.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Harry was greatly affected by this sad occurrence; for
+Humpy Bob had many good points of character, and a
+strong attachment had grown up between them.  As soon
+as his mate was buried, he left the goldfield, and got a job
+on one of the stations.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>He had often thought of revisiting this scene, for he
+had a feeling that good gold would be found there.  Of
+late the desire to test the ground again had grown strong,
+and, when the project of the jaunt to the seaside was
+launched, he suggested a trip to the old diggings.  The
+boys gladly fell in with the idea, for it furnished them
+with an item that gave additional spice to the outing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The journey to the diggings was necessarily slow.  The
+pack-horses were heavily weighted by the extra burden of
+the fish, and the method of progress was that shuffling
+gait known as the "jog."  Though monotonous and tiring
+to the rider, it is the easiest pace for the loaded animals,
+and one that can be kept up all day.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Seems a pity that we should cart this blessed fish to
+the diggings, Sandy.  Wouldn't it be better to 'cache'
+it somewhere near the junction?  It's giving the horses
+unnecessary work, in my opinion.  Let's see, it's twelve
+miles to the junction, an' fifteen from there to Rocky
+Gully.  Supposin' we planted the stuff in the scrub at the
+junction; it'd save thirty miles of hauling, an' be no end
+of a gain all round."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good enough, Joe!  What d'yer say, Harry?  We
+could hide the barrels an' bag easy enough in the scrub."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"M-yes, perhaps so.  Come ter think of it, I'm not so
+sure.  Barrels'd be all right, but 'twon't be the dingoes'
+fault if they don't root out the dried fish.  Tell you what,
+boys, plant 'em in the caves!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good shot!  The very thing the doctor ordered!  The
+caves! yes.  'Twon't take us more'n a mile out of the way;
+an' 'twill be on the road to Bullaroi on the return trip.
+We can easily strike in on the west side of the cave
+ridge, and hide 'em in the stables.  Nobody knows of that
+place but father an' the 'rangers; now poor ole Ben's
+shot——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Maybe it's ha-aunted, bhoys.  It's juist th' sphot
+owld Ben'd hide his sowl in, so as to frighten awa-ay th'
+p'lice whin they goes rummagin' about f'r booty; loike th'
+carr-sthle ghosts in th' owld conthry.  Bedad, thin, Oi'll
+be expactin' t' see th' bowld raider comin' on us out iv
+th' dark, his face shinin' loike th' stuff phwat matches is
+made ov."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Brimstone an' treacle you're thinkin' of, ain't you,
+Denny?  But, I say, chaps, it'll be better to hide 'em at
+the 'ranger's outlet; though it'll be the dickens own job
+to get the barrels into the cave up that slope.  Wouldn't
+it be better, after all, to hide the stuff in the scrub, slinging
+the bag into a tree, high enough to be safe from the
+dingoes?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So it would, and have saved a most painful experience;
+but having started the idea of hiding the fish in the caves,
+it presented an attraction that the others would not
+surrender.  It gave a flavour of romance to the act.  Now
+that he was dead, the bushranger's hiding-place took on a
+new interest; and so it came to pass that Tom found
+himself in a minority of one.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They found it a tough piece of work to get the barrels
+up the precipitous slope to the cave entrance.  But, when
+the fish was at last stored in the forage chamber, as it
+was now called, and the party had remounted their horses,
+they could appreciate the advantage gained by relieving
+the pack-horses of so much dead weight.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They now made more rapid headway, and struck an
+accommodation house, in the early afternoon, kept by one
+Jago Smith—an old acquaintance of Harry's.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="how-they-struck-gold"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXXII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"There's a bonny wee spot in the mountains I love,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where the pine trees are waving o'erhead far above,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Where the miners are happy, kindhearted, and free;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And many come here from way over the sea.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>There's gold in the mountain, there's gold in each glen,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>The good time is coming, have patience, brave men;</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Hold on to your ledges, and soon you will see</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Both money and mills coming over the sea."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>C. CRAWFORD.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Jago Smith was an "old timer," as, in Colonial parlance,
+men with his past were called.  A Londoner by birth, he
+was initiated when but a child into the arts and artifices
+of that profession which flourishes by the application of
+sleight-of-hand tricks to the pockets and purses of an
+unsuspecting public.  In short, this London arab was a
+thief, belonging to just such a school as Dickens has
+portrayed in </span><em class="italics">Oliver Twist</em><span>.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>His career as a collector of "wipes" was brought to a
+summary end through being caught full-handed in a
+theatre crush.  A "Children's Court," or a "First Offender's
+Act," was unknown in the early days of the nineteenth
+century; consequently young Jago Smith was had up
+before the magistrate, committed to the Assizes, convicted
+to the hulks, and ultimately transported to Botany Bay
+to serve a term of penal servitude.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At a theatrical effort made by certain prisoners of
+histrionic talent at Sydney, at the tail-end of the
+eighteenth century, to which first Governor Philip
+and his wife were "graciously" invited, the following
+lines form part of the prologue composed for the
+occasion—</span></p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas, we come,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>But not with much éclat or beat of drum.</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>True patriots all; for be it understood,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>We left our country for our country's good.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"><span>No private views disgraced our generous zeal,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>What urged our travels was our country's weal,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>And none can doubt, but that our emigration</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Has proved most useful to the British nation."</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Fourteen years' penal servitude for the theft of a few
+pocket-handkerchiefs!  Such a sentence to-day would be
+regarded as a monstrous iniquity; it passed without
+comment in those days.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>But transportation was not an unmixed evil to Jago
+Smith.  As early as 1793 schools were started at the
+penal settlement, under the impression that they would
+be the most likely means of effecting a reformation in
+the morals of youthful prisoners.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Jago, with the consent of the master to whom he was
+assigned on landing, attended a night school, and gained
+some insight into the three R's.</span></p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 60%" id="figure-70">
+<span id="we-ve-struck-it-rich-i-do-believe-cried-the-stockman"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="&quot;'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the stockman.&quot;" src="images/img-288.jpg" />
+<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin">
+<span class="italics">"'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the stockman."—</span><em class="italics">See p.</em><span class="italics"> </span><a class="italics reference internal" href="#id7">295</a><span class="italics">.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After a somewhat varied career, the ex-pickpocket,
+who had served his time, became a settler on Rocky
+Creek; and when the Rocky Gully gold rush set in he
+drove a very profitable trade with the diggers.  In
+addition to raising cattle on his selection, Smith kept an
+accommodation house, where board and lodging was to be
+had.  As the place was on the public road, about five
+miles from the diggings, it received much patronage.
+Jago was very proud of his signboard.  It was an
+incontestable proof of his accomplishments in writing and
+spelling.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>ACKOMERDASHON FUR MAN
+<br />AN BESTE SMALL BIER
+<br />SOULED HEAR GORD SIVE TH
+<br />E KWEEN J SMITH</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>As the party drew up to the hitching blocks, old Jago,
+who was lounging in an arm-chair in the verandah,
+hobbled out to the front, quietly surveying the group; to
+whom Harry addressed himself.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Good-evenin', Mister Smith.  How are yer gettin' on
+these times?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Not gettin' any younger, you may be sure.  But who
+be you?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't yer remember me, Jago?" replied the stockman,
+walking up to the old man.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes; I see who it is now.  You be the boy wot worked
+with old Humpy, an' used ter stay here when Bob had an
+attack of the jim-jams."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The same, ole chap.  We're goin' to put up here for
+the night, and intend goin' on to-morrer to where me an'
+Humpy worked when 'e was took.  Got room for us, I
+s'pose?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Plenty o' room, me lad.  Not over rushed with
+travellers these times.  Better take your 'orses round ter
+the back; ye'll find the saddle-room in the old plice, an'
+yer can turn the neddies inter the paddock.  There's
+plenty o' grass fer 'em."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys were ready for the supper of homely fare
+which awaited them at sunset.  After supper, Harry and
+the old man got into a conversation, in which the former
+stated that he was determined to have a try at the old
+claim; for, though Humpy had put it about when working
+it that it was a "shicer," Harry, of course, knew differently.
+The gold-bearing stuff, it is true, was but a thin
+vein, but they expected it to develop into something
+better farther on.  Old Jago informed him that no one
+had touched the spot, so far as he knew.  Yes, he had some
+picks and shovels and prospecting dishes, which he had
+taken as payment at one time and another from hard-ups.
+Harry was welcome to make a selection.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>This the stockman did without any delay.  He took
+from the curious assortment of diggers' tools two picks,
+two short-handled shovels, two prospecting dishes, the
+roller and handle of a windlass, a couple of buckets, some
+stout rope, a length of chain, a strong hook, a crowbar,
+and a pound or two of blasting powder.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>These he obtained as a loan, for Smith would not hear
+of pay.  He viewed the whole thing in the light of a joke.
+The idea of Harry starting to work a claim with a parcel
+of kids who had never seen a gold shaft in their lives,
+with a time limit of three or four days at the most!  The
+stockman was but humouring the fancies and ambitions
+of the kids.  They, no doubt, expected to locate the
+golden nuggets in the same fashion that they would track
+a missing bullock on the bush, or run down a wild cat to
+its lair in a hollow log.  Well, they would at least
+develop their arm muscles and have blistered hands to
+show their friends.  So the old settler—who at the time
+of the rush had listened to the confident prediction of
+many a greenhorn, going post-haste to pick up the
+nuggets that were waiting for somebody to tumble over.
+Not so Harry; he, at least, was no greenhorn.  He
+would give the abandoned workings a trial.  It would be
+a novelty for the boys, and though they mightn't get
+anything to boast about, would, he was confident, get
+enough to give each member of the party a souvenir of
+the visit.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Leaving the accommodation house after an early breakfast,
+the band of diggers, for such we must now call them,
+arrived at the old workings in a couple of hours, passing
+</span><em class="italics">en route</em><span> two or three fossikers who were working their
+shows.  These ancients looked with a degree of astonishment
+upon this cluster of youths, whose very jauntiness
+was suggestive of a prime lark.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Arrived at the diggings, the party had a good look
+round.  Intense solitude reigned everywhere, and save
+for the heaps of rusty cooking utensils and other
+rubbish there was little to indicate that the place had once
+been a busy hive of life and energy.  An old signboard,
+written by another hand than had done Jago Smith's, was
+seen nailed to a tree.  Its language was simple and to
+the point.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>ROYAL HOTEL
+<br />ALL DRINKS 6c.</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><em class="italics">N.B.—Clean Glasses</em></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>Harry took a rapid survey of the situation.  The
+place apparently had not been disturbed since the fatal
+accident.  The old tent poles remained as he had left
+them, and there was no evidence of any one having
+camped there for years.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Proceeding to the tunnel, which, as previously described,
+was driven into the perpendicular bank of a deep gully,
+things looked pretty much as they did on that fatal day,
+excepting that the earth had fretted away about the
+tunnel mouth, and, on venturing in a short distance, the
+man saw that the roof had broken down, completely
+blocking the mine.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, Harry," exclaimed Joe, when the leader emerged
+from the tunnel mouth, which the boys had been eagerly
+watching, "is it all clear?  Did you go to the end?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Didn't git half-way.  Tunnel's half blocked."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What a pity!" chorused the lads.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dunno 'bout that; cause, yer see, it's proof ter me no
+one's bin interferin.'"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Twon't be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?"
+continued Joe.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Carn't say; depends on the amount that's fallen.
+But 'tain't my notion ter use the tunnel at all.  Yer see,
+it's this way: it may take us an hour or a day to clear the
+rubbage outer the tunnel.  When we'd done that, we'd
+have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the
+wash-dirt.  Fust an' foremost, there's plenty of foul air in
+the far end of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you
+coves in the caves.  Let me tell you, it's hard work
+clearing the stinkin' air outer a tunnel.  You can git it outer
+a shaft easy enough, by tyin' a bunch o' bushes onter a
+rope and running 'em up an' down; but it's mighty hard
+work clearin' a tunnel, an' orften a long job.  Then,
+s'posin' we got it out, we'd have ter shore up the whole
+blessed length; for, let me tell you, I'm not goin' ter run
+any risks in this 'ere job.  We've had fright enough over
+Joe an' the shark, an' I cuddent face the Boss an' the
+missus if anything happened to any of you here.  Now,
+to shore up this blessed tunnel'd take a power of timber,
+an' ter git it an' fix it'd take a far longer time than
+we've got."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep
+disappointment, voicing the feelings of the group of boy
+diggers, "don't tell us it's all a go, an' we're to return
+without havin' a try!  Can't you find some other spot?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was
+diggin' up gowlden prr-aties, an', ochone!  Oi'd just stuck
+th' pick into a monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the
+laast, an' was tryin' me best to upind her wid a laver,
+whin owld Jago comes bangin' at th' dure.  Begor!  Oi
+was sweatin' loike a stoker whin th' owld mahn woke me.
+Jist give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an' be Saint
+Michael Oi'll——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ye'll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret.  They's more
+ways of killin' a pig besides chokin' 'im with a lump o'
+butter.  It never was my plan, boys, ter use the ole
+tunnel.  There's a better way nor that.  When me an' ole
+Humpy drove in 'ere, we wus follerin' a lead, an' ye niver
+can tell 'ow far yer 'ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe
+a 'undered yards afore it opens out inter a body.  So we
+did the right thing then.  Now I propose ter put down
+a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end of the
+tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that.  I calkerlate
+we'll tap it in twenty feet or so.  I know the clarss of
+country we'll have to go through.  All this bank's wot we
+call 'made up.'  It's a formation called pudden stone.
+It's formed o' river wash, an' is pretty pebbly.  The
+pebbles is the plums.  We'll go through it in a couple o'
+days at most, an' that'd give us two days more afore we
+need clear orf 'ome."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry's
+proposal, and set about rigging up the camp near the spot
+which the leader had selected to put down the shaft.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set
+to work at sinking the shaft.  So expeditious were they
+that by night they had sunk the hole about ten feet and
+had rigged up the windlass.  All the boys had a turn at
+digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the
+novelty of the work.  Harry and Denny, however, did
+the main part, while the lads manned the windlass, and
+hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the buckets
+were filled.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast
+preparatory to a long day's work at the shaft.  They
+had to do a good deal of blasting, for some of the stones
+were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed time.  It
+was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy
+blast, Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried
+out, "Haul up quick! we've broken through.  Foul air!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>On winding their comrade up, he declared that the
+blast had broken the ground into the tunnel, and that the
+foul air was coming freely into the bottom of the shaft.
+"We'll let it stay as it is till termorrer, an' then we'll
+clear it out."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals went to sleep that night to dream about the
+El Dorado which, in their imagination, they had struck.
+The earliest dawn found them at the shaft's mouth.
+Harry tied several bushes to the end of the rope, and this
+was rapidly lowered and raised for about a couple of
+hours, the condition below being tested from time to time
+by a lighted candle placed in a bucket and lowered to the
+bottom.  At last it remained alight, though it burned very
+feebly.  About half an hour after this, the candle, on
+being sent below again, burned brightly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's all right, now, boys!  We've got rid of the gas,
+that's a blessing.  Lower away!"  In a few seconds
+Harry was filling the buckets with the broken rock and
+earth.  In a short time it was all cleared up, and the
+leader had started to drive along the line of the vein.  He
+had not cut in more than a couple of feet when he threw
+down the pick and shouted up the shaft, "Hurroar, boys!
+I've struck a patch.  Be gosh, it looks like a pocket!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The excitement above at this good news may be better
+imagined than described.  The vein of wash-dirt suddenly
+expanded into a cube of about sixty buckets of auriferous
+earth.  It was a genuine though small pocket.  Whether
+rich or poor could be determined only by washing.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Harry filled a bucket with the dirt, which was speedily
+hauled up.  The next minute he was pulled to the surface,
+and, spreading the stuff on the ground, examined it.  To
+the great delight of the pals, he picked out several
+large specks and a small nugget, scaling about half an
+ounce.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext" id="id7"><span>"It's all right, mates!" cried the stockman, now almost
+as excited as the boys.  "We've struck it rich, I do
+believe.  Sandy, me boy, git your nag an' a packhorse,
+an' streak fur Jago's as fast as yer can git, an' borry a
+cradle.  It'd take too long ter pan this stuff—must have
+a cradle.  But, look 'ere, don't give the show away.  Tell
+'im I got a few specks from a bit o' stuff I came acrost,
+an' that I'm jist goin' ter give it a try.  He'll most likely
+call me a big fool, an' don't yer conterdict 'im."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>A cradle, it may be said, is a machine on rockers for
+washing the auriferous earth.  The machine is fed with
+the wash-dirt, a stream of water being poured on while it
+is rocked like a child's cradle.  The heavy sand and
+gravel, together with the precious metal, sink to the bottom
+and are retained by the "ridges," whilst the earth and all
+light matter pass away with the water.  It is finally
+treated in a dish so skilfully that only the pure metal is
+left.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>While Sandy is speeding off to Jago's the rest are busy
+picking the pocket and carrying it down to a flat by
+the side of the tiny stream which ran along the gully
+bottom.  The work was hard, for the wash-dirt was
+heavy, and the buckets big; but they made fun of the
+hardships of bruised fingers and strained muscles, as
+they hauled the precious earth from the shaft mouth,
+and then humped it to the stream.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>They had not quite finished their work ere Sandy
+reappeared upon the scene with the cradle.  Very little
+grass had grown during the performance of his task.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Scarcely allowing themselves time to bolt down their
+midday meal, the party were grouped around the cradle,
+which Harry had fixed within a yard of the stream.
+The stockman soon made his dispositions of the forces.
+Joe and Tom are to lift the water and pour it on as
+required, while he and Sandy work the cradle.  Denny
+is to feed the machine with the dirt.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So the work of "washing up" started.  Every now
+and then Harry stopped the work and "cleaned up" the
+cradle—that is, took out the heavy golden sand which
+was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied
+it in a bag, to be "panned" later.  From time to time the
+party were gladdened by the sight of large specks, and
+now and then a tiny nugget of some grains' weight.  The
+gold, for the most part, however, was fine.  The work
+went on continuously till night closed in upon them.
+Though dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their
+work for the day, and after supper threw themselves
+upon their primitive beds and slept the sleep of the just.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry's
+last word.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#]
+for their early waking.  Perched on the limb of a tree
+close to the tent, they began their morning orisons at
+the first paling of the stars, making such a cachinnation
+as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in
+startled tones, "Dressin', dad; goin' for the cows this
+minute."  While Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn
+over on his side, saying in sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate
+they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me darlin'! an' sa-ay
+ye——  Howly Moses, 'tis th' owld Johnny-axes at their
+thricks!"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span class="small">[#] Giant kingfisher.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as
+soon as breakfast is demolished the lucky diggers make
+their way to the gully to start operations.  The work
+was a repetition of yesterday's, and, according to Harry's
+calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck
+well to the job; bullock teams couldn't have drawn them
+from it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>After working for about an hour, Denny, who was
+shovelling the dirt, picked up a lump of rock, saying at
+the same time, "Oi'll pitch this awa-ay, annyways.  It
+feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: 'tis as heavy
+as lead.  Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Hey, you fool!  don't throw that away.  Let's see
+it," cried Harry, seizing the piece of rock, which was
+about the size of the lad's head.  "Why, great jumpin'
+Jehosaphat!  it's a bloomin' nugget.  You precious
+duffer! if you'd thrown that away I'd 'a' pitched you down
+the shaft."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the
+leader as he held the lump with both hands.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"See 'ere, this white rock's quartz, an' all these yaller
+veins is gold.  It isn't wot you'd call a pure nugget,
+but by the weight of it I guess there's a power of the
+yaller stuff inside.  'Ere, Tom, streak up ter the tent fur
+a tommy an' we'll soon see."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the
+quartz nugget on a flat stone that cropped out of the
+ground near by, and dealt vigorous blows upon it with
+the head of the weapon.  In this way he crushed the
+quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold
+formed a mass in the centre.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That's all we'll do at present; we'll crush it out
+properly in a mortar when we get home.  Guess there's
+full twenty ounces o' gold in 'er."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>There were no more such finds in the dirt, but the
+last few lots yielded a good deal of coarse gold, one piece
+weighing about four ounces.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>By nightfall they had washed out the bagged ore.
+There it lay on a cloth before the fire, a little heap of
+pure gold, and beside it the quartz nugget, so to call it.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Call me a frog-eater if there ain't full seventy ounces
+o' gold in that there lot—close on three 'undered pounds'
+worth!"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="bullion-and-bushranger"><span class="bold large">CHAPTER XXXIII</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="bold medium">BULLION AND BUSHRANGER</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"><span>"And if you doubt the tale I tell,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Steer through the South Pacific swell,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Go where the branching coral hives</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Unending strife of endless lives,</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Go where the rivers roll down through the sand</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span>Under skies that are blue in a golden land."</span></div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line"><span>KIPLING.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Pull up a moment, chaps.  I want ter say a word afore
+we strike Jago Smith's—we'll sight it over the next ridge.
+No blabbin' erbout the gold.  The ole cove's sure ter arsk
+erbout our luck.  You keep mum, an' leave me ter answer
+'im.  He's er good ernuff sort in hes way, is ole Jago,
+an' me an' 'im always got on well, as 'e sort er took a
+fancy ter me.  All the same, 'im an' Ben Bolt is, or was
+great friends.  That's why I steered clear o' the shootin
+the night we stayed there.  'E might 'a' cut up rusty,
+like.  Many's the time 'e's planted the 'ranger when the
+p'lice 'as been 'ot on 'is trail.  'Twuddent s'prise me a
+bit if the kid that wus Ben's mate wus 'idin' somewheres
+erbout Jago's.  'E's several good plants.  At any rate,
+there must be no blow.  Bes' be on the safe side."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In a few minutes the party sighted the accommodation
+house at a distance of a quarter of a mile or so.  They
+could see the old man in the front, talking to a man
+who held a horse by the bridle.  Even as the party
+sighted the pair they were themselves seen.  After a few
+hasty words with Jago the horseman threw his bridle
+over the steed's neck, vaulted to the saddle, and rode
+away briskly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"By George, that 'ere cove's ridin' a good nag.  See
+the style o' 'im!  'E's a beauty, 'e is; all muscle an' spirit.
+If ole Ben wusn't a goner, I'd say 'twas 'im on Samson;
+blamed if I wuddent."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The mounted band have approached the house by this
+time.  The owner stood awaiting them by the hitching
+posts.  Saluting them as they rode up, he jeered
+good-humouredly—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I 'opes yer left a few specks fur them fossikers,
+gintilmin?  'Twud be too bad to scoop the pool an' leave
+the old uns nothin' but mullock heaps.  At any rate,
+ye've brought back the tools—cradle an' all.  Come now,
+'ow did the stuff pan out?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I'll tell yer wot we did git, ole man, sore bones an'
+blistered 'ands.  Blame me, but yer soon gits outer the
+diggin' business.  Tried that bit o' stuff I come acrost,
+wot the kid tole yer erbout.  Waal, speakin' in confidence,
+we didn't git ernuff ter hire a gold escort ter fetch it
+erlong.  We did git a bit—ernuff ter make these young
+coves a breast-pin apiece.  But let me tell yer, one of
+these days I'm comin' back ter have a good prospect.
+Keep it close, Smith; I don't want any of these blessed
+gully-rakers ter smell anythin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Dark it is, young feller.  Yer can trust me fer not
+givin' the show away.  Comin' in?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, we're makin' fer 'ome.  Just tote the tools ter
+where youse got 'em, boys, an' then we'll be orf."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The lads speedily discharged, and were in the saddle
+again.  The party was moving off when Harry said to Jago—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Forgot ter arsk yer whether yer 'eered that Ben Bolt
+wus shot by Hennessey t'other day."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, I 'eered it," replied Smith dryly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Kid not collared yet?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You're more likely ter 'eer about 'im than me: so-long."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ole Jago's a deep un," soliloquised Harry as they rode
+along.  "I forgot ter arsk 'im erbout the man we saw
+ridin' away as we came up," he remarked a few minutes
+later to Joe, who was riding at his side.  "If that 'ere
+'orse 'e wus ridin' warn't Samson, I'm a greenhorn."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It might have been the young fellow that got away
+when Ben was shot.  It struck me Jago was bluffin' you,
+Harry."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"My word, Harry," said Tom, riding up on the other
+side, "you bluffed ole Jago over the gold."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ain't so sure o' that," replied the stockman.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No one could have done it better," broke in Joe.
+"You circumnavigated the truth."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't know wot yer mean, my boy: unless it's
+somethin' in the circus line."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Not exactly that," replied Joe laughingly; "but it
+reminds me of an epitaph I heard about, that was stuck
+on a fellow's tombstone—</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>HE TRIED HARD NOT TO BE A LIAR."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>"Wot I said about tacklin' that ground's true ernuff,
+anyways," replied the stockman, with a smile.  "But
+erbout this gold: we'll go shares, o' course.  We'll
+divide it up inter five equal lots when we get to
+Bullaroi."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No; that's not fair, Harry," said Sandy.  "We must
+have a fair division."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, wot yer call a fair division, if that's not one?"
+said the man shortly.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"If it was left to me to decide, I would give you half,
+to start with.  It was your show.  You did most of the
+work.  We were more like wages men; so at the very
+least you should get half.  Then I'd divide the other
+half among the rest of us in equal shares."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Sandy's right," broke in Joe.  "As far as I'm concerned,
+Harry'll have the lot.  I'd like him to take my whack,
+anyway, because——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No, yer don't, Joe.  I know wot yer goin' ter say.
+Think I'm mean ernuff ter take pay fer shootin' a jolly
+shark?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Oh—I—didn't—mean—it—just——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe meant it as a mark of gratitude, Harry.  I think
+my way's best.  Whatcher say?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Agreed!" chorus the four.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Joe, me mahn," said Denny a little while later, as he
+and Blain were riding together, "cud ye tell me phwat
+me quarter ov a half ov th' gowld'll come to?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Lemme see, seventy ounces; half o' that, thirty-five;
+quarter of thirty-five is eight an' three-quarter ounces:
+yes, your share is eight an' three-quarters, Denny."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Give it in pounds, plaase, Joe."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Pounds!  Oh, I say, you've got me there.  Well, let's
+see.  What was it Harry said they'd give us per ounce at
+the bank?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Three sivinteen an' a tanner, Joe, me bhoy.  Oi tuk
+note ov that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yes, that was the price, I 'member.  Eight and
+three-quarter times three seventeen six—er—lemme see,
+that'd be—eight threes twenty-four, twen—bother it, I
+mean eight times seventeen an' six, that's a hundred an'
+ninety—no, </span><em class="italics">that's</em><span> not it.  Let me put it down in me
+mind—one, seven, six; that's right!  Well, multiply it
+by eight, an' leave the quarters out for a bit.  That's—why,
+it's three hundred an'—no, it can't be that much,
+surely?  Bust it, if I only had a pencil an' a bit o' paper
+I'd soon tot it up.  Try again.  Eight into seventeen and
+six is——  Blest if it isn't an interest sum, after all,
+Denny; an' they always sew me up."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's th' troth, Joe; it's th' most interastin' sum Oi
+iver heerd tell iv.  Thry it agin, Marsther Joe; doan't let
+a little sum loike that ba-ate ye.  'Twas two hondered
+pounds ye said larrst.  Make her go a little higher if yes
+can."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"What! two hundred pounds!  Murder! 'tis shillin's I
+was reckoning."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"O-o-h!" exclaimed Denny, with a profound sigh.
+"Awaay goes me bright dra-ames!  Sure, thin, 'twas
+buyin' th' owld family carr-sthle Oi was thinking ov, an
+makin' melyinaares o' me dear payrunts; maybe the
+Quaan wud be makin' me farther Lord Kineavy!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Well, you are a cure, Denny.  You'll have me addressin'
+you as the Honourable Dennis next.  Oh, I say,
+didn't Harry say he wouldn't be surprised if the gold
+fetched four pounds an ounce, it was so rich?  Well, let's
+reckon it at four quid.  Eight fours are thirty-two—that's
+thirty-two pounds.  The three-quarters of four
+pounds is three.  Thirty-two and three are thirty-five;
+thirty-five pounds.  There you are, ole boss, thirty-five."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thirty-foive pounds!  Begorrah! it's a bloomin'
+capertillist Oi am!  Whoi, glory be! it'll do betther thin
+buyin' a rotten owld sthone carr-sthle made ov brick an'
+thatch; it'll pay for bringin' out me payrunts in th'
+emigrr-ashon ship.  Be Saints Pathrick an' Michael, 'tis
+a happy bhoy Oi am at this moment!  Phwat wid me
+savin's, an' Norah's, an' this haape ov gowld, Oi'll buy
+thim th' best cabin on th' boat, and so Oi will!"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>In due time the party arrived at the junction of the
+roads, and crossed the ridge to the cave entrance.  After
+placing their horses in the patch of scrub near the road,
+they scrambled up to the opening.  Lighting the candle,
+Sandy led the way to the forage chamber, where the fish
+was stored.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You don't feel so creepy, Denny, as when you were
+here last," said Tom to the Irish "boy, as they followed the
+others into the chamber.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It's thrue for ye, Tom.  Owld Ben's not thrubblin' me
+to-da-ay.  'Tis only thinkin' ov me dear farther an'
+mauther comin' out on th' sa-ay Oi am.  As for th'
+'ranger, he's as dead an' dhry by this toime as the smoked
+fish yonder."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Is he?" cried a loud voice from the rear.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Howly Moses! 'tis th' 'ranger's ghost," cried the Irish
+boy, as a bull's-eye flashed in his face, dazzling his eyes
+and confusing his mind.  Terror-possessed by this ghostly
+manifestation—for he saw naught but a bright light,
+preceded by an awful voice—the boy bolted.  He rushed
+towards the chamber exit, which he barely reached ere
+the sharp crack of a revolver sounded, what time the
+panic-stricken youth staggered forward, falling with a
+dull thud upon the stone floor.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It need hardly be said that the other members of the
+group were startled out of speech and action.  Not ten
+seconds elapsed between the cry of the man or ghost and
+the tragedy of the revolver shot and the fallen boy.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The moment the boy fell the others ran towards him,
+but before they had taken three steps the light flashed on
+them and a revolver covered them.  Behind the lantern
+came a voice that more than the lantern, or even pistol,
+cowed them: "</span><em class="italics">Stop!  Hands up!</em><span>"</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst" id="behind-the-lantern-came-a-voice-that-more-than-the-lantern-or-even-pistol-cowed-them-stop-hands-up"><span class="bold">[Illustration: Behind the lantern came a voice that
+<br />more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them:
+<br />"</span><em class="bold italics">Stop!  Hands up!</em><span class="bold">" (missing from book)]</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>For the second time the hands of the boys went up at
+command.  One thing was made quite clear, at any rate:
+this was no ghostly visitant.  Ghosts didn't carry
+revolvers, nor was there long any mystery about this
+personage.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"That young cove reckoned I was dead and dry as
+your smoked schnapper, did he?  The young fool'll
+smoke and dry fast enough in the place I've sent him to.
+You infernal asses to come here!  But you'll never live
+to tell any one; make up your minds to that."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was in truth the bushranger himself.  Of that there
+could be no doubt.  The news of his death was either
+a make-up or a gross exaggeration.  Here he stood, in
+the flesh, in one of his most dangerous moods.  A black
+fit was on him.  Under its influence he was capable of
+almost any atrocity.  The lads were horror-stricken.
+There, before them, lay the body of their comrade, the
+gay, witty, affectionate Denny, who but a few moments
+ago was in the seventh heaven of delight at the thought
+of bringing out his parents with the proceeds of his share
+of the gold; and now—it was too awful!</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Look 'ere, Ben Bolt!" exclaimed Harry, after a few
+seconds' silence, "you've shot an innercent boy in cold
+blood.  You've grossly belied your reputation that you
+never laid a hand on woman or child.  We came here
+with no thought of spyin' upon yer, for we believed yer to
+be dead.  In five minits we wud 'ave gone away with our
+fish, none the wiser for your presence.  You've not the
+slightest justerfication fer takin' that life, an' if yer shoots
+me the next minit fer it, I tell yer to yer face ye're
+a blaggard an' coward, an' the pity is that the news of yer
+bein' shot wasn't true."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Why Harry was not shot off-hand, it were hard to say.
+The bushranger was convulsed with rage: thrice he
+levelled his revolver at the brave man, and as often
+lowered it.  At last, with a voice hoarse with passion, he
+said, "I'll send you along the road I've driven your
+mate, curse you!  You think you're very game, but I'll
+take all that out of you before I've done with you.  You'll
+be longing for your end hours before it comes....</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Here, boy," continued he, pointing to Tom.  "Take
+that green-hide and tie your mates as I tell you.  Look
+sharp, or I'll lay you alongside your mate yonder."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Thus dragooned, Tom securely tied his mates' hands
+behind their backs.  As soon as this was accomplished,
+the outlaw, sticking his revolver in his belt, served Tom
+in the same way, and in addition trussed each victim.
+Having set them in a row like a group, of mummies, he
+addressed them—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"You'll lie here for the present.  I'll deal with you
+later.  I've got a little job to do first.  That fool
+Hennessey's coming out this way with a couple of troopers
+to trap me.  'Twasn't enough that he winged my mate,
+he's sworn to have me inside of the week.  And I swear
+that I'll have him inside of six hours.  I'm going out now
+to have a look round.  If you coves try any of your tricks,
+I'll make hell for you.  I shan't be far off, you may bet."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, the outlaw went out into the chamber where
+his horse was stabled, and led him along the passage to
+the cave entrance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I say, Harry, it was Ben Bolt that we saw at ole
+Jago's this mornin'."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"True.  I cud 'ave taken me oath a'most that the
+'orse wus Samson, but I didn't git a fair view of the
+bloke's face.  Yes, 'twor Ben that we saw.  He must 'a'
+got 'is information erbout Hennessey from the ole man.
+It's wunnerful 'ow they does git the news.  I 'ope 'e don't
+git er charnse ter draw er bead on Hennessey.  He'll 'ave
+ter be mighty smart ter do it.  But, dear! dear! on'y ter
+think of poor Denny lyin' over there—dead!  I wish ter
+'evven 'e'd 'a' shot me instead.  Wot'll your father an'
+mother say, Sandy?  Poor Norah, too!  It'll be the
+killin' of 'er."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Whisht, boys, spaake low: Oi'm not kilt ontoirely;
+only knocked spaachless.  Oi'm betther nor tin dead
+Chinymen yit."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It was the sweetest sound that ever ravished the ears
+of the boys.  Here was the blissful fact—Denny was not
+dead; was very much alive.  If the lads did not
+immediately cry out with joy it was because their joy was
+too deep for utterance.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Don't spaake or sthir awhoile till Oi see if th' coast's
+clear."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Rising quietly to his feet, the Irish boy stole along the
+corridor that led to the mouth of the cave.  After a hasty
+but keen survey of the immediate neighbourhood, he
+returned to his companions, knife in hand, and in a few
+minutes had freed them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"And are you not wounded, Denny?  We never
+dreamed but that the villain had shot you dead.  You lay
+just like a corpse.  He was under that impression too, or
+he'd never have left you."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Yez see 'twas this way: Oi was fair flabbergasted
+whin th' blazin' light dazzled me oiyes.  Oi made shure
+'twas th' 'ranger's ghost.  Oi wud 'a' stood, but me ligs
+wuddn't.  They sthreaked off loike a paddy-melon goes
+for a hole in th' fince—carryin' me body wid thim.  Th'
+firsht thing Oi felt was a rock sthrikin' me fut, an' thin,
+begorra, somethin' whistled past me ear as Oi tumbled
+forrard, hittin' th' flure a nasty crack wid me head.  Th'
+nixt thing Oi heard was owld Harry tongue-bangin' th'
+rapscallion ov a murtherer fur killin' me.  'Be jabers!'
+ses Oi to meself, 'he's kilt me ontoirely wid a shot from
+hes pisthol, if phwat me bowld frind ses be th' thruth.
+Go it, me brave bhoy!  Tare an' ouns, but ye're givin'
+him th' coward's blow in foine style!'</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Thin Oi sees him rope yez up loike dhrapery parr-sels,
+an', ses Oi, 'Jist wait till yez is gone, me hairr-y breasted
+sna-ake!' an' wid that Oi comes to me ray-son an' knows
+that Oi was not dead at all, at all.  Oi was jist goin' to
+git up an' give him a bit iv me tongue, whin the thought
+comes—'Lie still, ye gossoon, till he goes an' ye can
+liberaate yer mates!'  So now we'll be even wid th'
+omadhaun."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The quicker we're outer this the better!" exclaimed
+Harry, as soon as he was released.  "There's no knowin'
+when the 'ranger'll return; if 'e finds us loose, 'e'll shoot
+us to a cert.  What a pity we left our guns with the
+'orses!  'Ope 'e won't find 'em.  It'll be risky goin' out,
+as we don't know where the feller is.  'E may be close
+by watchin' the 'ole.  The bes' thing'll be for us ter
+make a dash ter the scrub as soon as we're outer the cave."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"There's a much safer way than that," said Sandy.
+"We'll go out the way we came in when we first discovered
+this place.  Lucky we brought a candle with us.  Come
+along; every moment is precious."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>So saying, Sandy strode in advance, the others following
+closely at his heels.  The party soon hit upon the
+passage leading to the cave opening on the other side of
+the ridge.  In twenty minutes or so they were in the
+open.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Their first act was to plunge into the thick bush.  This
+shielded them from ordinary observation.  After a short
+confab, they concluded that the wisest thing to do was to
+creep along in the thickest part, in the direction of the
+horses.  They had hardly started when the sharp crack
+of a rifle broke upon their ears.  Stopping short,
+they listened eagerly; with beating hearts, it must
+be confessed.  Again and again, shots were fired; at
+last they heard the pounding of hoofs, rapidly nearing
+them.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"'Ssh—don't move—they're on the hard road," said
+Harry to the nervously excited youths.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The road passed the caves about two hundred yards
+from where the party lay.  Presently, with increasing
+clatter, Ben Bolt rode furiously along, and after a
+minute's interval, Sergeant Hennessey, accompanied by
+two troopers, the Sergeant leading by about fifty yards.
+Just as he was in the act of passing, the officer took a
+snap-shot at the 'ranger.  In a few minutes all sight
+and even sound of pursued and pursuers had gone.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"No fear of Ben Bolt trubblin' us now fer a spell.
+'Ope Hennessey 'll nab 'im sure this time.  Let's moosey
+erlong, lads."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>It didn't take the party long to pick up the steeds and
+load up the packhorses with the fish.  The sun had
+barely set ere they were well on the last stage of the
+return journey.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>The M'Intyres are just concluding the evening meal.
+The conversation chiefly centres around the campers.
+Mrs. M'Intyre had given many a look along the track
+during the afternoon, in the hope of sighting the lads.
+The understanding when they left was that they were to
+return at the end of the second week.  It was now
+Saturday evening.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"I won't give them up till ten o'clock.  I expect they
+have made a late start.  Yes, Maggie, I own that I am a
+bit fidgety now that I've heard that Ben Bolt has been
+seen in the vicinity of the caves."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Weel, ye can juist ease yure mind on that pint, my
+dear, for the Sairgeant and a pairty o' troopers are
+patrolling in that direection, so that there's no' the
+sma'est pairtical o' reesk."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"It was lucky for them, mummie, that they had started
+for their trip before the revised version of the engagement
+between the police and the bushrangers was published,
+for had you known of the mistake you would never
+have let the boys go.  What are they going to do
+with the youth that Hennessey wounded?  They say
+Ben Bolt's mad over it, and swears to have Hennessey's
+life."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"The misguided lad wull be pit on his trial as sune as
+the wound on his thigh permeets."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Do you think they'll hang him, father?"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Nae, nae, they'll no' hang the chiel; he has never
+ta'en life, nor is he a hardened ruffian.  He stairted this
+wild life 'for the fun o' it,' like mony another silly
+laddie.  The Sairgeant tells me that Jock Smith, for that's
+his name, is gled to be captured.  His eyes hae been
+opened to the folly and sin that are compreehended in
+sic a life.  Insteed o' fun, he has encountered nought but
+hairdship and meesery.  The misguided laddie wull hae
+plenty o' time for repentance."</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>The evening calm is suddenly and noisily disturbed.
+The station dogs set up a great babble of barking, and
+Jessie, who had gone out to the front verandah, comes
+running in helter skelter and screaming—</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Father, mother, hear the dogs!  It's the boys, I bet
+tuppence.  Hurrah!  Hurrah!——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Jessie, Jessie!  you are certainly developing very——"</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mrs. Mac is prosing without an audience, for the girls
+are flying along the track to the slip-rails, accompanied
+by the barking dogs.</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst"><span>It was verging on midnight when the Bullaroi household
+broke up.  The adventures were told with a degree
+of modesty to an intensely interested and at times
+breathless company.  The spoils of the sea and the spoils
+of the mine were displayed to the admiration of all.
+Mrs. M'Intyre gave high praise to the pals for their success as
+fish-curers; while the gold spoke for itself, needing no
+expert opinion.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>Mr. M'Intyre had the last word.</span></p>
+<p class="pnext"><span>"Ye've advanced a big step towards yure manhood,
+laddies, and I'm prood o' ye the nicht.  Yure conduc'
+under they perils by sea and land is more precious by far
+that yon gleeterin' gowd.  A guid name is raither to be
+chosen than great riches.  Thank the Lord for a' His
+mercies!  Guid-nicht, bairns."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><span>"GOOD-NIGHT ALL."</span></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics small">Printed by</em><span class="small"> MORRISON &amp; GIBB LIMITED, </span><em class="italics small">Edinburgh</em></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em">
+</div>
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="backmatter">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst" id="pg-end-line"><span>*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK </span><span>PALS</span><span> ***</span></p>
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+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,13186 @@
+.. -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-

+

+.. meta::

+   :PG.Id: 44369

+   :PG.Title: Pals

+   :PG.Released: 2013-12-08

+   :PG.Rights: Public Domain

+   :PG.Producer: Al Haines

+   :DC.Creator: Joseph Bowes

+   :MARCREL.ill: John Macfarlane

+   :DC.Title: Pals

+              Young Australians in Sport and Adventure

+   :DC.Language: en

+   :DC.Created: 1910

+   :coverpage: images/img-cover.jpg

+

+====

+PALS

+====

+

+.. clearpage::

+

+.. pgheader::

+

+.. container:: coverpage

+

+   .. vspace:: 3

+

+   .. figure:: images/img-cover.jpg

+      :align: center

+      :alt: Cover art

+

+      Cover art

+

+   .. vspace:: 4

+

+.. container:: frontispiece

+

+   .. _`With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip thong twice round the brute's neck`:

+

+   .. class:: center bold white-space-pre-line

+

+      [Frontispiece: With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy

+      managed to  pass his whip thong twice round the brute's 

+      neck—*See p.* `188`_.  (missing from book)]

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. container:: titlepage center white-space-pre-line

+

+   .. class:: x-large

+

+      PALS

+

+   .. class:: large

+

+      YOUNG AUSTRALIANS

+      IN SPORT AND ADVENTURE

+

+   .. vspace:: 2

+

+   .. class:: medium

+

+      BY

+

+   .. class:: large

+

+      JOSEPH BOWES

+

+   .. vspace:: 3

+

+   .. class:: center medium

+

+      *WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

+      BY JOHN MACFARLANE*

+

+   .. vspace:: 3

+

+   .. class:: medium

+

+      LONDON: JAMES GLASS

+      28 NEWGATE STREET

+      1910

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CONTENTS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+   CHAP.

+

+.. class:: noindent white-space-pre-line

+

+I.  `By Way of Introduction`_

+II.  `The Bushrangers`_

+III.  `A Desperate Encounter`_

+IV.  `The Great Match`_

+V.  `The Big Flood`_

+VI.  `On the Face of the Waters`_

+VII.  `The Death of the Forest Monarch`_

+VIII.  `What the Tree held`_

+IX.  `The Rescue`_

+X.  `The Return`_

+XI.  `The Breaking Up`_

+XII.  `Down the River`_

+XIII.  `Off for the Holidays`_

+XIV.  `Christmas Fun and Frolic`_

+XV.  `A Bush Ride and its Consequences`_

+XVI.  `The Dingo Raid`_

+XVII.  `Dingo *v.* Emu: A Fight to a Finish`_

+XVIII.  `The Chase and its Sequel`_

+XIX.  `Concerning Wild Horses`_

+XX.  `The Brumby Hunt`_

+XXI.  `The Warrigal's Strategy`_

+XXII.  `How Yellow Billy broke the Warrigal`_

+XXIII.  `A Day's Shoot`_

+XXIV.  `The Corrobberie`_

+XXV.  `In the Bushrangers' Caves`_

+XXVI.  `The Explorers`_

+XXVII.  `A Respite`_

+XXVIII.  `The Camp by the Sea`_

+XXIX.  `At the Mercy of the Sea-Tiger`_

+XXX.  `In and About the Camp`_

+XXXI.  `Off to the Gold Diggings`_

+XXXII.  `How they struck Gold`_

+XXXIII.  `Bullion and Bushranger`_

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip

+thong twice round the brute's neck`_ (missing from

+book) . . . *Frontispiece*

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls

+with a mighty crash`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters,

+a tiny boat with four slight figures`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering

+war-cries`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round

+and round in a circle`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`"We've struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman`_

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent

+

+`Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or

+even pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*"`_ (missing from book)

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+..

+

+   |  The grey gums by the lonely creek

+   |    The star-crowned height,

+   |  The wind-swept plain, the dim blue peak,

+   |    The cold white light,

+   |  The solitude spread near and far

+   |  Around the camp-fire's tiny star,

+   |  The horse-bell's melody remote,

+   |  The curlew's melancholy note,

+   |    Across the night.

+   |

+   |  GEORGE ESSEX EVANS

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION`:

+

+.. class:: center x-large bold

+

+   PALS

+

+.. vspace:: 3

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER I

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: small

+

+"Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable

+barrier, and the sacred air cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean

+clay hamlets of reality; and man by his nature is yet infinite and

+free."—CARLYLE.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Comin' over to-night, Tom?"

+

+"By jings!  I'd like to, Joe, but dad said this morning

+he was going to shell corn to-night.  You know what that

+means.  What's on?"

+

+"Oh!  Sandy's stayin' in for the night; so I thought of

+gettin' Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy so's we could have

+bushrangers, an' stick up the coach by moonlight.  If

+they can't come, Sandy an' I'll go 'possumin' in the

+slaughter-house paddock."

+

+"I say! what a jolly lark the bushranging'd be.  How'd

+you manage it, Joe?"

+

+"We've planned that out all right.  We'd get Jimmy

+Flynn's billy-goat cart an' the billies.  He'd be mailman,

+an' it'd be gold-escort day.  Yellow Billy'd be the trooper;

+he's got a pistol, you know.  He'd ride the roan steer

+he's broken in.  Then you, Sandy, an' I'd be Ben Bolt's

+gang.  We'd do a plant in a lonely spot along the road

+an' surprise 'em.  I'd tackle Billy, you'd look after

+Jimmy, Sandy 'd collar the mailbags and gold boxes, and

+then scoot with the loot.  I think it'd be better to shoot

+Billy, so's to make it a bit more real; that's what Ben

+Bolt'd do."

+

+"But, Joe, where'd we get the guns?"

+

+"I'd get father's.  You'd have to make believe with a

+nulla-nulla.  We could stick a boomerang in our belts, it'd

+look like pistols in the dark."

+

+"But I say, Joe, ole chap, you wouldn't really shoot

+Billy?" said Tom in a tone that savoured both of fear

+and scepticism.

+

+"You're a precious muff, Hawkins!  I was just kidding

+you.  No, you stupid, it's all gammon.  The noise the

+powder 'll make 'll scare the seven senses outer Billy."

+

+"By golly! it'll be crummie enough.  Put it off till

+to-morrow, Joe, an' I'll come."

+

+"Can't be done, my boy.  Sandy'll not be here, for one

+thing.  Besides, I have to pull father down to Yallaroi

+Bend to-morrow.  It's his service night there.  Sorry you

+can't come, Tom.  We'll have to do our best without you."

+

+"Oh Moses! to think that I can't join!" groaned Tom.

+"Look here, Joe, I—I'll do a sneak.  I'll be here somehow,

+you may bet your Sunday breeks," continued the eager

+lad, as he stepped into the little "flat-bottom" boat which

+had brought him over.

+

+"Joe!" he shouted when he had rowed some distance

+from the shore.  "I'll give a cooee if I can get, an' two

+cooees if the way's blocked.  So don't start till you hear."

+

+"Right-o!"

+

+The place where these boys lived, moved, and had their

+being was a district famed for its fertility, on one of the

+northern rivers in New South Wales.

+

+The river itself had many of the elements of nobility

+and beauty as, taking its rise in the snowy heights of the

+New England ranges, it clove its way eastward, finally

+debouching into the blue waters of the Pacific.  The

+river-flats formed magnificent stretches of arable lands; too

+rich, indeed, for such cereals as wheat and oats, for

+their rank growth rendered them liable to the fatal rust.

+

+Here, however, was the home of the maize, the

+pumpkin, the sweet potato, the orange, the lemon, the

+plantain.  Here too, the natural sequence, in a way, of

+the prolific corn and the multitudinous pumpkin, were

+reared and flourished the unromantic pig.

+

+Fed on pumpkins, with skim milk for beverage, topped

+off with corn, the Australian grunter—whether as

+delicious, crisp bacon, or posing as aristocratic

+ham—produces flesh with a flavour fit to set before a king.

+

+Away from the river-flats the land becomes undulating

+and ridgy, and well grassed for cattle runs.  In the scrub

+belts, running back from the river and its affluents into

+the hilly country, are to be found valuable timbers, hard

+and soft; especially that forest noble, the red cedar.

+

+Cattle runs of large extent exist in the back-blocks,

+formed in the early days by that class of men to whom

+Australia owes so much; the men who to-day are vilified

+by those not worthy to black their boots: the hardy,

+adventurous, courageous, indomitable pioneer, who more

+often than not laid down his life and his fortune in the

+interest of Colonial expansion and occupation.

+

+At intervals along the river-banks are small settlements,

+dignified by the name of townships.  Tareela, the

+principal village, skirted both sides of the river, and was

+connected by a ferry.  Here were located the Government

+offices for the district, together with the stores, hotels,

+school, etc.

+

+Joe Blain, the minister's son, was the leader of the

+village lads.  He had two pals, who were inseparable from

+him: Sandy M'Intyre, the squatter's son, whose father

+owned Bullaroi, a cattle station situated a few miles from

+the town, and Tom Hawkins, a farmer's son, the youngest

+of the trio.  These boys gave tone and direction to the

+fun and frolic of the settlement.  Of them it is sufficient

+to say at present that they were not pedestal lads.

+

+At this time a noted bushranger and his mate were

+raiding the settlements.  All police pursuit was futile,

+owing to the resourcefulness of the 'rangers.  They had a

+keen knowledge of the open country and the mountain

+ranges.  Furthermore, they were generally mounted on

+blood horses, usually "borrowed" from the surrounding

+station studs.

+

+These men had many sympathisers among the lawlessly

+inclined, and, strange to say, among law-abiding settlers.

+The "bush-telegraph" was an institution in those days.

+Certain friends of the 'rangers kept them posted up in

+the movements of the police, sometimes by word of mouth,

+at others by writings on paper or bark, which were

+deposited in rock crevices or in tree hollows, known only

+to the initiated.  Sometimes a young lad, or even a girl,

+would ride scores of miles across country to give them

+warning.

+

+The police were not wanting in bush lore or courage,

+and in the end invariably ran their quarry to earth.  But

+an outlaw often had a long career in crime, owing to the

+aid given, ere he was trapped.  Thanks to closer

+settlement, the advance of education, and the general use of

+the electric telegraph, bushranging has become a matter

+of history.  The species is now to be found only in the

+stage melodrama, the itinerating waxwork show, or

+embalmed in literature.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE BUSHRANGERS`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER II

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   "THE BUSHRANGERS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+"*Poins*: Tut! our horses they shall not see.  I'll tie them in the

+wood; our visors we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I

+have cases of buckram for the nonce to immask our noted outward

+garments.

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+"*Prince*: But I doubt they will be too hard for us."

+

+.. class:: small

+

+SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+

+After leaving Tom Hawkins, or, to put it more correctly,

+after Tom had paddled away in his punt, Joe Blain

+proceeded to look up Jimmy Flynn, the blacksmith's

+apprentice, and Yellow Billy, a half-caste youth, whose

+father followed the occupation of a timber-getter in the

+ranges.  Yellow Billy was generally employed as yard

+boy at the Travellers' Best Inn, and a rough time he

+often had, especially when the timber-getters were

+dissolving their hard-earned gold in alcohol.

+

+One of Billy's duties was to milk the cows and tend the

+calves.  Among the latter was a yearling steer, which he

+broke in and rode on the quiet.  Many an hour's frolic

+the boys had in the moonlight in riding the steer.  This

+animal had a good slice of the rogue in its composition,

+with a propensity for buck-jumping.  When in a certain

+mood it would be as stubborn as a donkey and as savage

+as a mule.

+

+After standing, say for some minutes, never budging, in

+spite of thwackings and tail-twistings, it would suddenly

+take to buck-jumping.  Oh, my, couldn't it buck!  Woe

+betide the unlucky rider when it was in this mood.  Torn

+from his hold—a rope round its brisket—one moment

+behold him sprawling over its back, the next whirling through

+space, finally deposited with more force than elegance on

+the turf.  All this, however, was great fun for the boys,

+who encouraged the brute in its bucking moods, each

+mounting in turns, to lie prone sooner or later on mother

+earth, amid the uproarious laughter of his fellows.

+

+Billy was the exception.  He was a born rider.  Unable

+to shift him from its back, the brute became quite docile

+in his hands, and kept its tricks for the others.

+

+Jimmy and Billy were ready and willing to fill their

+parts in the bill.  The former, at "knock off," went out to

+the town common to round his goats, and Billy promised

+to be ready, "steered," so to speak, by the time appointed.

+

+The road fixed upon was the track that led out from the

+township to a large sawmill, distant about six miles.  It

+was a solitary road, passing through a scrub-belt, crossing

+several minor creeks, threading its way over a rocky

+ridge, winding through a rather wild defile, and ending at

+the mill; the sort of place, indeed, to present numerous

+opportunities for the criminal enterprise on hand.  A

+spot where one could get "nice and creepy," as Joe said to

+Yellow Billy, much to that young man's disquiet.

+

+The plan of campaign was simple enough.  Joe, Tom,

+and Sandy were to set out as soon as possible after

+sundown and choose their spot for attack; while Jimmy was

+to drive the Royal Billy-goat Mailcart, with Trooper Yellow

+Billy a little in advance, as per custom.

+

+The embryo bushrangers, unfortunately, had only one

+horse between them; the one Sandy rode to school.  Mr. Blain's

+horse, on which the boys counted, was being used by

+the minister to take him to a moonlight service some

+distance out from the river.  It was settled, therefore, that

+the three boys should bestride Sandy's stout cob, which was

+well able to carry these juvenile desperadoes.

+

+"Mother!" shouted Joe, as he strode into the house in

+the late afternoon, from the wood-pile, where he had been

+chopping the next day's supply, "we're going to have

+grand fun to-night."

+

+"What sort of fun, my son?"

+

+"Bushranging along the sawmill road.  Can I go

+mother?  We've got such a grand plot."

+

+"Well, I don't mind; but don't be out late."

+

+"S'pose I can have the gun?"

+

+"The g-u-n!"

+

+"Yes, mother.  No need to fear.  It's all play."

+

+"Well, don't load it."

+

+"Only with powder to make a bang."

+

+"I don't like the idea, my boy.  Gun accidents often

+happen in play.  You remember Jim Andrews——"

+

+"Oh yes, mother, but that's different!  It was loaded."

+

+In the end, owing to the boy's importunity, Mrs. Blain

+reluctantly consented.

+

+Early tea being duly dispatched, the boys made the

+necessary preparations for their dark deed.  Joe produced

+a pair of knee-boots, the some time property of his

+father.  He made them fit by sticking rags into the toes.

+He thrust his trousers' legs into the boot-tops, and wound

+a red scarf round his waist, through which he stuck a

+boomerang and nulla-nulla.  A 'possum-skin cap adorned

+his head.  His final act was to fasten on a corn-tassel

+moustache, and to strap his gun across his back.  The

+broad effect of the costume was to make this youthful

+outlaw a cross, as it were, between Robinson Crusoe and

+a Greek brigand.

+

+Indeed he quite terrified his two sisters, as he suddenly

+entered the sitting-room to the accompaniment of a

+blood-curdling yell.  This the girls match with a shriek that

+wakes up the sleeping baby, bringing the mother in with

+a rush.

+

+For a moment Mrs. Blain, seeing Joe in the half-light,

+thought some ruffian had entered.

+

+"It's very thoughtless and wrong of you, Joe, to frighten

+your sisters.  I—I—I'm quite angry with you——"

+

+"Very sorry, mater," said Joe, with a serio-comic air.  "I

+only meant to give them a start."

+

+The girls, however, began to laugh, Joe looked such an

+oddity.  They turned the tables on him by quizzing him

+most unmercifully.  At last our young hero was very glad

+to beat a retreat to the backyard, where he found Sandy

+busy in saddling the horse.

+

+Joe's confederate had roughened himself as much as

+circumstances permitted.  In lieu of a skin cap he tied a

+big handkerchief round his hat, and stuck a couple of

+turkey-tail feathers through it.  He had manufactured a

+brace of pistols out of short lengths of bamboo, with

+corn-cobs, stuck in bored holes at an angle, to form the stocks.

+These, with a boomerang and nulla-nulla slung at either

+side, and a short spear fixed in his belt at the back and

+standing over his head, made him in appearance more

+like a red Indian than a Colonial free-booter.

+

+"All ready, Hawkeye?"

+

+"Yes, ole pal.  The mustang is waiting, and the brave

+will vault into the saddle at Thundercloud's word of

+command," answered Hawkeye in bastard Cooperese.

+Fenimore of that ilk was Sandy's favourite author.

+

+"Hast thou heard the signal of Red Murphy?" said

+Joe, falling into the strain of speech.

+

+"No, Thundercloud.  No sound from our brither of

+the hither shore hath been borne on the wings of the wind

+across the——"

+

+"Oh, stow that rot, Sand—Hawkeye!  I wonder?——"

+

+"Yon's the cry of the chiel," broke in the would-be

+brave, as at that moment the cooee of Tom Hawkins,

+alias Red Murphy, rose in the still air, faint from the

+distance, but distinct.

+

+"A single cooee!  Rippin! he's comin'.  Let's mount

+and wait at the landing."

+

+Hardly had the boys reached the river-bank ere Red

+Murphy appeared, attired much as the others, with the

+addition of an old blunderbuss belonging to his father.

+

+"It's all right, boys!  Hurroar!  Dad broke the handle

+of the corn-sheller this evening, and sent me over with

+it to the blacksmith's.  I'm to wait till it's mended.

+Wait a jiff an' I'll be with you," cried he, as he ran to the

+smithy, returning as fast as his legs could bring him, with

+the news that the broken handle could not be repaired

+under three hours owing to other urgent work.

+

+Joe rapidly detailed the plan, informing Tom, at the

+same time, that his name and character were to be that

+of Red Murphy, one of the blood-thirstiest and most

+rapacious cut-throats in the Colonies.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER III

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: small

+

+"*Falstaff*: I am a rogue if I were not

+at half-sword with a dozen of them

+two hours together.  I have 'scaped by miracle.

+I am eight times thrust

+through the doublet; four through the hose; my buckler cut through;

+my sword hacked like a handsaw *ecce signum*.

+I never dealt better since

+I was a man; all would not do."—SHAKESPEARE, *Henry IV*.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Joe had barely made his explanations before the

+rumbling of the approaching cart was heard.  It was the

+Royal Mail starting on its adventurous trip.

+

+"Time to be off, pals!" cried the leader.  "Now then,

+Hawkeye, whip 'em up."

+

+Off started the trio, Thundercloud, Hawkeye, and Red

+Murphy; each delivering a blood-curdling yell which

+rang up and down the street, as they passed through it

+at a smart canter.  It had never fallen to the lot of horse,

+before, to bear upon its back at the same time three

+such ferocious outlaws, bent on so diabolical an errand.

+Behind them, and at a slower pace, came the Royal Mail

+goatcart, drawn by four strong billies, skilfully driven

+by coachman Jimmy, and attended by Trooper Billy

+astride his cud-chewing steed.

+

+After leaving the township the road skirted the river

+for a mile or so, then, crossing a plank bridge, bore away

+to the hills.  The silver moon shone from the clear sky

+through the pure air, making the tree shadows as they

+lay across the road to resemble fallen timber.  The

+nocturnal 'possum, having ventured to the ground to feed

+upon the tender grass, scudded up the trees, frightened

+by the rumbling vehicle and the baaing steeds.  The

+thud of paddy-melon[#] and wallaby could be distinctly

+heard, as they smote the earth in their jumping

+movements; while from the heights of some lofty tree the

+mopoke[#] tolled his mournful cry.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] "Paddy-melon," a small marsupial or pouch-bearing mammal.

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] "Mopoke," the Australian crested goat-sucker.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The coach had now passed the three-mile creek, and

+still there was no sound of disturbing element.  The

+coachman and trooper, having intelligence to the effect

+that the 'rangers were "out," and had threatened to "stick"

+up the gold-escort, were on the *qui vive*.  They surmised

+that the attack would come in the scrub-belt, and about

+the spot where the creek intersected.  Here the tall,

+overhanging trees, interlaced as they were with a thick

+vinous growth, effectually barred the moon's rays.

+

+It was the ideal spot for ambush, and the hearts of the

+boys beat faster, and a nervous apprehension amounting

+to fear seized them, as they passed among the shadows.

+Everything had a distorted appearance, and again and

+again they trembled, as it were, on the verge of attack.

+They had chatted freely until the darkness of the

+scrub closed in upon them.  Under its oppression, and

+by reason of the dread uncertainty, what had before

+seemed to be only a prime lark now presented itself as

+a grim reality.

+

+They drove on slowly now, conversing only in whispers,

+for the night silences, the deepening shadows, and the

+unseen before them, all contributed to the mental mood

+which affected the boys.  The creek banks and bed, save

+for a solitary moon-ray which silvered the rippling water,

+were enwrapped in thick darkness.  Pulling up at the

+brink, the boys held a short conversation.

+

+"Goin' ter cross, Jimmy?"

+

+"I—I—s'pose so, Billy.  Measly black ahead, ain't it?"

+

+"You're not frightened, are you?"

+

+"Wot! me?  No fear!  Y'are yourself!"

+

+"I like that!  Wot's to be frightened of?"

+

+Yet the boys, if truth be told, were a good deal alarmed

+by the unwonted darkness and stillness.

+

+"Well, s'pose we'd better be gettin' on.  Don't care how

+soon we git outer this hole.  You cross ahead, Billy, an' do

+a bit o' scoutin'.  I'll wait here till you git up the bank

+on the other side."

+

+Yellow Billy didn't like the prospect, and would have

+proposed turning back, but was afraid of being called a

+coward.  Therefore, despite an apprehension of the

+darkness, accentuated by his aboriginal strain, and very much

+against his will, the half-caste plunged down the creek

+bed, and mounted the other side without let or hindrance,

+greatly to his surprise and relief.

+

+But where are the 'rangers?

+

+Of them the darkness gave no token and the silence is

+unbroken.  Jimmy had some difficulty in getting his

+leaders to tackle the creek.  It was only after he left the

+cart, seized their heads, and half-dragged them into the

+water that he effected his purpose.  The scrub thinned

+out shortly after passing the creek, and the spirits of the

+boys rose with the increasing moonlight.

+

+"They missed a grand charnce at the crick, Billy!"

+

+"By dad, they did that!  I wonder where they are.

+P'raps they've given us the slip."

+

+The road took a sudden turn just here, leading over a

+rocky ridge.  At a farther sharp turn, under the lee of a

+bank, a big log lay across the road.

+

+"Hello, here's a go, Jimmy!  You'll have to drive

+round.  No! you can't do that.  Wait a moment an'

+I'll——"

+

+"Bail up!"

+

+The cry, crisp and startling, rang out, as three figures

+darted from the shadow of a huge tree which stood near.

+Thundercloud, the leader of the band of bushrangers,

+pointed his gun at the driver.  Hawkeye made a dash at

+the trooper, while Red Murphy seized hold of the leading

+billies.

+

+"Hands up!" cried Thundercloud in the highest style

+of bushranging.  "Your money or your life!"

+

+Trooper Billy was not disposed to yield without a

+struggle, and at the first cry he whipped out his pistol,

+firing at his aggressor point blank, missing the leader but

+hitting his confederate, Hawkeye, who tumbled down with

+a loud squeal, as unlike an Indian war-whoop as it is

+possible to imagine.  Simultaneously, Thundercloud

+discharged his gun at Jimmy the coachman, who, instead of

+putting his hands up at the challenge, began to lash the

+billies, and had just turned them off the log, when—pop,

+crash! went the two weapons.

+

+And now the unforeseen occurred.  The steer and the

+billies bolted!  Down the ridge and along the road they

+dashed at breakneck speed; the steer roaring and kicking,

+the four strong billies baaing, and neither driver nor

+rider could control the brutes.  Away they scurried along

+the rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over

+the ruts; every jump of the trap bringing a fresh bleat

+from the fear-stricken goats.

+

+After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his

+steed unmanageable, getting frightened too, Yellow Billy

+slipped over the stern, and by good luck dropped upon

+his feet.  It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly hung

+on to the billies.  The creek was what he most feared, and

+it was very close now.  He had, however, got a pull on

+the beasts, and they were slackening a little, but, as

+ill-luck would have it, on going down a gully one of the

+wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized the cart,

+sending the driver head over heels into a clump of

+bracken.

+

+The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who

+rushed on baaing; dashing at length down the steep

+incline of the creek, the cart righted itself as it tumbled

+adown the gradient.  They tore over the stream and up

+the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up

+in the scrub.

+

+After lying in a stunned condition for a few minutes,

+Jimmy scrambled up.  But the moment he put his weight

+on his right foot he let out a yell, caused by the terrific

+pain that shot through his ankle.  It was unbearable, and

+he tumbled down in an almost fainting condition.

+

+Meanwhile the outlaws stood aghast at the unexpected

+and startling turn of events.  Thundercloud was the first

+to recover his speech.

+

+"Great Cæsar! who would have dreamt of a bolt?

+Just listen to the brutes!" as the animals tore along,

+baaing and roaring in a way possible only to frightened

+billies and calves.

+

+"I—I—didn't know he'd loaded his pistol.  I—I—I

+thought for sure I was a goon coon," gasped Hawkeye, who,

+after lying for a minute under the impression that he was

+mortally wounded, got up, rubbing his face and head,

+half terrified as his hands became wet with flowing blood,

+and only reassured after Joe had declared that the blood

+was from his nose.  As a matter of fact, he had sustained

+a smart blow upon his prominent feature with the pistol

+wad; his cheeks, also, were scorched with the powder

+flare.

+

+Red Murphy, who had just grasped the billies' heads

+when the guns were fired, was thrown down in their mad

+rush, and had his shins severely barked on the rocky

+ground.

+

+"Drat the brutes!  Oh, I say, here's a go!  Listen to

+the beggars!  Ain't they footin' it?"

+

+"To horse! to horse, pals!" cried Thundercloud, making

+hasty strides to a patch of scrub where they had tied up

+the horse.  In a few seconds the three were mounted and

+away with a swinging canter, adding their yells to the

+cries of the beasts.  They were soon up to the spot where

+Jimmy had come to grief, when, thundering down the

+gully, the horse made a shy at the prostrate coachman,

+shooting off Thundercloud and Red Murphy.  They

+scrambled up quickly, none the worse for their spill.

+Hawkeye immediately reined in his steed and rejoined

+his dismounted companions.

+

+The boys were greatly concerned to find Jimmy in this

+condition.  The affair began to assume a serious aspect.

+They were no longer outlaws and police: they were pals,

+and Jimmy was suffering intense pain from his sprained

+ankle.  After a short consultation the boy was placed on

+the horse, which was led by Sandy.  The others followed

+behind, making a somewhat mournful spectacle.  In due

+course they reached the goatcart, now in possession of

+Yellow Billy, who had disentangled the team and was

+waiting for the others to come along.  The steer

+meanwhile continued his career at headlong speed, until he

+pulled up at the milking yards in an exhausted condition.

+Mrs. Blain, as the hours sped by, began to get concerned

+at the non-return of the boys.  Concern deepened

+into anxiety.  She became a prey to evil imaginings, as

+do all our dear mothers.  They are lost! ... Some dreadful

+accident has happened! ... That gun! ... Their legs, arms,

+necks, are broken!  And so on and on, running over the

+whole gamut of catastrophy.

+

+She goes out to scan the streets, and listens with

+strained ears for some enheartening sound of footsteps.

+Lights are out in the village.  Even the dogs are sleeping.

+No shuffle of advancing feet; no rattle of wheels as they

+grind in the ruts: no sound, indeed, is borne upon the

+night wind save the mystic noises of the flowing river,

+which fill the air with a deep undertone.  Above this, at

+intervals, come the splashing sounds of the jumping fish;

+the smooth splash of the falling mullet, the tail flutter of

+the rising perch.  The wood-duck's soft quack-quack, and

+the red-bill's chuckle, are to be heard as they move among

+the sedges.  No landward sound!

+

+Stay! a dark shadow swiftly steals along the earth like

+a spirit of evil omen, and passes through the house, across

+the street, as it strikes the walls.  While from above

+comes a wail as that of a lost soul.

+

+The poor woman quivers and shivers at the unwonted

+sight and sound.  She knows not that the apparition is

+the shadow of a black swan, which is sailing high up in

+the heavens; it crosses the moon, and utters its melancholy

+note as it wings its flight to the feeding grounds.  The

+mother is now on the outskirts of the town, under the

+shadows of the trees.  Every leaf is a tongue; every

+tongue whispers—Something! which dries the throat and

+fills the ears with heart-thumps.  "Why did I? ... That

+gun! ... What will father? ... Why don't they

+come? ... Which track? ... Hark!  Yes, 'tis the

+galloping hoofs ... Oh, God! it is the steer! ...

+Riderless! ... This way, then....  On, on, on! ... At

+last! ..."

+

+"Cheer up, mother ... no harm done ... Jimmy had

+a bit of a buster an' sprained his ankle....  Scold us,

+mother, but—don't cry!"

+

+The hour is verging on midnight as five weary lads,

+four billies, one horse, and one thankful woman straggled

+into the silent township.  All romance, for the moment,

+had gone out of bushranging.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE GREAT MATCH`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER IV

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE GREAT MATCH

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "God bless the grilling days of cricket!

+   |  They're gone but I shall bless them ever,

+   |  For good it is to guard a wicket

+   |  By sudden wrist and big endeavour."

+   |                              NORMAN GALE.

+   |

+   |  "There's a breathless hush in the close to night,

+   |  Ten to make and the match to win,

+   |  A bumping pitch and a blinding light,

+   |  An hour to play and the last man in."

+   |                              HENRY NEWBOLT.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Hawkins, stand out!"

+

+"Please, sir, I wasn't doin' nothin'!"

+

+"No, you wasn't doin' nothin', but you have been

+talking all morning, you tiresome boy!  Write out

+'disobedient' three hundred times after school."

+

+The fact is, Tom was relating the bushranging episode

+to a schoolmate, and, like Tom Sawyer, he "laid over"

+considerably in his recital.  While in the act of enlarging

+he was brought to book in this peremptory fashion by the

+master, and had to do penance with as little relish as

+most boys.

+

+"Sorry you can't come out and play, Tom," said Joe

+Blain, poking his head into the empty schoolhouse after

+dismissal.

+

+"It's a beastly shame!  What are you fellows up to?"

+

+"Goin' to practise for the Dingdongla match.  After

+that we'll have a swim."

+

+"Oh, rot it!" grunted the chagrined prisoner.

+

+"Say, Tom, don't forget to come along to-night an' help

+pick the team."

+

+"I'll be there, never fret."

+

+"Well, so-long.  Wire in, and keep your pecker up."

+

+Dingdongla was an up-river settlement; Tareela a

+down-river town.  The latter named was the older and

+more substantial place, being the headquarters of the

+shipping.  As a consequence it was instinct with the

+superior air generally to be met with in places of

+metropolitan pretensions.  In schools, too, the down-river

+town had the advantage.  Its school building was of sawn

+timber, with a shingle roof.  Furthermore, it possessed two

+teachers, and pine desks.  While, on the other hand, the

+up-river academy was constructed of roughly adzed slabs

+and a bark roof.

+

+For the Dingdonglas to be thrashed in cricket by the

+Tareelians was not considered to be a disgrace.  *Per

+contra*, their victory was a splendid achievement, and a

+great humiliation to their opponents.  The latter was fairly

+beaten by the former last season, and naught would restore

+their prestige save the administration of an unmitigated

+licking.  So, at least, thought the match Committee, as they

+conned names, and analysed the merits of the candidates

+on the name list.

+

+Needless to say, Joe, Tom, and Sandy headed the list of

+certainties.  Yellow Billy came next; for though a very

+irregular attendant at school, he was a tremendous swiper

+when he got his eye in.  Billy had dragged more than

+one match out of the fire.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Saturday morning broke fair.  Shortly after an early

+breakfast a cavalcade of about twenty youthful horsemen,

+followed by two teachers in a gig, were scampering along

+the bush road to Dingdongla, distant about nine miles up

+the river.  Oh, the merry, merry days of youth!  Those

+are the days of the superlative mood.

+

+It was a merry, roaring, romping, racing crowd of

+youngsters that tore along the bush track.  They jumped

+fallen timber and gullies; chased the flying marsupial;

+and spurted in couples for short lengths.  There were

+minor accidents, 'tis true.  Pincher Putnan's horse, in a

+fit of pig-jumping, broke a girth, sending Pincher and

+saddle to mother earth.  Yellow Billy's half-broken

+brumby fairly bolted in a race, cleared off the road, and

+rushed through a belt of timber at breakneck speed,

+towards his native haunts in the Nulla ranges.  It was

+only the superb horsemanship of the half-caste that saved

+him from being dashed against the trees in the headlong

+flight.

+

+In due time Dingdongla is reached.  The horses are

+turned out in a maize stubble paddock, where is a fine

+picking, and the boys stroll on to the ground to have

+a look at the pitch.

+

+"Whatyer think of the pitch, Joe?"

+

+"You'll have to keep your eye skinned for shooters

+Rody.  The ball'll keep very low.  Must keep a straight

+bat and forward play."

+

+The stumps, like much of the material, were home-made.

+The Dingdonglas had only one "spring handle"; the others

+were chopped out of beech boards.  The Tareelians were

+not much better off for material.  They, it is true, had

+two "spring handles,"—more or less battered,—and

+could boast a pair of wicket gloves, but for the rest

+were like their opponents, sans leggings and gloves.

+That, however, was a small item; for every boy who

+possessed boots doffed them, rolling his trouser legs to

+the knees and his shirt sleeves to the elbows.

+

+"Got all your men, Wilson?" said Joe to the

+Dingdonglas' captain.

+

+"Yes, they're all here.  May as well toss for innin's, Joe."

+

+"Right you are," responds Joe, ejecting a jet of saliva

+on a piece of flat wood.  "Shall I toss, or you?"

+

+"You toss, Joe."

+

+"Call you!" cried Blain, tossing the board with a twirl

+skywards.  "Wet or dry?"

+

+"Wet!" called Wilson, as the wood spun in the air.

+

+"Dry!" exclaimed Joe, as it lay on the ground with its

+dry side uppermost.  "We've won, and go in."

+

+"Tom," said he a moment later, "you and Yellow Billy

+go in first, an' you take the strike."

+

+The batsmen were soon in their places, and the Dingdongs

+in the field.  The innings opened fairly well for the

+Tareelians.  Yellow Billy got quickly to work, and laid

+on the wood to some purpose; Tom playing carefully

+the while.

+

+Facing the Dingdonglas' swift bowler, after a smart

+short-hit run Billy sent a well-pitched ball for four,

+a rattling, straight-hit drive.  But in trying to repeat

+the stroke off the next ball he misjudged, and, skying the

+sphere, was easily caught.

+

+"One wicket for twenty!" of which the half-caste

+contributed fifteen.

+

+After this the troubles of the batsmen set in.  The

+Dingdongs were strong in bowling talent, and possessed

+a local Spofforth, whose lightning deliveries shot and

+kicked in a marvellous fashion.  Joe, going in fifth man,

+stayed the "rot" for a while, but was foolishly run out

+by his mate.

+

+The Tareelians were all out in an hour for the small

+total of forty-seven.  If the down-river boys were

+despondent over this score, the up-rivers were correspondingly

+jubilant.  Going to the wickets with plenty of

+confidence, they rattled up ninety-nine before the last

+wicket fell; the captain carrying out his bat for a

+well-earned forty-two.

+

+Adjournment for lunch was now made.  We call

+it lunch by courtesy.  It was a big bush feed.  This

+repast was served in the schoolhouse, the rough desks

+being converted into tables, which were literally covered

+with good things.

+

+The Dingdonglas' mothers were determined that, whoever

+won, the boys of both sides should have a rippin' feed.

+A stuffed sucking-pig, whose savoury odour filled the

+room, lay at one end.  Roast wild duck and a cold

+pigeon-pie balanced it at the other.  An immense round of

+spiced beef, standing in the centre of the long table,

+seemed to say: "You may cut and come again."  Potatoes

+and pumpkins smoked in big tin bowls, and

+all the available space was filled with cakes, puddings,

+and pies.  Needless to say, the onslaught was terrific.

+They were all sloggers at tuck.  Meats, puddings, cakes,

+tea, and ginger-beer disappeared like magic.

+

+All good things mundane, however, come to an end;

+especially when the good thing happens to be a dinner.

+And now, after divers whisperings and nudgings, up stood

+Captain Joe, amid the cheers of his side.

+

+Joe was silent a moment, nervously looking up and

+down the board, and heartily wishing himself at the

+bottom of the deep blue sea.  "Mr. Chairman" (addressing

+the local schoolmaster), "I—we—that is—us fellows

+from Tareela asked me to tell you—I mean to say,

+that—that—that—a—it gives us much pleasure—er—er—oh,

+hang it all!—I—I mean—er—this is the jolliest blow in the

+way of tuck we've ever had."  Joe subsided to the rattle

+of the knives on the bare board.  As soon as the noise

+ceased, Tom Hawkins jumped up and called: "Three

+cheers for the Dingdonglas!" which were heartily given.

+

+Half an hour's lounge, and the battle began afresh.

+

+"We've got fifty-two to wipe out before we start even,

+boys.  We can do it, and score plenty more to win the

+game, if we keep our heads.  Anyway, we must have

+a big try.  Billy an' I'll go in first; Tom next, and then

+Pincher.  The order of the rest of you depends on the

+way things turn out."

+

+"Look here, Billy," continued the captain, as the two

+batsmen walked to the wickets.  "They've got two

+slashing bowlers, but if we can manage to knock 'em out

+they've no one else of much account.  Get your eye well

+in before you do any slogging."

+

+"All right, Joe!  Do me best."

+

+"Your best means steady play and a big score.  I'll

+take the strike."

+

+If Joe was nervous in public speech it was not

+observable in action.  He played Ginger Smith's fast

+deliveries with confidence, punishing the loose balls and

+blocking the straight ones.  Billy, too, was playing with

+unwonted caution, and the score, though slowly, was

+surely mounting up; until after half an hour's play it

+stood at twenty-five, with no wickets down.  There were

+no boundaries, and every hit was run out.

+

+"Oh, glory, what a swipe!"

+

+Yellow Billy had got hold of one of Ginger's leg balls

+with a mighty lunge.  The ball seemed as if it would

+go on for ever, and finally rolled into a gutter.  They ran

+six for it.

+

+There was great cheering among the Tareelians.

+Mr. Simpson, who umpired, forgot for a moment his

+impartial office.  Flinging his hat into the air, he cried,

+"Bravo, Billy!"

+

+"Thirty-one an' none out.  Only twenty-one to get level!"

+

+The boys were now scoring faster; singles, twos, threes

+were coming with great rapidity.  Joe made his first

+four, a sweet, square cut.

+

+"Forty-nine an' no wickets down!"

+

+Joe faced the new bowler.  The local demon had

+begun to bowl wildly, and was relieved.

+

+"They'll never bowl them!" cried young Ben Wilde, as

+Joe took block for the new-comer—a lad with a reputation

+for slow left-hand twisters.  The first ball was pitched on

+the leg stump; just the ball for Joe's favourite leg glance.

+

+It went for two.

+

+"Only one to make us even!" shouted Tom to his

+captain.  The second ball was pitched in exactly the

+same spot, and Joe proceeded to treat it in the same

+fashion.  The sphere, however, had a little more twist on

+it than its predecessor, and, breaking on to the left bail,

+flicked it off.

+

+There was a great chorus of disappointment among the

+Tareelians, and hearty cheers from their opponents, as

+the captain's wicket fell.  His twenty-one, got by true

+cricket, was worth twice that number by reason of the

+spirit of confidence he had infused.

+

+Billy and Tom carried the score to seventy-three, when

+the latter was caught for ten.  Pincher fell a victim to a

+very simple ball from an under-hand lob bowler, after

+making seven.  Sandy gave the bowlers some trouble,

+and got into double figures before he retired.  All this

+while Billy was scoring well, and, when Sandy's wicket

+fell, had made fifty runs.  All the boys scored less or

+more; and when the innings closed had compiled a total

+of one hundred and thirty-seven, of which Billy made

+seventy-one and not out.  This was a grand achievement,

+and the half-caste was carried off the ground amid great

+applause.

+

+This left the Dingdongs eighty-six runs to win, which

+they failed to do by seventeen runs, Sleepy Sam stumping

+no less than three off young Ben's slow lobs.

+

+There was great cheering as the victorious cricketers

+rode in the dusk of the evening through the main street

+of Tareela, after a grand day's fun.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE BIG FLOOD`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER V

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE BIG FLOOD

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "The day is cold and dark and dreary;

+   |  It rains, and the wind is never weary;

+   |  The vine still clings to the mouldering wall;

+   |  But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

+   |    And the day is dark and dreary."

+   |                                  LONGFELLOW.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Drip, drip, drip!

+

+Croak, croak, c-r-o-a-k!

+

+Quack-quack, quack-quack!

+

+"Heigho!" grunted Tom Hawkins, as he turned over

+sleepily in bed.  "Is it ever goin' to stop rainin'?"

+

+For some days a steady rain had been falling, soaking

+the ground.  Every gully was a rivulet, and every

+depression a lake.

+

+"Tom!" cried a feminine voice from an interior room.

+"Get up!"

+

+"Bother those frogs an' ducks!" muttered the lad, full

+of sleep in the grey of the early morning.  "Like ter

+choke 'em! waking fler——"

+

+"Tom!" cried a masculine voice, as a hand rattled the

+door of the lad's bedroom, and a boot gave a drum-like

+accompaniment on the lower panel.  "Git up this minit

+an' run the cows in, or I'll——"

+

+But Tom had jumped out of bed as nimbly as one of

+the frogs, between whose croak and his father's bass

+voice he seemed unable, in his sleepy condition, to

+discriminate.

+

+"All right, father!  I'm dressing," shouted Tom, as the

+word "dowsing" fell on his ear.  There had been times in

+master Tom's past when a sudden application of cold

+water was deemed necessary to expedite his slow movements.

+

+"Dad's too mighty smart!  Thought I'd nick him with

+that button," growled Tom, as he stuck his legs into his

+pants; said button being an iron tee snip, fastened so as

+to act as a bolt.

+

+"Jemima!  ain't it dark!  Must be very early," muttered

+the reluctant boy, as he strove to lace his boots.

+"Drat it!  Shan't wear 'em; too wet."

+

+"My crikey!" cried he as he stood outside.  "Must

+have been rainin' cats an' dogs, an' lakes an' seas."

+

+His moleskins were rolled up to his thighs, while a

+cornsack, hooded at the bottom, and stuck on to his head

+like a nun's veil, gave him fair protection from the

+driving showers.

+

+"I wonder if it's goin' to be a flood?"  The thought

+was not unpleasant to the lad.  It produced, indeed, a

+certain exaltation of spirits, forcibly expressed in Tom's

+vernacular by, "Ge-willikins! but won't we have fun!"

+

+Heavily laden clouds, in interminable succession, were

+drifting from the sea, forming, as they swung overhead

+in batches, an endless series of smart showers.  It had

+been an exceptionally wet week, and for the preceding

+twenty-four hours had rained without ceasing.

+

+The cows depastured in a paddock that ran back from

+a creek to the timbered country.  The creek itself was

+bank high and running strongly.  It was only by climbing

+along the branches of a dead limb, which spanned the

+water, that Tom managed to reach the kine.

+

+It was no small task to get them to face the stream.

+Small as was the creek in width, it was deep enough to

+make a swim, and the roaring, turbid, and muddy stream

+frightened the creatures.  But for the fact that the

+calves were in a pen at the milking yard all Tom's

+efforts would have been futile.  Their mooing and baaing,

+however, made a loud appeal to the maternal breast.

+Finally, when the old red poley, the mother of twins,

+made a plunge, the rest followed.

+

+During the morning the river rose steadily, and large

+quantities of drift-wood passed down the stream.  With

+the rubbish was a good deal of heavy timber, and—what

+Tom had predicted—pumpkins.  This was an indication

+that the river up-stream had overflowed its banks in

+places, and was sweeping the low-lying farm lands.  Tom

+spent the morning in fishing out the floating vegetables

+that came within reach of his hooked pole.  Meanwhile

+the rain continued, and looked as though it might last for

+forty days and nights.

+

+"I'll pull over to the township this afternoon,"

+remarked Mr. Hawkins at the midday meal.  "I'm anxious

+about this rise.  Looks as if we're goin' to have an old

+man flood.  Might get some information about the state

+of things up-river.  If I leave it till to-morrow 'twill be

+a tough job gettin' acrost, as the timber's comin' down

+pretty thick now, an'll be worse by an' by."

+

+"Be sure'n bring tea and flour back with you.  No

+knowing how long the rise'll last."

+

+"Can I go with you, father?"

+

+"Yes; I'll require you to steer.  It'll be a pretty stiff

+job, I reckon."

+

+The crossing was not without peril.  The current ran

+fierce and strong.  The landing-place on the other side

+was protected, in a measure, by a headland up-stream.

+Out from the influence of that, however, the boatmen

+felt the full force of the current.  The water seethed and

+foamed.  The violence of its rush created great

+whirlpools, which accentuated the difficulty of keeping the

+boat's head up-stream.  Logs and driftwood patches had

+to be dodged, and, what with fighting the current and

+outflanking the timber, by the time the river was crossed

+the boat had drifted quite half a mile down-stream.  On

+gaining the other side they found a shore eddy, in which

+they were able to paddle up-stream with ease, until they

+came to a point of land about two hundred yards below

+the town wharf.  As they lost the eddy here, and would

+have to encounter the full force of the flood when round

+the point, Mr. Hawkins wisely determined to tie up the

+boat in the slack water.

+

+When Hawkins arrived at the store, where many of

+the townsfolk had congregated, he was informed that

+news had been brought down by the mailman that

+morning to the effect that heavy rains were falling at

+the head of the river, and that when the New England

+waters came down in full force the river might rise to

+the "high flood" marks.

+

+Cooees could now be heard from the settlers in the

+low-lying portions, adjacent to the township.  They

+proceeded from those who had neglected to move before

+being surrounded, and who were without boats.  The

+police were busily engaged in rescuing families by boat.

+Many townsfolk were engaged on the same merciful

+errand.

+

+All through the day the waters, fed by the flooded

+creeks, continued to rise, and as evening approached

+anxiety deepened.  Things were so serious that

+Mr. Hawkins, whose farm, be it said, was situated on

+comparatively low-lying lands, acting upon the advice of his

+friends, returned home almost at once.  After hoisting

+the most valuable of his possessions to the rafters, and

+securing them there, he returned to the township with

+his family; gaining it as dusk was deepening into dark.

+The family was distributed among neighbours, Tom and

+one of his sisters being quartered at Mr. Blain's.

+

+A group of men and boys throughout the day had lined

+the bank of the river, in the vicinity of the Government

+wharf, which was submerged.  They were engaged in

+gauging its rate of advance by pine laths scaled to

+inches.

+

+Towards evening the wind, veering from east to south-east,

+increased in violence.  Laden with torrential showers,

+it smote the earth in great gusts, streaming through roofs

+and walls, and taxing the ingenuity of housekeepers to

+find dry spots for beds.

+

+The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite

+directions, conflicted with great violence.  The roaring,

+boastful wind, as it lashed the racing, defiant waters into

+angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds of the

+seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with

+and overbore all opposing forces, made storm music,

+compared with which the artifices of man touch the

+infinitely puny.  Darkness and the blinding rain had

+driven most of the river watchers indoors.  A few,

+however, braved the elements, among them the minister

+and the lads.

+

+Whatever effect the flood may have had on others, the

+dominant feeling in Mr. Blain's mind was that of solicitude.

+As the rain continued, deep concern merged into alarm.

+There were few on the river who knew as intimately as

+he the general havoc of a flood.  The executive head of

+the Flood-relief Committee for many years, he had been

+the chief instrument in administering doles to flood

+victims.  In many cases the utmost relief was as a drop

+of succour in the ocean of need.

+

+"If the rise continues for another twenty-four hours, as

+it is doing now, it will beat the 'sixty-four flood, and, if so,

+God help our down-river friends," remarked the minister

+after examining Joe's gauge by the aid of a lantern.

+

+The '64 flood was the highest known to white men up

+to the present.  The settlers still retained a vivid

+recollection of its disastrous effects.  Luckily, the township

+covered a piece of high ground, and though the low

+parts were covered in a moderate flood, the higher

+portions were some feet above the highest flood-mark.  It

+was in the farming settlements that danger lurked.

+

+"If this yere flood beats 'sixty-four, it'll be as you

+say, Parson; good-bye to many up-river an' down-river folk."

+

+Mr. Blain's words had impressed both men and boys.

+Suddenly Joe, who was in the midst of the group, sang

+out lustily—

+

+"Hurrah! wind's changed!"

+

+"What's that?" shouted back Mr. Blain excitedly.

+

+"Don't you feel it?" cried the boy, as he swung his

+arms windmill fashion.

+

+"Yes; thank God!  The lad's right," continued he.

+"The wind's chopping.  Don't you feel it, men?

+Ah! there's a decided puff from the north-east."

+

+"Take my word for it," said the ferryman, an old sailor,

+"the wind'll be blowing west afore morning."

+

+"Pray God it may!" ejaculated the minister, and many

+a silent prayer was uttered.

+

+"Now, boys, let us return home.  We can do no good

+standing here.  We'll come back in an hour or so."

+

+"Listen!" exclaimed Tom, as the boys splashed through

+the water on their way home.  Laying his hand on Joe's

+shoulder, he cried, "Do you hear that?"

+

+"Don't hear anything but the roar of the river," replied

+Joe, as he stood in a listening attitude.  "What was it?"

+

+"Hark! there it is again.  A cooee.  Seems to come

+from up the river, near the Bend.  Some un's in trouble."

+

+"Now, boys, make haste and get in out of the rain,"

+cried Mr. Blain, who had hurried along.

+

+"Some one's crying out for help at the Bend," shouted Joe.

+

+The minister paused on hearing this.  A moment later

+the cry came out of the night: faint, because of the

+distance and the turmoil of sounds, yet clear and convincing.

+

+"Great God! some poor soul in dire straits, and no

+help possible before morning!"

+

+It would have been worse than madness to attempt

+any rescue till daylight.  To traverse the flood, even in

+daytime, anywhere near the Bend, were a hazardous

+experiment, owing to the enormous vortices caused by

+the current striking a high bluff on the near side, at

+the elbow.  The waters whirled like a merry-go-round

+under full steam, and boiled with an upward heave, in

+a fashion similar to the mud springs of Tiketere.  None

+but the stoutest boat and most experienced rowers could

+dodge these seething cauldrons, which caught into their

+cold and cruel embrace trees, fencing, stock; anything

+material, in fact.  The heaviest logs and tree-lengths

+were as wisps of straw under the influence of the mighty

+suction.  To attempt the traverse at night were as

+foolhardy and impossible as that of shooting Niagara in an

+open boat.

+

+A little group stood with the Blains, listening to the

+weird cry.

+

+"Who d'yer think it c'd be, sir?" said one of the

+men, turning to the minister.

+

+"Not any of the Bend families.  We had word this

+afternoon saying that they had retreated to the high

+land before the waters reached them.  God help the

+poor soul, whoever it is, for vain is the help of man!"

+

+Throughout the live-long night the cry went up at

+intervals, like that of the minute-gun of a distressed

+vessel.  Shortly before daybreak it ceased.

+

+No man or woman in the township slept that night.

+A strict watch was kept on the river, so as to be ready

+for any emergency.  The waters continued to advance,

+but at a much slower rate.  Men and women cudgelled

+their brains to individualise the wailing cry.  Most were

+agreed that it was a woman's cry, though some held it

+to be that of a child.  Sometimes the voice was ghoulish,

+and made the flesh to creep and the heart to flutter.

+Then an intensely human note would prevail, full of

+anguish and terror, and women wept and stopped their

+ears, while strong men choked in the throat.

+

+They would go out at intervals and send back a

+heartening cry; it was all that could be done.  There

+were many others throughout that fearful night who

+were engulfed in the flood, in various parts of the river,

+and, swan-like, wailed their death-song in the wild waste.

+

+Shortly after midnight the rain ceased, and the wind,

+which had been chopping and changing for the past few

+hours, settled finally in the west.  This proved a

+conspicuous advantage.  It no longer checked the

+flood-waters as when in the east, and there was now good

+hope that they would recede ere long, as the rise was

+almost imperceptible.

+

+.. _`Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with a mighty crash`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-032.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with mighty crash."

+

+   "Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with mighty crash."—*See p.* `43`_.

+

+When day had dawned a wild, weird scene was revealed.

+The town had become an island.  On all sides the

+flood-waters stretched out, covering gardens and farms, and

+completely blotting out the fair landscape.  On the

+riverside the turgid stream tore along in its hurry, bearing

+on its dirty, foam-crested bosom, as its spoils, the

+household gods, farm stock, and produce of many a settler.

+Horses, cattle, pigs, goats, dogs, fowls: these, swept off

+by the encroaching waters, and carried over fences into

+the stream, struggled, vainly for the most part, in the

+rapid, death-dealing current.  Haystacks, barns,

+wood-frame buildings intact, floated in the torrential waters,

+sooner or later crashing into the great trees that bore

+down-stream, making utter shipwreck.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER VI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: small

+

+"The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

+the floods have lifted up their

+voice; the floods lift up their waves."—Ps. xciii. 3.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Where's the dad, girls?" shouted Joe Blain early in the

+morning, after the events recorded in the previous chapter,

+dashing into the room as he yelled.

+

+"Here!" came a voice from the back verandah.

+Running to the spot indicated by the monosyllable,

+the lad in breathless accents delivered himself to his

+paternal relative in this fashion—

+

+"Please, dad, can Tom, Billy, Jimmy, and I have the

+boat to paddle out on the back-water?"

+

+"Um—er—well, as long as you keep in the slack

+water I suppose you may; but be very careful, my boy."

+

+"Yes, dad; we'll be careful enough.  It's all slack

+water you know, 'cept where the river water comes in;

+but that's a long way up, an' we'll be paddlin' mostly

+about this end of the slack."

+

+An explanation is needed here in order that the reader

+may intelligently follow the course of events (some of

+them dramatic enough, and even tragic) which transpired

+in the course of this eventful cruise.

+

+It has already been stated that the flood waters so

+surrounded Tareela as to convert the township into an

+island.  It was so practically.  Accurately speaking it

+formed a peninsula, with the narrowest of necks.  On

+the river side there was a broad expanse of boiling,

+foaming, hurrying waters, narrowing here and there,

+where the banks rose above their usual height, but

+stretching far and wide where the river-flats intervened;

+sometimes touching the horizon, as it were.  On the other

+side lay a body of water, as far removed from motion as

+the tumultuous stream was instinct with it.  There it

+lay, a wide extent of placid, coffee-coloured water, broken

+at its surface by fence tops, belts of trees, and partially

+submerged houses.  This great stretch was almost currentless,

+and the débris that floated on its bosom appeared

+stationary; though, as a matter of fact, there was a

+slight outward drift.

+

+The secret of its placidity lay in the fact that the

+river waters, when they reached a certain height, backed

+up a blind gully that ran almost parallel with the stream

+for some distance, then swerved from the river, and

+widened out till it became a depression of considerable

+magnitude.  This, in turn, merged into a swamp,

+contiguous to the township on its western side.  Low-lying

+and occupied lands surrounded the swamp for some

+distance.  The town end of these flats, which the river

+water backing up through the gully had submerged,

+making a long reach of stagnant waters, formed the area

+of the boys' row.

+

+The minister's boat was a light yet staunchly built

+vessel, and belonged to the skiff variety.  Her capabilities

+were to be put to the utmost test.  Several of the town

+boats were moving on the face of the still waters, their

+occupants busily engaged in capturing the flotsam.  The

+owners of houses, in particular, were anxiously conning

+their submerged property, or gathering together floating

+domestic articles.  In this way a good deal of house

+property was recovered.

+

+The boys found enjoyment in the novelty of the cruise.

+They pulled two oars, taking turns at the rowing.  Of the

+non-rowers, one acted as steersman and the other as

+bowman for the capture of the flood spoils.  Several

+melons and pumpkins were picked up, but they were not

+troubling about these.  For one reason, they did not want

+to be encumbered with spoil of that kind, and for another

+they were keen on pulling about the flooded houses.

+Their chief and most interesting rescue was a cat and

+two kittens, which had found an ark of refuge on a barn

+door.

+

+"I say, boys, we'll have a go at these oranges," said Joe,

+who was steering, as they were passing a small orangery

+which was half submerged.  This proposal received hearty

+and unanimous assent.  Accordingly Joe selected the

+most promising tree, and deftly ran alongside its outer

+branches.

+

+"Look out for snakes!" cried he.

+

+There was abundant cause for warning, for each tree

+contained a number of serpents, some of which are very

+deadly.  These reptiles were flooded out of their holes in

+the ground, and from hollow logs and stumps, and made

+for the trees or any floating timber that offered refuge.

+Fortunately the snakes were more or less benumbed with

+the cold, consequently they were the reverse of lively.

+Had it been otherwise, to have made fast to the tree

+would have been foolhardy to a degree.

+

+Agreeably to Joe's warning, every eye was skinned and

+on the look out.  Indeed, the tree was fairly swarming

+with snakes of many sorts and sizes; though for the most

+part they consisted of "tree" and "carpet" varieties;

+one of the latter, lying across the top, being fully ten feet

+in length.  These two mentioned varieties are not venomous.

+The farmers, for the most part, look with a friendly

+eye upon the carpet species; so called by reason of its

+tawny and black markings.  The carpet snake in summer

+time is the best of all mousers and ratters.  It winds its

+sinuous way into places impossible to even puss or terrier;

+and is always a welcome visitor to settlers' barns.  There

+it becomes a pet, and will live on terms of friendship with

+its primal foe.

+

+There were snakes of a very different order in the

+orange tree.  Among them the "tiger," most aggressive

+and poisonous of all the genus.  There were also specimens

+of the black and the brown snakes.  All these are cobras,

+and therefore very deadly.

+

+The snakes, as related, were all more or less torpid

+with cold, and not pugnaciously inclined.  The boys,

+however, were very careful not to disturb them.  There

+was plenty of golden fruit upon the tree, and it was

+in prime condition.  The fruit was neatly cut off the

+stems by strokes of the paddle blade.  When a sufficient

+quantity was thus plucked, and lay bobbing in the water,

+they were poked out from the tree by the same means,

+and secured.  The boat lay off a little distance from

+the tree while the crew indulged in a feed of the

+luscious fruit.  A visit was then paid to a plantain

+grove, and a quantity, both of green and ripe fruit, was

+secured.

+

+"Where away now, Joe?" said Tom Hawkins, who was

+crouched in the bow.

+

+"I vote," replied the one addressed, who in this, as in

+everything else, was leader of the band,—"I vote we

+pull up opposite Commodore Hill and have a look at the

+river."  The boy forgot for the moment the promise made

+to his father to keep mainly about the town end of the

+back-water.

+

+Commodore Hill was well up the river, and on the other

+side.  The flooded gully by which the water obtained

+entrance, it has been explained, ran parallel with the

+river for some distance; in some places being not more

+than a few yards therefrom.  The boys were curious to

+see the river stretch above the Bend; also to note the

+numbers of flooded-out settlers who might be camped in

+that vicinity.  Accordingly the boat's bow is turned, and

+her course shaped in that direction.  By this time the

+river had fallen several feet, and, as a consequence, there

+was an outward drift of the slack waters, making a gentle

+current.

+

+"'Member, Joe, what your dad said about takin' the

+boat into the stream."

+

+"Think I've forgot, stupid!"

+

+"Thought I'd remind you, anyhow," replied the

+bowman.  As a matter of fact, Tom had an uneasy feeling

+that his mate would not be content when they got to

+the mouth to remain there without having a dash at the

+stream.

+

+"Listen to me; I ain't goin' to run any risks.  We

+won't go to the mouth entrance.  What we'll do is this:

+work up to the swamp end, have a look round, and come

+back again."

+

+With this defined object in view the boat continued

+its voyage, helped by the current, which, the farther

+up they proceeded, became stronger, as was to be

+expected.

+

+But one thing had happened of which the boys were

+in entire ignorance.  And this particular happening was

+to produce startling and unexpected effects.  At a certain

+spot in the gully, and at a point where it began to

+deviate from the general stream, there was a branch

+gully, which bore inwards to within a few yards of the

+river's brink.  When the water was at its highest in

+the river, that in the lagoon was much higher at this

+point, inasmuch as the back-water was at the same

+level as at the entrance, some two miles higher up;

+the difference in height being the river's fall in that

+distance.  Roughly speaking, the water there was about

+ten feet higher than that in the river.

+

+The rush of the stream on the river side had caused

+the bank to give way about this point during the night,

+and the lagoon, or back-waters, forced themselves into

+the river through the new channel, which widened

+considerably as a consequence.  On nearing this place the

+boys became conscious of a quickening of the current.

+

+"My golly, Joe! this big current," said Yellow Billy,

+who, with Jimmy, was at the oars.  "Must be goin' twenty

+mile."

+

+"Twenty mile! you goose.  We're goin' six or seven

+and that's mighty fast."

+

+"I say, Joe," called Jimmy a second later, the boys

+having ceased rowing, for there was no further need,

+"bes' run her ashore, or we'll be carried out.  By gosh,

+she's tearing away!"

+

+"All right, mates, keep cool.  There's the old mahogany

+ahead, we'll tie up there; we'll be there in a minute."

+

+Yes, the boys would need all their coolness, for Joe

+was reckoning without up-to-date knowledge, and that

+made all the difference in the world.  Rounding a clump

+of trees at this moment, or ever they were aware the

+boat fairly sucked into the channel of furiously rushing

+and tumultuously heaping waters that were finding their

+level by the newly made short-cut.

+

+"Oh! oh!  I—I say!" shouted Tom.  "We're being

+swept into the river!  Back water!"

+

+Joe, quicker than the others, had hit the situation,

+and turned the boat's nose to a clump of bushes, but

+before the rowers could pick up their oars to help him

+the boat had swept past.  Tom, it is true, made a frantic

+grasp at the bough, but the way on the boat was so strong

+that the branch, when the full force of the current bore

+on her at her momentary check, snapped like a pipe-stem,

+and the little craft was fair in the turgid stream, which

+had now the velocity of a water-race.  The incident of

+the half-arrest, however, had turned her head up-stream,

+which was a providential thing.  The river break-away

+was at most three hundred yards away.  To turn the

+boat into the perpendicular sides of the channel was

+to court destruction; for, be it said, the maddened waters

+had excavated the banks until they rose sheer from the

+water's edge.

+

+The necessities of the case came like an inspiration

+to Joe.  The boat was drifting, as we have said, stern

+first, the advantage of which will be seen.  Save Joe,

+whom the sense of responsibility braced to immediate

+action, the boys were speechless with consternation.

+One look at their blanched faces was sufficient.  They

+were certainly alive to the dangers of the situation.

+

+"Pull, boys! pull with all your might!  We'll keep

+her head up.  This'll check her speed a bit.  It'll give

+her steerage way too, and save her gettin' broadside on."

+

+The pullers put every ounce of strength into their

+strokes, and this was very helpful.  The final rush into

+the cross-current was a most critical moment, and might

+easily have resulted in disaster.  This was averted only

+by Joe's coolness and dexterity.

+

+"Oars out!" cried he as the boat swept into the angry

+and turbulent river.  Save for shipping some water, and

+drenching the crew with spray, the little craft weathered

+the river plunge.  An involuntary "Oh!" came from

+the boys as the boat shot the rapids and soused into

+the river.  Immediately she came under the influence

+of two currents; that going outward from the chute,

+and the swift down-river stream.

+

+This effect was to take them instantly well out

+toward the centre of the flood, with a strong drift which

+carried the boat into the vicinity of the Bend.  The

+river bend gave the current a direction which set across

+to the other side.  This diagonal movement was accelerated

+by the chute waters, which retained their impetus,

+in a measure, for a considerable distance.

+

+Downward then, and cross-wise to the northern bank,

+the frail craft sped, the sport and play of the watery

+element.  Dangers stood, or rather, drifted thick around

+the adventurers.  Picture for a moment a tiny vessel,

+some fifteen feet over all, whose timbers are of the

+proverbial egg-shell thickness, shot into an angry, bubbling

+cauldron, whose tumultuous waters heaved and swirled,

+hissed and roared, in inarticulate sound and motion.

+

+That, in itself, were an experience of sufficient

+magnitude to quicken the blood, test the nerves, and try the

+courage of the hardiest waterman.  Add to the perils

+of that situation a thousand floating dangers, any one of

+which might crush that tiny, drifting cockle-shell out of

+existence, and you have the position which faced and

+surrounded the affrighted lads on the demon-ridden waters.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER VII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "There's the white-box and pine on the ridges afar,

+   |  Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;

+   |  There's many another, but dearest to me,

+   |  And king of them all is the stringy-bark tree."

+   |                                          HENRY LAWSON.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+As several years had intervened between the present and

+the last flood of considerable dimension, every creek, gully,

+and river-flat of the upper reaches were contributing

+their quota of fallen timber, which in the interval had

+encumbered the earth.  In addition, the flood-waters had

+torn many a giant eucalyptus, roots and all, from its

+earthhold, and had borne it on its heaving and rebellious

+bosom, a mere plaything of its vengeful humour.

+

+Up to the present a monarch of the forest, whose

+rugged bole bears indubitable evidence of its antiquity,

+stands skywards with its head in the clouds.  The

+Philistines are upon it.  Its innumerable roots, lateral

+and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as

+it grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe.  But the

+earth, which for years innumerable has mothered the

+forest lord, furnishing his daily portion of meat and drink,

+nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth and

+height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in

+every tussle with wind and flood heretofore, now turns

+traitor.  The soil dissolves in the swirling waters as they

+ravish the earth.  Above and underneath the roots it

+melts, and is carried away in the thickening stream.  The

+hold of the old monarch is weakening.  His limbs are

+trembling.  His strong body, that has withstood the

+pressure of a thousand fights with the hereditary foe,

+vibrates and sways now, as his remorseless antagonist

+grips him in cruel embrace.

+

+.. _`43`:

+

+His old comrades higher up, who have fallen earlier in

+this battle of giants, come drifting along, battered and

+torn; veritable shipwrecks, dismantled and broken.  One

+floating leviathan, flood-driven, sweeps onward full upon

+his writhing form ... a violent shock and shudder that

+runs from root to topmost leaf ... a last wrestle, strong,

+heroic, and pitiful! ... Then, betrayed and spent,

+under the last straw, as it were, of the fateful impact of

+his wrecked mate—now converted into a battering-ram—the

+grand old hero-king yields.  His foe has sought and

+found, like one in the olden time, his vulnerability in his

+heel.  Overborne at last, but not yet broken, he shakes

+his lofty head in the quiver of mortal spasm.  Suddenly

+he topples, lurches, staggers, and falls with a mighty

+crash, which is, indeed, a resounding death-cry.  Striking

+the enemy with a last, concentrated, savage blow, he

+splits her bosom, and sends great spurts of her muddy

+blood, spray-like, a hundred feet in air.  But the wound

+heals as speedily as delivered, and from thence he passes

+quickly, in company with his defeated brothers, an inert

+mass of strewn wreckage, to form, farther down upon the

+skurrying waters, a floating barricade of death-dealing

+timbers.  And so on and on, till the blue sea is reached,

+where it is heaved to and fro, a rudderless hulk upon the

+bosom of the ocean; until it is stranded at last as flotsam

+and jetsam upon the beach.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+By skilful manipulation of oars and rudder the boys

+managed to evade the timber masses.  The numerous

+whirlpools constituted a great danger.  Once or twice

+they were almost sucked under as they circled in a

+vortex.  Their position was extremely perilous.  The

+greatest danger lay from contact with the isolated logs

+and tree-trunks that sped down with great velocity,

+appearing and disappearing in the vicious eddies, rotating

+with the swirling stream, and popping up porpoise-like in

+unexpected quarters.  On one occasion, in dodging a mass

+of driftwood, they ran right on to a big tree.  Fortunately

+the tree was sinking at the time of impact under the

+influence of an under-current, and, at Joe's sharp

+command, the rowers rushed the boat across the submerged

+tree-bole.  Scarcely had they crossed the line ere the

+submarine monster rolled upward, till at least half its

+length was out of the water.  It was a narrow squeak.

+To have been caught on its rising movement would have

+meant utter shipwreck.

+

+It has been stated that owing to the river bend, and

+from other causes, the current set diagonally across to the

+other side.  Drawing thus towards the farther shore, the

+boat's crew neared a timbered point, below which the

+water expanded over the low-lying country for miles.

+So far only the thickly fringed timber belts could be

+seen.  It was questionable if they could find any dry

+earth.  In all likelihood, however, even should there not

+be any landing-place, they would find protection from the

+current behind the thick wood.  As they got close in to

+the scrubby portion the boys saw, to their great

+disappointment, that the land was still submerged.  They

+had hoped to find a patch of earth.  All they can do now

+is to shelter behind the timber.

+

+"Pull, boys, pull hard!" cried Joe, the while he turned

+the boat's nose towards a rear clump.  His quick eye

+discerned an eddy formed by a point higher up.  Rowing

+into this, the boat was eased in its downward track, and

+after getting well in behind the clump they were able

+to make headway against the stream, finally fastening to

+a big she-oak almost in still water.  Here they were

+out of the tract of the current and the perils of the

+driftwood.

+

+What a relief to the half-dazed and frightened boys!

+

+Captain Joe, be it said, though fearful enough while in

+the roaring waters, kept all his wits about him.  Often as

+his heart jumped into his mouth he as quickly swallowed

+it again.  More than once his resourcefulness saved the

+boat from certain disaster.

+

+"Thank God!" exclaimed he, as Tom tied the painter

+to a strong limb, and the boat rode easy.

+

+"It was a touch and go, lads.  Don't cry, Jimmy!" as

+that lad, yielding to a feeling of reaction, burst into tears.

+Tom was not much better, and furtively wiped his eyes

+under the pretence of blowing his nose.  In a few minutes

+the boys were themselves again.  The roar and rush of

+the waters filled their oars and souls as they lay at anchor.

+So deafening were the sounds that it was only by shouting

+they could hear one another.

+

+Stretching inland, and reaching to the distant hills,

+nothing was to be seen but a waste of waters, with here

+and there a bushy hillock, a miniature island.  What

+remained of the settlers' houses looked like so many

+Noah's arks.  Moving figures could be seen on one which

+lay a long way off.  They were the unfortunate owners,

+who, by delaying their retreat until too late, were driven

+on to the very ridge pole for safety.  Fortunately they

+were in still water; so at least it seemed from the

+distance; consequently their position was not alarming.

+Tree marks showed the river to be falling at a fairly rapid

+rate.

+

+"Now then, boys, let's hold a council of war!"

+

+"Wot's that, Joe?"

+

+"It's what they say in soldiering when the generals get

+into a fix," chipped in Tom.

+

+"Oh, gollies! let us get home as quick as possible.  If we

+don't they'll think we're drownded an'——"

+

+"Look here, Jimmy, stow that rot!  If we start talking

+in that fashion, we'll get unnerved.  Billy, you first!  Tell

+us what you think about the situation."

+

+"Long's we're here we're safe.  There's a 'possum

+in the spout above us.  I'll climb up and get 'im for tucka."

+

+"We can't cook 'possum in the boat, Billy.  No dry

+wood; no matches.  You're right enough about safety,

+though.  These trees have borne the brunt of the flood

+stream at its highest, and things are getting easier.

+Jimmy, what do you think of it?"

+

+"I—I—I dunno.  Oh, my poor m-other!" cried Jimmy,

+whose emotions again overpowered him.

+

+"Didn't I tell you to stow that water-cart business?

+Dry up, or I'll jolly well tan your hide for you, you soft

+milksop!"

+

+Joe's severity was partly assumed.  He was fighting

+himself about home thoughts.  He knew the folly of

+giving way at this crisis to such a natural sentiment.

+

+"You, Tom!  You've a notion, I'm sure," said Joe to his

+chum.

+

+"My opinion, chaps, is that we ought to be very thankful

+for bein' where we are, an' stay here a bit anyways.

+It'd be madness to attempt to recross the river.  What's

+to prevent us pullin' over there?" pointing to a hillock

+nearly a mile away inland.

+

+"Tom's right, boys.  We must make up our minds,

+hard as it is, to camp on this side to-day.  It'd be easy

+enough to do as Tom says, row over to that island.

+Supposin', though, the water went down a lot during the

+night; we might have to drag the boat over a lot of mud

+to get to the river-bank to-morrow.  Bes' stay where

+we——"

+

+"S-s-h!  Listen a moment, Joe," interjected Tom from

+the bow of the boat.  "What noise's that?"

+

+"Don't hear anythin' 'cept the river.  What sort o'

+noise, Tom?"

+

+"I heered it, Joe," said Yellow Billy.  "Bear cryin',

+I bin thinkin'.  Heer it now."

+

+All the boys could hear the sounds now, faint enough,

+yet distinct above the flood roar.

+

+"Bear, I 'speck!  Have a good look round, boys."

+

+All eyes were bent in the direction of the sound.  They

+scanned the trees for that strange, pouch-bearing—half

+bear, half sloth—animal called the native bear.  Strictly

+speaking, it is neither bear nor sloth, being a perfectly

+harmless, tailless marsupial of the koala genus.  Its cry

+is intensely, and often pathetically, human.

+

+For some time the search was unrewarded; while ever

+and anon a cry, strangely like an infant's wail, came to

+the ears of the searchers.

+

+"P'r'aps, after all, it's only the wind in the river oaks;

+or is it a——"

+

+"Look, boys!  look, look!" cried Tom excitedly.  "What's

+that over at the edge of the timber, up there in a fork?"

+

+"Whereaway, Tom?"

+

+"See the clump beyond the back-water, out in the

+stream?"

+

+"M—y-e-s, I see.  Why, yes, my word!  I do believe

+it's a——"

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`WHAT THE TREE HELD`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER VIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   WHAT THE TREE HELD

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Thereafter grew the wind; and chafing deaths

+   |  In distant waters, sent a troubled cry

+   |  Across the slumbrous forest; and the chill

+   |  Of coming rain was on the sleeper's brow."

+   |                              HENRY KENDALL.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"James!" exclaimed Mrs. Blain to her husband during

+this eventful morning, "it's dinner-time and those lads

+are not back.  I hope nothing has happened."

+

+"What do you expect could have happened, you dear

+old fidget?  I'm going to the post, however, and I'll have a

+look round."

+

+Could Mr. Blain have beheld the lads at this particular

+time, the calm of his deep nature would have been broken

+up in a fashion rare to his experience; for at this moment

+the boat and its occupants are being borne on the rapids,

+presently to be flung upon the riotous and foam-crested

+waves of the river.

+

+In moving along the street the minister met several

+persons who had been out on the back-water during the

+morning.  All had seen the boys at one time or another.

+One of the latest in, who had been farther up than most

+of the others, had passed the boys on his return not long

+before.  They were then heading up the swamp way.

+

+"Don't fear, Mr. Blain, the boys know how to take

+care of themselves.  Dinner's calling 'em loudly enough

+by this time, I wager ye."

+

+Dinner-time came and went, but no boys.  As the

+afternoon wore on the mother's fears deepened until they

+became well-nigh unendurable.  The minister, rowed by two

+of the neighbours, set out to find the truants and fetch

+them back.

+

+"Don't lose faith, dear!  They're up to some prank,

+the thoughtless scamps!  I'll fetch them home none the

+worse, to laugh at your fears."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Following Tom's index-finger, the boys fastened their

+eyes upon a clump of river oaks that stood on the edge

+of the woods.

+

+High up in a fork of one of the largest trees, they

+could see what looked at first like a huge bundle of

+clothes fluttering in the wind.  After a short while the

+bundle seemed to take a somewhat definite shape.

+

+"What in the name of goodness is it all?  Seems like

+a lot of old clothes jammed in the tree forks.  Are you

+sure that the squall, or squeak, or squeal, or whatever it

+was, came from that direction?"

+

+"Yes, I think so," replied Tom.  "Listen, there it's

+again!"  A thin, treble cry rose faintly above the din of

+the flood waters.

+

+"See a woman's foot!"

+

+The speaker was the half-caste, whose eyesight, owing

+to his half-wild nature, was much keener than his fellows'.

+

+"A woman's foot, Billy!  What do you mean?  You

+don't mean to say really, that——!"

+

+"See hand too!  Look along bark.  See fingers!"

+

+Thus directed, the three boys looked, and saw, though

+but indistinctly, what appeared to be a hand grasping

+the tree-trunk, a foot, also, was revealed at intervals by

+the fluttering garment.

+

+After a short, staring silence, a flood of mental light

+broke upon Joe.  "I see now.  Why, it's the poor soul we

+heard cooeeing last night!"

+

+Yes, there had been plenty of speculation in the village

+as to who it could be, and exactly where the voice came

+from.  None of those who heard the piteous wail that was

+borne across the floods in the black and wild darkness of

+that night would forget it for many a long day to come.

+

+The mystery is now solved.  The boys are horror-stricken

+at the sight and its sequent thought.  They are now

+convinced that a woman is fixed in the tree.  Without

+reasoning the matter out, they identify her as the one

+whose cry over night produced such a sensation in the

+township, and to locate which the police boat with a strong

+crew had started out at daybreak, but without success.

+

+*Is she alive or dead*?  The strange cry did not

+seem to be that of a woman.  There was something so

+eerie, so shocking in the thought, that the lads were

+fear-possessed for some moments.  Joe, as usual, recovered

+himself first.

+

+"It's a woman sure enough!  It's a human being, at

+any rate.  An', boys, we've got to rescue her if she is alive.

+The cry can only come from her, I'm sure, so that there

+must be some life left still.  How to do it I can't just

+see at this moment.  We must think a bit."

+

+Think a bit they did.  Camped as they were at the

+lower end of the timber, it would be a matter of

+comparative ease to work up through the trees in the slack

+water, till they arrived opposite to the clump that stood

+out in the stream.  There the real difficulties would

+begin.  The rush of waters was still so strong, and the

+space for the play of the boat so small, that it became

+evident the rescue would be accompanied by some

+alarming risks.

+

+One of two things must be done: either wait until the

+waters receded sufficiently to enable the rescuers to wade

+to the clump, or make an immediate dash.

+

+"How long d'you think it'd be before we could wade

+across, Joe?"

+

+"Dunno, Billy.  Beckon there's eight or nine foot of

+water out there.  Might be less.  At any rate it'd be

+hours."

+

+"Hours!" cried Tom.  "An' s'posin' that poor creature's

+still alive?"

+

+"That settles it!" exclaimed Joe, rising in his seat in

+excitement.  "Boys, what's to be done must be done

+quickly."

+

+Seemingly all were agreed.  At least no objection was

+offered to this proposal, or, rather, mandate.  So it was

+resolved, after some cogitation, to pull the boat through

+the timber to a point some distance higher up than the

+isolated clump.  From thence the course would be

+outwards until the river current was met; an estimated

+distance of a hundred yards.  The boat was to be headed

+against the current when in the stream influence.  A

+vigorous row would be necessary to neutralise the current,

+to be modified so as to allow the craft to drift slowly

+down-stream.  Then, when opposite the clump, a dash for

+the tree whereon the unfortunate woman was lying was

+to be made.

+

+Inasmuch as this tree was almost in the centre of the

+group, and the stream still ran with violence, it was easy

+to see that without skilful management, and some luck,

+the boat might be stove in against a tree-bole; or, worse

+still, might be impaled upon a submerged snag.  Any

+accident, such as missing way at a critical moment, or the

+snapping of an oar blade, might be fraught with the most

+disastrous consequences.

+

+During the short conference Jimmy Flynn had kept

+silence.  Towards the end, as Joe set forth the attendant

+dangers, he became considerably perturbed.  After sundry

+wrigglings and contortions, rubbing of hands and licking

+of lips, these visual twistings found voice.

+

+"I say, Joe! don't—er—yer think that—er—we'd better

+wait a bit?"

+

+"Why?" chorused the boys.

+

+"Oh—I—I dunno.  Well—er—p'raps some other boat'll

+come over from the township d'reckly an'—an'——"

+

+"And s'pose no boat comes along?"

+

+"Well, then, I—I—er—vote—that we—er——"

+

+"By jing!  Jimmy," interposed Tom, with a jeer,

+"who'd 'a' thought you'd 'a' showed the white feather!"

+

+"White feather yourself, Hawkins!" returned the

+fearful but now angry boy.

+

+"Jimmy!" broke in Yellow Billy unexpectedly, for as

+a rule the half-caste was taciturn—the taciturnity of

+modesty in his case.  Billy, while carrying some of the

+defects of aboriginal descent, was a kind-hearted and

+easily contented lad.  "Jimmy!" said he, in a soft, quiet

+tone, "s'pose your mother was over there?"

+

+Jimmy Flynn, who was sitting with a sullen, hang-dog

+expression, quivered as though he had received an

+electric shock.  There was within him a consciousness of

+the truth of Tom's term.  He was a coward, and the very

+notion of it angered him, and at the same time made him

+resentful.  He shrank from the undertaking.  None of

+the boys were in love with it, for that matter.  Jimmy

+only, among the four, allowed his fear to overmaster him.

+

+These few words of Billy, uttered in a quiet, even tone,

+went straight to the boy's heart.  His sullen brows lifted.

+The angry resentment which had disfigured his face

+vanished.  Straightening his bent figure, he seized the

+oar lying by his side.  Then, squaring his shoulders, as he

+inclined forward to grip the water, he said quietly, "Let

+her go."

+

+Immediately on releasing the boat Joe steered her in a

+semicircular course, keeping out back where the standing

+timber was thinnest.  The boys pulled slowly, for there

+was always the danger of snags.  They were in fairly

+slack water, and so had no need to exert themselves;

+besides which, it were wise to husband their strength for

+the supreme moment.

+

+Tom and Jimmy, both expert oarsmen, were the rowers.

+Yellow Billy was stationed in the bow, with instructions

+to keep a keen look out for snags.  He was armed with

+a stout pole in order that he might fend the boat on any

+critical occasion, or when the rudder might be inoperative.

+It formed a very useful instrument in Billy's practised

+hands, and enabled him to ward off the craft from many

+dangers that did not appear until the boat was almost

+upon them.  As it was there were several ominous

+scrapes, as the boat rasped over submerged branches.

+Fortunately they reached the point determined upon

+without any accident.

+

+They paused here a moment before leaving the slack

+water for the swiftly running stream.

+

+"Now, boys," said Joe, after a brief survey, "sit steady,

+and pull for all you're worth.  Mind you, no flurry.

+Keep an even stroke.  Got the painter coiled, Billy?"

+

+"All right, Joe."

+

+"Pull then, boys, and stick to it like grim death to a

+diseased nigger."

+

+The boat having got good way on, Joe headed her

+out a little, when she immediately encountered the

+current.

+

+"Lay to it, my lads, lay to it!"

+

+The boys "lay to" with such vigour that the rapid

+current was counterbalanced, and she hung in the stream,

+neither making headway nor drifting.

+

+"Easy a little, my hearties!  We must let her drift

+down gradually.  Mustn't let her get out of hand,

+though."

+

+In swinging the boat into the channel Joe kept her

+nose up-stream, and as near the slack water as possible.

+The boys easing a trifle at Joe's command, the current

+became the stronger of the two forces, and the little craft

+drifted slowly.  Blain eagerly scanned the clump for an

+opening.  This cluster, it may be remarked, was about

+two hundred yards long and fifty or so wide.  In some

+parts the timber was thickly scattered, in others the trees

+were bunched together.

+

+The boat is now about fifty yards above the tree

+containing the supposed woman.

+

+"That's right, chaps, keep up as you're doin'!  We

+must drift very slowly lest we miss the chance of popping

+in.  It's too thick to venture in here.  It's thinnin' out,

+though," exclaimed Joe, as the boat neared the point

+abreast the tree.

+

+"Here's an opening, I do believe.  Be ready, Billy!

+Pull, lads! pull, pull!  Look out all!"

+

+The boat lay anglewise, so that the current worked

+upon her quarter.  Seeing a fair opening, Joe urged the

+rowers to do their utmost.  So hard did they pull that

+the current, playing upon her quarter as she hung a few

+minutes stationary, forced her through the gap and

+towards the tree.  The manoeuvre was splendidly executed.

+The boat was now within five yards or so of the tree, the

+boys putting every ounce of strength into their strokes.

+A minute or less now and they will either be fast to the

+tree or drifting down on to a solid block of timber just

+below.

+

+Yellow Billy, who had crouched in the bow, now rose

+up quietly, rope in hand, ready to act promptly in the

+decisive moment.  By good fortune a limb projected

+about five feet above the water, and branched out some

+distance from the tree.  Joe worked the boat straight

+up-stream, and then called on the rowers to ease the

+barest trifle.  The craft swung very slowly down, until

+she was fairly under the limb.

+

+"Sling the painter over the branch an' make fast,

+Billy!" cried Joe, as the stern drifted under.  "Pull now,

+you beggars, a last spurt!"

+

+Billy whipped the rope round the limb, and made fast

+in a flash; the rowers, by a few desperate strokes, keeping

+the boat stationary.

+

+"Hold her there a second.  Let the loop lie loose an'

+edge it to the trunk, Billy!"

+

+Joe thus worked the boat over until she was just at the

+rear of the tree.

+

+"Ease her off gently now, boys.  Steady still!  A

+wrench might snap the painter."

+

+The boys accordingly eased off gradually, and finally

+stopped.

+

+"Two of you come aft, it'll ease the strain."

+

+This done, the boat, which by burying her nose deep in

+the water was straining heavily on the rope, trimmed

+herself, and offered but the minimum resistance to the

+racing waters.

+

+The tree-bole, which presented a somewhat broad

+surface, divided the waters, creating a narrow zone of

+neutral water in its wake.  In this eddying area the boat

+rode securely, making it an easy matter for the bowman

+to keep her nose up against the tree.

+

+And now each boy bent an upward glance to the fork.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE RESCUE`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER IX

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE RESCUE

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—

+   |  Death closes all: but something ere the end,

+   |  Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

+   |  Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."

+   |                                    TENNYSON'S *Ulysses*.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Fortunately the she-oak was one of the largest of its

+kind, and forked out into four branches twenty feet or so

+from the ground.  This formed a rough cage, in which

+one could be held very securely if not comfortably.

+

+In this fork, partially covered with a blanket, was

+huddled the form of a human creature, presumably a

+woman; one hand stretched along the trunk as in

+a painful grip, the legs hanging loosely.  There was no

+movement of limb or body.  What if she were dead?

+

+A sudden chill accompanied this thought.  The situation

+was decidedly uncanny, and bred awesome, not to

+say fearsome, feelings.

+

+Four boys in a boat!  Out on the flood-wastes, and in

+a particularly perilous position!  The insistent noises of

+the rushing tide; the hollow moan of the wind in the

+foliage of the she-oaks; shut out from all help; missed

+now at home, and *that thing above*!

+

+All these combined to create a creeping chill in each

+boy, which in a manner half-paralysed them.

+

+Joe, as usual, recovered more quickly than the others.

+Gazing at the object above awhile, and then examining

+the trunk of the tree with his eyes, he broke the spell of

+silence.

+

+"Take my place, Tom.  Some un's got to go at once to

+that poor soul aloft.  Pray God we're in time to save her.

+Keep her up tight against the trunk, Jimmy, an' I'll

+swing on to the limb."

+

+Suiting his action to the word, Joe clambered on to the

+limb, and from thence proceeded to climb the tree.

+

+The woman was fixed at the junction of the forks, and

+her feet and legs hung loosely down on each side of a

+minor fork.  One arm, as before described, was wound

+round the main limb, while the other firmly grasped her

+breast.  Her head was supported in the V of a branch.

+

+On mounting to the spot, Joe raised himself higher by

+grasping two of the tree-forks, and, twisting his legs

+round the trunk, steadied himself while he gazed into the

+face of the dead.  It was the first time in his life that he

+had looked upon death.  The set expression that met his

+gaze, so full of anguish, so pitifully pleading, fairly

+shocked him out of his self-possession.  Little wonder at

+his turning sick and faint.  He clutched the branch

+frantically as he swayed a moment, and beads of cold

+sweat stood thick upon his forehead.  Indeed, so near

+fainting was he that his sight began to fade, and the

+whole world receded from him.  Strange noises buzzed in

+his ears.  Bringing all the reserve forces of his will to the

+front, he was beginning to gain the ascendency over his

+weakness, when a strange cry startled him into full

+consciousness.

+

+"Why! she's not dead after all, thank God!"  The

+thought of life made all the difference to Joe.  In a

+moment his vision is as clear as ever, and his spirits rise

+high at the sounds of life.  "Yes, see!" whispered the

+lad, "there's a movement of the breast.  Hurrah, boys!"

+

+cried he to his comrades, looking down and waving with

+one hand at the same time.  "She's not dead after all!"

+

+The boys at this set up a hearty shout indicative of

+their relief and joy.

+

+"Oh yes!" he muttered reassuringly to himself as he

+took the second look, "the poor creature's alive.  Her

+eyes are half open.  Her chest is heaving.  Wake up,

+ma'am!  Rescue is at hand.  Me an' the boys in the

+boat below are goin' to take you down an' row you across

+to the township."

+

+The woman made no response to this appeal and plan

+of salvation.  "Is she really alive?"  The eyes are half

+closed and seemingly peering; the form is rigid, the face

+immobile.  There was naught of that expression in this

+countenance that Joe, from hearsay, was wont to associate

+with death—the peace that passeth understanding.  Yet

+as the lad gazed at this apparently inanimate object there

+was a movement of the body.  The blanket, bunched into

+many folds across the breast, stirred visibly.

+

+Again that eerie, inarticulate cry!

+

+Disengaging one hand from the tree, the boy stretched

+it forth to the woman's breast, which, covered as it was

+with the clothes, had all the seeming of life and

+movement.

+

+Joe was in the very act of removing a fold of the

+blanket, when suddenly, and without the slightest warning,

+there rose up into the lad's face an angry, hissing,

+venomous snake, the deadliest of its kind.  Its beady

+eyes glittered; its forked tongue shot in and out with

+inconceivable rapidity; its sibilant hiss was accompanied

+with a musky odour, sickening in the extreme; its head

+and body for half its length were erect, and bent forward

+from the neck, vibrating and swaying in a rhythmic

+movement.  The reptile was within striking distance.  In

+another second that almost invisible death-stroke will be

+dealt; invisible, that is, by reason of its lightning-like

+speed.

+

+But this deadly intention is defeated by an involuntary

+movement on Joe's part.  This young man, for the

+briefest of brief moments, clung to the tree with a rigid

+grasp; eyes staring in amazement and terror, with mouth

+wide open in automatic gape.  Any attempt to defend

+himself were useless in the most absolute sense of that

+term.  In another tick, before he can move a hand, these

+poison fangs will be deep buried in his horror-stricken

+face, so temptingly near.  The only hope for the lad lay

+in doing a disappearing trick.  And this happened.  Had

+it been premeditated, however swiftly, the time taken to

+make up his mind, and to telegraph the resolution formed

+in the brain to the nerve cells and muscles, would have

+been sufficient for the lightning stroke to fall.

+

+What really happened was this: the apparition of the

+red-bellied, black snake simply petrified Joe.  An awful,

+blood-curdling, hair-raising, galvanic shock of abject

+terror, contradictory as it may seem, paralysed the lad.

+Simultaneously with that he is falling through space, an

+inert mass, to be soused into the water with a splash that

+sent the spray flying over the boat's crew.

+

+At the moment of the splash, Joe's mind, will, and

+nerve were restored to their normal activity.  The

+instinct of self-preservation, so strong in all healthy

+natures, especially boys', did for the lad in an infinitesimal

+fraction of time as much and as effectively as though he

+had taken, say, half an hour to plan his procedure.

+

+He had, however, in escaping Scylla fallen into

+Charybdis.  As soon as Joe reached the water he made

+for the boat.  Fortunately he did not fall into it, or this

+story might never have been told.  He fell into the

+stream, some two or three yards away from the skiff.

+Quickly as he was carried down-stream he managed by

+violent efforts to reach the boat at the stern.  Tom

+clutched him frantically by the shirt collar, enabling the

+swimmer to get his hands on the gunwale.  Joe, thus

+helped, clambered into the boat or ever the boat's crew

+had recovered from their consternation.

+

+"Oh, Moses!" exclaimed, or rather gasped, he,

+"that—was—a go.  Whew!"

+

+"My goodness!  How'd yer come to fall kersplosh like

+that?"

+

+"Why!" pointing up.  "See! there's the beast.  See

+him crawling out there?"

+

+The boys, looking up, descried the snake winding its

+sinuous way along a lateral bough that grew up above

+the forks.  The disturbed and excited snake, having

+reached the limb, wound its course till it reached a

+clump of bushy branches on the limb's extremity.  On

+this it coiled itself, save the head and neck, which stood

+erect in vigilant attitude.

+

+"Oh, crikey! was that *there* on—in the body's—the

+woman's body?"

+

+"Yes, Jimmy; right in the blanket on her breast.

+'Twas that brute moving under the blanket that I thought

+was *her* breathing.  Oh, my!" again exclaimed the youth,

+with a shudder, as he thought of the imminence of the

+danger which confronted him a moment before.

+

+"Is—it—her—dead, Joe?" asked Tom after an interval

+of silence.

+

+"No doubt of it, boys."

+

+"Wonder if the snake bit her?"

+

+"May have.  Anyway the poor thing is dead all right."

+

+"What's bes' thing to do now?"

+

+"W-e-ll, I d-o-n't know——"

+

+Again that shrill wailing cry!

+

+"*Can't* be the woman!" said Joe excitedly.  "Why,

+she's as dead as a herrin'!"

+

+"I have it, boys!" shouted Tom, as he jumped up

+excitedly and cut a caper.  "It's the darned ole cat!"

+

+A look of great relief passed over each countenance

+at the thought.

+

+Tom, meanwhile, lifted up the locker lid, disclosing

+the rescued cat, which, together with her two bairns,

+were stowed in the locker shortly after being saved from

+the flood.  The animals were snuggled together on a

+cornsack, and looked the very picture of contentment.

+The kittens were dining baby fashion, and the mother's

+purr declared the very excess of maternal rapture.

+

+On seeing the boys, pussy gave a low, affectionate

+miaow, and made a sympathetic movement of the tail,

+as if to say: "Thank you a thousand times, young

+gentlemen, for the good deed which we never, never

+shall forget."  And then, motherlike, proceeded to "lick"

+her offspring.

+

+"It's not the cat, Tom."

+

+"Well, what on earth, water, or air is it?"

+

+The mystery is insoluble.  As the boys look down

+upon the happy and contented felines, they one and all

+reject Tom's confident affirmation of a moment before.

+If not the cat, what then?

+

+Again the tiny, shrill cry arose, but not from the cat's

+mouth.  It came from the tree above, and as the startled

+youths looked up they saw the overhanging end of the

+blanket agitated.

+

+"Why, why—the poor thing must really be alive after

+all, chaps.  There's something more up there than I've

+discovered; so here's up again!"

+

+Acting on this impulse, Joe again ascended the tree.

+Those below watched intently, their feelings strained to

+the utmost tension.  As soon as our hero got to his

+former position in the forks, he received another shock.

+It was sudden as the other, but not so disastrous.  An

+inarticulate and involuntary cry brought fresh alarm to

+his pals, who all the while were staring up, too frightened

+to ask any questions.  The boy, despite the second shock,

+still clung to the tree.  The woman was dead beyond all

+doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life.  A brief

+and astonished survey, and the boy leans over the limb

+and speaks quietly to those below—

+

+"The woman's dead, boys, but *there's a baby here*.  It's

+tied to her breast.  It's alive!"

+

+Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of

+the statement, the babe lifted up its voice once more

+in a feeble cry.  The scene in that tree Joe never will

+forget; the like he will not see again though he rival

+Methuselah in age.  The only thing he can yet see is a

+little hand and arm, which have wriggled from the

+covering.  Moving cautiously along the branch to the

+converging point, leaning on one fork, and placing his

+feet against another so as to stiffen himself, the boy was

+able to use his two hands.  He first, and not without an

+inward tremor, removed the dead hand which lay upon

+the blanket, the stiffened fingers still clutching the

+clothes and holding them to the breast.  The last thought

+and the last act of the exhausted and dying woman was

+to succour and to defend her little one.

+

+Straightening the arm so that it lay by her side, Joe

+opened the blanket from where the little hand stuck

+up.  There, on the breast of the dead, she lay, a

+sweet-faced baby girl!  The little one's face was puckered up,

+'tis true, and there were tears upon her pale cheeks.

+The cries and tears were not the symbols of pain, they

+were those of hunger.  Joe could plainly see that all

+the mother's thoughts were for the child.  It was snugly

+folded in the blanket end; then tied to her waist by a

+handkerchief passed round the body.  The remainder of

+the blanket was then arranged so as to thoroughly

+protect the child from the inclement weather.

+

+Untying the handkerchief, the lad folded it in a

+peculiar fashion like as he had seen the black gins do.

+Carefully lifting the babe, he laid it in the widest part,

+made it secure to the body under the arms, and placed it

+on his back, bringing the ends of the wrapper together.

+round his neck.

+

+This done, he prepared for the descent.  It was easily

+accomplished, even with the incumbrance of the child.

+Landing safely in the boat, which was kept well up to

+the tree, Joe placed her in the stern on the locker seat,

+where the little one lay squirming and crying piteously.

+

+The news of the baby variously affected the boys.

+Jimmy Flynn, whose baby sister had died a few

+months before, looked very tenderly upon this nameless

+waif.

+

+"Make a place on the floor for it, Joe," said he.  "It'll

+lie there more comfortably, an' it'll be more like a cradle."

+

+The advice was good.  The coats, which the boys shed

+soon as they entered upon the expedition in the

+morning, made a soft bed for the little one.  The wee

+mite was evidently about nine months old.  For all its

+adventure and exposure it seemed to have suffered little,

+and now in its cry is only voicing the pleadings of its

+empty stomach.  It was adequately, though very plainly

+dressed, and through all the rain of the preceding night

+had kept dry.  Fortunately, too, the snake which had

+been curled up in one of the blanket folds had not come

+into actual contact with the child.  There were only two

+things required to bring it to a condition of happy

+contentment: nursing and feeding.

+

+Capable as this quartet of Australian lads were in

+many ways, in this they were novices.  So it was with a

+look of ashamed helplessness that they gazed at the new

+passenger, as she lay in the bottom of the boat on her

+back, kicking her heels in the air at a great rate, and

+doubling her dimpled hands first into her eyes and then

+into her mouth.  The cry went forth without ceasing, its

+only variation being the peculiar noise caused by an

+intermittent sucking of her diminutive fists.

+

+By a happy thought of Jimmy the hunger difficulty was

+overcome.  The boys had picked up a fine lot of oranges,

+as well as some dozens of plantains, in the back-water.

+After they had eaten a quantity they stowed the balance

+away in the bow locker, and completely forgot them in

+the exciting events which followed.  Jimmy suddenly

+remembered the fruit.  Selecting a fine specimen, he

+quickly peeled and quartered it.  Then, seeding some of

+the quarters, he put one in baby's fist, guiding the same

+to her mouth.  The sweet, juicy orange was simply

+nectar to the famished child.  It sucked as only a

+hunger-bitten baby can.  The boys were highly amused at the

+way in which she mouthed the skin, and the difficulty

+Jimmy encountered in unlocking her little fingers

+order to substitute a full for an empty quarter.  It

+indeed a happy solution; an admirable recipe for tears

+and squalls.  As long as baby had an orange quarter it

+was peaceful.  After a little while Jimmy took the little

+one on his knee, giving furtive glances towards the

+others as he did so.  The boys, however, under all

+the sad circumstances forebore to chaff.  Substituting,

+at length, a ripe plantain for an orange section, the

+babe was taken to the seventh heaven of gastronomic

+bliss.

+

+.. _`The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-064.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."

+

+   "The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."—*See p.* `69`_

+

+And the while above them in the she-oak, whose

+thread-like leaves make mournful music to the wind, lies

+the mother who has sacrificed her life for that of the babe.

+There is no doubt of this.  The poor woman must have

+been exposed to the winds and waves long before she

+reached the tree refuge.  How she got there was never

+known.  She had almost denuded herself to protect the

+babe.  Little wonder that at some moment of that awful

+night vigil the vital spark should have quitted its

+terror-haunted tenement.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE RETURN`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER X

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE RETURN

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "See the conquering hero comes!

+   |  Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+After baby's hunger was satisfied the boys' attention was

+given to their immediate surroundings.

+

+"What are we goin' to do about *her*?" asked Tom,

+pointing upward as he spoke.

+

+"It's simply impossible for us to do anything.  If she

+were alive we would take any risk.  But as things are it

+is beyond our power to shift the body, it is jammed so

+tightly.  The only thing left for us to do is to inform the

+police when we get to the other side."

+

+"What'll we do now, Joe?"

+

+"Get back to our former anchorage first.  River's goin'

+down pretty fast, I reckon; and it'll be all dry about here

+before morning if it recedes at the same rate.  The current

+is not nearly so strong as it was when we came over, and

+that will make it easier for us to get out of the clump.

+There's no need for us to go back by the same course.

+We can take a slant across to that red gum, and when

+we're there we're out of the stream."

+

+The exit from the cluster of trees was very well managed,

+and in a few minutes from the time of casting adrift from

+the she-oak the boat was out of the clump and across the

+narrow stream into the slack water.  They continued on

+to their former camping place, and hitched on to the tree.

+

+This gallant attempt at rescue, though not

+accomplishing what was in the minds of the boys, was not

+altogether a failure.  Indeed, it was the reverse of that.

+Though but little time is consumed in reading the account

+of this episode, it covered a goodly portion of the day.  By

+the time the boys had made fast to their former anchorage,

+the slanting sun-rays proclaimed the advance of eventide.

+

+"Let's have a confab, chaps, on what's best to be done.

+I don't s'pose any of us is wanting to stick here all night.

+What d'you say, Tom?"

+

+"I say pull over to the hillock on the other side of the

+slack.  See! the water's retreated from the high ground.

+We could camp there, I dare say, easy enough, and get

+home early to-morrow morning.  I don't think we ought

+to tackle the river to-night.  I bet you it'd be a measly,

+tricky trip.  So I vote to do as I said."

+

+"What d'you say, Billy?"

+

+"I say same as Tom.  Plenty dry land over there.

+Might get matches in that house behind the hill.  I'll pull

+'possum outa spout, an' we'll roast 'im an' make bully

+feed."

+

+Billy, as indeed were all the boys, was beginning to feel

+desperately hungry.

+

+"What have you got to say, Jimmy?"

+

+Jimmy Flynn, who had been gazing wistfully across

+the flood waters, turned round slowly as Joe put the

+question to him.  "Oh, Joe! can't we get home to-night?

+The river isn't so bad as when we crost up at the Bend.

+There's not nearly so much timber goin' down now.  'Sides,

+it's easier crossing down here to what it was above.  I

+give a straight vote for—home!"

+

+"Bravo!  Well done, Jimmy!  You're a brick.  It's

+just the word, an' we're the coves to do it.  It's my vote

+too, my hearties.  We've half an hour of sun left: say

+an hour before it's right dark.  I reckon 'twill be about

+two mile an' a half from here to Tareela.  It won't be

+near as difficult as up by the Bend.  Yes, we'll do it, boys;

+an' the sooner the better.  Then there's the blessed little

+baby, you know!  Some of us would have to mind her in

+the night, an' what about your beauty sleep then?  I

+reckon the kiddie would be too much for the whole boilin'

+of us.  And I've a notion that too much fruit'll be worse

+for her than none at all.  S'pose she gets the jim-jams!

+And, lastly, as father says when he's preaching, what

+about the old folks at home?"

+

+There was no need to say anything further.

+

+"I'm game, for one," said Tom.

+

+"I'm game, for two," said Billy.

+

+"I'm game, for three," said Jimmy.

+

+"Put me down for the fourth," said Joe.

+

+"Now, boys, that's settled.  We'll tackle the river

+straight away; for better or for worse, as dad says in the

+marriage ceremony.  And I say, chaps, let's ask God to

+help us."

+

+Though there was no audible form of expression, the

+spirit of prayer was in each boy's heart.  He who sat

+above the floods heard and answered.

+

+"Billy and Jimmy are to take the oars.  We want the

+best men at the paddles.  Now then, Tom, let the painter

+go an' keep the pole handy for driftwood."

+

+The painter is slipped, and the boat's head is turned

+riverwards.  She is soon out of the slack, and feels the

+full force of the flood.  The starting-point was nearly a

+mile and a half above the township, so that there was a

+liberal margin for drift.  The river was quite a mile wide.

+There was still a quantity of driftwood, and many

+difficulties beset them which made delicate steering and

+skilful management incumbent.  When they had travelled

+about half the distance, Tom, who was eagerly conning the

+other shore, gave a shout, pointing at the same time to

+a headland above the village.

+

+"Some 'un's waving!  See 'em, over there!"

+

+Mrs. Blain was the first to spy the advancing boat.

+The boys' mothers had been trapsing the lagoon shore and

+river-side for hours, in a semi-demented manner.  The

+minister and the others had returned after a fruitless

+errand.  The police, with a strong crew in the Government

+whale-boat, were scouring the shores in the vicinity of the

+Bend, and had not returned.  The disappearance of the

+boys had seemed most mysterious until the break-away

+was discovered.  Then the accident as it really happened

+was immediately conjectured.  The profoundest sensation

+was created in the village, for the boys were dearly loved

+by all.

+

+The feelings of the poor parents may be but faintly

+imagined.  Great was the relief, therefore, when Mrs. Blain,

+whose eyes were devouring the flood waters in her

+frantic eagerness to discover some hopeful sign, suddenly

+screamed out in an alarming manner, gesticulating wildly

+as she did so, and acting to outward seeming in a frenzied

+fashion.  Other searchers, scattered along the river-bank,

+hearing the piercing cry, and seeing the untoward gestures

+of the joy-possessed woman, came running towards her,

+thinking for the moment that she had lost her reason.

+

+"See, see!" screamed she, pointing to a distant spot on

+the waters.  "They're saved, they're saved!  God be

+praised, our lovely boys are returning all safe; yes, one,

+two, three, four—the darlings."

+

+.. _`69`:

+

+Looking in the direction indicated, the neighbours saw,

+far out on the wild, impetuous, wreckage-strewn waters,

+a tiny boat with four slight figures running the blockade;

+threading their course between the thousand objects which

+intervene and threaten destruction.

+

+The good news is now shouted from end to end of the

+township, and in a few minutes the river-bank is lined

+with exultant and yet anxious spectators.  For the joy of

+the discovery of the lads is almost quenched at times by

+sights of the perils of the passage.

+

+The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped

+together, wrought up to such a pitch of anxiety as to be

+well-nigh silent.  They noted every danger and counted

+every oar-stroke.  The gallant rowers lifted their blades

+in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing

+waters.  Beyond a landward look the boys had no time

+to bestow upon the excited spectators.  Eye and mind, in

+close conjunction, are continuously engaged in evading

+danger and maintaining the boat's position.

+

+"We'll make the point," exclaimed Joe, after an

+interval of silence.  "We'll make the point, all right.

+Keep her steady, lads," turning the boat's nose, as he

+spoke, well up stream, at an angle inclining shorewards.

+"Now, pull like a prize crew for five minutes an' we're

+there.  We're out of the driftwood as it is."

+

+The rowers needed no further stimulus.  They bent to

+the oars like old salts.

+

+"Capital! just the stroke!  Keep it up!  Hear 'em

+cheering!"

+

+The cheering spurred on the boys, and in less than five

+minutes they landed in the midst of a wildly excited and

+loud-cheering crowd.  And wasn't there a hugging and

+kissing, and hand-shaking and back-slapping!

+

+Just as the women were up to their necks in it, to use

+a homely figure, some one happened to glance at the boat.

+The glance extorted a scream.

+

+"A baby, a darling baby!  See, see, see! a little baby

+in the boat!"

+

+A moment's dazed surprise, and every one crowded to

+the boat.  Joe, who had not moved far from the boat's

+nose, and who only waited for the violence of the

+welcome to abate a little that he might call attention to

+the precious freight, waved the jostling crowd back, and

+in a few words related the incident of the rescue.

+

+A great wave of feeling passed over the crowd as he

+spoke.  The women wept copiously as the scene was

+conjured us, and strong men unconsciously shed briny

+tears as the story reached its culminating point of the

+discovery of the helpless and orphaned babe, bound to

+the dead breast of her who had thus made the great

+sacrifice of motherhood.

+

+While Joe was reciting the story of the rescue, Jimmy

+Flynn held on to his mother's arm and whispered excitedly

+into her ear.  The narrator had hardly finished ere

+Mrs. Flynn stepped forward to his side and faced the crowd.

+Ordinarily, this woman was undemonstrative and shy.

+Now she is unconscious of any timidity.  The moment

+was an inspired one; to produce which Jimmy's whisperings

+had played an important part.

+

+"Mr. Blain, and friends all, give me the darling baby.

+It'll take the place of the one God took from me last

+month.  The clothes'll fit——"

+

+The bereft mother could get no further.  Any woman

+who has lost a child will tell you why.

+

+"My friends, you all know Mrs. Flynn, as I know her.

+If it were a matter of choosing between you, I should

+still say that no one in the town is better fitted for the

+sacred duty of mothering this little flood-driven stranger.

+None of us can say to whom the child belongs; whether

+there is a father or near relations.  But until it is claimed

+by those who can prove the right to do so, the very best

+of all possible arrangements, and one I regard as

+providential, will be for Mrs. Flynn to take this baby to

+nourish and cherish it."

+

+The murmurs of assent were unanimous.  Joe, without

+any more delay, stepped into the boat, and, picking up

+the child—which all this time looked round, wondering in

+its baby way at this ado—put the little one into its

+foster-mother's hands.

+

+The river baby was evidently delighted beyond measure

+to receive a warm motherly embrace; judging, at any rate,

+by the way it gooed and crowed.

+

+As soon as she could get through the admiring throng,

+Mrs. Flynn hastened home, and before long the baby,

+washed and dressed anew, was filling its "little Mary"

+with sweet new milk.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE BREAKING UP`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE BREAKING-UP

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "With trumping horn and juvenile huzzas,

+   |  At going home to spend their Christmas days,

+   |  And changing Learning's pains for Pleasure's toys."

+   |                                      TOM HOOD.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Out through the gateway of the National School, on one

+sultry afternoon in late December, tumbled a pack of noisy

+boys and scarcely less noisy girls; the while they kicked

+up a fine dust, yelling in an uproarious fashion.  Were

+you, a stranger, to ask the cause of this demonstration

+of voice and capering limbs, you would be answered by a

+score of voices in rousing chorus—

+

+   |  "Hip, hip, hurray for Christmas Day!

+   |  School's broke up, hip, hip, hurray!"

+   |

+

+However strongly one might be disposed to question

+the quality of the couplet as he listened to the trumpetings

+of this cluster of children, he would cheerfully admit

+the gusto of the proceedings as the juveniles issued

+pell-mell.

+

+If truth be told, the master was no less pleased than the

+youngsters when the actual moment of dismissal came.

+Like all schools, this particular one was infected for weeks

+previously with a spirit of restlessness, which made it

+well-nigh impossible to secure the undivided attention of

+the children.  There was no disposition for serious study,

+and Simpson, who was a wise teacher, attempted no

+coercive measures.  Natural history was presented in its

+most attractive forms.  Grammar and arithmetic were for

+the most part tabooed, and instead of puzzling refractory

+brains with arithmetical and grammatical abstractions, the

+children lived in the jungles of India, crossed Sahara, took

+a trip to the Booties, wandered into Arctic circles, or,

+what was equally exciting, made transcontinental trips in

+company with Sturt, Burke and Wills, Leichhardt, and

+other great Australian explorers.

+

+Many were the schemes unfolded and plans laid by the

+boys during the last schooldays.  The holidays would not

+be an undiluted playtime to any one of the boys.  Many

+of the lads would work hard on the farms; their parents,

+bearing in mind the old adage of Satan and idle hands,

+will take good care to anticipate the sinister designs of

+that interfering old gentleman.  The wood pile stood as

+an unfailing object of labour.  Sheds were awaiting the

+whitewash brush.  Fowl houses loomed expectant.

+Fences demanded attention.  These, and many other

+duties about house and farm, were put off till the

+"holidays."

+

+There were other anticipations, however, far more

+highly coloured and bewitching than these.  Charm the

+schoolboy never so wisely, his thoughts, with a dogged

+obstinacy or triumphant breakaway, return to the

+delectable things of the groves, streams, mountains, and

+plains.  Horse, gun, dog, rod, bat, duck, quail, pigeon;

+perch, bream, mullet; kangaroo, wallaby, dingo, brumby,

+scrubber!  These are the sources and instruments of

+pleasure; things that people the imagination, and make an

+earthly paradise.

+

+Sobering down, after an unusual indulgence in larks to

+mark the auspicious event, Joe, Tom, and Sandy, separating

+from the others, sauntered to the slip-rail entrance of

+the school horse-paddock.  Joe and Tom, at the express

+request of Mrs. M'Intyre, are to spend the holidays with

+Sandy on the station.  Here all kinds of fun and alluring

+adventure are promised the lads.  How well that promise

+was redeemed let the sequel bear witness.

+

+"Now then, you fellows, don't forget that you are to be

+at Bullaroi on the morning of Christmas Eve without fail."

+

+"I say, ole boss, what does eve mean?"

+

+"Eve!  Why, a—er—short for evening, I s'pose.  What

+makes you ask, Joe?"

+

+"Well, if Christmas Eve is evening, how can we be

+there in the mornin'?—you savee?"

+

+"You're mighty smart, Blain, but did you ever know

+an evening that didn't have a morning to it?"

+

+"Oh—ah—yes, I see.  We're to come out on the

+morning of the evening.  Sure it's an Irishie ye ought

+to be instead of a Scotchie."

+

+"Scotchie or no Scotchie," replied Sandy, who was

+the essence of good-humour, "ye're not to be later than

+ten o'clock of the forenoon of the day before Christmas.

+There!  Will that fit you, you pumpkin-headed son of

+a bald-bellied turnip?"

+

+"Thanks, M'Intyre; I'm sure my father'll be delighted

+when I tell him the respectful titles you've given him,"

+returned Joe, with mock sarcasm.

+

+"He'll no dispute the title of his son's head, anyhow,"

+flung back the Scotch lad, as, bridle in hand, he strolled

+on to round up his steed.

+

+This parthian shot nettled Joe, but the answer he

+would have given remained unuttered, for at this

+moment his eldest sister appeared and beckoned to him

+in an emphatic manner, at the same time calling upon

+him to hurry.  So, contenting himself with levelling

+Midshipman Easy's masonic sign at the retreating lad, he

+hurried along towards his sister.

+

+"Father wants you to go down the river with him in

+the boat."

+

+"Where's it to?"

+

+"Down to Beacon Point.  Tom Tyler's had a bad

+accident, and they've sent for the doctor; but he's away.

+He was called out to a bad case at Dingo Creek head

+station, and is not expected to be back till midday

+to-morrow.  So they've asked father to go down, and

+you've to hurry along.  Father's waiting down at the

+boat for you."

+

+Mr. Blain was waiting at the boat with everything

+that was required for the trip.  As soon as the lad was

+in, he pushed off, and, taking the stern oar, with Joe at

+the bow, father and son started on their twelve-mile

+pull.

+

+In answer to the boy's question the minister gave some

+details of the accident, and, further, informed the lad that

+it was his intention to call at Mrs. Robinson's, distant

+about five miles from Tareela.

+

+They had now settled down to a steady stroke, and as

+the sun was on its westering wheel, and the sting out

+of its slanting rays, the row became enjoyable.  Mr. Blain

+was a sort of newsletter to the settlers, and in his

+trips up-stream and down-stream was frequently hailed

+and made the target of questioning from the riverbank.

+

+Robinsons' was reached a little before sunset, where

+they were made abundantly welcome.  Some years

+previously Mr. Robinson met his death by one of those

+accidents all too common in new settlements.  Felling

+scrub timber is a risky performance.  It so happened

+that in felling a stout fig tree, Robinson failed to notice

+some lawyer vines that, hanging from the high branches,

+had attached themselves to the bare limbs of an adjacent

+dead tree.

+

+Standing at the base and watching the toppling fig

+tree, as it slowly swayed preparatory to its final crash,

+he was unaware that the cable-like vines were retarding

+its progress.  Gathering way, however, the falling tree

+brought a strain upon the vine, and tore away a heavy

+limb of the dead tree.  This falling upon the axe-man,

+killed him instantly.

+

+The widow was blest with a family of boys and girls

+who were true grit.  Misfortune breaks some people—it

+makes others.  The latter was the truth in this case.

+

+In all the trying times Mrs. Robinson underwent, the

+minister was her friend and counsellor.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`DOWN THE RIVER`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   DOWN THE RIVER

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "When the full moon flirts with the perigee tide,

+   |  On a track of silver away we ride,—

+   |  Oh, glorious times we have together,

+   |  My boat and I in the summer weather."

+   |                          ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The boat was sighted from Robinsons' some time before

+its nose grated on the shingle at the landing-place.

+

+Isaac, the younger son, a giant in stature and a prime

+favourite with Joe, was at the landing-stage.  Seizing

+the bow what time it touched land, he half lifted, half

+dragged the boat two-thirds of her length out of the

+water, and made her fast to an old stump.

+

+"Mother's so glad you've come, sir.  She wants to talk

+with you about that boy of Maguire's, who's bin givin' us

+a lot of trouble."

+

+"Won't be able to stay long, Ike.  We've got to be

+at Beacon Point to night.  We just put in for a cup of tea

+and a bite.  Mother's inside, I suppose?  I'll go in and

+have a chat with her."

+

+"You'll find her in the kitchen, sir.  When we saw

+you roundin' Piccaniny Point we knew you'd be here for

+tea, and mother's lookin' after things."

+

+"I hope she won't go to any trouble.  A mouthful is

+all we want."

+

+"Well, you know mother, sir.  She feels that nothin'

+is near good enough."

+

+"Any pancakes for tea, Ike?"

+

+"Pancakes!  Why, of course.  That's what mother's

+makin' now.  She knew that'd be the first thing you'd be

+askin' fur, Joe."

+

+"Rather, Ike!" said Joe, pursing his mouth and drawing

+in his breath with the peculiar, half-whistling, unwriteable

+sound which boys instinctively make when visions of

+goodies arise.  More especially when such goodies come

+within measurable distance of consumption.

+

+Master Joe had a healthy boy's appetite.  The rowing

+exercise gave additional spice to his hunger.  Pancake

+was at that moment the gate of entry to the boy's very

+material heaven.

+

+"Tea won't be ready fur a few minutes, Joe.  Let's go

+down to the barn.  I was just goin' to rub some more

+mixture inter the skins when I seen your boat roundin'

+the point.  Sorry you're goin' on, my son.  When I seen

+you on the river I ses to meself, ses I, 'By George!  Joey

+an' I'll have a great night at the 'possums.'  I wish to

+goodness you'd been stayin'.  There'll be a grand moon ter

+night, an it's very temptin'."

+

+"By gum, ain't it just!  It'd be simply, rippin'.

+'Member last time I was down?  That was a grand bit

+of sport we had.  Forty-seven was it, or forty-nine?  I

+know it took a dashed long time to skin 'em."

+

+"Forty-seven it was.  We'd do over fifty to-night."

+

+"Well, as mother says, 'What can't be cured must be

+endured.'  By dad! that's a grand wallaby skin!  Where'd

+you get it?"

+

+"Got it larst night."  Ike had the Colonial drawl to

+perfection.  "I was up at the top end of the scrub

+cultivation paddick, mooseying around after some cockatoos

+that'd bin skinnin' the corn.  It was just about dusk,

+an' I was waitin' in the corner for the cockies, as I knew

+they'd soon be leavin' fur their roosts, an' my bes' charnse

+at 'em was on the wing.  They're so 'tarnal cute, yer know,

+yer carn't git 'em on the corn."

+

+"I know.  Didn't I try my best to stalk 'em the last

+time I was down, Ike!  I got three altogether, you

+'member, an' you said it'd be a crest apiece to take home

+to the girls."

+

+"Waal, as I was sayin', I'd sarcumvented the ole boss

+cockie, which was keeping watch in the dead gum-tree

+that stood in the middle of the patch, an' was posted in

+the middle of the corner expectin' them ter fly over every

+minit.  But ole Pincher, who was chevyin' about, starts

+this ere boss outer the pumpkin vines; they're death on

+pumpkins, yer know.  The dorg made a dash at 'im, an',

+by jings! he did streak.  Greased lightnin' wasn't in it

+with 'im.  I tried to draw a bead on 'im, but, what with

+the dusk an' the bushes an' stumps, I couldn't get a good

+line.  I banged away one barril, but was yards off, I

+reckon.

+

+"Pincher, he disappeared in a brace of shakes, an' I

+made sure the vermin ud get through a 'ole in the fence.

+I was makin' for 'ome, 'cause the cockies, yer know, 'ad

+all gone.  All of a suddent I heers a yelp, an' knew ole

+Pinch 'ad somehow 'eaded 'im.  Reckon 'e missed the 'ole,

+or the dorg'd never got near 'im.  Anyhow, 'e was

+a-streakin' a bit now, an' Pinch at 'is 'eels.  He was makin'

+fur the maize agen.  I lined 'im this time all right, though

+it was a longish shot; about sixty-five I reckon; an'

+dropped 'im clean at the very edge."

+

+"It's a prime pelt, anyway."

+

+"Yaas, 'e was a grand ole buck fur a wally; about the

+biggest I've got this season."

+

+"How many skins have you taken, Ike?"

+

+"Two more'n I'd 'ave six dozen."

+

+"Gettin' a good price for 'em?"

+

+"Waal, Jack Croft, 'e offered me nine shillin' a dozen

+fur 'em.  There are about twenty kangaroos among 'em.

+Jack reckoned it was a stiff price, an' 'e sed 'e'd not offer

+anythin' near it but fur the kangaroo skins, which 'e 'ad

+a fancy fur."

+

+"Old Jack can put it on, you know."

+

+"Oh, I know Jack all right!  Me an' 'im's 'ad dealin'

+afore.  Jacky's not too bad, but 'e knows 'ow to draw

+the long bow.  Anyway, ole Eb Dowse's boat'll be along

+nex' week.  He's sent word ter say as 'e'd do a deal

+with me fur 'em."

+

+"Better wait an' see what Eb'll shell out for 'em, Ike, I

+reckon.  German Harry, up the river, says he can always

+knock a shillin' a dozen more out of Eb than Jack."

+

+"I ain't hurryin', Joe."

+

+Just then the welcome supper cooee reached their ears.

+The boys lost no time in getting to the supper-table.

+Joe instinctively eyed the contents.  Cold streaky bacon;

+a big dish of fried pumpkin and potatoes; a mountain

+of home-made bread, sliced; a basin of prime butter;

+Cape gooseberry jam galore, and amber-tinted honey in

+the comb.  What more could any hungry lad desire?

+

+Mary Robinson, a great tease, caught Joe's glance,

+and said, with an amused smile, "No pancakes to-night, Joe."

+

+Joe was abashed for the fraction of a second.  Quickly

+rallying, he laughingly said, "Tell another, Mary, while

+your mouth's hot."

+

+"Very well, my boy!  If you don't believe me ask

+our black tom-cat.  He chased a mouse into the batter

+and upset the bowl; so there!"

+

+"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson.  "There's

+only a grain of truth in the pound of fiction she's giving

+you, Joe.  The cat, it is true, did chase a mouse; but

+it did not jump into the batter, nor was the bowl

+upset.  The pancakes are cooked, with currans in 'em;

+just the sort you like; and they're keeping hot by the fire."

+

+"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe *you* anyway.

+As for Mary, she's like Sandy M'Intyre's old,

+toothless sheep-dog."

+

+"How's that, Joe?" interjected Ike.

+

+"Bark's worse than her bite."

+

+"My stars! what originality, what refinement!

+Sandy's razor is not in it with master Joe Blain for

+sharpness.  I'll remember this, though, the next time you

+ask me to go out to the scrub with you for passion fruit.

+Anyhow, there's no resemblance between you and Sandy's

+wonderful barker."

+

+"*Indeed!*"

+

+"No; your bark's noisy enough, but your bite's a

+hundred times worse—especially when pancakes are

+about."

+

+With this "Roland" Mary ran out to the kitchen

+to get the teapot.

+

+Joe made a royal repast, topping off with the hot

+pancakes at a rate which caused his father to dryly

+remark: "Too much pancake won't help the boat along,

+my boy."

+

+Tea finished, the visitors prepare to continue their

+voyage.  With Ike's powerful assistance the boat is

+shoved into the water, and her nose pointed down-stream.

+In due time Beacon Point is reached.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: small

+

+"Boyhood is the natural time for abundant play and laughter, without

+which rarely does high health touch young cheeks with its rose-bloom,

+or knit bones strongly for the fighting and the toiling that awaits

+them."—JOSEPH H. FLETCHER.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Now then, Norah, look slippy with breakfast!  It's

+half-past six, an' Sandy's to be here at seven.  Said he'd

+leave the station at five with the spare horse for me."

+

+"Begorrah! at the rate breakfast's cookin' it'll be

+midnight before it's ready.  'Tis the bastliest wood that

+niwer was."

+

+"Time the fish was fryin', Norah."

+

+"Fish, bedad!  For two pins ye wuddent have anny

+fish.  The thrubble Oi've had wid thim!  Phwat for did

+youse lave thim in the bag all night?  If ye'd put thim

+out on the dish, ye spalpeen, Oi'd have seen thim and

+claned thim long ba-fore Oi wint to bed.  'Sted of which

+it's tuk me two morchial hours to scale the brutes, they

+was that dry and hard.  Be Saint Pathrick, they scales

+was loike porky-pine's pricklies!"

+

+"Sorry, Norah; my fault as usual," remarked Joe

+good-humouredly.  "Father called out to turn the horse from

+the lucerne just as I reached the back door.  So I threw

+the bag down on the steps to chase the moke, an' clean

+forgot 'em when I came back."

+

+"Well, Oi'll forgive ye wanst more, which makes about

+a million tousandth toime; but, moind ye, 'tis——"

+

+"All serene, Norah!  Oh, I say, Norry, I'd nearly

+forgotten it!  Paddy Lacey asked me yesterday to tell

+you that they want you to go to the Hibernian picnic on

+Boxing Day.  They've chartered the *Firefly*, an' are goin'

+down to the Bar."

+

+"God's truth! 'tis only gammoning me ye are, Masther

+Joe.  It's a young thrick ye be, indade, with yure

+Hayburnion picnacs."

+

+"It's as true as true, Norah.  No make-up this time.

+An' oh!  I say, d'you know what Jimmy Flynn tole Tom

+Hawkins?"

+

+"Nawthin' good, bedad!"

+

+"Ain't it!  Well, opinions differ.  At any rate he was

+goin' to set a line on Friday night, an' as he was roundin'

+the point he hears somewheres ahead of him a noise

+between a smack an' a crack.  Then comes a bit of

+a squeal, an' a woman's voice sings out: 'Don't,

+stop it!'  Then there was another smack-crack, an'

+just as he got round the corner he sees a couple,

+for all the world like you and Paddy, sittin' on a log.

+No, 'twas Paddy that was on the log, an' you were on

+Paddy's——"

+

+"Ye loi-in spalpeen!  Oi'll pull yure tongue from

+betune yure teeth," screamed Norah, as, blushing furiously,

+she chased the nimble Joe out of the kitchen right into

+the arms of Sandy M'Intyre, as he was coming up the

+back doorstep.

+

+"Hello, Sandy!"

+

+"Hello, Joe!  What's row inside?  Norah givin' you

+the rounds of the kitchen as usual, eh?"

+

+"Only jiggin' her about Paddy Lacey, an' got her *paddy*

+up a bit.  You're up to time, Sandy, ole man.  By jing!

+I see you've brought Curlew in.  Am I to ride him?  My

+word! it is good of your governor to let me.  I thought

+you'd a brought the piebald."

+

+"So I intended, but he was limpin' when he was run

+into the stockyard; so father says, 'Take Curlew.'"

+

+Curlew was Mr. M'Intyre's favourite horse, and Joe

+was highly honoured in being allowed to ride this

+mettlesome but lovely paced steed.

+

+Just then breakfast appeared.  After a substantial meal

+Joe brought out his father's valise and strapped it to the

+saddle.

+

+"All ready, Sandy?  Good-bye, mother.  Good-bye,

+father.  Good-bye, girls!"

+

+And so, with kisses and cautions from the family, the

+boys mounted their steeds and cantered down the street

+to the punt, on their way to Bullaroi, as Mr. M'Intyre's

+station was called.

+

+Across the river the boys were joined by Tom Hawkins,

+who was to accompany them.  Tom, who was mounted

+on a brisk pony, greeted them with a cheery cry as the

+punt reached the shore.  A jollier trio of young

+Australians could not be found than this chattering, capering

+band, who on that brilliant morning raced along the bush

+track.

+

+Plans of fun and frolic were projected during the ride,

+including astounding adventures that would have taken

+half a year to carry out.  In anticipation the lads were

+already having tip-top fun.  Tom's riotous imagination,

+especially, made the spoils of the gun, the rod, and the

+chase to assume brobdingnagian proportions.

+

+In due course they pulled up at the slip-rails marking

+the Bullaroi boundary line.  Thence to the white gate

+seen in the distance, and which fronted the homestead,

+a mad race ensued.  In this Curlew was first, the rest

+nowhere.  Indeed, Curlew became so excited by the gallop

+and the shrill shoutings of the riders that Joe, who had

+made no attempt to pull him till the horse was almost on

+the gate, found it impossible to stop his steed, which was

+full of running.  Before the boy fully realised it, Curlew

+was soaring through the air, clearing the gate by at least

+a couple of feet.  Joe, parting from the "pigskin," was

+sailing through space on his own account, leaving a foot

+or two between his sit-down and the saddle seat.

+

+Joe, though a fair rider, was not a practised

+steeple-chaser.  He was not a horseman, as were Sandy and Tom,

+who were to the manner born.  Little wonder, then, that

+his heart rose with the horse and his rider, and for some

+brief moments palpitated furiously in his mouth.  That

+mysterious and natural law of the universe called

+gravitation was on hand, however, and saved the situation.

+

+Curlew's hoofs struck the ground on the descending

+curve as lightly as a cat.  Joe's legs, which in this aerial

+flight had assumed the shape of an inverted V, came plop

+into the saddle at the right moment.  But his body was

+thrown forward, his hands clutching frantically at the

+horse's neck and mane.  In this condition, unable to

+recover his equilibrium, with but the loss of his hat, the

+rider is carried over the intervening distance to the

+stables, amid loud laughter from the station people, who

+had been attracted by the shouting of the boys.

+

+Sandy cleared the gate in pursuit of Joe, but failed

+to catch him.  Tom was obliged to haul up and open the

+gates, as the jump was too high for his pony.  Thus the rider

+of Curlew came in a winner, and all three dismounted

+amid laughter and teasings.

+

+"Weel, Joseph, my lad," said Mr. M'Intyre, who

+possessed a pawky humour, "Johnny Gilpin couldna hae

+done the trick better.  You kep' up wi' Curlew, anyway.

+I thocht he was goin' to leave ye behind.  Ma certie

+it's deeficult to say which is the winner, you or the horse.

+We'll juist ca' it neck an' neck."

+

+"Take no heed to him, Joe," said Mrs. M'Intyre.  She

+saw through the lad's apparent good-humour a sense of

+humiliation at his unhorsemanlike entry.  "You did well

+to stick to him, not knowing his intention.  But come

+away in, boys; ye'll be ready for something to eat after

+that ride.  We're right glad to see you.  Sandy was so

+excited last night at the prospect of your coming that I

+am sure he didn't sleep a wink.  Why, he had the horses

+saddled at dawn, and was off without a bite if I hadn't

+stopped him and made him drink a cup of coffee."

+

+The day was a busy one on the station.  Every one

+was engaged in finishing off jobs and cleaning up.  For

+during Christmas week, and until after New Year's Day,

+only that which was absolutely necessary in the way of

+work was expected.

+

+During the previous week drafting and mustering had

+been the all absorbing work on the run.  That finished,

+and a mob of "fats" despatched overland to Maitland to

+catch the Christmas market, the last few days were

+occupied in culling "boilers" and in branding calves.

+On this particular day all the available hands were

+engaged in tidying up; the whitewash bucket being in

+great request.

+

+Willy and Jacky, the aboriginal boys, together with an

+Irish lad,—Norah's brother, in fact,—were enrolled as

+whitewash artists.  Their special work consisted in converting

+dingy looking hen-roosts, dog-kennels, pigsties, milking

+sheds, and the like into a brilliant white.  Meanwhile two

+of the men, with rough brooms made of stiff brushes, were

+sweeping the ground within a fair radius of the house.

+

+Inside, the housework was prosecuted with great vigour.

+Two gins were set to work with the scrubbing brush;

+while in the kitchen, where Mrs. Mac and the two elder

+daughters were domiciled, Christmas cooking went on

+apace.  There was, indeed, such a weighing of flour and

+raisins, such a slicing of candied peel, such a dressing

+of flesh and fowl as to make Ah Fat, the cook, fairly

+amazed, and to wonder how in the name of Confucius the

+oven was to stand the cooking strain that was being

+brought upon it.  While from the kitchen an odoriferous

+perfume was wafted across the yard, assaulting all noses,

+and breeding high anticipation, most pleasurable from

+the standpoint of creature comforts.

+

+Mr. M'Intyre, no patron of idleness either in man or boy,

+took the lads early in the day into the harness room, and

+set them to the task of cleaning the saddle and harness

+ware.  Saddles, girths, bridles, various sets of light and

+heavy harness, required attention.  All leather was to be

+well cleaned and oiled, stirrups and bits to be burnished,

+and broken straps to be repaired.

+

+The pals threw themselves, *con amore*, into the work.

+It was hard to say which moved the more briskly, tongues

+or hands.  The afternoon was well advanced before the

+last piece of steel and electro silver was polished, the last

+girth and surcingle refitted, and the whole placed on their

+respective brackets.  This task finished, the boys felt that

+they had earned the promised reward—a glorious swim.

+Within a couple of hours of sunset the whole of the

+outside work was accomplished, and, for the time being, each

+employé was a free agent.

+

+The homestead faced a large affluent of the river, which

+was known as Crocodile Creek.  Why the creek was so

+named was a sort of a mystery.  No species of the saurian

+tribe was ever known to infest its waters.  The name may

+have been given to it through some fancied resemblance

+in its course to the aforesaid reptile.

+

+Crocodile Creek formed a fine frontage to Bullaroi run,

+being distant from the homestead about a quarter of a

+mile.  Immediately opposite, the creek widened out into

+a fine sheet of water some three miles long, and varying

+in width from one hundred to one hundred and fifty

+yards.  There was a particular spot which stood about seven

+or eight feet above the water.  Here Mr. M'Intyre had a

+spring-board constructed.  The water was fully twelve feet

+deep at the jump off, and, added to other advantages,

+formed an ideal spot for bathing purposes.

+

+Having finished their allotted tasks, the lads came

+bounding out of the harness-room and across the yard to

+the house, shouting, as they capered, "Who's for a swim?"  The

+stockmen certainly looked, and no doubt felt, that the

+one thing above all others necessary for their ease and

+comfort after the stable and the house-yard cleaning

+operations was a plunge into the cool, sweet waters of

+the creek.  If they were semi-black by reason of their

+employment, it was no less true that the black boys,

+Willy and Jacky, were semi-white.

+

+Dennis Kineavy, the Irish lad, was the "broth of a

+bhoy," and all three were cram full of impishness.  No

+sooner were the finishing touches of whitewash decoration

+given, than Denny, sneaking up behind Willy and Jacky,

+who stood off a little from the hen-roost admiring their

+artistic handicraft—with capacious brush well charged

+with the sediment of his bucket—smote them in quick

+succession across the bare shoulders and breech, and then,

+with an Irish yell, darted round the stable.

+

+Surprised for the moment, but nothing loath, the black

+boys snatched their buckets, wielded their brushes, and,

+shouting their native war-cry, dashed off in hot pursuit;

+Denny dodged them successfully for a while, but was at

+length outflanked, and then ensued a battle royal which

+only ceased when the supplies of ammunition (whitewash)

+were exhausted.

+

+It was at the tail-end of the fray that Sandy and his mates

+came racing along with the cry of, "Swim O!  Swim O!"

+

+Boys and men, black and white, were all ready and

+willing, nay, eager, for a jolly bogey.[#]  There was a rush

+by the whites for towels; then, in quick procession, the

+motley band made for the water.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] "Bogey," native name for bathe.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+After a plunge and a short swim to get rid of the dust

+and muck, an impromptu carnival was arranged.  First

+of all came the long dive.  This meant a run along the

+spring-board and a dive straight out.  The diver in

+each case, when reaching the surface, had to tread

+water, keeping as nearly as possible to the spot of

+emergence.

+

+Tom Hawkins led off, the others followed in order at

+twenty seconds' interval.  The blacks, by reason of their

+native abilities in this direction, were made to do the

+dive with arms interlocked, Siamese twin fashion.  The

+darkies were the whippers-in of this diving procession.

+Tom, who led off, faltered in his stride when leaving the

+spring-board.  He rose to the surface at about thirty feet

+from the bank.  Joe, who followed, dived a good ten feet

+farther out than Tom.  Sandy, however, when he shot up

+through the water, was fully fifty feet from the shore.

+Both of the stockmen beat Joe, but were behind Sandy.

+

+Then came the blacks, side by side.  With an even,

+measured, and springy stride they raced down the board,

+which was wide enough to admit of this manoeuvre.  They

+took the water without a splash, like a pair of frogs,

+leaving scarce a ripple.  It was naturally thought that by

+being coupled in this way matters would be evened.  It

+was the general opinion that they would fail to reach

+Sandy's limit, and probably not get beyond Joe's.  The

+boys eagerly awaited their reappearance, watching the

+water closely for some sign.  After what appeared to be

+an interminable period they were startled by a double

+cooee, and, lo! the twins, so to speak, had risen at least

+twenty feet beyond Sandy, or seventy feet from the shore.

+

+Somersault diving followed the long distance trial.

+In thia Harry the stockman, who had been a circus

+rider and acrobat in his youthful days, outshone all the

+others.

+

+Then came the exciting game of "catch the devil."  Willy

+was chosen devil.  It was his business to dive off

+the spring-board and run the gauntlet, the others being

+scattered in the water.  To catch the aboriginal seemed

+a comparatively easy matter, all things considered.  He

+was, however, a superb swimmer and trickster, diving

+and dodging like a cormorant.  A dozen times

+surrounded, he marvellously eluded his pursuers.  The game

+was at its height, and there was no knowing how long

+the "devil" would remain at large, when the station bell

+rang out a lusty summons to supper.

+

+This brought the carnival to an instant conclusion.

+And now each swimmer scrambled for the shore, and

+soon the whole company, with clean bodies and healthy

+appetites, were hieing along the track.  When the boys

+reached home they found a new arrival in the person of a

+young Englishman.  This gentleman was out on a business

+tour, and, being anxious to see something of station

+life, was recommended to Mr. M'Intyre by a mutual friend.

+Mrs. M'Intyre's hospitality was proverbial, and Neville,

+for such was the "new chum's" name, was heartily made

+welcome.

+

+The day had been a long one, and, supper ended, the

+boys were quite resigned to go to bed, or at least to the

+bedroom.  The noises therefrom, after their retirement,

+were very suggestive of prime larks, and continued long

+after lights were out.  The pals were domiciled, to their

+great delight, in a big spare room, which contained a

+double bed and a single one.  Joe and Tom shared the

+former, while Sandy camped on the latter, which was,

+indeed, his stretcher brought in for the occasion.

+

+Silence reigned supreme at length within, and without

+was broken only by the hoarse croaking of the frogs, an

+occasional call from a night owl, and the weird wail of

+the curlew.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XIV

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "It was the time when geese despond

+   |    And turkeys make their wills;

+   |  The time when Christians to a man

+   |    Forgive each other's bills.

+   |  It was the time when Christmas glee

+   |    The heart of childhood fills."

+   |                            BRUNTON STEPHENS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Daylight had barely broken.  The only stir in the

+household is that produced by Joe, whose slumber had

+been disturbed by the persistent crawling of flies across

+his face.

+

+There are three things in animated nature which run

+each other very closely for the supremacy in downright

+tenacity to purposeful cussedness.  Pig, Hen, Fly—these

+three!  And of the three, the cussedest and most

+exasperatingly tenacious to its rooted purpose of squeezing

+in between one's eyelids, sinking a well in the corner

+of one's eye, or climbing the inside walls of one's nose, is

+the Australian species of the common house-fly.

+

+It is possible at times to circumvent the "gintilman

+wot pays the rint," and persuade him to return through

+the same hole in the fence which gave him escape, by

+appearing to be anxious to drive him out on to the plain.

+That is pig strategy; or rather, strategy with a pig.  He

+is beaten, so to speak, by the law of contrairy.  When all

+resources fail in persuading the hen that the flour-bin, or

+the linen basket, is not specially constructed to suit her

+convenience in the daily duty of egg producing, one can

+at the last resort requisition the services of Madame la

+Guillotine.

+

+But neither strategy nor tactics, neither force nor fraud,

+avail anything when the early fly, with recruited energies

+and fiendish intent, starts on her mission of seeking whom

+and what she may annoy.  She—it is quite safe to put

+the insect in the feminine gender—can be neither coaxed,

+persuaded, shoo'd, deceived, frightened, nor driven from

+her prey.  The fly always wins—in the end.

+

+Driven from Blanket Bay on this eventful Christinas

+morning by the incorrigible fly, Joe proceeded at once to

+reverse the Golden Rule, and promptly made war upon

+his mates on that morning which, of all the days in the

+year, makes for peace and goodwill among men.

+

+Tom had sought refuge from the fly in the bed-clothes,

+and muffled nasal monotones made a sonorous chorale.

+On the other hand, Sandy, impervious to all impious fly

+assaults, lay on his back, mouth wide open, breathing

+heavily and steadily.  Sandy was of the pachydermatous

+order.  Neither mosquito nor fly troubled him.  The

+flies evidently found his eyes to be a dry patch, while

+they were unable to obtain a permanent foothold at his

+nostrils owing to the intermittent, horse-like snorts which

+blew them as from the mouth of a blunderbuss.  But they

+heavily fringed his mouth, eating with manifest relish

+their bacilli breakfast.

+

+In a jiffy the bed-clothes are whipped off the slumbering

+lads, and in less than no time the latter, pillows in hand,

+make common cause against the aggressor.  Joe puts

+up a gallant fight, but the odds are too much for him;

+he is driven into a corner at last and unmercifully

+pelted.

+

+This prelude to the day's enjoyment concluded, the

+pals jump into their clothes and proceed to execute the

+second item on the day's programme, namely, a horseback

+scamper through the bush before breakfast.

+

+Oh, the glory of it!  Out from the confines of four

+walls into the open spaces of the world when night is

+merging into day; to move in the dawn of a new day;

+to stand enwrapped in its pearl-grey mantle ere the

+mounting sun has turned its soft shades to rosy brilliance;

+to inhale the spicy breeze which, during the night watches,

+having extracted the perfumes of the forest flowers, comes

+heavily freighted o'er gully and range, and diffuses the

+sweet odours as the reward of the early riser.  And then—to

+watch the daily miracle of sunrise!

+

+   |  "See! the dapple-grey coursers of the morn

+   |  Beat up the light with their bright silver hoofs

+   |    And chase it through the sky."

+   |

+

+Sandy, on old Rufus, kept for that work, soon

+rounds-up and yards several steeds from the horse-paddock.

+From these three are picked and saddled; and ere the

+rising sun has walked "o'er the dew of yon high eastern

+hills," the lads are scampering through bush and brake,

+o'er dale and hill.  They chivy the silent kangaroo

+through the lush grass; have a glorious burst after a

+belated dingo; rouse screaming parrots and paroquets

+from their matutinal meal off the honey blossoms of box

+and apple trees; pulling up at last on the summit of a

+dome-shaped, treeless hill, from whence, with the bloom

+of the morning still upon it, the landscape extends in a

+vast stretch of undulation, broken at irregular intervals

+by silver ribbons of creek and river.

+

+Belts of scrub and forest, rich pasturages and arable

+lands, are dotted here and there, with minute spots from

+which rise slender threads of smoke indicating settlers'

+houses; while away in the background are the purple

+hills and the blue mountains.

+

+Boys are not usually considered to be impressionable

+creatures on the æsthetic side of things.  Herein we

+wrong them.  They may not attitudinise, nor spout

+poetry when under the supreme touches of nature, for

+the boy is too natural to be theatrical.  But, without

+doubt, the morning and evening glories of dear old

+mother earth do touch their sense of beauty; and though

+these impressions may seem to be effaced by other and

+more sordid things, nevertheless they linger through the

+long years, called up from time to time in sweet

+association with days that are no more.

+

+The lads, while they rested their steeds, stood in silent

+and wondering gaze, broken at last by Tom, who, pointing

+across the intervening spaces to the broadest of the

+many silver threads, exclaimed, "Tender's Tareela!"  Many

+miles away, as the crow flies, lay the river village,

+a small cluster of dots, a few of which glistened in the

+sunlight.  These shining spots indicated the "superior"

+houses that sported corrugated iron roofs, new in those

+days.  For the most part the "roof-trees" were shingle

+or bark.

+

+And now, homeward bound, the horsemen slither down

+the hillside, plunge into a pine scrub, to emerge therefrom

+on the border of a small plain, and chase a mob of

+brumbies grazing thereon.  They, with snorting nostrils

+and waving manes, headed by a notorious grey stallion—of

+whom more anon—dash up a ravine into the fastnesses

+of the scrub, and, though followed some distance by the

+reckless riders, vanish from sight with a celerity possible

+only to wild bush-horses.

+

+Skirting now the banks of the Crocodile, they disturb

+flocks of teal, widgeon, water-hen, and other aquatic

+birds.  At length they give a view halloo, for the old

+homestead is in sight.  This scares a flock of cockatoos

+that are camping in the river gums, after an early

+morning's poaching expedition to the adjacent maize-fields,

+and brings out the station dogs with a babble of

+barking, as they pound up the track with a final spurt.

+

+"Breakfast ready, Ah Fat?" sings out Sandy, as the

+boys come rushing into the kitchen from the stables.

+

+"Leddy?  Tes, allee globble upee!  Missee say no kleep

+anyling for bad boy.  Lockee allee glub."  Ah Fat's

+twinkling, humorous eyes redeemed his hatchet face and

+stolid countenance.

+

+"It's all right, fellows.  He's only pokin' borak at us,"

+said Sandy, giving the Celestial a familiar slap.  "Come

+along, I'm as hungry as a hunter.  They've only started,

+I know."

+

+The family were seated, heads were bent, and

+Mr. M'Intyre was saying the long Scotch grace, when the

+boys burst into the room with a fine clatter.  The rude

+intrusion brought a severe remonstrance from that

+gentleman when the exercise was concluded.

+Mrs. M'Intyre—always ready to defend the boys and to

+champion them, to condone their faults and to extol

+their virtues, in which she was wise or otherwise, as the

+reader may decide—broke in with a Christmas greeting.

+For a minute there was a fusillade of "Merry Christmas

+to you and many of them!"

+

+"Now, boys, take your seats before breakfast's cold."

+

+On proceeding to their places the boys stood stock still,

+for there, resting against their respective chairs, stood

+three brand-new, double-barrel shot-guns.

+

+"Weel, bairns!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre, with quiet

+amusement, surveying the amazed boys as they gazed at

+the weapons.  "What are ye frichtened at?  Is it

+snakes y're lukin' upon?  Why dinna ye sit doon to

+yure food?"

+

+"Oh, father! mother!" cried Sandy at last, picking up

+his gun, pleasure beaming from his face.  "This is what

+Harry meant when he said last night he'd brought out a

+parcel from the town that'd come by steamer."  Then

+with a rush, Joe and Tom at his heels, he danced round

+the abashed Scotchman, and gave him a hug, repeating the

+dose with interest on Mrs. M'Intyre.  It was hard for

+the boys to settle down to breakfast and dislodge their

+eyes from the weapons.  What their souls coveted most

+was a gun.  The clamant claims of hunger, however, are

+not to be disregarded; so, stacking their guns in a corner,

+the boys did ample justice to a generous meal.

+

+"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning, boys?"

+inquired Mrs. M'Intyre.  "You've not been out on the

+run before, Tom, have you?"

+

+"No, ma'am.  We'd a good time, though!"

+

+"How far did you go, Sandy?"

+

+"To the top of Bald Hummock, mother."

+

+"Splendid view from the top, is it not, Joe?"

+

+"Not bad, Mrs. M'Intyre."

+

+"That's a negative descreeption o' ane o' the graundest

+sichts the hale deestric' can boast," said Mr. M'Intyre,

+with emphasis.

+

+Joe became conscious of the banality.

+

+"An' why did ye no' tak' Mr. Neville wi' you, boys?

+Ye did wrang no' to invite him to ride wi' you.  I think

+ye owe him an apologee, Saundy."

+

+"I'm very sorry," said the lad, turning in some confusion

+to Mr. Neville.  "If I'd thought——"

+

+"Oh, I shouldn't have dreamed of going out at such

+an early hour, my lad," replied Neville loftily.  He had a

+somewhat affected accent and a superior air.  "I nevvah

+exert myself before breakfast.  Besides, I am not sure

+that I should find a safe escort in a parcel of—er—schoolboys.

+With the young ladies, now," he continued, fixing

+his monocle and bestowing a patronising stare upon

+Sandy's sisters, Maggie and Jessie, "I—I—should be

+delighted to go for a bush ride, as I think these equestrian

+expeditions are called in Awestralia, in the cool of the

+afternoon."

+

+"We don't call them even bush rides out here,

+Mr. Neville," answered Jessie saucily.  She resented

+patronage.  "We call 'em spins.  Boys, I vote we all go for a

+spin this afternoon.  Let's ride as far as Ben Bolt's cave.

+It'll be something interesting to show Mr. Neville.

+Ben Bolt's a famous bushranger hereabouts, you know,

+and the cave is a favourite rendezvous for his gang, as

+well as a safe hiding-place.  At least, it was so until a

+few months ago, when the police and black trackers

+discovered it, and nearly nabbed him.  Fancy having a

+bushranger's camp on the Bullaroi boundary!  But Ben

+never uses it now.  So let's ride out to it.  Are you

+game, boys?"

+

+"Game!" snorted Sandy.  "What's to be game about?

+The main thing is, will Mr. Neville care for an

+eighteen-mile spin?  If not, we could go for a short ride down

+the Crocodile."

+

+"Please don't question my ability, boy!" retorted the

+new chum, who resented the implication contained in

+Sandy's remark.  "I find," continued he, addressing his

+host, "you good people out heah seem to think that

+Awestralia is the only place where horseback riding is

+indulged in——"

+

+"We ride steers also, an' billies too," slyly interjected

+Joe, with a wink at the girls.

+

+"And we read that they ride donkeys and—er—hobby-horses

+in England," chipped in Jessie, whose eyes

+sparkled with mischief.

+

+"Good for you, ole Jess!  Let 'em bring out their

+English fox-hunters an' steeple-chasers that they brag

+so much about, and we'll give 'em a dingo run, or a go at

+cutting out scrubbers,[#] an' see how they'd be with their

+pretty coats an' breeches, at the tail of the hunt!"

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Wild, unbranded cattle, frequenting scrub country,

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Are ye addressing the English nation or oor guest,

+Saundy?"

+

+M'Intyre could be caustic when he willed.  He had

+no liking for Australian blow, and hit at it as he would hit

+at a snake, whenever occasion arose.  He now turned the

+laugh against his son, Jess laughing loudest of all.

+

+"It's settled, then, that we ride out to the cave this

+afternoon?" said Maggie, with an inquiring eye on

+Neville.

+

+"I'm shore 'twill be a pleasant jaunt, Miss M'Intyre,"

+replied the Englishman.  "I shall have pleasure in acting

+as your escort.  But this—er—famous—er—notorious—er—highwayman,

+is it—er—safe?  I mean—er—I'm

+thinking of the—er—ladies, you know."

+

+"What's to be afraid of?" quoth Jessie.  To her, risk

+meant spice, an added zest.  Her whole heart went out

+to the life of the open air and the pleasures of the chase.

+Her greatest delight was in a mad scamper through the

+bush behind the dogs, in the kangaroo hunt.

+

+"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Neville; Mag and I'll protect

+you should the—er—famous—notorious—bushranger—highwayman

+turn up," went on the audacious minx.  "I'd

+dearly love to see Ben Bolt.  I think he's a lot better

+than many who run him down.  Oh my! wouldn't it

+be fun if we surprised him in the cave?  I'd——"

+

+"Stop, Jess; cease your blether!" said Mr. M'Intyre

+sternly.  "The mon may no' be as black as he's pented,

+but he's no' an honest mon.  Misguided he may be to an

+extent, and no' a'thegither answerable for some of the

+steps in his doonward career, but a creeminal for a' that,

+whom the country were weel rid o'.  But as for the

+reesk, there's na reesk in ridin' to the cave.  The

+Sub-Inspector telt me a few days ago that Ben Bolt's gone

+o'er the border.  News is to hand to the effect that he

+stuck up a Chinaman on the Brisbane road.  So the

+cave's safe enough."

+

+"That's settled, then," broke in Maggie.  "If we leave

+here about four o'clock 'twill be early enough, and will

+give us plenty of time to get back by dark."

+

+"Maidie, my pet," said Mrs. M'Intyre to her little

+three-year-old, a dainty, precocious miss, "what are

+you staring at?  It's rude to stare at any one like that."

+

+"Oh, muzzer!" exclaimed the child, turning her bright

+eyes mother-wards for a moment and then fixing them

+with a fascinated gaze upon the Englishman.

+

+"What is it that interests you, little girl?" remarked

+Neville in a patronising tone.  "Is it the colour of my

+tie?"

+

+Maidie shook her curly head, and, without removing

+her eyes from Mr. Neville's face, leaned towards Jessie,

+who sat next to her, and whispered, "The genkilmun's

+got somesin' on his fevvers."

+

+Suspended from the tip of one of Neville's incipient

+moustaches was a yellow string of egg-yolk.  Jess had

+observed this for some time, with a tendency to hilarity

+whenever it caught her eye.  Maidie's comical description

+added fuel to the fire of the girl's merriment, sending

+her into convulsive laughter.  She answered looks of

+interrogation by pointing to the dangling egg thread,

+and saying as well as circumstances permitted, "Maidie

+says—ha—ha—ha!—that Mr. Fevv—he—he—he!—Mr. Neville's

+got egg on his—fev—feathers."  This explanatory

+and ludicrous mixture created a general explosion

+among the young folk.  The situation, however, was

+promptly ended by Mrs. M'Intyre, who discreetly rose on

+seeing that the guest did not join in the general laugh.

+

+There was nothing much for the men-folk to do; but

+the boys were burning to try their new fowling-pieces,

+The squatter, seeing their intent, directed them to use

+their skill on the cockatoos and king parrots that were

+devastating the maize crop.

+

+These birds, especially the former, proved wily customers,

+so that not many opportunities offered for testing the

+guns.  Enough was done, though, to prove that the guns

+were no "slouches," and great things were predicted

+when the lads should "know" their respective weapons.

+

+"Whatyer think of the new chum, Joe?" said Sandy

+to Blain, as they sat on a log under a low-spreading

+wattle tree, on the look out for a flying shot.

+

+"Goes thirteen to the dozen, ole man, don't he?

+Knows a lot more'n us, he reckons, and can't help

+showin' it."

+

+"Yes, he can't stand us chaps at no price.  By George!

+Jess's got his measure, and Mag too, for that matter.

+They'll take his nibs down a peg or two before he goes,

+I bet tuppence."

+

+"Little Maidie fitted him all right," chipped in Tom.

+"Fevvers—ha—ha!—yes, goose feathers."

+

+It was evident that the visitor was not in favour with

+the young people.  He had struck a false note.  No one

+can be quicker than boys to detect superciliousness and

+to resent it.  The patronising air is to them the

+unforgivable sin.  Henceforth Neville went by the name

+of "Fevvers" among the boys, to the great amusement

+of the girls, who, unfortunately for the Englishman, had

+assigned him a place in prig-dom.

+

+Neville, it must be confessed, was a bit of a prig; but

+at heart he was not at all a bad fellow, and there came

+a time not far ahead when respect supplanted contempt

+in the pals, and the ridiculous nickname was dropped;

+while he on his part discontinued the use of the irritating

+comparison, "the way we do things in England," which

+at the beginning he was for ever introducing.

+

+The household was enjoying a siesta after the typical

+Christmas dinner which was partaken of at midday.  Stillness

+reigned within the house, save the cracking of house

+timbers under the influence of the heat.  This seductive

+calm and the sweet sleep of the girls was at length

+rudely broken by Sandy, who in the exercise of a

+brother's privilege shook the door violently as he

+shouted, "Now then, lazies, get up and dress!  It's

+half-past three."

+

+"Bother you, Sandy, you *are* a nuisance!" sleepily

+complained Jessie.  "I—I—was having *such* a lovely

+dream.  Neptune was just on the heels of a blue flyer,[#]

+and I was galloping alongside him.  The chase led us

+to Blind-fall Gully, and we three took the jump together,

+and were almost landed on the other side when you

+thumped the door.  I thought at first it was the thud of

+Kangie's tail, but no! there she was flying through——"

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Maiden kangaroo, a very fast runner.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"That comes of eating too much plum-duff an' mince-pie,

+my girl.  But I say, you two, look slippy, or you'll

+be too late.  I told Jacky to saddle Nigger for you, Jess.

+What'll you take, Mag?  Rainbow or Sultan?  They're

+both up."

+

+"Don't care, Sandy.  I'll take Sultan, I think.  No,

+I'll take Rainbow.  Wait a moment, p'r'aps——"

+

+"Oh! stop your silly nonsense.  I'll put the saddle on

+Sultan," shouted the impatient boy, as he made off

+through the house to the stockyard.

+

+"Say, Sandy!" cried out Jess, who was now wide

+awake.  "Have you roused Mr.—er—Fevvers yet?"

+

+"'Ssh! mother'll hear you," exclaimed the boy warningly,

+as he returned to the door.  "He didn't have a snooze.

+Says it's unbusinesslike to sleep in the daytime.  Says

+they never do that in England.  England be blowed, say

+I.  An' whatyer think?  Harry offered him the loan

+of his leggin's, but he wouldn't have 'em.  Says they

+smell of the stockyard, ha—ha!  Says they don't wear

+'em in England.  Listen!  He's got on a pair of white

+duck britches, an' my crikey! they won't be white any

+longer.  He asked Harry for his fourteen-foot stockwhip.

+Says he was told an 'Awestralian' horse would never

+budge without one.  Only dad was there I'd 'a' put his

+saddle on Dick Swiveller, an' by jing! we'd 'a' had some

+sport.  We'll knock fun out of him as it is, I reckon.

+But look alive, girls, or y'll be left behind."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XV

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Then hey for boot and horse, lad!

+   |    And round the world away;

+   |  Young blood will have its course, lad!

+   |  And every dog his day."

+   |                          KINGSLEY.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The weather in Australia at Christmas is not ideal for

+riding parties.  Midsummer heat and dust, together with

+hordes of flies, largely countervail the delights of the

+saddle.

+

+The enthusiastic party that cantered along the tracks

+leading from the Bullaroi homestead on this particular

+Christmas, with one exception, made small bones about

+either dust or heat.  Neville, however, was irritated by

+the dust which the horses' feet knocked up.  Nor would

+he seek alleviation as did the others by leaving the track

+at every opportunity.  The victim of prejudice and

+conventionality, expressed in terms of cussedness, he

+obstinately stuck to the dusty track.  The boys and Jessie

+frisked here and there, making short cuts, jumping

+gullies and logs, and generally enjoying themselves.

+They raised, it is true, clouds of dust, to the annoyance

+of the new chum, as they pounded along the track on

+their return to the others, after having forged ahead

+some distance; behaving, in short, like gambolling dogs.

+Mag would have dearly loved the frolic, but hospitality's

+demands made it imperative that she—the eldest—should

+partner the guest.

+

+Neville was no rider.  His knowledge of the ways of the

+horse was of the most elementary kind.  Had he had the

+common sense to have admitted that palpable fact, many

+of his painful experiences, and indeed tortures, would

+have been minimised, if not altogether avoided.

+

+Like all inexperienced riders, he responded to every

+movement of the horse.  He had no sense of balance.

+He held the reins shoulder high, and was for ever

+jerking them.  When his body was not stiffly straight it

+inclined forward.  The inevitable result was made

+abundantly manifest in chafed limbs and aching bones.  With

+Neville, as with most new-chum riders, the trousers legs

+*would* work up from the bottom, displaying a section of

+calf, to the great amusement of the boys, who baa'd most

+vehemently at such times.

+

+This, however, must be reckoned for grace in Neville:

+he made no complaint, nor admitted any discomfort.  He

+was forward in his criticisms of the boys' style of riding:

+their seats were un-English and cowboy.

+

+No greater contrast between the riders could well

+be imagined than that which the new chum and the

+pals presented.  Theirs was to the manner born, to be

+confounded neither with cowboy nor military.  While

+there is an utter absence of stiffness in the Australian

+style, there is at the same time nothing bordering on

+the truculent as affected by the cowboy.  The movements

+are willowy and rhythmic.  Horse and man are one and

+indivisible.  This means to both the minimum of work

+with the maximum of ease.

+

+How far removed from this attainment was poor

+Neville!  His figure was of the ramrod pattern for the

+first few miles—ultra military, so to speak.  His feet,

+well through the stirrups, inclined outwards at a sharp

+angle; his left arm, held at right angle as rigid as a

+semaphore, gripped the reins; while his right clutched

+the stockwhip with tenacious grasp.  The steed, a fair

+pacer in experienced hands, in his became a veritable

+jogger.  He rose and fell in springless fashion with every

+motion of the horse.

+

+It was not in Neville's power to maintain that iron

+rigidity, and so he gradually inclined forward.  His back

+became bowed, and his nose at times was in imminent

+danger of the horse's head.  His arms, too, hung listlessly

+at either side, until at last his appearance resembled

+nothing so much as a doubled-up Guy Fawkes perched

+on a rail.  Yet his dogged spirit, essentially British, half

+courage, half cussedness, bore him up.

+

+Nearing the caves, the party, with the exception of

+Neville and his companion, raced ahead, and by the time

+that the latter arrived were cooling off beneath the shade

+of some coolibahs.

+

+And now disaster of such a character as to shake from

+him the last remains of superiority and propriety,

+overwhelming him in the depths of humiliation, overtook

+poor Neville.  These mortifying results were brought

+about by his attempted gallantry.

+

+The selected camp, as related, was beneath the grateful

+shade of a cluster of coolibah[#] trees that grew on the

+banks of a mountain stream, close to the mouth of the

+caves.  Seeing that Maggie was about to dismount

+unassisted, the youth exclaimed in eager tones, "Wait

+a moment, Miss M'Intyre!" and so saying, threw

+himself from his horse in order to do the gallant by

+helping his companion down, "as they do in England."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Water gum trees.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Sad to say, however, so cramped and stiff were his

+limbs, especially his nether extremities, that the instant

+he touched ground his legs doubled in a powerless

+condition, and he fell prone to the earth.  Unfortunately,

+the ground at the spot where he tumbled down began

+to slope towards the creek.  In his frantic efforts to rise

+quickly to his feet he overbalanced himself, and began

+to roll down the incline.  He saved himself for a second,

+and the impending disaster might have been averted

+but for the confounded stockwhip, which led to his

+undoing in a most effectual way.  This weapon, which

+he still held in his clenched right hand, got entangled

+with his legs by some means, lasso fashion, bringing

+him smartly to the ground again in a fresh attempt to

+rise.  The sloping bank at this point became almost

+precipitous: with a rapid turn over-and-over, he rolled

+down the steep gradient, crashed through an undergrowth

+of bushes and bracken that fringed the perpendicular

+bank of the creek, and shot out into its clear, deep

+waters.

+

+This unrehearsed performance, taking less time to

+act than to relate, brought a powerful shriek from

+Maggie, who, arrested in her intention to dismount

+unaided by Neville's proffered aid, beheld from her

+horse the undignified collapse of her escort, with its

+quickly succeeding acts of comedy and tragedy.

+

+The others, who were witnesses of this performance,

+hugely enjoyed it, giving a loud hurrah as the new chum

+splashed into the creek.  There was one exception.

+Sandy, who was on his way to the creek with the billy

+can, and who realised in a moment that the discomfited

+Englishman had fallen into a deep pool,—the very spot

+where he had often fished for big perch,—threw away the

+billy and rushed to the spot where the unfortunate man

+had fallen in.  Only that day had Neville declared that

+"my water exercises have been confined to the house bath."

+

+Beyond the agitated surface there were no signs of

+their visitor in the water.  Without pause, the lad took a

+header to the bottom, which was at least ten feet from the

+top, discerned the sunken man kicking and clawing,

+hauled him to the surface, and towed him to the bank.

+Here willing hands were ready to grip the victim of this

+misadventure and pull him to land.

+

+As soon as he was dragged to safety, the cause of his

+abject helplessness in the water was revealed.  The

+stockwhip had so encircled his legs as to prevent the free use

+of them, besides which the shock of the whole accident

+had to an extent numbed his senses.

+

+In sooth he was a sorry sight as he lay on the turf.

+The immersion did not cover more than half a minute;

+it was long enough, though, to take him to the verge

+of unconsciousness and to fill his lungs and stomach

+with water.  The boys speedily unwound the whip, and

+subjected Neville to some rough but wholesome treatment,

+during which process the water was rapidly ejected

+from his interior regions.

+

+The girls, as soon as Neville was landed, discreetly

+withdrew.  Merriment had dissolved into pity.

+

+"Poor Mr. Neville!  I'm *so* sorry.  Isn't it a shame, Mag?"

+

+"Seems like a dream; it all happened so quickly and

+unexpectedly.  I'm afraid father'll be very angry about it.

+The poor fellow was going to be so gallant, too.  'Permit

+me to assist you,' he said, and the next moment——"

+

+Here the whole scene comes up so vividly and comically

+that, strive as she may, Maggie cannot withhold laughter

+of a somewhat hysterical kind.  And so, between laughter

+and tears, the two girls superintended the billy-boiling

+and tea-making business.

+

+Meanwhile the lads, stripping Neville under the lee

+of the bank, wrung his clothes, and then re-dressed him,

+bringing him up to the fire little the worse for his cold

+douche.  The girls quickly recognised the finer qualities

+of Neville's character, which broke through the crust of

+his artificiality in the hour of adversity.

+

+"I'm very sorry to have caused this trouble, Miss

+M'Intyre.  No one's to blame but myself.  Your brother

+and his mates have been exceedingly kind to me.  Indeed, I

+owe a debt to your brother that I can never repay, for

+without doubt he saved my life.  I was utterly helpless

+with that wretched whip curled around me."

+

+Indeed, it was true.  The accident might easily have

+had a fatal termination, and the thought of it (for all that

+Neville cut such a grotesque figure in his shrunken

+clothes) drove the last remains of latent hilarity away.

+Maggie assured the forlorn-looking youth that no thanks

+were due to any one; that all deplored the accident,

+and were thankful that the finale inclined rather to

+the comic than the tragic.

+

+"Take this pannikin of hot tea, Mr. Neville.  Father

+says that whisky's not in it with tea for recruiting one's

+jaded energies."

+

+As there was no need for starting on the return ride

+awhile, the three boys, leaving the girls and Neville at

+the camp, proceeded to the caves.

+

+The caves, three in number, were connected with one

+another by narrow entrances.  The outermost one had

+an inlet through a narrow crevice.  This opening was

+concealed from the casual eye by a sentinel-like boulder

+which stood directly opposite, and about eighteen inches

+in advance of the wall of rock.  It was a squeeze

+for any one above the average size to get through.

+

+Before its occupation by the bushrangers the outer

+cave, by evident signs, formed a favourite wallaby

+haunt.  These had been disturbed and hunted by the

+bushrangers, who from time to time, according to

+police report, used it as a hiding-place.  They had often

+lain there when the district was filled with troopers.

+On one occasion, as was afterwards known, Ben Bolt

+and his mate, a youth of eighteen years, lay concealed

+for weeks.  The boy had been badly wounded in the

+thigh during a brush with the police in the New

+England ranges.  Ben Bolt, who was passionately

+attached to him, by incredible labour and consummate

+skill—for the pursuing police were on their tracks

+all the time—brought his wounded mate to the caves

+in order that he might lie in safety until his sores

+were healed.

+

+Sandy was the only one of the lads who knew anything

+about the caves.  In company with his father he had

+visited them a few weeks previously.  He therefore

+acted as a guide to the party.

+

+The fissure, a mere crack in the limestone rock,

+extended in tortuous fashion for some distance.

+Lengthening out and making a curve, it suddenly

+broadened into a chamber of respectable dimensions.

+At the entrance of the crevice Sandy had lit a candle,

+one being sufficient for the cramped passage.  Before

+entering the cave proper, all three candles brought for

+that purpose were lit.

+

+The cave was bat-inhabited.  Large numbers of these

+uncanny creatures, which were clinging to the roof and

+sides, disturbed and dazzled by the light, flew about

+in aimless fashion, often striking the boys in their

+uncertain flight.  Numbers of them fastened on to

+their clothes and limbs with their claw-like pinions.

+

+Joe and Tom, to whom this was a new experience,

+were uneasy and a good bit scared.  Their nervousness

+increased when the fluttering nocturnals more than once

+extinguished the lights.

+

+"You must do as I do, boys!" sang out Sandy,

+who was in advance, as they walked cautiously over

+the uneven and stone-littered floor.  Sandy had

+removed his hat and held it over the candle.  This,

+while it darkened all above, gave ample light on the

+floor space, and protected the candle from the nocturnals.

+The others thereupon followed suit, and soon reached

+the opening on the opposite side that led to the second

+chamber.

+

+This narrow passage made a stiff ascent for some

+yards, inclining to the left, and then extending like

+a funnel.  Sandy was proceeding very cautiously, for

+the opening into the interior cave was made at about

+ten feet from its floor.  A rough ladder of lawyer

+vines hung from the opening in the wall to the

+basement.  Down this the boys speedily slipped, and

+found themselves in a dome-like space, bigger by far

+than any room, barn, or church that they had seen.

+The atmosphere was very chill, and the continual

+drip of falling water made a monotonous sound.  A

+narrow, clear stream of running water flowed along

+one side, disappearing in a floor crack near the far

+corner.

+

+Contrary to what one would have expected, the

+lime crystals were few, and for the most part small;

+not to be mentioned in the same breath with the

+matchless statuary of the far-famed Jenolan Caves.

+On the ground, however, were some interesting

+stalagmites, whose grotesque figures highly amused the

+boys.  At the first sight, though, a fearsome feeling

+possessed them.  They were children of the sun, and

+this new and cryptic experience in the cold, dark, vaulted

+chamber quickened their pulses and shortened their

+breaths.

+

+Everything seemed to have a ghostly appearance to

+the pals.  It was a fitting abode for spectral creatures,

+and they had a feeling that at any moment such might

+appear.  This sensation, however, was of short duration.

+A few minutes' familiarity with their surroundings

+dissipated it, and the lads moved freely in their

+investigations.

+

+"Didn't you say there was another cave adjoining this,

+Sandy?"

+

+"Yes, I'll show it to you in a few minutes."

+

+While the question was being asked and answered,

+Sandy was peering into a crevice immediately behind a

+huge stalagmite, and in a dark corner of the cave.

+

+"This looks as if it might open out somewhere, but the

+opening's jammed with a big limestone boulder."

+

+"Let's have a pull at it," said Tom, as he leaned forward

+to take hold of a projecting point.

+

+"No go, Tom.  Look at its weight!  See how tightly

+it's wedged!  You'll never budge that.  It'll need a

+crowbar to shift it.  Come along, boys, and we'll take a

+peep at the other cave, just to say we've seen it; then

+we must make tracks back."

+

+Sandy, however, bore in mind this sealed chamber

+which was destined later to yield important and

+far-reaching results.  He made for a low, narrow aperture in

+the wall, at a far corner, which opened directly into a

+vault-like ceil—a small bedroom or pantry, as the case

+might be.

+

+"Here's where the rangers camped," said Sandy, when

+the boys had struggled through.  "Here's their beds, an'

+there's where they had their fire."

+

+A couple of sheets of stringy-bark, placed stretcher-fashion

+on crossed sapling frames, formed the sleeping-bunks

+of the outlaws.  On these were placed a quantity

+of bracken which made a comfortable resting-place for

+men who more often than not slept upon the ground.

+

+"I say, Sandy," remarked Joe, after standing a moment

+in deep thought, "this is an all-right place for hidin' in,

+but where'd they keep the mokes?  That's what beats me."

+

+"It beats more'n you.  It beats father.  It beats the

+police.  Yes, they can't get a clue.  Must have had the

+horses handy, too; for when the police got into the cave

+the time they tracked 'em here, the rangers couldn't have

+been gone more'n a few minutes, 'cause a fire was still

+burning in Ben Bolt's room, as they call it.  The bobbies

+have searched inside and outside and all over the ridge

+for another opening, but can't find it."

+

+"They've clean bunged the p'lice, the cute beggars!"

+exclaimed Tom, with a grin.  "Wonder if they'll ever

+come back again.  Ole Ben's a game un.  They say he

+wears a reversible suit of different colours.  An'

+sometimes he straps up a leg an' fastens a wooden peg on it

+an' stumps along, led by a dog on a string like a blind

+beggar."

+

+"He's always bluffin' the police, anyway," said Joe.

+"The Sub-Inspector was at our place about a month ago,

+telling father how he an' the others were fooled not so

+long ago."

+

+"Tell us, Joe."

+

+"Well, 'twas like this.  A bushman on a piebald horse

+rode up to the police camp out Kean's swamp way,

+bearing a note from Sub-Inspector Garvie, ordering them to

+cross the ranges an' get into Walcha secretly, as he

+possessed reliable information to the effect that Ben Bolt

+intended to stick up the bank two days later.

+

+"It appears this same man called at the Sub's quarters

+earlier in the day, who was laid up with a sprained leg.

+This chap told how he'd been in Ben Bolt's company

+two nights previously.  The ranger and his mate—the

+same boy as was wounded—came upon him as he

+lay by his fire in the evening, and asked permission to

+camp alongside.  They pretended to be stockmen in

+search of strayed heifers, and made out that they had

+come across their tracks just at nightfall.  As it was a

+goodish way to the station, they would be glad to sleep

+by his fire and get after the cattle at dawn.

+

+"The man said that as soon as he spotted 'em he knew

+'em, but he was too frightened to let on.  He gave 'em

+some grub, an' then lay down in his blanket.  As soon as

+they had scoffed the prog they lay down too, on the off

+side of the fire.

+

+"The man didn't go to sleep, though he pretended

+to.  By an' by the two men began to talk in low tones.

+He could hear 'em, though, pretty well, and found out

+that they were goin' to stick up the Walcha bank.  The

+date they named was four days from that night.

+Although the chap lay as if he were dead he didn't sleep

+a wink.  Just before daylight the coves saddled their

+horses, which had been short-hobbled, and singing out,

+'So-long,' they galloped off.

+

+"'And what prompted you to bring this information?'

+said the Sub.

+

+"'Well, if you cop the rangers,' he answered, 'I shall

+expect something substantial for supplying these particulars.'

+

+"'As for that, you'll get your share.  And now you

+can do something further that'll help you in the matter

+of reward.  Take this note to Sergeant Henessey, who is

+camping with four police and a tracker in the foothills,

+at the head of Kean's swamp.'

+

+"The Sub-Inspector, who had hastily written a note

+of instruction to the Sergeant, handed it to the man,

+who said his name was Sam Kelly.  Sam promised to

+deliver it by daybreak; which he did.  As soon as the

+Sergeant read it, he roused up the men, and after a hasty

+meal it was 'Saddle up.'  A few minutes later the

+troopers were on their way to cop the rangers.  Now

+listen: that very day, towards evening, the Port

+Macquarie mail was stuck up!"

+

+"My eye!" said Sandy, "weren't the p'lice sold!  Fancy

+ole Ben goin' into the lion's den with his information

+an' then takin' the letter out to the camp, an' none of

+'em cute enough to twig 'im!  He's a downy cove is Ben.

+Ain't he, Joe?"

+

+"They say," concluded Joe, "that the piebald he

+rode was his favourite horse, the blood-bay he calls

+Samson."

+

+"But how was it he turned him piebald?"

+

+"*Painted patches of pipeclay on him!*"

+

+"Now, then," exclaimed Sandy, pulling out his watch,

+"we've only a few minutes left, an' we mustn't be late,

+as Mr. Neville won't be able to ride fast."

+

+"Poor old Fevvers!" exclaimed Tom reminiscently.

+"This hasn't been much of a treat for him."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE DINGO RAID`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XVI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE DINGO RAID

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "What's up, old horse?  Your ears you prick,

+   |    And your eager eyeballs glisten.

+   |  'Tis the wild dog's note, in the tea-tree thick,

+   |    By the river to which you listen.

+   |

+   |   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+   |

+   |  Let the dingo rest, 'tis all for the best;

+   |    In this world there's room enough

+   |  For him and you and me and the rest,

+   |    And the country is awful rough."

+   |                                  ADAM LINDSAY GORDON.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Here's a fine how-d'ye-do!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre

+wrathfully, as he strode into the house, one hot morning

+shortly after the events recorded in the previous chapter.

+"Why sic rubbish were ever created passes

+understanding!"

+

+The irate squatter, contrary to his usual habit, clattered

+through the hall and out on to the front verandah,

+slamming the door most vigorously as he made his

+exit.

+

+"Whatever's stung dad this morning, Jess?" remarked

+Maggie to her sister, as their excited parent made his

+noisy intrusion.

+

+"Something bad, you may be sure, to cause dad to

+parade in that fashion.  I expect the blacks have been

+performing.  They madden father at times by their 'want

+o' intellect,' as he calls it."

+

+"I'll—I'll cut the livers out o' them, the sneakin'

+hounds!  Rot 'em, I'll pizen every faither's son o' the

+dirty vermin!"

+

+"Oh, father!" cried Jessie, "you surely are not going

+to poison the poor things?"

+

+"Pizen 'em, that am I!  Pizen's ower guid for them,

+thieving brutes that they are!  'Puir things,' as you

+ca' the wretches," continued he sarcastically, "I'll hae the

+life o' the hale o' them, if it tak's a' the pizen in Tareela!"

+barked the exasperated man.

+

+"Then you're no father of mine!" blazed out Jessie.

+"What have the poor boys done that you should

+threaten such dreadful——"

+

+"W-h-a-t!"

+

+"Why, poor Willy and Jacky: what have they done

+that you should——"

+

+"What on earth is the lassie haverin' aboot?" roared

+Mr. M'Intyre to Maggie.

+

+"The blacks, father.  Didn't you say that you were

+going to poison them?  But I don't believe it for a——"

+

+"The blacks!  Wha's talkin' o' blacks?  It's the

+reds, the blessed dingoes, wha've been playin' havoc wi'

+the calves.  The blacks?  Ma certie!" continued he, as

+the humour of the situation seized him, forcing a smile.

+Turning to his daughter, he exclaimed, "Ye're a fine

+bairn, I maun say, to be accusin' yer ain faither o' *black*

+murder!"

+

+"Forgive me, dad!" cried the impulsive girl, as she

+threw her arms round his neck; "I never thought of the

+dingoes.  I—I—I made sure the black boys had been up

+to tricks, and never dreamed——"

+

+"There, there, that's enough, my lassie!  It's a case of

+'misunderconstumbling,' as Denny Kineavy would say.

+But it's enough to make ane feel wild and gingery.  Eleeven

+fine yearlin's killed!  It's the wantonness mair than the

+actual loss that vexes me: though the latter is bad

+enough, for some o' the best, of course, are sacrificeed to

+their slaughterin' instincts."

+

+That evening, in conference with his chief stockman,

+Mr. M'Intyre laid his plans for the extermination of the

+pack of dingoes which had just given an exhibition of

+their destructive powers.  In this particular instance the

+brutes had driven a number of yearling calves, weaners,

+into a blind gully.  Having boxed them up in this *cul de

+sac*, the rapacious dogs found them an easy prey.

+

+The Australian wild dog is a combination of several

+very excellent qualities—from the canine standpoint,

+that is.  He possesses more sagacity than any other wild

+thing of the bush.  Keen of sight, quick at scent, subtle

+of wit, noiseless in tread and bark, tenacious to rooted

+purpose, he pursues and stalks his quarry, whether bird

+or beast, with all the odds in his favour.

+

+There he stands, this indigenous dog, with a great,

+broad forehead, his eyes narrowing in sinister expression;

+well set in body, showing big sinews and a good muscular

+development; strong jaws, with teeth like ivory needles;

+white in paw and tail-tip, bright yellow everywhere else,

+save the chocolate-coloured streak running along the spine

+from neck to tail.  There he stands: but that is a figure

+of speech, for a more restless animal than this same dog

+does not exist.

+

+Australian cattle-dogs have a world reputation, and

+the very best are they which by crossing inherit a strain

+of dingo nature.  That which makes the dingo so hated

+by stock owners—who pursue him relentlessly—is the

+killing lust which possesses him.  Were he to simply kill

+for food, and be satisfied with a victim that would furnish

+enough for present needs, settlers would be far more

+tolerant of him.  The plain truth about him is that his

+predatory instinct is so strong as to practically intoxicate

+him.  The sight of a flock of sheep or a bunch of calves

+makes him "see red," and then he simply runs amok.

+One snap—he does not bite in the ordinary sense—of his

+steel-like jaws is enough.  The mouthful of flesh and

+muscle is torn out in an instant, and the victim

+invariably dies of shock.  One dingo in a sheepfold will kill

+fifty sheep in a few minutes.

+

+These dogs are more troublesome in bad than in good

+seasons.  When the cattle get low in condition and

+weak, they become a comparatively easy prey, then the

+cunning of the dingoes becomes manifest.  They will

+select their victim and drive it towards a water-hole or

+swamp.  In dry times these are mere puddles and

+exceedingly boggy.  The object of the canine drovers is to

+reduce the bullock to helplessness by bogging it.  The

+drive will sometimes take hours, and no experienced

+drover could do the work more cleverly.  Finally, when

+their quarry is down in the mire and practically helpless,

+he is tackled and bitten to death.  In good seasons, when

+the cattle are strong, Mr. Dingo, save for an occasional

+foray on the calves, has to content himself with his

+natural diet—kangaroos, 'possums, and emus.

+

+Fortunately, there was at the station at this time an

+eccentric bushman who combined the work of horse-breaking

+and dingo-trapping.  Nosey George was reputed

+to have a sense of smell equal to that of the dingo itself.

+Certainly, his slouching gait made it often appear as if he

+were "nosing" the tracks of the game.  But in truth he

+owed his prowess as a trapper to a pair of eyes that

+knew no dimness.  At first sight of Nosey, one saw

+nothing but his nose.  But when you noticed his eyes

+you forgot the nose, and lived in the presence of a pair of

+eyes that sparkled like diamonds, or as searchlights that

+permitted nothing to escape their scrutiny.

+

+Nosey's feats of tracking were really marvellous.  On

+one occasion he got on to the trail of a dingo bitch which

+had raided his hen-roost, and followed it for twelve miles,

+mostly through scrubby and rocky country that was

+criss-crossed with innumerable tracks of bush vermin.

+For all that, this human sleuth-hound tracked Mrs. Dingo

+to a cave in the mountains where she had five pups,

+and returned with six scalps.

+

+The dingo trapper rode out early the next morning in

+company with Harry the stockman and the boys to the

+scene of the slaughter, there to devise means, for which

+he had received *carte blanche* from Mr. M'Intyre, for the

+capture of the raiders.

+

+The weaners' paddock was about three miles from the

+house, and had an area of five thousand acres.  Most of

+the enclosure consisted of plain, but a corner of it

+contained a belt of scrub; and it was in this corner, where

+the weaners camped for warmth in the night-time, that

+the drive and slaughter had been made.  The beasts,

+most of them, lay huddled, showing evidence of mangling;

+others had struggled out of the gully into the scrub.

+After gazing awhile at the slain, Tom Hawkins broke the

+silence—

+

+"I say, Nosey, ain't this a go?  Poor brutes!"

+

+"Here, you kid," cried the trapper, turning sharply on

+Tom, "who gave you leave to call me names?  Like

+yer blessed cheek!  How'd yer like me ter call yer

+monkey-face?  If yer had a decent nose, I'd tweak it fer yer."

+

+Nosey, who was very sensitive on this question of

+nickname, and had had many a fight over the same, made

+such a menacing move towards Tom that the lad shrank

+back in fear.

+

+"That'll do, George," said Sandy.  "Leave the boy

+alone.  He didn't mean anything.  It's what everybody

+calls you."

+

+"I'm not goin' to let brats of boys miscall me, anyhow.

+Don't know why the boss sent you blokes, for all the

+good y'are!" growled the grumpy, cross-grained, but not

+really bad-hearted old man.  "Youse better be keepin'

+quiet, anyways, till me an' Harry has a look round."

+

+"Let him be," whispered Harry.  "If you get his

+dander up he's as likely as not to chuck the whole blame

+thing.  He always jibs at that name; carn't stand it

+from kids nohow."

+

+Nosey, or to be respectful, George, now proceeded to

+examine the surroundings of the carcasses.  Bending

+forward until his protuberant nose almost touched the

+earth, the trapper moved his eyes swiftly, now concentrating

+on twig or grass-blades, now wildly roving and

+all-comprehensive.  The rest of the party were following at

+his heels, when he turned round and fiercely waved them

+back.

+

+"All right, Nos—George!" sang out Joe.  "I see; you

+want to keep the tracks clear.  We'll stay here till you've

+finished."

+

+Drawing on one side, the group watched the proceedings

+with great interest.  The ground was hard and stony;

+quite unimpressionable and barren of sign to the pals'

+untutored sight, yet to this man of the woods, who was

+ignorant of the alphabet, the rough earth surface was

+all-revealing, and made known to him in unmistakable

+characters the story of the attack.

+

+Having at length concluded his investigations, the

+trapper straightened his back and moved to where the

+others stood.  Producing his knife and a plug of tobacco,

+he began to shred a pipeful, making no remark to the

+expectant onlookers.

+

+"Reckon we'll have to drag it out o' the old un," said

+Harry to Joe in a low tone.  Then raising his voice, the

+stockman began to question the man.

+

+"Had a good look round, George?"

+

+Nod.

+

+"Ain't missed anything worth seeing, I bet?"

+

+Head-shake.

+

+"Whatyer make of it?"

+

+"Razorback pack," replied the old man of frugal

+speech, as he cleaned out his pipe.

+

+"Razorback pack?  You surely don't mean it!  Why,

+that is a matter of twelve mile or so!"

+

+"Suppose it is; what of that?"

+

+"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Harry dubiously, yet not

+wishful to offend the old man's susceptibilities.  "Of

+course you know best, George.  How many of 'em do

+you consider they'd be?"

+

+"Five dorgs an' two bitches."

+

+"Good gracious, Nosey!" cried Tom the unlucky, the

+next moment beating a rapid retreat as the dog-trapper

+made a vicious dart at his caudal appendage, finally

+coming to grief over a fallen log which lay in the line of

+retreat.  The pursuing foe, even, had to stop and join in

+the laugh raised at the ludicrous figure which Tom cut as

+he lay, head down, heels up.

+

+"Beg pardon, George!" he cried breathlessly the next

+moment, as he recovered his original position.  "It slipped

+out, old fellow.  I—I didn't mean it."

+

+"Come, now, George, that's handsome.  You must

+accept the apology," interjected Joe.

+

+The trapper nodded assent, and the incident passed.

+

+"How *do* you know what pack it is, George?  Blest if

+I can understand how you find out all these things!  First

+you tell us the sex an' then where they come from."

+

+"Tell it by their paws."

+

+"By their paws!  How on earth can you tell they've

+come all the way from Razorback by their paw marks?

+Mightn't it be the turkey scrub lot?"

+

+"It carn't be, an' isn't, 'cause I knows the pack."

+

+"How's that?"

+

+"Got two of the vermin in the traps six months ago

+over at the mountains, an' a cove wot got away left two

+toe nails of his near hind-foot in the trap."

+

+"Too fly for poison, eh?"

+

+"'Twould be a waste of good strychnine over the

+rubbage," replied the trapper, waxing more communicative.

+"They know a bait better than a Christun.

+'Sides, I tried them over at Razorback.  Got plenty o'

+cats, gohanners, an' crows; an', be gosh! laid out one of

+my own cattle puppies, but ne'er a dingo."

+

+"The traps'll fetch 'em, won't they, George?"

+

+George returned no answer, but "smoled" a cryptic

+smile.  Mounting their steeds, the party turned in the

+direction of home.  Mr. M'Intyre received the trapper's

+report without interruption, and then consulted as to the

+best way to work their destruction.

+

+"Hunting them is out of the question," said the

+squatter in reply to a remark of his son that it would

+be grand sport hunting them.  "We'd only ruin the

+horses in that country and miss most o' the dingoes.

+Na! the traps are the best an' safest.  If ony ane can catch

+'em in that fashion, George is the mon.  I leave the hale

+matter in his hands.  He kens best what to do to

+circumvent the brutes; so go your own way to work,

+George.  What aboot traps?  Have ye enough?"

+

+"Got seven or eight, dunno for sure.  Ought to have

+a dozen."

+

+"Varra weel; ane o' the laddies will ride to Tareela

+and get ither fower."

+

+Accordingly, Joe and Tom mounted their horses and

+rode into the store for the additional traps.

+

+A dog-trap, it should be explained, is simply an

+enlarged spring rat-trap, with extra strong jaws and

+saw-like teeth.  These instruments of capture weigh

+about ten pounds, and are planted in likely spots.  The

+native dog is an exceedingly suspicious animal.  His

+reasoning faculty is large.  A mere glance at his head

+will convince one as to his capacity, and those who have

+had to do with him count him as the slimmest of the slim.

+Hence, only by outmatching him in cunning may his

+adversary succeed.  In this Nosey George was an adept, and

+Mr. M'Intyre did not overstate the facts when he declared

+no one to be capable of matching the dog-trapper in the

+art of setting lures.

+

+The pals readily obtained leave to accompany the

+trapper next morning to watch the proceedings, on the

+understanding that they were in no way to interfere with

+him.  Each lad had a pair of traps slung across his horse's

+withers, and George carried the balance on the neck and

+croup of his steed.  They made their way to the weaners'

+paddock, and after a brief inspection of the carrion the

+trapper declared that there had been no return of the dogs.

+

+"I didn't expect them larst night," remarked George.

+"They're like the blacks, can eat enough at one meal to

+do 'em fur days.  A gorge is Chrismus to 'em."

+

+"What do you intend doing with the dead beasts, George?"

+

+"Leave 'em be, o' course.  They'll help me more than

+anythin' else.  Dogs'll come again to get another feed

+or two; an' as boss's took the weaners away to a safe

+paddock, they'll go fur these dead uns like winkie—likes

+'em a bit high, in fact.  Supposin' we burn these wretches,

+the vermin'll keep about their own haunts.  They're

+out of their beat when they come over here, while they

+knows every stick an' stone of their run.  Consequently,

+it gives me a better charnse with 'em on unfamiliar

+ground."

+

+So saying, the cunning hunter proceeded to carry out

+his plan.  The dingo has a well-defined method of

+carving his veal, so to speak.  The hide of the animal is

+not uniformly thick.  The softest and tenderest part is

+that underneath and between the thighs.  The ravager,

+therefore, attacks this tenderest and most susceptible

+part.  He tears a big hole through the skin and into the

+flesh in a short time, and literally eats his way into the

+body; until, when he and his fellow-feasters have finally

+finished, and cleaned paws and jaws with that

+self-provided serviette the tongue, nothing of the animal

+remains but the skin and bones—always providing that

+no foe appears to stay proceedings against the gourmands.

+This finish, of course, entails several feasts when the

+course happens to be a bullock, or, as in the present case,

+toothsome veal.

+

+The trapper proceeded to lay a trap facing the torn

+portion of each carcass—that, of course, being the place

+of attack on each occasion of the canines' visits.  After a

+careful consideration of the ground surrounding each

+beast, he dug a hole in the earth and then placed a trap

+in it.  He next produced some sheets of the inner bark

+of the ti tree, which is as flexible as paper and softer.

+A sheet of this is laid over the gaping jaws of the trap,

+which is, of course, properly set.  The "jaws" are now

+level with the ground.  Over this fine earth is sprinkled

+until all appearance of the trap is hidden.  The superfluous

+soil is now removed with care, and the surroundings

+are made to look as natural as possible.  This in itself is

+a work of art; for the slightest appearance of disturbance

+or make-up alarms the wary dingo, and nullifies the

+trapper's design.

+

+There is one thing, however, that Nosey George had

+not reckoned upon when starting his operations—the

+number of carcasses to be treated.  It will be remembered

+that eleven animals were slaughtered in the dingo raid.

+This would mean the use of eleven traps, were every

+animal to be used as a lure.  But it is contrary to the

+design of the trapper to use up all his traps in the

+vicinity of the beasts.  Some are to be set along the line

+of approach.  A number of carcasses, therefore, must be

+removed.  With the help of the boys, five of the beasts

+are dragged about two hundred yards away, put in a heap,

+covered with dry wood, and then burned.

+

+This left the trapper with several traps to use in other

+directions.  Having laid six traps in the vicinity of the

+calves, he proceeded to follow up the tracks of the dogs.

+The first gin was laid in a soft patch of ground directly

+in their footmarks.  This he continued at intervals, until

+the last one was placed at a spot about two miles

+distant.

+

+"How many dingoes do you think you'll nab, George?"

+exclaimed Tom, as the party rode homewards in the

+late afternoon.

+

+"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."

+

+"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.

+

+"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.

+

+"I say the whole bloomin' lot," loudly proclaimed the

+sanguine Tom.

+

+"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.

+

+The trapper's prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to

+the traps in the early morning by the expectant and

+impatient boys, in the company of Nosey George, to the

+surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not a trap

+was sprung.

+

+The trapper, who while examining the ground had

+maintained a sphinx-like attitude, broke silence at length

+under a fusillade of questions.

+

+"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog's

+copp'd?  Simple enough.  Dogs didn't come."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`DINGO *V.* EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XVII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   DINGO *V.* EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Afar I mark the emu's run;

+   |    The bustard slow, in motley clad;

+   |  And, basking in his bath of sun,

+   |    The brown snake on the cattle-pad,

+   |          And the reddish black

+   |          Of a dingo's back

+   |  As he loit'ring slinks on my horse's track."

+   |                              GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The next morning's visit told another tale.

+

+The dingoes, having recovered from their surfeit,

+hunger-induced, made a second nocturnal trip to the

+feeding-grounds.  Cunning and wary as they habitually

+are, they fell, some of them at least, before the wiles

+of the trapper.  Four of their number paid the death

+penalty.  Two female dogs were caught in the traps set

+about the calves.  The trapped animals had not moved

+any great space.

+

+It should be said that the traps are not fastened to

+the spot whereon they are laid; because, were they

+stationary, the dingo, especially the dog dingo, in his

+frantic efforts to escape, and by reason of his great

+strength, will frequently save his life at the expense of

+his paw.  That dog, it is safe to say, will never be

+trapped again; as on the principle of, once bitten twice

+shy, he will ever eschew the most deftly constructed

+device of man.

+

+.. _`The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-128.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."

+

+   "The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."—*See p.* `134`_.

+

+On the other hand, should there be no fastening, a

+strong dog will carry a trap for miles, especially if caught

+by the hind-leg.  In order to remedy this, a device,

+similar to that which sailors use, called a sea anchor,

+is attached.  A block of wood not too heavy is tied to

+the trap by a chain or a piece of wire.  This acts as

+a check to the animal, besides leaving a broad trail that

+is easily followed up.

+

+When the trapped dingoes were approached they set

+up a dismal howling, which turned to a vigorous snapping

+with their teeth; the while they tore the earth with their

+paws in vain efforts to escape.

+

+"Put the poor wretches out of their pain," cried Sandy,

+after watching the agonised efforts of the canines for a

+few seconds.

+

+The trapper, armed with a heavy "nulla-nulla,"

+dispatched the brutes, and scalped them; for the district

+Stock Board, to induce their extermination, gave £1 per

+scalp, and experienced trappers like Nosey George did

+well at times.  They concluded that there was at the

+least one other victim; for while the bitches were

+snapping and howling, answering howls of rage and

+sympathy could be heard in the distance along the trail.

+

+The next act was to cremate the slain, which was

+speedily done.  After this the group proceeded to follow

+the track along which the other snares were secreted.

+The very first trap contained a dog.  It was set in the

+centre of a soft depression, at the edge of the scrub belt

+on the farther side.  The dog had dragged the trap about

+three hundred yards, when the "anchor," fouling in some

+saplings, his retreat was stopped.  The beast was

+immediately brained and scalped, and the body flung into a

+clump of bushes.

+

+There was still another victim.  The farthest out trap

+was gone.  Nothing was to be seen but the trap-hole.

+George, however, was soon upon the trail.  The country

+here was fairly open, and offered little obstruction to

+the determined dog.  The track led on and on with little

+deviation until a course of three miles or so had been

+traversed.  It now curved outward and down toward a

+patch of scrub.  Nosey suddenly stopped and pointed to

+the ground.

+

+"What's up, George?" exclaimed Joe, who stood

+nearest the trapper.

+

+"Look an' see fur y'reself."

+

+Bending over, Joe saw in a sandy patch the deep

+impress of the toes of a large bird.

+

+"I can't make it out.  What in thunder is it?  Far

+too big for a crow; bigger even than an eagle or a

+bustard."

+

+"As big as two eagles, young mutton-head," declared

+the old tough.  "Tell 'im, Sandy."

+

+"Why, you greeney; that's an emu track!"

+

+"Emu!" shouted Joe in great excitement.  "It's the

+first time I ever saw an emu track.  What an enormous

+foot he must have."

+

+"Ye'd know it, me boy, if ivver ye got a kick," grunted

+the trapper.  "I've seen them break a dog's leg like a

+carrot."

+

+"Blest if I don't think he's follerin' up the dingo!"

+continued Joe.

+

+"Just wot 'e *is* a-doin' of," answered the man.  "These

+'ere emus is more curious nor a woman."

+

+Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father

+used to lure the emu he was stalking within shot of his

+fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly waving his

+handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even

+doubling his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating

+his hat on the foot thus raised.  With slow and hesitating

+yet irresistible steps, fascinated by the mysterious object,

+or a victim to curiosity, the bird would approach to its

+undoing.

+

+This particular emu was no stranger to the dingoes,

+nor they to him.  Never before, though, had he beheld a

+dingo with such an appendage, or in such difficulties.

+The unwonted appearance of the canine furnishes the

+bird with an unusual sensation, and queries in rapid

+succession flit through its brain.  "What on earth is

+the matter with the limping, whimpering brute?  What

+is that object trailing behind the horrid creature?  Let

+me draw near and behold this great sight!"  Fate has

+delivered his old-time enemy into his hands.  That

+lolling, swollen tongue, those blood-shot eyes, that

+painful whimper, the wild despairing glances; all these

+loudly proclaim his downfall.  "Well, what matter!

+He's getting his punishment now.  What is there to

+prevent me wiping out old scores?"

+

+And so, with cautious yet confident step the huge bird,

+second in size only to the ostrich, strode on at a short

+distance behind his enemy; and in a few minutes both

+are swallowed up in the scrub.  The huntsmen follow

+well on the heels of the animals.

+

+"I wonder if the bird's still following?" asked Tom.

+

+"Soon see," answered the trapper, carefully examining

+the ground.  "Not a quarter of an hour since he passed

+this spot: must be in the scrub still."

+

+A minute or so brought them to the edge of the scrub.

+Pushing along, they were soon enwrapped in its gloom.

+Following the advice of George, the boys tied their horses

+to saplings at the outskirts of the belt, and proceeded on

+foot.  Suddenly the trapper, who was leading, stopped dead

+in his tracks, and uttered a warning note in a low voice.

+Motioning the pals to remain where they were, he

+noiselessly moved forward, and was soon lost in the thick

+foliage ahead.

+

+"Wonder why ole Nosey made us stay back?" muttered

+Tom, after the lads had stood silently awhile.  "What

+can be in the air, now?"

+

+"Hist!" exclaimed Sandy in a whisper; "he's returning."

+

+At this moment the trapper reappeared.

+

+"Follow as quiet as mice, an' ye'll see summat like wot

+ye've ne'er seed afore."  There was an unusual gleam

+in the man's eye as he made this deliverance.

+

+Cautiously and silently the party moved Indian fashion

+through the wood.  After going in this way a hundred

+paces or so the hunter stopped again, and beckoned the

+boys, indicating a stealthy approach.  Very gingerly they

+trod until they were abreast the man.  Following his

+muttered directions and example, they quietly parted the

+intervening brushwood.

+

+It was an unique sight on which their eyes fastened;

+one they would not readily forget.  Beyond them was a

+small natural clearing, such as often occurs in the densest

+scrub.

+

+It was circular in form, and about fifty yards in

+diameter.  Here, almost in the centre of the clearing,

+the bird had bailed up the beast.  Curiosity in the emu

+had grown into anger, and was at a white heat, judging

+from the manner in which it pirouetted and menaced the

+dog, keeping up the while an incessant gabble.  The

+gabble, rightly interpreted, declared that the time of

+vengeance was at hand.  The fates were thanked for

+being so kind as to furnish this fitting opportunity for

+paying off old scores: "Here, you sneaking thief and

+flying murderer, stop!  It's you and I for it now; so, off

+with your coat and roll up your sleeves!"

+

+Nor was Master Dingo disinclined to accept the

+challenge thrown down by the strutting bird.  Weary as

+he was and full of pain, he was in no humour to eat

+humble-pie, or to fly before another foe.  His warring

+instincts rose to the gage of his hereditary enemy.  Many

+of his kind were scarred with wounds from the terrible

+emu kick, or deep score made by the horny toe of this

+formidable antagonist.

+

+Nor could he retreat, if so inclined: behind him, to a

+certainty, was the monstrous biped; far more to be feared

+than this animated piece of impertinence, whose wicked

+eye squinted and winked in defiance.

+

+Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the

+visible bird or the invisible pursuers.  Handicapped as he

+is, and goaded by his pain and shameful condition, the

+dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by making a sudden

+jump at the emu's throat, narrowly missing it, and still

+more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it

+made its counter-stroke.

+

+Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and

+devices of animal warfare.  Each knows the tactics of the

+other.  But for the disability of the dog through the

+tenacious trap the chances would be in his favour; but

+his exhaustion and encumbrance give the odds to the

+other.  Still, he makes a gallant fight, and the bird needs

+all its wits and agility to escape his savage snaps, one of

+which, had he been able to lay hold, would tear out the

+neck from throat to breast.

+

+The combat was at its height between these gladiators

+when the pursuers sighted them.  The boys hold their

+breath in fair amazement as they eagerly watch the two

+figures in the sunlit arena struggling for the mastery.  So

+engrossed are the combatants that the spectators may

+come out into the open and surround them, for all the

+notice that will be taken of them.  As it is, the boys'

+astonishment is quickly transmuted into animal excitement

+and battle-lust.  They take sides, and cheer, now the

+beast and now the bird.

+

+.. _`134`:

+

+But the end comes quickly and tragically enough.  The

+pace of the conflict tells terribly upon the dingo.  He is

+now weakening fast; can hardly see, so bloodshot are his

+eyes.  Yes, he can hold out but little longer.  Realising

+this, he fights purely on the defence for breath.  Then,

+concentrating all his energies in one last irresistible

+stroke, he springs, arrow-like, and this time strikes fair

+on the bullseye—the neck of his adversary.  The emu

+had failed to elude the panther-like spring.  But now the

+counter-stroke!

+

+When the dingo's fangs close vice-like upon the emu's

+throat the bird's fate is irrevocably sealed.  The jugular

+vein is torn out with a mouthful of flesh and muscle,

+and the skin is stripped to the bosom.  What time

+this savage and fatal stroke is given the vengeful bird,

+by one terrific downward blow of its powerful leg and

+toes, disembowels the hanging dog; and then with a

+lightning side-stroke, delivered full on the forehead of the

+prone beast, smashes in its skull.  A vain attempt to

+crow a note of victory; a few short, uncertain, rotatory

+movements, life-blood gushing the while from its severed

+jugular, then a collapse, falling across the body of its

+slain adversary!

+

+Which of the two is the victor?

+

+The surprise of the boys, at the sudden and bloody

+termination of the fight, may be better imagined than

+described.  They stared aghast for some moments at the

+spectacle, too dazed to move or speak.  Even the

+hardened bushman, George, was moved.

+

+"Well, of all the fights I ever seed, this licks creation;

+it's better nor cock-fightin'.  Be gosh, 'twas a grand fight

+to a finish!"

+

+The trapper now busies himself with the scalping-knife,

+and, as the boys stand around, a feeling of sadness

+rises within as they contemplate the slain.

+

+"Poor brutes!" said Sandy feelingly, "I've a notion,

+lads, that they deserved a better fate."

+

+"The boss wouldn't agree to that as fur as the dorgs is

+concerned.  As fer the emu, he's neither good nor bad,"

+grunted the old man.

+

+"Well, after all," broke in Joe, "it's their nature, as

+old Simpson is always preaching to us in school.  They're

+not to blame for following their instincts.  By jings! there's

+no coward's blood in these poor brutes,—they're as

+brave as brave."

+

+But such moralising was beyond Nosey George.

+

+"Emus is sight enough in a way, an' only eats grass an'

+roots,—but dingos! they're vermin, an' any death's good

+enough fur them.  By the hokey!" exclaimed he as he

+looked at the trap; "I'm blamed if here isn't the blessed

+paw!"

+

+It was true.  The wretched beast's foot was evidently

+so lacerated and broken by its efforts to escape, and in

+dragging the trap, that when it made the last and fatal

+spring the imprisoned paw parted from the leg in the

+very act, and that severance enabled it to reach the emu's

+neck.  Having secured the trap and the scalp, the group

+retraced their steps to where they had hitched the horses.

+

+The haul proved successful beyond measure.  To secure

+four dingoes in one scoop was a great stroke of luck.  Not

+so much luck, on reflection, as skilful management.  An

+amateur might have set a hundred traps with seeming

+skill and not have bagged a dog.  No one save a trapper

+like George could trap with any degree of certainty.

+

+"I s'pose you'll bag the balance to-night," remarked

+Tom to the trapper when they had remounted.

+

+"No jolly fear!  Never catch any more along this line."

+

+"How's that?"

+

+"Why, d'yer think a dingo's no sense?  Be gosh! all

+the calves in creation wuddent tempt what's left of the

+vermin to come along this track again.  Wish we'd a' got

+the old dog, though."

+

+"What are you going to do next?" inquired Tom.

+

+"Fust an' foremost thing is to collect the traps, then

+we'll burn the weaners."

+

+"Won't you try for the other dogs?"

+

+"My oath, won't I?"

+

+"Give us your programme, George, there's a good fellow."

+

+"I'll try 'em about Razorback with the traps, as soon

+as they've quietened down a bit.  They've been scared

+out of their precious wits by this 'ere business."

+

+In due time the party arrived at the homestead.

+Mr. M'Intyre expressed his gratification at the result of the

+trapper's work, and praised his skill.  He further bade

+George continue his work until the beasts were

+exterminated, promising him a liberal reward should he

+achieve this end.

+

+The boys related with great gusto, to an almost

+incredulous household, the particulars of the fight to a

+finish.

+

+The trapper fixed his camp in the hills, and employed

+his best endeavours to trap the remaining dingoes with

+but partial success, securing one only.  The old dingo,

+which on a former occasion had left two of his claws in a

+trap, and now had received this additional fright through

+the ensnarement of his comrades, was not to be lured by

+any device, however crafty.  George, who knew their run

+intimately, surrounded them with traps.  'Twas all in

+vain, set them never so wisely.

+

+This defiance and immunity irritated the old man

+beyond endurance, and he swore by all the dignities to

+get their scalps, if it took him till the crack of doom.

+

+As he was camped on the ranges, in the vicinity of

+Razorback, his weekly ration was taken out to him by

+the boys, who were keen on this matter.  They had been

+out twice with the rations, and now were being sent out

+the third time.  What befel them on that trip will be

+related in the next chapter.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE CHASE AND ITS SEQUEL`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XVIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE CHASE, AND ITS SEQUEL

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,

+   |    Proclaim a hunting morn;

+   |  Before the sun rises away we go,—

+   |    The sleep of the sluggard we scorn."

+   |                                OLD SONG.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Now then, sleepies,—up you get!" cried Sandy in the

+early morning, as he performed his usual preliminary of

+whipping off the bed-clothes from the sleepy-headed Joe

+and Tom.

+

+"Sun's laughing at you through the windows.  Come,

+Master Hawkins!" cried he with a grin as he tumbled

+that grunting individual on to the floor, piling the

+bed-clothes on top of him, and then seating himself on the

+wriggling pile.  "If soft measures won't avail I am

+prepared to adopt severe ones."

+

+Tom, now thoroughly aroused, and as peppery as you

+like, shouted and yelled and writhed, getting his arm at

+last round his persecutor, the laughing Sandy, and by

+a violent effort pulling him on to the broad of his back,

+thus reversing their positions.

+

+"You red-headed Scotchman, I'll teach you meddle

+with—" pommel—"me again"—pommel, pommel.

+

+Here a cold douche arrested the uplifted arm of the

+irate Tom, and took his breath for a moment, as it

+descended upon the prone bodies, accompanied by sundry

+"ouchs" and shrill yells.  As the boys scrambled to their

+feet they joined forces and rushed the dodging Joe, who,

+after a few ineffectual dives, was caught and jolly well

+punched.

+

+The usual early morning diversion ended, the lads, rosy

+with health and brimming over with animal spirits—the

+essence of good nature for all their rough play—dressed

+with haste and made for the stockyard, to pick their steeds.

+

+This occupied their time till the seven o'clock breakfast,

+after which they secured from the storeman the rations

+for the trapper.

+

+"Now Sandy, my boy, ye'll no forget to tell George

+what I named at breakfast."

+

+"M-yes, about the dingoes, father?"

+

+"No, stupid.  Didna I ask you to tell him that, dingoes

+or no dingoes, he is to come next week at the latest, to

+handle the colts?"

+

+"Oh yes, dad, I won't forget.  I expect he'll growl a bit,

+as he's mad on getting the dogs and the reward.  He's

+quite cranky over it."

+

+"He'll come richt enough if ye gie him my order."

+

+The trapper's camp, as previously stated, was situated

+about eleven miles from the homestead.  Four miles or

+so from home the track roughened, and became what is

+known as broken country, all hills and gullies, for the

+most part very rocky, and heavily wooded in places.

+

+The boys' progress was but slow, owing to the nature of

+the ground, and it took them nearly three hours to reach

+the camp, which they found unoccupied.  After cooeeing

+in vain for the absentee, they proceeded to light a fire in

+order to boil the billy, spreading the substantial lunch

+which Mrs. M'Intyre had furnished them.

+

+"Bother old Nosey; wish he'd turn up!" exclaimed

+Sandy, when the boys had finished their repast.  "We

+can't go till he comes.  There'd be no end of a row if we

+went home without delivering the message."

+

+"Oh, he'll be here before long," interjected Joe.  "I

+vote we do a camp in the shade for an hour or two; it's

+hot enough to fry a steak."

+

+This was good advice, and the boys made themselves as

+comfortable as circumstances permitted under the shade

+of the trees.  So the hours passed without any sign of the

+trapper.

+

+"Well, I declare," exclaimed Tom for the twentieth

+time in the course of the last hour, "it's too bad of Nosey.

+I'm full up of waitin' here with nothing to do.  Can't you

+leave a message somehow for the ole cuss?"

+

+"How is it to be done, Hawkins?"

+

+"Oh bother! write a note, of course."

+

+"Well, you are a greeney, Tom.  Where's the pen, ink,

+and paper to come from?"

+

+"Why, hasn't ole Nosey——?"

+

+"Old Nosey, be hanged!  Of course he hasn't, any more

+than he's got a dress suit and a toilet mirror."

+

+"I've got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.

+

+"No good in the world; where's the paper to come

+from; an' supposin' we had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads,

+writing desks, and whatever else you like to name

+in the scribbling line, what good 'ud it all be?"

+

+"Meaning——?"

+

+"Meanin' this, you dunderheads—it's got to be read."

+

+"Well?"

+

+"Well!—of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns,

+hodges, and idiots that ever I came across——!"

+

+"Here, draw it mild, young porridge-pot.  There's two

+to one against you: mind that, you red herring!"

+

+"I'll *mind* more than that, if I am the son of a Scot, which

+is no great disgrace, after all," replied Sandy jeeringly.

+"But look here and listen, chiels.  I'll tell you a story—

+

+"Once upon a time, when pigs were called swine an'

+monkeys chewed tobacco, there lived a bully English

+captain, the commander of a man o' war.  This frigate,

+sailing up the channel on her return from foreign parts,

+sighted a French ship, not more'n about twice her size.

+Instead of closing with the Frenchy slap bang, an' givin'

+her what-for, she turned tail an' showed her a clean pair

+of heels.  This outrageous proceeding on the part of a

+British sea-dog demanded instant investigation, and so

+the jolly captain was promptly court-martialled.  After

+the case had been put by the prosecuting officer, and not

+denied by the prisoner, he was asked by the president of

+the court why he did not engage the enemy.  The captain,

+in reply, said that he had ten reasons.  'Name them,'

+says the boss officer.  'The first is: I had no powder;

+it was all used up.'  'Enuf sed,' sings out the judge.

+'We don't want the other nine.  You're discharged, my

+man, without a stain on your character.'"

+

+"Oh, that's all right for a yarn," cried Joe; "but I

+want to know what it's got to do with your father's

+message to Nosey?"

+

+"Just as much as it's got to do with the grass of a duck

+in a forty-acre paddock," jeered Sandy.

+

+"It's a story with a moral, boys; and as Captain Kettle—no,

+I mean Cuttle, says in that book of Dickens, the

+moral of the story lies in the application."

+

+"Apply it, my wise man."

+

+"Here then: old Nosey has ten reasons for not gettin'

+a written message."

+

+"Name the first!"

+

+"He can't read."

+

+"Now then, Joe," said Tom, turning to that worthy,

+"what's the verdict of the court?"

+

+"I s'pose we'll have to discharge the prisoner without a

+character," replied Joe with a wink.

+

+"Blow these bally flies!" cried Tom, after an interval.

+"They're here in millions.  Faugh!—splutter—there's

+one down my jolly throat.  Say, Joe, what are you goin'

+to do?"

+

+"Boil the billy," replied that youth laconically.  "May

+as well do something, an' kill time."

+

+So the hours sped until the sun was well on its descending

+curve in the late afternoon.  Their patience was now

+thoroughly exhausted in waiting for the trapper.  They

+canvassed the reasons for his non-appearance, until they

+were mortally sick of discussing the subject.

+

+"Tell you what, boys, message or no message, Nosey or

+no Nosey," cried Sandy at last, "we must make tracks for

+home.  We are not to blame for old George's absence.

+They'll be wondering what's become of us.  It'll take us

+all our time to get there before dark as it is.  At the

+worst, we'll have to come out to-morrow."

+

+It took but a few minutes after this to secure the

+horses, saddle them, call the dog which had accompanied

+them to heel, and set out on the return journey.

+

+After jogging briskly for a couple of miles or so the

+cattle dog, a strong wiry hound and a noted warrior

+among his species, began to sniff about, uttering a series of

+low, short barks.

+

+"Hello, Brindle, what's up?  Got 'possum scent?

+Bandicoot, I 'spect.  Fetch him, boy!"

+

+Just at this moment Brindle made a dash forward,

+what time a big dog-dingo started out from under an old

+log a hundred yards or so ahead.  The route taken by

+the chase lay up a long gully.  This gully was, more

+correctly speaking, a depression, lacking abrupt and

+precipitous sides, and was comparatively free from rocks.

+

+The boys hesitated a moment, but the temptation was

+too strong.  Joe, clapping his spurs to his steed's sides,

+started off with a clatter, the others following pell-mell.

+The gully was long and winding, and to this, for some

+reason, the dingo stuck.  The hunters now began to gain

+a little on the beast, and were in full sight, the cattle

+dog just holding his distance.  At length the gully

+petered out at the base of a ridge, over which the quarry

+sped, the dog and boys in full chase.  The other side of

+the ridge was more precipitous, and covered with bracken

+and stunted bushes.  Down this the pursuit thundered,

+Joe in the lead and well to the cattle dog's heels: the

+dingo leading by not more than seventy yards.  So

+absorbed was the boy in the hunt that he remained in

+ignorance of a calamity that was even now happening to

+one of his mates.

+

+Tom's horse, in bounding down the ridge, and when

+close to the bottom, put his foot in a wombat's[#] hole

+that was hidden by bracken.  Over came horse and rider,

+Tom striking the ground on head and shoulder, while

+Sandy, who was about a length behind, narrowly averted

+collision with the fallen steed and boy.  As quickly as

+possible he pulled up his galloping animal, shouting out

+as he did so to Joe, who was too far away and too much

+engrossed in the chase to hear the call.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Wombat—-a burrowing marsupial.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Returning to the collapsed pair, Sandy jumped off and

+lifted Tom's head, for the lad lay stiff.  His appearance

+frightened the boy as he lay still and death-like.  To his

+great joy, however, on feeling Tom's wrist, Sandy detected

+a feeble pulse-beat.  Laying his stricken mate gently

+down in the bracken, he made a hasty examination of his

+head.  It bore no trace of wound, save some gravel

+scratches and a nasty bruise under the left eye.  The

+relieved boy hurried to the bottom of the ridge, where by

+good hap was a rill of water.  Filling his hat he returned

+and laved the brow and wrists of his companion.  After

+some twenty minutes or so Tom began to stir, and

+quickly regained consciousness.  No bones were broken,

+but the boy was badly shaken, and all thoughts of further

+pursuit were out of the question.  The horse, by a

+miracle, was without hurt.

+

+"You're a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few

+minutes.  "From the way you crashed down I made

+sure every blessed bone in your body was broken.  How

+do you feel now, ole boss?"

+

+"Oh, I'm all right," replied Tom feebly.  "Shoulder's

+the worst.  It's not dislocated, but it pains a lot.  Phew! but

+it does hurt when I move it.  I expect it felt the full

+force of the tumble.  But—where's Joe?"

+

+"Joe's ahead.  Goodness only knows where he's got to

+by now.  He hasn't a ghost's show of getting the dingo if

+he makes for the hills."

+

+"I tell you what," continued the boy; "we'll get off

+home as soon as you feel fit.  It's no use waiting for Joe.

+He can easily catch us.  You'll have to go slow, old man,

+you know."

+

+This was true, for Tom's shoulder was in an agony of

+ache, which the movement of the horse, after they had

+mounted, intensified to an almost unbearable degree.

+

+It was long after dark ere the pair sighted the

+homestead lights.  They had not been overtaken by Joe, much

+to their surprise.  They were met at the slip-rails by

+Harry and Jacky, who had just been dispatched to look

+for them, as the family were getting uneasy at their

+prolonged absence.  The men returned with the lads to

+the house.  Beyond a severe word to Sandy for being

+tempted to pursue the impossible when on the homeward

+track, the squatter justified their act of returning from the

+camp; also in not waiting for Joe.

+

+"I expect the rascal will turn up in a few minutes.  His

+horse would soon be knocked up in that country, and he

+would therefore be unable to catch you after he abandoned

+the dingo.  The cheek of you boys, to think you could run

+it down in that country!"

+

+The minutes sped without sight or sound of the huntsman.

+Anxiety deepened in the women; the men, too,

+became uneasy.

+

+"Some one ought to go after the lad," broke in the

+perturbed mother, at length.  "The poor laddie must

+have met trouble.  His horse has knocked up.  Perhaps

+he has lost himself.  Perhaps he——!"

+

+"Perhaps nothing of the kind has happened, except

+that the horse may have knocked up.  You women will

+always jump to the worst conclusions.  Willy, you and I'll

+ride back a bit; come you too Sandy, if you're not too

+tired."

+

+Mr. M'Intyre feared more than he showed.  It would

+be easy enough after all, he reflected, for a boy who was

+ignorant of the lay of the country and who had no

+experience in bush travelling, to lose his way.  He

+determined, therefore, to take his son with him, so that

+he might lead them to the spot where the accident

+occurred, if it were necessary.  Accordingly the three

+set off on the track.  Fortunately it was moonlight and

+clear, so that they were able to make good headway

+through the bush.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+It is time, however, to return to Joe.  That ardent

+hunter had followed the chase for some distance ere he

+missed his pals.  What with the severity of the pace and

+the increasing roughness of the course, its twistings and

+turnings, all his attention was focussed on the quarry.

+If he did think at all of his companions, it was to picture

+them following close behind.  But in the heat of the chase

+he had little thought for others.  When it did dawn upon

+him that he had outdistanced his companions, as happened

+eventually, he attributed little importance to that.  They,

+no doubt, had good reason for slackening their pace.  His

+horse, as he well knew, had a dash of speed denied to

+theirs.  Maybe their steeds had caved in.  Anyhow, he

+was having a glorious time, and "the finish" was touched

+with roseate hues to his imagination.

+

+His horse was justifying the reputation given of him to

+Joe by Harry, the stockman, one day when they were

+discussing the relative merits of their mounts.

+

+"For a hack," that worthy had remarked, "there's

+nothing on the run equal to the little thing you're ridin'.

+With a light weight up like yourself she can show a dash

+of foot an' staying powers that'll take a tremendous lot of

+lickin'."

+

+This was a just criticism, as events were proving.

+Still, the pace was beginning to tell, and Joe was forced

+to ease the mare somewhat, even at the risk of losing

+sight of the quarry.  The rough ridges, too, made the

+going to be precarious.

+

+Things were as bad with Master Dingo, however.  The

+pursuit was hot enough to extend him to the fullest.  He

+was always in view, and could not shake off the foe.  As

+long as he remained in sight it was impossible to resort to

+any trick by which he might gain time or wind.  The

+ordinary pace of the dingo when on the chase may be

+described as a lope.  This can be kept up the live-long

+day, and thus wear down the fleetest victim.  To keep

+extended at full gallop in this unwonted fashion is not at

+all to the dingo's liking, and the sooner he can reach the

+distant scrub, which is his objective, the better pleased he

+will be.  The cattle dog, though not ordinarily a hunter,

+is strong and tough, and possessed of a good pair of

+bellows.  He started the game with the utmost alacrity,

+and now continues it with the greatest vim and

+determination.

+

+So the chase continues, and is now but little more than

+a mile from the scrub belt which fringes the base of the

+hills.  To this ark of safety, therefore, the dingo strains

+every muscle, and seizes every small advantage which his

+instinct discerns.  No less strenuous is the cattle dog.

+He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs

+to win.  In this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry

+over bush and brake, over stony ridges and across

+intersecting gullies.

+

+Within half a mile of the scrub the country flattens out,

+and this gives an advantage to the cattle dog, who closes

+up.  Joe's horse is now in distress.  The course has been

+long and rough, the pace severe, and the grass-fed steed

+is weakening, can make no headway, is indeed losing in

+the race.  The lad sees this, and chevies the dog on, for

+he can plainly mark now that unless the chase be ended

+on this side of the scrub all hope must be abandoned,

+Oh, to win!  A supremely glorious thing were he to

+achieve the impossible!  There are chances.  Lots of

+things might happen yet.  On, on, good doggie!  Catch

+him, Brindle!  Hurrah, Brindle is closing; is surely

+creeping up!

+

+They are now about three hundred yards from the

+timber belt, and the dingo is slowly but surely being

+overhauled.  Visions of the scalp as a proud trophy fill

+the boy's imagination.  If only Brindle may seize his

+victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute

+its quietus with the stirrup iron!  Brindle is now not

+more than four lengths behind, and the beasts are still a

+hundred yards from the scrub.

+

+"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe

+across the widely intervening distance.  The voice is borne

+faintly to the dog's ears, and nerves him to heroic effort

+in this the final stage of the struggle, the last lap, so to

+speak.  Breath is too precious to be wasted in answering

+cry, but the spurt of the hound speaks volumes: "I shall

+catch him, master, never fear: I am gaining; but ''twill be

+on the post."

+

+Both dogs, wild and domestic, are stretched to their

+fullest extent.  It is the crowning burst.  They are

+labouring heavily, staggering, and rolling in their stride.

+The pace is slow but hard.  It is a question of endurance.

+Every ounce of strength in each body is laid under

+contribution.  Once within the scrub the chances in favour

+of the dingo will immediately increase a hundredfold, for

+in doubling and dodging through the densely timbered

+belts the native dog has no equal.

+

+Only thirty yards now lie between the dingo and his

+salvation—the good thick scrub that will swallow him

+up; but—the breath of the pursuer blows hot upon him.

+Throwing his head over his shoulder for the fraction of a

+second, the desperate beast sees that only by a miracle

+can he escape.  The adversary is upon his quarters, and

+in another second the brute's fangs will be buried in his

+back.  It is a supreme moment.  Now or never!  Making

+a super-canine effort, the fear-stricken thing draws away

+from its enemy in the last dozen strides.  Saved, saved!

+Alas, alas!  Right at the very fringe, and within a single

+step of safety, he tumbles in a heap, and with a convulsive

+gasp rolls over and gives up the ghost: the prolonged

+exertions have broken his heart.

+

+You can work your will on the hunted one now,

+Brindle: no need to fear the vicious snap that was

+reserved for you should the worst happen.  But the

+dog's instincts inform him that all power of resistance

+has gone from that mute and still form; indeed, he has

+no strength to worry should the call be made: the last

+spurt has left him without a vestige of strength.  And

+so, when Joe appeared upon the scene a few minutes

+later, it was to behold the motionless dingo, and by his

+side, with lolling tongue and cavernous mouth, the panting

+and exhausted Brindle.

+

+In a moment the boy has slid from his horse, and is

+dancing a grotesque fandango, expressive of his unbounded

+joy.  But, when in a calmer moment he understood the

+tragedy of it from the dingo's side of things, a feeling

+of compassion possessed him, yet joy persisted.  "He's a

+noble fellow, and has given me the grandest sport I've

+ever had.  I'm sorry, and yet I'm glad," quoth the lad.

+"What'll old Nosey say to this!  My stars, ain't the boys

+out of it!  Wonder where the poor beggars have got to.

+Hope nothing's happened to them.  Poor beast!"

+apostrophising the dingo, "you made a royal struggle and

+deserved to escape, but the fates were against you.  And

+you, good old Brindle; my word, you've covered yourself

+with glory, sir!  Poor fellow, you are done up; can only

+blink your pleasure; can't wag even the tip of your tail.

+Good doggie, I'm proud of you!"

+

+"I'm blest if I don't skin the dingo," exclaimed he, after

+a moment's pause.  "I'll keep it as a trophy.  Something

+to look at in after years when I'm a grey-beard,"

+chuckled the youth.  So saying, he whipped out his

+knife.  Joe had never before skinned a dingo, but as he

+had performed that office on many a wallaby and 'possum

+he was fairly expert, and in a few minutes had achieved

+his object.  Rolling the pelt in the approved manner,

+the youth bound it with a stout piece of cord which he

+extracted from his pocket, and fastened it to the saddle

+ring.

+

+"Next thing's to get some water.  My word!  I'm as

+dry as leather, an' could drink a tank dry.  The animals,

+too, are clean done up, an' I'll get nothing out of them

+unless they have water.  Good gracious! why—the sun's

+down, an' it'll soon be dark."

+

+Not until this moment did the young hunter realise

+his position.  "Must be miles and miles off the track,"

+muttered he as he took a brief survey of his surroundings.

+"I'll have to make tracks with a vengeance!  Won't do

+to be nipped here.  Let's see; yes, the way back is across

+that flat for a certainty, and then over yon stony ridge.

+Beyond that we bend to the right till we reach a rocky

+creek."  In this way the hunter strove to recall the

+innumerable bends and curves taken in the chase.  "Ah,

+here's the moon rising: good old moon!"

+

+Joe had plenty of heart, nerve, and resource.  His

+good spirits were proverbial.  Yet the situation was not

+at all inviting.  Fourteen miles or so from home on the

+eve of night.  A complete stranger to this rough and

+trackless region, and his horse badly used up!  These

+were things calculated to try the nerves and tax the

+courage of the benighted youth.

+

+He made small bones of these, however, and started

+off at a slow pace on his return.  The dog had recovered

+sufficiently to drag himself along at the horse's heels.

+The boy eagerly scanned the country for signs of water

+for this would afford the greatest relief to man and beasts:

+all of whom felt an intolerable thirst.  At last they dropped

+across a small pool in a stony creek, to their great

+delight.

+

+Both horse and dog drank as if they would never stop.

+This, the boy felt, would be bad for the animals, and he

+sought to stay them.  He with difficulty checked the

+horse, but the dog would not quit lapping until he was

+as tight as the proverbial drum.  Joe himself drank

+sparingly, and then moved onward.  The dog soon began

+to vomit, and appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

+So after vain waiting and entreaty the lad was forced to

+leave it behind, in the hope that it would recover during

+the night, when he had small doubt as to its ability to

+find its way home.  The horse went easier, now that she

+had assuaged her thirst.  All light had vanished save

+that of the moon, which shed an uncertain light, making

+puzzling shadows on the rough ground.

+

+"It's time I was at the head of the long gully,"

+muttered the lad.  "From there it's only a mile or so

+to the home track.  Get up Jill, and moosey along.  The

+other chaps are home by this time I expect, and they're

+wondering what's become of me."

+

+Strange to say, the long gully refused to appear, until

+it dawned on Joe at last that he was off the track.  None

+but those who have experienced it can understand the

+weird feeling that possesses one in the dawn of that

+consciousness.  To be in the lonely Australian bush,

+where the silence is an oppression, is something like

+being cast adrift in mid-ocean on a raft, with nothing

+in sight save the wild waste of waters.

+

+That he had lost his bearings became increasingly

+evident to the wanderer as he moved along.  He became

+a prey to disquieting qualms and the creeping chill of

+apprehension.  Gruesome accounts of the fate of lost

+travellers had often been related at the home fireside, and

+these memories awoke in his mind.

+

+"I'm off the track all right; still, I'm sure to cut

+across the Razorback trail; it'll lie over in that

+direction."  After a pause he determined to adhere to the

+way that he had been pursuing for some little while.  On

+then "breast forward."  There is no semblance of a track,

+and presently the lad gets into very difficult country.

+It would be bad enough to travel through in daylight,

+but now the trouble is accentuated; yet the boy, with

+strong faith in his ultimate emergence from this chaos,

+bravely faces the situation.  Up hill, down dale,

+across gullies, forcing the patches of scrub, slithering

+down ridges, going on hands and knees, ever and

+anon, to feel for the hoof-prints on what appeared

+to be the longed-for track—an unceasing march goes on.

+

+At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief

+over a tree root, and tumbles to mother earth.  The

+rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare, who has strained

+her fetlock.  What is to be done now?  It is a serious

+mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation.

+The only thing to be done is to relieve his steed of

+saddle and bridle, cache his accoutrements, and trudge

+along on foot.

+

+"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad.

+"Poor Jill!  I don't like leaving you; but it won't be

+for long, my beauty.  Your master will send some one

+to look after you to-morrow.  To-morrow!—Why, it

+must be past midnight now!  Good-bye, Jill."

+

+On speeds the gallant youth, whistling and singing

+snatches as he tramps the interminable bush.  "Might

+be worse," he reiterates in thought.  There's a chill in

+the midnight air, and the walk will warm him nicely.

+On, then, through the still hours!  Not even the hollow

+note of the night-owl or the familiar thump made by

+the feeding marsupial breaks the monotony of silence.

+No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the traveller's

+boots on the rough ground.  How long drawn out the

+day has been.  It seems an eternity since he dowsed

+Tom and Sandy on the bedroom floor.  Lucky beggars,

+they are snug and sound under the blankets, dreaming

+the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is

+tramp, tramp, tramping.  At length the thought of his

+comrades' sweet repose fills him with longing for rest and

+sleep.

+

+"How long ago it is since I broke my fast?  Must

+be eight, ten, twelve hours; yes, twelve mortal hours!

+Eat!  Oh, for a slice of damper and salt junk!  That

+were a feed if you like.  Puddings, tarts, cakes!  Bah!

+Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey's damper, an' a slab of

+that corn-beef."

+

+What a sinking seems to fill his being!  How heavy

+his boots have grown!  How steep those everlasting

+ridges have become!  How lovely to crouch down on

+that patch of bracken—for five minutes only!  He must

+stop and rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get

+his wind and ease his tired limbs.  Shall he——?  But

+no! he must first cut the track—then!  His limbs are

+trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall.  On,

+on—to the station track!  Onward, then, creeps the

+tottering, stumbling lad.  Whistle and song have long

+ceased.  Fatigue reigns supreme, and sheer weariness

+confuses his brain, and bears heavily on will.  Mechanically

+now, the dear lad staggers over the pathless waste.

+

+But see!  Yes, there is a change.  What is that line

+ahead?  Is it on the ground or in the air?  It rises and

+falls in the moonlight, but still persists.  The ground, too,

+is getting smoother.  The ridges have disappeared.

+Hurrah!  Is not this the end?  A few steps more now,

+and—the station track!

+

+On trudges the lost boy with rising hope.  But, alas! the

+line thickens, darkens, deepens, until it stands out

+solid, an impregnable scrub.  How weird it all is; how

+awful!  In a moment the benighted lad is stripped of

+hope.  He is frightened beyond words.  With a momentary

+strength born of despair the wretched youth coasts

+the dismal scrub, seeking an opening in vain.  Suddenly

+he stumbles over a soft, dark mass, and falls to the

+ground.  Putting out a hand instinctively, he touches

+the substance.  Great Cæsar, it is the dingo!  Yes, it

+has happened to poor Joe Blain as it has to many a one

+more experienced in the ways of the bush—he has

+circled!

+

+This shock is the last blow.  Nature is drained of her

+resources and can hold out no longer.  The lad sinks

+back into a half-swoon, which presently merges into

+a dreamless sleep.

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: center white-space-pre-line

+

+   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+"Joe, old fellow, wake up!  Wake up, I say; Joe—Joe—d'ye

+hear?"

+

+"W-w-w-what is it?  Drat you, lemme lone.  'Snot

+mornin'.  There's goo-good fler, so s-s-sleep——"

+

+Joe Blain, eyes sealed, dead with sleep, rolls over on

+the ground, and never was any creature more gently

+rocked in the arms of Morpheus than he.

+

+Another voice now breaks the silence, sharp and

+penetrating.

+

+"Hi! hi! there, you sleepy lubber.  Are ye going to

+lie there all day?  Rouse up, laddie!"

+

+This imperative speech was accompanied by vigorous

+shakings and rollings.

+

+"Well, well," grunted the half-awakened boy, "sounds

+like Mr. M'Intyre's voice.  Never knew him to come

+into the room be-before.  Wish they'd leave us alone.

+Can't open"—and the next moment Joe had relapsed

+into sleep.  Only for a moment, though.  The next he

+was taken neck and crop, lifted to his feet, and shaken

+violently, what time a voice rasped his ear drum: "Wake

+up, wake up, ye young Rip Van Winkle!"

+

+Opening his eyes, the dazed Joe starts at the unwonted

+scene.  He is not in his bedroom, then!  What on earth

+has happened?  Who are these that surround him?

+Why—he's in the bush!  And then the truth dawns

+upon the weary and weakened lad; he was really lost,

+and—thank God he is found!

+

+He greets the squatter with a wan smile, and, with the

+grace characteristic of the boy, begins to thank him.

+But Mr. M'Intyre, patting him affectionately on the

+back while supporting him with his arm, extracts the

+cork of a pocket flask with his teeth, and puts it to the

+lad's mouth.

+

+"Tak' a pu' at this, ma laddie; it'll revive ye wonderfu'."

+

+The brandy worked wonders on the boy, so unaccustomed

+to it.

+

+"We—we ran the dingo down, sir—Jill and Brin—why,

+here's ole Brindle!  Left him at the water-hole; too sick

+to follow.  The horse too——"

+

+"Horse's all right, Joe.  We picked her up at the

+water-hole, where we'll leave her for a few days, as she's

+limping badly.  Can you sit on the saddle before me?"  Joe

+is sure he can, and no time is lost in starting

+homewards.  M'Intyre, to whom the country was an open

+book, knew a short cut that would take them home

+in ten miles.

+

+During the ride Joe recited his experiences to the

+squatter, who in return related how Willie had picked

+up the tracks, sighting first the horse and then the dog,

+and followed the trail till they came upon the sleeping

+lad.

+

+It was a weary but not unhappy boy who reached the

+homestead at length.  The household, duly apprised

+by Willy, who had ridden on ahead, were in readiness

+to cheer the conquering hero.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`CONCERNING WILD HORSES`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XIX

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   CONCERNING WILD HORSES

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Now welcome, welcome, master mine,

+   |    Thrice welcome to the noble chase:

+   |  Nor earthly sport, nor sport divine,

+   |    Can take such honourable place."

+   |                    *Ballad of the Wild Huntsmen.*

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Where's Floss and Jeannie, Harry?  Don't see 'em in

+the yard this morning."

+

+"No, sir, they didn't come in with the others."

+

+"Hoo's that, mon?"

+

+"I harsk'd Jacky about 'em when he yarded the others,

+an' he said they wasn't with the rest.  Too lazy, I bet, to

+look after 'em."

+

+"But I dinna see Tallboy or Dolly, eyther," said the

+squatter as he peered through the rails at the horses.

+

+"I speck they're with the mares down by the dam, or

+p'raps campin' on the box ridge."

+

+"Weel, see that they're no missed the morn.  Here

+you, Jacky," to the black boy; "come along here."

+

+"What's matter, Boss?"

+

+"What for you bin no yard all yarraman?"[#]

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Yarraman—native name for horse.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Bail me see some, Boss."

+

+"You bin getting lazy.  I'll hae to gie you a taste o'

+the stock whip."

+

+"Me no 'fraid you, Boss," replied the black with a grin.

+"You not like my ole boss, Cap'n White.  Him murry

+quick with whip.  Sandy bin tellin' me you only gammon."

+

+"See that you drive in every hoof to-morrow morning,

+or, Sandy or no Sandy, ye'll get a surprise, my boy."

+

+"I cam across some brumby tracks yesterday aifternoon

+in the springers' paddock," continued the squatter

+to Harry, the head stockman.  "Meant to hae spoken

+aboot it afore."

+

+"They're a rare nuisance, they brutes!  There maun

+be a gap in the dog-leg fence at the far side for 'em to

+ha'e got in.  You'd better tak' Jacky and Denny at once,

+and mak' the fence secure.  That pack o' rubbage'll be

+doing a lot o' mischief among the springers wi' their

+galloping.  Ye'd better go across by the horse-paddock,

+an' see if ye can get a sicht o' the mares.  It's almost as

+near as the other track."

+

+"All right, Boss.  Jacky, you go to Ah Fat an' tell 'im

+to put up some grub.  Git the billy an' tots, an' bring 'em

+along.  Tell Denny I want 'im.  He's working in the

+garden."

+

+"Oh, I say," bawling after the retreating boy; "tell

+Denny to git the small cross-cut, an' a couple o' tommies,

+an' a bit o' wire to do the mendin' with.  Slither away,

+now, ye son of a black buck!"

+

+In a few minutes the men are on their way through

+the horse-paddock to the slip-rails in the far corner, to

+carry on the repairing work in the springers' enclosure.

+

+It may be explained to the uninitiated that the horse-paddock

+is that nearest the homestead, where the station

+horses in use are kept; a larger or smaller mob according

+to requirements.  These are yarded at daylight every

+morning.  When the horses required for the day's work

+are selected the balance are turned loose for the day.

+The springers' paddock, reserved for the breeding cows,

+was a large one; one of the best on the run, in fact.

+The men as they rode along kept a sharp look-out for

+the missing steeds.  Separating as they neared the dam—which

+was a large sheet of water backing up in the gullies

+for a mile or so—they rode on either side, coming

+together at the box-tree ridge where the slip-rails were

+located.  No sign of the horses!

+

+"Strange, chaps!  Wonder where they can be.  Floss

+an' Dolly are fair terrors for hidin'.  But—hello! there's

+the slip-rails down!"

+

+Sure enough, the two topmost rails were down.  Who

+could have done it?

+

+The mystery is soon solved; the ground on the outside

+being trampled with horse hoofs.  It told its tale of cause

+and effect quickly enough to these bushmen.

+

+"The blessed brumbies hev got in an' coaxed 'em out,

+sure enough.  It's the warrigal's[#] mob for a quid.  Fifty

+of 'em, if there's a hoof.

+

+

+[#] Warrigal—wild, savage; applied indifferently by the natives to

+animals and men.

+

+

+"How d'yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"

+

+The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum

+at this kind of work.

+

+"Why, it's the ole warrigal's work o' course.  Trust 'im fur

+findin' out a way o' gettin' up a flirt with the ladies.  He's

+the cutest cuss in Australia, bar none.  Full o' blood he

+is too.  New Warrior strain outer a great arab mare of

+Kurnel Dumaresque.  I know 'im well, fur I was with

+Captain White just after he'd bought both dam an' foal

+from the ole Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque

+swopped 'em fur a stud Hereford 'e was terribly struck on.

+

+"Yes; he was allus a wild un.  My word, you should

+'a' seen 'im as a yearling!  Allus leadin' the other

+youngsters into mischief; breakin' into the lucem paddocks,

+an' chasin' the dorgs till they was in mortial terror of 'im;

+gettin' mad fits among the horses; kickin' an' squealin'

+an' chiveyin' em', till one day the Captain gits in a

+towerin' rage an' says to me an' one-eyed Bob, who was

+workin' fur 'im then: 'Run in that dad-busted, bloomin'

+brute an' fix 'im; it's the only way ter take the divvil

+outer 'im.'

+

+"You see, 'e was a grand, upstandin' beast as a colt, an'

+the Captain wunst thought to have 'im fur stud purposes,

+fur all 'e was a mix breed; but 'e soon seed that was

+outer the question.

+

+"Well, as I was sayin', the Captain orders me an'

+one-eyed Bob to yard 'im.  'Twarn't no easy job nuther, I

+tell you; for the brute soon cottoned what we was up

+to.  At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards 'im, and

+with 'im a couple o' colts an' a lot er fillies.  Bob threw

+the lasso a dozen times afore 'e noosed 'im, cause 'e kept

+dodgin' in an' out among the fillies.  It was the deuce's

+own job to separate 'em.

+

+"At larst, I say, Bob fixed 'im, an' didn't 'e perform.

+Howe'er, Bob 'olds 'im, an' I gits 'old of the slack to give

+a turn round the post, so's ter bring 'im up.  But all of

+a suddent 'e makes a mad rush at Bob, sendin' 'im

+sprawlin' with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer

+my hands, an' streaked fur the slip-rails—six on 'em

+there wor—an' by 'evans! jumps like a cat at 'em;

+comin' down with 'is belly on top, smashin' the rail, but

+fallin' on the outside; never, of course, breakin' 'is bloomin'

+neck—an' galloped orf like mad.

+

+"Must 'a' bin red mad sure enuff, fur 'e broke through

+the wire fence the Cap had round 'is 'orse-paddock; and

+that's the larst we seen of 'im fur months.

+

+"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin' after

+some steers, when I come acrost 'im in a mob of

+brumbies he'd chummed up with.  'E was 'aving a pretty

+rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o'

+stallions in the mob as wasn't agreeable fur 'is company

+in the 'arem; an that's 'ow we come ter git 'im a few years

+after, I 'spect."

+

+"Thin you did git hould iv th' grey divvil?" exclaimed

+Denny.

+

+"Yes; we got 'im all right.  But, look here, chaps, no

+time's to be lost.  These beggars may be still in the

+paddock.  If not, they've got out the way they came in, an'

+are 'eadin' fur the ranges.  We'll cut across to the north

+end where the fence crosses Rocky Crick.  I 'spect that's

+where they've broken in.  It looked a bit shaky a fortni't

+ago, as I come by.  I don't think they've got in at the

+dog-leg end, that the Boss spoke about.  Anyhow, we'll

+try the Crick fust."

+

+A sharp ride of about four miles brought the men to

+the spot indicated by Harry.  It was a rocky bit of

+country, and sure enough they found the "shaky" post

+and rails lying on the ground.  The immediate cause of

+this was a big limb of a dry stringy-bark tree, which had

+fallen upon the weak spot and smashed it down.  The

+horse tracks about the spot showed conclusively that the

+mob had gone in and out by this means.

+

+According to Jacky, the black boy, the inward tracks

+were about three days old; the outward, a few hours.

+Without doubt, the brumbies had "nosed" the rails to

+which the mares had been attracted by their neighings,

+early in the night.  Then in the dawning of the morning

+they had moved out to one of their haunts in the

+ranges.

+

+"The only thing now is to get back an' tell the Boss.

+'E'll be mad when he knows, you bet; thinks no end o'

+Floss an' Jeannie.  Put up the rails, boys, quick an'

+lively."  In a few minutes the men had fixed up the

+broken panels securely, and then rode homewards.

+

+"Saay, Harry, me bhoy, how'd yees yard th' ould stag,

+as ye was sayin' when ye was talkin' forninst th'

+slip-raales?

+

+"Wasn't an old stag then, an' isn't now, fur that matter,

+the brute's in 'is prime yet.  Let's see, 'e's risin' 'leven

+now, an' we got 'im just afore I left the Captain fur

+the Boss here.  Lemme think.  Yes, it's just over five

+year ago; he'd be about six, then.  Fur all his tricks,

+the two stallions had driven 'im off their beat.  'E'd got

+a couple o' mares, though, an' kep' 'em in the range

+country on the out-station; but it was all of an accident

+that we got 'im.

+

+"One day me an' the Captain was ridin' through the

+run, havin' a good look at the stock; fur we had a

+notion of cuttin' out a mob o' fats.  Well, as I was

+sayin', we was ridin' along the back part of the run,

+an' we came acrost a couple o' brumbies, each with a

+foal.  'Stead o' scootin', as they does in giniral, the mares

+galloped in a circle, but didn't clear.

+

+"'It's mighty strange,' ses the Captain.  'What are

+they 'angin' about fur, an' where's their mate?  Never

+seed 'em parted afore.'  'It is strange,' ses I; 'an' there's

+only one thing to account fur it, an' that is the cove's

+about sumwheres 'andy.'

+

+"We moved on to a rocky gully that opens out on

+to a big plain.  At one place a log fence runs acrost

+to keep the stock in.  Bymby we comes plump onter

+it, an', great gosh alive! if there weren't the grey.  'E

+seed us as soon as we spotted 'im, an' set up a great

+squealin' an' pawin', but cuddn't get away.  There 'e

+was, like a bandicoot in a V-trap.  'E was caught by the

+off hind-leg, between two big logs that lay clost

+together.  'E was jammed tight enough.  Wunder was

+'e didn't break a leg.

+

+"When the Cap saw the fix 'e was in, didn't 'e just cuss

+fur joy.  Then 'e sends me back to the hut, about two

+mile away, fur ropes, an' ole Jack the keeper.  Well, I

+streaked fur the hut, you bet, an' was there less'n no time.

+Soon me an' Jack, with two green 'ide lassoes an' an

+'emp one, also a axe, was on the spot.

+

+"When the 'orse sees the ropes 'e yelled, an' roared,

+an' pawed, an' snapped 'is teeth, fur all the world like a

+trapt dingo.  An', wud you believe it? *the blarmy mares

+hadn't follered us up*!  There they was just ahind us,

+whinneying and screamin'; their way o' swearing an'

+cussin' I s'pose.  Wish-I-may-die if we didn't have to

+put the stock whip on 'em to roust 'em away.

+

+"'How are yer goin' ter manage 'im,' ses I to the Cap

+when I comes up with the things.

+

+"'I'll soon let yer see,' ses 'e.  'Fust of all we'll pass

+a rope round 'is free 'ind-leg well up on to the shank.

+Then we'll put another on the front fetlock an' acrost 'is

+flanks.'

+

+"Well, it took us a goodish bit to fix 'im up.  I forgot

+ter say that we tied the third rope round 'is neck, an'

+that was no easy job, fur every time the Cap threw the

+lasso he'd dodge it with 'is 'ed like a fightin' kangaroo.

+But, ter make a long story short, when we'd roped 'im, we

+levered one of the logs with saplin's so's ter git 'is other

+leg free.  Then, didn't 'e play up!  But by the time we'd

+given 'im arf a dozen falls, an' two o' them riglar croppers,

+'e seed it was no use, throws up the sponge, an' comes

+along quietly.

+

+"We didn't give 'im any charnse, you bet, as 'e was

+such a sly demon.  So we got 'im ter the stockyard at the

+'ead station, a matter o' thirteen mile or so.  We put 'im

+in the crush fust, then got a 'evvy 'alter on 'im, an' tied

+it to 'is front off leg so's 'e cuddent jump; in that way

+we fixed 'im fur the night.

+

+"Early nex' morning, just as I was thinkin' o' gittin'

+up, there comes a tremenjious 'ammerin' an' bangin' at

+the door, shoutin' out sumthin' I cuddent understand.

+I jumps up an' opens the door, an' there was ole Jack

+singin' out an' makin' a great fluster.

+

+"'What in thunder's the matter, Jack?' ses I.

+

+"'Warrigal's gone!' ses 'e, all tremblin' like.  'Cleared

+right out in the night.'

+

+"Off I rushes ter the yards, an' sure enuff, the beast

+had cleared; yet the rails was up.

+

+"''Ow the dickens 'e got out, Jack?' ses I, lookin'

+round.  Presently I comes ter the slip-rails, an' soon spots

+'ow 'e done it.  I'm blest if the ole cuss didn't lay down

+ter it at the rails an' 'riggled 'is way out sideways.  You

+cud see the ground all tore up by 'is 'oofs as 'e inched 'is

+way out.  There was a knot at the lower side o' the rail,

+an' it was covered with 'air an' blood, which shows what

+a tight squeeze it was."

+

+"But 'ow the blazes did he gat out iv th' pathock whin

+he was knee-haltered?"

+

+"Like enuff 'e worked 'is 'edstall off as 'e 'riggled

+through.  We thought we'd made it tight enuff fur

+anythin'.  Anyways 'e cleared, an', what's more, 'e an' the

+mares moved off the run an' wasn't 'eard of fur long, then

+'e was found bossin' a mob on Bullaroi."

+

+By this time the men had reached the homestead.

+Leaving the others at the stockyard, Harry proceeded to

+the house to break the bad news to the owner.

+

+The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the

+affair had taken.  Two of the horses were brood mares

+on which he set a high value, and for which he had given

+a big price.  They were full of breeding, having the

+famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire's side.  The

+occurrence was no less than a calamity in more ways

+than one.

+

+Their location was in difficult country, and with such

+a rogue as the grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job

+of rescue seemed by no means easy or certain.  Mr. M'Intyre,

+however, was determined to regain his mares,

+and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine

+demon.  One thing in his favour was the fact that in

+midsummer there was a scarcity of water in the ranges,

+and their run, for a while, at any rate, must be in and

+about the foot-hills.

+

+As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders

+were invited to join in the brumby hunt, which

+is, as a rule, the most exciting, and, at times the most

+dangerous, sport that Australia can furnish, keenly

+relished by bushmen.

+

+The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than

+the mustang is a native American horse; that is to say,

+it is not indigenous to the country.  Brumbies are the

+descendants of imported horses which have escaped into

+the bush and bred there.

+

+When Australian settlements were confined to the

+barest fringe of the continent, it was very common for

+stock, both horses and cattle, to stray from the settled

+areas into the great wilderness beyond.

+

+An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis

+of colonial expansion.  When the first expedition sailed

+from England, not only were officials, soldiers, and

+convicts shipped; but also an assortment of domestic

+animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony

+proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.

+

+As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many

+beasts strayed beyond the borders of the occupied country

+to the interior forests and plains; and before very long

+"brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers" (wild cattle)

+covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the

+advancing line of settlers.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE BRUMBY HUNT`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XX

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE BRUMBY HUNT

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o'er,

+   |    All the lowlands are filling with sound;

+   |  For swiftly we gain where the mobs of the plain

+   |    Like a tempest are tearing the ground!

+   |  And we'll follow them hard to the rails of the yard,

+   |    Over gulches and mountain-tops grey,

+   |  Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet

+   |    Will die with the echoes away."

+   |                                  HENRY KENDALL.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"How many are coming to the hunt to-morrow, dad?"

+

+"About a score all told, my son.  That is," continued the

+speaker somewhat inconsequently, "if they a' turn up."

+

+"Gills coming, ain't they?"

+

+"Yes; the old man, son, and ane o' the stockmen'll

+be here this evening, so as to be ready for the early stairt

+the morn's morn.  That reminds me, I've no telt your

+mother.  They'll be here aboot supper-time."

+

+"Captain White coming, I s'pose?"

+

+"If he's above ground.  We'd best coont 'em up.

+Get a bit o' paper, Saundy, and pit doon the names.

+Then we'll ken for sure."

+

+"Ready, father."

+

+"Pit doon oor ain lot first.  Mysel', you, Hairry, the

+blacks, Denny, the bullock driver, the ration carrier,

+Redgate and Broon from the oot-station, Joe, Tom,

+N-eville—I suppose.  Hoo mony's that?"

+

+"Thirteen."

+

+"So mony's that?  At that rate we'll hae ower a score.

+Weel, that's a' the better.  Let's see, noo: pit doun the

+Gill lot, that's three more.  Then there's Captain White.

+Old Dumaresque says he'll be along, but I dinna reckon

+on him, so you needna coont him in.  White's going to

+bring twa men wi' him.  And, m-yes, there's Davison

+o' the bank, and Dickson the lawyer.  Told 'em the

+other day I'd let 'em know.  They'll need to be here

+the nicht, too.  We'd better send Willy in wi' a message

+at once.  That's a' noo I think.  Hoo mony does that

+tot up?"

+

+"Twenty-one not counting the Colonel."

+

+"Weel, I hope they'll turn up, that's a'."

+

+"I say, father, could Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy come?"

+

+"Eh?  Weel, I—I dinna ken.  Can they ride?"

+

+"Ride?  Listen to him!  Why, Yellow Billy's the boss

+rider among the boys.  You know his steer——"

+

+"Ah weel," said Mr. M'Intyre laughingly, "we'll hae

+'em.  Send word by the boy."

+

+Accordingly, the invitation was taken to the four

+Tareelians.  Gill and party turned up about dark, and

+shortly after them the town lot, all of whom were

+welcomed by their hospitable host.

+

+M'Intyre had made extensive preparations for the

+hunt.  There are various methods for trapping wild

+horses.  The one in vogue at Bullaroi and the surrounding

+stations was that called the "wing" trap.  This

+consists, first of all, in determining the usual brumby

+run.  The next work, and an important one, is the

+building of yards in a locality specially selected, the

+object being to get as near as possible to the natural

+line of the horses' travel when stampeded.

+

+The yards must be well constructed, with a high, strong

+fence, having an open mouth so wide as to give the

+hunted steed no suspicion of running into a trap.  The

+upper and nether lips of this mouth, after running

+parallel a short distance, gradually converge to the

+throat, as it were, finally meeting, and forming a

+cul-de-sac.

+

+From the mouth extremity a vast roll of canvas, or,

+rather, calico strips about six inches wide, is made fast

+to one of the fence terminals, and from there, at a slight

+outward angle, is often taken for miles, being secured at

+intervals to trees or stakes which are driven into the

+ground.  The wing is fixed breast high.  This, to the

+inexperienced, seems but a flimsy obstacle; but the calico

+barrier, frail as it appears, acts as an effectual boundary.

+Brumbies are both timid and suspicious, and very rarely

+charge a wing.  When driven on to one they wheel

+either to right or left, with never a thought of breaking

+through or jumping it.

+

+The strategy of the "drive" is to station men at

+intervals from the terminal point of the wing; each

+man is armed with a heavy stock whip, a cruel enough

+weapon in the hands of an adept.  Others are left at

+the trap-yard mouth on the outward side, concealed as

+a rule, and ready to dart out and head the mob should

+it scent danger when nearing the opening.  The remainder

+of the men proceed to locate and enflank the mob, and

+drive them in the given direction.  This, often, is a very

+difficult matter, and sometimes the best laid scheme is

+defeated by a determined and irresistible rush of the mob

+in the teeth of their assailants.

+

+Premising the "round up" and drive to be successful

+as far as the wing, the wing supports wheel them in the

+right direction; then close in and pass to the outside to

+strengthen the flank men, who now form a parallel line

+with the racing brumbies.  Thus, with the calico wing

+on one side, a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on

+the other, and a harrying force behind, the spectacle is

+as brilliant and as exciting as Australia can furnish in

+the line of sport.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the

+Bullaroi party, well mounted, wend their way to the

+appointed rendezvous, from whence the amalgamated

+forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.

+

+The men and boys are variously mounted.  All the

+horses, however, are used to stock work; some of them,

+within certain limits, being as intelligent as the men who

+bestride them.  Many of them are what is known as

+"camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and

+cutting out work on the cattle camp.  Quick to wheel,

+to dodge, to out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even

+to divine the enemy's intention; skilful in wedging

+through a pack; ready to advance backwards, so to

+speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders unavail;

+needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the

+work, the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a

+cattle run.

+

+Both M'Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted

+on favourites of the above-named variety.  The price of

+each was regarded by its rider as beyond rubies.  Both

+men were strong-boned, grizzled, and expert bushmen,

+with not a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bodies.

+Neville was of the company.  He had learned many

+things in the intervening days; the first, and most

+essential, was that England could furnish no precedent

+to Australia in things that are peculiar to station life.

+He gradually dropped his pet phrase, "The way we do

+things in England."  The scales had fallen from his eyes

+concerning many things "Colonial."

+

+Mr. M'Intyre, who liked him, paid him no little

+attention.  He rode out on the run with him, giving

+common-sense hints in his dry way, from time to time,

+which his guest was ready enough to take.  He learned to

+ride fairly well, and, after many mortifying failures, could

+crack a stock whip without entangling it in the horse's legs.

+

+Mr. M'Intyre was dubious about Neville going.  The

+Englishman, however, was so set on joining the cavalcade

+that to object seemed discourtesy.  All hints of the

+danger attached to this expedition were scouted.  So, on

+this eventful morning, mounted on his host's favourite

+hack, Curlew, the visitor formed one of the company.

+

+The others need no description.  With spirits mounting

+high in anticipation they pass over open plain, through

+brigalow scrub, along box ridges, and across country on a

+ten-mile spin to a spot on Rocky Creek called the Glen—a

+place already decided upon.  As there was no knowing

+to what extent the powers of both men and horses would

+be tried during the day, the journey was made at a

+moderate speed, so as to spare them for the arduous task

+of the drive.

+

+The pals, on this occasion six in number, were

+compelled to curb their tendencies to fun and frolic; though

+there were some very tempting and well-nigh irresistible

+inducements to spurts as the game rose or

+scudded before them.  Inviting jumps, too, lured them;

+but high jump or low jump, kangaroo or emu, charm

+they never so wisely, are resisted.

+

+But their tongues are uncurbed.  How they did chatter,

+to be sure!  It did the older members good to hear their

+gay and joyous prattle.  Their views of life in general, and

+brumby hunting in particular, were novel and unconventional.

+They settled everything touching the day's

+proceedings, from the place of the "find" to the number

+yarded.  All that the warrigal might do, and all that

+they would positively do to circumvent him, together

+with many other things, were discussed with the

+self-confidence of youth.

+

+In due time the Glen is reached, and the Bullaroi party

+find that they are first upon the scene.

+

+"Off saddles all o' you.  Must ease the horses a' we

+can.  Saundy, you and the boys mak a fire and get the

+billy going.  Denny, bring the tucker-bag from the

+pack-saddle.  Mr. Neville, what in the name of common-sense

+are ye tying yure nag to that dead tree for?"

+

+"What's wrong with it, sir?"

+

+"What's richt wi' it, mon?"

+

+"I—I—don't know what you mean."

+

+"Boss means yer a fool ter tie the moke up in the

+blazing sun," said Harry in an undertone, as he passed by

+the new chum.  "Put 'im under a shade tree same as the

+rest of us."

+

+"Beg pardon, yes—er—I see," answered he, mortified

+for a moment, as he moved from the leafless trunk to

+a clump of currajongs, whose thick foliage effectually

+screened the sun's rays.

+

+"Wot sort of a bloke's that 'ere cove?" asked Jimmy

+Flynn of Tom Hawkins.  "He's a regular greeny, ain't he?"

+

+"Oh, a good enough sort!" replied Tom.  "He's new,

+but he's a learner.  He picks up pretty fast, considering.

+You should 'a' seen him when he came here first; my

+word, he was a greenhorn then!"

+

+"Here's the Captain, father!" sang out Sandy, as three

+men cantered up the track.

+

+"Guid-day, White!  Guid-day, men!  Glad to see you.

+Off saddle and join us in a tot o' tea and a bite."

+

+"Good-day, M'Intyre!  By George! you've got quite a

+troop, man.  Day, Dickson!  Day, Davidson!  What on

+earth do you townies think you're going to do?  Stand

+a good chance, Dickson, of cracking your skull and

+spilling all that legal soph—I mean lore, that's bottled up

+there.  Oh, I say, Mac, old Dumaresque's coming along,"

+rattled on the Captain.

+

+"I'll believe it when I see him, no' afore.  The auld

+boy's better at hame when this wark's on."

+

+"Well, all I know is that he sent me word last night

+by one of the men, and cautioned me to be sure and tell

+you."

+

+"If he comes he comes, and if he disna he'll no' be

+much missed.  Noo, boys, bring in the tea!"

+

+"By Jove!  M'Intyre, your wife's a sensible woman:

+this is the sort of grub to work on.  Last month I was

+over at the Glenormiston mustering.  De Little asked me

+to join him at midday after a heavy morning's work, and

+as I was as hungry as ten hunters I readily consented.

+What d'ye think he produced from his tucker-bag?

+Some lettuce sandwiches, no less; and cream puffs!  De

+Little's as good as gold, you know, so I couldn't refuse to

+take some; but, I give you my word, I strolled over to his

+men as soon as I could get away decently, and got a slice

+of beef and a chunk of damper."

+

+"Hoo's De Little getting on?"

+

+"Well, between you and me and the billy-can, he's no

+more cut out for a squatter than for an archangel.

+Pity he ever left London.  He'd be more at home in

+Rotten Row.  Hello! here's the old Colonel and two

+boys.  Seeing will dissipate even your scepticism, Mac."

+

+Dumaresque was a choleric but plucky old superannuated

+Indian officer, who on his retirement came over

+to Australia and purchased a small cattle run, living

+bachelor fashion.  He was now quite old, yet fancied

+himself equal to any toil.  To hint at his age infirmities

+was to raise a very sirocco of indignant language.

+

+"Hello, Cornel! wha'd 'a' thocht that you——"

+

+"Stop, M'Intyre, stop!  I know right well, sir, what

+you are going to remark.  If you, sir, look upon a bit of

+a brumby hunt as an extraordinary thing, let me inform

+you that to me 'tis but a trifle.  Why, man, when I was

+stationed on the northern frontier——"

+

+"Yes, yes, Dumaresque," broke in the Captain, who

+knew the other's weakness, "we're all delighted to see

+you.  Just in time for a pannikin of tea and a mouthful.

+Here you, Dick, Tom, Harry, one of you, take the

+Colonel's horse."

+

+A few minutes later the men filed out of the Glen, and

+proceeded along the creek to a spur in the foot-hills.

+Then they left the water-shed, crossing the spur, from

+which they continued up a grassy valley which extended

+nearly three miles before it broadened out into an open

+plain, lightly timbered at the upper or ridge side, but

+perfectly treeless at its other extremity.

+

+Two-thirds of the way up the valley, in a belt of box

+trees, was the trap-yard.  The trap mouth, before

+described, extended across the belt to the outermost verge.

+

+After a short inspection of the yard the calico wing

+was fixed.  It was attached to the terminal post of the

+yard mouth, nearest to the ridge that skirted the valley

+on the top side.  From thence it was taken in a straight

+line on the ridge side of the valley, until the plain was

+reached.  From this point, inclining slighting outward and

+made fast at short intervals, it extended right across the

+plain, ending in a clump of iron-barks.

+

+"Noo, men, ye'll jist hae a wee bit grub and then we'll

+stairt."

+

+The meal was soon dispatched, and a short consultation

+ensued.  M'Intyre apportioned the men their places.  Six,

+under Gill, were located in the iron-bark clump.  Five

+others were sent back to the trap-yard, two miles distant,

+to assigned duty there.  The remaining sixteen were to

+execute the task of first "feeling" the enemy; then of

+outflanking them; and, finally, directing the stampede.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE WARRIGAL'S STRATEGY`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE WARRIGAL'S STRATEGY

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Hast thou given the horse his might?

+   |  Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?

+   |

+   |   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+   |

+   |  The glory of his snorting is terrible.

+   |  He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.

+   |  He goeth out to meet the armed men.

+   |  He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed.

+   |

+   |   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+   |

+   |  He smelleth the battle afar off:

+   |  The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."

+   |                                                  JOB.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Noo, men, we'll be on the move."

+

+The leader sprang to his horse and directed him on to

+the plain.

+

+"Where do you expect to pick 'em up, Mac?"

+

+"Micht sicht them at ony minute, maybe no' for hours;

+maybe no' at a', Captain."

+

+"Willy and Jacky, you gang on aheed and keep your

+een weel peeled for signs.  No sae fast, lads; mustna spoil

+the sport at the stairt.  Let the blacks get weel aheed.

+We maun sicht them afore they tak alairm, or it'll be a

+hopeless stern chase."

+

+Joe, Tom, and Sandy, greatly to their delight, were

+with the "flying column."  Yellow Billy was with the

+trap contingent, while Jimmy Flynn was stationed with

+Mr. Gill in the iron-bark clump.  Neville, at his earnest

+request, was given a place with Mr. M'Intyre.

+

+As soon as he touched the myall country, the leader

+cautiously skirted it, until the party were well out and

+away from the range of hills that continued on the eastern

+side.  He then took an inward course, and made a slant

+which carried them back to the foot-hills.

+

+So far there was neither sight nor sound of the mob, nor

+were there any indications of their presence at any recent

+date.  From the range base another tack was taken, which

+brought them upon the edge of a scrub that had wedged

+itself into the plain.  By this time the column had

+covered a lot of ground.

+

+"We'll fringe the timber for a while, and then, if we've

+nae luck, we'll hae to divide; half to go into the ranges,

+and the other to keep richt along the plain.  Keep

+weel in, lads, we'll cut that pint," continued the leader,

+as the men moved on through the outer fringe of

+scrub; while out on the plain, which was dotted with

+rosewood and myall clumps, the black boys moved with

+lithe and stealthy movements.

+

+"Father, I hear a whistle!"

+

+"Hist, men! quiet all o' ye!"

+

+"There it's again!" exclaimed Sandy after a moment's

+silence, as a low whistle came from the plain.  "That's

+Jacky's whistle, dad, sure enough.  I'd know it among

+a thousand——"

+

+"A' richt, my boy.  Jacky's got something.  We'll

+move oot quietly and see."

+

+Wheeling to the right, the column soon arrived at the

+spot indicated by Jacky's whistle.  The black boy stood

+by the side of his horse, pointing to some fresh droppings

+and to numerous hoof-tracks.

+

+"What is it, Jacky?" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre as the

+men rode up.

+

+"Blendy brumby bin here, Boss, few minutes ago."

+

+The tracks and signs were so fresh that, as the black

+said, it was only the question of a few minutes since they

+occupied the spot.

+

+"Most fortunate we've got ahint them.  They're near

+by.  At ony moment we micht sicht them.  Ye'll fa' into

+a doubble column, men.  Captain, ye'll tak seeven men

+and I'll keep the ithers.  We'll hae twa columns a hunder

+yairds apairt."

+

+In this fashion the men proceeded slowly, with a

+black boy ahead of each column as a scout, and following

+the tracks of the brumbies.  As predicted, in a few minutes

+Willy held up a warning hand.

+

+The columns quickly closed up to the scouts, and their

+leaders saw, through the willow-like branches of a myall

+clump, the long-sought-for mob.  The horses were standing

+close together in an expectant attitude.  Their suspicions

+were aroused.  Though they had not scented the wind of

+their pursuers, nevertheless, with that wonderful *something*

+so common in wild things, they *felt* the enemy's presence.

+

+The intervening distance was about three hundred

+yards.  According to arrangement, each column opened

+out at its head, with the object of outflanking the horses.

+Silently the columns wheeled to the left and right sharply,

+and then moved forward.  While in the act of executing

+this tactic their presence was detected, and scanned in a

+moment.  Then, with a snort, or rather a fusilade of

+snorts and neighs, heads erected, manes and tails streaming,

+away flew the alarmed steeds; and in swift pursuit,

+maintaining their formation, the men followed.

+

+There was no intention of unduly alarming the brumbies,

+therefore all shoutings and stock-whip crackings were

+restrained.  And now the hunters begin to feel the ardour

+of the chase, both horses and men; for so eager were the

+station horses to join in the hunt that the riders were

+obliged to take a double pull on them.

+

+Neville, in the excitement of the raid, forgot the orders,

+and broke his line, making a rush for the tail of the flying

+mob.  The Captain, however, nipped his intention in the

+bud with a few red-hot expletives, ordering the Englishman

+back to his place in the line.

+

+The brumbies, when started, were about eight miles from

+the wing, and headed directly for it, going off from the jump

+with a fine burst.  The wily warrigal, however, was not going

+to be run off his legs in a spurt; in a short time the

+breakneck pace is moderated, and the straggling mob close up.

+

+The horsemen hung on the flanks of the galloping steeds,

+steadying into an accommodating pace, and, as previously

+directed, making a semicircle, whose points extended

+beyond the sides of the retreating animals.  The station

+mares were in the mob, capering for the moment as wildly

+as any in their company.  Tallboy lagged somewhat in the

+rear.  He had evidently received scant courtesy from the

+brumbies.  It was observed that his heart was not in this

+matter.  Had they wished, the horsemen could easily have

+cut him out of the mob.

+

+The flying steeds—about fifty, young and old—had

+covered about two-thirds of the distance to the terminal

+point of the wing, and had not once swerved from this

+direction.  The men were in high glee.  So far it was

+nothing more than an exhilarating gallop, and they kept

+up the formation beautifully.  The horses, too, although

+the day was very hot, had not yet shown any sign of

+distress.  It was a different thing with some of the hunted

+animals, however.  There were some very old stock among

+the mares.  The pace and the heat combined were telling

+heavily upon them, and they that rode could read.

+

+One of these was a chronic "roarer," and her distressed

+gasps were plainly heard above the thunder of the hoof.

+Two of the mares began to lag in a palpable manner,

+despite the encouraging whinneying of the stallion, as he

+turned from side to side with a troubled look.

+

+They who belittle the intelligence of animals, and treat

+them as lacking heart and soul, can have had little

+experience of their nature and ways.  The old sheik of

+the wilderness was full of concern for his many wives.

+Love, despite all that the poets may say, is not blind; it

+is open-eyed and alert.  Had he been alone the warrigal

+would have snorted at his foes with the utmost disdain, and

+led them such a dance as not all their imaginings had ever

+conceived.  But, alas! some at least of his faithful ones

+would be overtaken; were even now in peril.  Desertion?

+Never!

+

+Rescue! but how?  Yes; he will plan, he will outwit.

+He will use strategy against strategy, and at once, by

+which he may draw these merciless foes from the weaklings

+and give them an opportunity of escape.

+

+Quickening his pace, he raced along, closely followed by

+his company—save some half-dozen of the more exhausted

+mares, who were now widely separated from their mates.

+Then, wheeling sharply, the flying squadron dashed across

+the plain towards the foot-hills in a furious gallop.

+

+Divining his altered tactics, the Captain and M'Intyre

+increased their speed, taking no notice of the hindermost

+horses, and closely watching the head and ruck of the

+flying squadron.

+

+On, on! in mad gallop, whip and spur going freely

+now, sped the hunted and the hunters; and as they

+suddenly dashed across the face of the Captain's column, it

+seemed as if nothing human could stay their flight.  The

+bold Captain and his men, however, nothing daunted nor

+surprised, wheeled a little more to the left, having some

+advantage in being well out, as well as being high up on

+the brumbies' flanks.

+

+"Now, boys," cried Captain White, "head 'em, rush

+'em!"  Saying which, he rode straight for the stallion's

+head—who was leading—with four men pounding at

+his heels.  It was a splendid attempt to head the mob,

+and succeeded save with one exception.  That exception

+was the warrigal!

+

+The bunch of men hurled themselves on the leader,

+and had he not swerved there would have been a terrific

+impact, which might have spelled disablement or death

+to more than one.  When a man's blood is up in riotous

+chase he joyously challenges death in ways that chill him

+to the bone in cool blood.

+

+The grey demon, however, swerved to the right with

+tremendous speed, and the Captain crossed his course

+within a couple of feet of his stern; his only revenge

+being a savage cut with his whip across the retreating

+animal's flanks.  But if the men's rush failed with the

+leader, they stopped the stampede of his immediate

+followers.

+

+Floss and Jeannie, who were hard on the heels of the

+warrigal, were intercepted and turned.  The stock whips,

+cracking like a blaze of musketry, played upon the ruck

+of the confused animals in merciless fashion, scoring

+their flanks and ribs.  In a few seconds they were driven,

+pell-mell, back to the line of retreat.  In the meantime

+those immediately behind the mob, and those on the

+right flank, kept the balance going and together.  Thus

+the defeated ones regained their fellows, discomforted,

+and not a little cowed, in their leaderless condition.

+

+And what of the warrigal?

+

+To continue the chase of him were only to knock the

+horses up in fruitless pursuit.  No! he must be

+abandoned.  With liberty uncurtailed let him roam the wilds,

+fancy free.  The station runaways remain, as well as

+others that will be of value and service.

+

+So wisely reasoned man, but not so the warrigal.

+Foiled in his purpose, regardless of his own pursuit,

+the great equine leader wheeled in a wide circle, uttering

+the while shrill neighs to attract his consorts.  'Tis

+for naught, however, that he utters challenge to his

+enemies and appeal to his mates.  The stockmen have

+ringed the mob, and now at a slower pace they continue

+the drive; the men opening out, and keeping abreast the

+leading horses.

+

+And now the iron-bark clump is near at hand.  To

+this the enraged stallion gallops.  The wing men, on the

+alert, watch this last manoeuvre, and line out to intercept

+him should he make for the hills.  Such was not his

+intention, though; and their appearance only accelerates

+the execution of his determination, which was simply

+to regain his companions; this he did with a rush, no

+one saying nay.

+

+M'Intyre and his men were careful not to push the

+driven beasts, but were content to let them make the

+pace.  And now at a swinging canter—old mares well

+up, despite all fatigue—-they struck the clump, and passed

+the point to which the wing extended.  The wing men,

+joining in the cavalcade by orders of their leader, pass to

+the right flank and reinforce the drivers there.

+

+They are now within half a mile of the trap.  At a

+preconcerted signal the men close up, and amid an

+unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings the beasts

+are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.

+

+The calico wing acts effectually on the one side,

+allowing a strong line to form up on the other.  Barring

+accidents, the hunt is as good as finished; for in a moment

+or two the horses will be entering the trap mouth.

+

+The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the

+yard.  But, stay!  His keen eyes sight the fence.  *It is

+a trap*!  Past adventures flood his recollection and shape

+judgment and determination.  Inside the trap, death

+or slavery!  Outside, liberty!

+

+Is it too late?  No!  By the ashes of his fathers he

+will elude his would-be captors!  His faithful spouses,

+naught, alas! will save them.  Let those who dare follow

+him!  Away, then!

+

+With a wild rush, when within some two hundred

+yards of the trap mouth, he turns swiftly to the right

+at a tangent, so as to head his enemies and cut away on

+the outside of the fence.

+

+The gallant grey well deserves his freedom.  His

+courage, devotion, and intelligence should surely prevail

+upon the men.  But the pursuers were not indulging

+in any sentiment just then, and as soon as his last tactic

+was revealed the race of interception was begun.  He

+might yet have escaped, for he was full of running, but,

+alas! the unseen foe!

+

+The five men detailed at the trap mouth, were grouped

+thereat, just behind a cluster of silver wattles, ready for

+any emergency.  It seemed to them that their services

+would not be required.

+

+But, see! the warrigal!

+

+There is no time to reason.  In a flash they streak out

+from cover and ride straight at the flying barb.  Something

+must happen.  The fearful impact, narrowly escaped

+but an hour ago, occurs.  There is no attempt on either

+side to avoid the issue.  With a mighty bound and a

+savage snap of his teeth the warrigal flings himself at

+the foremost, bringing horse and rider down with a crash,

+both lying motionless upon the plain.

+

+At the same moment, and scarce a length behind, came

+Yellow Billy.  His attempt to head the runaway was

+blocked by the impact of the steeds.  Too near to swerve,

+his horse struck the leading beast on the hind-quarters

+at the moment of the crash, adding to the confusion, and

+coming down a cropper.

+

+Staggered by the violent collision, the stallion is brought

+to a sudden stop, but not to the ground.  And now an

+astounding thing happens.  Yellow Billy, while falling

+with his steed, to save himself from the warrigal's feet

+clutched frantically at that animal's mane, and, by a

+clever vault, to the amazement of his comrades, sprang

+upon the outlaw's back.

+

+It would be hard to say if at that particular moment

+the horse himself was cognisant of the act.  The pause

+covered but the fraction of a second.  With a bound he

+leaped the fallen bodies, and, there being no one in front

+to stay him, tore off in a direction that skirted the trap

+fence.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: small

+

+"The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:

+at the sound of the

+neighing of his strong ones the whole

+land trembleth."—JEREMIAH.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The tragic ending of the last rush held all breaths

+for some brief moments.  Such a contretemps had never

+happened before.  It beat all previous experiences.  The

+vanishing horse and rider seemed a wild fantasy of

+the brain, that passes like the breaking of a soap-bubble.

+There, before their very eyes, lay the slain; the victims

+of the mad charge.

+

+Several of the men dash after the desperate horse and

+his acrobatic rider.  Simultaneously, a small group of

+men—among the foremost is Mr. Gill—rush to the

+fallen men and beasts.

+

+Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was

+known as a fearless and somewhat reckless rider.  At

+the critical moment, with the lust of the chase upon

+him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed.

+To swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain

+attempt.  "I'll ride the beggar down!"  With naught

+of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of consequence,

+hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.

+

+But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves.

+These, alas! more than defeat the object of the horseman.

+The warrigal's last hope trembled in the balance.  A

+narrow gap of open space, and—liberty!  This way

+then, with slap-dash speed!

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+We have already related the countervailing efforts

+to stay that rush: how that hidden horsemen flash

+from their ambush; how that one, a little in advance,

+moved to the strike with tornado-like velocity.  Then

+Greek met Greek.  Comes the inevitable, the sickening

+thud; and then—oblivion!  Come running men who

+lift young Dick with all the gentleness of women, and

+bear him to the shade trees.

+

+Yellow Billy's horse lies stone dead with broken neck.

+Dick's, with broken back, vainly strives to rise.  Its

+great brown eyes look round with painful entreaty

+that sends Harry silently to the camp for a rifle, and

+then the handsome filly joins her companion in the

+happy hunting grounds.

+

+Meanwhile, under the shade trees, Dick Gill lies,

+the image of death.  An examination reveals a fractured

+forearm; while a blue-black bruise on the right temple,

+as big as a crown-piece, attests the violence of the

+blow.  The general verdict is that Dick, the life

+and soul of his company, will never more crack joke,

+sing song, or join in the merry chase; and so the

+conclusion is, dead, or as good as dead—a distinction with

+a slight difference.

+

+There were two, however, who clung to some shreds of

+hope; the father of the boy and the Colonel: the latter

+with obstinacy and emphasis.

+

+"I've seen 'em on the frontier far worse than your boy,

+Gill, and get better.  The lad's stunned with that dickens

+of a blow; but he'll rally directly and be as spry as ever."

+

+"Poor Dick is alive yet; of that I feel sure, even

+though I cannot detect any pulsation.  What the issue

+may be, Dumaresque, neither you nor——"

+

+"Tut, tut, man! he's young, and as tough as leather.

+Neck's all right.  Keep up heart, old man.  I'll trot

+down to the yards and see what they're doing to the

+brumbies."

+

+With that the old officer, whose words were braver

+than his heart, strode to the yard, where all the

+others had congregated, save Joe and Sandy, who

+were in the rear-guard when the accident happened;

+and who, chilled at heart and filled with apprehension—all

+zest in sport gone—remain by the side of their

+companion.

+

+When the warrigal broke, the others of the mob were

+in full gallop, being rushed by the men.  They are

+subjected to a battery of flogging whips, and swept into

+the trap-yard; down the converging sides of this they

+hustle, only to find an impasse.  There they huddle, a

+compact mass of sweating, shivering, and cowed brutes.

+

+The horsemen form a line across the way of retreat,

+until half a dozen wires are stretched.  The rest is a

+matter of detail which expert bushmen make small

+bones about.  When all is secure the men inside cut

+out selected horses under the direction of Mr. M'Intyre,

+who, with those not actively employed in the arena,

+occupies a place on the rails.  The brumbies designed

+for use are thrown and branded, etc., then haltered

+and made fast to the rails.  The station runaways

+were secured early in the proceedings, which, from

+first to last, consume a couple of hours.  The final

+act is one of horse massacre; all the discarded stock

+are shot down.  It is cold-blooded but necessary work,

+for brumbies are rightly regarded as a pest on a run.

+

+By this time the sun is well down in the west, and

+having finished their work at the yards, the men repair

+to the camp for a bite and a drink.

+

+To their great surprise and delight they find Dick

+Gill "nather dead nor spachless," as Denny Kineavy

+put it.

+

+While his father and the boys anxiously watched him,

+hoping against hope for signs of life, the unconscious

+lad suddenly stretched his limbs and opened his eyes,

+as one just awaking from a sound sleep.

+

+The as-good-as-dead youth sat up in wonderment,

+falling back in pain and weakness the next moment.

+A wave of joy surged through Gill's heart at this

+manifestation of life.  "God be thanked for His mercies!"

+he exclaimed.  Putting an arm under the sick boy's

+shoulders, and carefully raising his head, he held the

+Colonel's brandy flask to his lips.  "You've had a

+spill, that's' all.  A bit of a knock-out.  Your left

+arm is broken, and there's a nasty bruise on your

+forehead.  Sip a little of this spirit; it'll brace you up."

+

+A pull at the flask revived the youth, and he pillowed

+his head on his father's arm, who laved the bruised

+head with cold water.  This greatly helped in the

+work of restoration.  By the time the men had finished,

+Dick was able to sit up, and expressed a desire to

+have a look at the brumbies.  Beyond acute pain in

+head and arm the lad seemed but little affected.  He

+enjoyed a feed with the men, and especially was he

+grateful for a pannikin of tea.  Good billy tea is

+better for the tired feeling than all the grog ever

+invented.

+

+After a short consultation it was decided that Dick

+and his father, with Sandy, should proceed to a selector's

+house about three miles distant.  They would be sure

+to get the loan of Mrs. Mulvaney's spring-cart, and by

+that means reach Bullaroi.  This was carried out despite

+Dick's protests that he was fit to start on another brumby

+drive.

+

+What of Yellow Billy and the bolting warrigal!  Have

+they been forgotten?  Not by long chalks!

+

+As soon as Mr. M'Intyre had selected the horses that

+were to be saved and used, he left the other work to the

+Captain, and, accompanied by Jacky, started off on the

+tracks of the outlaw.  Before long they met some of the

+pursuers returning.  Their horses were knocked up, and

+they had failed to trace the runaway.  "Deeficult as the

+country may be," mused Mr. M'Intyre, "Jacky's equal

+to onything in the trackin' line.  It's only a maitter o'

+time when we'll run 'em doon."

+

+There was much speculation at the camp over the fate

+of the half-caste.  It did not lean to pessimism, though

+jeremiads were uttered by some.  The pals, who knew

+Billy's ability better than the others, had unlimited faith

+in their mate.  Whatever happened to the steed, the

+boy would turn up safe and sound.  The steer rider, in

+their opinion, could ride bare-back the toughest outlaw

+that ever sniffed the wind.  "You'll see," said Tom

+confidently to the Captain, "Billy'll more'n hold his

+own."

+

+"Didn't youse tell us the other day thet at your gra-at

+billy-horse-ma-ale-robbery, the steer slung the yallar

+bhoy——"

+

+"Oh!" retorted Tom pettishly, "that was only——"

+

+Just then the returning men rode up.  They had no

+good news to relate, but said that by Mr. M'Intyre's

+orders all were to proceed to the Glen, and if the missing

+boy was not brought in before dark they were to disperse.

+Let us now follow the fortunes, or misfortunes, of Billy.

+

+As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the

+yellow boy held fast with knees and hands, the stock whip

+over his shoulder trailing in a long line behind the flying

+pair.  To stick on the racing horse was a comparatively

+easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick

+should unseat him.  But to guide the scurrying brute,

+unbitted, unreined, were as impossible as to turn and

+check a Mont Blanc avalanche.

+

+The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the

+trap-yard was to dismount his rider by violent means,

+but there are eager pursuers on the track—so away!

+

+He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley

+apace, twists up a gully with a swerve that almosts

+unseats Billy, dashes into Glen Creek, and mounts the bank

+to enter a defile.  The first shock over, the half-caste

+begins to realise his position.  For a moment a pang of

+fear seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the

+ride dawn upon him.  This soon yields to a different

+sensation as they rush through space.

+

+There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which

+goes out in unconscious sympathy for the bestridden

+beast.  Despite the mutual antagonism, which, after all,

+is not that of hate, there is in some way a sense of

+kinship.  Wild answers to wild.  Man nature comes thus

+into close gripping quarters with horse nature.  There

+is no intervening saddle.  Flesh mates with flesh, and

+spirit answers to spirit.  Whose, then, shall be the

+victory?  The strains of many generations of desert lords

+is in the quadruped.  But what of the biped?  A curious

+admixture of blood there!  On the white side are the

+well salted strains, which hark away back to the old

+Vikings.  On the other and darker, the stream points

+backwards to the misty past, when his ancestors, subtle

+and slim, moved southward from the older civilisations

+of the north, and swarmed the valleys of the Ganges

+and the Indus, fighting for a foothold.

+

+Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild

+blood of the human?  It riots through the youth's veins,

+giving vim and sparkle to his courage.  Who shall win

+the lordship?  Away then, and away!—through the

+mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast

+and thighs are torn and blooded with innumerable scores;

+slithering down the gorges to the accompaniment of

+rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and smashing

+through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded

+away—the infuriated steed holds his course.  On, on! ever

+up to the inaccessible heights.

+

+But, has the half-breed been doing nothing save

+holding on, meanwhile?

+

+.. _`188`:

+

+With incredible difficulty, owing to the mad career of

+the horse over the wilds, Yellow Billy has managed to

+pass his whip thong twice round the brute's neck.  This,

+knotted together, forms just the sort of hold-fast the

+boy has been accustomed to on his steer rides.  The

+grip gives him a great advantage.

+

+But the horse is now scrambling up a gully, which

+becomes sharper and steeper as he advances, merging

+into a deep gorge at last, with precipitous sides and

+frowning, unscalable face.  A cul-de-sac, indeed!  Even

+this the indomitable warrigal essays.  Again and again

+does he rush the battlements, and mount some distance;

+only to tumble back with sobbing breath but dauntless

+energy.

+

+Cannot Yellow Billy now dismount in safety?

+

+As easily, oh, reader, as one might slip off a rocking-horse.

+

+Why not, then, fling himself off; abandon the desperado,

+and be thankful for life and limb?

+

+What!  Billy show the white feather?  Billy throw

+away his chance of the honour and glory of capture

+thus?  Not for all the wealth of Australia!  This is the

+most ecstatic moment of his existence.

+

+Foiled in his attempt to scale the heights, Bucephalus

+begins to think more seriously of the foe upon his back.

+Were he dislodged, what might not become possible?

+Here then!

+

+So began the battle royal between these well-mated

+antagonists, to be fought to a finish, there, on that small

+patch of earth in the rocky fastness; with none in the

+arena to interfere or to applaud.  None, indeed, to witness,

+save the rock wallaby perched high on a beetling crag,

+who may have moralised on the unwonted spectacle of

+the whirling grey-and-brown mass of flesh and blood

+below.  Higher still, wheeling in mid-air, is an eagle

+hawk, who keenly watches the solitary duel down there,

+with unwinking eyes of insatiable greed; caring not a

+doit which wins the mastership, so that the issue may

+provide a fit object for tearing talons and lacerating beak.

+

+But below there!

+

+The warrigal, with bloodshot eyes flaming in rage and

+malice, ears set back, head and neck well down between

+the forelegs, back arched like a bent bow, bucks and

+squeals, kicks and twists.  Forward, backward, sideward;

+round and round; up and down; now in the middle of the

+patch; now trying to rub the boy against the rough sides

+of the rocky canon, but all in vain.  Not even the young

+Mazeppa, lashed to the wild horse, was more securely

+bound than was Billy to his steed.

+

+There he is; Yellow Billy!  Behold him!

+

+Grasping with both hands the encircling stock whip,

+head and shoulders inclined backwards, his knees grip

+the horse's sides like a vice.  The horse's hoarse neighs

+are answered with shrill shouts.  And so, amid battle-cries,

+dust and flying pebbles, sweat and foam, with

+evolutions to which those of the circus ring were flat

+and monotonous, the tug of war for supremacy between

+man and beast goes on.

+

+Presently, however, the bucking desperado moderates.

+There is a lull.  He shifts from side to side, making at

+the same time a slow gyral movement.  Is this premonitory

+of collapse?  He is blowing like the proverbial

+grampus, and ejecting steam from quivering nostrils like

+an exhaust pipe.  The sweat flows from neck, belly,

+and flanks to the ground in streams.  Spasmodic sobs

+like those of a broken-hearted child send shudder after

+shudder through his whole frame.  See! his head is

+hanging upon his breast; the symbol of despair.  Yes! he

+is done, conquered!  He is broken.  Well done,

+Billy!  But the most dangerous moment of Billy's

+existence is at hand.

+

+Suddenly rushing backwards, the demon rears and

+throws himself to the ground, almost turning a complete

+somersault in the act.  Crash! down come body and hoofs

+and—Billy.  The boy is taken unawares, and can do

+little to avert the consequences of this trick.  Still, the

+little saves him.  When, in the fraction of a second, he

+sees the inevitable, a spasmodic jerk flings him just

+beyond the horse's legs, which are working like the

+arms of a windmill.  Scarce has the animal regained his

+feet ere, with panther-like spring, the half-caste is

+reseated.  Again the horse is down, but now he is

+weakening—is rapidly nearing the limit of endurance.

+All the reserves have been called up.

+

+Again, behold! a rapid change of tactics.  The outlaw

+whips round his head with open mouth and snaps at the

+rider's leg.  Again and again, on both sides, and it is only

+by the utmost dexterity that the lad escapes.  This, more

+than anything else, begets fear; for Billy, like the horse,

+is fast tiring.  With despair in his eyes the boy looks

+round him for help, and catches sight of the whip handle,

+which is hanging, with some two feet or more of thong,

+from where it is tied to the neck.  In a trice his knife

+is out and the thong is severed near the knot.  This

+end, coiled round his hand, becomes a weapon of offence.

+A loaded stock-whip handle is as formidable as an

+Irishman's shillelah.  And now every snap is met with a

+cruel smack, and this not for long can even the warrigal

+stand.  Yellow Billy does more, he rains blows upon the

+steed's shoulders and head with such severity as almost

+to paralyse the brute.  The end is coming fast now.

+Worn, blown, trembling with weakness, dazed, the battle

+has indeed turned.

+

+There is a point in horse-nature up to which no man

+may call himself master.  In some animals it lies low

+down.  In others, the warrigal, to wit, it is placed at

+the apex of his mettlesome temper.  Let that point in

+mastery be taken by the adversary and all is yielded.

+That citadel stormed, there is naught left but the white

+flag.  The independence once surrendered is never

+regained.  In other words, once the complete master,

+always the master.

+

+See now the lord of the wilderness! the equine

+conjurer of tricks!  There he stands with shrunken form,

+drooping head, lack-lustrous eyes, motionless and clinging

+tail, subservience incarnate: fit statue of unconditional

+surrender!  The struggle has been gallant, heroic,

+prolonged; the capitulation is complete.  A well planted

+blow, now, between the ears, and that noble creature;

+that thing of bone and muscle, of arching neck and

+glossy coat; that creature of will and courage, which

+made him emperor among his kind by right of merit—with

+a stride worthy the envy of Lucifer!  Just one

+blow in the right spot—he staggers, trembles, and falls.

+

+Yellow Billy is standing at the horse's head.  'Twas

+a glorious ride, a royal fight, a grand victory.  Nothing

+is left now but—pity!  And so, with soft and cheery

+word, rubbing the nostrils, wiping the drying sweat,

+massaging the trembling limbs, the boy is mercifully

+engaged when footsteps are heard, and in a moment

+the squatter, Jacky, and a couple of men ride on to

+the battle-field.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Darkness is mantling the earth, and the men at the

+Glen camp have all gone, save a few, including the boys

+and Neville, who are still anxiously waiting.  The striking

+of iron on the flints of the creek-bed breaks the dismal

+silence, as a group of horsemen steal out of the surrounding

+gloom, and stand half-revealed in the light of the camp

+fire.  Yellow Billy is perched on the croup behind one

+of the men, while, with a stock whip converted into a

+halter, Jacky leads the bone and soul sore warrigal, who,

+in this abject spectacle, drinks the cup of humiliation

+to its bitterest dregs.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`A DAY'S SHOOT`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   A DAY'S SHOOT

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Alas! that, when the changing year

+   |    Brings round the blessed day,

+   |  The hearts of little native boys

+   |    Wax keen to hunt and slay,

+   |  As if the chime of Christmas time

+   |    Were but a call to prey."

+   |                          BRUNTON STEPHENS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"S-a-n-d-e-e!  S-a-n-d-e-e!"

+

+"H-e-ll-o!  H-e-ll-o!"

+

+"Where—are—you?"

+

+"Down—here."

+

+"Where's here?"

+

+"Find—out!"

+

+"Where's that horrid Sandy, Joe?" exclaimed Jessie

+M'Intyre to Joe Blain, as she came out into the back yard,

+shortly after breakfast, one fine morning a few days after

+the brumby hunt.

+

+"Can't split on me mates, Jess."

+

+"You're a nasty, good-for-nothing boy, Joe Blain: that's

+what I think of *you*, and I don't care if you *do* know it."

+

+   |  "Tweedlum, tweedlum, tweedlum twee,

+   |  The cat and the rat ran up the tree,"

+

+quoth Joe, as he capered about just out of reach of the

+girl, who chased him round the room with a broom.

+

+It so happened that as Joe was dancing past the

+kitchen window, Ah Fat the cook was in the very act of

+throwing out a dish of kitchen slops, and the contents

+struck him fair on the head and shoulders.

+

+This unintended but well-delivered blow came so

+swiftly and so unexpectedly that for the moment Joe

+was stupefied, gasping and spluttering between wind and

+water, so to speak.  He cut so ludicrous a figure that

+Jessie had to fairly hold her sides with laughter.

+Meanwhile the innocent Ah Fat stood gazing at the spectacle

+in amazement.

+

+"Oh, Missee Joe, I welly solly.  Me neffer see you when

+me tlew um——"

+

+"You jolly Chinaman!" cried Joe, in great wrath.

+"You—you—yellow joss!"

+

+With that the irate boy jumped through the window

+and vigorously assaulted the cook with hands and feet.

+

+"Oh!—Missee Joe—welly solly.  O—h!  Oh, Clismus!

+O-u-c-h!"

+

+At first genuine sorrow controlled the Celestial.  And

+indeed the onset was so furious and determined that the

+Chinaman had enough to do in fending blows, and was

+not a little alarmed.  But when Joe, in closing, clutched

+him by the head, and essayed to unwind his pig-tail,

+alarm yielded to horror at this unexpected indignity.

+An ominous glitter came into his eye, and a string of

+curses in his native tongue flew from the angry heathen.

+

+The boy, having loosened the tail, wound a coil of it

+round his hand, and began to give fierce tugs.  Passion

+in an Oriental may take any turn.  A passion-fired

+Chinaman, however well-disposed and peaceably inclined

+at other times, will wreak his vengeance regardless of

+moral issues.  With a yell of mingled pain and rage the

+maddened man executed a Chinese edition of Jiu-jitsu,

+sending his youthful antagonist whirling through the air,

+to come down with a rattling bump that shook the breath

+from his body.  Fortunately for Joe, the part of his

+anatomy which bore the brunt of the contact was that

+least susceptible to damage.

+

+This act would have been followed by one severer still

+had not Mrs. M'Intyre at that moment run into the

+kitchen, and, seeing the fallen boy at the mercy of the

+rage-possessed Chow, who was in the act of assault and

+battery, made for the man with a shrill scream, and

+hauled him off the prostrate lad.  All the while, John

+Chinaman was in a state of wild excitability, sending

+forth a torrential stream of pidgin-English.

+

+Joe tumbled to his feet none the worse for the bout

+save a bruise or two.  The sight of Ah Fat with

+flowing pig-tail and grotesque gesticulation sent the lad

+into fits of laughter.  This only the more incensed his

+adversary, who made another effort to get at him,

+being hardly prevented by Mrs. M'Intyre.  In this

+hilarity Joe was joined by Jess, who had followed her

+mother and stood first in terror, but now with hearty

+laughter.

+

+"Joe Blain, get out of this kitchen this moment, you

+wicked boy!  Be quiet, Ah Fat, or I'll call for one of the

+men!  Stop laughing at once, Jess, you bold hussy, or I'll

+box your ears!"

+

+Both Joe and Jess disappeared in a flash, and this had

+the effect of calming the Chinaman, who told the tale to

+his mistress as well as his perturbed condition and broken

+English would allow.

+

+"Me thlo dirtee watah outa window.  Joee comin'

+plast.  Me no see him.  Watah 'it 'im head and soljer.

+He jumpee tloo window, pullee hair, welly angly.  Me

+get angly too, and thlo 'im down."

+

+"Quite true," said Joe, who suddenly appeared at the

+window.  "It's all my fault.  He didn't see me, I'm sure,

+when he pitched the stuff out.  My paddy got up, an' I

+went for him like a terrier.  I think the terrier's got the

+worst of it, eh, Ah Fat?"

+

+The quick acknowledgment of wrong produced an

+immediate effect on Ah Fat.  There was a winning grace

+about Joe that few could withstand.  Hitherto he had

+been the cook's favourite.  And now, no sooner did he

+express his sorrow for the summary proceedings, and own

+his defeat, than the mantling frown of anger on the

+Chinaman's forehead vanished, and his dingy and stolid

+countenance lit up with a smile.

+

+"Me welly solly——"

+

+"Oh, stow that!  No harm done.  I'm off to get rid of

+this muck," cried Joe, as he disappeared from the window.

+A few moments later, Joe was in the act of passing this

+same opening to convey a message to Sandy, who was

+doing a job for his father in the carpenter's room, at the

+rear of the stables.

+

+The act was observed by Ah Fat, who made a rapid

+move to the window.

+

+"Hello, Joe!"

+

+"Hello, Ah Fat!"

+

+"Come here, Joe," said the Flowery-Lander, beckoning

+as he spoke.

+

+"No more soap-suds, Ah Fat?"

+

+"No mo dirtee watah," said he of the pig-tail

+grinningly.  "See a-here, Joe"—displaying a jam pasty,

+hot from the oven.  "You takee dis plastee.  Stlawbelly

+jam, welly good."

+

+"By Cæsar!  Ah Fat, you're no end of a brick!" cried

+Joe, as he received the peace-offering with eager hands

+and glistening eyes.

+

+"Saundy, ye scoondrel!" shouted he a moment later,

+bursting in upon Sandy, who was spoke-shaving a piece of

+timber designed for a swingle bar.  "Didn't you hear

+Jess call you a few minutes ago?"

+

+"I did hear some sort of a cackling an' flustration.

+What's up?"

+

+"We've got to go an' shoot some ducks."

+

+"That all?"

+

+"That all, ye cauld-blooded Scotchman!"

+

+"An' when have we to go?"

+

+"Now, at once, immediately, if not sooner, ye spalpeen."

+

+"Ye're an odd mixture of Scotch an' Irish this morn,

+me hairy-breasted hero, an' a bad hand at either.  But

+why all the hurry about the ducks?"

+

+"Your mother's just got word to say some chaps are

+coming out from Tareela to dinner this evening, an'

+they're sure to expect game."

+

+"All serene.  Tom comin'?"

+

+"No, he ain't.  He's out with Harry on the run.

+There's only you an' me for't."

+

+"I'll be with you in a jiff, my son.  Just finishing this

+bar."

+

+"Where'll we go for the birds, Sandy?"

+

+"Up the creek, I s'pose.  Too far out to the swamp if

+it's to-night they want them.  There's a mob o' woods I'd

+like to get a smack at—the ones we saw when we were

+fishin'."

+

+"Jacky told me yesterday he saw 'em the other night

+roosting on the old dead gum just at the junction of

+Mosquito Crick an' the Crocodile.  How far d'ye call that?"

+

+"'Bout three mile."

+

+"Your mother said we are to try and get some pigeons

+when we're out."

+

+"Used to be a lot o' pigeons in the scrub; but the

+last time Dickson and some other coves came out shooting,

+they went through the scrub, but didn't see a feather—so

+they said."

+

+"No good goin' there, then?"

+

+"Well, I don't know.  We can give it a try, I s'pose.

+What's the time, Joe?"

+

+"Struck ten as I came along; so we'd bes' be off in

+less'n no time, sonny."

+

+In a few minutes the boys were loaded up with guns,

+ammunition, sculls, and the tucker bag.  They decided to

+take the skiff and try their luck on the water, instead of

+stalking the game along the banks.

+

+"Don't be later than four o'clock.  Try and be back

+before, if possible."

+

+"All serene, mother; we'll be back on time, luck or no

+luck."

+

+"We'll fetch you some shags anyhow for fish soup,"

+yelled back Joe as the lads walked briskly along.

+

+Sandy took the oars at the start, Joe sitting in the

+stern with his muzzle-loader.  Breech-loaders were at

+that time a rarity in Australia.  There were handicaps in

+shooting in those days of the muzzle-loader, the powder-horn,

+and the shot belt, when compared with the modern choke-bore,

+smokeless powder, etc.  But there were compensations.

+Men were far more careful of their ammunition.  Loading

+itself was an art in which the expert took considerable

+pride.  To every novice the formula was carefully given

+by the senior—

+

+   |  "Ram your powder well, but not your lead,

+   |  If you want to kill dead."

+   |

+

+But, beyond all other considerations, there was more

+of the element of sport in it.  There was a greater call for

+skill.  The very limitations of gunnery in those days put

+the game on a nearer footing of equality with the hunter.

+There were greater chances for the quarry, and therefore

+greater merit in the kill.  These are the days of

+machinery, and even in gunnery there is a disposition to

+do the work by turning a handle—"pumping the lead

+into 'em," as the moderns put it.

+

+Sandy's father was the possessor of a renowned Joe

+Manton, and many were the tales told by the lad of his

+father's prowess and the wonderful distances at which

+this Joe Manton could kill.

+

+The creek on both sides was lined for the most part

+with rushes, weeds, and water-reeds, which afforded fine

+cover and food for the wild-fowl.  It was possible to pass

+within short distances of the ducks in the rushes without

+being aware of their presence.

+

+"Keep your eyes skinned along here, Joe," remarked

+Sandy, after rowing some distance.  "Might start a brace

+at any time."

+

+The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth when a

+bird rose out of the reeds with a great flutter.  Joe's gun

+was up in a trice, and before it had flown a dozen yards,

+it fell into the water with a splash.

+

+"Good shot, Joe; but what's the use of wasting powder

+and shot over a red-bill?  Thought you knew a coot from

+a duck."

+

+"Well—I—I'm blest!  If I'm not a dumplin'-headed,

+double-dyed duffer!  As if I hadn't shot tons of 'em.

+Well, well, well!"

+

+"It's not well at all," answered Sandy with a grin, as

+the boat glided past the beautiful glossy black and

+purple-hued bird, which, though edible enough, generally

+ran to toughness, and was not classed as game.  Yet a

+plump red-bill that has fattened on the river-end patch

+of the settlers' maize is by no means to be despised.

+

+Joe quietly reloaded, and was doubly on the *qui vive*

+after the misadventure.  He had his revenge before

+long, for on rounding the point they ran into a mob of

+teal which were camping on a shady mud-beach.  The

+teal rose in a very alert fashion, flying back over the boat.

+Quickly turning, Joe poured the contents of right and

+left barrels into the retreating birds.  Three of them

+soused into the water, two of which were stone-dead.

+The third, though badly wounded, was nevertheless

+exceedingly agile in dodging the boat by diving.  After

+some trouble the boys managed to secure it, and so a

+good start towards a full bag was made.

+

+Then their luck departed for a while.  Two or three

+pairs of black duck rose, but out of range.

+

+"Here, Sandy, let me take the oars and give you a

+spell," said Joe, after proceeding about two miles from the

+landing.  The positions were reversed, and the boat sped

+on its way to the junction.

+

+"Pull easy, Joe," said Sandy, as that point came in

+sight.  "There's a chance of the wood-duck on the spit.

+We mustn't miss this lot, anyway.  You'd best land me

+here, ole man, an' I'll stalk 'em."

+

+Joe, whose back faced the spit, to coin an Irishism,

+turned round to survey the birds, which clustered thickly

+on the spit-end.

+

+"See 'em, Joe," said Sandy excitedly.  "It's a grand

+mob.  If I don't knock half a dozen, you may——"

+

+"Bag the whole bloomin' lot if you like, Sandy

+M'Intyre," replied the rower, who had been gazing

+intently on the birds, and now turned to his mate with

+an amused smile.

+

+"Why—why—whatcher mean?"

+

+"Mean!  Mr. Alexander Duff M'Intyre, bushman,

+waterman, sportsman, and naturalist by profession, but

+only a Scotch mixture of bat an' mole for all that!

+Why——"

+

+"Do you mean to insinuate, Joe Blain, that yon's not

+a mob of wood-duck?"

+

+"Yes; and ready to swear to it till all's blue.  I *did*

+think you knew the difference between a duck of any

+sort and a plover!"

+

+"You call 'em plov——?"

+

+Here one of the birds stretched its neck, flapped its

+wings, gave a hop and a short run, plover-ways, and

+finished with the typical harsh note.

+

+"Great Donald! you're right, man!" finished the boy,

+in a mortified tone and with a considerable amount of

+disgust.

+

+"Oh, well," he resumed, after a moment's silence, "a

+few plover won't come amiss, especially if we don't collar

+any more duck.  Like 'em myself, grilled, as well as

+anything; they've such plump little breasts.  Pull on, Joe."

+

+Joe made for the spit, coming in so quickly with a few

+quiet but vigorous strokes that Sandy was able to get in

+a pot and a flying shot, accounting for no fewer than five.

+

+"I vote," exclaimed that youth, when they had bagged

+the plover, "that we pull into the mouth of 'Skeeter

+Crick, tie up to the bank, an' stalk the crick for a mile or

+so; then we can cross over to the scrub by the old tree.

+We'll chance to get a pigeon or two, or I'm mistaken.

+P'r'aps we'll have better luck with the ducks on our way

+back.  Never saw 'em so scarce on the Crocodile before."

+

+Accordingly, they landed a hundred yards or so up the

+creek, assailed the contents of the tucker bag, and then

+proceeded to skirt the right bank, on the look out for

+duck.  A single bird, a very fine drake, fell to Joe's gun

+near the fallen log which bridged the narrow stream.

+This crossed, the boys entered into a belt of virgin scrub

+that extended back a mile or so from Crocodile Creek,

+abutting Mosquito Creek along its breadth.

+

+"We'd bes' separate, Joe," said Sandy, when they had

+gone a little distance into the jungle.  "You keep on a

+few hundred yards, and then bear on the left towards the

+Crocodile.  I'll make straight for there from here.  It'll

+be hard if we don't account for a bird or two."

+

+The scrub was very thick and interwoven in places.

+It contained a number of native fig trees of great height

+and spread.  These trees were in fruit, therefore there

+was a better chance of getting pigeon, some varieties of

+which are exceedingly fond of the native fig.

+

+The umbrageous trees formed a lofty canopy whose

+cool shades were very agreeable after a couple of hours

+on the water under a January sun.  The lawyer and

+other cane vines hung from the great trees in long

+festoons, varying in thickness from ropes no thicker than

+one's little finger to the great cables extending downward

+from the huge limbs of the fig trees.  Besides these

+growths were scrub bushes, many of which were covered

+with blossom, and still others with berries, blue and red.

+There were also spaces of bare ground, occupied only by

+giant fig and other columnar trees.  These, by natural

+formation, made arched aisles, whose loftiness, lights,

+distances, and vistas constituted a grandeur, and even

+splendour, unapproached by any of the great cathedrals

+of earth.  These, however ancient, are but things of

+yesterday when compared with nature's porticoes,

+cloisters, and altar spaces.

+

+The boys, however, took little heed of these things.

+They were in the scrub neither for architectural nor

+devotional purposes.  Pigeons and other scrub game

+alone had any attractions for them.

+

+After separating they walked warily, listening with both

+ears and scanning with both eyes.  Sounds there were in

+abundance.  The ubiquitous minah, as the noisy and saucy

+soldier-bird is called, is as widespread as the gum tree itself.

+The thrush, though smaller than its English namesake, and

+with a differing note, is equally melodious.  Then peculiar

+to scrub country are the musically metallic notes of the

+pretty but exceedingly coy bell-bird.

+

+Henry Kendal, the greatest of Australian nature poets,

+has limned it in song.  Here is a stanza—

+

+   |  "The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime,

+   |  They sing in September their songs of the Maytime.

+   |  When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,

+   |  They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;

+   |  They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,

+   |  And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden

+   |  Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."

+   |

+

+There is also the merry Coachman, who cracks his whip

+with his beak, so to speak, in such verisimilitude that

+the wandering new chum looks round eagerly for a coach-team.

+

+Added to these are the soft coo-coo of the doves and

+the stronger and booming note of the pigeon tribe.  And

+beyond all these, the calls, chirpings, and chatterings of

+scores of feathered favourites.  They who call the

+Australian bush songless libel it.

+

+The pigeon has a coo that is as monotonous and

+far-reaching as a fog horn.  For this sound the boys are

+now cocking their ears.  Presently the loved note reaches

+Sandy's ears: coo—coo—coo!

+

+"A wonga for a dollar, and where's one is sure to be

+another."

+

+To locate a pigeon by its note is often a most difficult

+thing in the scrub.  It may be on the tree under which

+one happens to be standing, or hundreds of yards away.

+To run down a pigeon by its note is a work that needs

+experience and patience.

+

+Sandy listened intently, mind as well as ears working.

+"Not high up, that's certain.  Seems to be right behind

+me.  Bet tuppence he's on that white cedar," said the

+boy to himself after a further scrutiny in the supposed

+direction.  Away in the locality indicated, distant a

+hundred yards or so, rising above a clump of myrtles, was

+a white cedar tree, its shining yellow berries revealing

+its presence as seen through the tree boles and shrubs.

+

+Stealthily moving through the undergrowth and timber,

+the lad cautiously advanced towards the cedar.  Gaining

+the myrtle cluster, he was thereby screened to some

+extent even when viewed from above.  Just then a coo

+gave him the location.  Moving to the edge of the

+saplings, he now got a fair view of the tree beyond; and

+there, on a lateral limb, distant from him not more

+than thirty-five yards, sat a glorious wonga-wonga, the

+finest species of Australian pigeon, not to be beaten for

+table purposes throughout the wide world.  The specimen

+before Sandy was a male bird as big as three ordinary

+pigeons.

+

+"That fellow's calling his mate, and she's not far off,

+by the way he's noddin' his head," surmised the youth.

+"Shall I pot him, or wait for his mate and cop 'em both?"

+

+The question was soon settled, for suddenly, and with a

+great whirr, the hen rose from the ground, or rather, tiny

+water pool: for she had been drinking and bathing and

+admiring her reflected image in the glassy water.  Her

+return, alas! is the signal of death, for what time she

+alighted on the bough at her spouse's side, the remorseless

+hunter, with hasty but true aim, brought both fluttering

+to the ground.

+

+Their necks are wrung and they are bagged instanter,

+with a laconic but satisfied grunt from the sportsman:

+"Not so bad."

+

+At this moment a double shot broke on Sandy's ears.

+This was immediately followed by a deep, mellow sound

+that formed the common signal of the pals.  Putting his

+two hands with hollowed palms together, conch-shell

+fashion, the boy raised them to his lips and blew a

+prolonged and resonant note followed by three short notes

+staccato, which conveyed to the other's ears the answer:

+"Heard you, am coming."

+

+"Joe wants me for something.  Got into a covey of

+bronze-wings, or maybe a mob o' flocks," muttered the

+lad as he made in the direction of the sound.

+

+He soon espied his mate at the butt of an enormous

+fig tree, and signalled his advent.  The moment Joe

+perceived Sandy he stooped down and picked up a couple of

+large black-looking birds, and waved them excitedly.

+

+"My word! ole Joe's run into a flock of turkeys.

+Hurrah! here's luck."

+

+Yes, Joe had been fortunate enough to "rise" a fine

+lot of tallagalla, to call them by their native name, better

+known as scrub turkey.

+

+Unlike the so-called turkey of the plains—which,

+indeed, is not a true turkey, but a bustard—the scrub

+turkey is true to its title, being seldom or never seen out

+of thickly wooded country.  Its breeding home is a huge

+mound raised by scratching together the dry leaves and

+bits of rotten bark and wood.  On the top of this elevation

+of débris the eggs are laid, some scores of them, and

+barely covered.  As the birds use the same spot for many

+years, the nests become in time mounds of vast dimensions.

+Turkey nest, as it is called, becomes in time a rich

+compost of leaf-mould, and is eagerly sought for garden

+purposes.

+

+The bird itself is stronger in the legs than in the

+wings.  Unless startled and rushed, it will not rise, but

+scuttles through the undergrowth with inconceivable

+speed, and he is a fortunate man who is able to draw a

+bead as it darts through the thousand obstacles of the

+scrub.  Hence the necessity of a good dog to rush the

+birds pell-mell and startle them into immediate flight,

+when they almost invariably seek refuge in the trees

+near by.

+

+Joe, fortunately, heard the drumming and clucking of

+a turkey gobbler before he was seen of them.  Moving

+with intense caution through the bush, which was very

+thick at this spot, he saw at last through the intervening

+leaves, on a patch of bare ground, scratching among the

+decayed vegetable matter for grubs, a flock of turkeys

+containing a score or more.

+

+They were exceedingly active, running hither and thither;

+many of them, just at the pullet stage, indulging in mimic

+warfare.  The elder ones were busily engaged grubbing.

+Joe could easily have shot two or three of them as he

+stood an unseen watcher.  There was a better way than

+that, however.  Once "tree" them, and one could leisurely

+pick his birds.  How are they to be got into the trees?

+He'll be his own dog.

+

+Bursting out from his cover with a hair-raising and

+blood-curdling yell, making at the same time a high

+jump and wildly waving his arms, the stalker rushed into

+the midst of the mob, catching, indeed, a young one by

+the leg, and generally making such a hullabaloo as to

+scare them into instant flight.

+

+It is a peculiarity of this bird, like that of its American

+brother, when once "treed," to remain there.  Wanton

+shooters, taking advantage of this trait, will often shoot

+a flock right out.

+

+The birds put up by Joe, with one or two exceptions,

+flew into the trees surrounding them.  The lad's first act

+was to slip a piece of string round the captured turkey's

+legs and swing it from a tree limb.  This done, he took

+a couple of pot shots, bringing down a young gobbler each

+time.  Having made sure of a brace, he signalled to his

+mate, as described.

+

+The shooters, with true sporting instinct, refrained

+both from wanton destruction and from shooting at the

+hens.  They picked out half a dozen of the biggest males,

+leaving the others on their perches.

+

+Needless to say, the boys were greatly pleased with

+their success in the scrub.  On their way home good

+fortune followed them.  Though they did not sight the

+mob of woods, they surprised a pair, which they promptly

+secured.  Though the bag could not be considered a big

+one for those days, it was a good one for variety.

+

+Greatly to Mrs. M'Intyre's delight, the boys reached

+home a little after three o'clock.  During their absence of

+five hours they accounted for the following game: one

+black duck, two wood-duck, three teal, five spur-wing

+plover, six fat turkey gobblers, two plump pigeon, and

+the captured turkey.

+

+"You are dear, good boys," was Mrs. M'Intyre's

+comment as the game lay side by side on the bench at

+the rear of the kitchen.  "What fine birds! what a lovely

+variety!"

+

+Mrs. Mac., while not an epicure, was a noted housewife,

+and dispensed hospitality in such a whole-hearted fashion

+and in such an acceptable manner that her dinners were

+things to be remembered with delight.

+

+"Go into the kitchen, boys, and get a snack: you'll be

+dying for something to eat.  After you've finished you

+can bear a hand with the plucking and cleaning, as

+Denny's the only one about.  Come here, Ah Fat!  What

+do you think of the birds, Ah Fat?"

+

+"Dem welly good, missee."

+

+"Yes, they'll do very well.  The boys'll clean them for

+you—at least the ones we're using to-night.  We'll hang

+the rest.  Let me see! they had better clean the pigeons

+and plover first.  You can put them on to stew: we'll

+turn them into a game pie.  Grill the teal, and roast a

+pair of ducks and two gobblers."

+

+"Allee lita, missee; I do 'em.  That all?  I mos go back

+an' look after puddens."

+

+Denny and the boys set to work on the fowl, and were

+soon feathers and down from head to foot.

+

+.. _`Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-208.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries."

+

+   "Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries."—*See p.* `219`_.

+

+"Tell me, Joe, me bhoy, did ye or Sahndy here shute

+the most b-i-rr-ds?"

+

+"Honours are easy, Denny."

+

+"Begorra! phwat th' divvil's thot?"

+

+"It means that each shot an equal quantity."

+

+"An e-qu-a-al quantitee!  Be jabers, wheres did ye

+put 'em?"

+

+"Put what?"

+

+"Whoi, th' pair iv e-qu-a-al quan——  Be Saint Michael,

+it's a new sort iv a b-i-rr-d ye've shuted!"

+

+Denny was not so dense as he pretended to be.

+

+"You're a downy cove, Denny," laughed Joe, who caught

+a twinkle in the young Irishman's eye.

+

+"That's true for ye, Joe," retorted the wit, surveying

+himself; "but, bhoys, why doan't ye's take me wid youse?

+Sure an' it's a foine shot Oi am."

+

+"That's news, Denny.  Didn't know you'd ever let off

+a gun."

+

+"Manny an' manny's th' wan Oi've seen me farther

+bang off, annyways.  Did youse never hear tell iv me

+farther's shutin'?  Shure he was a sealabrity in

+Killarney!"

+

+"Never.  Tell us."

+

+"Well, la-ads, wan da' he was rowin' th' Dook iv

+Dublhin, who was a g-rr-a-at sport, on th' woild la-a-kes

+iv Killarney.  They was lukin' for dooks."

+

+"Set a duke to catch a 'dook,' eh, Denny?"

+

+"Be aisy, Marsther Joe.  It's th' flyin' dooks Oi'me

+dascribin'.  Be jabers! farther rowed about a tousan'

+moile, and th' only dook th' g-rr-a-at mahn shuted was

+a gull, though they was there in g-rr-a-at mobs."

+

+"The gulls or the ducks, Denny?"

+

+"If you'd 'a' bin there they wud 'a' bin two gulls,

+annyhow, me mahn."

+

+"Good for you, Denny.  Let him finish, Joe."

+

+"Well, shure, saays farther at last, ses he, 'If y're

+Riall Hoiness wud let me have wan shot, maybe Oi'd

+bring ye luck.'  An' he did it.  So farther, he gits th'

+Dook's big gun, an' th' Dook he tuk th' pathles, an' bynby

+they see a mob iv dooks all in a loine acrost th' boat's

+bows, saalin' for all th' warld loike th' owld loin-iv-batthle

+ships in th' pictures, stim an' starn.

+

+"'Howld aisy,' saays farther, ses 'e, whin they got abreast

+thim fowls.  With that he pinted th' gun at th' la-adin'

+dook, an owld dr-a-ake be th' same token—pulled th'

+thrigger an' let her off.  Wud ye bela-ave me, so quick

+was he that before all th' shot had got out iv th' way-pon

+he'd got her down to th' tail-most birr-d, an' betune you

+an' me an' little Garr-ge Washintong in th' Bible, ivry

+sowl iv thim dooks lay spaachless dead upon th' wather.

+Now thin, phwat div ye think iv that f'r shutin', ye

+gosoons?"

+

+"Think of it, Denny," said Maggie, who had been

+standing at the kitchen door, unobserved of the boys, an

+amused listener.  "Why, you'll be writing a book one

+day that will put the Kybosh on Baron Munchausen."

+

+"Well, if iver Oi does, Miss Maggie," replied the

+incorrigible Irish boy, "Oi'll pit y'reself in as th' laaden

+acthress—Oi mane th' herr-owyne."

+

+"Maggie!"

+

+"Coming, mother."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE CORROBBERIE`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXIV

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE CORROBBERIE

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Deep in the forest depths the tribe

+   |    A mighty blazing fire have spread:

+   |  Round this they spring with frantic yells,

+   |    In hideous pigments all arrayed.

+   |

+   |   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+   |

+   |  One barred with yellow ochre, one

+   |    A skeleton in startling white,

+   |  Then one who dances furiously

+   |    Blood-red against the great fire's light.

+   |

+   |   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

+   |

+   |  Like some infernal scene it is—

+   |    The forest dark, the blazing fire,

+   |  The ghostly birds, the dancing fiends,

+   |    Whose savage chant swells ever higher."

+   |                                WILLIAM SHARP.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Jacky and Willy want to know if they can have some

+raddle,[#] whitning, and blue: can they, dad?"

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Raddle: a red pigment used for marking sheep, etc.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"They're very reasonable, I maun say.  And what are

+they aifter noo, the scamps?"

+

+"Oh, I thought you knew, dad!  There's going to be a

+grand corrobberie to-night.  Old Tarpot has sent in a

+messenger for them to go out, and take this stuff with

+them, and——"

+

+"Precious cool cheek on the pairt of Tarpot, and o' the

+boys as weel.  Why couldna they come oure and ask me

+properly?"

+

+"Dunno, dad."

+

+"It's the blacks' way all over, dad," said Maggie.

+

+"Dad, dad," interrupted Jessie, who was eagerly waiting

+a chance to get in a word, "you said, the last time there

+was a corrobberie, when you refused to let us go, that

+you would the next time.  Now then, dado, you can't

+refuse to let us this time.  Say you will.  Ah, I know by

+your eyes you will say yes!  You dear thing, it's worth a

+kiss and a hug."

+

+When the ardent girl had bestowed these filial pledges

+she turned round to Sandy and the others, out of whose

+sails she had taken the wind in a manner.

+

+"There now, young people, we are all going, for which

+I ought to be thanked.  Only for my good memory, I'm

+afraid the dear man would have said no! wouldn't you,

+dadums?  We'll make up a party, and Mr. Neville will, I

+am sure, be delighted at the exhibition."

+

+"My stars, Jess, but you're gettin' 'em bad!  You will

+be applying for a school teacher's billet next.  Such

+consideration for Mr. Neville, too!  Why——"

+

+"Oh, brither mine, bless your poor thick skull; it's

+positively no use you trying to be funny—you simply

+can't.  Oh, it'll be glorious fun," continued she, turning

+to the Englishman.

+

+"But, Miss Jessie, please!  In the first place, what is

+this corbobbery?  Is that the way it is pronounced?"

+

+"No, sir, it is not; though to be sure they do kick up a

+tremendous bobbery."

+

+"Well, whatever the name, I suppose it stands for an

+aboriginal ceremonial or pastime?" said Neville smilingly.

+

+"Exactly.  Cor-rob-ber-ie is their Café Chautant, a

+free-and-easy; with this difference, though—all their

+performers appear in full dress; got up to kill by the aid

+of the tribe tonsorial artists and valets.  The young bucks

+are perfect pictures, I do assure you; and as for the

+girls——"

+

+"Don't take any notice of the saucy kid, Mr. Neville,"

+broke in Sandy, who felt that he owed his young sister

+one.  "She's only jigging you.  It's their native dance

+and song by the firelight; she's right there.  The men

+do the dancing, and the women simply play the music."

+

+"Music!  I had no idea that they were——"

+

+"Musicians.  Oh well, not exactly that.  They beat

+time for the men.  They, the men, are all painted up and

+armed.  It's a sort of action song, but it's jolly fine, a

+tiptop sight, especially when there's a big mob of them.

+Sometimes four or five tribes get together for what they

+call the 'great corrobberie.'  Then you see something;

+for there's generally ructions before they finish,

+particularly if there has been any grog in the camp.  In that

+case they usually wind up with a fight, and then there's

+the killed and wounded to count when the cleaning-up's

+done.  It's all right to-night, though.  There will be only

+two tribes in it, and they've always been friendly.  Would

+you like to come?"

+

+"Come!  I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Yes, you

+may reckon on me for one—that is, of course, if your

+father is agreeable for us to go."

+

+"I suppose, dad," said Sandy, turning to his father,

+"we may all go?  It's to be held at the old spot."

+

+"Oh, weel, I suppose you'd think me hard-herted if I

+said no?  I'll jist mak' one condeetion, and that is, dinna

+interfere wi' the blacks.  You maunna mak' ony attempt

+to boss them.  Let them cairry oot things in their ain

+way."

+

+"All serene, dad."

+

+"Can the boys have the whitnin' and other things from

+the store?" repeated Sandy.

+

+Consent is given, and the heart of Tarpot, the King of

+Bullaroi, is made glad with a goodly parcel of pigments.

+

+That night after tea the party, including Denny

+Kineavy, mount their steeds and ride out to the corrobberie

+grounds, a matter of three miles.

+

+It was situated on a lightly timbered box-tree flat,

+where a cleared space occurred forming a natural

+amphitheatre, wherein the aboriginal tribes foregathered

+periodically and disported themselves in their national

+characters and games at night time.

+

+The blacks make a distinction in these festivals.  There

+is the corrobberie and the cobborn (or great) corrobberie.

+It was one of the former that the whites were to witness.

+The latter occurred only at long intervals, and was a time

+of feasting as well as amusement; both feasting and play

+being prolonged often for weeks, and generally attended

+by all the tribes within a radius of hundreds of miles.

+

+Each tribe would bring its song and dance (corrobberie),

+in many cases composed for the special occasion.  This

+produced the exciting element of competition.  A

+corrobberie of exceptional excellence would be learned by the

+other tribes, and on their return to their own country

+passed on to the surrounding tribes.  Thus it happened

+sometimes that a corrobberie of singular merit travelled

+round and through the continent.

+

+These folk-songs were associated with the dances, and

+treated on elemental themes, as war, the chase, the feast,

+love, birth, death.  Often some humorous theme would be

+introduced, causing immense fun.  As a rule each tribe

+had clowns, whose grotesque attitude and voice intonations

+were mirth-provoking to a degree.  The Australian native

+manifests a keen appreciation of a joke and has an inborn

+tendency to laughter.

+

+The preparations were far advanced by the time the

+station party arrived at the camp.  The gins, to whom fell

+all labour of a manual sort, were lighting the fires, while

+the bucks were busy "dressing" for their parts.

+

+The girls remained in the clearing talking to some of

+the old gins, while the males proceeded to the outskirts

+of the forest, where the work of adorning went on apace.

+

+For this no pains were spared.  The naked bodies of

+the dancers were treated by the tribe experts, and some

+fearfully and wonderfully startling effects were produced.

+Take His Majesty, Tarpot, as a sample.  The ordinary

+court dress of the King consisted of a tattered police

+uniform, together with a crescent-shaped brass plate that

+adorned his breast, where it hung, suspended by a chain

+from his neck.  The plate—presented to him on one

+occasion as a joke—bore upon it the inscription—

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: center

+

+   TARPOT, KING OF BULLAROI

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+But to-night Merri-dia-o is resplendent in a warrior's

+full rig.  A hole bored through the cartilage of his nose

+peak displays the bone of an eagle's wing, about four

+inches long, the insignia of his maturity and dignity—his

+knighthood's spurs, so to speak.

+

+Behold, then, athwart his nose, the polished bone,

+gleaming like ivory against the ebony background!  His

+grey hair is trussed up, forming a big top-knot, and is

+adorned with the sulphur-hued crest of the white cockatoo,

+also with turkey-tail feathers.  Wound several times

+round his somewhat corpulent body is a belt of human

+hair.  This serves to hold the boomerang and other short

+weapons.  A dingo-tail skin, split up the middle to the

+brush, and bound round the forehead with the brush erect

+and plume-like, gives grace and height to the stature.  But

+the body and limb painting is the principal part.  Each

+tribe has its devices.  Pigments are largely used.  The

+greater the number of colours the more fantastic is the

+effect.

+

+When the boys strode up to the "dressing-room"

+where the tribe artiste were engaged, they found that

+most of the men had completed their adornments and

+were strutting about casting admiring or envious glances

+at one another.  Merri-dia-o, however, was still in the

+hands of the dressers, and his markings were a triumph.

+Being a large-framed and portly fellow, he showed the

+designs to the best advantage.  The colour scheme was

+brilliant, if nothing else.  On his massive chest, which

+was whitewashed for a background, were drawn an emu

+and a kangaroo.  The bird's plumage was bright blue,

+while the marsupial was as glaring as red ochre could

+make it.  These cartoons covered breast and belly, the

+limbs being like animated barber's poles in red and white.

+On his back, upon a white ground, was coiled an enormous

+carpet snake, with erect head and protruding tongue.

+When seen in the corrobberie, armed with spears, shield,

+and boomerangs, this fantastic figure was without peer

+among the warrior-clowns, the whole effect being an

+extravaganza at once whimsical and wild.

+

+By the time these preparations were ended the great

+central fire was blazing furiously, fed as it constantly was

+from a dry tinder stack.

+

+The "orchestra," to the number of six, sat in a cluster

+behind the fire and beat time to the primitive measures.

+The musicians for the most part were old women, who

+were well-practised performers.  Their instruments were

+as primitive as the songs they accompanied, consisting

+generally of a tightly folded opossum rug or a shield.

+These were operated upon by the palms of the hands or

+by sticks; a vigorous slapping of the thighs also gave

+variety to the combination.  At any rate, a surprising din

+was raised.

+

+It has been stated that two tribes participated.  The

+Ding-donglas were the guests of the Bullarois, who had

+provided a grand supper of fat grubs, native yams, and

+roast kangaroo for the festivities.

+

+According to immemorial precedence the visiting

+tribe "took the flure" first, and gave a most interesting

+and picturesque display.  The subject of the corrobberie

+was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident,

+presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter.

+The descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort

+of runic lay, beginning in a low and monotonous key and

+gradually waxing louder as the chase progressed, finally

+ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what time the

+animal is overcome and slain.

+

+The spectators, black and white, applauded most

+generously, our old friends Jacky and Willy being

+among the loudest.  The station boys were in no ways

+different from their brothers in get up.  For the moment

+they had abandoned the role of station hands for that of

+barbaric magnificoes.

+

+The whites, especially the girls and Neville, who

+witnessed the spectacle for the first time, were delighted

+beyond measure.  The silence following the huntsman's

+song was of short duration.  The story-teller

+of the visiting tribe now advanced within the circle

+of light, and in sing-song tones recited one of their

+folklore stories.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: center

+

+   THE COCKATOO'S NEST.[#]

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Tom Petrie's Reminiscences.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Once upon a time there lived happily together on an

+island three young aborigines, a brother and two sisters.

+This land was not very far from the mainland, and the

+three often used to gaze across at the long stretch of land,

+and think of journeying forth from their island home to

+see what it was like over there.  They felt sure they

+would find lots of things to eat.  So one day by means of

+a canoe they really did cross over, and began without

+loss of time to seek for 'possums, native bears, and so

+forth.  In this search round about they at length espied

+a hollow limb, which looked uncommonly like a place

+where a nest would be, and so, going into a scrub near by,

+they cut a vine for climbing up.  Up went the youth, while

+his sisters waited beneath.  When he had cut open the

+limb, he found to his great joy a cockatoo's nest with

+young birds in it, and these latter he proceeded to throw

+down one by one to his sisters, the fall to the ground

+killing the poor things.

+

+Now it so chanced that as the young fellow picked up

+the last little bird from the nest, a feather detached itself

+from its tail, and floating away on the air, at length

+settled fair on the chest of an old man asleep in a hut

+some distance away.  This old man was really a ghost

+who owned the place, and the feather disturbed his rest

+and woke him up.  Divining at once what was happening,

+he arose, and getting hold of a spear and a tomahawk,

+sallied forth to the tree, where he arrived before the

+young fellow had started to climb down.  Seeing the

+birds dead, the old man was very angry, and said, "What

+business you take my birds?  Who told you to come

+here?"  He then commanded the tree to spread out and

+grow taller and taller, so that the young fellow could not

+get down, and, taking the dead birds, he put them in a

+big round dilly, and carried them to his hut.

+

+Although the old man did not wait, the tree did his

+bidding, becoming immediately very wide and tall, and

+the young fellow tried his best to come down, but could

+not.  So at last he started to sing to the other trees all

+around to come to him, which they did; and one falling

+right across where he stood, he was able to get to the

+ground that way.  Somehow, though, in coming down he

+got hurt, and the gins had to make a fire to get hot ashes

+in order to cover him up there.  He lay covered up so for

+half an hour, at the end of which time he was all right

+again.

+

+Of course these three felt very indignant at the old

+man's behaviour, and they thirsted for revenge.  So,

+calling all the birds of the air to them, they sought their

+assistance.  These birds went in front, while the three

+cut their way through the thick scrub to the old man's

+hut; and ever as they went, to drown the noise of the

+cutting, the birds sang loudly, the wonga pigeon making

+a tremendous row with his waugh! waugh! waugh!

+When they had got nearly to the hut, the old man, who

+had been trying to make up for his disturbed sleep, heard

+the noise of the birds, and called crossly to them, "Here,

+what do you make such a noise for?  I want to sleep!"  But

+even as he spoke he was dozing, and presently went

+right off, suspecting nothing; and when the three reached

+the doorway, looking in, they saw him quite soundly

+sleeping.  So the three clutched their weapons tightly,—the

+man his spear, and the women their yam sticks,—and

+advancing into the hut, they all viciously jobbed down at

+the old man, and lo! he was dead.  His body was dragged

+forth and burned, and after the hut was robbed of the

+young cockatoos and all objects worthy of value it also

+was burned, and the three found their way back to the

+canoe, and departed home to their island laden with the

+spoil.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. _`219`:

+

+At the conclusion of the "yarn" the Bullarois retired

+to the trees fringing the clearing on the side directly

+opposite the audience.  After a short harangue from

+Merri-dia-o, the braves, about twenty in number, fully

+armed and in their war-paint, issued from the forest,

+headed by their chief, shouting their battle-cry, gesticulating

+wildly, and making a great clatter with their weapons.

+Advancing upon the foe, now in line and now in sections,

+they battled with the enemy, crouching one moment

+behind their shields to receive the shower of imaginary

+spears thrown by their assailants, the next springing

+erect and casting, as it were, their weapons of offence.

+Following up this round, they bore upon the visionary

+foe and engaged in personal encounter.  Retreating one

+moment and advancing the following, uttering war cries

+and fierce challenge, hurling coarse and stinging epithet,

+they gradually approached the fire; the gins meanwhile

+beat time, giving coherence and harmony to the

+bellicose proceedings.

+

+There was such reality in the battle-play, the men were

+so earnest, their cries so passionate, their taunts so bitter;

+in short, there was such a ring of sincerity, such a

+presentation of the actual, that the white spectators were

+carried away as in the drama when the master mummers

+live their parts.

+

+The boys were in a condition of exultancy.  They were

+inspired by the martial display to a participation of

+fellow-feeling with the warring company.  Neville, too, was

+fairly captured by this weird yet fierce and savage

+sham-fight.  The thrill of combat held him so strongly that he

+could not refrain from leaping to his feet and yelling with

+the rest—urging them, indeed, to greater slaughter.

+

+It was different with the girls.  Fear laid hold of them

+at the unwonted sight.  At first they joined in the

+hurrahs, but when the fighters neared them, and it

+seemed, as was indeed the case, that the very actors

+were being carried away by frenzy and battle-lust, their

+tongues ceased and a cold chill of apprehension seized

+them.

+

+The warriors are now right up, fronting the fire.  In

+a few minutes the grand finale will have been enacted,

+and the curtain rung down.  Unfortunately, however, one

+of the young men has a quarrel with a youth belonging to the

+visiting tribe.  In the culminating point of this sham fight

+he sees his enemy among the crowd of onlookers, and, urged

+by his excited feelings, he directs insulting remarks full at

+this man, who, running out into the clear space in front

+of the fighters, returns these with interest.  This so

+enrages the Bullaroi youth that, darting from the ranks,

+he slings his spear full at the enemy, and transfixes him

+in the breast.  Loud cries of consternation come from the

+women, and a moment's awful stillness from the men.

+Then, as if by magic, the Dingdonglas have risen in

+their wrath, arms in hand.  The play has vanished, and

+downright fight and bloody battle ensues.  Spears hurtle

+and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of

+nulla-nulla on shields supplants the music of the orchestra,

+the while the gins flee in sheer terror from the bloody

+scene to their huts in the forest, rending the air with their

+shrill screams as they speed.

+

+But what of the whites?

+

+They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging

+human cyclone.  At first the grim reality seemed unreal,

+just as previously the sham battle-action appeared real.

+Joe is the first to size up the situation.  Not only are the

+blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril to

+the spectators.  The combatants are surging to and fro

+in the strife of conflict, and circling as though in a vortex.

+At any moment the spectators might be drawn into the

+battle zone through the movements of the belligerents.

+

+"Come, Mag, Jess, quickly!" cries that youth, seizing

+the girls as he speaks and drawing them away.  "The

+brutes are at it in real earnest.  Come! we must bolt to

+the trees.  Great Cæsar, look at that!"  A spear whistled

+through the air and impaled itself in a tree near by.

+

+Just then, one of the fighters detached himself from

+the scrum and came bounding up to the little group, spear

+extended.  As he seemed to be on hostile intent, the

+youths lined up in front of the girls, ready to defend them

+and grapple with the foe.  On nearing, Sandy knew him

+to be Willy the station boy.  Willy, loyal to the family,

+came to entreat them to leave the field.  There was little

+fear of any direct attack upon them, though it were hard

+to say what turn the savage mind might take.  The

+apparent danger was from fugitive spears and boomerangs.

+So Willy paused but to cry out, "Take 'em girls to

+horses: safe there; no safe here.  Go!" and then skipped

+back to his band, throwing himself heart and soul into

+the fray.  For the hour the boy was as great a savage as

+any of the young men of the tribe.

+

+The girls, now really terrified, need no pressure to leave;

+so they scurry from the field and reach their horses, some

+distance beyond spear reach.  There they watch the tide

+of battle as it ebbs and flows until it dies, which it is not

+long in doing, from its very violence.

+

+When the casualties were reckoned it was found that

+most of the combatants had received bruises or gashes,

+limbs were broken, but the only fatalities were those

+of the lads who began the quarrel.  Now that the fight

+is over, both sides settle down to supper in the best of

+humours.  The slate has been cleaned in this primitive

+fashion, and now friendships are renewed over handfuls of

+luscious tree-grubs and hunches of roast kangaroo.

+To-morrow there will be weeping in common over the biers

+of the departed braves.

+

+"Well, Denny, what do you think of this dreadful

+corrobberie?" exclaimed Jessie to the Irish boy as they

+rode home about midnight.

+

+"Phwat div Oi think iv it, Miss Jassie?  Whoi, it's

+been a lovely foight, shure.  Och, they're the very divils

+ontoirely!  Nivir seen sich a bit of divarsion since Oi

+left owld Oireland, bedad!  Begorrah, it'd ta-ake owld

+Tipperary itself to bate it."

+

+"Do you know what I've been thinking of, Denny?"

+continued the mischievous girl.

+

+"Nawthin' but lovely thoughts, Miss Jassie."

+

+"You of course are the best judge, Denny, being an

+Irishman.  What I was thinking was this: scratch an

+aboriginal, and you have an Irishman."

+

+"Och, dear-a-dear, Miss Jassie, to maline me poor

+counthrymen loike that!  Troth, then," cried the lad, with

+a serio-comic air and the suspicion of a wink, "there's one

+thing indade which Irishmen have in common wid these

+poor naggurs."

+

+"What is that, Denny?"

+

+"We both suffer at the hands of Saxon landlords."

+

+And Jessie had no answer.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`IN THE BUSHRANGERS' CAVES`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXV

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   IN THE BUSHRANGERS' CAVES

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

+   |  A stately pleasure-dome decree,

+   |  Where Alph the sacred river ran

+   |  Through caverns measureless to man

+   |  Down to a sunless sea."

+   |                          KUBLA KHAN.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Joe!"

+

+Silence.

+

+"J-o-o!"

+

+No answer.

+

+"J-o-o-o!"

+

+Profound stillness, broken only by a buzzing fly.

+

+"If you don't answer within five seconds, an' short

+ones at that, look out for squalls.  You're only 'possumin',

+you rascal!"

+

+Presently a hurtling pillow, and not too soft a one

+either, struck Joe Blain, who lay flat on his back, with

+open mouth, closed eyes, and deaf ears.  The missile hit

+him fair and square on the face, hermetically sealing his

+breathing apparatus for a moment.

+

+A muffled sound, a quick contortion of the body, and an

+instinctive clutch of the hands got rid of the obstruction,

+which in a twinkling described a trajectory that impinged

+on Tom's left ear.

+

+"Well, what's in the wind, now?" asked Joe, after

+this customary exchange of shots, which was an everyday

+occurrence.

+

+"I've an idea, Joe."

+

+"Howly Moses, you don't mean it!  Terrible, terrible!

+Where did you catch it?"

+

+"Catch your grandmother's sister's cat!  Only, you're

+such a numskull, I'd try an' put it in your head."

+

+"What! my grandmother's sister's——"

+

+"No, you ass; a simple idea!"

+

+"Then I'll bet tuppence it's simple enough, you goat!"

+

+After this complimentary interchange Tom proceeded:

+"When we went out to the caves the other day, we said

+we'd return before the holidays were ended, an' we've

+come to the larst day, ole man.  Ding-bust it! we'll have

+to make for home to-morrer, an'——"

+

+"Ugh! don't mention it!  Go on about the caves."

+

+"Well, then, that day we went out——  Oh Joey! shall

+we ever forget the sight of 'Fevvers' rollin'——?"

+

+"Look here, Hawkins, if you can't spit out that idea

+of yours quick an' lively, you'd better swallow it!  If you

+think to waste my valuable time——"

+

+"Your time wasted!  Pish!  Listen, then.  I vote we

+go out to the caves an' have a look round for the place

+where Ben Bolt kep' his horses.  It'd be no end of a

+lark for us to find, after the police an' others have given

+it up.  What say?"

+

+"There's not much in your notions, Hawkins, generally

+speaking; still, you've struck ile this time, sonny.

+Gewhillikins! it's all right.  Let's have a talk with ole

+Sandy about it."

+

+"Oh, he's sure to be nuts on it!  He's always talkin'

+about the mystery."

+

+"Up, guards, an' at 'em! as Cromwell sang out at the

+battle of Marathon," quoth Joe, in slight historical

+confusion, as he tumbled out of bed.

+

+They dressed quickly and then rushed out to find Sandy,

+who had risen earlier to yard the horses.  Sandy was

+nothing loth.  Indeed, he was as eager as the others, if

+not more so.  He had often brooded over the puzzle, and

+discussed it at times with his mates, but oftener with

+himself.  Like the others, he had theories.

+

+"I've got to take the harrow to the cultivation paddock

+after breakfast, an' then I'll be free."

+

+"Can't you take it now?" suggested Tom.  "Good

+hour yet to breakfast.  You'll have whips of time, an'

+we'll help you."

+

+Sandy was agreeable, and the boys soon hoisted the

+harrow on to the cart.  They returned in good time for

+breakfast, and got Mr. M'Intyre's consent.

+

+"Best take us with you, Sandy."

+

+"Girls 'd only be in the way, Mag."

+

+"Thanks, me brither!  Just wait till you ask me to cut

+your lunches!"

+

+"Oh, mother'll do that."

+

+"Yes; rin to your mither and hold on to her apron-strings.

+For selfishness and for cheek, commend me to a

+brother!  You're all alike.  I expect Tom and Joe are no

+better at home, for all they put on mighty innocent airs

+here," prattled the girl, in mock sarcasm.

+

+"I hope you'll count me in, boys?" said Neville.  "I

+have intimated to Mrs. M'Intyre that I shall be forced

+to tear myself away from her unbounded hospitality,"—"Fevvers"

+was still a trifle stilted,—"but she will not

+hear of my leaving till the end of the week.  You know,"

+he went on, "I did not have an opportunity—the last

+time I—er—we were out there—and——"

+

+"You lassoed an Englishman with a stock whip," broke

+in Jessie the tease.

+

+"And behaved like a brick," interposed Maggie, who

+noticed the involuntary wince on the part of the

+Englishman.  This was, indeed, a sore spot; but he was growing

+rapidly in grace.

+

+Neville winced under Jess's sally, but took it in good

+part.  "It's all part of the breaking-in process, Miss

+Jessie.  I believe I can dismount now a little more

+gracefully.  I shall be glad of an opportunity to see the

+famous bandit's caves.  It will be something to relate in

+England."

+

+It did not take the boys long to get ready.  Half an

+hour later the party was *en route* for the caves, determined

+to solve the puzzle.

+

+"You'll do nothing rash, boys?" said the careful mother

+at parting, "Have you enough candles?"

+

+"Plenty; also ropes and tucker.  Don't worry about us,

+mother; we may not be back till near bedtime—depends

+on what luck we have."

+

+"You've got a scheme, Sandy, I s'pose?" remarked Joe,

+as they jogged along the road.

+

+"Yes, Joe, I've an idea; but of course only testing it

+will prove its worth.  The caves are situated in a spur

+running north and south.  The opening, we know, is on

+the east side.  Nothing bigger than a wallaby or a dingo,

+save of course a man, can squeeze through that opening.

+Either there is another and separate cave adjacent, where

+the 'rangers stalled their horses, or there is an easier

+entrance somewhere in the spur that has a connection

+with the ones we have already visited."

+

+"You must remember, though, Sandy, that Inspector

+Garvie and his men spent days in searching the locality,

+an' how are we chaps to do in a day what they failed to

+do after several days, and with black trackers, too?"

+

+"I'm not likely to forget that."

+

+"I vote, then," said Joe, "we go straight to the caves

+an' explore 'em first."

+

+"It'd take us all day to search those ravines and bluffs

+on the west side," added Tom, "so I'm in favour of Joe's

+proposal."

+

+"I'm not sure that I should have a voice in this

+matter," spoke Neville.  "You fellows will have to settle

+it between yourselves.  Whatever you decide upon will

+be agreeable to me."

+

+"Matter's decided, then," answered Sandy.  "Joe and

+Tom are for the caves direct.  Honestly speaking,

+although I would dearly love a try at the western side,

+for I'm convinced that the outlet lies there, I think, on

+the whole, we'd better stick to the caves, giving them first

+show, anyhow."

+

+"Carried unanimously by a large majority, as Denny

+would say," cried Joe the spokesman.

+

+On arrival at the camping grounds, the place of the

+late serio-comic adventure, the explorers—for such we

+must call them—unsaddled, and short-hobbled their horses.

+

+"I vote," said Joe, "that we boil the billy an' have a

+go at the tuck before we tackle the caves.  It'll be better

+than taking the prog with us, an' 'll save us coming out for

+lunch."

+

+"Agreed!" chorus the rest with a readiness and gusto

+which in matters of meat is almost an instinct of

+boyhood.  Accordingly the wood is gathered, and ere long,

+with whetted appetites, they are absorbingly engaged on

+a substantial meal.

+

+"There are three things to remember, mates.  First of

+all, the candles.  We'll divide them equally, three apiece.

+Here's a box of matches for each.  Father gave me a

+caution, about lights.  We're to carefully watch the

+candles as we proceed through the passages.  He says the

+poisonous gases collect in places that are not well

+ventilated, an' that means death in no time if we remain

+in such spots."

+

+"How'd we know, Sandy?"

+

+"I was just going to tell you.  If we get into such

+places, father says, the candle will burn dimly, an' if it's

+very bad, will go out altogether.  When we happen on

+such spots, if there are any, we are to retreat immediately;

+so don't forget, boys, should we be separated."

+

+"That," said Neville, "is most important."  He related

+one or two incidents of fatal accidents in connection with

+English collieries through fire-damp.  That danger, though,

+is seldom encountered in such caves as the boys were

+intent on exploring.

+

+"What's the third thing, Sandy?"

+

+"The third thing, Hawkins, is to make fast to this

+green-hide.  It is twenty-five feet long, an' we'll tie on to

+it as we go through the passages.  Father says there are

+often holes in the floors and very steep inclines.  Best to

+be on the safe side, though I don't suppose we'll really

+need it."

+

+"I say," queried Neville, "hadn't we better take some

+stout cudgels with us, for fear of snakes and wild beasts?"

+

+"Happy thought, Mr. Neville.  Not for wild beasts,

+though an old-man kangaroo can be as dangerous as a

+bear with his paws when he's bailed up by the dogs."

+

+"What about monkeys, then?"

+

+"Monkeys?  We haven't any."

+

+"Well, I heard one of the travellers say, while he was

+having a feed at the men's hut, that he'd been engaged to

+go for a mob of monkeys."

+

+"Ha—ha—ha!  Well, you are a——Why, the man

+was talking about sheep.  Monkey is a pet name for

+them.  We'll want some sticks, though, as well as

+the tomahawk."

+

+So saying, Sandy proceeded to hack at a cluster of

+gum saplings, and cut three waddies about five feet in

+length, and a fourth one eight feet long, and proportionately

+thick.  Armed with these and carrying the other

+necessaries, including a billy of water and a snack of food,

+the exploration party proceeded to the cave entrance.

+

+After gaining access to the first cave, the boys allowed

+Neville a few minutes' pause to get at home with his

+surroundings, before going on to the second or cathedral

+chamber.  They then pursued their way through the

+tortuous and difficult passage between the two chambers,

+till at length they arrived at the opening.

+

+"Hello!" exclaimed Sandy, who was in the lead, with

+an involuntary gasp.

+

+"What's up?" cried Joe, who was immediately behind him.

+

+"Why, ladder's gone!"

+

+"Jemima! you don't say so.  Why—how——?"

+

+"It's gone, all right," replied the leader, as he peered

+by the light of his candle into the gloomy recesses of the

+cave.  "Clean gone!  Don't see it on the floor below,

+so it can't have dropped."

+

+Joe, squeezing abreast Sandy, and doubling the light

+power, added his eyes to those of his mate in the search.

+

+"No go," said he, after a keen but vain search.  "Anyway,

+I can see how to get down easy enough."  So saying,

+he placed his stick across the mouth of the passage,

+jamming it on either side into an interstice.  "There!"

+he exclaimed, as he hung his weight upon the transverse

+beam, which, though bowing, did not crack when bearing

+his weight.  "Let's put the rope round this, an' we'll slip

+down less'n no time."

+

+"Wait a jiffy, Joe," said Sandy, who had been critically

+eyeing the staff.  "We'll make 'assurance doubly sure,'

+as your father said in his sermon last Sunday,"—poking

+his stick while he spoke, into the same cavities as the

+other occupied.  "That will stiffen it.  It's easy enough

+getting down: we could jump, for that matter.  It's the

+getting up that's the problem.  There, it's as stiff as a

+fire-bar now.  Here's the first to go down."

+

+Holding the rope, the boy swung off, and was soon

+standing on the floor of the lower cave.  The others

+followed rapidly.  They could find no trace of the missing

+ladder.  Not only was the ladder spirited away, there

+were other signs which showed that the caves had been

+entered since the last visit of the boys, and on proceeding

+to the third chamber, where the bushrangers slept, there

+were manifest signs of disturbance.

+

+"Some un's been here, that's certain."

+

+Sandy gave voice to the one opinion.  The bark bunks

+occupied by the outlaws were thrown off their trestles to

+the ground.  There was no gainsaying Sandy's statement.

+The situation was peculiar.  The boys might well be

+pardoned for being a little fearsome and creepy under the

+circumstances.

+

+"I heard Dickson tell your father, Sandy, at the brumby

+hunt, that a party was comin' out from Tareela to visit

+the caves.  P'r'aps it's them that have moved the ladder."

+

+"Don't think it could have been," persisted Joe.

+"There's no sign of their camp outside."

+

+"What about the 'rangers?"

+

+The thought was decidedly unpleasant, and when

+voiced it struck a chill in the hearts of all.  As a

+matter of fact, the thought had lain in Sandy's mind

+from the time he missed the ladder.

+

+Ben Bolt was not a desperado of the Morgan or Kelly

+type—men who were conscienceless, treacherous, and full

+of the blood-lust.  Many, indeed, of his acts of gallantry

+and open-hearted generosity, if theatrical, were nevertheless

+redeeming qualities in the old-time bushranger.  A

+man of great resource and daring, a thorough bushman, a

+superb rider, mounted always on the finest of horses,—stud

+stock mostly, which he "lifted" from celebrated

+breeding stations,—the 'ranger was, in some respects, a

+picturesque figure, and had a most adventurous career.

+Often located and even sighted by the police, he was

+always able to make good his escape, either by bush

+strategy or by an amazingly daring piece of riding in

+rough country, at which even his intrepid pursuers,

+themselves accomplished horsemen, stood aghast.

+

+There was a spirit of romanticism about the fellow.

+His dress and appearance gave colour to that.  He was

+passionately attached to his wife and children, and often

+incurred desperate risks in visiting them when

+"home-sickness" seized him.  His house was ever under the

+surveillance of the police, who fondly hoped to catch him

+by that lure.  Yet, though often within an ace of capture,

+he always escaped.  Outwitting the subtlest efforts of the

+police, he was their despair.  Though of a sanguine

+temperament, there were seasons when he was the victim

+of a black mood.  At such times he was most dangerous

+and cruel.

+

+"It could hardly be Ben Bolt," said Sandy at length.

+"It's quite possible that the town party has been.  How

+could Ben be here an' in Queensland?"

+

+"Well, what's next, Sandy?"

+

+"I'd like us to explore the opening in the passage first,

+Joe.  Come, boys, let's shin up."

+

+This was speedily accomplished, and the pals proceeded

+to the spot that was in Sandy's eye, so to speak.

+

+"Here's the place I meant!" exclaimed he, when they

+had retraced their steps some distance through the

+passage.  The opening, at first sight, appeared to be

+a deep recess.  Upon close examination, however, it was

+found that the wall and the roof did not meet.  There was

+a hole some two feet in diameter.

+

+"I spotted this when I came with father," explained

+the leader.  "Now, if one of you fellows will give me a

+hoist, I'll get my head and shoulders into that opening

+above, and find out whether it's a chimney, or takes a

+turn and forms a passage."

+

+Accordingly Joe, stooping a little, received Sandy on

+his shoulders, by which he was able to rise into the hole.

+

+"Hurrah—hurrah!" he exclaimed a minute later.  "It's

+a passage all right, boys.  There's a sort of landing,

+anyway, and it looks as though there's a passage beyond.

+Hold steady, Joe, an' I'll try an' get my hands on the

+ledge."

+

+The boy made several efforts without avail, for he was

+an inch or so too low.

+

+"Step on my shoulders, Sandy."  It was Neville who

+had placed himself alongside Joe.  His shoulders were at

+least three inches higher.  Thus raised, Sandy had no

+difficulty in grasping the ledge of the landing.  Catching

+the lad's feet with his hands, Neville pushed the boy

+higher, and soon he worked his way on to the floor of the

+ceiling, as it were.

+

+This done, he proceeded to light his candle and explore,

+for it was impenetrably dark.  Following the passage

+inwards, the boy advanced some distance.  He found

+that it widened as he proceeded, and became easier to

+traverse.

+

+"I'd better return now for the other chaps," muttered

+the lad.  Accordingly he retraced his steps and explained

+matters to the anxiously waiting group.  By the aid of

+the green-hide lariat, the others were soon up with the

+leader on the landing.

+

+Here, then, was a new situation.  In all probability the

+foot of man had never trodden this place.  There were no

+traces of any living thing.  It was in no light mood,

+therefore, that the boys made a start.  Their position

+was unique and thrilled them.  They might, in a literal

+way, bring to light the hidden things of darkness.  Not

+for ages, or ever, in all likelihood, had those walls been

+lighted up and gazed upon.  Whither would the pathway

+lead?

+

+Proceeding, they encountered no difficulty for some

+time, as the passage widened in places, enabling them to

+walk abreast.  Soon, however, it began to contract, and

+in places it became a squeeze.  The roof, too, dipped

+considerably, so that it could be touched by the extended

+hand.

+

+Sandy, who was still leading, began to experience a

+tired feeling.  There was a peculiar sensation in his ears,

+and a tightening in the throat.  After advancing a few

+steps farther he stumbled and almost fell.  His candle,

+too, began to burn very dimly.  His followers were

+experiencing similar feelings.  In a moment the cause

+of this untoward feeling came flashing across his mind.

+

+Joe, behind him, cried out, "I say, Sand ... I'm

+gettin' ... short..."

+

+"Back, everybody!  Fire-damp!" cried the leader in a

+raucous voice, after a violent effort.

+

+It was a narrow squeak.  Though only a few minutes

+in the poisoned air, they were all on the verge of

+unconsciousness.  Gasping, trembling, the sweat oozing from

+every pore, they struggled on until they reached the

+widened area of the passage, and then sank, exhausted,

+to the ground.  Tom, who was at the tail of the procession

+was not so bad as the others, not having penetrated so far

+into the poison zone.

+

+The pure air soon revived them.  Their respiration,

+which was very laboured at first, improved as soon as

+the sweet, dry air entered their lungs, and ousted the

+putrid gas which had lodged there.  A pull at the water-can,

+which fortunately they had brought with them, helped

+them a lot, and in a short time they were themselves again.

+

+"That ends chapter one," said Joe dryly.  "Whereaway

+now, Captain?"

+

+"We've come to the end of our tether sudden enough,

+and with a vengeance.  It'll be something, Mr. Neville,

+to tell 'em in England.  Let us get back to the old passage.

+This is nothing but a death-trap."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE EXPLORERS`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXVI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE EXPLORERS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+"'The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest,'

+replied my uncle Toby."—STERNE.

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+"That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast

+on the lip of a lion!"—SHAKESPEARE.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"How quickly we ran into that poison-trap!  No smell

+or anything to warn us," remarked Neville, when the

+normal condition of the lads was restored, "save a nauseous

+feeling which supervened."

+

+"Whatcher think made it hang like that, Mr. Neville?

+Seemed to me like an invisible fog that we suddenly

+encountered."

+

+"That is really what I believe it to be, Tom.  I know

+from what I have read and heard, the gas is colourless

+and quite heavy.  An uncle of mine is a colliery manager

+in Wales, and this fire-damp, or choke-damp, as it is

+sometimes called, is often fatal, because it fills the lungs

+so that no other air can enter, and in this way suffocates

+its victims.  We were just on the fringe of it, I think.

+

+"As I was saying, this fire-damp, which is always

+much more dangerous after an explosion in the mines,

+is generally formed by the decomposition of certain

+substances in vegetable fibres, or in veins of carbonised

+mineral.  That is why it is called carbonic acid gas.  It

+is much heavier than the air.  You remember the passage

+was contracted, and the air seems to have become

+impregnated at that particular place."

+

+"Well, whatever it is," said Joe, who had just made

+a few spasmodic heaves, "it's good enough to keep out

+of.  Let's give the acid, or gas, or damp, or whatever it's

+called, leg bail."

+

+The party of defeated but not disgraced explorers now

+retraced their steps.  Eagerly scanning the walls as they

+retreated for signs of diverging passages, they soon found

+themselves at the landing, whence they swung down into

+the blind alley that led to the main passage.

+

+"Sandy," said Joe, when the party had emerged, "give

+that passage a name.  Leichhardt gave names, you know,

+to all the creeks, hills, and water-holes he discovered in

+his travels.  I reckon yon's our discovery.  Faugh!"

+ejecting a mouthful of saliva, "it tastes like rotten

+soda-water.  Let's call the beastly place by a name that'll

+fit it."

+

+"Christen away."

+

+"Me!  Well—er—how'd 'Poison Pot' do?"

+

+'"Death Trap' would be better," replied Sandy.  So

+thought the others, and it was accordingly named "Death

+Trap Passage."

+

+"Now, chaps, let's get back to the cathedral.  There's

+a likely spot there—that hole, I mean, where the boulder

+was jammed."

+

+"What's the time, Mr. Neville?" asked Joe, on arrival

+at the big chamber.

+

+"Quarter to one."

+

+"Why, we've hardly been three hours in!  I made sure

+it was about six."

+

+"I vote we have a go at the prog," chipped in Tom.

+"It'll help to take the nasty taste away."

+

+"Good idea!" was the general verdict.

+

+The pals had lost a good deal of their natural spirits.

+Three hours groping in semi-darkness, with a throat full of

+choke-damp thrown in, was enough to stale the strongest;

+yet they had no thought of surrender.  They were

+"baffled, to fight better."

+

+In a few minutes the outer entrance is gained, and in

+another five minutes they reach camp.

+

+The hot tea was particularly acceptable.  Nothing in

+the wide world could have been more refreshing and

+stimulating.  Billy-tea boiled with gum sticks, just so

+far sweetened as to countervail the natural roughness

+without impairing the aromatic flavour, stands at the

+head of all beverages—whether aerated, brewed, distilled,

+or concocted.

+

+"My word, this is bully tea, ain't it?" cried Tom,

+smacking his lips with satisfaction, after emptying his

+pannikin for the third time.

+

+Neville in particular—to whom the outing and the

+exploration was a new experience—felt, as he puffed at

+a cigar, the stirrings of a larger and a nobler nature than

+that which had hitherto exercised him.  Business life

+seemed flat and stale compared with this al fresco

+existence.

+

+"Time to be goin' back again," said the practical Sandy,

+breaking in on a post-prandial reverie.  "Gimme the

+tommie, Joe."

+

+Tomahawk in hand, the boy walked to the sapling

+clump, and selecting a stout specimen, vigorously attacked

+it with the weapon.  From this he cut two six-foot

+lengths, sharpening the thicker ends, crowbar fashion.

+

+"What's that for, Sandy?"

+

+"To prise the boulder.  They'll make capital levers."

+

+Armed with these additional implements, the lads

+returned to the caves, and in due course lowered

+themselves into the cathedral.

+

+The spot which Sandy had mentally marked as a likely

+one has already been described.  It was a cleft in the

+floor at its junction with the wall, and immediately behind

+a huge stalagmite.  It must have escaped the vigilant

+eyes of the professional trackers.  The corner was a very

+dark one, and unless one looked closely behind the

+boulder the cleft would not be observed.  Sandy had lit

+upon it in a promiscuous search, and was impressed by

+its possibilities as another outlet, or inlet, to other

+cavities.

+

+No sooner had the boys arrived at the spot, and Sandy

+had cast his eye upon it, than he exclaimed, "Somebody's

+been here!"

+

+"How d'yer know?"

+

+"This stone is not in the same position as when I last

+saw it."

+

+"Who could it 'a' been?"

+

+"Dunno.  I'm crack sure, however, that this stone was

+not square down the other day.  The flat of it was down

+and the point of it up.  Now it's reversed.  Besides, here

+are crowbar marks."

+

+"It'll be hard enough to get out—much harder than it

+would 'a' been if it hadn't been touched."

+

+"Must have been a strong chap that turned it!"

+

+"Strong?  No one man could ever have done it!  It

+would be difficult for two.  Why, that stone's not a pound

+less than four hundredweight!"

+

+"Well, time's goin'," said Joe, "and what's done's done.

+Let's at it, Sandy.  Up-end her, and throw her over on

+the floor."

+

+The lads vainly tried to insert the wooden bar.

+The cracks between the lid, so to speak, and the

+edge at the opening were not sufficiently wide to admit

+this.

+

+"It won't do," said Sandy after a while; "we're gettin'

+no forrader."

+

+"I suggest," interposed Neville, "that you widen the

+cracks."

+

+"How can we do that?"

+

+"Will you let me have a try?"

+

+"My!—rather.  Anything to get the blame thing out."

+

+Neville picked up the tomahawk that was lying near

+at hand, and began striking the edges of the hole where

+Sandy had been prising.

+

+"That's the stitch!" cried Tom.  "Well done, Mr. Neville!"

+

+The limestone readily yielded to Neville's strokes,

+and the crevice was soon wide enough to take in the

+thick end of the stout gum sapling.

+

+Sandy and Neville, taking a pull at the end, levered

+the stone high enough for Joe, who had the other bar

+ready to insert between the raised end and the floor stone.

+With this additional lever power the "stopper" was

+canted on one side, high enough to put the stone chocks

+in.  Another application of the bars, with two boys

+hanging on each and pulling simultaneously, brought the

+"stopper out of the bottle," and toppled it over with

+a thud that shook the floor; bringing down a stalactite

+with a crash, fortunately without harm to the exploring

+party.

+

+Before venturing down, Joe, in whose mind an idea

+had been fermenting while the stone-raising business

+was being carried on, critically surveyed the stone

+"stopper."

+

+"Look here!" remarked he, "these are the marks of an

+iron crowbar.  Whoever removed this had the proper

+tools for it.  Whatcher make of that?  That upsets the

+town party theory, don't it?"

+

+"It certainly makes the puzzle harder," said Neville.

+

+"Think so?  Makes it easier to me," quoth Sandy.

+

+"How's that?"

+

+"Looks more'n more like Ben Bolt's work."

+

+"Think he's in there now?" exclaimed Tom, in an

+awed whisper.

+

+"No, I don't think that.  But it shows me that he's

+knocking about here again, an' he's been in the caves

+quite recently."

+

+The boys looked into each other's faces, and felt—well,

+just as you would feel, brave reader, were you in the

+cavernous depths of earth, in the very haunts of

+proclaimed outlaws, not knowing at what moment they

+might spring upon you.  Standing in the cold, damp, dim

+underground, at the mouth of an unknown passage, which

+might take you to the innermost den of the outlaws, could

+you contemplate advance without an attack of the creeps?

+The crevice, after going down sheer a few feet, turned

+on a level plane, right across the floor of the cathedral,

+in a westerly direction.  How far could be known only

+by actual travel.

+

+"Come on, boys," said Sandy, after a moment's silence;

+"it's what we've come here for.  I believe, for one, we're

+goin' to solve the mystery."

+

+One by one the lads dropped into the bottom of the

+well.  The passage was of unequal width, but always wide

+enough to allow the party to proceed without squeezing,

+and had a fairly level floor.  The floor, after extending

+two hundred paces or so in a westerly direction, began to

+decline somewhat sharply, and presently Sandy gave a

+warning shout—

+

+"Water ahead!"

+

+The others crowded round him as well as they could.

+There, at their very feet, was a pool of water of unknown

+depth.

+

+"Here's a go, chaps!  Looks as if it might be a swim."

+

+The pool covered a fairly wide stretch, and was in a

+dip of the passage.

+

+"Don't think it's a swim myself," remarked Joe.

+"Let's take off our boots an' pants.  I fancy we'll find it

+only a wade.  We can move cautiously and test it with

+a bar as we proceed."

+

+The party did as suggested, and found to their satisfaction

+that the water did not rise above their knees; for

+none of them relished a swim in the icy water.  After

+re-dressing, the company moved forward, and soon

+emerged into a spacious cavern that fairly sparkled with

+lime crystals.  Little time, however, was spent in

+admiration.  They moved across it in the same direction, and

+found two exits.  After a short consultation, they decided

+to take the larger of the two passages, because it seemed

+to be a continuation of the old track.  Just as they

+started, Tom, who was in the rear, on looking round, saw

+what appeared to be a bundle on the floor of the cave,

+some distance to the right.

+

+"Wait a moment," cried he, as he ran to the object.

+"Oh, I say, here's a find!"

+

+The others, who were in the entrance, backed out,

+and ran to his side.  Tom held the old vine ladder in his

+hands.

+

+There was no longer any doubt.  There could be only

+one conclusion.  At the sight of this the boys had a bad

+attack of the creeps.

+

+"It's the 'rangers all right.  They've slipped the police

+again."  There seemed to be no alternative to this

+conclusion.  "Seems to me," continued Joe, who was

+the quickest of the lot in reasoning out a thing, "that

+they've been back here again, and knowing that the

+bobbies'll be on the watch to trap 'em at this spot,

+they've locked up the house, in a way of speakin', an'

+thrown the key inside.  I vote that we go on."

+

+No one said nay, and so the advance was made.  The

+passage presented no serious obstacle, widening and

+narrowing at intervals, but never too narrow to proceed.

+As they were squeezing through a difficult place, Sandy

+again sounded the alarm.

+

+"What's up now?" said Joe, who was just behind.

+

+"'Nother big cave, an' a deep drop into it, same as the

+other.  There's a bar across here where they've slung

+ropes.  Undo the lasso, chaps."

+

+"Let's hope we're getting near the end of it."

+

+The speaker was Joe.  The truth is, the work was

+most tiring in its nature, and the spirits of the party were

+yielding to a very uneasy feeling, despite Joe's plausible

+theories that the end might be the reverse of pleasant.

+Should Ben Bolt, after all, be in hiding, well—the worst

+might happen.

+

+Fixing the rope, they slipped down to the floor of the

+new cave.  This, though not remarkable for beauty, was

+commodious enough, and had several outlets, in one of

+which there were indubitable evidences of the one-time

+presence of horses.

+

+"Hello! here's the stable," cried Tom, who was first in

+this recess.

+

+Sure enough in a vault-shaped but very roomy cavern,

+entered by a wide passage, was the robbers' stable.

+Several bundles of bush hay were stacked in one corner.

+A manure heap filled the other.  All this pointed to a

+prolonged occupation.  The idea of the robbers' presence

+had so materialised by these later evidences that the

+boys felt they might be confronted at any moment by the

+desperadoes.

+

+"What'll we do, Joe?" said Tom.  "Slip quietly back

+again?"

+

+"Slip back again, after getting this far!  Don't be

+frightened, Tom."

+

+"I'm not; y'are yourself."

+

+"Well," replied Joe, with a smile, "I'll not deny that

+I've felt like it more'n once.  But there's one thing

+you've not noticed, chaps."

+

+"What's that?" chorused the group.

+

+"There's not been any horses here for weeks."

+

+"How d'yer know?"

+

+"No fresh droppings."

+

+That fact was indisputable, conclusive, and enheartening.

+It lifted a load of apprehension, to call it by

+no harder name; and now, with buoyant spirits, to

+which they had been strangers for some time, the boys

+continued the search.  The end, indeed, was close at hand.

+

+"Look out sharply for tracks," was the command of

+the leader on leaving the stable, stooping low as he

+spoke, and eagerly scanning the floor.  Hoof-prints were

+discovered and followed.  They led to a corner of the

+big cave which narrowed at that point, and continued

+on as an opening.  After going a few paces, Sandy called

+out, "Hurrah—hurrah!  Light ahead!"

+

+Sure enough, a few yards farther the passage was

+lighted with natural rays that shot through a small

+opening some distance ahead.  The party was exultant,

+and needed no telling that this was sunlight.  In this

+subterranean fashion the explorers had traversed,

+mole-like, the range spur, and proved the theory of the dual

+entrance.

+

+Like as the exultation of Columbus when the first

+sight of the new world convinced him that he had solved

+the riddle of ages, or as Leichhardt felt when he and

+his dauntless band stood upon the shores of the great

+northern gulf, after having passed through the very heart

+of Australia's *terra incognita*, so did the breasts of these

+brave youths swell with the spirit of triumph when

+that ray of light revealed the joyful fact that they, a

+group of mere youngsters, had succeeded where the

+experts had failed.

+

+The whole company darted through the spacious passage

+to the opening.  It was in the face of a cliff, and fully

+fifty yards from its sloping base.  So steep was the cliff

+that, viewed from a distance, it appeared perpendicular;

+forbidding to anything save rock wallabies and—Ben Bolt.

+

+Its very roughness, however, made its ascent a

+possibility.  Had it been a smooth face, no horse, however

+capable, could have climbed it.  Ben Bolt was always

+able to achieve the possible.  Many of his wild rides

+bordered on the miraculous.  His personality magnetised

+his steeds.  Wherever he led they would go, and so the

+steep ravine that rose from the rocky base to this

+entrance afforded a precarious footing for the outlaw's

+horses.

+

+"Now then, boys, before we go down, let's give a

+cheer," said Sandy.  Led by the leader, the group signalled

+its victory—for such it was, and no mean one—by a

+rousing cheer that woke the echoes of the precipice and

+spread wave-like over the landscape beyond.

+

+It penetrated the ears of two men who were riding

+quietly in the bush that lay beyond the rocky plateau

+which formed the base of the cliffs.

+

+"What's that?" exclaimed the elder to the youth who

+rode at his side.

+

+"Sounds like a cheer," replied the youth.  "Who can

+it be—traps?"

+

+Turning their horses' heads, they rode swiftly but

+silently to the edge of the scrubby timber which they

+were traversing.  Halting just within the bushy barrier,

+they parted the leaves, and there, perched high up the

+cliff's side, were four youthful forms—the band of cave

+explorers.

+

+"Now, boys, we'll go back an' have another look round

+before we leave.  Might find something belonging to Ben

+Bolt worth carryin' away.  We can easily get out on

+this side, and cross the spur a little higher up, where

+the cliff runs out.  'Twon't take long neither!  I

+say—won't we have a yarn to spin to-night!"

+

+But the unexpected is yet to happen.  The company

+retraced their steps to the cave, and did a little

+exploration; finding nothing, however, but a couple of leather

+mail-bags and some opened letters—the remains of

+coach-robbery spoils.

+

+"This is the last one, mates," remarked Sandy, as the

+group entered the mouth of a passage.  After traversing

+its course a little distance, it opened up into a small

+cave, twenty feet square.  On one side of it were bunks

+similar to those in the other cave.  While in the act of

+examining it, Joe fancied he heard a footfall.  Stopping

+a moment to listen, he distinctly heard the sounds of

+stealthy footsteps.

+

+"'S-s-sh-h-h, boys!  Some un's followin'!"

+

+At this startling statement the boys halted and turned

+round, to be confronted by two forms hardly distinguishable

+in the surrounding gloom.  The pals gave a gasp of

+terror as the call peculiar to highwaymen smote their

+ears and they faced two weapons, levelled point blank.

+

+"Hands up!"

+

+Candles are dropped in sheer fright in an eye-wink,

+and hands go up in gross darkness.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The sun had just set as the four youths, in company

+with two men, mounted their horses and took the track

+leading to Bullaroi.  Strange to say, the lads showed no

+signs of fear, nor were they bound with cords.

+

+"By jingo!" cried Tom, who had just put his horse

+at a big log and cleared it in fine style, followed in

+order by Joe, Sandy, and Neville, "this is the grandest

+outin' I've ever had!"

+

+"It's a' very weel," answered Mr. M'Intyre, who with

+Denny Kineavy had been following the tracks of some

+strayed cattle which were making for the ranges, and

+were passing the cliff opening while the cave explorers

+were ringing the welkin with cheers, "but supposin'

+that instead o' us, it 'd really been the bushrangers

+returnin' and catcht ye trespassin'?  What then, ma

+laddies?"

+

+This query raised visions of possibilities that sobered

+the vaulting spirits of the pals for some brief moments.

+Very thankful were they in a moment of reflection that

+they had been bailed up by a friendly enemy.

+

+"Heigho!"

+

+"What's matter, Joe?"

+

+"Fun's all over: measly school opens to-morrow!"

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`A RESPITE`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXVII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   A RESPITE

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Ah! those were the days of youth's perfect spring,

+   |  When each wandering wind had a song to sing,

+   |  When the touch of care and the shade of woe

+   |  Were but empty words we could never know,

+   |  As we rode 'neath the gum and the box trees high,

+   |  And our idle laughter went floating by."

+   |                                  GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Joe little thought when making the melancholy statement,

+"measly school opens to-morrow," how prophetic the

+utterance was.

+

+The first words that greeted the party on their return

+to the homestead were: "School won't open for another

+three weeks; the town's full of measles."

+

+The pals tried hard to look sober and concerned as

+Mrs. M'Intyre dilated upon the nature of the epidemic.

+It was a vain attempt.  To their credit be it said, they

+were very poor hypocrites.  Whatever sorrow they might

+feel on account of their friends who were in the grip

+of the disease was more than counterbalanced by the

+blissful intimation that, owing to the epidemic which

+had unexpectedly broken out, the school authorities had

+resolved, for at least three weeks, to keep the school

+closed.

+

+"There's no going home at present, boys.  I wouldn't

+dream of letting you return.  I'll just write to your

+mothers to say I intend keeping you here, unless they

+want you particularly.  I feel sure they will be thankful

+for your absence at such a time.  So you'll have to

+make the best of it, boys.  Are you sorry?"

+

+"Well—er—of course—I'm a——"

+

+"Yes—a—of course—you're—a—shedding tears at the

+thought of staying here another fortnight or so—aren't you,

+Joe?  You and Tom do look as miserable as moulting fowls

+in wet weather at the bare thought of holiday extension."

+

+The lads burst out laughing at Jessie's sally, and

+declared that it was the crummiest news they had received

+during the holidays.

+

+"That's a' very weel, and ye needna fash, laddies,

+that you'll ootwear your welcome.  But here's some news

+that may no' be so pleasant," said the squatter, who had

+been busy with his mail.  "Here's a letter frae Inspector

+Garvie to say that Ben Bolt and his mate are in the

+deestric' again.  He stuck up Dirrilbandie Station three

+days ago, drivin' a' the hands aboot the homesteed, along

+wi' Wilson and his faimily, into ane o' the men's huts,

+in which they were held by his youthfu' confederate

+while he ransacked the place."

+

+"Oh! the poor Wilsons!  Did he hurt any of them? and

+did he get much?"

+

+In reply to a fusillade of questions from the excited

+household, M'Intyre stated that though Ben Bolt was in

+one of his black humours, was in fact on the point of

+shooting one of the men for cheeking his mate, and was

+only dissuaded from this atrocity by the pleading of

+Mrs. Wilson, no one was injured.  He had taken a considerable

+amount of loot, however, in the shape of jewellery;

+also a pair of new improved revolvers, as well as three

+horses, one of them being Wilson's handsome chestnut

+gelding, the finest hack in the district, and for which

+he had a short time previously refused seventy pounds

+from the police authorities.

+

+There had been an outcry against the Government

+for not having provided a better class of mount for the

+troopers.  Again and again the schemes of the police

+to capture the bushrangers in various parts of the

+colony failed, chiefly because they were out-classed in

+horse-flesh.  A tardy Government, aroused at last to

+action by the clamour of the people, was doing its best

+to remedy this unequal condition.

+

+"I suppose, sir, the police are in full chase of the

+desperadoes?"

+

+"They're doin' their best, ye may be sure, Mr. Neville.

+Garvie has two pairties oot scoorin' the country, and is

+holdin' himsel' in readiness to move to ony pint at a

+moment's notice.  As the scoondrels hae cut the Walcha

+telegraph line, the presumption is they will be raidin' the

+place, and Sergeant Hennessey is following up with the

+utmost speed.  The Sub wants the loan o' Jacky or Willy,

+or both, as trackers, and to let him ken at aince should

+there be ony signs o' them on Bullaroi, 'specially aboot

+the caves."

+

+"Are you goin' to lend him the boys, father?"

+

+"Weel, it's very awkward, but I'll hae to assist the

+coorse o' juistice when ca'd upon.  We maun dae oor

+pairt to catch the rascals."

+

+"Suppose you *had* tumbled across the 'rangers in the

+caves, boys?"

+

+"Well! an' s'p'osin' we had, Miss Jessie?" replied

+Tom, whose answer in tone and query suggested unspeakably

+bad things for the outlaws had they been unfortunate

+enough to meet the cave heroes.

+

+"Let me pit ye a sum in arithmeetic, Thomas,

+ma laddie; juist a sma' sum in proportion.  If twa

+stock wheep hondles, pinted at fowr cave explorers,

+each wi' a lighted candle in his hand, would cause

+the said candles to drop to the flure and fowr pair

+o' hands to go up like a toy acrobat when ye pu' the

+strings, what attitudes would the aforesaid explorers

+strike if a pair o' rale loaded peestols had been

+presented?"

+

+"Tom is always a duffer at proportion," interjected

+Joe laughingly.  "He has a trick of givin' answers that

+make Simpson sit up.  To tell you the truth, sir, I don't

+think that the real article could have given us a greater

+shock.  Speaking for myself, I confess that I've never

+had so bad an attack of the shakes before.  My skin

+went goosey in a moment, an' my hair stood up like a

+hedgehog's spikes.  I couldn't 'a' said a word for a

+hatful of sovereigns.  You see, sir, *it was all very real

+to us for the moment*, and none of the others felt any

+better than myself, I bet tuppence."

+

+"Joe's quite right, sir.  I had a most dreadful feeling

+as we stood there in the black darkness.  It seemed as if

+a vast abyss had suddenly engulfed us and we were

+sinking to fathomless depths."

+

+"I'll back up Joe and Mr. Neville, dad.  My word,

+when you spoke, it was as if some one had suddenly pulled

+me out of a dreadful nightmare."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The pals went to bed early, as they were tired out after

+the unwonted exertions of the day, but not to sleep.

+They were too excited for that.

+

+"I say, chaps," exclaimed Sandy, jumping out of bed

+after he had tossed about for a few minutes, dragging his

+stretcher alongside the bigger bed, "let's settle what we're

+goin' to do."

+

+"Was just thinking of doin' a sleep, Master M'Intyre,

+when you commenced to drag the jolly stretcher with

+enough noise to wake the seven sleepers.  An' as for ole

+Tom, I fancied I heard a snore comin' through a hole

+in his pumpkin——"

+

+"Pumpkin yourself, Blain.  I'm as wide awake as you,

+or that grinnin' ape Sandy."

+

+"How d'yer know I'm grinnin'?"

+

+"'Cause I can see your jolly teeth shinin' in the dark.

+But I say, ole chap, I'm on for a confab.  Ouch! my legs

+*are* stiff.  Wish I'd taken that hot bath your mother

+advised.  Whatcher got in your ole noddle?"

+

+"Something big, mates, but the difficulty will be with

+mother.  You see, now ole Ben's prowlin' about, mother'll

+be hard to persuade."

+

+"Well, tell us what's up your sleeve; we can discuss

+ways an' means after."

+

+"It's this: go on a campin' trip to the Bay, where

+there's grand fishin'; then go out to the gold-diggin's, an'

+put in a couple o' days with the fossikers."

+

+"Jemima! that'd be no end of a prime lark!  It'd top

+off our stay here, wouldn't it, Tom?"

+

+"Susan Jane! it would that, Joe.  My word, it'd be

+a scrumptious finish! but what charnce would we have of

+carrying it out?"

+

+"I don't think that either your Jemima or Susan Jane'll

+have much to do with it.  Mother'll be the chief obstacle."

+

+"What about a tent, Sandy?  We'd have to get one,

+wouldn't we?"

+

+"There'll be no trouble about that part of the business.

+There's a big drover's tent in the harness-room; 'sides,

+Harry has a small one he'd lend if necessary.  Lemme

+see: what *would* we want?  First an' foremost, a tent

+or tents, an' a packhorse to carry 'em an' the other things.

+Then plenty o' prog, o' course: fishing lines—there's

+tip-top schnapper-fishin' down the Bay, to say nothin' of

+jew, bream, an' whitin'.  Then, the guns—we ought

+to get some good shootin'; both fur an' feather."

+

+"A fryin'-pan and a camp-oven 'ud come in handy,

+pannikins too, and some tin plates."

+

+"Yes, yes, we'll need those; at any rate, the fryin'-pan

+for the fish.  Don't think there'll be any need to

+bother about a camp-oven: it's a plaguey thing to carry;

+we wouldn't use it 'cept for bread, an' we can make

+plenty of damper in the ashes.  But I'll tell you what

+we must have, an' that's a couple o' small barrels an' a

+good few pounds o' salt."

+

+"Why, what for?"

+

+"Fish.  We'll be down at the Bay pretty near a week,

+I reckon; an' as we'll catch whips o' fish, it'd be a fine

+chance to dry some, an' salt some as well.  Mother's

+got two good barrels that hold about half-a-hundred-weight

+each; they're salmon casks.  The salmon's all

+used, an' I reckon schnapper is as good as salmon any

+day.  That reminds me we'll want three or four sheath-knives;

+they'll come in handy for scalin' an' splittin'

+the fish."

+

+"I say, Sandy, when'll we start?"

+

+"Start!  Ah—well—we'll talk about that when we

+get leave—which, let me tell you, is pretty doubtful.

+'Twouldn't take long to get ready once we have

+permission: a day at most.  I declare I'm gettin' sleepy.

+Good-night, chaps."

+

+The boys opened at short range during the breakfast

+hour the next morning.  In other words, they pled most

+vigorously for permission to camp out for a week or so,

+according to the programme concocted the night previously.

+The chief objection lay in the reappearance of Ben Bolt

+in the district.  It was all in vain that the boys insisted

+that even were the redoubtable 'ranger to visit their

+camp, which was most unlikely—he would not harm

+them: would, in fact, have no interest in bailing up a

+parcel of boys.  Mr. M'Intyre showed palpable signs of

+yielding, and had it been left to him would have granted

+a reluctant permission.  The insurmountable barrier, as

+indeed the boys knew beforehand, lay in Mrs. Mac's

+excessive fear.  She held the fort, so to speak, against

+all comers.

+

+"I'm more sorry than I can tell you, boys, to say

+no, but nothing you could say would alter my mind.

+Neither Joe's mother nor Tom's would dream of letting

+them go camping out while those dreadful men are about."

+

+The pals felt the reasonableness of the refusal, and

+showed not a flicker of resentment, though of course their

+disappointment was keen.

+

+"I say, chaps, let's put in the mornin' fishin',"

+suggested Joe.

+

+The vote was unanimous, and in a few minutes, armed

+with rods and lines and a tomahawk—the latter for

+use in cutting grubs out of the honeysuckle trees—the

+boys were *en route* to some of the deep pools in the

+creek.  They had a really good time with some giant

+perch.  The dangling grubs formed an irresistible lure

+to these voracious denizens of the water-holes, and the

+fishermen had no reason to grumble at the result.  On

+their return home to lunch they were dumbfounded with

+the news shouted out by Denny as soon as they were

+within speaking distance, "Owld Ben's dead!—shot by

+the p'lice in th' ranges."

+

+The whole household was greatly excited by the news,

+which had been brought by a stockman from Captain

+White's station.  There seemed no reason to doubt the

+intelligence, which had come via the "bush

+telegraph."  Hennessey's lot had picked up the 'rangers' tracks and

+partly surprised them in the mountains.  The outlaws

+promptly but barely succeeded in getting away.  They

+gradually drew away, however, from all save the Sergeant,

+who was on a new mount—one of the Tocal noted

+breed—which proved to be a "ringer."

+

+The leader and his companion, who was a light weight,

+tried every dodge to shake off the pursuit, and in this

+they were past masters; but they had to reckon with

+Hennessey, who was one of the finest troopers in the

+force—as dare-devil a rider as Ben Bolt himself.

+

+After some marvellous riding among the ravines and

+tangled mountain scrub—during which a few long-range

+shots had been exchanged—Hennessey began to draw

+upon the outlaws.  Even that equine magician, Samson,

+was reaching his limits.  The capture of this illusive

+freebooter seemed now a certainty, could the Sergeant

+hold out another ten minutes.

+

+He was now within a hundred yards of his man.  He

+lagged a little behind his youthful mate, who was riding

+the chestnut gelding looted from Wilson's station.  Had

+he wished he could have shot the 'ranger down; but

+being extremely anxious to capture him alive for the

+bigger reward, he refrained.  The only advantage Ben

+Bolt possessed was an intimate knowledge of the ground,

+by which he often gained a bit.  They were now racing

+up a steep ravine which presently terminated abruptly

+at a precipice.  Down this the outlaws apparently flung

+themselves; or so it appeared to Hennessey.

+

+Arriving at the spot a few seconds later, the trooper

+perceived a winding, narrow pass.  He was a stranger

+to the precipitous track, but both the bushrangers and

+their horses were familiar with it, for they slithered and

+scrambled down at breakneck speed: a single stumble,

+and man and horse would inevitably be dashed to pieces.

+In vain did the gallant Sergeant spur his steed towards

+the pass.  His horse resolutely refused to face it.  His

+chances of capture are fast diminishing to a vanishing

+point, as in a few minutes his prize will have escaped.

+

+The outlaws have now reached the comparatively even

+ground below, distant about five hundred yards from

+where the trooper stood gnashing his teeth in rage, and

+praying that they might break their necks before they

+reach the bottom.  Fortune favoured them, however, and

+they might have made good their escape without further

+trouble.  But, instead of galloping off to safe cover, they

+reined up their steeds, while Ben Bolt, standing in his

+stirrups, shouted at the top of his voice an insulting

+message for the Sub-Inspector, making at the same time

+an ironical bow.

+

+While this little piece of comedy was being enacted,

+and just as the bushranger was in the act of bowing,

+the Sergeant had dismounted.  Swiftly throwing his rifle

+to his shoulder and adjusting his sights in an eye wink,

+he made a hasty but true shot.  The outlaw had not

+finished his bow ere he toppled from his steed and lay

+prone, shot through the heart.

+

+Such was the news brought by the stockman, and

+accepted by the station folk.

+

+"Weel, it was bound to come sooner or later.  It's what

+happens to a' law-breakers—simply the choice of bullet

+or rope.  It's no' for us to ca' the unfortunate and

+misguided mon names.  If a's true, he suffered a grave

+injuistice at the hands o' the police when but a youth,

+which embittered his whole life an' gave a moral twist

+to his actions.  We maun leave him to Ane above wha

+mak's nae mis-judgments."

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`THE CAMP BY THE SEA`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXVIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   THE CAMP BY THE SEA

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "Bright skies of summer o'er the deep,

+   |    And soft salt air along the land,

+   |  The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,

+   |    Sinks gently on the yellow sand;

+   |  And grey-winged seagulls slowly sweep

+   |    O'er scattered bush and white-limbed tree,

+   |  Where the red cliffs like bastions stand

+   |    To front the salvos of the sea,

+   |  Now lulled by its own melody."

+   |                              GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"And now, boys, what about the camping-out project?

+I see no reason why you shouldn't carry out your little

+plan, now all danger's removed; indeed, I should love you

+to have the jaunt.  Who were going?"

+

+The boys could hardly believe the good news, it was

+so sudden.

+

+"Us three, and Denny, if father could spare him,

+mother," was Sandy's remark.

+

+"Oh, ye can tak' the laddie.  He's due for a holiday,

+onyway.  So's Harry, for that matter.  I can do wi'oot

+'em for a spell."

+

+Harry was nothing loth, and entered into the scheme

+with considerable enthusiasm.  As an old bushman he

+was able to give good advice in the matter of camping-out

+requirements, and was later to render signal service by

+which a life was saved.

+

+Behold the party, early the next morning, accoutred

+and ready for the road; making, as they held their steeds,

+quite an imposing cavalcade.  Two stout roadsters were

+requisitioned for packing purposes; for the maternal

+solicitude of Mrs. Mac was both prolific and varied,

+judged by the articles of food and service which she

+forced upon the travellers.

+

+The squatter's pawky humour found ample scope for

+indulgence.  He expressed a hope that "the pairty would

+keep a guid look oot for traces o' the lost Leichhardt

+expeedetion; and look oot for alleegaitors when ye strike

+the Gulf o' Carpeentairia."

+

+The girls, too, indulged in good-humoured banter,

+raising hearty laughs against the boys, in which the

+victims joined as lustily as any.

+

+Said Maggie, striking a grandmotherly attitude,

+"There are three things I would warn you against, boys;

+damp socks, draughts, and earwigs.  Don't leave out the

+flour when mixing the damper.  Have you packed the

+tape measure, Sandy?"

+

+"Tape measure!  What in the name of Madge Wildfire

+do you mean?"

+

+"Why," cried Jessie, breaking in, "to measure the

+giant jew fish that will snap Joe's line as he is in the

+very act of landing it."

+

+"Whatcher givin' us, Jess?"

+

+"It will also come in handy," continued the saucy girl,

+turning on Tom, "to record the girth, length, and throat

+capacity of the monster snake that you, Tom, are sure to

+see when roaming alone in the scrub."

+

+"That's one for your nob, Tom!"

+

+"Your turn next, Sandy," retorted that youth.

+

+"Then there's the 'old-man' kangaroo that me brither

+Sandy will shoot at, missing by 'just an hair's-breadth,'

+of course, and which he will declare—when he returns to

+camp—to be as 'high as one of those extinct mammals

+that Simpson has in his natural history book'; at any

+rate as 'big as Bullocky Bill's off side poler.'"

+

+"But, Miss Jessie, how wud th' bhoys put th' measure

+on th'——?"

+

+"As for Dennis Kineavy," continued the sprite, "he

+will be sure to run into a group of mermaa-des, when

+diving in the deep blue sa-ay, who will be discussing

+the all-important question of waist measurement.  As

+Denny's an expert in fairies and hobgoblins, he will be

+appointed judge and referee."

+

+So, amid laughter and banter, and final good-byes, the

+gay party start for the Bay.

+

+Neville was prevented from joining them through

+important business interests in Sydney.  The "call" of

+the bush, however, was strong and insistent, and, as he

+bade farewell, he announced his determination of

+returning at no long date to settle as a landholder.

+

+The road to the Bay passed within a short distance

+of the caves, and, despite the news of the tragic end of

+Ben Bolt, the lads, as they jogged past the neighbourhood,

+were unable to rid themselves of a feeling that the outlaw

+still lurked about his old haunt, and felt relieved when

+they had left this region behind them.

+

+The journey to the Bay proved uneventful save in one

+particular.  In mounting a very steep incline, the cinch

+strap, that formed the final fastening of the pack on

+one of the animals, broke, whereupon the pack-saddle,

+being loosely girthed, worked backwards.  Some of the

+contents, also, fell to the ground, frightening the horse,

+who bolted along the road, parting with sundry utensils

+and eatables, which lined the track for some distance

+at irregular intervals.  The frightened steed was at length

+secured, the wreckage gathered and replaced—this time

+more securely—and the journey resumed.

+

+The Bay is reached without further mishap or adventure.

+After coasting it for some little space the party

+cast anchor, in seamen's parlance, on a miniature

+promontory which jutted for a furlong or so into the waters

+of the Bay, forming a grassy, treeless plateau throughout

+its area.  The advantage of this site was apparent to

+the group of campers, inasmuch as the foreshores of

+the Bay were covered for the most part with a stunted

+scrub that extended to the beach.  The advantage was

+twofold: it obviated the necessity of clearing a space

+for the tents, and it was comparatively free from bush

+vermin.

+

+To the southern part of the Bay, distant some six miles,

+was the Pilot Station; while towards the northern

+extremity, where a large creek debouched into the sea,

+was a camp of cedar-getters.  Otherwise, in its shore

+vicinity, the Bay was uninhabited.

+

+Two hours of daylight yet remained, and the members

+of the party made instant preparation for pitching camp.

+The necessary tent poles and pegs were speedily secured

+from the neighbouring scrub, and, under the direction

+of the experienced stockman, willing hands are busily

+engaged in the erection.

+

+The bigger tent was set upon a ridge pole that rested

+in the forks of two upright saplings which had been

+firmly fixed in the ground.  When the requisite number

+of pegs had been hammered into the ground, the tent

+was hauled taut by cords passed through eyelet holes

+at intervals along each side, and about thirty inches from

+the bottom.  This under section of the tent assumed

+a perpendicular position, forming the walls, which were

+secured by the same method.  This formed the pals'

+cover, while the smaller tent sufficed for the other two.

+A rough shed formed of four uprights, with a brushwood

+roof, held the provisions and saddles.

+

+So expeditiously were all these arrangements made

+that ere the darkness fell they were completed, and

+Denny—who was promoted to the responsible position of

+cook—was building a fire for tea-making purposes.

+Meanwhile the horses were led to a small, freshwater

+lagoon in the vicinity, where they were belled and

+short-hobbled, and left to browse on the succulent

+grass.  The last act of preparation was that of cutting

+a quantity of gum bushes for bedding.  No sweeter or

+healthier bed can be contrived than a layer of fragrant

+eucalyptus leaves.  The beds had scarcely been made

+ere the welcome summons to supper came, in the Irish

+boy's best brogue: "Jintilmen, will yees come to ta-ay?"

+

+There is a charm peculiar to an evening meal taken

+in the open.  The charm is heightened in the present

+instance by the contiguity of the sea.  The youths dine

+to the musical accompaniment of the rolling waves, which

+strike the beach in deep, muffled thunder-tone, rising

+crescendo fashion as they race to a finish along the

+shelly incline.  Then, landward, are the insistent noises

+of the things of the forest.  Ever and anon the soft

+tinkle-tinkle of "The horse-bell's melody remote" is

+to be heard as the cropping animals move over the

+lush grass.  The illimitable dome above is alive with

+sparkling lights.  Thus an environment is created which

+gives a sacramental aspect to the feast.  At least it

+forms a romantic picture which centres in the fire-lit

+faces of the happy, care-free youths.

+

+Supper ended, they eagerly discuss their projects, the

+while they clean their guns and fix the fishing tackle.

+

+On the morn, at earliest dawn, they will try likely spots

+for fish, and have a swim in the briny.  And now the

+slow movements of the tongue, with frequent yawns,

+proclaim the nightly toll which nature is wont to exact.

+

+Ere the pale dawn is flushed the pals, sleep banished,

+half-dressed, tongues wagging, trudge along the beach to

+the rocky point of the promontory, stopping here and

+there at likely places to dig in the sand for whelks,

+which make capital bait.  The water is fairly deep where

+the nose of the promontory marks the terminal point,

+and soon lines are unwound, hooks are baited, and

+practised hands fling the lead-weighted hempen cords far

+into the Bay.  Fair success rewards their efforts.  Sandy's

+line hardly reached the bottom ere he experienced the

+delightful thrill of a fierce tug, followed by a smart,

+strong rush which betokened a good fish.  After a few

+minutes' play he landed a fine specimen of black bream,

+scaling over two pounds.

+

+Sandy and Tom had varying luck with black and

+white bream, and flat-head.  Joe, however, was out of it.

+He did, indeed, have a gigantic bite soon after Sandy had

+captured his first fish.  The line whizzed through his

+fingers with a rush that skinned them as he began to take

+a pull.  When the line had reached its limit it snapped

+like a piece of pack-thread.  The biter was either a

+young shark or a big jew fish.  After this no fish troubled

+the boy.  His mates struck their fish at frequent

+intervals, while his line remained motionless.  After a

+time he wound up and left his companions.  Retracing

+his steps some distance along the beach, he halted at a

+shelving rock that ran out into the water.  It looked a

+likely spot, and he determined to try with a lighter line

+than the one he had been using.  Baiting his hook with

+a soldier crab, he made a cast, and almost immediately

+had a bite, hauling in a black-back whiting.  It was a

+good specimen, weighing at least a pound.  He had

+good sport for about half an hour, catching in all about

+a dozen whiting and half a dozen soles.

+

+The sport began to slacken about an hour after sunrise,

+and the pals, having captured sufficient for the day's

+requirement, set to work and cleaned their catches.

+This task finished, they have a plunge in the sparkling

+and cool waters of the Bay.

+

+Meanwhile Harry attended to the horses, and did

+little jobs about the camp, whilst Denny devoted his

+attention to the preparation of the breakfast.  The lads

+returned in due course with the spoils of the sea, and

+with appetites as keen as a razor.  In a few minutes the

+pan is full of sizzling fish, which are presently transferred

+to a hot dish, and the pan is filled with a fresh lot.

+

+"Goin' to try 'nuther panful, Denny?" said Tom, when

+the second lot had been demolished.

+

+"Anuther pan!  Howly Moses! div yees hear him!

+Och, thin, me bhoy, ye'd soon rise th' price ov fish.  Not

+anuther scrap will Oi cook f'r yees.  Oi've kep' th' rest

+f'r dinner?  Sure, if we go on loike this 'twill be Fridah

+ivry da'; glory be!"

+

+The morning was devoted to a go-as-you-please

+programme, in which there was much disporting in the

+water; even the juvenile pastime of building castles in

+the sand was not considered *infra dig*.

+

+In the afternoon the whole party set out for Schnapper

+Point.  It was on this spot that the fond expectations of

+the lads were centred.  It was reputed to be the best

+fishing ground in the extensive Bay, and owed its name

+to the fact that school-schnapper frequented its vicinity.

+A schnapper trip—taken as a rule in a small steamer—is

+voted one of the finest outings by Australian sportsmen.

+This highly prized fish, be it said, is known variously,

+according to its age and changing habits.  It often

+attains large dimensions, weighing up to thirty pounds.

+

+None of the party had previously visited the Point.

+Their great concern was to find out if suitable bait

+could be procured in its neighbourhood.  The principal

+bait was a small species of whiting.  These, they

+discovered, were to be obtained without much trouble on

+shelly patches along the beach.

+

+Early next morning the campers are astir, and busily

+engaged in necessary preparations.  After a hearty

+breakfast, in which the corned round and the spiced beef

+are conspicuous features, behold the young sports jogging

+along the beach towards Schnapper Point.  A stoppage

+is made at the whiting patch, where the fishermen are

+kept going for an hour with very fine lines.  By this time

+they have secured about two hundred small fish as bait.

+

+And now, having arrived at the fishing ground, leaving

+Harry and Denny to attend to the horses, the pals, all

+eager for the promised sport, unwind their heavy

+schnapper lines, and prepare for the catch.

+

+It was agreed that the boys were to fish, while Harry,

+who voted fishing a bore, and was devoted to the gun,

+would scour the adjacent scrub for birds, and the forest

+beyond for kangaroo; Denny having promised the boys

+a "foine boilin'" of kangaroo-tail soup.  To quote the

+actual words in which he preferred his request—"If

+Harry wud shute wan iv thim fellas as hops wid their

+ta-ales, and carries their childre in their pockets,[#] Oi,

+wud ma-ake sich a soup as niver was."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] The natural pouch of the marsupial for bearing its young.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The shooter, armed with a fowling-piece and a short

+rifle, after attending to the horses, disappeared in the

+scrub in search of game.  Meanwhile the fishers, having

+cast their lines, assume an expectant attitude.

+

+To their great disappointment there are no bites; not

+even the stimulating nibble.  The patience of these

+amateurs is sorely tried.  A whole hour passes without

+the slightest sensation of a bite.  Lines are cast and

+recast.  The fishermen move to and fro, to no useful purpose.

+

+"Well, of all the rotten frauds of places for fishin', this

+takes the bun!  Dash it! we'd better have stayed at the

+camp an' fished there.  At least we'd——"

+

+"Howld yer whisht, bhoys!" said Denny in an excited

+whisper.  "Oi'm jist goin' to git a boite; th' line's

+thrimblin' sure.  Faith 'tis a Dutchman smellin' the ray-shons,

+Oi'm thinkin'."

+

+"It's not a schnapper, if that's what you mean by

+a Dutchman.  No nibblin' about a schnapper, Denny.

+More likely a crab."

+

+"By Saint Michael!  Joe, div yes call that a crab?

+Be dad, thin, it's a big sa-ay whale, or maybe one iv

+thim mare-mades Miss Jassie warned me aginst.  Be th'

+hokey, th' loine's cuttin' me fingers!"

+

+The line, which for a minute or two had given faint

+twitches, and a few premonitory shakes, now suddenly

+whizzed through the Irish boy's fingers.

+

+"Take a pull on her, an' steady her!" cried Sandy.

+"You'll lose fish an' line, too, if you're not mighty smart."

+

+Denny thereupon made a "brake" of his fingers, which

+steadied the fish after it had run out about fifty yards or so

+of the line.  He began to haul it as if it were attached to

+a sulky calf.  The fish was a heavy one, and a fighter;

+but what Denny lacked in skill he made up in strength.

+Fortunately for the angler the line was stout and new, or

+it would surely have snapped in the struggle.  By sheer

+strength the fish is drawn to land.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXIX

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold white-space-pre-line

+

+   AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER:

+   A NARROW SHAVE

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The pals watched the seaman-like efforts of Denny to

+land his "sa-ay whale," or "mare-made," with great

+curiosity.

+

+"It's no schnapper, unless, maybe, a real boss 'un.  More

+like a young shark," was the remark passed by Joe.

+

+Their curiosity is soon satisfied; the fish is now in the

+shallows, and the next moment is drawn to the water's

+brink.  Denny has landed a monster sting-ray.

+

+It was the first of the kind the Irish boy had ever seen,

+and, as he pulled the struggling ray into the shallows and

+exposed its body, he was struck mute for a few seconds

+with astonishment, and not a little alarm, at its uncanny

+appearance.  Dropping his line in the excitement, he half

+turned to the boys, and, pointing to the floundering fish,

+exclaimed, "Begorrah! 'tis th' div-vil himsilf.  Saints

+presarve us, but if yen's not he'es ta-ale!  Or, ma'be 'tis

+th' dhragon phwat Father Daly towld us about at Mass

+larsht Sun-day."

+

+"He'll be a drag-off in a moment," cried Joe, making

+a clutch at the line, for the brute was wriggling into the

+deeper water.  The next minute the ray was smacking the

+earth with his flappers, and whipping it with his tail.

+

+"Phwat be th' crathure, anny ways, Sahndy?"

+

+"It's a stingaree, Denny.  Mind you don't touch its tail,

+or you will find out to your cost that it's the dragon, black

+angel, an' 'th' owld bhoy,' all mixed up like an Irish

+stew.  Run for the tommy, an' we'll whip it off."

+

+"And does it bite wid its ta-ale loike a schn-ake, bhoys?"

+

+"No, you precious duffer! it's got a spike near the tip

+that it rams into you like a needle, an' then look out!

+Yellow Billy trod on one once when he was havin' a bogey

+down below Tareela, in the river—they make a hole in the

+mud an' lie there—an', by jings! he was ravin' mad in

+twenty minutes.  The doctor had to shove a syringe into

+his arm, and squirt laudnaum, or somethin', to quiet him

+down.  There!" flourishing the tomahawk, "that's off,

+clean as a whistle!"

+

+"My word!" continued Sandy, a moment later, "we'll

+keep the tail for Harry.  He promised Bill Evans, the

+jockey, to get one for him if he could.  He's goin' to ride

+White's horse at the Armidale races, an' he's the laziest

+o' mokes he reckons.  Bill says it'll be only by sheer

+floggin' that he'll fetch him along.  Says if he only had

+a stingaree-tail whip[#] he could do the trick."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] The sting-ray tail is sometimes used for this purpose.

+It is a cruel

+instrument of flagellation in the hands of an unfeeling rider.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"This is not schnapper fishin'," interjected Joe.  "My

+word! the stingaree'll make stunnin' bait.  Put a bit on

+your hook, Denny, it may entice 'em."

+

+Sandy cut off a slice from the flapper and baited Denny's

+hook with it.  The line had hardly reached the bottom

+ere it was seized by a fish—a monster.  The fish did not

+rush, he bored; the resistance was of a sullen nature.  Joe

+came to Denny's help, and between them they drew the

+fish to land.  It proved to be a huge rock cod, or groper,

+as it is more commonly called, scaling close upon a

+hundredweight.

+

+"A jolly groper, by dad!  We're in luck all right,"

+exclaimed Tom.  "We'll have groper steak for supper

+to-night; besides, we can pickle one half of this cove and

+dry the other."

+

+Their luck had changed in more respects than one.  The

+ray and the groper seemed to be avants courier for the

+school-schnapper, which now began to bite freely.

+

+For the next two hours the boys were kept well

+employed, landing near upon forty fish, varying from three

+to twelve pounds in weight.  The tide now began to ebb,

+and after that there were no more bites.  It was just as

+well, for by this time they had caught as many fish as they

+could cure.  Counting the groper, they had nigh upon

+three hundredweight.  The weight of these when scaled

+and cleaned would be reduced by at least one-fourth,

+leaving about two hundred and fifty pounds of choice fish.

+

+"What's bes' thing to do now, Joe?"

+

+"W-e-l-l—er—I dunno.  Oh, I say, how'd a jolly swim

+go down?"

+

+"Spiffin'!  A swim, a feed, an' then start cleanin' the

+fish an' gettin' 'em ready for smokin' an' saltin'.  'Bout

+noon I reckon it is."

+

+"Come on, Denny," cried Joe, as they walked down to

+a sloping beach a little back from the Point; "come an'

+have a dip in the briny."

+

+"Bedad, thin, that same will Oi not.  'Twu'd be threadin'

+on wan iv these stinkin'-rays Oi'd be.  Oi can seem to feel

+th' brute's dirty pisen fangs already in me leg.  No, no,

+thanks be, Oi'm not takin' th' wather tra-atement at

+prisint.  Oi'll go an' start the foire so as to be ready f'r

+yees; that is, if th' sharks div not ma-ake mince-ma-ate

+of yees."

+

+Was it a premonition which caused a cold, tingling

+thrill to run along Joe's nervous system, from tip to toe;

+to be followed by the creeps, which made goose-flesh of

+his smooth skin?  Disagreeable as the sensation is to the

+lad for the time, it lasts but for a moment, and in less

+than no time, so to speak, he is revelling in the glories

+of the crisp, emerald-tinted wavelets of the Bay.

+

+It should be stated that Schnapper Point did not extend

+into the Bay at right angles to the beach.  It inclined

+northward, and at the spot where the boys were bathing

+was not more than two hundred yards from the beach.

+

+"Say, chaps," shouted Joe, who was some distance out,

+"I'm going to swim over to the main beach."

+

+So saying, he swam slowly towards the other side,

+enjoying to its fullest extent the luxury of the exercise.

+He had covered about a third of the distance when he

+heard a great commotion behind him.

+

+Denny, who had been attending to the fire, had his

+attention attracted by a moving object in the sea.  Gazing

+intently thereon for a moment, he left his occupation and

+ran swiftly towards the boys.

+

+"Look, bhoys! look at that gra-ate fish sa-alin' in

+forninst the Point.  Troth, it's a monsther groper, Oi'm

+thinkin'!  Glory! but he'es a gra-ate big bullock-groper!"

+

+So saying, Denny came towards the boys with a puzzled

+air, as though his description of the object to which he

+was pointing did not exactly determine its species.

+

+"Whereaway, Denny?" exclaimed Sandy, who was

+paddling in the surf, standing up and gazing in the

+direction indicated.  "A bullock-groper.  That's a new

+creature surely.  Never heard——Hello! why, it's a——

+Hi, hi!  Joe!  Joe!" shouted the lad in a wildly excited

+state.  "Joe, there's a big shark roundin' the Point an'

+coming this way.  Come back, quick! quick!"

+

+Joe, who was almost on a level with the water, was

+unable to locate the enemy as quickly as the others.  It

+was not until he began to tread water that his eye caught

+the moving object.  In a flash he realised his danger, for

+it was a large tiger-shark, the man-eater of the sea.  Not

+even the man-eater of the jungle, roused through the

+blood-lust to a killing frenzy, could be more merciless to

+his victim than this cold-blooded, pitiless, silent tiger of

+the seas.

+

+Terrible as was the shock, his courage survived.  He

+conned the situation, and formed his judgment in a moment.

+The shark was eighty yards or so above him, swimming

+parallel with Schnapper Point beach, and within thirty

+yards or so of it.  As far as he could judge the fish was

+ignorant of his presence, but were he to return to his

+companions he could not expect to escape its vigilant eyes;

+would be crossing its bow, so to speak; and, were it in an

+attacking mood, would not have the ghost of a show.

+

+His only hope of escape lay in keeping along his course,

+getting to the farther shore in the smallest number of

+minutes possible.  All this cogitation did not cover twenty

+seconds, and the boy resumed his swim with the utmost

+vigour.

+

+Had not something happened to divert the shark from

+its course nothing alarming would have occurred, for Joe

+was rapidly widening the distance, and every stroke was

+improving his chances.  The boys on shore, with the hope

+of frightening the monster away altogether, began to make

+a great clatter; pelting the shark at the same time.  No

+more fatal policy could have been adopted.  The only result

+of their tactics was to divert the shark from its course,

+and to drive it out in the direction of their comrade.

+

+Almost as soon as the brute's course was changed it

+sighted the swimmer.  This it indicated by giving two

+or three strong strokes with its powerful tail, and gliding

+at a rapid rate in the wake of the lad.  Joe was made

+acquainted with this change of course by the frantic

+cries of his mates.  Throwing his head over his shoulder

+for a moment, he saw the shark heading directly for him.

+He knew in that moment that unless the miraculous

+happened his hours were numbered, and in a few

+seconds—or minutes at most—his body would be mangled by

+this pitiless sea-tiger.  Yet, although this terrible result

+appeared an absolute certainty to the fleeing youth, he

+did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and steady

+stroke.  There is such a thing as hoping against hope.

+He would not surrender life; it must be torn from him.

+Joe's home upbringing, with his father's daily chapter

+and prayer, sent his thoughts heavenwards in this his

+moment of extreme peril: "What time I am afraid I

+will put my trust in Thee."

+

+Here was the situation.  Joe was about sixty yards

+from the beach, while the relentless pursuer was within

+thirty yards of him.  His mates were powerless to aid

+him, and were racing round to the spot where he intended

+to land as swiftly as their legs could carry them.

+

+The shark glided within a few yards of the lad, and

+then swam round him, while conning him.  This the

+boy felt to be simply the preliminary, yet every stroke

+was taking him nearer the shore.  The water should

+be even now shoaling.  Might he dare to sound it?  But,

+alas! the enemy seems to understand this, and gives

+a cunning look as it half-raises its body from the water,

+and scrutinises its helpless victim preparatory to making

+its final swoop.

+

+"God help me!" cries the youth, with a dry sob; his

+last moment has come.  In that supreme moment—as

+in the case of drowning men—the whole past came

+before him.  Home, parents, sisters, brothers, pals!

+There, almost within arm's-length, is his merciless foe;

+while there is still quite a stretch of water between him

+and the beach.

+

+The great, cold-blooded, insatiable fish is poised for

+the final spring.  A single second now, and——

+

+.. _`271`:

+

+Instead of falling upon its victim, the huge brute

+lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round

+in a circle.  What had really happened Joe knew not.

+He no longer swam shorewards, but, half stupefied,

+watched the "flurries" of the frenzied fish as it lashed

+the water in rage or pain.

+

+Then he heard a great splashing shorewards, and

+a voice shouting encouraging words.  Turning in that

+direction, the boy beheld, with unutterable joy, Harry,

+rifle in hand, rushing through the water to him.  In

+a few seconds the stockman is abreast Joe, the water

+being only up to his arm-pits.  Pointing the rifle at the

+fish, which was circling in blind fashion, but a few

+yards off, the rifleman—for it was he, under God, who

+worked the miracle—drove a bullet through the shark's

+brain.

+

+"My word! 'twas a touch-and-go, old feller!"

+exclaimed the man, as he put an arm round the boy—who

+had, in a sense, collapsed—and drew him to the

+shore.  "There now, Joey, me brave boy.  Y're all right,

+ain't ye?  Y're not the chap ter faint, I know.  Here's

+the others," as the rest dashed up, breathless; the Irish

+boy fairly crying with excitement.

+

+They could do nothing for a while but look at Joe

+as he sat leaning against a mangrove—where Harry had

+placed him—making a brave but weak effort to smile.

+The reaction had set in, and the boy felt it was only

+by the most resolute exercise of his will that he kept

+from swooning.

+

+Tom, who was blowing like the proverbial grampus,

+stuttered at last: "Let's m-make tr-racks h-home, b-boys.

+I-I'd rather be b-b-bailed up by a thousand 'r-rangers,

+than w-w-w-one of th-hose sea-devils.  Oh! the sight

+of the m-monster as he r-rose to make a d-dive at p-poor

+Joe!  Y-yes, let's c-clear."

+

+"Clear, be hanged!  What are you drivelling about,

+you jolly idiot?"  It was just the tonic Joe needed.

+"We're not goin' to let a thing like this spoil our sport,

+not by a long shot.  I'm all right.  Was a bit knocked

+out for a few minutes, I will confess.  Tell you what,

+boys; I'll never be nearer death till my last moment

+comes.  That I am alive is due, first to God, an' then

+to ole Harry, here.  'Twas a great shot, that first one

+of yours.  'Nother second later an' 'twould have been

+too late.  Ugh! don't believe I'll ever get the green

+glitter of the thing's eyes outer my mind.  Tell you

+what, I'll jolly well punch the first cove that hints at

+goin' home.  I vote we go back an' scale an' gut the

+jolly fish."

+

+"Bedad, thin, it's a plucky wan y'are, Joe, me bhoy!

+Y're th' mahn f'r me money ivry toime.  But, ye'll not

+do a sthroke iv wark till yees have a feed.  Faith, Oi'll

+do a sthreak an' get th' billy boilin' f'r a pipin' hot

+cup o' tay.  It's what we all want; Joe in particular."  Suiting

+his action to the word, the cook strode off in

+quick time to prepare the lunch.

+

+Meanwhile the dead shark had drifted into the

+shallows until it stranded on the beach.  The party

+now made a closer examination of the brute.  The first

+shot, fired from the bank as the creature raised itself,

+had caught it in the throat; the second passed through

+the eye to the brain.

+

+"Why, it's a tiger-shark!" exclaimed Harry; "twelve

+foot if he's an inch.  Thought 'twas a blue-nose at fust;

+they're bad enough, but this joker's the worst kind that

+swims the sea.  My word, Joe, it'd been all U P if

+this chap'd once got 'is teeth intil yer."

+

+"Budgeree, budgeree, you bin shootem shark?  Him

+murry bad p-feller.  Catchem plendy black p-feller;

+eaten.  This p-feller live longa Point plendy years."

+

+.. _`The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a circle`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-272.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a circle."

+

+   "The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a circle."—*See p.* `271`_.

+

+The group, which had been intently gazing at the

+carcass, turned round in a startled manner on bearing

+these guttural sounds.  Immediately behind them was

+a cluster of aboriginals, five in number, who had stolen

+silently upon the scene.

+

+"Hello, Cock-eye! that you?" cried Harry, as he

+surveyed the blacks.  "Where you bin sittin' down, eh?"

+

+"Cedar Crik.  We bin come longa here get fis' for

+choppers."

+

+"Oh, the timber-getters, hey!  Well, you seem ter

+know this ole boss.  You bin see 'im afore?"

+

+"Plendy times.  Bin often try catch 'im.  He kill-ee

+mine sister.  He too much lika dingo; no take bait."

+

+"Well, you can git even with this joker, Cock-eye.

+He eat your people; now you chaps gobble 'im up."

+

+The blacks are inordinately fond of shark's flesh,

+and—cannibal as this sea-tiger is—no question of sentiment

+may stand between these primitive men and a gorge.

+

+"I say, Harry, cut that dorsal fin off for me, there's

+a good man, before these niggers tackle it.  I'd like to

+keep that."

+

+After a considerable amount of hacking, the stockman

+managed to separate the fin, and, leaving the blacks in

+undisturbed possession of the carcass, they returned to

+the Point, to feed, and to finish their work.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXX

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "O mellow air!  O sunny light!

+   |  O Hope and Youth that pass away!

+   |  Inscribe in letters of delight

+   |  Upon each heart one golden day—

+   |        To be there set

+   |        When we forget

+   |    There is a joy in living yet!"

+   |                            G. E. EVANS.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The fish cleaning occupied the best part of the afternoon;

+and when the party reached camp, about sunset, they

+were dog-tired; inclined for little else than supper and

+sleep.

+

+"But you haven't told us how it came to pass that you

+were just on the spot to prevent the shark scoffing Joe,"

+exclaimed Tom to Harry.  "We didn't expect you back

+for hours."

+

+"Niver had such a thing 'appen afore, I give yer my

+word.  Lost me way in the dashed scrub; carn't understand

+it nohow.  As a rule yer carn't lose me in a scrub;

+can feel me way be day or night.  Instinct, they calls it.

+Ole Dumaresque says ter me one day, when we'd bin

+ridin' fer hours through heavy pine country after some

+strayed heifers, gettin' caught in the dark long afore we

+makes the homestead: 'How do you manage to tack an'

+criss-cross this beastly country without track or compass;

+not even a star to guide you?  It fair beats me, my man.

+Why, I'd 'a' bin lost a dozen times over but fer you.  You

+always seem ter be goin' wrong, yet always come out

+right.'

+

+"'Carn't explain it, sir,' ses I.  'I jist do it.

+

+"'It's all instinct,' ses 'e.  'It's like wot the dingoes an'

+blacks 'ave.'

+

+"Instinct or no instinct, I got bushed all right ter day.

+There's something erbout it I carn't understand.  'Twasn't

+that I was careless, an' takin' no notice.  I 'ad worked

+through the scrub a distance of four mile or so when, all

+of a suddent, I ses ter meself, ses I, 'Where the dickens

+am I?'  Well, as soon as I put the question to meself I

+knows I was bushed, an' fer the fust time in me life I

+begins ter feel quite creepy like.  I didn't know which

+way ter go.  At larst I starts out in a direction that

+seemed the likeliest, but, somehow, I cud make no

+headway.  Something seemed ter clog me feet, an' I was allers

+gettin' mixed up with vines an' brushwood.

+

+"'Dash it all,' ses I, 'this won't do.  Don't believe I'm

+goin' the right way, after all.  Believe this ere way's

+leadin' me back to the Bay, an' I wants ter git through

+this blarmy scrub ter the forest, fer 'oppers' tails.  I'll

+righterbout face, danged if I won't!'  So round I turns,

+an' as soon as I started I got on fust clarss.  Didn't git

+mixed up an' stumble as afore, but gits through the

+brushwood as slick as a bandicoot.  'Mus' be nearly

+through the belt,' ses I, after goin' fer an' hour or so.

+'Mus' git the rifle ready, fer I might sight a kangy any

+moment now.'  So I unslings the rifle from me back an'

+puts the gun in its place, an' stops a minit ter load 'er—the

+rifle I mean.  I'd jist finished when I heers voices

+shoutin', an' then a great yellin', as if somethin' orful was

+'appenin'.  So orf I rushes through the scrub, an' comes

+out on the beach.  I was knocked inter a heap, I gives

+yer me word; fer there before me was the sea, an' I

+thought I was on t'other side of the scrub altogether.

+Then, in a flash, I sees wot was really 'appenin'.  Jist

+afore me very eyes was Joe.  He was strugglin' in the

+water not more'n a hundred yards away, an' that 'er

+brute seemed as if it was jist a-fallin' on 'im.  Why, I

+fired the rifle a'most without pintin' it.  Somethin'

+seemed ter say, 'If yer waits ter aim yell be too late.'  Be

+gosh!  I'm thinkin' 'twas the Almighty Hisself directed

+that shot."

+

+"If ye'd not losht your enstink, as ye calls it, ye'd be

+moiles an' moiles awa-ay at th' toime th' shark was goin'

+to gobble Joe up, wuddent ye?"

+

+"In course I wud."

+

+"Well, don't ye think th' good God had a hand in

+losin' ye in th' scrub?"

+

+"It's wot yer father'd call an answer ter prayer," replied

+the stockman, turning to Joe as he spoke.

+

+By this time the camp-fire—around which the group

+had been sitting—was burning low, and the party was

+quite ready for bed after the exciting and tirng

+adventures of the day.

+

+The campers were astir at an early hour next morning,

+to make the final preparations for curing the fish.  After

+filling both barrels, there was a quantity available for

+smoking.  To carry out this object a sapling frame, about

+four feet square and seven feet high, was constructed, and

+enclosed with bushes, leaving an opening at the top and

+bottom.  The fish were hung by stout cords, and a fire

+kindled on the earth inside the curing shed.  Some green

+wood was used with the dry, to produce a fair, volume of

+smoke; and so the curing went on apace.

+

+Leaving Denny in charge of the camp, the others spent

+the afternoon shooting over a chain of lagoons that lay

+back from the beach a couple of miles or so.  The ducks

+were plentiful, and they returned to the camp well laden.

+They passed the two following days shooting and fishing,

+both fins and feathers being exceedingly plentiful.  By

+this time they judged the fish to be cured, and packed it

+in a maize bag.

+

+"Tell you what, boys!  S'pose we ride over to the Pilot

+Station to-day?  It'll be a change, won't it?"

+

+The others received Joe's suggestion with ready

+approval, and before long were racing along the beach

+towards the Pilot Station.  This was situated at the

+mouth of the river, and consisted of the residences of the

+pilot and the boat's crew.

+

+It should be said that at the mouth of every Australian

+river flowing into the Pacific is a sand-bar.  These sand

+barriers frequently shift their position, owing to tidal and

+other ocean influences.  This makes entrance and exit to

+be a somewhat dangerous proceeding, and many a craft

+has come to grief on these treacherous sands.  To reduce

+this danger to a minimum a pilot station exists at each

+river entrance.  The pilot is generally a sea-captain with

+a large experience of these treacherous bars.  It is his

+duty, weather permitting, to take daily soundings so as

+to locate the exact position of the bank, and by means of

+signals to apprise incoming and outgoing vessels of the

+position and depth of water on the bar; also, when

+required, to pilot the vessel over the dangerous spot.

+

+Captain Craig, the pilot, was an old salt, with nearly

+half a century's experience of the eastern rivers of

+Australia.  He received the boys very kindly, and, after

+offering them refreshment, took them to the signal station

+and look-out.  When he had explained the methods of

+signalling, he allowed them to look through a very fine

+telescope.  He was justly proud of this instrument, it

+having been presented to him by a company of passengers

+for his gallantry and seamanship in extricating his vessel

+from a rocky shore in a hurricane.

+

+The time had now arrived for taking the bar soundings.

+Much to the boys' delight Captain Craig invited them to

+accompany him in the life-boat, and a few minutes later

+the crew were pulling the party from the miniature cove

+to the bar.

+

+The water here, owing to the bar formation, was

+generally in a turbulent condition.  Although it was a

+calm day, they found the boat exceedingly lively as she

+moved to and fro over the bar while soundings were being

+taken.  They experienced sundry disagreeable qualms,

+and a certain screwed-up feeling in the region of the

+"bread-basket."  The clacking tongues of the youngsters

+grew suspiciously quiet, and Tom's ruddy cheeks paled to

+an exceedingly bilious complexion.  Had you quizzed

+these boys upon their sickly looks, they would have

+protested with might and main against the insinuation of

+mal-de-mer.  Nevertheless they were mighty glad when

+the pilot, after half an hour's sounding, having

+accomplished his purpose, turned the boat's nose in the

+direction of home.  Once out of the troubled waters, the

+sick feeling passed away, and at the solicitation of the

+lads "for a pull," the pilot good-naturedly allowed them to

+row to the landing-place.

+

+Before leaving, the pals recited the story of the shark

+adventure, ending in the death of the tiger shark.

+Captain Craig listened with great interest, and not a little

+excitement, to this narration.

+

+"You have had the narrowest of escapes, Joe Blain,

+and have very much to be thankful for," exclaimed he.

+"That shark was a most notorious character.  He has

+roamed the Bay for years and years, and has destroyed

+many human lives.  Innumerable efforts for his capture

+have been put forth by the fishermen, and by my own

+men, but in vain.  Often sighted and fished for, he has

+resisted the many lures set for him.  Again and again,

+when enclosed in their nets, he has broken through, and

+has long been their despair.  Now, however, thanks to a

+good Providence, and to the clever shot of your friend

+here, this dreadful man-eater has been removed."  Advancing

+to the stockman, the pilot shook him warmly

+by the hand, and thanked him in the name of the community.

+

+As the party rode home in the cool of the evening, they

+decided to break camp next morning, in order to carry

+out their original intention of paying a visit to the old

+diggings.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXXI

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "The mountain air is cool and fresh,

+   |    Unclouded skies bend o'er us,

+   |  Broad placers, rich in hidden gold,

+   |    Lie temptingly before us."

+   |                              SWIFT.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Tents were struck, and the campers' impedimenta securely

+fastened to the pack-saddles, in the grey dawn of the

+following morning—the party having breakfasted by

+starlight.

+

+The gold diggings about to be visited was situated in

+the ranges, equi-distant from Bullaroi and the Bay.  The

+route from the Bay lay along the homeward track as far

+as the caves.  At this point the trail turned due

+north—winding among the rugged country to the site of the

+mining camp, which, in its palmy days, covered a flat

+that lay between some precipitous hills and a swiftly

+flowing mountain stream.

+

+The diggings in question was deserted, save by a few

+fossikers, or gully-rakers, as they were generally

+called—men who earned a precarious living by following up the

+dry gullies, and picking out wash dirt from between the

+rocks; or else dry-blowing likely spots of the surface.

+The lure of gold—so common to all—fed the imagination

+of these men.  They became nomads; lived in the most

+primitive ways; faced and endured untold hardships;

+and, if not cheerful, were always hopeful.  They saw

+visions and dreamed dreams—of gold.  The years passed,

+age pressed heavily, eyesight grew dim, and limbs palsied

+with weakness: but even when broken down and encompassed

+with infirmity, their very senility sustained its

+spirits upon visions of the rich find that was surely

+coming—to-morrow.

+

+When the diggings "broke out," and the rush "set in,"

+the flat was white with tents, the population running

+into four figures.  It was an alluvial diggings; that is,

+the gold was washed from the earth, and not crushed

+from the quartz.  In the flush days of Rocky Gully, rich

+"pockets" of gold were struck, and huge fortunes made.

+Life then, in the character of its splendours and pleasures,

+was barbaric.  Lucky diggers, with the spending lust upon

+them, ordered champagne baths, lit their pipes with

+five-pound notes, shod their horses with plates of gold,

+squandered their suddenly acquired riches on camp

+wantons, and among the harpies of the gambling hells.

+There were many exceptions to this foolish course, 'tis

+true; but such is the mental intoxication consequent

+upon a lucky find, and the sudden acquisition of wealth,

+that the majority of lucky diggers succumb, and in a few

+weeks or months, shorn of their possessions, either blow

+out their brains in remorse, or challenge fortune once

+more upon the same or some other goldfield.

+

+Rocky Gully was now a worked-out diggings, and its

+population had long ago drifted away to other fields.

+Naught remained to remind one of its glory now but a

+few tumbledown houses, and the wood skeletons of iron

+buildings, together with countless heaps of empty tins

+and other refuse.  Naught, that is, save a dozen or so

+of fossikers, who were distributed over the field; each

+having his area, into which the others never intruded.

+

+How was it, then, that the Bullaroi party should have

+included a trip to the deserted mining camp in their

+programme of sport and adventure?  There was nothing

+inviting in the region so far as game was concerned; nor

+was there the rough excitements of a live diggings.

+The truth is, it was the outcome of a suggestion of Harry.

+The stockman had a yarn he was very fond of relating,

+which included some tragic incidents associated with

+Rocky Gully.  As a youth he lived there in its "boom"

+days, and towards the close of his stay there he was

+mates with Humpy Bob.  Humpy Bob was an eccentric

+character, well known on a dozen goldfields, whose

+shrewdness as a gold finder was countervailed by his

+incredible folly in spending his riches.  On one occasion,

+when he had struck a "pocket," from which he drew

+over a thousand ounces, he began a carouse which

+continued until the last penny was spent.

+

+As illustrative of his folly during that spree, he

+purchased a general store for the sum of one thousand

+pounds.  The same evening, in company with the drunken

+guests of a champagne party he had given, he proceeded

+to the store, deliberately fired it, and, with the other

+banqueters, stripped stark naked, danced a wild

+corrobberie while it burned.

+

+Bob sober was the antithesis of Bob drunk.  Abstemious,

+taciturn, industrious, solitary, with a genius

+for divining likely places, he followed the pursuit of

+gold: seldom failing to earn good wages; often winning

+handsome profits; occasionally making a pile.

+

+Humpy's end came suddenly and tragically; and of

+this Harry was a witness.

+

+The two men were driving a tunnel at a likely spot in

+the bank of a blind gully about three miles from the main

+camp.  They worked in relays, and had driven in about

+a score of yards, when Harry suggested shoring it with

+saplings for safety.  Humpy Bob, however, who was

+always running risks, made light of the suggestion.

+They had just struck a vein of promising stuff, which

+gave "prospects" of several grains to the dish.  When

+it was Bob's turn to go on, Harry again suggested shoring

+up certain loose spots; especially one near where he had

+been picking, for there had been a small fall during his

+shift.  This the other would not consent to, though his

+partner pleaded earnestly.

+

+"There's a hundred to one chances against there being

+anything serious, mate, and I'm not goin' to waste any

+time in propping up the blessed tunnel.  It's not worth it.

+We'll most likely clean it out to-morrer.  So-long!"

+

+So saying, the digger entered the drive, and was soon at

+his work.  Harry, having nothing to do for a while, went

+to the tent and stretched himself on his bunk for a rest,

+intending to return in an hour or so to wheel out the

+mullock.  Unfortunately he fell asleep, and hours passed

+by before he awoke.  When he did, he jumped from his

+bunk and ran out to the drive, scolding himself for his

+negligence.  The barrow was missing from its usual place,

+and, after a hasty search, the youth went to the tunnel's

+mouth and shouted to his mate.  There was no response,

+nor were the usual pick sounds to be heard.  The light

+was still burning at the end of the tunnel.  Hastily

+traversing the drive in a half-stooping position, as indeed

+compelled by the size of the tunnel, the youth covered

+about half the distance when he stumbled over the

+barrow, severely barking his shins.  Using hot language

+against the carelessness of his mate at leaving the barrow

+in such a place, and with a half fear at the unsatisfactory

+look of things, he scrambled up and went on towards the

+end of the tunnel.  He had not taken more than two steps

+when he again stumbled; this time over a softer substance.

+It was his mate!

+

+Humpy Bob was lying unconscious, half-covered with

+a mass of fallen earth and rocks.  Groping his way across

+this pile of débris, the excited and frightened youth

+reached the end of the drive, seized the light and returned

+to his mate.

+

+Tearing frantically at the soil and stones, he liberated

+old Humpy, and, as gently as possible, drew him to the

+tunnel mouth.  Then dashing to the little stream below,

+he brought water in a billy, and made the customary

+attempts to restore his stricken mate to consciousness.

+His utmost attempts availed not.  The vital spark had

+fled.  Not all the resources of medicine or surgery could

+bring light into the half-closed eyes, or life into those

+rapidly stiffening limbs.  Humpy Bob would never again

+unearth a nugget, rock a cradle, appraise the value of a

+prospect, or get on the "razzle-dazzle" and "paint the

+town red."

+

+It would seem that after working for a while, and

+making a heap of mullock, the digger had come out of

+the tunnel for Harry.  Not seeing him about, the old man

+seized the barrow with the object of wheeling out some

+of the earth.  He had loaded it, and was in the act of

+wheeling it along, when a mass of earth fell full upon his

+back, fracturing the spine.

+

+Harry was greatly affected by this sad occurrence; for

+Humpy Bob had many good points of character, and a

+strong attachment had grown up between them.  As soon

+as his mate was buried, he left the goldfield, and got a job

+on one of the stations.

+

+He had often thought of revisiting this scene, for he

+had a feeling that good gold would be found there.  Of

+late the desire to test the ground again had grown strong,

+and, when the project of the jaunt to the seaside was

+launched, he suggested a trip to the old diggings.  The

+boys gladly fell in with the idea, for it furnished them

+with an item that gave additional spice to the outing.

+

+The journey to the diggings was necessarily slow.  The

+pack-horses were heavily weighted by the extra burden of

+the fish, and the method of progress was that shuffling

+gait known as the "jog."  Though monotonous and tiring

+to the rider, it is the easiest pace for the loaded animals,

+and one that can be kept up all day.

+

+"Seems a pity that we should cart this blessed fish to

+the diggings, Sandy.  Wouldn't it be better to 'cache'

+it somewhere near the junction?  It's giving the horses

+unnecessary work, in my opinion.  Let's see, it's twelve

+miles to the junction, an' fifteen from there to Rocky

+Gully.  Supposin' we planted the stuff in the scrub at the

+junction; it'd save thirty miles of hauling, an' be no end

+of a gain all round."

+

+"Good enough, Joe!  What d'yer say, Harry?  We

+could hide the barrels an' bag easy enough in the scrub."

+

+"M-yes, perhaps so.  Come ter think of it, I'm not so

+sure.  Barrels'd be all right, but 'twon't be the dingoes'

+fault if they don't root out the dried fish.  Tell you what,

+boys, plant 'em in the caves!"

+

+"Good shot!  The very thing the doctor ordered!  The

+caves! yes.  'Twon't take us more'n a mile out of the way;

+an' 'twill be on the road to Bullaroi on the return trip.

+We can easily strike in on the west side of the cave

+ridge, and hide 'em in the stables.  Nobody knows of that

+place but father an' the 'rangers; now poor ole Ben's

+shot——"

+

+"Maybe it's ha-aunted, bhoys.  It's juist th' sphot

+owld Ben'd hide his sowl in, so as to frighten awa-ay th'

+p'lice whin they goes rummagin' about f'r booty; loike th'

+carr-sthle ghosts in th' owld conthry.  Bedad, thin, Oi'll

+be expactin' t' see th' bowld raider comin' on us out iv

+th' dark, his face shinin' loike th' stuff phwat matches is

+made ov."

+

+"Brimstone an' treacle you're thinkin' of, ain't you,

+Denny?  But, I say, chaps, it'll be better to hide 'em at

+the 'ranger's outlet; though it'll be the dickens own job

+to get the barrels into the cave up that slope.  Wouldn't

+it be better, after all, to hide the stuff in the scrub, slinging

+the bag into a tree, high enough to be safe from the

+dingoes?"

+

+So it would, and have saved a most painful experience;

+but having started the idea of hiding the fish in the caves,

+it presented an attraction that the others would not

+surrender.  It gave a flavour of romance to the act.  Now

+that he was dead, the bushranger's hiding-place took on a

+new interest; and so it came to pass that Tom found

+himself in a minority of one.

+

+They found it a tough piece of work to get the barrels

+up the precipitous slope to the cave entrance.  But, when

+the fish was at last stored in the forage chamber, as it

+was now called, and the party had remounted their horses,

+they could appreciate the advantage gained by relieving

+the pack-horses of so much dead weight.

+

+They now made more rapid headway, and struck an

+accommodation house, in the early afternoon, kept by one

+Jago Smith—an old acquaintance of Harry's.

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXXII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "There's a bonny wee spot in the mountains I love,

+   |  Where the pine trees are waving o'erhead far above,

+   |  Where the miners are happy, kindhearted, and free;

+   |  And many come here from way over the sea.

+   |  There's gold in the mountain, there's gold in each glen,

+   |  The good time is coming, have patience, brave men;

+   |  Hold on to your ledges, and soon you will see

+   |  Both money and mills coming over the sea."

+   |                                        C. CRAWFORD.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Jago Smith was an "old timer," as, in Colonial parlance,

+men with his past were called.  A Londoner by birth, he

+was initiated when but a child into the arts and artifices

+of that profession which flourishes by the application of

+sleight-of-hand tricks to the pockets and purses of an

+unsuspecting public.  In short, this London arab was a

+thief, belonging to just such a school as Dickens has

+portrayed in *Oliver Twist*.

+

+His career as a collector of "wipes" was brought to a

+summary end through being caught full-handed in a

+theatre crush.  A "Children's Court," or a "First Offender's

+Act," was unknown in the early days of the nineteenth

+century; consequently young Jago Smith was had up

+before the magistrate, committed to the Assizes, convicted

+to the hulks, and ultimately transported to Botany Bay

+to serve a term of penal servitude.

+

+At a theatrical effort made by certain prisoners of

+histrionic talent at Sydney, at the tail-end of the

+eighteenth century, to which first Governor Philip

+and his wife were "graciously" invited, the following

+lines form part of the prologue composed for the

+occasion—

+

+   |  "From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas, we come,

+   |  But not with much éclat or beat of drum.

+   |  True patriots all; for be it understood,

+   |  We left our country for our country's good.

+   |

+   |  No private views disgraced our generous zeal,

+   |  What urged our travels was our country's weal,

+   |  And none can doubt, but that our emigration

+   |  Has proved most useful to the British nation."

+   |

+

+Fourteen years' penal servitude for the theft of a few

+pocket-handkerchiefs!  Such a sentence to-day would be

+regarded as a monstrous iniquity; it passed without

+comment in those days.

+

+But transportation was not an unmixed evil to Jago

+Smith.  As early as 1793 schools were started at the

+penal settlement, under the impression that they would

+be the most likely means of effecting a reformation in

+the morals of youthful prisoners.

+

+Jago, with the consent of the master to whom he was

+assigned on landing, attended a night school, and gained

+some insight into the three R's.

+

+.. _`"We've struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman`:

+

+.. figure:: images/img-288.jpg

+   :align: center

+   :alt: "'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the stockman."

+

+   "'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the stockman."—*See p.* `295`_.

+

+After a somewhat varied career, the ex-pickpocket,

+who had served his time, became a settler on Rocky

+Creek; and when the Rocky Gully gold rush set in he

+drove a very profitable trade with the diggers.  In

+addition to raising cattle on his selection, Smith kept an

+accommodation house, where board and lodging was to be

+had.  As the place was on the public road, about five

+miles from the diggings, it received much patronage.

+Jago was very proud of his signboard.  It was an

+incontestable proof of his accomplishments in writing and

+spelling.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: center white-space-pre-line

+

+   ACKOMERDASHON FUR MAN

+   AN BESTE SMALL BIER

+   SOULED HEAR GORD SIVE TH

+   E KWEEN J SMITH

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+As the party drew up to the hitching blocks, old Jago,

+who was lounging in an arm-chair in the verandah,

+hobbled out to the front, quietly surveying the group; to

+whom Harry addressed himself.

+

+"Good-evenin', Mister Smith.  How are yer gettin' on

+these times?"

+

+"Not gettin' any younger, you may be sure.  But who

+be you?"

+

+"Don't yer remember me, Jago?" replied the stockman,

+walking up to the old man.

+

+"Yes; I see who it is now.  You be the boy wot worked

+with old Humpy, an' used ter stay here when Bob had an

+attack of the jim-jams."

+

+"The same, ole chap.  We're goin' to put up here for

+the night, and intend goin' on to-morrer to where me an'

+Humpy worked when 'e was took.  Got room for us, I

+s'pose?"

+

+"Plenty o' room, me lad.  Not over rushed with

+travellers these times.  Better take your 'orses round ter

+the back; ye'll find the saddle-room in the old plice, an'

+yer can turn the neddies inter the paddock.  There's

+plenty o' grass fer 'em."

+

+The boys were ready for the supper of homely fare

+which awaited them at sunset.  After supper, Harry and

+the old man got into a conversation, in which the former

+stated that he was determined to have a try at the old

+claim; for, though Humpy had put it about when working

+it that it was a "shicer," Harry, of course, knew differently.

+The gold-bearing stuff, it is true, was but a thin

+vein, but they expected it to develop into something

+better farther on.  Old Jago informed him that no one

+had touched the spot, so far as he knew.  Yes, he had some

+picks and shovels and prospecting dishes, which he had

+taken as payment at one time and another from hard-ups.

+Harry was welcome to make a selection.

+

+This the stockman did without any delay.  He took

+from the curious assortment of diggers' tools two picks,

+two short-handled shovels, two prospecting dishes, the

+roller and handle of a windlass, a couple of buckets, some

+stout rope, a length of chain, a strong hook, a crowbar,

+and a pound or two of blasting powder.

+

+These he obtained as a loan, for Smith would not hear

+of pay.  He viewed the whole thing in the light of a joke.

+The idea of Harry starting to work a claim with a parcel

+of kids who had never seen a gold shaft in their lives,

+with a time limit of three or four days at the most!  The

+stockman was but humouring the fancies and ambitions

+of the kids.  They, no doubt, expected to locate the

+golden nuggets in the same fashion that they would track

+a missing bullock on the bush, or run down a wild cat to

+its lair in a hollow log.  Well, they would at least

+develop their arm muscles and have blistered hands to

+show their friends.  So the old settler—who at the time

+of the rush had listened to the confident prediction of

+many a greenhorn, going post-haste to pick up the

+nuggets that were waiting for somebody to tumble over.

+Not so Harry; he, at least, was no greenhorn.  He

+would give the abandoned workings a trial.  It would be

+a novelty for the boys, and though they mightn't get

+anything to boast about, would, he was confident, get

+enough to give each member of the party a souvenir of

+the visit.

+

+Leaving the accommodation house after an early breakfast,

+the band of diggers, for such we must now call them,

+arrived at the old workings in a couple of hours, passing

+*en route* two or three fossikers who were working their

+shows.  These ancients looked with a degree of astonishment

+upon this cluster of youths, whose very jauntiness

+was suggestive of a prime lark.

+

+Arrived at the diggings, the party had a good look

+round.  Intense solitude reigned everywhere, and save

+for the heaps of rusty cooking utensils and other

+rubbish there was little to indicate that the place had once

+been a busy hive of life and energy.  An old signboard,

+written by another hand than had done Jago Smith's, was

+seen nailed to a tree.  Its language was simple and to

+the point.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: center white-space-pre-line

+

+   ROYAL HOTEL

+   ALL DRINKS 6c.

+

+.. class:: center

+

+   *N.B.—Clean Glasses*

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+Harry took a rapid survey of the situation.  The

+place apparently had not been disturbed since the fatal

+accident.  The old tent poles remained as he had left

+them, and there was no evidence of any one having

+camped there for years.

+

+Proceeding to the tunnel, which, as previously described,

+was driven into the perpendicular bank of a deep gully,

+things looked pretty much as they did on that fatal day,

+excepting that the earth had fretted away about the

+tunnel mouth, and, on venturing in a short distance, the

+man saw that the roof had broken down, completely

+blocking the mine.

+

+"Well, Harry," exclaimed Joe, when the leader emerged

+from the tunnel mouth, which the boys had been eagerly

+watching, "is it all clear?  Did you go to the end?"

+

+Didn't git half-way.  Tunnel's half blocked."

+

+"What a pity!" chorused the lads.

+

+"Dunno 'bout that; cause, yer see, it's proof ter me no

+one's bin interferin.'"

+

+"'Twon't be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?"

+continued Joe.

+

+"Carn't say; depends on the amount that's fallen.

+But 'tain't my notion ter use the tunnel at all.  Yer see,

+it's this way: it may take us an hour or a day to clear the

+rubbage outer the tunnel.  When we'd done that, we'd

+have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the

+wash-dirt.  Fust an' foremost, there's plenty of foul air in

+the far end of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you

+coves in the caves.  Let me tell you, it's hard work

+clearing the stinkin' air outer a tunnel.  You can git it outer

+a shaft easy enough, by tyin' a bunch o' bushes onter a

+rope and running 'em up an' down; but it's mighty hard

+work clearin' a tunnel, an' orften a long job.  Then,

+s'posin' we got it out, we'd have ter shore up the whole

+blessed length; for, let me tell you, I'm not goin' ter run

+any risks in this 'ere job.  We've had fright enough over

+Joe an' the shark, an' I cuddent face the Boss an' the

+missus if anything happened to any of you here.  Now,

+to shore up this blessed tunnel'd take a power of timber,

+an' ter git it an' fix it'd take a far longer time than

+we've got."

+

+"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep

+disappointment, voicing the feelings of the group of boy

+diggers, "don't tell us it's all a go, an' we're to return

+without havin' a try!  Can't you find some other spot?"

+

+"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was

+diggin' up gowlden prr-aties, an', ochone!  Oi'd just stuck

+th' pick into a monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the

+laast, an' was tryin' me best to upind her wid a laver,

+whin owld Jago comes bangin' at th' dure.  Begor!  Oi

+was sweatin' loike a stoker whin th' owld mahn woke me.

+Jist give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an' be Saint

+Michael Oi'll——"

+

+"Ye'll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret.  They's more

+ways of killin' a pig besides chokin' 'im with a lump o'

+butter.  It never was my plan, boys, ter use the ole

+tunnel.  There's a better way nor that.  When me an' ole

+Humpy drove in 'ere, we wus follerin' a lead, an' ye niver

+can tell 'ow far yer 'ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe

+a 'undered yards afore it opens out inter a body.  So we

+did the right thing then.  Now I propose ter put down

+a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end of the

+tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that.  I calkerlate

+we'll tap it in twenty feet or so.  I know the clarss of

+country we'll have to go through.  All this bank's wot we

+call 'made up.'  It's a formation called pudden stone.

+It's formed o' river wash, an' is pretty pebbly.  The

+pebbles is the plums.  We'll go through it in a couple o'

+days at most, an' that'd give us two days more afore we

+need clear orf 'ome."

+

+The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry's

+proposal, and set about rigging up the camp near the spot

+which the leader had selected to put down the shaft.

+

+While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set

+to work at sinking the shaft.  So expeditious were they

+that by night they had sunk the hole about ten feet and

+had rigged up the windlass.  All the boys had a turn at

+digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the

+novelty of the work.  Harry and Denny, however, did

+the main part, while the lads manned the windlass, and

+hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the buckets

+were filled.

+

+At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast

+preparatory to a long day's work at the shaft.  They

+had to do a good deal of blasting, for some of the stones

+were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed time.  It

+was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy

+blast, Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried

+out, "Haul up quick! we've broken through.  Foul air!"

+

+On winding their comrade up, he declared that the

+blast had broken the ground into the tunnel, and that the

+foul air was coming freely into the bottom of the shaft.

+"We'll let it stay as it is till termorrer, an' then we'll

+clear it out."

+

+The pals went to sleep that night to dream about the

+El Dorado which, in their imagination, they had struck.

+The earliest dawn found them at the shaft's mouth.

+Harry tied several bushes to the end of the rope, and this

+was rapidly lowered and raised for about a couple of

+hours, the condition below being tested from time to time

+by a lighted candle placed in a bucket and lowered to the

+bottom.  At last it remained alight, though it burned very

+feebly.  About half an hour after this, the candle, on

+being sent below again, burned brightly.

+

+"It's all right, now, boys!  We've got rid of the gas,

+that's a blessing.  Lower away!"  In a few seconds

+Harry was filling the buckets with the broken rock and

+earth.  In a short time it was all cleared up, and the

+leader had started to drive along the line of the vein.  He

+had not cut in more than a couple of feet when he threw

+down the pick and shouted up the shaft, "Hurroar, boys!

+I've struck a patch.  Be gosh, it looks like a pocket!"

+

+The excitement above at this good news may be better

+imagined than described.  The vein of wash-dirt suddenly

+expanded into a cube of about sixty buckets of auriferous

+earth.  It was a genuine though small pocket.  Whether

+rich or poor could be determined only by washing.

+

+Harry filled a bucket with the dirt, which was speedily

+hauled up.  The next minute he was pulled to the surface,

+and, spreading the stuff on the ground, examined it.  To

+the great delight of the pals, he picked out several

+large specks and a small nugget, scaling about half an

+ounce.

+

+.. _`295`:

+

+"It's all right, mates!" cried the stockman, now almost

+as excited as the boys.  "We've struck it rich, I do

+believe.  Sandy, me boy, git your nag an' a packhorse,

+an' streak fur Jago's as fast as yer can git, an' borry a

+cradle.  It'd take too long ter pan this stuff—must have

+a cradle.  But, look 'ere, don't give the show away.  Tell

+'im I got a few specks from a bit o' stuff I came acrost,

+an' that I'm jist goin' ter give it a try.  He'll most likely

+call me a big fool, an' don't yer conterdict 'im."

+

+A cradle, it may be said, is a machine on rockers for

+washing the auriferous earth.  The machine is fed with

+the wash-dirt, a stream of water being poured on while it

+is rocked like a child's cradle.  The heavy sand and

+gravel, together with the precious metal, sink to the bottom

+and are retained by the "ridges," whilst the earth and all

+light matter pass away with the water.  It is finally

+treated in a dish so skilfully that only the pure metal is

+left.

+

+While Sandy is speeding off to Jago's the rest are busy

+picking the pocket and carrying it down to a flat by

+the side of the tiny stream which ran along the gully

+bottom.  The work was hard, for the wash-dirt was

+heavy, and the buckets big; but they made fun of the

+hardships of bruised fingers and strained muscles, as

+they hauled the precious earth from the shaft mouth,

+and then humped it to the stream.

+

+They had not quite finished their work ere Sandy

+reappeared upon the scene with the cradle.  Very little

+grass had grown during the performance of his task.

+

+Scarcely allowing themselves time to bolt down their

+midday meal, the party were grouped around the cradle,

+which Harry had fixed within a yard of the stream.

+The stockman soon made his dispositions of the forces.

+Joe and Tom are to lift the water and pour it on as

+required, while he and Sandy work the cradle.  Denny

+is to feed the machine with the dirt.

+

+So the work of "washing up" started.  Every now

+and then Harry stopped the work and "cleaned up" the

+cradle—that is, took out the heavy golden sand which

+was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied

+it in a bag, to be "panned" later.  From time to time the

+party were gladdened by the sight of large specks, and

+now and then a tiny nugget of some grains' weight.  The

+gold, for the most part, however, was fine.  The work

+went on continuously till night closed in upon them.

+Though dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their

+work for the day, and after supper threw themselves

+upon their primitive beds and slept the sleep of the just.

+

+"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry's

+last word.

+

+The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#]

+for their early waking.  Perched on the limb of a tree

+close to the tent, they began their morning orisons at

+the first paling of the stars, making such a cachinnation

+as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in

+startled tones, "Dressin', dad; goin' for the cows this

+minute."  While Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn

+over on his side, saying in sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate

+they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me darlin'! an' sa-ay

+ye——  Howly Moses, 'tis th' owld Johnny-axes at their

+thricks!"

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. class:: noindent small

+

+[#] Giant kingfisher.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as

+soon as breakfast is demolished the lucky diggers make

+their way to the gully to start operations.  The work

+was a repetition of yesterday's, and, according to Harry's

+calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck

+well to the job; bullock teams couldn't have drawn them

+from it.

+

+After working for about an hour, Denny, who was

+shovelling the dirt, picked up a lump of rock, saying at

+the same time, "Oi'll pitch this awa-ay, annyways.  It

+feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: 'tis as heavy

+as lead.  Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"

+

+"Hey, you fool!  don't throw that away.  Let's see

+it," cried Harry, seizing the piece of rock, which was

+about the size of the lad's head.  "Why, great jumpin'

+Jehosaphat!  it's a bloomin' nugget.  You precious

+duffer! if you'd thrown that away I'd 'a' pitched you down

+the shaft."

+

+The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the

+leader as he held the lump with both hands.

+

+"See 'ere, this white rock's quartz, an' all these yaller

+veins is gold.  It isn't wot you'd call a pure nugget,

+but by the weight of it I guess there's a power of the

+yaller stuff inside.  'Ere, Tom, streak up ter the tent fur

+a tommy an' we'll soon see."

+

+Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the

+quartz nugget on a flat stone that cropped out of the

+ground near by, and dealt vigorous blows upon it with

+the head of the weapon.  In this way he crushed the

+quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold

+formed a mass in the centre.

+

+"That's all we'll do at present; we'll crush it out

+properly in a mortar when we get home.  Guess there's

+full twenty ounces o' gold in 'er."

+

+There were no more such finds in the dirt, but the

+last few lots yielded a good deal of coarse gold, one piece

+weighing about four ounces.

+

+By nightfall they had washed out the bagged ore.

+There it lay on a cloth before the fire, a little heap of

+pure gold, and beside it the quartz nugget, so to call it.

+

+"Call me a frog-eater if there ain't full seventy ounces

+o' gold in that there lot—close on three 'undered pounds'

+worth!"

+

+

+

+

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. _`BULLION AND BUSHRANGER`:

+

+.. class:: center large bold

+

+   CHAPTER XXXIII

+

+

+.. class:: center medium bold

+

+   BULLION AND BUSHRANGER

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+..

+

+   |  "And if you doubt the tale I tell,

+   |  Steer through the South Pacific swell,

+   |  Go where the branching coral hives

+   |  Unending strife of endless lives,

+   |  Go where the rivers roll down through the sand

+   |  Under skies that are blue in a golden land."

+   |                                        KIPLING.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Pull up a moment, chaps.  I want ter say a word afore

+we strike Jago Smith's—we'll sight it over the next ridge.

+No blabbin' erbout the gold.  The ole cove's sure ter arsk

+erbout our luck.  You keep mum, an' leave me ter answer

+'im.  He's er good ernuff sort in hes way, is ole Jago,

+an' me an' 'im always got on well, as 'e sort er took a

+fancy ter me.  All the same, 'im an' Ben Bolt is, or was

+great friends.  That's why I steered clear o' the shootin

+the night we stayed there.  'E might 'a' cut up rusty,

+like.  Many's the time 'e's planted the 'ranger when the

+p'lice 'as been 'ot on 'is trail.  'Twuddent s'prise me a

+bit if the kid that wus Ben's mate wus 'idin' somewheres

+erbout Jago's.  'E's several good plants.  At any rate,

+there must be no blow.  Bes' be on the safe side."

+

+In a few minutes the party sighted the accommodation

+house at a distance of a quarter of a mile or so.  They

+could see the old man in the front, talking to a man

+who held a horse by the bridle.  Even as the party

+sighted the pair they were themselves seen.  After a few

+hasty words with Jago the horseman threw his bridle

+over the steed's neck, vaulted to the saddle, and rode

+away briskly.

+

+"By George, that 'ere cove's ridin' a good nag.  See

+the style o' 'im!  'E's a beauty, 'e is; all muscle an' spirit.

+If ole Ben wusn't a goner, I'd say 'twas 'im on Samson;

+blamed if I wuddent."

+

+The mounted band have approached the house by this

+time.  The owner stood awaiting them by the hitching

+posts.  Saluting them as they rode up, he jeered

+good-humouredly—

+

+"I 'opes yer left a few specks fur them fossikers,

+gintilmin?  'Twud be too bad to scoop the pool an' leave

+the old uns nothin' but mullock heaps.  At any rate,

+ye've brought back the tools—cradle an' all.  Come now,

+'ow did the stuff pan out?"

+

+"I'll tell yer wot we did git, ole man, sore bones an'

+blistered 'ands.  Blame me, but yer soon gits outer the

+diggin' business.  Tried that bit o' stuff I come acrost,

+wot the kid tole yer erbout.  Waal, speakin' in confidence,

+we didn't git ernuff ter hire a gold escort ter fetch it

+erlong.  We did git a bit—ernuff ter make these young

+coves a breast-pin apiece.  But let me tell yer, one of

+these days I'm comin' back ter have a good prospect.

+Keep it close, Smith; I don't want any of these blessed

+gully-rakers ter smell anythin'."

+

+"Dark it is, young feller.  Yer can trust me fer not

+givin' the show away.  Comin' in?"

+

+"No, we're makin' fer 'ome.  Just tote the tools ter

+where youse got 'em, boys, an' then we'll be orf."

+

+The lads speedily discharged, and were in the saddle

+again.  The party was moving off when Harry said to Jago—

+

+"Forgot ter arsk yer whether yer 'eered that Ben Bolt

+wus shot by Hennessey t'other day."

+

+"Yes, I 'eered it," replied Smith dryly.

+

+"Kid not collared yet?"

+

+"You're more likely ter 'eer about 'im than me: so-long."

+

+"Ole Jago's a deep un," soliloquised Harry as they rode

+along.  "I forgot ter arsk 'im erbout the man we saw

+ridin' away as we came up," he remarked a few minutes

+later to Joe, who was riding at his side.  "If that 'ere

+'orse 'e wus ridin' warn't Samson, I'm a greenhorn."

+

+"It might have been the young fellow that got away

+when Ben was shot.  It struck me Jago was bluffin' you,

+Harry."

+

+"My word, Harry," said Tom, riding up on the other

+side, "you bluffed ole Jago over the gold."

+

+"Ain't so sure o' that," replied the stockman.

+

+"No one could have done it better," broke in Joe.

+"You circumnavigated the truth."

+

+"Don't know wot yer mean, my boy: unless it's

+somethin' in the circus line."

+

+"Not exactly that," replied Joe laughingly; "but it

+reminds me of an epitaph I heard about, that was stuck

+on a fellow's tombstone—

+

+.. vspace:: 1

+

+.. class:: center

+

+HE TRIED HARD NOT TO BE A LIAR."

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+"Wot I said about tacklin' that ground's true ernuff,

+anyways," replied the stockman, with a smile.  "But

+erbout this gold: we'll go shares, o' course.  We'll

+divide it up inter five equal lots when we get to

+Bullaroi."

+

+"No; that's not fair, Harry," said Sandy.  "We must

+have a fair division."

+

+"Well, wot yer call a fair division, if that's not one?"

+said the man shortly.

+

+"If it was left to me to decide, I would give you half,

+to start with.  It was your show.  You did most of the

+work.  We were more like wages men; so at the very

+least you should get half.  Then I'd divide the other

+half among the rest of us in equal shares."

+

+"Sandy's right," broke in Joe.  "As far as I'm concerned,

+Harry'll have the lot.  I'd like him to take my whack,

+anyway, because——"

+

+"No, yer don't, Joe.  I know wot yer goin' ter say.

+Think I'm mean ernuff ter take pay fer shootin' a jolly

+shark?"

+

+"Oh—I—didn't—mean—it—just——"

+

+"Joe meant it as a mark of gratitude, Harry.  I think

+my way's best.  Whatcher say?"

+

+"Agreed!" chorus the four.

+

+"Joe, me mahn," said Denny a little while later, as he

+and Blain were riding together, "cud ye tell me phwat

+me quarter ov a half ov th' gowld'll come to?"

+

+"Lemme see, seventy ounces; half o' that, thirty-five;

+quarter of thirty-five is eight an' three-quarter ounces:

+yes, your share is eight an' three-quarters, Denny."

+

+"Give it in pounds, plaase, Joe."

+

+"Pounds!  Oh, I say, you've got me there.  Well, let's

+see.  What was it Harry said they'd give us per ounce at

+the bank?"

+

+"Three sivinteen an' a tanner, Joe, me bhoy.  Oi tuk

+note ov that."

+

+"Yes, that was the price, I 'member.  Eight and

+three-quarter times three seventeen six—er—lemme see,

+that'd be—eight threes twenty-four, twen—bother it, I

+mean eight times seventeen an' six, that's a hundred an'

+ninety—no, *that's* not it.  Let me put it down in me

+mind—one, seven, six; that's right!  Well, multiply it

+by eight, an' leave the quarters out for a bit.  That's—why,

+it's three hundred an'—no, it can't be that much,

+surely?  Bust it, if I only had a pencil an' a bit o' paper

+I'd soon tot it up.  Try again.  Eight into seventeen and

+six is——  Blest if it isn't an interest sum, after all,

+Denny; an' they always sew me up."

+

+"It's th' troth, Joe; it's th' most interastin' sum Oi

+iver heerd tell iv.  Thry it agin, Marsther Joe; doan't let

+a little sum loike that ba-ate ye.  'Twas two hondered

+pounds ye said larrst.  Make her go a little higher if yes

+can."

+

+"What! two hundred pounds!  Murder! 'tis shillin's I

+was reckoning."

+

+"O-o-h!" exclaimed Denny, with a profound sigh.

+"Awaay goes me bright dra-ames!  Sure, thin, 'twas

+buyin' th' owld family carr-sthle Oi was thinking ov, an

+makin' melyinaares o' me dear payrunts; maybe the

+Quaan wud be makin' me farther Lord Kineavy!"

+

+"Well, you are a cure, Denny.  You'll have me addressin'

+you as the Honourable Dennis next.  Oh, I say,

+didn't Harry say he wouldn't be surprised if the gold

+fetched four pounds an ounce, it was so rich?  Well, let's

+reckon it at four quid.  Eight fours are thirty-two—that's

+thirty-two pounds.  The three-quarters of four

+pounds is three.  Thirty-two and three are thirty-five;

+thirty-five pounds.  There you are, ole boss, thirty-five."

+

+"Thirty-foive pounds!  Begorrah! it's a bloomin'

+capertillist Oi am!  Whoi, glory be! it'll do betther thin

+buyin' a rotten owld sthone carr-sthle made ov brick an'

+thatch; it'll pay for bringin' out me payrunts in th'

+emigrr-ashon ship.  Be Saints Pathrick an' Michael, 'tis

+a happy bhoy Oi am at this moment!  Phwat wid me

+savin's, an' Norah's, an' this haape ov gowld, Oi'll buy

+thim th' best cabin on th' boat, and so Oi will!"

+

+In due time the party arrived at the junction of the

+roads, and crossed the ridge to the cave entrance.  After

+placing their horses in the patch of scrub near the road,

+they scrambled up to the opening.  Lighting the candle,

+Sandy led the way to the forage chamber, where the fish

+was stored.

+

+"You don't feel so creepy, Denny, as when you were

+here last," said Tom to the Irish "boy, as they followed the

+others into the chamber.

+

+"It's thrue for ye, Tom.  Owld Ben's not thrubblin' me

+to-da-ay.  'Tis only thinkin' ov me dear farther an'

+mauther comin' out on th' sa-ay Oi am.  As for th'

+'ranger, he's as dead an' dhry by this toime as the smoked

+fish yonder."

+

+"Is he?" cried a loud voice from the rear.

+

+"Howly Moses! 'tis th' 'ranger's ghost," cried the Irish

+boy, as a bull's-eye flashed in his face, dazzling his eyes

+and confusing his mind.  Terror-possessed by this ghostly

+manifestation—for he saw naught but a bright light,

+preceded by an awful voice—the boy bolted.  He rushed

+towards the chamber exit, which he barely reached ere

+the sharp crack of a revolver sounded, what time the

+panic-stricken youth staggered forward, falling with a

+dull thud upon the stone floor.

+

+It need hardly be said that the other members of the

+group were startled out of speech and action.  Not ten

+seconds elapsed between the cry of the man or ghost and

+the tragedy of the revolver shot and the fallen boy.

+

+The moment the boy fell the others ran towards him,

+but before they had taken three steps the light flashed on

+them and a revolver covered them.  Behind the lantern

+came a voice that more than the lantern, or even pistol,

+cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*"

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+.. _`Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*"`:

+

+.. class:: center bold white-space-pre-line

+

+   [Illustration: Behind the lantern came a voice that

+   more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them:

+   "*Stop!  Hands up!*" (missing from book)]

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+For the second time the hands of the boys went up at

+command.  One thing was made quite clear, at any rate:

+this was no ghostly visitant.  Ghosts didn't carry

+revolvers, nor was there long any mystery about this

+personage.

+

+"That young cove reckoned I was dead and dry as

+your smoked schnapper, did he?  The young fool'll

+smoke and dry fast enough in the place I've sent him to.

+You infernal asses to come here!  But you'll never live

+to tell any one; make up your minds to that."

+

+It was in truth the bushranger himself.  Of that there

+could be no doubt.  The news of his death was either

+a make-up or a gross exaggeration.  Here he stood, in

+the flesh, in one of his most dangerous moods.  A black

+fit was on him.  Under its influence he was capable of

+almost any atrocity.  The lads were horror-stricken.

+There, before them, lay the body of their comrade, the

+gay, witty, affectionate Denny, who but a few moments

+ago was in the seventh heaven of delight at the thought

+of bringing out his parents with the proceeds of his share

+of the gold; and now—it was too awful!

+

+"Look 'ere, Ben Bolt!" exclaimed Harry, after a few

+seconds' silence, "you've shot an innercent boy in cold

+blood.  You've grossly belied your reputation that you

+never laid a hand on woman or child.  We came here

+with no thought of spyin' upon yer, for we believed yer to

+be dead.  In five minits we wud 'ave gone away with our

+fish, none the wiser for your presence.  You've not the

+slightest justerfication fer takin' that life, an' if yer shoots

+me the next minit fer it, I tell yer to yer face ye're

+a blaggard an' coward, an' the pity is that the news of yer

+bein' shot wasn't true."

+

+Why Harry was not shot off-hand, it were hard to say.

+The bushranger was convulsed with rage: thrice he

+levelled his revolver at the brave man, and as often

+lowered it.  At last, with a voice hoarse with passion, he

+said, "I'll send you along the road I've driven your

+mate, curse you!  You think you're very game, but I'll

+take all that out of you before I've done with you.  You'll

+be longing for your end hours before it comes....

+

+"Here, boy," continued he, pointing to Tom.  "Take

+that green-hide and tie your mates as I tell you.  Look

+sharp, or I'll lay you alongside your mate yonder."

+

+Thus dragooned, Tom securely tied his mates' hands

+behind their backs.  As soon as this was accomplished,

+the outlaw, sticking his revolver in his belt, served Tom

+in the same way, and in addition trussed each victim.

+Having set them in a row like a group, of mummies, he

+addressed them—

+

+"You'll lie here for the present.  I'll deal with you

+later.  I've got a little job to do first.  That fool

+Hennessey's coming out this way with a couple of troopers

+to trap me.  'Twasn't enough that he winged my mate,

+he's sworn to have me inside of the week.  And I swear

+that I'll have him inside of six hours.  I'm going out now

+to have a look round.  If you coves try any of your tricks,

+I'll make hell for you.  I shan't be far off, you may bet."

+

+So saying, the outlaw went out into the chamber where

+his horse was stabled, and led him along the passage to

+the cave entrance.

+

+"I say, Harry, it was Ben Bolt that we saw at ole

+Jago's this mornin'."

+

+"True.  I cud 'ave taken me oath a'most that the

+'orse wus Samson, but I didn't git a fair view of the

+bloke's face.  Yes, 'twor Ben that we saw.  He must 'a'

+got 'is information erbout Hennessey from the ole man.

+It's wunnerful 'ow they does git the news.  I 'ope 'e don't

+git er charnse ter draw er bead on Hennessey.  He'll 'ave

+ter be mighty smart ter do it.  But, dear! dear! on'y ter

+think of poor Denny lyin' over there—dead!  I wish ter

+'evven 'e'd 'a' shot me instead.  Wot'll your father an'

+mother say, Sandy?  Poor Norah, too!  It'll be the

+killin' of 'er."

+

+"Whisht, boys, spaake low: Oi'm not kilt ontoirely;

+only knocked spaachless.  Oi'm betther nor tin dead

+Chinymen yit."

+

+It was the sweetest sound that ever ravished the ears

+of the boys.  Here was the blissful fact—Denny was not

+dead; was very much alive.  If the lads did not

+immediately cry out with joy it was because their joy was

+too deep for utterance.

+

+"Don't spaake or sthir awhoile till Oi see if th' coast's

+clear."

+

+Rising quietly to his feet, the Irish boy stole along the

+corridor that led to the mouth of the cave.  After a hasty

+but keen survey of the immediate neighbourhood, he

+returned to his companions, knife in hand, and in a few

+minutes had freed them.

+

+"And are you not wounded, Denny?  We never

+dreamed but that the villain had shot you dead.  You lay

+just like a corpse.  He was under that impression too, or

+he'd never have left you."

+

+"Yez see 'twas this way: Oi was fair flabbergasted

+whin th' blazin' light dazzled me oiyes.  Oi made shure

+'twas th' 'ranger's ghost.  Oi wud 'a' stood, but me ligs

+wuddn't.  They sthreaked off loike a paddy-melon goes

+for a hole in th' fince—carryin' me body wid thim.  Th'

+firsht thing Oi felt was a rock sthrikin' me fut, an' thin,

+begorra, somethin' whistled past me ear as Oi tumbled

+forrard, hittin' th' flure a nasty crack wid me head.  Th'

+nixt thing Oi heard was owld Harry tongue-bangin' th'

+rapscallion ov a murtherer fur killin' me.  'Be jabers!'

+ses Oi to meself, 'he's kilt me ontoirely wid a shot from

+hes pisthol, if phwat me bowld frind ses be th' thruth.

+Go it, me brave bhoy!  Tare an' ouns, but ye're givin'

+him th' coward's blow in foine style!'

+

+"Thin Oi sees him rope yez up loike dhrapery parr-sels,

+an', ses Oi, 'Jist wait till yez is gone, me hairr-y breasted

+sna-ake!' an' wid that Oi comes to me ray-son an' knows

+that Oi was not dead at all, at all.  Oi was jist goin' to

+git up an' give him a bit iv me tongue, whin the thought

+comes—'Lie still, ye gossoon, till he goes an' ye can

+liberaate yer mates!'  So now we'll be even wid th'

+omadhaun."

+

+"The quicker we're outer this the better!" exclaimed

+Harry, as soon as he was released.  "There's no knowin'

+when the 'ranger'll return; if 'e finds us loose, 'e'll shoot

+us to a cert.  What a pity we left our guns with the

+'orses!  'Ope 'e won't find 'em.  It'll be risky goin' out,

+as we don't know where the feller is.  'E may be close

+by watchin' the 'ole.  The bes' thing'll be for us ter

+make a dash ter the scrub as soon as we're outer the cave."

+

+"There's a much safer way than that," said Sandy.

+"We'll go out the way we came in when we first discovered

+this place.  Lucky we brought a candle with us.  Come

+along; every moment is precious."

+

+So saying, Sandy strode in advance, the others following

+closely at his heels.  The party soon hit upon the

+passage leading to the cave opening on the other side of

+the ridge.  In twenty minutes or so they were in the

+open.

+

+Their first act was to plunge into the thick bush.  This

+shielded them from ordinary observation.  After a short

+confab, they concluded that the wisest thing to do was to

+creep along in the thickest part, in the direction of the

+horses.  They had hardly started when the sharp crack

+of a rifle broke upon their ears.  Stopping short,

+they listened eagerly; with beating hearts, it must

+be confessed.  Again and again, shots were fired; at

+last they heard the pounding of hoofs, rapidly nearing

+them.

+

+"'Ssh—don't move—they're on the hard road," said

+Harry to the nervously excited youths.

+

+The road passed the caves about two hundred yards

+from where the party lay.  Presently, with increasing

+clatter, Ben Bolt rode furiously along, and after a

+minute's interval, Sergeant Hennessey, accompanied by

+two troopers, the Sergeant leading by about fifty yards.

+Just as he was in the act of passing, the officer took a

+snap-shot at the 'ranger.  In a few minutes all sight

+and even sound of pursued and pursuers had gone.

+

+"No fear of Ben Bolt trubblin' us now fer a spell.

+'Ope Hennessey 'll nab 'im sure this time.  Let's moosey

+erlong, lads."

+

+It didn't take the party long to pick up the steeds and

+load up the packhorses with the fish.  The sun had

+barely set ere they were well on the last stage of the

+return journey.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+The M'Intyres are just concluding the evening meal.

+The conversation chiefly centres around the campers.

+Mrs. M'Intyre had given many a look along the track

+during the afternoon, in the hope of sighting the lads.

+The understanding when they left was that they were to

+return at the end of the second week.  It was now

+Saturday evening.

+

+"I won't give them up till ten o'clock.  I expect they

+have made a late start.  Yes, Maggie, I own that I am a

+bit fidgety now that I've heard that Ben Bolt has been

+seen in the vicinity of the caves."

+

+"Weel, ye can juist ease yure mind on that pint, my

+dear, for the Sairgeant and a pairty o' troopers are

+patrolling in that direection, so that there's no' the

+sma'est pairtical o' reesk."

+

+"It was lucky for them, mummie, that they had started

+for their trip before the revised version of the engagement

+between the police and the bushrangers was published,

+for had you known of the mistake you would never

+have let the boys go.  What are they going to do

+with the youth that Hennessey wounded?  They say

+Ben Bolt's mad over it, and swears to have Hennessey's

+life."

+

+"The misguided lad wull be pit on his trial as sune as

+the wound on his thigh permeets."

+

+"Do you think they'll hang him, father?"

+

+"Nae, nae, they'll no' hang the chiel; he has never

+ta'en life, nor is he a hardened ruffian.  He stairted this

+wild life 'for the fun o' it,' like mony another silly

+laddie.  The Sairgeant tells me that Jock Smith, for that's

+his name, is gled to be captured.  His eyes hae been

+opened to the folly and sin that are compreehended in

+sic a life.  Insteed o' fun, he has encountered nought but

+hairdship and meesery.  The misguided laddie wull hae

+plenty o' time for repentance."

+

+The evening calm is suddenly and noisily disturbed.

+The station dogs set up a great babble of barking, and

+Jessie, who had gone out to the front verandah, comes

+running in helter skelter and screaming—

+

+"Father, mother, hear the dogs!  It's the boys, I bet

+tuppence.  Hurrah!  Hurrah!——"

+

+"Jessie, Jessie!  you are certainly developing very——"

+

+Mrs. Mac is prosing without an audience, for the girls

+are flying along the track to the slip-rails, accompanied

+by the barking dogs.

+

+.. vspace:: 2

+

+It was verging on midnight when the Bullaroi household

+broke up.  The adventures were told with a degree

+of modesty to an intensely interested and at times

+breathless company.  The spoils of the sea and the spoils

+of the mine were displayed to the admiration of all.

+Mrs. M'Intyre gave high praise to the pals for their success as

+fish-curers; while the gold spoke for itself, needing no

+expert opinion.

+

+Mr. M'Intyre had the last word.

+

+"Ye've advanced a big step towards yure manhood,

+laddies, and I'm prood o' ye the nicht.  Yure conduc'

+under they perils by sea and land is more precious by far

+that yon gleeterin' gowd.  A guid name is raither to be

+chosen than great riches.  Thank the Lord for a' His

+mercies!  Guid-nicht, bairns."

+

+.. vspace:: 3

+

+.. class:: center

+

+   "GOOD-NIGHT ALL."

+

+.. vspace:: 4

+

+.. class:: center small

+

+   *Printed by* MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, *Edinburgh*

+

+.. vspace:: 6

+

+.. pgfooter::

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+                                  PALS
+
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost
+no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+
+Title: Pals
+       Young Australians in Sport and Adventure
+Author: Joseph Bowes
+Release Date: December 08, 2013 [EBook #44369]
+Language: English
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+        *[Frontispiece: With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy
+        managed to  pass his whip thong twice round the brute's
+             neck--*_*See p.*_* 188.  (missing from book)]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  PALS
+
+                           YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
+                         IN SPORT AND ADVENTURE
+
+
+                                   BY
+
+                              JOSEPH BOWES
+
+
+
+              _WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
+                          BY JOHN MACFARLANE_
+
+
+
+                          LONDON: JAMES GLASS
+                           28 NEWGATE STREET
+                                  1910
+
+
+
+
+                               *CONTENTS*
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+      I. By Way of Introduction
+     II. The Bushrangers
+    III. A Desperate Encounter
+     IV. The Great Match
+      V. The Big Flood
+     VI. On the Face of the Waters
+    VII. The Death of the Forest Monarch
+   VIII. What the Tree held
+     IX. The Rescue
+      X. The Return
+     XI. The Breaking Up
+    XII. Down the River
+   XIII. Off for the Holidays
+    XIV. Christmas Fun and Frolic
+     XV. A Bush Ride and its Consequences
+    XVI. The Dingo Raid
+   XVII. Dingo *v.* Emu: A Fight to a Finish
+  XVIII. The Chase and its Sequel
+    XIX. Concerning Wild Horses
+     XX. The Brumby Hunt
+    XXI. The Warrigal's Strategy
+   XXII. How Yellow Billy broke the Warrigal
+  XXIII. A Day's Shoot
+   XXIV. The Corrobberie
+    XXV. In the Bushrangers' Caves
+   XXVI. The Explorers
+  XXVII. A Respite
+ XXVIII. The Camp by the Sea
+   XXIX. At the Mercy of the Sea-Tiger
+    XXX. In and About the Camp
+   XXXI. Off to the Gold Diggings
+  XXXII. How they struck Gold
+ XXXIII. Bullion and Bushranger
+
+
+
+
+                        *LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*
+
+
+With incredible difficulty Yellow Billy managed to pass his whip thong
+twice round the brute's neck (missing from book) . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers and falls with a
+mighty crash
+
+The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny
+boat with four slight figures
+
+The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring
+
+Retreating one moment and advancing the following, uttering war-cries
+
+The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam round and round in a
+circle
+
+"We've struck it rich, I do believe," cried the stockman
+
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "*Stop!  Hands up!*" (missing from book)
+
+
+
+
+    The grey gums by the lonely creek
+      The star-crowned height,
+    The wind-swept plain, the dim blue peak,
+      The cold white light,
+    The solitude spread near and far
+    Around the camp-fire's tiny star,
+    The horse-bell's melody remote,
+    The curlew's melancholy note,
+      Across the night.
+
+    GEORGE ESSEX EVANS
+
+
+
+
+                                 *PALS*
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER I*
+
+                        *BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION*
+
+
+"Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable
+barrier, and the sacred air cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean
+clay hamlets of reality; and man by his nature is yet infinite and
+free."--CARLYLE.
+
+
+"Comin' over to-night, Tom?"
+
+"By jings!  I'd like to, Joe, but dad said this morning he was going to
+shell corn to-night.  You know what that means.  What's on?"
+
+"Oh!  Sandy's stayin' in for the night; so I thought of gettin' Jimmy
+Flynn an' Yellow Billy so's we could have bushrangers, an' stick up the
+coach by moonlight.  If they can't come, Sandy an' I'll go 'possumin' in
+the slaughter-house paddock."
+
+"I say! what a jolly lark the bushranging'd be.  How'd you manage it,
+Joe?"
+
+"We've planned that out all right.  We'd get Jimmy Flynn's billy-goat
+cart an' the billies.  He'd be mailman, an' it'd be gold-escort day.
+Yellow Billy'd be the trooper; he's got a pistol, you know.  He'd ride
+the roan steer he's broken in.  Then you, Sandy, an' I'd be Ben Bolt's
+gang.  We'd do a plant in a lonely spot along the road an' surprise 'em.
+I'd tackle Billy, you'd look after Jimmy, Sandy 'd collar the mailbags
+and gold boxes, and then scoot with the loot.  I think it'd be better to
+shoot Billy, so's to make it a bit more real; that's what Ben Bolt'd
+do."
+
+"But, Joe, where'd we get the guns?"
+
+"I'd get father's.  You'd have to make believe with a nulla-nulla.  We
+could stick a boomerang in our belts, it'd look like pistols in the
+dark."
+
+"But I say, Joe, ole chap, you wouldn't really shoot Billy?" said Tom in
+a tone that savoured both of fear and scepticism.
+
+"You're a precious muff, Hawkins!  I was just kidding you.  No, you
+stupid, it's all gammon.  The noise the powder 'll make 'll scare the
+seven senses outer Billy."
+
+"By golly! it'll be crummie enough.  Put it off till to-morrow, Joe, an'
+I'll come."
+
+"Can't be done, my boy.  Sandy'll not be here, for one thing.  Besides,
+I have to pull father down to Yallaroi Bend to-morrow.  It's his service
+night there.  Sorry you can't come, Tom.  We'll have to do our best
+without you."
+
+"Oh Moses! to think that I can't join!" groaned Tom. "Look here, Joe,
+I--I'll do a sneak.  I'll be here somehow, you may bet your Sunday
+breeks," continued the eager lad, as he stepped into the little
+"flat-bottom" boat which had brought him over.
+
+"Joe!" he shouted when he had rowed some distance from the shore.  "I'll
+give a cooee if I can get, an' two cooees if the way's blocked.  So
+don't start till you hear."
+
+"Right-o!"
+
+The place where these boys lived, moved, and had their being was a
+district famed for its fertility, on one of the northern rivers in New
+South Wales.
+
+The river itself had many of the elements of nobility and beauty as,
+taking its rise in the snowy heights of the New England ranges, it clove
+its way eastward, finally debouching into the blue waters of the
+Pacific.  The river-flats formed magnificent stretches of arable lands;
+too rich, indeed, for such cereals as wheat and oats, for their rank
+growth rendered them liable to the fatal rust.
+
+Here, however, was the home of the maize, the pumpkin, the sweet potato,
+the orange, the lemon, the plantain.  Here too, the natural sequence, in
+a way, of the prolific corn and the multitudinous pumpkin, were reared
+and flourished the unromantic pig.
+
+Fed on pumpkins, with skim milk for beverage, topped off with corn, the
+Australian grunter--whether as delicious, crisp bacon, or posing as
+aristocratic ham--produces flesh with a flavour fit to set before a
+king.
+
+Away from the river-flats the land becomes undulating and ridgy, and
+well grassed for cattle runs.  In the scrub belts, running back from the
+river and its affluents into the hilly country, are to be found valuable
+timbers, hard and soft; especially that forest noble, the red cedar.
+
+Cattle runs of large extent exist in the back-blocks, formed in the
+early days by that class of men to whom Australia owes so much; the men
+who to-day are vilified by those not worthy to black their boots: the
+hardy, adventurous, courageous, indomitable pioneer, who more often than
+not laid down his life and his fortune in the interest of Colonial
+expansion and occupation.
+
+At intervals along the river-banks are small settlements, dignified by
+the name of townships.  Tareela, the principal village, skirted both
+sides of the river, and was connected by a ferry.  Here were located the
+Government offices for the district, together with the stores, hotels,
+school, etc.
+
+Joe Blain, the minister's son, was the leader of the village lads.  He
+had two pals, who were inseparable from him: Sandy M'Intyre, the
+squatter's son, whose father owned Bullaroi, a cattle station situated a
+few miles from the town, and Tom Hawkins, a farmer's son, the youngest
+of the trio.  These boys gave tone and direction to the fun and frolic
+of the settlement.  Of them it is sufficient to say at present that they
+were not pedestal lads.
+
+At this time a noted bushranger and his mate were raiding the
+settlements.  All police pursuit was futile, owing to the
+resourcefulness of the 'rangers.  They had a keen knowledge of the open
+country and the mountain ranges.  Furthermore, they were generally
+mounted on blood horses, usually "borrowed" from the surrounding station
+studs.
+
+These men had many sympathisers among the lawlessly inclined, and,
+strange to say, among law-abiding settlers. The "bush-telegraph" was an
+institution in those days. Certain friends of the 'rangers kept them
+posted up in the movements of the police, sometimes by word of mouth, at
+others by writings on paper or bark, which were deposited in rock
+crevices or in tree hollows, known only to the initiated.  Sometimes a
+young lad, or even a girl, would ride scores of miles across country to
+give them warning.
+
+The police were not wanting in bush lore or courage, and in the end
+invariably ran their quarry to earth.  But an outlaw often had a long
+career in crime, owing to the aid given, ere he was trapped.  Thanks to
+closer settlement, the advance of education, and the general use of the
+electric telegraph, bushranging has become a matter of history.  The
+species is now to be found only in the stage melodrama, the itinerating
+waxwork show, or embalmed in literature.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER II*
+
+                           *"THE BUSHRANGERS*
+
+
+"_Poins_: Tut! our horses they shall not see.  I'll tie them in the
+wood; our visors we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have
+cases of buckram for the nonce to immask our noted outward garments.
+
+"_Prince_: But I doubt they will be too hard for us."
+
+SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV.
+
+
+After leaving Tom Hawkins, or, to put it more correctly, after Tom had
+paddled away in his punt, Joe Blain proceeded to look up Jimmy Flynn,
+the blacksmith's apprentice, and Yellow Billy, a half-caste youth, whose
+father followed the occupation of a timber-getter in the ranges.  Yellow
+Billy was generally employed as yard boy at the Travellers' Best Inn,
+and a rough time he often had, especially when the timber-getters were
+dissolving their hard-earned gold in alcohol.
+
+One of Billy's duties was to milk the cows and tend the calves.  Among
+the latter was a yearling steer, which he broke in and rode on the
+quiet.  Many an hour's frolic the boys had in the moonlight in riding
+the steer.  This animal had a good slice of the rogue in its
+composition, with a propensity for buck-jumping.  When in a certain mood
+it would be as stubborn as a donkey and as savage as a mule.
+
+After standing, say for some minutes, never budging, in spite of
+thwackings and tail-twistings, it would suddenly take to buck-jumping.
+Oh, my, couldn't it buck!  Woe betide the unlucky rider when it was in
+this mood.  Torn from his hold--a rope round its brisket--one moment
+behold him sprawling over its back, the next whirling through space,
+finally deposited with more force than elegance on the turf.  All this,
+however, was great fun for the boys, who encouraged the brute in its
+bucking moods, each mounting in turns, to lie prone sooner or later on
+mother earth, amid the uproarious laughter of his fellows.
+
+Billy was the exception.  He was a born rider.  Unable to shift him from
+its back, the brute became quite docile in his hands, and kept its
+tricks for the others.
+
+Jimmy and Billy were ready and willing to fill their parts in the bill.
+The former, at "knock off," went out to the town common to round his
+goats, and Billy promised to be ready, "steered," so to speak, by the
+time appointed.
+
+The road fixed upon was the track that led out from the township to a
+large sawmill, distant about six miles.  It was a solitary road, passing
+through a scrub-belt, crossing several minor creeks, threading its way
+over a rocky ridge, winding through a rather wild defile, and ending at
+the mill; the sort of place, indeed, to present numerous opportunities
+for the criminal enterprise on hand.  A spot where one could get "nice
+and creepy," as Joe said to Yellow Billy, much to that young man's
+disquiet.
+
+The plan of campaign was simple enough.  Joe, Tom, and Sandy were to set
+out as soon as possible after sundown and choose their spot for attack;
+while Jimmy was to drive the Royal Billy-goat Mailcart, with Trooper
+Yellow Billy a little in advance, as per custom.
+
+The embryo bushrangers, unfortunately, had only one horse between them;
+the one Sandy rode to school.  Mr. Blain's horse, on which the boys
+counted, was being used by the minister to take him to a moonlight
+service some distance out from the river.  It was settled, therefore,
+that the three boys should bestride Sandy's stout cob, which was well
+able to carry these juvenile desperadoes.
+
+"Mother!" shouted Joe, as he strode into the house in the late
+afternoon, from the wood-pile, where he had been chopping the next day's
+supply, "we're going to have grand fun to-night."
+
+"What sort of fun, my son?"
+
+"Bushranging along the sawmill road.  Can I go mother?  We've got such a
+grand plot."
+
+"Well, I don't mind; but don't be out late."
+
+"S'pose I can have the gun?"
+
+"The g-u-n!"
+
+"Yes, mother.  No need to fear.  It's all play."
+
+"Well, don't load it."
+
+"Only with powder to make a bang."
+
+"I don't like the idea, my boy.  Gun accidents often happen in play.
+You remember Jim Andrews----"
+
+"Oh yes, mother, but that's different!  It was loaded."
+
+In the end, owing to the boy's importunity, Mrs. Blain reluctantly
+consented.
+
+Early tea being duly dispatched, the boys made the necessary
+preparations for their dark deed.  Joe produced a pair of knee-boots,
+the some time property of his father.  He made them fit by sticking rags
+into the toes. He thrust his trousers' legs into the boot-tops, and
+wound a red scarf round his waist, through which he stuck a boomerang
+and nulla-nulla.  A 'possum-skin cap adorned his head.  His final act
+was to fasten on a corn-tassel moustache, and to strap his gun across
+his back.  The broad effect of the costume was to make this youthful
+outlaw a cross, as it were, between Robinson Crusoe and a Greek brigand.
+
+Indeed he quite terrified his two sisters, as he suddenly entered the
+sitting-room to the accompaniment of a blood-curdling yell.  This the
+girls match with a shriek that wakes up the sleeping baby, bringing the
+mother in with a rush.
+
+For a moment Mrs. Blain, seeing Joe in the half-light, thought some
+ruffian had entered.
+
+"It's very thoughtless and wrong of you, Joe, to frighten your sisters.
+I--I--I'm quite angry with you----"
+
+"Very sorry, mater," said Joe, with a serio-comic air.  "I only meant to
+give them a start."
+
+The girls, however, began to laugh, Joe looked such an oddity.  They
+turned the tables on him by quizzing him most unmercifully.  At last our
+young hero was very glad to beat a retreat to the backyard, where he
+found Sandy busy in saddling the horse.
+
+Joe's confederate had roughened himself as much as circumstances
+permitted.  In lieu of a skin cap he tied a big handkerchief round his
+hat, and stuck a couple of turkey-tail feathers through it.  He had
+manufactured a brace of pistols out of short lengths of bamboo, with
+corn-cobs, stuck in bored holes at an angle, to form the stocks. These,
+with a boomerang and nulla-nulla slung at either side, and a short spear
+fixed in his belt at the back and standing over his head, made him in
+appearance more like a red Indian than a Colonial free-booter.
+
+"All ready, Hawkeye?"
+
+"Yes, ole pal.  The mustang is waiting, and the brave will vault into
+the saddle at Thundercloud's word of command," answered Hawkeye in
+bastard Cooperese. Fenimore of that ilk was Sandy's favourite author.
+
+"Hast thou heard the signal of Red Murphy?" said Joe, falling into the
+strain of speech.
+
+"No, Thundercloud.  No sound from our brither of the hither shore hath
+been borne on the wings of the wind across the----"
+
+"Oh, stow that rot, Sand--Hawkeye!  I wonder?----"
+
+"Yon's the cry of the chiel," broke in the would-be brave, as at that
+moment the cooee of Tom Hawkins, alias Red Murphy, rose in the still
+air, faint from the distance, but distinct.
+
+"A single cooee!  Rippin! he's comin'.  Let's mount and wait at the
+landing."
+
+Hardly had the boys reached the river-bank ere Red Murphy appeared,
+attired much as the others, with the addition of an old blunderbuss
+belonging to his father.
+
+"It's all right, boys!  Hurroar!  Dad broke the handle of the
+corn-sheller this evening, and sent me over with it to the blacksmith's.
+I'm to wait till it's mended. Wait a jiff an' I'll be with you," cried
+he, as he ran to the smithy, returning as fast as his legs could bring
+him, with the news that the broken handle could not be repaired under
+three hours owing to other urgent work.
+
+Joe rapidly detailed the plan, informing Tom, at the same time, that his
+name and character were to be that of Red Murphy, one of the
+blood-thirstiest and most rapacious cut-throats in the Colonies.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER III*
+
+                        *A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER*
+
+
+"_Falstaff_: I am a rogue if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of
+them two hours together.  I have 'scaped by miracle. I am eight times
+thrust through the doublet; four through the hose; my buckler cut
+through; my sword hacked like a handsaw _ecce signum_. I never dealt
+better since I was a man; all would not do."--SHAKESPEARE, _Henry IV_.
+
+
+Joe had barely made his explanations before the rumbling of the
+approaching cart was heard.  It was the Royal Mail starting on its
+adventurous trip.
+
+"Time to be off, pals!" cried the leader.  "Now then, Hawkeye, whip 'em
+up."
+
+Off started the trio, Thundercloud, Hawkeye, and Red Murphy; each
+delivering a blood-curdling yell which rang up and down the street, as
+they passed through it at a smart canter.  It had never fallen to the
+lot of horse, before, to bear upon its back at the same time three such
+ferocious outlaws, bent on so diabolical an errand. Behind them, and at
+a slower pace, came the Royal Mail goatcart, drawn by four strong
+billies, skilfully driven by coachman Jimmy, and attended by Trooper
+Billy astride his cud-chewing steed.
+
+After leaving the township the road skirted the river for a mile or so,
+then, crossing a plank bridge, bore away to the hills.  The silver moon
+shone from the clear sky through the pure air, making the tree shadows
+as they lay across the road to resemble fallen timber.  The nocturnal
+'possum, having ventured to the ground to feed upon the tender grass,
+scudded up the trees, frightened by the rumbling vehicle and the baaing
+steeds.  The thud of paddy-melon[#] and wallaby could be distinctly
+heard, as they smote the earth in their jumping movements; while from
+the heights of some lofty tree the mopoke[#] tolled his mournful cry.
+
+
+[#] "Paddy-melon," a small marsupial or pouch-bearing mammal.
+
+[#] "Mopoke," the Australian crested goat-sucker.
+
+
+The coach had now passed the three-mile creek, and still there was no
+sound of disturbing element.  The coachman and trooper, having
+intelligence to the effect that the 'rangers were "out," and had
+threatened to "stick" up the gold-escort, were on the _qui vive_.  They
+surmised that the attack would come in the scrub-belt, and about the
+spot where the creek intersected.  Here the tall, overhanging trees,
+interlaced as they were with a thick vinous growth, effectually barred
+the moon's rays.
+
+It was the ideal spot for ambush, and the hearts of the boys beat
+faster, and a nervous apprehension amounting to fear seized them, as
+they passed among the shadows. Everything had a distorted appearance,
+and again and again they trembled, as it were, on the verge of attack.
+They had chatted freely until the darkness of the scrub closed in upon
+them.  Under its oppression, and by reason of the dread uncertainty,
+what had before seemed to be only a prime lark now presented itself as a
+grim reality.
+
+They drove on slowly now, conversing only in whispers, for the night
+silences, the deepening shadows, and the unseen before them, all
+contributed to the mental mood which affected the boys.  The creek banks
+and bed, save for a solitary moon-ray which silvered the rippling water,
+were enwrapped in thick darkness.  Pulling up at the brink, the boys
+held a short conversation.
+
+"Goin' ter cross, Jimmy?"
+
+"I--I--s'pose so, Billy.  Measly black ahead, ain't it?"
+
+"You're not frightened, are you?"
+
+"Wot! me?  No fear!  Y'are yourself!"
+
+"I like that!  Wot's to be frightened of?"
+
+Yet the boys, if truth be told, were a good deal alarmed by the unwonted
+darkness and stillness.
+
+"Well, s'pose we'd better be gettin' on.  Don't care how soon we git
+outer this hole.  You cross ahead, Billy, an' do a bit o' scoutin'.
+I'll wait here till you git up the bank on the other side."
+
+Yellow Billy didn't like the prospect, and would have proposed turning
+back, but was afraid of being called a coward.  Therefore, despite an
+apprehension of the darkness, accentuated by his aboriginal strain, and
+very much against his will, the half-caste plunged down the creek bed,
+and mounted the other side without let or hindrance, greatly to his
+surprise and relief.
+
+But where are the 'rangers?
+
+Of them the darkness gave no token and the silence is unbroken.  Jimmy
+had some difficulty in getting his leaders to tackle the creek.  It was
+only after he left the cart, seized their heads, and half-dragged them
+into the water that he effected his purpose.  The scrub thinned out
+shortly after passing the creek, and the spirits of the boys rose with
+the increasing moonlight.
+
+"They missed a grand charnce at the crick, Billy!"
+
+"By dad, they did that!  I wonder where they are. P'raps they've given
+us the slip."
+
+The road took a sudden turn just here, leading over a rocky ridge.  At a
+farther sharp turn, under the lee of a bank, a big log lay across the
+road.
+
+"Hello, here's a go, Jimmy!  You'll have to drive round.  No! you can't
+do that.  Wait a moment an' I'll----"
+
+"Bail up!"
+
+The cry, crisp and startling, rang out, as three figures darted from the
+shadow of a huge tree which stood near. Thundercloud, the leader of the
+band of bushrangers, pointed his gun at the driver.  Hawkeye made a dash
+at the trooper, while Red Murphy seized hold of the leading billies.
+
+"Hands up!" cried Thundercloud in the highest style of bushranging.
+"Your money or your life!"
+
+Trooper Billy was not disposed to yield without a struggle, and at the
+first cry he whipped out his pistol, firing at his aggressor point
+blank, missing the leader but hitting his confederate, Hawkeye, who
+tumbled down with a loud squeal, as unlike an Indian war-whoop as it is
+possible to imagine.  Simultaneously, Thundercloud discharged his gun at
+Jimmy the coachman, who, instead of putting his hands up at the
+challenge, began to lash the billies, and had just turned them off the
+log, when--pop, crash! went the two weapons.
+
+And now the unforeseen occurred.  The steer and the billies bolted!
+Down the ridge and along the road they dashed at breakneck speed; the
+steer roaring and kicking, the four strong billies baaing, and neither
+driver nor rider could control the brutes.  Away they scurried along the
+rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over the ruts; every jump
+of the trap bringing a fresh bleat from the fear-stricken goats.
+
+After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his steed unmanageable,
+getting frightened too, Yellow Billy slipped over the stern, and by good
+luck dropped upon his feet.  It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly
+hung on to the billies.  The creek was what he most feared, and it was
+very close now.  He had, however, got a pull on the beasts, and they
+were slackening a little, but, as ill-luck would have it, on going down
+a gully one of the wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized
+the cart, sending the driver head over heels into a clump of bracken.
+
+The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who rushed on baaing;
+dashing at length down the steep incline of the creek, the cart righted
+itself as it tumbled adown the gradient.  They tore over the stream and
+up the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up in the
+scrub.
+
+After lying in a stunned condition for a few minutes, Jimmy scrambled
+up.  But the moment he put his weight on his right foot he let out a
+yell, caused by the terrific pain that shot through his ankle.  It was
+unbearable, and he tumbled down in an almost fainting condition.
+
+Meanwhile the outlaws stood aghast at the unexpected and startling turn
+of events.  Thundercloud was the first to recover his speech.
+
+"Great Caesar! who would have dreamt of a bolt? Just listen to the
+brutes!" as the animals tore along, baaing and roaring in a way possible
+only to frightened billies and calves.
+
+"I--I--didn't know he'd loaded his pistol.  I--I--I thought for sure I
+was a goon coon," gasped Hawkeye, who, after lying for a minute under
+the impression that he was mortally wounded, got up, rubbing his face
+and head, half terrified as his hands became wet with flowing blood, and
+only reassured after Joe had declared that the blood was from his nose.
+As a matter of fact, he had sustained a smart blow upon his prominent
+feature with the pistol wad; his cheeks, also, were scorched with the
+powder flare.
+
+Red Murphy, who had just grasped the billies' heads when the guns were
+fired, was thrown down in their mad rush, and had his shins severely
+barked on the rocky ground.
+
+"Drat the brutes!  Oh, I say, here's a go!  Listen to the beggars!
+Ain't they footin' it?"
+
+"To horse! to horse, pals!" cried Thundercloud, making hasty strides to
+a patch of scrub where they had tied up the horse.  In a few seconds the
+three were mounted and away with a swinging canter, adding their yells
+to the cries of the beasts.  They were soon up to the spot where Jimmy
+had come to grief, when, thundering down the gully, the horse made a shy
+at the prostrate coachman, shooting off Thundercloud and Red Murphy.
+They scrambled up quickly, none the worse for their spill. Hawkeye
+immediately reined in his steed and rejoined his dismounted companions.
+
+The boys were greatly concerned to find Jimmy in this condition.  The
+affair began to assume a serious aspect. They were no longer outlaws and
+police: they were pals, and Jimmy was suffering intense pain from his
+sprained ankle.  After a short consultation the boy was placed on the
+horse, which was led by Sandy.  The others followed behind, making a
+somewhat mournful spectacle.  In due course they reached the goatcart,
+now in possession of Yellow Billy, who had disentangled the team and was
+waiting for the others to come along.  The steer meanwhile continued his
+career at headlong speed, until he pulled up at the milking yards in an
+exhausted condition. Mrs. Blain, as the hours sped by, began to get
+concerned at the non-return of the boys.  Concern deepened into anxiety.
+She became a prey to evil imaginings, as do all our dear mothers.  They
+are lost! ... Some dreadful accident has happened! ... That gun! ...
+Their legs, arms, necks, are broken!  And so on and on, running over the
+whole gamut of catastrophy.
+
+She goes out to scan the streets, and listens with strained ears for
+some enheartening sound of footsteps. Lights are out in the village.
+Even the dogs are sleeping. No shuffle of advancing feet; no rattle of
+wheels as they grind in the ruts: no sound, indeed, is borne upon the
+night wind save the mystic noises of the flowing river, which fill the
+air with a deep undertone.  Above this, at intervals, come the splashing
+sounds of the jumping fish; the smooth splash of the falling mullet, the
+tail flutter of the rising perch.  The wood-duck's soft quack-quack, and
+the red-bill's chuckle, are to be heard as they move among the sedges.
+No landward sound!
+
+Stay! a dark shadow swiftly steals along the earth like a spirit of evil
+omen, and passes through the house, across the street, as it strikes the
+walls.  While from above comes a wail as that of a lost soul.
+
+The poor woman quivers and shivers at the unwonted sight and sound.  She
+knows not that the apparition is the shadow of a black swan, which is
+sailing high up in the heavens; it crosses the moon, and utters its
+melancholy note as it wings its flight to the feeding grounds.  The
+mother is now on the outskirts of the town, under the shadows of the
+trees.  Every leaf is a tongue; every tongue whispers--Something! which
+dries the throat and fills the ears with heart-thumps.  "Why did I? ...
+That gun! ... What will father? ... Why don't they come? ... Which
+track? ... Hark!  Yes, 'tis the galloping hoofs ... Oh, God! it is the
+steer! ... Riderless! ... This way, then....  On, on, on! ... At last!
+..."
+
+"Cheer up, mother ... no harm done ... Jimmy had a bit of a buster an'
+sprained his ankle....  Scold us, mother, but--don't cry!"
+
+The hour is verging on midnight as five weary lads, four billies, one
+horse, and one thankful woman straggled into the silent township.  All
+romance, for the moment, had gone out of bushranging.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IV*
+
+                           *THE GREAT MATCH*
+
+
+    "God bless the grilling days of cricket!
+    They're gone but I shall bless them ever,
+    For good it is to guard a wicket
+    By sudden wrist and big endeavour."
+      NORMAN GALE.
+
+    "There's a breathless hush in the close to night,
+    Ten to make and the match to win,
+    A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
+    An hour to play and the last man in."
+      HENRY NEWBOLT.
+
+
+"Hawkins, stand out!"
+
+"Please, sir, I wasn't doin' nothin'!"
+
+"No, you wasn't doin' nothin', but you have been talking all morning,
+you tiresome boy!  Write out 'disobedient' three hundred times after
+school."
+
+The fact is, Tom was relating the bushranging episode to a schoolmate,
+and, like Tom Sawyer, he "laid over" considerably in his recital.  While
+in the act of enlarging he was brought to book in this peremptory
+fashion by the master, and had to do penance with as little relish as
+most boys.
+
+"Sorry you can't come out and play, Tom," said Joe Blain, poking his
+head into the empty schoolhouse after dismissal.
+
+"It's a beastly shame!  What are you fellows up to?"
+
+"Goin' to practise for the Dingdongla match.  After that we'll have a
+swim."
+
+"Oh, rot it!" grunted the chagrined prisoner.
+
+"Say, Tom, don't forget to come along to-night an' help pick the team."
+
+"I'll be there, never fret."
+
+"Well, so-long.  Wire in, and keep your pecker up."
+
+Dingdongla was an up-river settlement; Tareela a down-river town.  The
+latter named was the older and more substantial place, being the
+headquarters of the shipping.  As a consequence it was instinct with the
+superior air generally to be met with in places of metropolitan
+pretensions.  In schools, too, the down-river town had the advantage.
+Its school building was of sawn timber, with a shingle roof.
+Furthermore, it possessed two teachers, and pine desks.  While, on the
+other hand, the up-river academy was constructed of roughly adzed slabs
+and a bark roof.
+
+For the Dingdonglas to be thrashed in cricket by the Tareelians was not
+considered to be a disgrace.  _Per contra_, their victory was a splendid
+achievement, and a great humiliation to their opponents.  The latter was
+fairly beaten by the former last season, and naught would restore their
+prestige save the administration of an unmitigated licking.  So, at
+least, thought the match Committee, as they conned names, and analysed
+the merits of the candidates on the name list.
+
+Needless to say, Joe, Tom, and Sandy headed the list of certainties.
+Yellow Billy came next; for though a very irregular attendant at school,
+he was a tremendous swiper when he got his eye in.  Billy had dragged
+more than one match out of the fire.
+
+
+Saturday morning broke fair.  Shortly after an early breakfast a
+cavalcade of about twenty youthful horsemen, followed by two teachers in
+a gig, were scampering along the bush road to Dingdongla, distant about
+nine miles up the river.  Oh, the merry, merry days of youth!  Those are
+the days of the superlative mood.
+
+It was a merry, roaring, romping, racing crowd of youngsters that tore
+along the bush track.  They jumped fallen timber and gullies; chased the
+flying marsupial; and spurted in couples for short lengths.  There were
+minor accidents, 'tis true.  Pincher Putnan's horse, in a fit of
+pig-jumping, broke a girth, sending Pincher and saddle to mother earth.
+Yellow Billy's half-broken brumby fairly bolted in a race, cleared off
+the road, and rushed through a belt of timber at breakneck speed,
+towards his native haunts in the Nulla ranges.  It was only the superb
+horsemanship of the half-caste that saved him from being dashed against
+the trees in the headlong flight.
+
+In due time Dingdongla is reached.  The horses are turned out in a maize
+stubble paddock, where is a fine picking, and the boys stroll on to the
+ground to have a look at the pitch.
+
+"Whatyer think of the pitch, Joe?"
+
+"You'll have to keep your eye skinned for shooters Rody.  The ball'll
+keep very low.  Must keep a straight bat and forward play."
+
+The stumps, like much of the material, were home-made. The Dingdonglas
+had only one "spring handle"; the others were chopped out of beech
+boards.  The Tareelians were not much better off for material.  They, it
+is true, had two "spring handles,"--more or less battered,--and could
+boast a pair of wicket gloves, but for the rest were like their
+opponents, sans leggings and gloves. That, however, was a small item;
+for every boy who possessed boots doffed them, rolling his trouser legs
+to the knees and his shirt sleeves to the elbows.
+
+"Got all your men, Wilson?" said Joe to the Dingdonglas' captain.
+
+"Yes, they're all here.  May as well toss for innin's, Joe."
+
+"Right you are," responds Joe, ejecting a jet of saliva on a piece of
+flat wood.  "Shall I toss, or you?"
+
+"You toss, Joe."
+
+"Call you!" cried Blain, tossing the board with a twirl skywards.  "Wet
+or dry?"
+
+"Wet!" called Wilson, as the wood spun in the air.
+
+"Dry!" exclaimed Joe, as it lay on the ground with its dry side
+uppermost.  "We've won, and go in."
+
+"Tom," said he a moment later, "you and Yellow Billy go in first, an'
+you take the strike."
+
+The batsmen were soon in their places, and the Dingdongs in the field.
+The innings opened fairly well for the Tareelians.  Yellow Billy got
+quickly to work, and laid on the wood to some purpose; Tom playing
+carefully the while.
+
+Facing the Dingdonglas' swift bowler, after a smart short-hit run Billy
+sent a well-pitched ball for four, a rattling, straight-hit drive.  But
+in trying to repeat the stroke off the next ball he misjudged, and,
+skying the sphere, was easily caught.
+
+"One wicket for twenty!" of which the half-caste contributed fifteen.
+
+After this the troubles of the batsmen set in.  The Dingdongs were
+strong in bowling talent, and possessed a local Spofforth, whose
+lightning deliveries shot and kicked in a marvellous fashion.  Joe,
+going in fifth man, stayed the "rot" for a while, but was foolishly run
+out by his mate.
+
+The Tareelians were all out in an hour for the small total of
+forty-seven.  If the down-river boys were despondent over this score,
+the up-rivers were correspondingly jubilant.  Going to the wickets with
+plenty of confidence, they rattled up ninety-nine before the last wicket
+fell; the captain carrying out his bat for a well-earned forty-two.
+
+Adjournment for lunch was now made.  We call it lunch by courtesy.  It
+was a big bush feed.  This repast was served in the schoolhouse, the
+rough desks being converted into tables, which were literally covered
+with good things.
+
+The Dingdonglas' mothers were determined that, whoever won, the boys of
+both sides should have a rippin' feed. A stuffed sucking-pig, whose
+savoury odour filled the room, lay at one end.  Roast wild duck and a
+cold pigeon-pie balanced it at the other.  An immense round of spiced
+beef, standing in the centre of the long table, seemed to say: "You may
+cut and come again."  Potatoes and pumpkins smoked in big tin bowls, and
+all the available space was filled with cakes, puddings, and pies.
+Needless to say, the onslaught was terrific. They were all sloggers at
+tuck.  Meats, puddings, cakes, tea, and ginger-beer disappeared like
+magic.
+
+All good things mundane, however, come to an end; especially when the
+good thing happens to be a dinner. And now, after divers whisperings and
+nudgings, up stood Captain Joe, amid the cheers of his side.
+
+Joe was silent a moment, nervously looking up and down the board, and
+heartily wishing himself at the bottom of the deep blue sea.  "Mr.
+Chairman" (addressing the local schoolmaster), "I--we--that is--us
+fellows from Tareela asked me to tell you--I mean to say,
+that--that--that--a--it gives us much pleasure--er--er--oh, hang it
+all!--I--I mean--er--this is the jolliest blow in the way of tuck we've
+ever had."  Joe subsided to the rattle of the knives on the bare board.
+As soon as the noise ceased, Tom Hawkins jumped up and called: "Three
+cheers for the Dingdonglas!" which were heartily given.
+
+Half an hour's lounge, and the battle began afresh.
+
+"We've got fifty-two to wipe out before we start even, boys.  We can do
+it, and score plenty more to win the game, if we keep our heads.
+Anyway, we must have a big try.  Billy an' I'll go in first; Tom next,
+and then Pincher.  The order of the rest of you depends on the way
+things turn out."
+
+"Look here, Billy," continued the captain, as the two batsmen walked to
+the wickets.  "They've got two slashing bowlers, but if we can manage to
+knock 'em out they've no one else of much account.  Get your eye well in
+before you do any slogging."
+
+"All right, Joe!  Do me best."
+
+"Your best means steady play and a big score.  I'll take the strike."
+
+If Joe was nervous in public speech it was not observable in action.  He
+played Ginger Smith's fast deliveries with confidence, punishing the
+loose balls and blocking the straight ones.  Billy, too, was playing
+with unwonted caution, and the score, though slowly, was surely mounting
+up; until after half an hour's play it stood at twenty-five, with no
+wickets down.  There were no boundaries, and every hit was run out.
+
+"Oh, glory, what a swipe!"
+
+Yellow Billy had got hold of one of Ginger's leg balls with a mighty
+lunge.  The ball seemed as if it would go on for ever, and finally
+rolled into a gutter.  They ran six for it.
+
+There was great cheering among the Tareelians. Mr. Simpson, who umpired,
+forgot for a moment his impartial office.  Flinging his hat into the
+air, he cried, "Bravo, Billy!"
+
+"Thirty-one an' none out.  Only twenty-one to get level!"
+
+The boys were now scoring faster; singles, twos, threes were coming with
+great rapidity.  Joe made his first four, a sweet, square cut.
+
+"Forty-nine an' no wickets down!"
+
+Joe faced the new bowler.  The local demon had begun to bowl wildly, and
+was relieved.
+
+"They'll never bowl them!" cried young Ben Wilde, as Joe took block for
+the new-comer--a lad with a reputation for slow left-hand twisters.  The
+first ball was pitched on the leg stump; just the ball for Joe's
+favourite leg glance.
+
+It went for two.
+
+"Only one to make us even!" shouted Tom to his captain.  The second ball
+was pitched in exactly the same spot, and Joe proceeded to treat it in
+the same fashion.  The sphere, however, had a little more twist on it
+than its predecessor, and, breaking on to the left bail, flicked it off.
+
+There was a great chorus of disappointment among the Tareelians, and
+hearty cheers from their opponents, as the captain's wicket fell.  His
+twenty-one, got by true cricket, was worth twice that number by reason
+of the spirit of confidence he had infused.
+
+Billy and Tom carried the score to seventy-three, when the latter was
+caught for ten.  Pincher fell a victim to a very simple ball from an
+under-hand lob bowler, after making seven.  Sandy gave the bowlers some
+trouble, and got into double figures before he retired.  All this while
+Billy was scoring well, and, when Sandy's wicket fell, had made fifty
+runs.  All the boys scored less or more; and when the innings closed had
+compiled a total of one hundred and thirty-seven, of which Billy made
+seventy-one and not out.  This was a grand achievement, and the
+half-caste was carried off the ground amid great applause.
+
+This left the Dingdongs eighty-six runs to win, which they failed to do
+by seventeen runs, Sleepy Sam stumping no less than three off young
+Ben's slow lobs.
+
+There was great cheering as the victorious cricketers rode in the dusk
+of the evening through the main street of Tareela, after a grand day's
+fun.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER V*
+
+                            *THE BIG FLOOD*
+
+
+    "The day is cold and dark and dreary;
+    It rains, and the wind is never weary;
+    The vine still clings to the mouldering wall;
+    But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
+      And the day is dark and dreary."
+        LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+Drip, drip, drip!
+
+Croak, croak, c-r-o-a-k!
+
+Quack-quack, quack-quack!
+
+"Heigho!" grunted Tom Hawkins, as he turned over sleepily in bed.  "Is
+it ever goin' to stop rainin'?"
+
+For some days a steady rain had been falling, soaking the ground.  Every
+gully was a rivulet, and every depression a lake.
+
+"Tom!" cried a feminine voice from an interior room. "Get up!"
+
+"Bother those frogs an' ducks!" muttered the lad, full of sleep in the
+grey of the early morning.  "Like ter choke 'em! waking fler----"
+
+"Tom!" cried a masculine voice, as a hand rattled the door of the lad's
+bedroom, and a boot gave a drum-like accompaniment on the lower panel.
+"Git up this minit an' run the cows in, or I'll----"
+
+But Tom had jumped out of bed as nimbly as one of the frogs, between
+whose croak and his father's bass voice he seemed unable, in his sleepy
+condition, to discriminate.
+
+"All right, father!  I'm dressing," shouted Tom, as the word "dowsing"
+fell on his ear.  There had been times in master Tom's past when a
+sudden application of cold water was deemed necessary to expedite his
+slow movements.
+
+"Dad's too mighty smart!  Thought I'd nick him with that button,"
+growled Tom, as he stuck his legs into his pants; said button being an
+iron tee snip, fastened so as to act as a bolt.
+
+"Jemima!  ain't it dark!  Must be very early," muttered the reluctant
+boy, as he strove to lace his boots. "Drat it!  Shan't wear 'em; too
+wet."
+
+"My crikey!" cried he as he stood outside.  "Must have been rainin' cats
+an' dogs, an' lakes an' seas."
+
+His moleskins were rolled up to his thighs, while a cornsack, hooded at
+the bottom, and stuck on to his head like a nun's veil, gave him fair
+protection from the driving showers.
+
+"I wonder if it's goin' to be a flood?"  The thought was not unpleasant
+to the lad.  It produced, indeed, a certain exaltation of spirits,
+forcibly expressed in Tom's vernacular by, "Ge-willikins! but won't we
+have fun!"
+
+Heavily laden clouds, in interminable succession, were drifting from the
+sea, forming, as they swung overhead in batches, an endless series of
+smart showers.  It had been an exceptionally wet week, and for the
+preceding twenty-four hours had rained without ceasing.
+
+The cows depastured in a paddock that ran back from a creek to the
+timbered country.  The creek itself was bank high and running strongly.
+It was only by climbing along the branches of a dead limb, which spanned
+the water, that Tom managed to reach the kine.
+
+It was no small task to get them to face the stream. Small as was the
+creek in width, it was deep enough to make a swim, and the roaring,
+turbid, and muddy stream frightened the creatures.  But for the fact
+that the calves were in a pen at the milking yard all Tom's efforts
+would have been futile.  Their mooing and baaing, however, made a loud
+appeal to the maternal breast. Finally, when the old red poley, the
+mother of twins, made a plunge, the rest followed.
+
+During the morning the river rose steadily, and large quantities of
+drift-wood passed down the stream.  With the rubbish was a good deal of
+heavy timber, and--what Tom had predicted--pumpkins.  This was an
+indication that the river up-stream had overflowed its banks in places,
+and was sweeping the low-lying farm lands.  Tom spent the morning in
+fishing out the floating vegetables that came within reach of his hooked
+pole.  Meanwhile the rain continued, and looked as though it might last
+for forty days and nights.
+
+"I'll pull over to the township this afternoon," remarked Mr. Hawkins at
+the midday meal.  "I'm anxious about this rise.  Looks as if we're goin'
+to have an old man flood.  Might get some information about the state of
+things up-river.  If I leave it till to-morrow 'twill be a tough job
+gettin' acrost, as the timber's comin' down pretty thick now, an'll be
+worse by an' by."
+
+"Be sure'n bring tea and flour back with you.  No knowing how long the
+rise'll last."
+
+"Can I go with you, father?"
+
+"Yes; I'll require you to steer.  It'll be a pretty stiff job, I
+reckon."
+
+The crossing was not without peril.  The current ran fierce and strong.
+The landing-place on the other side was protected, in a measure, by a
+headland up-stream. Out from the influence of that, however, the boatmen
+felt the full force of the current.  The water seethed and foamed.  The
+violence of its rush created great whirlpools, which accentuated the
+difficulty of keeping the boat's head up-stream.  Logs and driftwood
+patches had to be dodged, and, what with fighting the current and
+outflanking the timber, by the time the river was crossed the boat had
+drifted quite half a mile down-stream.  On gaining the other side they
+found a shore eddy, in which they were able to paddle up-stream with
+ease, until they came to a point of land about two hundred yards below
+the town wharf.  As they lost the eddy here, and would have to encounter
+the full force of the flood when round the point, Mr. Hawkins wisely
+determined to tie up the boat in the slack water.
+
+When Hawkins arrived at the store, where many of the townsfolk had
+congregated, he was informed that news had been brought down by the
+mailman that morning to the effect that heavy rains were falling at the
+head of the river, and that when the New England waters came down in
+full force the river might rise to the "high flood" marks.
+
+Cooees could now be heard from the settlers in the low-lying portions,
+adjacent to the township.  They proceeded from those who had neglected
+to move before being surrounded, and who were without boats.  The police
+were busily engaged in rescuing families by boat. Many townsfolk were
+engaged on the same merciful errand.
+
+All through the day the waters, fed by the flooded creeks, continued to
+rise, and as evening approached anxiety deepened.  Things were so
+serious that Mr. Hawkins, whose farm, be it said, was situated on
+comparatively low-lying lands, acting upon the advice of his friends,
+returned home almost at once.  After hoisting the most valuable of his
+possessions to the rafters, and securing them there, he returned to the
+township with his family; gaining it as dusk was deepening into dark.
+The family was distributed among neighbours, Tom and one of his sisters
+being quartered at Mr. Blain's.
+
+A group of men and boys throughout the day had lined the bank of the
+river, in the vicinity of the Government wharf, which was submerged.
+They were engaged in gauging its rate of advance by pine laths scaled to
+inches.
+
+Towards evening the wind, veering from east to south-east, increased in
+violence.  Laden with torrential showers, it smote the earth in great
+gusts, streaming through roofs and walls, and taxing the ingenuity of
+housekeepers to find dry spots for beds.
+
+The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite directions, conflicted
+with great violence.  The roaring, boastful wind, as it lashed the
+racing, defiant waters into angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds
+of the seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with and
+overbore all opposing forces, made storm music, compared with which the
+artifices of man touch the infinitely puny.  Darkness and the blinding
+rain had driven most of the river watchers indoors.  A few, however,
+braved the elements, among them the minister and the lads.
+
+Whatever effect the flood may have had on others, the dominant feeling
+in Mr. Blain's mind was that of solicitude. As the rain continued, deep
+concern merged into alarm. There were few on the river who knew as
+intimately as he the general havoc of a flood.  The executive head of
+the Flood-relief Committee for many years, he had been the chief
+instrument in administering doles to flood victims.  In many cases the
+utmost relief was as a drop of succour in the ocean of need.
+
+"If the rise continues for another twenty-four hours, as it is doing
+now, it will beat the 'sixty-four flood, and, if so, God help our
+down-river friends," remarked the minister after examining Joe's gauge
+by the aid of a lantern.
+
+The '64 flood was the highest known to white men up to the present.  The
+settlers still retained a vivid recollection of its disastrous effects.
+Luckily, the township covered a piece of high ground, and though the low
+parts were covered in a moderate flood, the higher portions were some
+feet above the highest flood-mark.  It was in the farming settlements
+that danger lurked.
+
+"If this yere flood beats 'sixty-four, it'll be as you say, Parson;
+good-bye to many up-river an' down-river folk."
+
+Mr. Blain's words had impressed both men and boys. Suddenly Joe, who was
+in the midst of the group, sang out lustily--
+
+"Hurrah! wind's changed!"
+
+"What's that?" shouted back Mr. Blain excitedly.
+
+"Don't you feel it?" cried the boy, as he swung his arms windmill
+fashion.
+
+"Yes; thank God!  The lad's right," continued he. "The wind's chopping.
+Don't you feel it, men? Ah! there's a decided puff from the north-east."
+
+"Take my word for it," said the ferryman, an old sailor, "the wind'll be
+blowing west afore morning."
+
+"Pray God it may!" ejaculated the minister, and many a silent prayer was
+uttered.
+
+"Now, boys, let us return home.  We can do no good standing here.  We'll
+come back in an hour or so."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Tom, as the boys splashed through the water on their
+way home.  Laying his hand on Joe's shoulder, he cried, "Do you hear
+that?"
+
+"Don't hear anything but the roar of the river," replied Joe, as he
+stood in a listening attitude.  "What was it?"
+
+"Hark! there it is again.  A cooee.  Seems to come from up the river,
+near the Bend.  Some un's in trouble."
+
+"Now, boys, make haste and get in out of the rain," cried Mr. Blain, who
+had hurried along.
+
+"Some one's crying out for help at the Bend," shouted Joe.
+
+The minister paused on hearing this.  A moment later the cry came out of
+the night: faint, because of the distance and the turmoil of sounds, yet
+clear and convincing.
+
+"Great God! some poor soul in dire straits, and no help possible before
+morning!"
+
+It would have been worse than madness to attempt any rescue till
+daylight.  To traverse the flood, even in daytime, anywhere near the
+Bend, were a hazardous experiment, owing to the enormous vortices caused
+by the current striking a high bluff on the near side, at the elbow.
+The waters whirled like a merry-go-round under full steam, and boiled
+with an upward heave, in a fashion similar to the mud springs of
+Tiketere.  None but the stoutest boat and most experienced rowers could
+dodge these seething cauldrons, which caught into their cold and cruel
+embrace trees, fencing, stock; anything material, in fact.  The heaviest
+logs and tree-lengths were as wisps of straw under the influence of the
+mighty suction.  To attempt the traverse at night were as foolhardy and
+impossible as that of shooting Niagara in an open boat.
+
+A little group stood with the Blains, listening to the weird cry.
+
+"Who d'yer think it c'd be, sir?" said one of the men, turning to the
+minister.
+
+"Not any of the Bend families.  We had word this afternoon saying that
+they had retreated to the high land before the waters reached them.  God
+help the poor soul, whoever it is, for vain is the help of man!"
+
+Throughout the live-long night the cry went up at intervals, like that
+of the minute-gun of a distressed vessel.  Shortly before daybreak it
+ceased.
+
+No man or woman in the township slept that night. A strict watch was
+kept on the river, so as to be ready for any emergency.  The waters
+continued to advance, but at a much slower rate.  Men and women
+cudgelled their brains to individualise the wailing cry.  Most were
+agreed that it was a woman's cry, though some held it to be that of a
+child.  Sometimes the voice was ghoulish, and made the flesh to creep
+and the heart to flutter. Then an intensely human note would prevail,
+full of anguish and terror, and women wept and stopped their ears, while
+strong men choked in the throat.
+
+They would go out at intervals and send back a heartening cry; it was
+all that could be done.  There were many others throughout that fearful
+night who were engulfed in the flood, in various parts of the river,
+and, swan-like, wailed their death-song in the wild waste.
+
+Shortly after midnight the rain ceased, and the wind, which had been
+chopping and changing for the past few hours, settled finally in the
+west.  This proved a conspicuous advantage.  It no longer checked the
+flood-waters as when in the east, and there was now good hope that they
+would recede ere long, as the rise was almost imperceptible.
+
+[Illustration: "Suddenly the Forest Monarch topples, lurches, staggers
+and falls with mighty crash."--_See p._ 43.]
+
+When day had dawned a wild, weird scene was revealed. The town had
+become an island.  On all sides the flood-waters stretched out, covering
+gardens and farms, and completely blotting out the fair landscape.  On
+the riverside the turgid stream tore along in its hurry, bearing on its
+dirty, foam-crested bosom, as its spoils, the household gods, farm
+stock, and produce of many a settler. Horses, cattle, pigs, goats, dogs,
+fowls: these, swept off by the encroaching waters, and carried over
+fences into the stream, struggled, vainly for the most part, in the
+rapid, death-dealing current.  Haystacks, barns, wood-frame buildings
+intact, floated in the torrential waters, sooner or later crashing into
+the great trees that bore down-stream, making utter shipwreck.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER VI*
+
+                      *ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS*
+
+
+"The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
+voice; the floods lift up their waves."--Ps. xciii. 3.
+
+
+"Where's the dad, girls?" shouted Joe Blain early in the morning, after
+the events recorded in the previous chapter, dashing into the room as he
+yelled.
+
+"Here!" came a voice from the back verandah. Running to the spot
+indicated by the monosyllable, the lad in breathless accents delivered
+himself to his paternal relative in this fashion--
+
+"Please, dad, can Tom, Billy, Jimmy, and I have the boat to paddle out
+on the back-water?"
+
+"Um--er--well, as long as you keep in the slack water I suppose you may;
+but be very careful, my boy."
+
+"Yes, dad; we'll be careful enough.  It's all slack water you know,
+'cept where the river water comes in; but that's a long way up, an'
+we'll be paddlin' mostly about this end of the slack."
+
+An explanation is needed here in order that the reader may intelligently
+follow the course of events (some of them dramatic enough, and even
+tragic) which transpired in the course of this eventful cruise.
+
+It has already been stated that the flood waters so surrounded Tareela
+as to convert the township into an island.  It was so practically.
+Accurately speaking it formed a peninsula, with the narrowest of necks.
+On the river side there was a broad expanse of boiling, foaming,
+hurrying waters, narrowing here and there, where the banks rose above
+their usual height, but stretching far and wide where the river-flats
+intervened; sometimes touching the horizon, as it were.  On the other
+side lay a body of water, as far removed from motion as the tumultuous
+stream was instinct with it.  There it lay, a wide extent of placid,
+coffee-coloured water, broken at its surface by fence tops, belts of
+trees, and partially submerged houses.  This great stretch was almost
+currentless, and the debris that floated on its bosom appeared
+stationary; though, as a matter of fact, there was a slight outward
+drift.
+
+The secret of its placidity lay in the fact that the river waters, when
+they reached a certain height, backed up a blind gully that ran almost
+parallel with the stream for some distance, then swerved from the river,
+and widened out till it became a depression of considerable magnitude.
+This, in turn, merged into a swamp, contiguous to the township on its
+western side.  Low-lying and occupied lands surrounded the swamp for
+some distance.  The town end of these flats, which the river water
+backing up through the gully had submerged, making a long reach of
+stagnant waters, formed the area of the boys' row.
+
+The minister's boat was a light yet staunchly built vessel, and belonged
+to the skiff variety.  Her capabilities were to be put to the utmost
+test.  Several of the town boats were moving on the face of the still
+waters, their occupants busily engaged in capturing the flotsam.  The
+owners of houses, in particular, were anxiously conning their submerged
+property, or gathering together floating domestic articles.  In this way
+a good deal of house property was recovered.
+
+The boys found enjoyment in the novelty of the cruise. They pulled two
+oars, taking turns at the rowing.  Of the non-rowers, one acted as
+steersman and the other as bowman for the capture of the flood spoils.
+Several melons and pumpkins were picked up, but they were not troubling
+about these.  For one reason, they did not want to be encumbered with
+spoil of that kind, and for another they were keen on pulling about the
+flooded houses. Their chief and most interesting rescue was a cat and
+two kittens, which had found an ark of refuge on a barn door.
+
+"I say, boys, we'll have a go at these oranges," said Joe, who was
+steering, as they were passing a small orangery which was half
+submerged.  This proposal received hearty and unanimous assent.
+Accordingly Joe selected the most promising tree, and deftly ran
+alongside its outer branches.
+
+"Look out for snakes!" cried he.
+
+There was abundant cause for warning, for each tree contained a number
+of serpents, some of which are very deadly.  These reptiles were flooded
+out of their holes in the ground, and from hollow logs and stumps, and
+made for the trees or any floating timber that offered refuge.
+Fortunately the snakes were more or less benumbed with the cold,
+consequently they were the reverse of lively. Had it been otherwise, to
+have made fast to the tree would have been foolhardy to a degree.
+
+Agreeably to Joe's warning, every eye was skinned and on the look out.
+Indeed, the tree was fairly swarming with snakes of many sorts and
+sizes; though for the most part they consisted of "tree" and "carpet"
+varieties; one of the latter, lying across the top, being fully ten feet
+in length.  These two mentioned varieties are not venomous. The farmers,
+for the most part, look with a friendly eye upon the carpet species; so
+called by reason of its tawny and black markings.  The carpet snake in
+summer time is the best of all mousers and ratters.  It winds its
+sinuous way into places impossible to even puss or terrier; and is
+always a welcome visitor to settlers' barns.  There it becomes a pet,
+and will live on terms of friendship with its primal foe.
+
+There were snakes of a very different order in the orange tree.  Among
+them the "tiger," most aggressive and poisonous of all the genus.  There
+were also specimens of the black and the brown snakes.  All these are
+cobras, and therefore very deadly.
+
+The snakes, as related, were all more or less torpid with cold, and not
+pugnaciously inclined.  The boys, however, were very careful not to
+disturb them.  There was plenty of golden fruit upon the tree, and it
+was in prime condition.  The fruit was neatly cut off the stems by
+strokes of the paddle blade.  When a sufficient quantity was thus
+plucked, and lay bobbing in the water, they were poked out from the tree
+by the same means, and secured.  The boat lay off a little distance from
+the tree while the crew indulged in a feed of the luscious fruit.  A
+visit was then paid to a plantain grove, and a quantity, both of green
+and ripe fruit, was secured.
+
+"Where away now, Joe?" said Tom Hawkins, who was crouched in the bow.
+
+"I vote," replied the one addressed, who in this, as in everything else,
+was leader of the band,--"I vote we pull up opposite Commodore Hill and
+have a look at the river."  The boy forgot for the moment the promise
+made to his father to keep mainly about the town end of the back-water.
+
+Commodore Hill was well up the river, and on the other side.  The
+flooded gully by which the water obtained entrance, it has been
+explained, ran parallel with the river for some distance; in some places
+being not more than a few yards therefrom.  The boys were curious to see
+the river stretch above the Bend; also to note the numbers of
+flooded-out settlers who might be camped in that vicinity.  Accordingly
+the boat's bow is turned, and her course shaped in that direction.  By
+this time the river had fallen several feet, and, as a consequence,
+there was an outward drift of the slack waters, making a gentle current.
+
+"'Member, Joe, what your dad said about takin' the boat into the
+stream."
+
+"Think I've forgot, stupid!"
+
+"Thought I'd remind you, anyhow," replied the bowman.  As a matter of
+fact, Tom had an uneasy feeling that his mate would not be content when
+they got to the mouth to remain there without having a dash at the
+stream.
+
+"Listen to me; I ain't goin' to run any risks.  We won't go to the mouth
+entrance.  What we'll do is this: work up to the swamp end, have a look
+round, and come back again."
+
+With this defined object in view the boat continued its voyage, helped
+by the current, which, the farther up they proceeded, became stronger,
+as was to be expected.
+
+But one thing had happened of which the boys were in entire ignorance.
+And this particular happening was to produce startling and unexpected
+effects.  At a certain spot in the gully, and at a point where it began
+to deviate from the general stream, there was a branch gully, which bore
+inwards to within a few yards of the river's brink.  When the water was
+at its highest in the river, that in the lagoon was much higher at this
+point, inasmuch as the back-water was at the same level as at the
+entrance, some two miles higher up; the difference in height being the
+river's fall in that distance.  Roughly speaking, the water there was
+about ten feet higher than that in the river.
+
+The rush of the stream on the river side had caused the bank to give way
+about this point during the night, and the lagoon, or back-waters,
+forced themselves into the river through the new channel, which widened
+considerably as a consequence.  On nearing this place the boys became
+conscious of a quickening of the current.
+
+"My golly, Joe! this big current," said Yellow Billy, who, with Jimmy,
+was at the oars.  "Must be goin' twenty mile."
+
+"Twenty mile! you goose.  We're goin' six or seven and that's mighty
+fast."
+
+"I say, Joe," called Jimmy a second later, the boys having ceased
+rowing, for there was no further need, "bes' run her ashore, or we'll be
+carried out.  By gosh, she's tearing away!"
+
+"All right, mates, keep cool.  There's the old mahogany ahead, we'll tie
+up there; we'll be there in a minute."
+
+Yes, the boys would need all their coolness, for Joe was reckoning
+without up-to-date knowledge, and that made all the difference in the
+world.  Rounding a clump of trees at this moment, or ever they were
+aware the boat fairly sucked into the channel of furiously rushing and
+tumultuously heaping waters that were finding their level by the newly
+made short-cut.
+
+"Oh! oh!  I--I say!" shouted Tom.  "We're being swept into the river!
+Back water!"
+
+Joe, quicker than the others, had hit the situation, and turned the
+boat's nose to a clump of bushes, but before the rowers could pick up
+their oars to help him the boat had swept past.  Tom, it is true, made a
+frantic grasp at the bough, but the way on the boat was so strong that
+the branch, when the full force of the current bore on her at her
+momentary check, snapped like a pipe-stem, and the little craft was fair
+in the turgid stream, which had now the velocity of a water-race.  The
+incident of the half-arrest, however, had turned her head up-stream,
+which was a providential thing.  The river break-away was at most three
+hundred yards away.  To turn the boat into the perpendicular sides of
+the channel was to court destruction; for, be it said, the maddened
+waters had excavated the banks until they rose sheer from the water's
+edge.
+
+The necessities of the case came like an inspiration to Joe.  The boat
+was drifting, as we have said, stern first, the advantage of which will
+be seen.  Save Joe, whom the sense of responsibility braced to immediate
+action, the boys were speechless with consternation. One look at their
+blanched faces was sufficient.  They were certainly alive to the dangers
+of the situation.
+
+"Pull, boys! pull with all your might!  We'll keep her head up.  This'll
+check her speed a bit.  It'll give her steerage way too, and save her
+gettin' broadside on."
+
+The pullers put every ounce of strength into their strokes, and this was
+very helpful.  The final rush into the cross-current was a most critical
+moment, and might easily have resulted in disaster.  This was averted
+only by Joe's coolness and dexterity.
+
+"Oars out!" cried he as the boat swept into the angry and turbulent
+river.  Save for shipping some water, and drenching the crew with spray,
+the little craft weathered the river plunge.  An involuntary "Oh!" came
+from the boys as the boat shot the rapids and soused into the river.
+Immediately she came under the influence of two currents; that going
+outward from the chute, and the swift down-river stream.
+
+This effect was to take them instantly well out toward the centre of the
+flood, with a strong drift which carried the boat into the vicinity of
+the Bend.  The river bend gave the current a direction which set across
+to the other side.  This diagonal movement was accelerated by the chute
+waters, which retained their impetus, in a measure, for a considerable
+distance.
+
+Downward then, and cross-wise to the northern bank, the frail craft
+sped, the sport and play of the watery element.  Dangers stood, or
+rather, drifted thick around the adventurers.  Picture for a moment a
+tiny vessel, some fifteen feet over all, whose timbers are of the
+proverbial egg-shell thickness, shot into an angry, bubbling cauldron,
+whose tumultuous waters heaved and swirled, hissed and roared, in
+inarticulate sound and motion.
+
+That, in itself, were an experience of sufficient magnitude to quicken
+the blood, test the nerves, and try the courage of the hardiest
+waterman.  Add to the perils of that situation a thousand floating
+dangers, any one of which might crush that tiny, drifting cockle-shell
+out of existence, and you have the position which faced and surrounded
+the affrighted lads on the demon-ridden waters.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VII*
+
+                   *THE DEATH OF THE FOREST MONARCH*
+
+
+    "There's the white-box and pine on the ridges afar,
+    Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;
+    There's many another, but dearest to me,
+    And king of them all is the stringy-bark tree."
+      HENRY LAWSON.
+
+
+As several years had intervened between the present and the last flood
+of considerable dimension, every creek, gully, and river-flat of the
+upper reaches were contributing their quota of fallen timber, which in
+the interval had encumbered the earth.  In addition, the flood-waters
+had torn many a giant eucalyptus, roots and all, from its earthhold, and
+had borne it on its heaving and rebellious bosom, a mere plaything of
+its vengeful humour.
+
+Up to the present a monarch of the forest, whose rugged bole bears
+indubitable evidence of its antiquity, stands skywards with its head in
+the clouds.  The Philistines are upon it.  Its innumerable roots,
+lateral and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as it
+grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe.  But the earth, which for years
+innumerable has mothered the forest lord, furnishing his daily portion
+of meat and drink, nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth
+and height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in every tussle
+with wind and flood heretofore, now turns traitor.  The soil dissolves
+in the swirling waters as they ravish the earth.  Above and underneath
+the roots it melts, and is carried away in the thickening stream.  The
+hold of the old monarch is weakening.  His limbs are trembling.  His
+strong body, that has withstood the pressure of a thousand fights with
+the hereditary foe, vibrates and sways now, as his remorseless
+antagonist grips him in cruel embrace.
+
+His old comrades higher up, who have fallen earlier in this battle of
+giants, come drifting along, battered and torn; veritable shipwrecks,
+dismantled and broken.  One floating leviathan, flood-driven, sweeps
+onward full upon his writhing form ... a violent shock and shudder that
+runs from root to topmost leaf ... a last wrestle, strong, heroic, and
+pitiful! ... Then, betrayed and spent, under the last straw, as it were,
+of the fateful impact of his wrecked mate--now converted into a
+battering-ram--the grand old hero-king yields.  His foe has sought and
+found, like one in the olden time, his vulnerability in his heel.
+Overborne at last, but not yet broken, he shakes his lofty head in the
+quiver of mortal spasm.  Suddenly he topples, lurches, staggers, and
+falls with a mighty crash, which is, indeed, a resounding death-cry.
+Striking the enemy with a last, concentrated, savage blow, he splits her
+bosom, and sends great spurts of her muddy blood, spray-like, a hundred
+feet in air.  But the wound heals as speedily as delivered, and from
+thence he passes quickly, in company with his defeated brothers, an
+inert mass of strewn wreckage, to form, farther down upon the skurrying
+waters, a floating barricade of death-dealing timbers.  And so on and
+on, till the blue sea is reached, where it is heaved to and fro, a
+rudderless hulk upon the bosom of the ocean; until it is stranded at
+last as flotsam and jetsam upon the beach.
+
+
+By skilful manipulation of oars and rudder the boys managed to evade the
+timber masses.  The numerous whirlpools constituted a great danger.
+Once or twice they were almost sucked under as they circled in a vortex.
+Their position was extremely perilous.  The greatest danger lay from
+contact with the isolated logs and tree-trunks that sped down with great
+velocity, appearing and disappearing in the vicious eddies, rotating
+with the swirling stream, and popping up porpoise-like in unexpected
+quarters.  On one occasion, in dodging a mass of driftwood, they ran
+right on to a big tree.  Fortunately the tree was sinking at the time of
+impact under the influence of an under-current, and, at Joe's sharp
+command, the rowers rushed the boat across the submerged tree-bole.
+Scarcely had they crossed the line ere the submarine monster rolled
+upward, till at least half its length was out of the water.  It was a
+narrow squeak. To have been caught on its rising movement would have
+meant utter shipwreck.
+
+It has been stated that owing to the river bend, and from other causes,
+the current set diagonally across to the other side.  Drawing thus
+towards the farther shore, the boat's crew neared a timbered point,
+below which the water expanded over the low-lying country for miles. So
+far only the thickly fringed timber belts could be seen.  It was
+questionable if they could find any dry earth.  In all likelihood,
+however, even should there not be any landing-place, they would find
+protection from the current behind the thick wood.  As they got close in
+to the scrubby portion the boys saw, to their great disappointment, that
+the land was still submerged.  They had hoped to find a patch of earth.
+All they can do now is to shelter behind the timber.
+
+"Pull, boys, pull hard!" cried Joe, the while he turned the boat's nose
+towards a rear clump.  His quick eye discerned an eddy formed by a point
+higher up.  Rowing into this, the boat was eased in its downward track,
+and after getting well in behind the clump they were able to make
+headway against the stream, finally fastening to a big she-oak almost in
+still water.  Here they were out of the tract of the current and the
+perils of the driftwood.
+
+What a relief to the half-dazed and frightened boys!
+
+Captain Joe, be it said, though fearful enough while in the roaring
+waters, kept all his wits about him.  Often as his heart jumped into his
+mouth he as quickly swallowed it again.  More than once his
+resourcefulness saved the boat from certain disaster.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed he, as Tom tied the painter to a strong limb, and
+the boat rode easy.
+
+"It was a touch and go, lads.  Don't cry, Jimmy!" as that lad, yielding
+to a feeling of reaction, burst into tears. Tom was not much better, and
+furtively wiped his eyes under the pretence of blowing his nose.  In a
+few minutes the boys were themselves again.  The roar and rush of the
+waters filled their oars and souls as they lay at anchor. So deafening
+were the sounds that it was only by shouting they could hear one
+another.
+
+Stretching inland, and reaching to the distant hills, nothing was to be
+seen but a waste of waters, with here and there a bushy hillock, a
+miniature island.  What remained of the settlers' houses looked like so
+many Noah's arks.  Moving figures could be seen on one which lay a long
+way off.  They were the unfortunate owners, who, by delaying their
+retreat until too late, were driven on to the very ridge pole for
+safety.  Fortunately they were in still water; so at least it seemed
+from the distance; consequently their position was not alarming. Tree
+marks showed the river to be falling at a fairly rapid rate.
+
+"Now then, boys, let's hold a council of war!"
+
+"Wot's that, Joe?"
+
+"It's what they say in soldiering when the generals get into a fix,"
+chipped in Tom.
+
+"Oh, gollies! let us get home as quick as possible.  If we don't they'll
+think we're drownded an'----"
+
+"Look here, Jimmy, stow that rot!  If we start talking in that fashion,
+we'll get unnerved.  Billy, you first!  Tell us what you think about the
+situation."
+
+"Long's we're here we're safe.  There's a 'possum in the spout above us.
+I'll climb up and get 'im for tucka."
+
+"We can't cook 'possum in the boat, Billy.  No dry wood; no matches.
+You're right enough about safety, though.  These trees have borne the
+brunt of the flood stream at its highest, and things are getting easier.
+Jimmy, what do you think of it?"
+
+"I--I--I dunno.  Oh, my poor m-other!" cried Jimmy, whose emotions again
+overpowered him.
+
+"Didn't I tell you to stow that water-cart business? Dry up, or I'll
+jolly well tan your hide for you, you soft milksop!"
+
+Joe's severity was partly assumed.  He was fighting himself about home
+thoughts.  He knew the folly of giving way at this crisis to such a
+natural sentiment.
+
+"You, Tom!  You've a notion, I'm sure," said Joe to his chum.
+
+"My opinion, chaps, is that we ought to be very thankful for bein' where
+we are, an' stay here a bit anyways. It'd be madness to attempt to
+recross the river.  What's to prevent us pullin' over there?" pointing
+to a hillock nearly a mile away inland.
+
+"Tom's right, boys.  We must make up our minds, hard as it is, to camp
+on this side to-day.  It'd be easy enough to do as Tom says, row over to
+that island. Supposin', though, the water went down a lot during the
+night; we might have to drag the boat over a lot of mud to get to the
+river-bank to-morrow.  Bes' stay where we----"
+
+"S-s-h!  Listen a moment, Joe," interjected Tom from the bow of the
+boat.  "What noise's that?"
+
+"Don't hear anythin' 'cept the river.  What sort o' noise, Tom?"
+
+"I heered it, Joe," said Yellow Billy.  "Bear cryin', I bin thinkin'.
+Heer it now."
+
+All the boys could hear the sounds now, faint enough, yet distinct above
+the flood roar.
+
+"Bear, I 'speck!  Have a good look round, boys."
+
+All eyes were bent in the direction of the sound.  They scanned the
+trees for that strange, pouch-bearing--half bear, half sloth--animal
+called the native bear.  Strictly speaking, it is neither bear nor
+sloth, being a perfectly harmless, tailless marsupial of the koala
+genus.  Its cry is intensely, and often pathetically, human.
+
+For some time the search was unrewarded; while ever and anon a cry,
+strangely like an infant's wail, came to the ears of the searchers.
+
+"P'r'aps, after all, it's only the wind in the river oaks; or is it
+a----"
+
+"Look, boys!  look, look!" cried Tom excitedly.  "What's that over at
+the edge of the timber, up there in a fork?"
+
+"Whereaway, Tom?"
+
+"See the clump beyond the back-water, out in the stream?"
+
+"M--y-e-s, I see.  Why, yes, my word!  I do believe it's a----"
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER VIII*
+
+                          *WHAT THE TREE HELD*
+
+
+    "Thereafter grew the wind; and chafing deaths
+    In distant waters, sent a troubled cry
+    Across the slumbrous forest; and the chill
+    Of coming rain was on the sleeper's brow."
+      HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"James!" exclaimed Mrs. Blain to her husband during this eventful
+morning, "it's dinner-time and those lads are not back.  I hope nothing
+has happened."
+
+"What do you expect could have happened, you dear old fidget?  I'm going
+to the post, however, and I'll have a look round."
+
+Could Mr. Blain have beheld the lads at this particular time, the calm
+of his deep nature would have been broken up in a fashion rare to his
+experience; for at this moment the boat and its occupants are being
+borne on the rapids, presently to be flung upon the riotous and
+foam-crested waves of the river.
+
+In moving along the street the minister met several persons who had been
+out on the back-water during the morning.  All had seen the boys at one
+time or another. One of the latest in, who had been farther up than most
+of the others, had passed the boys on his return not long before.  They
+were then heading up the swamp way.
+
+"Don't fear, Mr. Blain, the boys know how to take care of themselves.
+Dinner's calling 'em loudly enough by this time, I wager ye."
+
+Dinner-time came and went, but no boys.  As the afternoon wore on the
+mother's fears deepened until they became well-nigh unendurable.  The
+minister, rowed by two of the neighbours, set out to find the truants
+and fetch them back.
+
+"Don't lose faith, dear!  They're up to some prank, the thoughtless
+scamps!  I'll fetch them home none the worse, to laugh at your fears."
+
+
+Following Tom's index-finger, the boys fastened their eyes upon a clump
+of river oaks that stood on the edge of the woods.
+
+High up in a fork of one of the largest trees, they could see what
+looked at first like a huge bundle of clothes fluttering in the wind.
+After a short while the bundle seemed to take a somewhat definite shape.
+
+"What in the name of goodness is it all?  Seems like a lot of old
+clothes jammed in the tree forks.  Are you sure that the squall, or
+squeak, or squeal, or whatever it was, came from that direction?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," replied Tom.  "Listen, there it's again!"  A thin,
+treble cry rose faintly above the din of the flood waters.
+
+"See a woman's foot!"
+
+The speaker was the half-caste, whose eyesight, owing to his half-wild
+nature, was much keener than his fellows'.
+
+"A woman's foot, Billy!  What do you mean?  You don't mean to say
+really, that----!"
+
+"See hand too!  Look along bark.  See fingers!"
+
+Thus directed, the three boys looked, and saw, though but indistinctly,
+what appeared to be a hand grasping the tree-trunk, a foot, also, was
+revealed at intervals by the fluttering garment.
+
+After a short, staring silence, a flood of mental light broke upon Joe.
+"I see now.  Why, it's the poor soul we heard cooeeing last night!"
+
+Yes, there had been plenty of speculation in the village as to who it
+could be, and exactly where the voice came from.  None of those who
+heard the piteous wail that was borne across the floods in the black and
+wild darkness of that night would forget it for many a long day to come.
+
+The mystery is now solved.  The boys are horror-stricken at the sight
+and its sequent thought.  They are now convinced that a woman is fixed
+in the tree.  Without reasoning the matter out, they identify her as the
+one whose cry over night produced such a sensation in the township, and
+to locate which the police boat with a strong crew had started out at
+daybreak, but without success.
+
+_Is she alive or dead_?  The strange cry did not seem to be that of a
+woman.  There was something so eerie, so shocking in the thought, that
+the lads were fear-possessed for some moments.  Joe, as usual, recovered
+himself first.
+
+"It's a woman sure enough!  It's a human being, at any rate.  An', boys,
+we've got to rescue her if she is alive. The cry can only come from her,
+I'm sure, so that there must be some life left still.  How to do it I
+can't just see at this moment.  We must think a bit."
+
+Think a bit they did.  Camped as they were at the lower end of the
+timber, it would be a matter of comparative ease to work up through the
+trees in the slack water, till they arrived opposite to the clump that
+stood out in the stream.  There the real difficulties would begin.  The
+rush of waters was still so strong, and the space for the play of the
+boat so small, that it became evident the rescue would be accompanied by
+some alarming risks.
+
+One of two things must be done: either wait until the waters receded
+sufficiently to enable the rescuers to wade to the clump, or make an
+immediate dash.
+
+"How long d'you think it'd be before we could wade across, Joe?"
+
+"Dunno, Billy.  Beckon there's eight or nine foot of water out there.
+Might be less.  At any rate it'd be hours."
+
+"Hours!" cried Tom.  "An' s'posin' that poor creature's still alive?"
+
+"That settles it!" exclaimed Joe, rising in his seat in excitement.
+"Boys, what's to be done must be done quickly."
+
+Seemingly all were agreed.  At least no objection was offered to this
+proposal, or, rather, mandate.  So it was resolved, after some
+cogitation, to pull the boat through the timber to a point some distance
+higher up than the isolated clump.  From thence the course would be
+outwards until the river current was met; an estimated distance of a
+hundred yards.  The boat was to be headed against the current when in
+the stream influence.  A vigorous row would be necessary to neutralise
+the current, to be modified so as to allow the craft to drift slowly
+down-stream.  Then, when opposite the clump, a dash for the tree whereon
+the unfortunate woman was lying was to be made.
+
+Inasmuch as this tree was almost in the centre of the group, and the
+stream still ran with violence, it was easy to see that without skilful
+management, and some luck, the boat might be stove in against a
+tree-bole; or, worse still, might be impaled upon a submerged snag.  Any
+accident, such as missing way at a critical moment, or the snapping of
+an oar blade, might be fraught with the most disastrous consequences.
+
+During the short conference Jimmy Flynn had kept silence.  Towards the
+end, as Joe set forth the attendant dangers, he became considerably
+perturbed.  After sundry wrigglings and contortions, rubbing of hands
+and licking of lips, these visual twistings found voice.
+
+"I say, Joe! don't--er--yer think that--er--we'd better wait a bit?"
+
+"Why?" chorused the boys.
+
+"Oh--I--I dunno.  Well--er--p'raps some other boat'll come over from the
+township d'reckly an'--an'----"
+
+"And s'pose no boat comes along?"
+
+"Well, then, I--I--er--vote--that we--er----"
+
+"By jing!  Jimmy," interposed Tom, with a jeer, "who'd 'a' thought you'd
+'a' showed the white feather!"
+
+"White feather yourself, Hawkins!" returned the fearful but now angry
+boy.
+
+"Jimmy!" broke in Yellow Billy unexpectedly, for as a rule the
+half-caste was taciturn--the taciturnity of modesty in his case.  Billy,
+while carrying some of the defects of aboriginal descent, was a
+kind-hearted and easily contented lad.  "Jimmy!" said he, in a soft,
+quiet tone, "s'pose your mother was over there?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who was sitting with a sullen, hang-dog expression,
+quivered as though he had received an electric shock.  There was within
+him a consciousness of the truth of Tom's term.  He was a coward, and
+the very notion of it angered him, and at the same time made him
+resentful.  He shrank from the undertaking.  None of the boys were in
+love with it, for that matter.  Jimmy only, among the four, allowed his
+fear to overmaster him.
+
+These few words of Billy, uttered in a quiet, even tone, went straight
+to the boy's heart.  His sullen brows lifted. The angry resentment which
+had disfigured his face vanished.  Straightening his bent figure, he
+seized the oar lying by his side.  Then, squaring his shoulders, as he
+inclined forward to grip the water, he said quietly, "Let her go."
+
+Immediately on releasing the boat Joe steered her in a semicircular
+course, keeping out back where the standing timber was thinnest.  The
+boys pulled slowly, for there was always the danger of snags.  They were
+in fairly slack water, and so had no need to exert themselves; besides
+which, it were wise to husband their strength for the supreme moment.
+
+Tom and Jimmy, both expert oarsmen, were the rowers. Yellow Billy was
+stationed in the bow, with instructions to keep a keen look out for
+snags.  He was armed with a stout pole in order that he might fend the
+boat on any critical occasion, or when the rudder might be inoperative.
+It formed a very useful instrument in Billy's practised hands, and
+enabled him to ward off the craft from many dangers that did not appear
+until the boat was almost upon them.  As it was there were several
+ominous scrapes, as the boat rasped over submerged branches. Fortunately
+they reached the point determined upon without any accident.
+
+They paused here a moment before leaving the slack water for the swiftly
+running stream.
+
+"Now, boys," said Joe, after a brief survey, "sit steady, and pull for
+all you're worth.  Mind you, no flurry. Keep an even stroke.  Got the
+painter coiled, Billy?"
+
+"All right, Joe."
+
+"Pull then, boys, and stick to it like grim death to a diseased nigger."
+
+The boat having got good way on, Joe headed her out a little, when she
+immediately encountered the current.
+
+"Lay to it, my lads, lay to it!"
+
+The boys "lay to" with such vigour that the rapid current was
+counterbalanced, and she hung in the stream, neither making headway nor
+drifting.
+
+"Easy a little, my hearties!  We must let her drift down gradually.
+Mustn't let her get out of hand, though."
+
+In swinging the boat into the channel Joe kept her nose up-stream, and
+as near the slack water as possible. The boys easing a trifle at Joe's
+command, the current became the stronger of the two forces, and the
+little craft drifted slowly.  Blain eagerly scanned the clump for an
+opening.  This cluster, it may be remarked, was about two hundred yards
+long and fifty or so wide.  In some parts the timber was thickly
+scattered, in others the trees were bunched together.
+
+The boat is now about fifty yards above the tree containing the supposed
+woman.
+
+"That's right, chaps, keep up as you're doin'!  We must drift very
+slowly lest we miss the chance of popping in.  It's too thick to venture
+in here.  It's thinnin' out, though," exclaimed Joe, as the boat neared
+the point abreast the tree.
+
+"Here's an opening, I do believe.  Be ready, Billy! Pull, lads! pull,
+pull!  Look out all!"
+
+The boat lay anglewise, so that the current worked upon her quarter.
+Seeing a fair opening, Joe urged the rowers to do their utmost.  So hard
+did they pull that the current, playing upon her quarter as she hung a
+few minutes stationary, forced her through the gap and towards the tree.
+The manoeuvre was splendidly executed. The boat was now within five
+yards or so of the tree, the boys putting every ounce of strength into
+their strokes. A minute or less now and they will either be fast to the
+tree or drifting down on to a solid block of timber just below.
+
+Yellow Billy, who had crouched in the bow, now rose up quietly, rope in
+hand, ready to act promptly in the decisive moment.  By good fortune a
+limb projected about five feet above the water, and branched out some
+distance from the tree.  Joe worked the boat straight up-stream, and
+then called on the rowers to ease the barest trifle.  The craft swung
+very slowly down, until she was fairly under the limb.
+
+"Sling the painter over the branch an' make fast, Billy!" cried Joe, as
+the stern drifted under.  "Pull now, you beggars, a last spurt!"
+
+Billy whipped the rope round the limb, and made fast in a flash; the
+rowers, by a few desperate strokes, keeping the boat stationary.
+
+"Hold her there a second.  Let the loop lie loose an' edge it to the
+trunk, Billy!"
+
+Joe thus worked the boat over until she was just at the rear of the
+tree.
+
+"Ease her off gently now, boys.  Steady still!  A wrench might snap the
+painter."
+
+The boys accordingly eased off gradually, and finally stopped.
+
+"Two of you come aft, it'll ease the strain."
+
+This done, the boat, which by burying her nose deep in the water was
+straining heavily on the rope, trimmed herself, and offered but the
+minimum resistance to the racing waters.
+
+The tree-bole, which presented a somewhat broad surface, divided the
+waters, creating a narrow zone of neutral water in its wake.  In this
+eddying area the boat rode securely, making it an easy matter for the
+bowman to keep her nose up against the tree.
+
+And now each boy bent an upward glance to the fork.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER IX*
+
+                              *THE RESCUE*
+
+
+    "Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me--
+    Death closes all: but something ere the end,
+    Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
+    Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."
+      TENNYSON'S _Ulysses_.
+
+
+Fortunately the she-oak was one of the largest of its kind, and forked
+out into four branches twenty feet or so from the ground.  This formed a
+rough cage, in which one could be held very securely if not comfortably.
+
+In this fork, partially covered with a blanket, was huddled the form of
+a human creature, presumably a woman; one hand stretched along the trunk
+as in a painful grip, the legs hanging loosely.  There was no movement
+of limb or body.  What if she were dead?
+
+A sudden chill accompanied this thought.  The situation was decidedly
+uncanny, and bred awesome, not to say fearsome, feelings.
+
+Four boys in a boat!  Out on the flood-wastes, and in a particularly
+perilous position!  The insistent noises of the rushing tide; the hollow
+moan of the wind in the foliage of the she-oaks; shut out from all help;
+missed now at home, and _that thing above_!
+
+All these combined to create a creeping chill in each boy, which in a
+manner half-paralysed them.
+
+Joe, as usual, recovered more quickly than the others. Gazing at the
+object above awhile, and then examining the trunk of the tree with his
+eyes, he broke the spell of silence.
+
+"Take my place, Tom.  Some un's got to go at once to that poor soul
+aloft.  Pray God we're in time to save her. Keep her up tight against
+the trunk, Jimmy, an' I'll swing on to the limb."
+
+Suiting his action to the word, Joe clambered on to the limb, and from
+thence proceeded to climb the tree.
+
+The woman was fixed at the junction of the forks, and her feet and legs
+hung loosely down on each side of a minor fork.  One arm, as before
+described, was wound round the main limb, while the other firmly grasped
+her breast.  Her head was supported in the V of a branch.
+
+On mounting to the spot, Joe raised himself higher by grasping two of
+the tree-forks, and, twisting his legs round the trunk, steadied himself
+while he gazed into the face of the dead.  It was the first time in his
+life that he had looked upon death.  The set expression that met his
+gaze, so full of anguish, so pitifully pleading, fairly shocked him out
+of his self-possession.  Little wonder at his turning sick and faint.
+He clutched the branch frantically as he swayed a moment, and beads of
+cold sweat stood thick upon his forehead.  Indeed, so near fainting was
+he that his sight began to fade, and the whole world receded from him.
+Strange noises buzzed in his ears.  Bringing all the reserve forces of
+his will to the front, he was beginning to gain the ascendency over his
+weakness, when a strange cry startled him into full consciousness.
+
+"Why! she's not dead after all, thank God!"  The thought of life made
+all the difference to Joe.  In a moment his vision is as clear as ever,
+and his spirits rise high at the sounds of life.  "Yes, see!" whispered
+the lad, "there's a movement of the breast.  Hurrah, boys!"
+
+cried he to his comrades, looking down and waving with one hand at the
+same time.  "She's not dead after all!"
+
+The boys at this set up a hearty shout indicative of their relief and
+joy.
+
+"Oh yes!" he muttered reassuringly to himself as he took the second
+look, "the poor creature's alive.  Her eyes are half open.  Her chest is
+heaving.  Wake up, ma'am!  Rescue is at hand.  Me an' the boys in the
+boat below are goin' to take you down an' row you across to the
+township."
+
+The woman made no response to this appeal and plan of salvation.  "Is
+she really alive?"  The eyes are half closed and seemingly peering; the
+form is rigid, the face immobile.  There was naught of that expression
+in this countenance that Joe, from hearsay, was wont to associate with
+death--the peace that passeth understanding.  Yet as the lad gazed at
+this apparently inanimate object there was a movement of the body.  The
+blanket, bunched into many folds across the breast, stirred visibly.
+
+Again that eerie, inarticulate cry!
+
+Disengaging one hand from the tree, the boy stretched it forth to the
+woman's breast, which, covered as it was with the clothes, had all the
+seeming of life and movement.
+
+Joe was in the very act of removing a fold of the blanket, when
+suddenly, and without the slightest warning, there rose up into the
+lad's face an angry, hissing, venomous snake, the deadliest of its kind.
+Its beady eyes glittered; its forked tongue shot in and out with
+inconceivable rapidity; its sibilant hiss was accompanied with a musky
+odour, sickening in the extreme; its head and body for half its length
+were erect, and bent forward from the neck, vibrating and swaying in a
+rhythmic movement.  The reptile was within striking distance.  In
+another second that almost invisible death-stroke will be dealt;
+invisible, that is, by reason of its lightning-like speed.
+
+But this deadly intention is defeated by an involuntary movement on
+Joe's part.  This young man, for the briefest of brief moments, clung to
+the tree with a rigid grasp; eyes staring in amazement and terror, with
+mouth wide open in automatic gape.  Any attempt to defend himself were
+useless in the most absolute sense of that term.  In another tick,
+before he can move a hand, these poison fangs will be deep buried in his
+horror-stricken face, so temptingly near.  The only hope for the lad lay
+in doing a disappearing trick.  And this happened.  Had it been
+premeditated, however swiftly, the time taken to make up his mind, and
+to telegraph the resolution formed in the brain to the nerve cells and
+muscles, would have been sufficient for the lightning stroke to fall.
+
+What really happened was this: the apparition of the red-bellied, black
+snake simply petrified Joe.  An awful, blood-curdling, hair-raising,
+galvanic shock of abject terror, contradictory as it may seem, paralysed
+the lad. Simultaneously with that he is falling through space, an inert
+mass, to be soused into the water with a splash that sent the spray
+flying over the boat's crew.
+
+At the moment of the splash, Joe's mind, will, and nerve were restored
+to their normal activity.  The instinct of self-preservation, so strong
+in all healthy natures, especially boys', did for the lad in an
+infinitesimal fraction of time as much and as effectively as though he
+had taken, say, half an hour to plan his procedure.
+
+He had, however, in escaping Scylla fallen into Charybdis.  As soon as
+Joe reached the water he made for the boat.  Fortunately he did not fall
+into it, or this story might never have been told.  He fell into the
+stream, some two or three yards away from the skiff. Quickly as he was
+carried down-stream he managed by violent efforts to reach the boat at
+the stern.  Tom clutched him frantically by the shirt collar, enabling
+the swimmer to get his hands on the gunwale.  Joe, thus helped,
+clambered into the boat or ever the boat's crew had recovered from their
+consternation.
+
+"Oh, Moses!" exclaimed, or rather gasped, he, "that--was--a go.  Whew!"
+
+"My goodness!  How'd yer come to fall kersplosh like that?"
+
+"Why!" pointing up.  "See! there's the beast.  See him crawling out
+there?"
+
+The boys, looking up, descried the snake winding its sinuous way along a
+lateral bough that grew up above the forks.  The disturbed and excited
+snake, having reached the limb, wound its course till it reached a clump
+of bushy branches on the limb's extremity.  On this it coiled itself,
+save the head and neck, which stood erect in vigilant attitude.
+
+"Oh, crikey! was that _there_ on--in the body's--the woman's body?"
+
+"Yes, Jimmy; right in the blanket on her breast. 'Twas that brute moving
+under the blanket that I thought was _her_ breathing.  Oh, my!" again
+exclaimed the youth, with a shudder, as he thought of the imminence of
+the danger which confronted him a moment before.
+
+"Is--it--her--dead, Joe?" asked Tom after an interval of silence.
+
+"No doubt of it, boys."
+
+"Wonder if the snake bit her?"
+
+"May have.  Anyway the poor thing is dead all right."
+
+"What's bes' thing to do now?"
+
+"W-e-ll, I d-o-n't know----"
+
+Again that shrill wailing cry!
+
+"_Can't_ be the woman!" said Joe excitedly.  "Why, she's as dead as a
+herrin'!"
+
+"I have it, boys!" shouted Tom, as he jumped up excitedly and cut a
+caper.  "It's the darned ole cat!"
+
+A look of great relief passed over each countenance at the thought.
+
+Tom, meanwhile, lifted up the locker lid, disclosing the rescued cat,
+which, together with her two bairns, were stowed in the locker shortly
+after being saved from the flood.  The animals were snuggled together on
+a cornsack, and looked the very picture of contentment. The kittens were
+dining baby fashion, and the mother's purr declared the very excess of
+maternal rapture.
+
+On seeing the boys, pussy gave a low, affectionate miaow, and made a
+sympathetic movement of the tail, as if to say: "Thank you a thousand
+times, young gentlemen, for the good deed which we never, never shall
+forget."  And then, motherlike, proceeded to "lick" her offspring.
+
+"It's not the cat, Tom."
+
+"Well, what on earth, water, or air is it?"
+
+The mystery is insoluble.  As the boys look down upon the happy and
+contented felines, they one and all reject Tom's confident affirmation
+of a moment before. If not the cat, what then?
+
+Again the tiny, shrill cry arose, but not from the cat's mouth.  It came
+from the tree above, and as the startled youths looked up they saw the
+overhanging end of the blanket agitated.
+
+"Why, why--the poor thing must really be alive after all, chaps.
+There's something more up there than I've discovered; so here's up
+again!"
+
+Acting on this impulse, Joe again ascended the tree. Those below watched
+intently, their feelings strained to the utmost tension.  As soon as our
+hero got to his former position in the forks, he received another shock.
+It was sudden as the other, but not so disastrous.  An inarticulate and
+involuntary cry brought fresh alarm to his pals, who all the while were
+staring up, too frightened to ask any questions.  The boy, despite the
+second shock, still clung to the tree.  The woman was dead beyond all
+doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life.  A brief and astonished
+survey, and the boy leans over the limb and speaks quietly to those
+below--
+
+"The woman's dead, boys, but _there's a baby here_.  It's tied to her
+breast.  It's alive!"
+
+Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement, the
+babe lifted up its voice once more in a feeble cry.  The scene in that
+tree Joe never will forget; the like he will not see again though he
+rival Methuselah in age.  The only thing he can yet see is a little hand
+and arm, which have wriggled from the covering.  Moving cautiously along
+the branch to the converging point, leaning on one fork, and placing his
+feet against another so as to stiffen himself, the boy was able to use
+his two hands.  He first, and not without an inward tremor, removed the
+dead hand which lay upon the blanket, the stiffened fingers still
+clutching the clothes and holding them to the breast.  The last thought
+and the last act of the exhausted and dying woman was to succour and to
+defend her little one.
+
+Straightening the arm so that it lay by her side, Joe opened the blanket
+from where the little hand stuck up.  There, on the breast of the dead,
+she lay, a sweet-faced baby girl!  The little one's face was puckered
+up, 'tis true, and there were tears upon her pale cheeks. The cries and
+tears were not the symbols of pain, they were those of hunger.  Joe
+could plainly see that all the mother's thoughts were for the child.  It
+was snugly folded in the blanket end; then tied to her waist by a
+handkerchief passed round the body.  The remainder of the blanket was
+then arranged so as to thoroughly protect the child from the inclement
+weather.
+
+Untying the handkerchief, the lad folded it in a peculiar fashion like
+as he had seen the black gins do. Carefully lifting the babe, he laid it
+in the widest part, made it secure to the body under the arms, and
+placed it on his back, bringing the ends of the wrapper together. round
+his neck.
+
+This done, he prepared for the descent.  It was easily accomplished,
+even with the incumbrance of the child. Landing safely in the boat,
+which was kept well up to the tree, Joe placed her in the stern on the
+locker seat, where the little one lay squirming and crying piteously.
+
+The news of the baby variously affected the boys. Jimmy Flynn, whose
+baby sister had died a few months before, looked very tenderly upon this
+nameless waif.
+
+"Make a place on the floor for it, Joe," said he.  "It'll lie there more
+comfortably, an' it'll be more like a cradle."
+
+The advice was good.  The coats, which the boys shed soon as they
+entered upon the expedition in the morning, made a soft bed for the
+little one.  The wee mite was evidently about nine months old.  For all
+its adventure and exposure it seemed to have suffered little, and now in
+its cry is only voicing the pleadings of its empty stomach.  It was
+adequately, though very plainly dressed, and through all the rain of the
+preceding night had kept dry.  Fortunately, too, the snake which had
+been curled up in one of the blanket folds had not come into actual
+contact with the child.  There were only two things required to bring it
+to a condition of happy contentment: nursing and feeding.
+
+Capable as this quartet of Australian lads were in many ways, in this
+they were novices.  So it was with a look of ashamed helplessness that
+they gazed at the new passenger, as she lay in the bottom of the boat on
+her back, kicking her heels in the air at a great rate, and doubling her
+dimpled hands first into her eyes and then into her mouth.  The cry went
+forth without ceasing, its only variation being the peculiar noise
+caused by an intermittent sucking of her diminutive fists.
+
+By a happy thought of Jimmy the hunger difficulty was overcome.  The
+boys had picked up a fine lot of oranges, as well as some dozens of
+plantains, in the back-water. After they had eaten a quantity they
+stowed the balance away in the bow locker, and completely forgot them in
+the exciting events which followed.  Jimmy suddenly remembered the
+fruit.  Selecting a fine specimen, he quickly peeled and quartered it.
+Then, seeding some of the quarters, he put one in baby's fist, guiding
+the same to her mouth.  The sweet, juicy orange was simply nectar to the
+famished child.  It sucked as only a hunger-bitten baby can.  The boys
+were highly amused at the way in which she mouthed the skin, and the
+difficulty Jimmy encountered in unlocking her little fingers order to
+substitute a full for an empty quarter.  It indeed a happy solution; an
+admirable recipe for tears and squalls.  As long as baby had an orange
+quarter it was peaceful.  After a little while Jimmy took the little one
+on his knee, giving furtive glances towards the others as he did so.
+The boys, however, under all the sad circumstances forebore to chaff.
+Substituting, at length, a ripe plantain for an orange section, the babe
+was taken to the seventh heaven of gastronomic bliss.
+
+[Illustration: "The neighbours saw, far out on the wild, wreckage-strewn
+waters, a tiny boat with four slight figures."--_See p._ 69]
+
+And the while above them in the she-oak, whose thread-like leaves make
+mournful music to the wind, lies the mother who has sacrificed her life
+for that of the babe. There is no doubt of this.  The poor woman must
+have been exposed to the winds and waves long before she reached the
+tree refuge.  How she got there was never known.  She had almost denuded
+herself to protect the babe.  Little wonder that at some moment of that
+awful night vigil the vital spark should have quitted its terror-haunted
+tenement.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER X*
+
+                              *THE RETURN*
+
+
+    "See the conquering hero comes!
+    Sound the trumpet, beat the drums."
+
+
+After baby's hunger was satisfied the boys' attention was given to their
+immediate surroundings.
+
+"What are we goin' to do about _her_?" asked Tom, pointing upward as he
+spoke.
+
+"It's simply impossible for us to do anything.  If she were alive we
+would take any risk.  But as things are it is beyond our power to shift
+the body, it is jammed so tightly.  The only thing left for us to do is
+to inform the police when we get to the other side."
+
+"What'll we do now, Joe?"
+
+"Get back to our former anchorage first.  River's goin' down pretty
+fast, I reckon; and it'll be all dry about here before morning if it
+recedes at the same rate.  The current is not nearly so strong as it was
+when we came over, and that will make it easier for us to get out of the
+clump. There's no need for us to go back by the same course. We can take
+a slant across to that red gum, and when we're there we're out of the
+stream."
+
+The exit from the cluster of trees was very well managed, and in a few
+minutes from the time of casting adrift from the she-oak the boat was
+out of the clump and across the narrow stream into the slack water.
+They continued on to their former camping place, and hitched on to the
+tree.
+
+This gallant attempt at rescue, though not accomplishing what was in the
+minds of the boys, was not altogether a failure.  Indeed, it was the
+reverse of that. Though but little time is consumed in reading the
+account of this episode, it covered a goodly portion of the day.  By the
+time the boys had made fast to their former anchorage, the slanting
+sun-rays proclaimed the advance of eventide.
+
+"Let's have a confab, chaps, on what's best to be done. I don't s'pose
+any of us is wanting to stick here all night. What d'you say, Tom?"
+
+"I say pull over to the hillock on the other side of the slack.  See!
+the water's retreated from the high ground. We could camp there, I dare
+say, easy enough, and get home early to-morrow morning.  I don't think
+we ought to tackle the river to-night.  I bet you it'd be a measly,
+tricky trip.  So I vote to do as I said."
+
+"What d'you say, Billy?"
+
+"I say same as Tom.  Plenty dry land over there. Might get matches in
+that house behind the hill.  I'll pull 'possum outa spout, an' we'll
+roast 'im an' make bully feed."
+
+Billy, as indeed were all the boys, was beginning to feel desperately
+hungry.
+
+"What have you got to say, Jimmy?"
+
+Jimmy Flynn, who had been gazing wistfully across the flood waters,
+turned round slowly as Joe put the question to him.  "Oh, Joe! can't we
+get home to-night? The river isn't so bad as when we crost up at the
+Bend. There's not nearly so much timber goin' down now.  'Sides, it's
+easier crossing down here to what it was above.  I give a straight vote
+for--home!"
+
+"Bravo!  Well done, Jimmy!  You're a brick.  It's just the word, an'
+we're the coves to do it.  It's my vote too, my hearties.  We've half an
+hour of sun left: say an hour before it's right dark.  I reckon 'twill
+be about two mile an' a half from here to Tareela.  It won't be near as
+difficult as up by the Bend.  Yes, we'll do it, boys; an' the sooner the
+better.  Then there's the blessed little baby, you know!  Some of us
+would have to mind her in the night, an' what about your beauty sleep
+then?  I reckon the kiddie would be too much for the whole boilin' of
+us.  And I've a notion that too much fruit'll be worse for her than none
+at all.  S'pose she gets the jim-jams! And, lastly, as father says when
+he's preaching, what about the old folks at home?"
+
+There was no need to say anything further.
+
+"I'm game, for one," said Tom.
+
+"I'm game, for two," said Billy.
+
+"I'm game, for three," said Jimmy.
+
+"Put me down for the fourth," said Joe.
+
+"Now, boys, that's settled.  We'll tackle the river straight away; for
+better or for worse, as dad says in the marriage ceremony.  And I say,
+chaps, let's ask God to help us."
+
+Though there was no audible form of expression, the spirit of prayer was
+in each boy's heart.  He who sat above the floods heard and answered.
+
+"Billy and Jimmy are to take the oars.  We want the best men at the
+paddles.  Now then, Tom, let the painter go an' keep the pole handy for
+driftwood."
+
+The painter is slipped, and the boat's head is turned riverwards.  She
+is soon out of the slack, and feels the full force of the flood.  The
+starting-point was nearly a mile and a half above the township, so that
+there was a liberal margin for drift.  The river was quite a mile wide.
+There was still a quantity of driftwood, and many difficulties beset
+them which made delicate steering and skilful management incumbent.
+When they had travelled about half the distance, Tom, who was eagerly
+conning the other shore, gave a shout, pointing at the same time to a
+headland above the village.
+
+"Some 'un's waving!  See 'em, over there!"
+
+Mrs. Blain was the first to spy the advancing boat. The boys' mothers
+had been trapsing the lagoon shore and river-side for hours, in a
+semi-demented manner.  The minister and the others had returned after a
+fruitless errand.  The police, with a strong crew in the Government
+whale-boat, were scouring the shores in the vicinity of the Bend, and
+had not returned.  The disappearance of the boys had seemed most
+mysterious until the break-away was discovered.  Then the accident as it
+really happened was immediately conjectured.  The profoundest sensation
+was created in the village, for the boys were dearly loved by all.
+
+The feelings of the poor parents may be but faintly imagined.  Great was
+the relief, therefore, when Mrs. Blain, whose eyes were devouring the
+flood waters in her frantic eagerness to discover some hopeful sign,
+suddenly screamed out in an alarming manner, gesticulating wildly as she
+did so, and acting to outward seeming in a frenzied fashion.  Other
+searchers, scattered along the river-bank, hearing the piercing cry, and
+seeing the untoward gestures of the joy-possessed woman, came running
+towards her, thinking for the moment that she had lost her reason.
+
+"See, see!" screamed she, pointing to a distant spot on the waters.
+"They're saved, they're saved!  God be praised, our lovely boys are
+returning all safe; yes, one, two, three, four--the darlings."
+
+Looking in the direction indicated, the neighbours saw, far out on the
+wild, impetuous, wreckage-strewn waters, a tiny boat with four slight
+figures running the blockade; threading their course between the
+thousand objects which intervene and threaten destruction.
+
+The good news is now shouted from end to end of the township, and in a
+few minutes the river-bank is lined with exultant and yet anxious
+spectators.  For the joy of the discovery of the lads is almost quenched
+at times by sights of the perils of the passage.
+
+The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped together, wrought up to
+such a pitch of anxiety as to be well-nigh silent.  They noted every
+danger and counted every oar-stroke.  The gallant rowers lifted their
+blades in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing waters.
+Beyond a landward look the boys had no time to bestow upon the excited
+spectators.  Eye and mind, in close conjunction, are continuously
+engaged in evading danger and maintaining the boat's position.
+
+"We'll make the point," exclaimed Joe, after an interval of silence.
+"We'll make the point, all right. Keep her steady, lads," turning the
+boat's nose, as he spoke, well up stream, at an angle inclining
+shorewards. "Now, pull like a prize crew for five minutes an' we're
+there.  We're out of the driftwood as it is."
+
+The rowers needed no further stimulus.  They bent to the oars like old
+salts.
+
+"Capital! just the stroke!  Keep it up!  Hear 'em cheering!"
+
+The cheering spurred on the boys, and in less than five minutes they
+landed in the midst of a wildly excited and loud-cheering crowd.  And
+wasn't there a hugging and kissing, and hand-shaking and back-slapping!
+
+Just as the women were up to their necks in it, to use a homely figure,
+some one happened to glance at the boat. The glance extorted a scream.
+
+"A baby, a darling baby!  See, see, see! a little baby in the boat!"
+
+A moment's dazed surprise, and every one crowded to the boat.  Joe, who
+had not moved far from the boat's nose, and who only waited for the
+violence of the welcome to abate a little that he might call attention
+to the precious freight, waved the jostling crowd back, and in a few
+words related the incident of the rescue.
+
+A great wave of feeling passed over the crowd as he spoke.  The women
+wept copiously as the scene was conjured us, and strong men
+unconsciously shed briny tears as the story reached its culminating
+point of the discovery of the helpless and orphaned babe, bound to the
+dead breast of her who had thus made the great sacrifice of motherhood.
+
+While Joe was reciting the story of the rescue, Jimmy Flynn held on to
+his mother's arm and whispered excitedly into her ear.  The narrator had
+hardly finished ere Mrs. Flynn stepped forward to his side and faced the
+crowd. Ordinarily, this woman was undemonstrative and shy. Now she is
+unconscious of any timidity.  The moment was an inspired one; to produce
+which Jimmy's whisperings had played an important part.
+
+"Mr. Blain, and friends all, give me the darling baby. It'll take the
+place of the one God took from me last month.  The clothes'll fit----"
+
+The bereft mother could get no further.  Any woman who has lost a child
+will tell you why.
+
+"My friends, you all know Mrs. Flynn, as I know her. If it were a matter
+of choosing between you, I should still say that no one in the town is
+better fitted for the sacred duty of mothering this little flood-driven
+stranger. None of us can say to whom the child belongs; whether there is
+a father or near relations.  But until it is claimed by those who can
+prove the right to do so, the very best of all possible arrangements,
+and one I regard as providential, will be for Mrs. Flynn to take this
+baby to nourish and cherish it."
+
+The murmurs of assent were unanimous.  Joe, without any more delay,
+stepped into the boat, and, picking up the child--which all this time
+looked round, wondering in its baby way at this ado--put the little one
+into its foster-mother's hands.
+
+The river baby was evidently delighted beyond measure to receive a warm
+motherly embrace; judging, at any rate, by the way it gooed and crowed.
+
+As soon as she could get through the admiring throng, Mrs. Flynn
+hastened home, and before long the baby, washed and dressed anew, was
+filling its "little Mary" with sweet new milk.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XI*
+
+                           *THE BREAKING-UP*
+
+
+    "With trumping horn and juvenile huzzas,
+    At going home to spend their Christmas days,
+    And changing Learning's pains for Pleasure's toys."
+      TOM HOOD.
+
+
+Out through the gateway of the National School, on one sultry afternoon
+in late December, tumbled a pack of noisy boys and scarcely less noisy
+girls; the while they kicked up a fine dust, yelling in an uproarious
+fashion.  Were you, a stranger, to ask the cause of this demonstration
+of voice and capering limbs, you would be answered by a score of voices
+in rousing chorus--
+
+    "Hip, hip, hurray for Christmas Day!
+    School's broke up, hip, hip, hurray!"
+
+
+However strongly one might be disposed to question the quality of the
+couplet as he listened to the trumpetings of this cluster of children,
+he would cheerfully admit the gusto of the proceedings as the juveniles
+issued pell-mell.
+
+If truth be told, the master was no less pleased than the youngsters
+when the actual moment of dismissal came. Like all schools, this
+particular one was infected for weeks previously with a spirit of
+restlessness, which made it well-nigh impossible to secure the undivided
+attention of the children.  There was no disposition for serious study,
+and Simpson, who was a wise teacher, attempted no coercive measures.
+Natural history was presented in its most attractive forms.  Grammar and
+arithmetic were for the most part tabooed, and instead of puzzling
+refractory brains with arithmetical and grammatical abstractions, the
+children lived in the jungles of India, crossed Sahara, took a trip to
+the Booties, wandered into Arctic circles, or, what was equally
+exciting, made transcontinental trips in company with Sturt, Burke and
+Wills, Leichhardt, and other great Australian explorers.
+
+Many were the schemes unfolded and plans laid by the boys during the
+last schooldays.  The holidays would not be an undiluted playtime to any
+one of the boys.  Many of the lads would work hard on the farms; their
+parents, bearing in mind the old adage of Satan and idle hands, will
+take good care to anticipate the sinister designs of that interfering
+old gentleman.  The wood pile stood as an unfailing object of labour.
+Sheds were awaiting the whitewash brush.  Fowl houses loomed expectant.
+Fences demanded attention.  These, and many other duties about house and
+farm, were put off till the "holidays."
+
+There were other anticipations, however, far more highly coloured and
+bewitching than these.  Charm the schoolboy never so wisely, his
+thoughts, with a dogged obstinacy or triumphant breakaway, return to the
+delectable things of the groves, streams, mountains, and plains.  Horse,
+gun, dog, rod, bat, duck, quail, pigeon; perch, bream, mullet; kangaroo,
+wallaby, dingo, brumby, scrubber!  These are the sources and instruments
+of pleasure; things that people the imagination, and make an earthly
+paradise.
+
+Sobering down, after an unusual indulgence in larks to mark the
+auspicious event, Joe, Tom, and Sandy, separating from the others,
+sauntered to the slip-rail entrance of the school horse-paddock.  Joe
+and Tom, at the express request of Mrs. M'Intyre, are to spend the
+holidays with Sandy on the station.  Here all kinds of fun and alluring
+adventure are promised the lads.  How well that promise was redeemed let
+the sequel bear witness.
+
+"Now then, you fellows, don't forget that you are to be at Bullaroi on
+the morning of Christmas Eve without fail."
+
+"I say, ole boss, what does eve mean?"
+
+"Eve!  Why, a--er--short for evening, I s'pose.  What makes you ask,
+Joe?"
+
+"Well, if Christmas Eve is evening, how can we be there in the
+mornin'?--you savee?"
+
+"You're mighty smart, Blain, but did you ever know an evening that
+didn't have a morning to it?"
+
+"Oh--ah--yes, I see.  We're to come out on the morning of the evening.
+Sure it's an Irishie ye ought to be instead of a Scotchie."
+
+"Scotchie or no Scotchie," replied Sandy, who was the essence of
+good-humour, "ye're not to be later than ten o'clock of the forenoon of
+the day before Christmas. There!  Will that fit you, you pumpkin-headed
+son of a bald-bellied turnip?"
+
+"Thanks, M'Intyre; I'm sure my father'll be delighted when I tell him
+the respectful titles you've given him," returned Joe, with mock
+sarcasm.
+
+"He'll no dispute the title of his son's head, anyhow," flung back the
+Scotch lad, as, bridle in hand, he strolled on to round up his steed.
+
+This parthian shot nettled Joe, but the answer he would have given
+remained unuttered, for at this moment his eldest sister appeared and
+beckoned to him in an emphatic manner, at the same time calling upon him
+to hurry.  So, contenting himself with levelling Midshipman Easy's
+masonic sign at the retreating lad, he hurried along towards his sister.
+
+"Father wants you to go down the river with him in the boat."
+
+"Where's it to?"
+
+"Down to Beacon Point.  Tom Tyler's had a bad accident, and they've sent
+for the doctor; but he's away. He was called out to a bad case at Dingo
+Creek head station, and is not expected to be back till midday
+to-morrow.  So they've asked father to go down, and you've to hurry
+along.  Father's waiting down at the boat for you."
+
+Mr. Blain was waiting at the boat with everything that was required for
+the trip.  As soon as the lad was in, he pushed off, and, taking the
+stern oar, with Joe at the bow, father and son started on their
+twelve-mile pull.
+
+In answer to the boy's question the minister gave some details of the
+accident, and, further, informed the lad that it was his intention to
+call at Mrs. Robinson's, distant about five miles from Tareela.
+
+They had now settled down to a steady stroke, and as the sun was on its
+westering wheel, and the sting out of its slanting rays, the row became
+enjoyable.  Mr. Blain was a sort of newsletter to the settlers, and in
+his trips up-stream and down-stream was frequently hailed and made the
+target of questioning from the riverbank.
+
+Robinsons' was reached a little before sunset, where they were made
+abundantly welcome.  Some years previously Mr. Robinson met his death by
+one of those accidents all too common in new settlements.  Felling scrub
+timber is a risky performance.  It so happened that in felling a stout
+fig tree, Robinson failed to notice some lawyer vines that, hanging from
+the high branches, had attached themselves to the bare limbs of an
+adjacent dead tree.
+
+Standing at the base and watching the toppling fig tree, as it slowly
+swayed preparatory to its final crash, he was unaware that the
+cable-like vines were retarding its progress.  Gathering way, however,
+the falling tree brought a strain upon the vine, and tore away a heavy
+limb of the dead tree.  This falling upon the axe-man, killed him
+instantly.
+
+The widow was blest with a family of boys and girls who were true grit.
+Misfortune breaks some people--it makes others.  The latter was the
+truth in this case.
+
+In all the trying times Mrs. Robinson underwent, the minister was her
+friend and counsellor.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XII*
+
+                            *DOWN THE RIVER*
+
+
+    "When the full moon flirts with the perigee tide,
+    On a track of silver away we ride,--
+    Oh, glorious times we have together,
+    My boat and I in the summer weather."
+      ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+
+The boat was sighted from Robinsons' some time before its nose grated on
+the shingle at the landing-place.
+
+Isaac, the younger son, a giant in stature and a prime favourite with
+Joe, was at the landing-stage.  Seizing the bow what time it touched
+land, he half lifted, half dragged the boat two-thirds of her length out
+of the water, and made her fast to an old stump.
+
+"Mother's so glad you've come, sir.  She wants to talk with you about
+that boy of Maguire's, who's bin givin' us a lot of trouble."
+
+"Won't be able to stay long, Ike.  We've got to be at Beacon Point to
+night.  We just put in for a cup of tea and a bite.  Mother's inside, I
+suppose?  I'll go in and have a chat with her."
+
+"You'll find her in the kitchen, sir.  When we saw you roundin'
+Piccaniny Point we knew you'd be here for tea, and mother's lookin'
+after things."
+
+"I hope she won't go to any trouble.  A mouthful is all we want."
+
+"Well, you know mother, sir.  She feels that nothin' is near good
+enough."
+
+"Any pancakes for tea, Ike?"
+
+"Pancakes!  Why, of course.  That's what mother's makin' now.  She knew
+that'd be the first thing you'd be askin' fur, Joe."
+
+"Rather, Ike!" said Joe, pursing his mouth and drawing in his breath
+with the peculiar, half-whistling, unwriteable sound which boys
+instinctively make when visions of goodies arise.  More especially when
+such goodies come within measurable distance of consumption.
+
+Master Joe had a healthy boy's appetite.  The rowing exercise gave
+additional spice to his hunger.  Pancake was at that moment the gate of
+entry to the boy's very material heaven.
+
+"Tea won't be ready fur a few minutes, Joe.  Let's go down to the barn.
+I was just goin' to rub some more mixture inter the skins when I seen
+your boat roundin' the point.  Sorry you're goin' on, my son.  When I
+seen you on the river I ses to meself, ses I, 'By George!  Joey an' I'll
+have a great night at the 'possums.'  I wish to goodness you'd been
+stayin'.  There'll be a grand moon ter night, an it's very temptin'."
+
+"By gum, ain't it just!  It'd be simply, rippin'. 'Member last time I
+was down?  That was a grand bit of sport we had.  Forty-seven was it, or
+forty-nine?  I know it took a dashed long time to skin 'em."
+
+"Forty-seven it was.  We'd do over fifty to-night."
+
+"Well, as mother says, 'What can't be cured must be endured.'  By dad!
+that's a grand wallaby skin!  Where'd you get it?"
+
+"Got it larst night."  Ike had the Colonial drawl to perfection.  "I was
+up at the top end of the scrub cultivation paddick, mooseying around
+after some cockatoos that'd bin skinnin' the corn.  It was just about
+dusk, an' I was waitin' in the corner for the cockies, as I knew they'd
+soon be leavin' fur their roosts, an' my bes' charnse at 'em was on the
+wing.  They're so 'tarnal cute, yer know, yer carn't git 'em on the
+corn."
+
+"I know.  Didn't I try my best to stalk 'em the last time I was down,
+Ike!  I got three altogether, you 'member, an' you said it'd be a crest
+apiece to take home to the girls."
+
+"Waal, as I was sayin', I'd sarcumvented the ole boss cockie, which was
+keeping watch in the dead gum-tree that stood in the middle of the
+patch, an' was posted in the middle of the corner expectin' them ter fly
+over every minit.  But ole Pincher, who was chevyin' about, starts this
+ere boss outer the pumpkin vines; they're death on pumpkins, yer know.
+The dorg made a dash at 'im, an', by jings! he did streak.  Greased
+lightnin' wasn't in it with 'im.  I tried to draw a bead on 'im, but,
+what with the dusk an' the bushes an' stumps, I couldn't get a good
+line.  I banged away one barril, but was yards off, I reckon.
+
+"Pincher, he disappeared in a brace of shakes, an' I made sure the
+vermin ud get through a 'ole in the fence. I was makin' for 'ome, 'cause
+the cockies, yer know, 'ad all gone.  All of a suddent I heers a yelp,
+an' knew ole Pinch 'ad somehow 'eaded 'im.  Reckon 'e missed the 'ole,
+or the dorg'd never got near 'im.  Anyhow, 'e was a-streakin' a bit now,
+an' Pinch at 'is 'eels.  He was makin' fur the maize agen.  I lined 'im
+this time all right, though it was a longish shot; about sixty-five I
+reckon; an' dropped 'im clean at the very edge."
+
+"It's a prime pelt, anyway."
+
+"Yaas, 'e was a grand ole buck fur a wally; about the biggest I've got
+this season."
+
+"How many skins have you taken, Ike?"
+
+"Two more'n I'd 'ave six dozen."
+
+"Gettin' a good price for 'em?"
+
+"Waal, Jack Croft, 'e offered me nine shillin' a dozen fur 'em.  There
+are about twenty kangaroos among 'em. Jack reckoned it was a stiff
+price, an' 'e sed 'e'd not offer anythin' near it but fur the kangaroo
+skins, which 'e 'ad a fancy fur."
+
+"Old Jack can put it on, you know."
+
+"Oh, I know Jack all right!  Me an' 'im's 'ad dealin' afore.  Jacky's
+not too bad, but 'e knows 'ow to draw the long bow.  Anyway, ole Eb
+Dowse's boat'll be along nex' week.  He's sent word ter say as 'e'd do a
+deal with me fur 'em."
+
+"Better wait an' see what Eb'll shell out for 'em, Ike, I reckon.
+German Harry, up the river, says he can always knock a shillin' a dozen
+more out of Eb than Jack."
+
+"I ain't hurryin', Joe."
+
+Just then the welcome supper cooee reached their ears. The boys lost no
+time in getting to the supper-table. Joe instinctively eyed the
+contents.  Cold streaky bacon; a big dish of fried pumpkin and potatoes;
+a mountain of home-made bread, sliced; a basin of prime butter; Cape
+gooseberry jam galore, and amber-tinted honey in the comb.  What more
+could any hungry lad desire?
+
+Mary Robinson, a great tease, caught Joe's glance, and said, with an
+amused smile, "No pancakes to-night, Joe."
+
+Joe was abashed for the fraction of a second.  Quickly rallying, he
+laughingly said, "Tell another, Mary, while your mouth's hot."
+
+"Very well, my boy!  If you don't believe me ask our black tom-cat.  He
+chased a mouse into the batter and upset the bowl; so there!"
+
+"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson.  "There's only a grain of
+truth in the pound of fiction she's giving you, Joe.  The cat, it is
+true, did chase a mouse; but it did not jump into the batter, nor was
+the bowl upset.  The pancakes are cooked, with currans in 'em; just the
+sort you like; and they're keeping hot by the fire."
+
+"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe _you_ anyway. As for Mary,
+she's like Sandy M'Intyre's old, toothless sheep-dog."
+
+"How's that, Joe?" interjected Ike.
+
+"Bark's worse than her bite."
+
+"My stars! what originality, what refinement! Sandy's razor is not in it
+with master Joe Blain for sharpness.  I'll remember this, though, the
+next time you ask me to go out to the scrub with you for passion fruit.
+Anyhow, there's no resemblance between you and Sandy's wonderful
+barker."
+
+"_Indeed!_"
+
+"No; your bark's noisy enough, but your bite's a hundred times
+worse--especially when pancakes are about."
+
+With this "Roland" Mary ran out to the kitchen to get the teapot.
+
+Joe made a royal repast, topping off with the hot pancakes at a rate
+which caused his father to dryly remark: "Too much pancake won't help
+the boat along, my boy."
+
+Tea finished, the visitors prepare to continue their voyage.  With Ike's
+powerful assistance the boat is shoved into the water, and her nose
+pointed down-stream. In due time Beacon Point is reached.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIII*
+
+                        *OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS!*
+
+
+"Boyhood is the natural time for abundant play and laughter, without
+which rarely does high health touch young cheeks with its rose-bloom, or
+knit bones strongly for the fighting and the toiling that awaits
+them."--JOSEPH H. FLETCHER.
+
+
+"Now then, Norah, look slippy with breakfast!  It's half-past six, an'
+Sandy's to be here at seven.  Said he'd leave the station at five with
+the spare horse for me."
+
+"Begorrah! at the rate breakfast's cookin' it'll be midnight before it's
+ready.  'Tis the bastliest wood that niwer was."
+
+"Time the fish was fryin', Norah."
+
+"Fish, bedad!  For two pins ye wuddent have anny fish.  The thrubble
+Oi've had wid thim!  Phwat for did youse lave thim in the bag all night?
+If ye'd put thim out on the dish, ye spalpeen, Oi'd have seen thim and
+claned thim long ba-fore Oi wint to bed.  'Sted of which it's tuk me two
+morchial hours to scale the brutes, they was that dry and hard.  Be
+Saint Pathrick, they scales was loike porky-pine's pricklies!"
+
+"Sorry, Norah; my fault as usual," remarked Joe good-humouredly.
+"Father called out to turn the horse from the lucerne just as I reached
+the back door.  So I threw the bag down on the steps to chase the moke,
+an' clean forgot 'em when I came back."
+
+"Well, Oi'll forgive ye wanst more, which makes about a million
+tousandth toime; but, moind ye, 'tis----"
+
+"All serene, Norah!  Oh, I say, Norry, I'd nearly forgotten it!  Paddy
+Lacey asked me yesterday to tell you that they want you to go to the
+Hibernian picnic on Boxing Day.  They've chartered the _Firefly_, an'
+are goin' down to the Bar."
+
+"God's truth! 'tis only gammoning me ye are, Masther Joe.  It's a young
+thrick ye be, indade, with yure Hayburnion picnacs."
+
+"It's as true as true, Norah.  No make-up this time. An' oh!  I say,
+d'you know what Jimmy Flynn tole Tom Hawkins?"
+
+"Nawthin' good, bedad!"
+
+"Ain't it!  Well, opinions differ.  At any rate he was goin' to set a
+line on Friday night, an' as he was roundin' the point he hears
+somewheres ahead of him a noise between a smack an' a crack.  Then comes
+a bit of a squeal, an' a woman's voice sings out: 'Don't, stop it!'
+Then there was another smack-crack, an' just as he got round the corner
+he sees a couple, for all the world like you and Paddy, sittin' on a
+log. No, 'twas Paddy that was on the log, an' you were on Paddy's----"
+
+"Ye loi-in spalpeen!  Oi'll pull yure tongue from betune yure teeth,"
+screamed Norah, as, blushing furiously, she chased the nimble Joe out of
+the kitchen right into the arms of Sandy M'Intyre, as he was coming up
+the back doorstep.
+
+"Hello, Sandy!"
+
+"Hello, Joe!  What's row inside?  Norah givin' you the rounds of the
+kitchen as usual, eh?"
+
+"Only jiggin' her about Paddy Lacey, an' got her _paddy_ up a bit.
+You're up to time, Sandy, ole man.  By jing! I see you've brought Curlew
+in.  Am I to ride him?  My word! it is good of your governor to let me.
+I thought you'd a brought the piebald."
+
+"So I intended, but he was limpin' when he was run into the stockyard;
+so father says, 'Take Curlew.'"
+
+Curlew was Mr. M'Intyre's favourite horse, and Joe was highly honoured
+in being allowed to ride this mettlesome but lovely paced steed.
+
+Just then breakfast appeared.  After a substantial meal Joe brought out
+his father's valise and strapped it to the saddle.
+
+"All ready, Sandy?  Good-bye, mother.  Good-bye, father.  Good-bye,
+girls!"
+
+And so, with kisses and cautions from the family, the boys mounted their
+steeds and cantered down the street to the punt, on their way to
+Bullaroi, as Mr. M'Intyre's station was called.
+
+Across the river the boys were joined by Tom Hawkins, who was to
+accompany them.  Tom, who was mounted on a brisk pony, greeted them with
+a cheery cry as the punt reached the shore.  A jollier trio of young
+Australians could not be found than this chattering, capering band, who
+on that brilliant morning raced along the bush track.
+
+Plans of fun and frolic were projected during the ride, including
+astounding adventures that would have taken half a year to carry out.
+In anticipation the lads were already having tip-top fun.  Tom's riotous
+imagination, especially, made the spoils of the gun, the rod, and the
+chase to assume brobdingnagian proportions.
+
+In due course they pulled up at the slip-rails marking the Bullaroi
+boundary line.  Thence to the white gate seen in the distance, and which
+fronted the homestead, a mad race ensued.  In this Curlew was first, the
+rest nowhere.  Indeed, Curlew became so excited by the gallop and the
+shrill shoutings of the riders that Joe, who had made no attempt to pull
+him till the horse was almost on the gate, found it impossible to stop
+his steed, which was full of running.  Before the boy fully realised it,
+Curlew was soaring through the air, clearing the gate by at least a
+couple of feet.  Joe, parting from the "pigskin," was sailing through
+space on his own account, leaving a foot or two between his sit-down and
+the saddle seat.
+
+Joe, though a fair rider, was not a practised steeple-chaser.  He was
+not a horseman, as were Sandy and Tom, who were to the manner born.
+Little wonder, then, that his heart rose with the horse and his rider,
+and for some brief moments palpitated furiously in his mouth.  That
+mysterious and natural law of the universe called gravitation was on
+hand, however, and saved the situation.
+
+Curlew's hoofs struck the ground on the descending curve as lightly as a
+cat.  Joe's legs, which in this aerial flight had assumed the shape of
+an inverted V, came plop into the saddle at the right moment.  But his
+body was thrown forward, his hands clutching frantically at the horse's
+neck and mane.  In this condition, unable to recover his equilibrium,
+with but the loss of his hat, the rider is carried over the intervening
+distance to the stables, amid loud laughter from the station people, who
+had been attracted by the shouting of the boys.
+
+Sandy cleared the gate in pursuit of Joe, but failed to catch him.  Tom
+was obliged to haul up and open the gates, as the jump was too high for
+his pony.  Thus the rider of Curlew came in a winner, and all three
+dismounted amid laughter and teasings.
+
+"Weel, Joseph, my lad," said Mr. M'Intyre, who possessed a pawky humour,
+"Johnny Gilpin couldna hae done the trick better.  You kep' up wi'
+Curlew, anyway. I thocht he was goin' to leave ye behind.  Ma certie
+it's deeficult to say which is the winner, you or the horse. We'll juist
+ca' it neck an' neck."
+
+"Take no heed to him, Joe," said Mrs. M'Intyre.  She saw through the
+lad's apparent good-humour a sense of humiliation at his unhorsemanlike
+entry.  "You did well to stick to him, not knowing his intention.  But
+come away in, boys; ye'll be ready for something to eat after that ride.
+We're right glad to see you.  Sandy was so excited last night at the
+prospect of your coming that I am sure he didn't sleep a wink.  Why, he
+had the horses saddled at dawn, and was off without a bite if I hadn't
+stopped him and made him drink a cup of coffee."
+
+The day was a busy one on the station.  Every one was engaged in
+finishing off jobs and cleaning up.  For during Christmas week, and
+until after New Year's Day, only that which was absolutely necessary in
+the way of work was expected.
+
+During the previous week drafting and mustering had been the all
+absorbing work on the run.  That finished, and a mob of "fats"
+despatched overland to Maitland to catch the Christmas market, the last
+few days were occupied in culling "boilers" and in branding calves. On
+this particular day all the available hands were engaged in tidying up;
+the whitewash bucket being in great request.
+
+Willy and Jacky, the aboriginal boys, together with an Irish
+lad,--Norah's brother, in fact,--were enrolled as whitewash artists.
+Their special work consisted in converting dingy looking hen-roosts,
+dog-kennels, pigsties, milking sheds, and the like into a brilliant
+white.  Meanwhile two of the men, with rough brooms made of stiff
+brushes, were sweeping the ground within a fair radius of the house.
+
+Inside, the housework was prosecuted with great vigour. Two gins were
+set to work with the scrubbing brush; while in the kitchen, where Mrs.
+Mac and the two elder daughters were domiciled, Christmas cooking went
+on apace.  There was, indeed, such a weighing of flour and raisins, such
+a slicing of candied peel, such a dressing of flesh and fowl as to make
+Ah Fat, the cook, fairly amazed, and to wonder how in the name of
+Confucius the oven was to stand the cooking strain that was being
+brought upon it.  While from the kitchen an odoriferous perfume was
+wafted across the yard, assaulting all noses, and breeding high
+anticipation, most pleasurable from the standpoint of creature comforts.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre, no patron of idleness either in man or boy, took the lads
+early in the day into the harness room, and set them to the task of
+cleaning the saddle and harness ware.  Saddles, girths, bridles, various
+sets of light and heavy harness, required attention.  All leather was to
+be well cleaned and oiled, stirrups and bits to be burnished, and broken
+straps to be repaired.
+
+The pals threw themselves, _con amore_, into the work. It was hard to
+say which moved the more briskly, tongues or hands.  The afternoon was
+well advanced before the last piece of steel and electro silver was
+polished, the last girth and surcingle refitted, and the whole placed on
+their respective brackets.  This task finished, the boys felt that they
+had earned the promised reward--a glorious swim. Within a couple of
+hours of sunset the whole of the outside work was accomplished, and, for
+the time being, each employe was a free agent.
+
+The homestead faced a large affluent of the river, which was known as
+Crocodile Creek.  Why the creek was so named was a sort of a mystery.
+No species of the saurian tribe was ever known to infest its waters.
+The name may have been given to it through some fancied resemblance in
+its course to the aforesaid reptile.
+
+Crocodile Creek formed a fine frontage to Bullaroi run, being distant
+from the homestead about a quarter of a mile.  Immediately opposite, the
+creek widened out into a fine sheet of water some three miles long, and
+varying in width from one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards.  There
+was a particular spot which stood about seven or eight feet above the
+water.  Here Mr. M'Intyre had a spring-board constructed.  The water was
+fully twelve feet deep at the jump off, and, added to other advantages,
+formed an ideal spot for bathing purposes.
+
+Having finished their allotted tasks, the lads came bounding out of the
+harness-room and across the yard to the house, shouting, as they
+capered, "Who's for a swim?"  The stockmen certainly looked, and no
+doubt felt, that the one thing above all others necessary for their ease
+and comfort after the stable and the house-yard cleaning operations was
+a plunge into the cool, sweet waters of the creek.  If they were
+semi-black by reason of their employment, it was no less true that the
+black boys, Willy and Jacky, were semi-white.
+
+Dennis Kineavy, the Irish lad, was the "broth of a bhoy," and all three
+were cram full of impishness.  No sooner were the finishing touches of
+whitewash decoration given, than Denny, sneaking up behind Willy and
+Jacky, who stood off a little from the hen-roost admiring their artistic
+handicraft--with capacious brush well charged with the sediment of his
+bucket--smote them in quick succession across the bare shoulders and
+breech, and then, with an Irish yell, darted round the stable.
+
+Surprised for the moment, but nothing loath, the black boys snatched
+their buckets, wielded their brushes, and, shouting their native
+war-cry, dashed off in hot pursuit; Denny dodged them successfully for a
+while, but was at length outflanked, and then ensued a battle royal
+which only ceased when the supplies of ammunition (whitewash) were
+exhausted.
+
+It was at the tail-end of the fray that Sandy and his mates came racing
+along with the cry of, "Swim O!  Swim O!"
+
+Boys and men, black and white, were all ready and willing, nay, eager,
+for a jolly bogey.[#]  There was a rush by the whites for towels; then,
+in quick procession, the motley band made for the water.
+
+
+[#] "Bogey," native name for bathe.
+
+
+After a plunge and a short swim to get rid of the dust and muck, an
+impromptu carnival was arranged.  First of all came the long dive.  This
+meant a run along the spring-board and a dive straight out.  The diver
+in each case, when reaching the surface, had to tread water, keeping as
+nearly as possible to the spot of emergence.
+
+Tom Hawkins led off, the others followed in order at twenty seconds'
+interval.  The blacks, by reason of their native abilities in this
+direction, were made to do the dive with arms interlocked, Siamese twin
+fashion.  The darkies were the whippers-in of this diving procession.
+Tom, who led off, faltered in his stride when leaving the spring-board.
+He rose to the surface at about thirty feet from the bank.  Joe, who
+followed, dived a good ten feet farther out than Tom.  Sandy, however,
+when he shot up through the water, was fully fifty feet from the shore.
+Both of the stockmen beat Joe, but were behind Sandy.
+
+Then came the blacks, side by side.  With an even, measured, and springy
+stride they raced down the board, which was wide enough to admit of this
+manoeuvre.  They took the water without a splash, like a pair of frogs,
+leaving scarce a ripple.  It was naturally thought that by being coupled
+in this way matters would be evened.  It was the general opinion that
+they would fail to reach Sandy's limit, and probably not get beyond
+Joe's.  The boys eagerly awaited their reappearance, watching the water
+closely for some sign.  After what appeared to be an interminable period
+they were startled by a double cooee, and, lo! the twins, so to speak,
+had risen at least twenty feet beyond Sandy, or seventy feet from the
+shore.
+
+Somersault diving followed the long distance trial. In thia Harry the
+stockman, who had been a circus rider and acrobat in his youthful days,
+outshone all the others.
+
+Then came the exciting game of "catch the devil."  Willy was chosen
+devil.  It was his business to dive off the spring-board and run the
+gauntlet, the others being scattered in the water.  To catch the
+aboriginal seemed a comparatively easy matter, all things considered.
+He was, however, a superb swimmer and trickster, diving and dodging like
+a cormorant.  A dozen times surrounded, he marvellously eluded his
+pursuers.  The game was at its height, and there was no knowing how long
+the "devil" would remain at large, when the station bell rang out a
+lusty summons to supper.
+
+This brought the carnival to an instant conclusion. And now each swimmer
+scrambled for the shore, and soon the whole company, with clean bodies
+and healthy appetites, were hieing along the track.  When the boys
+reached home they found a new arrival in the person of a young
+Englishman.  This gentleman was out on a business tour, and, being
+anxious to see something of station life, was recommended to Mr.
+M'Intyre by a mutual friend. Mrs. M'Intyre's hospitality was proverbial,
+and Neville, for such was the "new chum's" name, was heartily made
+welcome.
+
+The day had been a long one, and, supper ended, the boys were quite
+resigned to go to bed, or at least to the bedroom.  The noises
+therefrom, after their retirement, were very suggestive of prime larks,
+and continued long after lights were out.  The pals were domiciled, to
+their great delight, in a big spare room, which contained a double bed
+and a single one.  Joe and Tom shared the former, while Sandy camped on
+the latter, which was, indeed, his stretcher brought in for the
+occasion.
+
+Silence reigned supreme at length within, and without was broken only by
+the hoarse croaking of the frogs, an occasional call from a night owl,
+and the weird wail of the curlew.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIV*
+
+                       *CHRISTMAS FUN AND FROLIC*
+
+
+    "It was the time when geese despond
+      And turkeys make their wills;
+    The time when Christians to a man
+      Forgive each other's bills.
+    It was the time when Christmas glee
+      The heart of childhood fills."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+Daylight had barely broken.  The only stir in the household is that
+produced by Joe, whose slumber had been disturbed by the persistent
+crawling of flies across his face.
+
+There are three things in animated nature which run each other very
+closely for the supremacy in downright tenacity to purposeful
+cussedness.  Pig, Hen, Fly--these three!  And of the three, the
+cussedest and most exasperatingly tenacious to its rooted purpose of
+squeezing in between one's eyelids, sinking a well in the corner of
+one's eye, or climbing the inside walls of one's nose, is the Australian
+species of the common house-fly.
+
+It is possible at times to circumvent the "gintilman wot pays the rint,"
+and persuade him to return through the same hole in the fence which gave
+him escape, by appearing to be anxious to drive him out on to the plain.
+That is pig strategy; or rather, strategy with a pig.  He is beaten, so
+to speak, by the law of contrairy.  When all resources fail in
+persuading the hen that the flour-bin, or the linen basket, is not
+specially constructed to suit her convenience in the daily duty of egg
+producing, one can at the last resort requisition the services of Madame
+la Guillotine.
+
+But neither strategy nor tactics, neither force nor fraud, avail
+anything when the early fly, with recruited energies and fiendish
+intent, starts on her mission of seeking whom and what she may annoy.
+She--it is quite safe to put the insect in the feminine gender--can be
+neither coaxed, persuaded, shoo'd, deceived, frightened, nor driven from
+her prey.  The fly always wins--in the end.
+
+Driven from Blanket Bay on this eventful Christinas morning by the
+incorrigible fly, Joe proceeded at once to reverse the Golden Rule, and
+promptly made war upon his mates on that morning which, of all the days
+in the year, makes for peace and goodwill among men.
+
+Tom had sought refuge from the fly in the bed-clothes, and muffled nasal
+monotones made a sonorous chorale. On the other hand, Sandy, impervious
+to all impious fly assaults, lay on his back, mouth wide open, breathing
+heavily and steadily.  Sandy was of the pachydermatous order.  Neither
+mosquito nor fly troubled him.  The flies evidently found his eyes to be
+a dry patch, while they were unable to obtain a permanent foothold at
+his nostrils owing to the intermittent, horse-like snorts which blew
+them as from the mouth of a blunderbuss.  But they heavily fringed his
+mouth, eating with manifest relish their bacilli breakfast.
+
+In a jiffy the bed-clothes are whipped off the slumbering lads, and in
+less than no time the latter, pillows in hand, make common cause against
+the aggressor.  Joe puts up a gallant fight, but the odds are too much
+for him; he is driven into a corner at last and unmercifully pelted.
+
+This prelude to the day's enjoyment concluded, the pals jump into their
+clothes and proceed to execute the second item on the day's programme,
+namely, a horseback scamper through the bush before breakfast.
+
+Oh, the glory of it!  Out from the confines of four walls into the open
+spaces of the world when night is merging into day; to move in the dawn
+of a new day; to stand enwrapped in its pearl-grey mantle ere the
+mounting sun has turned its soft shades to rosy brilliance; to inhale
+the spicy breeze which, during the night watches, having extracted the
+perfumes of the forest flowers, comes heavily freighted o'er gully and
+range, and diffuses the sweet odours as the reward of the early riser.
+And then--to watch the daily miracle of sunrise!
+
+    "See! the dapple-grey coursers of the morn
+    Beat up the light with their bright silver hoofs
+      And chase it through the sky."
+
+
+Sandy, on old Rufus, kept for that work, soon rounds-up and yards
+several steeds from the horse-paddock. From these three are picked and
+saddled; and ere the rising sun has walked "o'er the dew of yon high
+eastern hills," the lads are scampering through bush and brake, o'er
+dale and hill.  They chivy the silent kangaroo through the lush grass;
+have a glorious burst after a belated dingo; rouse screaming parrots and
+paroquets from their matutinal meal off the honey blossoms of box and
+apple trees; pulling up at last on the summit of a dome-shaped, treeless
+hill, from whence, with the bloom of the morning still upon it, the
+landscape extends in a vast stretch of undulation, broken at irregular
+intervals by silver ribbons of creek and river.
+
+Belts of scrub and forest, rich pasturages and arable lands, are dotted
+here and there, with minute spots from which rise slender threads of
+smoke indicating settlers' houses; while away in the background are the
+purple hills and the blue mountains.
+
+Boys are not usually considered to be impressionable creatures on the
+aesthetic side of things.  Herein we wrong them.  They may not
+attitudinise, nor spout poetry when under the supreme touches of nature,
+for the boy is too natural to be theatrical.  But, without doubt, the
+morning and evening glories of dear old mother earth do touch their
+sense of beauty; and though these impressions may seem to be effaced by
+other and more sordid things, nevertheless they linger through the long
+years, called up from time to time in sweet association with days that
+are no more.
+
+The lads, while they rested their steeds, stood in silent and wondering
+gaze, broken at last by Tom, who, pointing across the intervening spaces
+to the broadest of the many silver threads, exclaimed, "Tender's
+Tareela!"  Many miles away, as the crow flies, lay the river village, a
+small cluster of dots, a few of which glistened in the sunlight.  These
+shining spots indicated the "superior" houses that sported corrugated
+iron roofs, new in those days.  For the most part the "roof-trees" were
+shingle or bark.
+
+And now, homeward bound, the horsemen slither down the hillside, plunge
+into a pine scrub, to emerge therefrom on the border of a small plain,
+and chase a mob of brumbies grazing thereon.  They, with snorting
+nostrils and waving manes, headed by a notorious grey stallion--of whom
+more anon--dash up a ravine into the fastnesses of the scrub, and,
+though followed some distance by the reckless riders, vanish from sight
+with a celerity possible only to wild bush-horses.
+
+Skirting now the banks of the Crocodile, they disturb flocks of teal,
+widgeon, water-hen, and other aquatic birds.  At length they give a view
+halloo, for the old homestead is in sight.  This scares a flock of
+cockatoos that are camping in the river gums, after an early morning's
+poaching expedition to the adjacent maize-fields, and brings out the
+station dogs with a babble of barking, as they pound up the track with a
+final spurt.
+
+"Breakfast ready, Ah Fat?" sings out Sandy, as the boys come rushing
+into the kitchen from the stables.
+
+"Leddy?  Tes, allee globble upee!  Missee say no kleep anyling for bad
+boy.  Lockee allee glub."  Ah Fat's twinkling, humorous eyes redeemed
+his hatchet face and stolid countenance.
+
+"It's all right, fellows.  He's only pokin' borak at us," said Sandy,
+giving the Celestial a familiar slap.  "Come along, I'm as hungry as a
+hunter.  They've only started, I know."
+
+The family were seated, heads were bent, and Mr. M'Intyre was saying the
+long Scotch grace, when the boys burst into the room with a fine
+clatter.  The rude intrusion brought a severe remonstrance from that
+gentleman when the exercise was concluded. Mrs. M'Intyre--always ready
+to defend the boys and to champion them, to condone their faults and to
+extol their virtues, in which she was wise or otherwise, as the reader
+may decide--broke in with a Christmas greeting. For a minute there was a
+fusillade of "Merry Christmas to you and many of them!"
+
+"Now, boys, take your seats before breakfast's cold."
+
+On proceeding to their places the boys stood stock still, for there,
+resting against their respective chairs, stood three brand-new,
+double-barrel shot-guns.
+
+"Weel, bairns!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre, with quiet amusement, surveying
+the amazed boys as they gazed at the weapons.  "What are ye frichtened
+at?  Is it snakes y're lukin' upon?  Why dinna ye sit doon to yure
+food?"
+
+"Oh, father! mother!" cried Sandy at last, picking up his gun, pleasure
+beaming from his face.  "This is what Harry meant when he said last
+night he'd brought out a parcel from the town that'd come by steamer."
+Then with a rush, Joe and Tom at his heels, he danced round the abashed
+Scotchman, and gave him a hug, repeating the dose with interest on Mrs.
+M'Intyre.  It was hard for the boys to settle down to breakfast and
+dislodge their eyes from the weapons.  What their souls coveted most was
+a gun.  The clamant claims of hunger, however, are not to be
+disregarded; so, stacking their guns in a corner, the boys did ample
+justice to a generous meal.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning, boys?" inquired Mrs.
+M'Intyre.  "You've not been out on the run before, Tom, have you?"
+
+"No, ma'am.  We'd a good time, though!"
+
+"How far did you go, Sandy?"
+
+"To the top of Bald Hummock, mother."
+
+"Splendid view from the top, is it not, Joe?"
+
+"Not bad, Mrs. M'Intyre."
+
+"That's a negative descreeption o' ane o' the graundest sichts the hale
+deestric' can boast," said Mr. M'Intyre, with emphasis.
+
+Joe became conscious of the banality.
+
+"An' why did ye no' tak' Mr. Neville wi' you, boys? Ye did wrang no' to
+invite him to ride wi' you.  I think ye owe him an apologee, Saundy."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said the lad, turning in some confusion to Mr.
+Neville.  "If I'd thought----"
+
+"Oh, I shouldn't have dreamed of going out at such an early hour, my
+lad," replied Neville loftily.  He had a somewhat affected accent and a
+superior air.  "I nevvah exert myself before breakfast.  Besides, I am
+not sure that I should find a safe escort in a parcel
+of--er--schoolboys. With the young ladies, now," he continued, fixing
+his monocle and bestowing a patronising stare upon Sandy's sisters,
+Maggie and Jessie, "I--I--should be delighted to go for a bush ride, as
+I think these equestrian expeditions are called in Awestralia, in the
+cool of the afternoon."
+
+"We don't call them even bush rides out here, Mr. Neville," answered
+Jessie saucily.  She resented patronage.  "We call 'em spins.  Boys, I
+vote we all go for a spin this afternoon.  Let's ride as far as Ben
+Bolt's cave. It'll be something interesting to show Mr. Neville. Ben
+Bolt's a famous bushranger hereabouts, you know, and the cave is a
+favourite rendezvous for his gang, as well as a safe hiding-place.  At
+least, it was so until a few months ago, when the police and black
+trackers discovered it, and nearly nabbed him.  Fancy having a
+bushranger's camp on the Bullaroi boundary!  But Ben never uses it now.
+So let's ride out to it.  Are you game, boys?"
+
+"Game!" snorted Sandy.  "What's to be game about? The main thing is,
+will Mr. Neville care for an eighteen-mile spin?  If not, we could go
+for a short ride down the Crocodile."
+
+"Please don't question my ability, boy!" retorted the new chum, who
+resented the implication contained in Sandy's remark.  "I find,"
+continued he, addressing his host, "you good people out heah seem to
+think that Awestralia is the only place where horseback riding is
+indulged in----"
+
+"We ride steers also, an' billies too," slyly interjected Joe, with a
+wink at the girls.
+
+"And we read that they ride donkeys and--er--hobby-horses in England,"
+chipped in Jessie, whose eyes sparkled with mischief.
+
+"Good for you, ole Jess!  Let 'em bring out their English fox-hunters
+an' steeple-chasers that they brag so much about, and we'll give 'em a
+dingo run, or a go at cutting out scrubbers,[#] an' see how they'd be
+with their pretty coats an' breeches, at the tail of the hunt!"
+
+
+[#] Wild, unbranded cattle, frequenting scrub country,
+
+
+"Are ye addressing the English nation or oor guest, Saundy?"
+
+M'Intyre could be caustic when he willed.  He had no liking for
+Australian blow, and hit at it as he would hit at a snake, whenever
+occasion arose.  He now turned the laugh against his son, Jess laughing
+loudest of all.
+
+"It's settled, then, that we ride out to the cave this afternoon?" said
+Maggie, with an inquiring eye on Neville.
+
+"I'm shore 'twill be a pleasant jaunt, Miss M'Intyre," replied the
+Englishman.  "I shall have pleasure in acting as your escort.  But
+this--er--famous--er--notorious--er--highwayman, is it--er--safe?  I
+mean--er--I'm thinking of the--er--ladies, you know."
+
+"What's to be afraid of?" quoth Jessie.  To her, risk meant spice, an
+added zest.  Her whole heart went out to the life of the open air and
+the pleasures of the chase. Her greatest delight was in a mad scamper
+through the bush behind the dogs, in the kangaroo hunt.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Neville; Mag and I'll protect you should
+the--er--famous--notorious--bushranger--highwayman turn up," went on the
+audacious minx.  "I'd dearly love to see Ben Bolt.  I think he's a lot
+better than many who run him down.  Oh my! wouldn't it be fun if we
+surprised him in the cave?  I'd----"
+
+"Stop, Jess; cease your blether!" said Mr. M'Intyre sternly.  "The mon
+may no' be as black as he's pented, but he's no' an honest mon.
+Misguided he may be to an extent, and no' a'thegither answerable for
+some of the steps in his doonward career, but a creeminal for a' that,
+whom the country were weel rid o'.  But as for the reesk, there's na
+reesk in ridin' to the cave.  The Sub-Inspector telt me a few days ago
+that Ben Bolt's gone o'er the border.  News is to hand to the effect
+that he stuck up a Chinaman on the Brisbane road.  So the cave's safe
+enough."
+
+"That's settled, then," broke in Maggie.  "If we leave here about four
+o'clock 'twill be early enough, and will give us plenty of time to get
+back by dark."
+
+"Maidie, my pet," said Mrs. M'Intyre to her little three-year-old, a
+dainty, precocious miss, "what are you staring at?  It's rude to stare
+at any one like that."
+
+"Oh, muzzer!" exclaimed the child, turning her bright eyes mother-wards
+for a moment and then fixing them with a fascinated gaze upon the
+Englishman.
+
+"What is it that interests you, little girl?" remarked Neville in a
+patronising tone.  "Is it the colour of my tie?"
+
+Maidie shook her curly head, and, without removing her eyes from Mr.
+Neville's face, leaned towards Jessie, who sat next to her, and
+whispered, "The genkilmun's got somesin' on his fevvers."
+
+Suspended from the tip of one of Neville's incipient moustaches was a
+yellow string of egg-yolk.  Jess had observed this for some time, with a
+tendency to hilarity whenever it caught her eye.  Maidie's comical
+description added fuel to the fire of the girl's merriment, sending her
+into convulsive laughter.  She answered looks of interrogation by
+pointing to the dangling egg thread, and saying as well as circumstances
+permitted, "Maidie says--ha--ha--ha!--that Mr. Fevv--he--he--he!--Mr.
+Neville's got egg on his--fev--feathers."  This explanatory and
+ludicrous mixture created a general explosion among the young folk.  The
+situation, however, was promptly ended by Mrs. M'Intyre, who discreetly
+rose on seeing that the guest did not join in the general laugh.
+
+There was nothing much for the men-folk to do; but the boys were burning
+to try their new fowling-pieces, The squatter, seeing their intent,
+directed them to use their skill on the cockatoos and king parrots that
+were devastating the maize crop.
+
+These birds, especially the former, proved wily customers, so that not
+many opportunities offered for testing the guns.  Enough was done,
+though, to prove that the guns were no "slouches," and great things were
+predicted when the lads should "know" their respective weapons.
+
+"Whatyer think of the new chum, Joe?" said Sandy to Blain, as they sat
+on a log under a low-spreading wattle tree, on the look out for a flying
+shot.
+
+"Goes thirteen to the dozen, ole man, don't he? Knows a lot more'n us,
+he reckons, and can't help showin' it."
+
+"Yes, he can't stand us chaps at no price.  By George! Jess's got his
+measure, and Mag too, for that matter. They'll take his nibs down a peg
+or two before he goes, I bet tuppence."
+
+"Little Maidie fitted him all right," chipped in Tom.
+"Fevvers--ha--ha!--yes, goose feathers."
+
+It was evident that the visitor was not in favour with the young people.
+He had struck a false note.  No one can be quicker than boys to detect
+superciliousness and to resent it.  The patronising air is to them the
+unforgivable sin.  Henceforth Neville went by the name of "Fevvers"
+among the boys, to the great amusement of the girls, who, unfortunately
+for the Englishman, had assigned him a place in prig-dom.
+
+Neville, it must be confessed, was a bit of a prig; but at heart he was
+not at all a bad fellow, and there came a time not far ahead when
+respect supplanted contempt in the pals, and the ridiculous nickname was
+dropped; while he on his part discontinued the use of the irritating
+comparison, "the way we do things in England," which at the beginning he
+was for ever introducing.
+
+The household was enjoying a siesta after the typical Christmas dinner
+which was partaken of at midday.  Stillness reigned within the house,
+save the cracking of house timbers under the influence of the heat.
+This seductive calm and the sweet sleep of the girls was at length
+rudely broken by Sandy, who in the exercise of a brother's privilege
+shook the door violently as he shouted, "Now then, lazies, get up and
+dress!  It's half-past three."
+
+"Bother you, Sandy, you _are_ a nuisance!" sleepily complained Jessie.
+"I--I--was having _such_ a lovely dream.  Neptune was just on the heels
+of a blue flyer,[#] and I was galloping alongside him.  The chase led us
+to Blind-fall Gully, and we three took the jump together, and were
+almost landed on the other side when you thumped the door.  I thought at
+first it was the thud of Kangie's tail, but no! there she was flying
+through----"
+
+
+[#] Maiden kangaroo, a very fast runner.
+
+
+"That comes of eating too much plum-duff an' mince-pie, my girl.  But I
+say, you two, look slippy, or you'll be too late.  I told Jacky to
+saddle Nigger for you, Jess. What'll you take, Mag?  Rainbow or Sultan?
+They're both up."
+
+"Don't care, Sandy.  I'll take Sultan, I think.  No, I'll take Rainbow.
+Wait a moment, p'r'aps----"
+
+"Oh! stop your silly nonsense.  I'll put the saddle on Sultan," shouted
+the impatient boy, as he made off through the house to the stockyard.
+
+"Say, Sandy!" cried out Jess, who was now wide awake.  "Have you roused
+Mr.--er--Fevvers yet?"
+
+"'Ssh! mother'll hear you," exclaimed the boy warningly, as he returned
+to the door.  "He didn't have a snooze. Says it's unbusinesslike to
+sleep in the daytime.  Says they never do that in England.  England be
+blowed, say I.  An' whatyer think?  Harry offered him the loan of his
+leggin's, but he wouldn't have 'em.  Says they smell of the stockyard,
+ha--ha!  Says they don't wear 'em in England.  Listen!  He's got on a
+pair of white duck britches, an' my crikey! they won't be white any
+longer.  He asked Harry for his fourteen-foot stockwhip. Says he was
+told an 'Awestralian' horse would never budge without one.  Only dad was
+there I'd 'a' put his saddle on Dick Swiveller, an' by jing! we'd 'a'
+had some sport.  We'll knock fun out of him as it is, I reckon. But look
+alive, girls, or y'll be left behind."
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XV*
+
+                   *A BUSH RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES*
+
+
+    "Then hey for boot and horse, lad!
+      And round the world away;
+    Young blood will have its course, lad!
+    And every dog his day."
+        KINGSLEY.
+
+
+The weather in Australia at Christmas is not ideal for riding parties.
+Midsummer heat and dust, together with hordes of flies, largely
+countervail the delights of the saddle.
+
+The enthusiastic party that cantered along the tracks leading from the
+Bullaroi homestead on this particular Christmas, with one exception,
+made small bones about either dust or heat.  Neville, however, was
+irritated by the dust which the horses' feet knocked up.  Nor would he
+seek alleviation as did the others by leaving the track at every
+opportunity.  The victim of prejudice and conventionality, expressed in
+terms of cussedness, he obstinately stuck to the dusty track.  The boys
+and Jessie frisked here and there, making short cuts, jumping gullies
+and logs, and generally enjoying themselves. They raised, it is true,
+clouds of dust, to the annoyance of the new chum, as they pounded along
+the track on their return to the others, after having forged ahead some
+distance; behaving, in short, like gambolling dogs. Mag would have
+dearly loved the frolic, but hospitality's demands made it imperative
+that she--the eldest--should partner the guest.
+
+Neville was no rider.  His knowledge of the ways of the horse was of the
+most elementary kind.  Had he had the common sense to have admitted that
+palpable fact, many of his painful experiences, and indeed tortures,
+would have been minimised, if not altogether avoided.
+
+Like all inexperienced riders, he responded to every movement of the
+horse.  He had no sense of balance. He held the reins shoulder high, and
+was for ever jerking them.  When his body was not stiffly straight it
+inclined forward.  The inevitable result was made abundantly manifest in
+chafed limbs and aching bones.  With Neville, as with most new-chum
+riders, the trousers legs _would_ work up from the bottom, displaying a
+section of calf, to the great amusement of the boys, who baa'd most
+vehemently at such times.
+
+This, however, must be reckoned for grace in Neville: he made no
+complaint, nor admitted any discomfort.  He was forward in his
+criticisms of the boys' style of riding: their seats were un-English and
+cowboy.
+
+No greater contrast between the riders could well be imagined than that
+which the new chum and the pals presented.  Theirs was to the manner
+born, to be confounded neither with cowboy nor military.  While there is
+an utter absence of stiffness in the Australian style, there is at the
+same time nothing bordering on the truculent as affected by the cowboy.
+The movements are willowy and rhythmic.  Horse and man are one and
+indivisible.  This means to both the minimum of work with the maximum of
+ease.
+
+How far removed from this attainment was poor Neville!  His figure was
+of the ramrod pattern for the first few miles--ultra military, so to
+speak.  His feet, well through the stirrups, inclined outwards at a
+sharp angle; his left arm, held at right angle as rigid as a semaphore,
+gripped the reins; while his right clutched the stockwhip with tenacious
+grasp.  The steed, a fair pacer in experienced hands, in his became a
+veritable jogger.  He rose and fell in springless fashion with every
+motion of the horse.
+
+It was not in Neville's power to maintain that iron rigidity, and so he
+gradually inclined forward.  His back became bowed, and his nose at
+times was in imminent danger of the horse's head.  His arms, too, hung
+listlessly at either side, until at last his appearance resembled
+nothing so much as a doubled-up Guy Fawkes perched on a rail.  Yet his
+dogged spirit, essentially British, half courage, half cussedness, bore
+him up.
+
+Nearing the caves, the party, with the exception of Neville and his
+companion, raced ahead, and by the time that the latter arrived were
+cooling off beneath the shade of some coolibahs.
+
+And now disaster of such a character as to shake from him the last
+remains of superiority and propriety, overwhelming him in the depths of
+humiliation, overtook poor Neville.  These mortifying results were
+brought about by his attempted gallantry.
+
+The selected camp, as related, was beneath the grateful shade of a
+cluster of coolibah[#] trees that grew on the banks of a mountain
+stream, close to the mouth of the caves.  Seeing that Maggie was about
+to dismount unassisted, the youth exclaimed in eager tones, "Wait a
+moment, Miss M'Intyre!" and so saying, threw himself from his horse in
+order to do the gallant by helping his companion down, "as they do in
+England."
+
+
+[#] Water gum trees.
+
+
+Sad to say, however, so cramped and stiff were his limbs, especially his
+nether extremities, that the instant he touched ground his legs doubled
+in a powerless condition, and he fell prone to the earth.
+Unfortunately, the ground at the spot where he tumbled down began to
+slope towards the creek.  In his frantic efforts to rise quickly to his
+feet he overbalanced himself, and began to roll down the incline.  He
+saved himself for a second, and the impending disaster might have been
+averted but for the confounded stockwhip, which led to his undoing in a
+most effectual way.  This weapon, which he still held in his clenched
+right hand, got entangled with his legs by some means, lasso fashion,
+bringing him smartly to the ground again in a fresh attempt to rise.
+The sloping bank at this point became almost precipitous: with a rapid
+turn over-and-over, he rolled down the steep gradient, crashed through
+an undergrowth of bushes and bracken that fringed the perpendicular bank
+of the creek, and shot out into its clear, deep waters.
+
+This unrehearsed performance, taking less time to act than to relate,
+brought a powerful shriek from Maggie, who, arrested in her intention to
+dismount unaided by Neville's proffered aid, beheld from her horse the
+undignified collapse of her escort, with its quickly succeeding acts of
+comedy and tragedy.
+
+The others, who were witnesses of this performance, hugely enjoyed it,
+giving a loud hurrah as the new chum splashed into the creek.  There was
+one exception. Sandy, who was on his way to the creek with the billy
+can, and who realised in a moment that the discomfited Englishman had
+fallen into a deep pool,--the very spot where he had often fished for
+big perch,--threw away the billy and rushed to the spot where the
+unfortunate man had fallen in.  Only that day had Neville declared that
+"my water exercises have been confined to the house bath."
+
+Beyond the agitated surface there were no signs of their visitor in the
+water.  Without pause, the lad took a header to the bottom, which was at
+least ten feet from the top, discerned the sunken man kicking and
+clawing, hauled him to the surface, and towed him to the bank. Here
+willing hands were ready to grip the victim of this misadventure and
+pull him to land.
+
+As soon as he was dragged to safety, the cause of his abject
+helplessness in the water was revealed.  The stockwhip had so encircled
+his legs as to prevent the free use of them, besides which the shock of
+the whole accident had to an extent numbed his senses.
+
+In sooth he was a sorry sight as he lay on the turf. The immersion did
+not cover more than half a minute; it was long enough, though, to take
+him to the verge of unconsciousness and to fill his lungs and stomach
+with water.  The boys speedily unwound the whip, and subjected Neville
+to some rough but wholesome treatment, during which process the water
+was rapidly ejected from his interior regions.
+
+The girls, as soon as Neville was landed, discreetly withdrew.
+Merriment had dissolved into pity.
+
+"Poor Mr. Neville!  I'm _so_ sorry.  Isn't it a shame, Mag?"
+
+"Seems like a dream; it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly.  I'm
+afraid father'll be very angry about it. The poor fellow was going to be
+so gallant, too.  'Permit me to assist you,' he said, and the next
+moment----"
+
+Here the whole scene comes up so vividly and comically that, strive as
+she may, Maggie cannot withhold laughter of a somewhat hysterical kind.
+And so, between laughter and tears, the two girls superintended the
+billy-boiling and tea-making business.
+
+Meanwhile the lads, stripping Neville under the lee of the bank, wrung
+his clothes, and then re-dressed him, bringing him up to the fire little
+the worse for his cold douche.  The girls quickly recognised the finer
+qualities of Neville's character, which broke through the crust of his
+artificiality in the hour of adversity.
+
+"I'm very sorry to have caused this trouble, Miss M'Intyre.  No one's to
+blame but myself.  Your brother and his mates have been exceedingly kind
+to me.  Indeed, I owe a debt to your brother that I can never repay, for
+without doubt he saved my life.  I was utterly helpless with that
+wretched whip curled around me."
+
+Indeed, it was true.  The accident might easily have had a fatal
+termination, and the thought of it (for all that Neville cut such a
+grotesque figure in his shrunken clothes) drove the last remains of
+latent hilarity away. Maggie assured the forlorn-looking youth that no
+thanks were due to any one; that all deplored the accident, and were
+thankful that the finale inclined rather to the comic than the tragic.
+
+"Take this pannikin of hot tea, Mr. Neville.  Father says that whisky's
+not in it with tea for recruiting one's jaded energies."
+
+As there was no need for starting on the return ride awhile, the three
+boys, leaving the girls and Neville at the camp, proceeded to the caves.
+
+The caves, three in number, were connected with one another by narrow
+entrances.  The outermost one had an inlet through a narrow crevice.
+This opening was concealed from the casual eye by a sentinel-like
+boulder which stood directly opposite, and about eighteen inches in
+advance of the wall of rock.  It was a squeeze for any one above the
+average size to get through.
+
+Before its occupation by the bushrangers the outer cave, by evident
+signs, formed a favourite wallaby haunt.  These had been disturbed and
+hunted by the bushrangers, who from time to time, according to police
+report, used it as a hiding-place.  They had often lain there when the
+district was filled with troopers. On one occasion, as was afterwards
+known, Ben Bolt and his mate, a youth of eighteen years, lay concealed
+for weeks.  The boy had been badly wounded in the thigh during a brush
+with the police in the New England ranges.  Ben Bolt, who was
+passionately attached to him, by incredible labour and consummate
+skill--for the pursuing police were on their tracks all the
+time--brought his wounded mate to the caves in order that he might lie
+in safety until his sores were healed.
+
+Sandy was the only one of the lads who knew anything about the caves.
+In company with his father he had visited them a few weeks previously.
+He therefore acted as a guide to the party.
+
+The fissure, a mere crack in the limestone rock, extended in tortuous
+fashion for some distance. Lengthening out and making a curve, it
+suddenly broadened into a chamber of respectable dimensions. At the
+entrance of the crevice Sandy had lit a candle, one being sufficient for
+the cramped passage.  Before entering the cave proper, all three candles
+brought for that purpose were lit.
+
+The cave was bat-inhabited.  Large numbers of these uncanny creatures,
+which were clinging to the roof and sides, disturbed and dazzled by the
+light, flew about in aimless fashion, often striking the boys in their
+uncertain flight.  Numbers of them fastened on to their clothes and
+limbs with their claw-like pinions.
+
+Joe and Tom, to whom this was a new experience, were uneasy and a good
+bit scared.  Their nervousness increased when the fluttering nocturnals
+more than once extinguished the lights.
+
+"You must do as I do, boys!" sang out Sandy, who was in advance, as they
+walked cautiously over the uneven and stone-littered floor.  Sandy had
+removed his hat and held it over the candle.  This, while it darkened
+all above, gave ample light on the floor space, and protected the candle
+from the nocturnals. The others thereupon followed suit, and soon
+reached the opening on the opposite side that led to the second chamber.
+
+This narrow passage made a stiff ascent for some yards, inclining to the
+left, and then extending like a funnel.  Sandy was proceeding very
+cautiously, for the opening into the interior cave was made at about ten
+feet from its floor.  A rough ladder of lawyer vines hung from the
+opening in the wall to the basement.  Down this the boys speedily
+slipped, and found themselves in a dome-like space, bigger by far than
+any room, barn, or church that they had seen. The atmosphere was very
+chill, and the continual drip of falling water made a monotonous sound.
+A narrow, clear stream of running water flowed along one side,
+disappearing in a floor crack near the far corner.
+
+Contrary to what one would have expected, the lime crystals were few,
+and for the most part small; not to be mentioned in the same breath with
+the matchless statuary of the far-famed Jenolan Caves. On the ground,
+however, were some interesting stalagmites, whose grotesque figures
+highly amused the boys.  At the first sight, though, a fearsome feeling
+possessed them.  They were children of the sun, and this new and cryptic
+experience in the cold, dark, vaulted chamber quickened their pulses and
+shortened their breaths.
+
+Everything seemed to have a ghostly appearance to the pals.  It was a
+fitting abode for spectral creatures, and they had a feeling that at any
+moment such might appear.  This sensation, however, was of short
+duration. A few minutes' familiarity with their surroundings dissipated
+it, and the lads moved freely in their investigations.
+
+"Didn't you say there was another cave adjoining this, Sandy?"
+
+"Yes, I'll show it to you in a few minutes."
+
+While the question was being asked and answered, Sandy was peering into
+a crevice immediately behind a huge stalagmite, and in a dark corner of
+the cave.
+
+"This looks as if it might open out somewhere, but the opening's jammed
+with a big limestone boulder."
+
+"Let's have a pull at it," said Tom, as he leaned forward to take hold
+of a projecting point.
+
+"No go, Tom.  Look at its weight!  See how tightly it's wedged!  You'll
+never budge that.  It'll need a crowbar to shift it.  Come along, boys,
+and we'll take a peep at the other cave, just to say we've seen it; then
+we must make tracks back."
+
+Sandy, however, bore in mind this sealed chamber which was destined
+later to yield important and far-reaching results.  He made for a low,
+narrow aperture in the wall, at a far corner, which opened directly into
+a vault-like ceil--a small bedroom or pantry, as the case might be.
+
+"Here's where the rangers camped," said Sandy, when the boys had
+struggled through.  "Here's their beds, an' there's where they had their
+fire."
+
+A couple of sheets of stringy-bark, placed stretcher-fashion on crossed
+sapling frames, formed the sleeping-bunks of the outlaws.  On these were
+placed a quantity of bracken which made a comfortable resting-place for
+men who more often than not slept upon the ground.
+
+"I say, Sandy," remarked Joe, after standing a moment in deep thought,
+"this is an all-right place for hidin' in, but where'd they keep the
+mokes?  That's what beats me."
+
+"It beats more'n you.  It beats father.  It beats the police.  Yes, they
+can't get a clue.  Must have had the horses handy, too; for when the
+police got into the cave the time they tracked 'em here, the rangers
+couldn't have been gone more'n a few minutes, 'cause a fire was still
+burning in Ben Bolt's room, as they call it.  The bobbies have searched
+inside and outside and all over the ridge for another opening, but can't
+find it."
+
+"They've clean bunged the p'lice, the cute beggars!" exclaimed Tom, with
+a grin.  "Wonder if they'll ever come back again.  Ole Ben's a game un.
+They say he wears a reversible suit of different colours.  An' sometimes
+he straps up a leg an' fastens a wooden peg on it an' stumps along, led
+by a dog on a string like a blind beggar."
+
+"He's always bluffin' the police, anyway," said Joe. "The Sub-Inspector
+was at our place about a month ago, telling father how he an' the others
+were fooled not so long ago."
+
+"Tell us, Joe."
+
+"Well, 'twas like this.  A bushman on a piebald horse rode up to the
+police camp out Kean's swamp way, bearing a note from Sub-Inspector
+Garvie, ordering them to cross the ranges an' get into Walcha secretly,
+as he possessed reliable information to the effect that Ben Bolt
+intended to stick up the bank two days later.
+
+"It appears this same man called at the Sub's quarters earlier in the
+day, who was laid up with a sprained leg. This chap told how he'd been
+in Ben Bolt's company two nights previously.  The ranger and his
+mate--the same boy as was wounded--came upon him as he lay by his fire
+in the evening, and asked permission to camp alongside.  They pretended
+to be stockmen in search of strayed heifers, and made out that they had
+come across their tracks just at nightfall.  As it was a goodish way to
+the station, they would be glad to sleep by his fire and get after the
+cattle at dawn.
+
+"The man said that as soon as he spotted 'em he knew 'em, but he was too
+frightened to let on.  He gave 'em some grub, an' then lay down in his
+blanket.  As soon as they had scoffed the prog they lay down too, on the
+off side of the fire.
+
+"The man didn't go to sleep, though he pretended to.  By an' by the two
+men began to talk in low tones. He could hear 'em, though, pretty well,
+and found out that they were goin' to stick up the Walcha bank.  The
+date they named was four days from that night. Although the chap lay as
+if he were dead he didn't sleep a wink.  Just before daylight the coves
+saddled their horses, which had been short-hobbled, and singing out,
+'So-long,' they galloped off.
+
+"'And what prompted you to bring this information?' said the Sub.
+
+"'Well, if you cop the rangers,' he answered, 'I shall expect something
+substantial for supplying these particulars.'
+
+"'As for that, you'll get your share.  And now you can do something
+further that'll help you in the matter of reward.  Take this note to
+Sergeant Henessey, who is camping with four police and a tracker in the
+foothills, at the head of Kean's swamp.'
+
+"The Sub-Inspector, who had hastily written a note of instruction to the
+Sergeant, handed it to the man, who said his name was Sam Kelly.  Sam
+promised to deliver it by daybreak; which he did.  As soon as the
+Sergeant read it, he roused up the men, and after a hasty meal it was
+'Saddle up.'  A few minutes later the troopers were on their way to cop
+the rangers.  Now listen: that very day, towards evening, the Port
+Macquarie mail was stuck up!"
+
+"My eye!" said Sandy, "weren't the p'lice sold!  Fancy ole Ben goin'
+into the lion's den with his information an' then takin' the letter out
+to the camp, an' none of 'em cute enough to twig 'im!  He's a downy cove
+is Ben. Ain't he, Joe?"
+
+"They say," concluded Joe, "that the piebald he rode was his favourite
+horse, the blood-bay he calls Samson."
+
+"But how was it he turned him piebald?"
+
+"_Painted patches of pipeclay on him!_"
+
+"Now, then," exclaimed Sandy, pulling out his watch, "we've only a few
+minutes left, an' we mustn't be late, as Mr. Neville won't be able to
+ride fast."
+
+"Poor old Fevvers!" exclaimed Tom reminiscently. "This hasn't been much
+of a treat for him."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVI*
+
+                            *THE DINGO RAID*
+
+
+    "What's up, old horse?  Your ears you prick,
+        And your eager eyeballs glisten.
+    'Tis the wild dog's note, in the tea-tree thick,
+        By the river to which you listen.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Let the dingo rest, 'tis all for the best;
+        In this world there's room enough
+    For him and you and me and the rest,
+        And the country is awful rough."
+          ADAM LINDSAY GORDON.
+
+
+"Here's a fine how-d'ye-do!" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre wrathfully, as he
+strode into the house, one hot morning shortly after the events recorded
+in the previous chapter. "Why sic rubbish were ever created passes
+understanding!"
+
+The irate squatter, contrary to his usual habit, clattered through the
+hall and out on to the front verandah, slamming the door most vigorously
+as he made his exit.
+
+"Whatever's stung dad this morning, Jess?" remarked Maggie to her
+sister, as their excited parent made his noisy intrusion.
+
+"Something bad, you may be sure, to cause dad to parade in that fashion.
+I expect the blacks have been performing.  They madden father at times
+by their 'want o' intellect,' as he calls it."
+
+"I'll--I'll cut the livers out o' them, the sneakin' hounds!  Rot 'em,
+I'll pizen every faither's son o' the dirty vermin!"
+
+"Oh, father!" cried Jessie, "you surely are not going to poison the poor
+things?"
+
+"Pizen 'em, that am I!  Pizen's ower guid for them, thieving brutes that
+they are!  'Puir things,' as you ca' the wretches," continued he
+sarcastically, "I'll hae the life o' the hale o' them, if it tak's a'
+the pizen in Tareela!" barked the exasperated man.
+
+"Then you're no father of mine!" blazed out Jessie. "What have the poor
+boys done that you should threaten such dreadful----"
+
+"W-h-a-t!"
+
+"Why, poor Willy and Jacky: what have they done that you should----"
+
+"What on earth is the lassie haverin' aboot?" roared Mr. M'Intyre to
+Maggie.
+
+"The blacks, father.  Didn't you say that you were going to poison them?
+But I don't believe it for a----"
+
+"The blacks!  Wha's talkin' o' blacks?  It's the reds, the blessed
+dingoes, wha've been playin' havoc wi' the calves.  The blacks?  Ma
+certie!" continued he, as the humour of the situation seized him,
+forcing a smile. Turning to his daughter, he exclaimed, "Ye're a fine
+bairn, I maun say, to be accusin' yer ain faither o' _black_ murder!"
+
+"Forgive me, dad!" cried the impulsive girl, as she threw her arms round
+his neck; "I never thought of the dingoes.  I--I--I made sure the black
+boys had been up to tricks, and never dreamed----"
+
+"There, there, that's enough, my lassie!  It's a case of
+'misunderconstumbling,' as Denny Kineavy would say. But it's enough to
+make ane feel wild and gingery.  Eleeven fine yearlin's killed!  It's
+the wantonness mair than the actual loss that vexes me: though the
+latter is bad enough, for some o' the best, of course, are sacrificeed
+to their slaughterin' instincts."
+
+That evening, in conference with his chief stockman, Mr. M'Intyre laid
+his plans for the extermination of the pack of dingoes which had just
+given an exhibition of their destructive powers.  In this particular
+instance the brutes had driven a number of yearling calves, weaners,
+into a blind gully.  Having boxed them up in this _cul de sac_, the
+rapacious dogs found them an easy prey.
+
+The Australian wild dog is a combination of several very excellent
+qualities--from the canine standpoint, that is.  He possesses more
+sagacity than any other wild thing of the bush.  Keen of sight, quick at
+scent, subtle of wit, noiseless in tread and bark, tenacious to rooted
+purpose, he pursues and stalks his quarry, whether bird or beast, with
+all the odds in his favour.
+
+There he stands, this indigenous dog, with a great, broad forehead, his
+eyes narrowing in sinister expression; well set in body, showing big
+sinews and a good muscular development; strong jaws, with teeth like
+ivory needles; white in paw and tail-tip, bright yellow everywhere else,
+save the chocolate-coloured streak running along the spine from neck to
+tail.  There he stands: but that is a figure of speech, for a more
+restless animal than this same dog does not exist.
+
+Australian cattle-dogs have a world reputation, and the very best are
+they which by crossing inherit a strain of dingo nature.  That which
+makes the dingo so hated by stock owners--who pursue him
+relentlessly--is the killing lust which possesses him.  Were he to
+simply kill for food, and be satisfied with a victim that would furnish
+enough for present needs, settlers would be far more tolerant of him.
+The plain truth about him is that his predatory instinct is so strong as
+to practically intoxicate him.  The sight of a flock of sheep or a bunch
+of calves makes him "see red," and then he simply runs amok. One
+snap--he does not bite in the ordinary sense--of his steel-like jaws is
+enough.  The mouthful of flesh and muscle is torn out in an instant, and
+the victim invariably dies of shock.  One dingo in a sheepfold will kill
+fifty sheep in a few minutes.
+
+These dogs are more troublesome in bad than in good seasons.  When the
+cattle get low in condition and weak, they become a comparatively easy
+prey, then the cunning of the dingoes becomes manifest.  They will
+select their victim and drive it towards a water-hole or swamp.  In dry
+times these are mere puddles and exceedingly boggy.  The object of the
+canine drovers is to reduce the bullock to helplessness by bogging it.
+The drive will sometimes take hours, and no experienced drover could do
+the work more cleverly.  Finally, when their quarry is down in the mire
+and practically helpless, he is tackled and bitten to death.  In good
+seasons, when the cattle are strong, Mr. Dingo, save for an occasional
+foray on the calves, has to content himself with his natural
+diet--kangaroos, 'possums, and emus.
+
+Fortunately, there was at the station at this time an eccentric bushman
+who combined the work of horse-breaking and dingo-trapping.  Nosey
+George was reputed to have a sense of smell equal to that of the dingo
+itself. Certainly, his slouching gait made it often appear as if he were
+"nosing" the tracks of the game.  But in truth he owed his prowess as a
+trapper to a pair of eyes that knew no dimness.  At first sight of
+Nosey, one saw nothing but his nose.  But when you noticed his eyes you
+forgot the nose, and lived in the presence of a pair of eyes that
+sparkled like diamonds, or as searchlights that permitted nothing to
+escape their scrutiny.
+
+Nosey's feats of tracking were really marvellous.  On one occasion he
+got on to the trail of a dingo bitch which had raided his hen-roost, and
+followed it for twelve miles, mostly through scrubby and rocky country
+that was criss-crossed with innumerable tracks of bush vermin. For all
+that, this human sleuth-hound tracked Mrs. Dingo to a cave in the
+mountains where she had five pups, and returned with six scalps.
+
+The dingo trapper rode out early the next morning in company with Harry
+the stockman and the boys to the scene of the slaughter, there to devise
+means, for which he had received _carte blanche_ from Mr. M'Intyre, for
+the capture of the raiders.
+
+The weaners' paddock was about three miles from the house, and had an
+area of five thousand acres.  Most of the enclosure consisted of plain,
+but a corner of it contained a belt of scrub; and it was in this corner,
+where the weaners camped for warmth in the night-time, that the drive
+and slaughter had been made.  The beasts, most of them, lay huddled,
+showing evidence of mangling; others had struggled out of the gully into
+the scrub. After gazing awhile at the slain, Tom Hawkins broke the
+silence--
+
+"I say, Nosey, ain't this a go?  Poor brutes!"
+
+"Here, you kid," cried the trapper, turning sharply on Tom, "who gave
+you leave to call me names?  Like yer blessed cheek!  How'd yer like me
+ter call yer monkey-face?  If yer had a decent nose, I'd tweak it fer
+yer."
+
+Nosey, who was very sensitive on this question of nickname, and had had
+many a fight over the same, made such a menacing move towards Tom that
+the lad shrank back in fear.
+
+"That'll do, George," said Sandy.  "Leave the boy alone.  He didn't mean
+anything.  It's what everybody calls you."
+
+"I'm not goin' to let brats of boys miscall me, anyhow. Don't know why
+the boss sent you blokes, for all the good y'are!" growled the grumpy,
+cross-grained, but not really bad-hearted old man.  "Youse better be
+keepin' quiet, anyways, till me an' Harry has a look round."
+
+"Let him be," whispered Harry.  "If you get his dander up he's as likely
+as not to chuck the whole blame thing.  He always jibs at that name;
+carn't stand it from kids nohow."
+
+Nosey, or to be respectful, George, now proceeded to examine the
+surroundings of the carcasses.  Bending forward until his protuberant
+nose almost touched the earth, the trapper moved his eyes swiftly, now
+concentrating on twig or grass-blades, now wildly roving and
+all-comprehensive.  The rest of the party were following at his heels,
+when he turned round and fiercely waved them back.
+
+"All right, Nos--George!" sang out Joe.  "I see; you want to keep the
+tracks clear.  We'll stay here till you've finished."
+
+Drawing on one side, the group watched the proceedings with great
+interest.  The ground was hard and stony; quite unimpressionable and
+barren of sign to the pals' untutored sight, yet to this man of the
+woods, who was ignorant of the alphabet, the rough earth surface was
+all-revealing, and made known to him in unmistakable characters the
+story of the attack.
+
+Having at length concluded his investigations, the trapper straightened
+his back and moved to where the others stood.  Producing his knife and a
+plug of tobacco, he began to shred a pipeful, making no remark to the
+expectant onlookers.
+
+"Reckon we'll have to drag it out o' the old un," said Harry to Joe in a
+low tone.  Then raising his voice, the stockman began to question the
+man.
+
+"Had a good look round, George?"
+
+Nod.
+
+"Ain't missed anything worth seeing, I bet?"
+
+Head-shake.
+
+"Whatyer make of it?"
+
+"Razorback pack," replied the old man of frugal speech, as he cleaned
+out his pipe.
+
+"Razorback pack?  You surely don't mean it!  Why, that is a matter of
+twelve mile or so!"
+
+"Suppose it is; what of that?"
+
+"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Harry dubiously, yet not wishful to offend the
+old man's susceptibilities.  "Of course you know best, George.  How many
+of 'em do you consider they'd be?"
+
+"Five dorgs an' two bitches."
+
+"Good gracious, Nosey!" cried Tom the unlucky, the next moment beating a
+rapid retreat as the dog-trapper made a vicious dart at his caudal
+appendage, finally coming to grief over a fallen log which lay in the
+line of retreat.  The pursuing foe, even, had to stop and join in the
+laugh raised at the ludicrous figure which Tom cut as he lay, head down,
+heels up.
+
+"Beg pardon, George!" he cried breathlessly the next moment, as he
+recovered his original position.  "It slipped out, old fellow.  I--I
+didn't mean it."
+
+"Come, now, George, that's handsome.  You must accept the apology,"
+interjected Joe.
+
+The trapper nodded assent, and the incident passed.
+
+"How _do_ you know what pack it is, George?  Blest if I can understand
+how you find out all these things!  First you tell us the sex an' then
+where they come from."
+
+"Tell it by their paws."
+
+"By their paws!  How on earth can you tell they've come all the way from
+Razorback by their paw marks? Mightn't it be the turkey scrub lot?"
+
+"It carn't be, an' isn't, 'cause I knows the pack."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Got two of the vermin in the traps six months ago over at the
+mountains, an' a cove wot got away left two toe nails of his near
+hind-foot in the trap."
+
+"Too fly for poison, eh?"
+
+"'Twould be a waste of good strychnine over the rubbage," replied the
+trapper, waxing more communicative. "They know a bait better than a
+Christun. 'Sides, I tried them over at Razorback.  Got plenty o' cats,
+gohanners, an' crows; an', be gosh! laid out one of my own cattle
+puppies, but ne'er a dingo."
+
+"The traps'll fetch 'em, won't they, George?"
+
+George returned no answer, but "smoled" a cryptic smile.  Mounting their
+steeds, the party turned in the direction of home.  Mr. M'Intyre
+received the trapper's report without interruption, and then consulted
+as to the best way to work their destruction.
+
+"Hunting them is out of the question," said the squatter in reply to a
+remark of his son that it would be grand sport hunting them.  "We'd only
+ruin the horses in that country and miss most o' the dingoes. Na! the
+traps are the best an' safest.  If ony ane can catch 'em in that
+fashion, George is the mon.  I leave the hale matter in his hands.  He
+kens best what to do to circumvent the brutes; so go your own way to
+work, George.  What aboot traps?  Have ye enough?"
+
+"Got seven or eight, dunno for sure.  Ought to have a dozen."
+
+"Varra weel; ane o' the laddies will ride to Tareela and get ither
+fower."
+
+Accordingly, Joe and Tom mounted their horses and rode into the store
+for the additional traps.
+
+A dog-trap, it should be explained, is simply an enlarged spring
+rat-trap, with extra strong jaws and saw-like teeth.  These instruments
+of capture weigh about ten pounds, and are planted in likely spots.  The
+native dog is an exceedingly suspicious animal.  His reasoning faculty
+is large.  A mere glance at his head will convince one as to his
+capacity, and those who have had to do with him count him as the
+slimmest of the slim. Hence, only by outmatching him in cunning may his
+adversary succeed.  In this Nosey George was an adept, and Mr. M'Intyre
+did not overstate the facts when he declared no one to be capable of
+matching the dog-trapper in the art of setting lures.
+
+The pals readily obtained leave to accompany the trapper next morning to
+watch the proceedings, on the understanding that they were in no way to
+interfere with him.  Each lad had a pair of traps slung across his
+horse's withers, and George carried the balance on the neck and croup of
+his steed.  They made their way to the weaners' paddock, and after a
+brief inspection of the carrion the trapper declared that there had been
+no return of the dogs.
+
+"I didn't expect them larst night," remarked George. "They're like the
+blacks, can eat enough at one meal to do 'em fur days.  A gorge is
+Chrismus to 'em."
+
+"What do you intend doing with the dead beasts, George?"
+
+"Leave 'em be, o' course.  They'll help me more than anythin' else.
+Dogs'll come again to get another feed or two; an' as boss's took the
+weaners away to a safe paddock, they'll go fur these dead uns like
+winkie--likes 'em a bit high, in fact.  Supposin' we burn these
+wretches, the vermin'll keep about their own haunts.  They're out of
+their beat when they come over here, while they knows every stick an'
+stone of their run.  Consequently, it gives me a better charnse with 'em
+on unfamiliar ground."
+
+So saying, the cunning hunter proceeded to carry out his plan.  The
+dingo has a well-defined method of carving his veal, so to speak.  The
+hide of the animal is not uniformly thick.  The softest and tenderest
+part is that underneath and between the thighs.  The ravager, therefore,
+attacks this tenderest and most susceptible part.  He tears a big hole
+through the skin and into the flesh in a short time, and literally eats
+his way into the body; until, when he and his fellow-feasters have
+finally finished, and cleaned paws and jaws with that self-provided
+serviette the tongue, nothing of the animal remains but the skin and
+bones--always providing that no foe appears to stay proceedings against
+the gourmands. This finish, of course, entails several feasts when the
+course happens to be a bullock, or, as in the present case, toothsome
+veal.
+
+The trapper proceeded to lay a trap facing the torn portion of each
+carcass--that, of course, being the place of attack on each occasion of
+the canines' visits.  After a careful consideration of the ground
+surrounding each beast, he dug a hole in the earth and then placed a
+trap in it.  He next produced some sheets of the inner bark of the ti
+tree, which is as flexible as paper and softer. A sheet of this is laid
+over the gaping jaws of the trap, which is, of course, properly set.
+The "jaws" are now level with the ground.  Over this fine earth is
+sprinkled until all appearance of the trap is hidden.  The superfluous
+soil is now removed with care, and the surroundings are made to look as
+natural as possible.  This in itself is a work of art; for the slightest
+appearance of disturbance or make-up alarms the wary dingo, and
+nullifies the trapper's design.
+
+There is one thing, however, that Nosey George had not reckoned upon
+when starting his operations--the number of carcasses to be treated.  It
+will be remembered that eleven animals were slaughtered in the dingo
+raid. This would mean the use of eleven traps, were every animal to be
+used as a lure.  But it is contrary to the design of the trapper to use
+up all his traps in the vicinity of the beasts.  Some are to be set
+along the line of approach.  A number of carcasses, therefore, must be
+removed.  With the help of the boys, five of the beasts are dragged
+about two hundred yards away, put in a heap, covered with dry wood, and
+then burned.
+
+This left the trapper with several traps to use in other directions.
+Having laid six traps in the vicinity of the calves, he proceeded to
+follow up the tracks of the dogs. The first gin was laid in a soft patch
+of ground directly in their footmarks.  This he continued at intervals,
+until the last one was placed at a spot about two miles distant.
+
+"How many dingoes do you think you'll nab, George?" exclaimed Tom, as
+the party rode homewards in the late afternoon.
+
+"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."
+
+"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.
+
+"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.
+
+"I say the whole bloomin' lot," loudly proclaimed the sanguine Tom.
+
+"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.
+
+The trapper's prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to the traps in
+the early morning by the expectant and impatient boys, in the company of
+Nosey George, to the surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not
+a trap was sprung.
+
+The trapper, who while examining the ground had maintained a sphinx-like
+attitude, broke silence at length under a fusillade of questions.
+
+"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog's copp'd?  Simple
+enough.  Dogs didn't come."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XVII*
+
+               *DINGO *_*V.*_* EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH*
+
+
+    "Afar I mark the emu's run;
+      The bustard slow, in motley clad;
+    And, basking in his bath of sun,
+      The brown snake on the cattle-pad,
+        And the reddish black
+        Of a dingo's back
+    As he loit'ring slinks on my horse's track."
+          GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+The next morning's visit told another tale.
+
+The dingoes, having recovered from their surfeit, hunger-induced, made a
+second nocturnal trip to the feeding-grounds.  Cunning and wary as they
+habitually are, they fell, some of them at least, before the wiles of
+the trapper.  Four of their number paid the death penalty.  Two female
+dogs were caught in the traps set about the calves.  The trapped animals
+had not moved any great space.
+
+It should be said that the traps are not fastened to the spot whereon
+they are laid; because, were they stationary, the dingo, especially the
+dog dingo, in his frantic efforts to escape, and by reason of his great
+strength, will frequently save his life at the expense of his paw.  That
+dog, it is safe to say, will never be trapped again; as on the principle
+of, once bitten twice shy, he will ever eschew the most deftly
+constructed device of man.
+
+[Illustration: "The emu failed to elude the panther-like spring."--_See
+p._ 134.]
+
+On the other hand, should there be no fastening, a strong dog will carry
+a trap for miles, especially if caught by the hind-leg.  In order to
+remedy this, a device, similar to that which sailors use, called a sea
+anchor, is attached.  A block of wood not too heavy is tied to the trap
+by a chain or a piece of wire.  This acts as a check to the animal,
+besides leaving a broad trail that is easily followed up.
+
+When the trapped dingoes were approached they set up a dismal howling,
+which turned to a vigorous snapping with their teeth; the while they
+tore the earth with their paws in vain efforts to escape.
+
+"Put the poor wretches out of their pain," cried Sandy, after watching
+the agonised efforts of the canines for a few seconds.
+
+The trapper, armed with a heavy "nulla-nulla," dispatched the brutes,
+and scalped them; for the district Stock Board, to induce their
+extermination, gave L1 per scalp, and experienced trappers like Nosey
+George did well at times.  They concluded that there was at the least
+one other victim; for while the bitches were snapping and howling,
+answering howls of rage and sympathy could be heard in the distance
+along the trail.
+
+The next act was to cremate the slain, which was speedily done.  After
+this the group proceeded to follow the track along which the other
+snares were secreted. The very first trap contained a dog.  It was set
+in the centre of a soft depression, at the edge of the scrub belt on the
+farther side.  The dog had dragged the trap about three hundred yards,
+when the "anchor," fouling in some saplings, his retreat was stopped.
+The beast was immediately brained and scalped, and the body flung into a
+clump of bushes.
+
+There was still another victim.  The farthest out trap was gone.
+Nothing was to be seen but the trap-hole. George, however, was soon upon
+the trail.  The country here was fairly open, and offered little
+obstruction to the determined dog.  The track led on and on with little
+deviation until a course of three miles or so had been traversed.  It
+now curved outward and down toward a patch of scrub.  Nosey suddenly
+stopped and pointed to the ground.
+
+"What's up, George?" exclaimed Joe, who stood nearest the trapper.
+
+"Look an' see fur y'reself."
+
+Bending over, Joe saw in a sandy patch the deep impress of the toes of a
+large bird.
+
+"I can't make it out.  What in thunder is it?  Far too big for a crow;
+bigger even than an eagle or a bustard."
+
+"As big as two eagles, young mutton-head," declared the old tough.
+"Tell 'im, Sandy."
+
+"Why, you greeney; that's an emu track!"
+
+"Emu!" shouted Joe in great excitement.  "It's the first time I ever saw
+an emu track.  What an enormous foot he must have."
+
+"Ye'd know it, me boy, if ivver ye got a kick," grunted the trapper.
+"I've seen them break a dog's leg like a carrot."
+
+"Blest if I don't think he's follerin' up the dingo!" continued Joe.
+
+"Just wot 'e _is_ a-doin' of," answered the man.  "These 'ere emus is
+more curious nor a woman."
+
+Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father used to lure the emu he
+was stalking within shot of his fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly
+waving his handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even doubling
+his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating his hat on the foot
+thus raised.  With slow and hesitating yet irresistible steps,
+fascinated by the mysterious object, or a victim to curiosity, the bird
+would approach to its undoing.
+
+This particular emu was no stranger to the dingoes, nor they to him.
+Never before, though, had he beheld a dingo with such an appendage, or
+in such difficulties. The unwonted appearance of the canine furnishes
+the bird with an unusual sensation, and queries in rapid succession flit
+through its brain.  "What on earth is the matter with the limping,
+whimpering brute?  What is that object trailing behind the horrid
+creature?  Let me draw near and behold this great sight!"  Fate has
+delivered his old-time enemy into his hands.  That lolling, swollen
+tongue, those blood-shot eyes, that painful whimper, the wild despairing
+glances; all these loudly proclaim his downfall.  "Well, what matter!
+He's getting his punishment now.  What is there to prevent me wiping out
+old scores?"
+
+And so, with cautious yet confident step the huge bird, second in size
+only to the ostrich, strode on at a short distance behind his enemy; and
+in a few minutes both are swallowed up in the scrub.  The huntsmen
+follow well on the heels of the animals.
+
+"I wonder if the bird's still following?" asked Tom.
+
+"Soon see," answered the trapper, carefully examining the ground.  "Not
+a quarter of an hour since he passed this spot: must be in the scrub
+still."
+
+A minute or so brought them to the edge of the scrub. Pushing along,
+they were soon enwrapped in its gloom. Following the advice of George,
+the boys tied their horses to saplings at the outskirts of the belt, and
+proceeded on foot.  Suddenly the trapper, who was leading, stopped dead
+in his tracks, and uttered a warning note in a low voice. Motioning the
+pals to remain where they were, he noiselessly moved forward, and was
+soon lost in the thick foliage ahead.
+
+"Wonder why ole Nosey made us stay back?" muttered Tom, after the lads
+had stood silently awhile.  "What can be in the air, now?"
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed Sandy in a whisper; "he's returning."
+
+At this moment the trapper reappeared.
+
+"Follow as quiet as mice, an' ye'll see summat like wot ye've ne'er seed
+afore."  There was an unusual gleam in the man's eye as he made this
+deliverance.
+
+Cautiously and silently the party moved Indian fashion through the wood.
+After going in this way a hundred paces or so the hunter stopped again,
+and beckoned the boys, indicating a stealthy approach.  Very gingerly
+they trod until they were abreast the man.  Following his muttered
+directions and example, they quietly parted the intervening brushwood.
+
+It was an unique sight on which their eyes fastened; one they would not
+readily forget.  Beyond them was a small natural clearing, such as often
+occurs in the densest scrub.
+
+It was circular in form, and about fifty yards in diameter.  Here,
+almost in the centre of the clearing, the bird had bailed up the beast.
+Curiosity in the emu had grown into anger, and was at a white heat,
+judging from the manner in which it pirouetted and menaced the dog,
+keeping up the while an incessant gabble.  The gabble, rightly
+interpreted, declared that the time of vengeance was at hand.  The fates
+were thanked for being so kind as to furnish this fitting opportunity
+for paying off old scores: "Here, you sneaking thief and flying
+murderer, stop!  It's you and I for it now; so, off with your coat and
+roll up your sleeves!"
+
+Nor was Master Dingo disinclined to accept the challenge thrown down by
+the strutting bird.  Weary as he was and full of pain, he was in no
+humour to eat humble-pie, or to fly before another foe.  His warring
+instincts rose to the gage of his hereditary enemy.  Many of his kind
+were scarred with wounds from the terrible emu kick, or deep score made
+by the horny toe of this formidable antagonist.
+
+Nor could he retreat, if so inclined: behind him, to a certainty, was
+the monstrous biped; far more to be feared than this animated piece of
+impertinence, whose wicked eye squinted and winked in defiance.
+
+Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the visible bird or the
+invisible pursuers.  Handicapped as he is, and goaded by his pain and
+shameful condition, the dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by
+making a sudden jump at the emu's throat, narrowly missing it, and still
+more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it made its
+counter-stroke.
+
+Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and devices of animal
+warfare.  Each knows the tactics of the other.  But for the disability
+of the dog through the tenacious trap the chances would be in his
+favour; but his exhaustion and encumbrance give the odds to the other.
+Still, he makes a gallant fight, and the bird needs all its wits and
+agility to escape his savage snaps, one of which, had he been able to
+lay hold, would tear out the neck from throat to breast.
+
+The combat was at its height between these gladiators when the pursuers
+sighted them.  The boys hold their breath in fair amazement as they
+eagerly watch the two figures in the sunlit arena struggling for the
+mastery.  So engrossed are the combatants that the spectators may come
+out into the open and surround them, for all the notice that will be
+taken of them.  As it is, the boys' astonishment is quickly transmuted
+into animal excitement and battle-lust.  They take sides, and cheer, now
+the beast and now the bird.
+
+But the end comes quickly and tragically enough.  The pace of the
+conflict tells terribly upon the dingo.  He is now weakening fast; can
+hardly see, so bloodshot are his eyes.  Yes, he can hold out but little
+longer.  Realising this, he fights purely on the defence for breath.
+Then, concentrating all his energies in one last irresistible stroke, he
+springs, arrow-like, and this time strikes fair on the bullseye--the
+neck of his adversary.  The emu had failed to elude the panther-like
+spring.  But now the counter-stroke!
+
+When the dingo's fangs close vice-like upon the emu's throat the bird's
+fate is irrevocably sealed.  The jugular vein is torn out with a
+mouthful of flesh and muscle, and the skin is stripped to the bosom.
+What time this savage and fatal stroke is given the vengeful bird, by
+one terrific downward blow of its powerful leg and toes, disembowels the
+hanging dog; and then with a lightning side-stroke, delivered full on
+the forehead of the prone beast, smashes in its skull.  A vain attempt
+to crow a note of victory; a few short, uncertain, rotatory movements,
+life-blood gushing the while from its severed jugular, then a collapse,
+falling across the body of its slain adversary!
+
+Which of the two is the victor?
+
+The surprise of the boys, at the sudden and bloody termination of the
+fight, may be better imagined than described.  They stared aghast for
+some moments at the spectacle, too dazed to move or speak.  Even the
+hardened bushman, George, was moved.
+
+"Well, of all the fights I ever seed, this licks creation; it's better
+nor cock-fightin'.  Be gosh, 'twas a grand fight to a finish!"
+
+The trapper now busies himself with the scalping-knife, and, as the boys
+stand around, a feeling of sadness rises within as they contemplate the
+slain.
+
+"Poor brutes!" said Sandy feelingly, "I've a notion, lads, that they
+deserved a better fate."
+
+"The boss wouldn't agree to that as fur as the dorgs is concerned.  As
+fer the emu, he's neither good nor bad," grunted the old man.
+
+"Well, after all," broke in Joe, "it's their nature, as old Simpson is
+always preaching to us in school.  They're not to blame for following
+their instincts.  By jings! there's no coward's blood in these poor
+brutes,--they're as brave as brave."
+
+But such moralising was beyond Nosey George.
+
+"Emus is sight enough in a way, an' only eats grass an' roots,--but
+dingos! they're vermin, an' any death's good enough fur them.  By the
+hokey!" exclaimed he as he looked at the trap; "I'm blamed if here isn't
+the blessed paw!"
+
+It was true.  The wretched beast's foot was evidently so lacerated and
+broken by its efforts to escape, and in dragging the trap, that when it
+made the last and fatal spring the imprisoned paw parted from the leg in
+the very act, and that severance enabled it to reach the emu's neck.
+Having secured the trap and the scalp, the group retraced their steps to
+where they had hitched the horses.
+
+The haul proved successful beyond measure.  To secure four dingoes in
+one scoop was a great stroke of luck.  Not so much luck, on reflection,
+as skilful management.  An amateur might have set a hundred traps with
+seeming skill and not have bagged a dog.  No one save a trapper like
+George could trap with any degree of certainty.
+
+"I s'pose you'll bag the balance to-night," remarked Tom to the trapper
+when they had remounted.
+
+"No jolly fear!  Never catch any more along this line."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Why, d'yer think a dingo's no sense?  Be gosh! all the calves in
+creation wuddent tempt what's left of the vermin to come along this
+track again.  Wish we'd a' got the old dog, though."
+
+"What are you going to do next?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Fust an' foremost thing is to collect the traps, then we'll burn the
+weaners."
+
+"Won't you try for the other dogs?"
+
+"My oath, won't I?"
+
+"Give us your programme, George, there's a good fellow."
+
+"I'll try 'em about Razorback with the traps, as soon as they've
+quietened down a bit.  They've been scared out of their precious wits by
+this 'ere business."
+
+In due time the party arrived at the homestead. Mr. M'Intyre expressed
+his gratification at the result of the trapper's work, and praised his
+skill.  He further bade George continue his work until the beasts were
+exterminated, promising him a liberal reward should he achieve this end.
+
+The boys related with great gusto, to an almost incredulous household,
+the particulars of the fight to a finish.
+
+The trapper fixed his camp in the hills, and employed his best
+endeavours to trap the remaining dingoes with but partial success,
+securing one only.  The old dingo, which on a former occasion had left
+two of his claws in a trap, and now had received this additional fright
+through the ensnarement of his comrades, was not to be lured by any
+device, however crafty.  George, who knew their run intimately,
+surrounded them with traps.  'Twas all in vain, set them never so
+wisely.
+
+This defiance and immunity irritated the old man beyond endurance, and
+he swore by all the dignities to get their scalps, if it took him till
+the crack of doom.
+
+As he was camped on the ranges, in the vicinity of Razorback, his weekly
+ration was taken out to him by the boys, who were keen on this matter.
+They had been out twice with the rations, and now were being sent out
+the third time.  What befel them on that trip will be related in the
+next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XVIII*
+
+                      *THE CHASE, AND ITS SEQUEL*
+
+
+    "A southerly wind and a cloudy sky,
+      Proclaim a hunting morn;
+    Before the sun rises away we go,--
+      The sleep of the sluggard we scorn."
+        OLD SONG.
+
+
+"Now then, sleepies,--up you get!" cried Sandy in the early morning, as
+he performed his usual preliminary of whipping off the bed-clothes from
+the sleepy-headed Joe and Tom.
+
+"Sun's laughing at you through the windows.  Come, Master Hawkins!"
+cried he with a grin as he tumbled that grunting individual on to the
+floor, piling the bed-clothes on top of him, and then seating himself on
+the wriggling pile.  "If soft measures won't avail I am prepared to
+adopt severe ones."
+
+Tom, now thoroughly aroused, and as peppery as you like, shouted and
+yelled and writhed, getting his arm at last round his persecutor, the
+laughing Sandy, and by a violent effort pulling him on to the broad of
+his back, thus reversing their positions.
+
+"You red-headed Scotchman, I'll teach you meddle with--" pommel--"me
+again"--pommel, pommel.
+
+Here a cold douche arrested the uplifted arm of the irate Tom, and took
+his breath for a moment, as it descended upon the prone bodies,
+accompanied by sundry "ouchs" and shrill yells.  As the boys scrambled
+to their feet they joined forces and rushed the dodging Joe, who, after
+a few ineffectual dives, was caught and jolly well punched.
+
+The usual early morning diversion ended, the lads, rosy with health and
+brimming over with animal spirits--the essence of good nature for all
+their rough play--dressed with haste and made for the stockyard, to pick
+their steeds.
+
+This occupied their time till the seven o'clock breakfast, after which
+they secured from the storeman the rations for the trapper.
+
+"Now Sandy, my boy, ye'll no forget to tell George what I named at
+breakfast."
+
+"M-yes, about the dingoes, father?"
+
+"No, stupid.  Didna I ask you to tell him that, dingoes or no dingoes,
+he is to come next week at the latest, to handle the colts?"
+
+"Oh yes, dad, I won't forget.  I expect he'll growl a bit, as he's mad
+on getting the dogs and the reward.  He's quite cranky over it."
+
+"He'll come richt enough if ye gie him my order."
+
+The trapper's camp, as previously stated, was situated about eleven
+miles from the homestead.  Four miles or so from home the track
+roughened, and became what is known as broken country, all hills and
+gullies, for the most part very rocky, and heavily wooded in places.
+
+The boys' progress was but slow, owing to the nature of the ground, and
+it took them nearly three hours to reach the camp, which they found
+unoccupied.  After cooeeing in vain for the absentee, they proceeded to
+light a fire in order to boil the billy, spreading the substantial lunch
+which Mrs. M'Intyre had furnished them.
+
+"Bother old Nosey; wish he'd turn up!" exclaimed Sandy, when the boys
+had finished their repast.  "We can't go till he comes.  There'd be no
+end of a row if we went home without delivering the message."
+
+"Oh, he'll be here before long," interjected Joe.  "I vote we do a camp
+in the shade for an hour or two; it's hot enough to fry a steak."
+
+This was good advice, and the boys made themselves as comfortable as
+circumstances permitted under the shade of the trees.  So the hours
+passed without any sign of the trapper.
+
+"Well, I declare," exclaimed Tom for the twentieth time in the course of
+the last hour, "it's too bad of Nosey. I'm full up of waitin' here with
+nothing to do.  Can't you leave a message somehow for the ole cuss?"
+
+"How is it to be done, Hawkins?"
+
+"Oh bother! write a note, of course."
+
+"Well, you are a greeney, Tom.  Where's the pen, ink, and paper to come
+from?"
+
+"Why, hasn't ole Nosey----?"
+
+"Old Nosey, be hanged!  Of course he hasn't, any more than he's got a
+dress suit and a toilet mirror."
+
+"I've got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.
+
+"No good in the world; where's the paper to come from; an' supposin' we
+had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads, writing desks, and whatever else
+you like to name in the scribbling line, what good 'ud it all be?"
+
+"Meaning----?"
+
+"Meanin' this, you dunderheads--it's got to be read."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well!--of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns, hodges, and
+idiots that ever I came across----!"
+
+"Here, draw it mild, young porridge-pot.  There's two to one against
+you: mind that, you red herring!"
+
+"I'll _mind_ more than that, if I am the son of a Scot, which is no
+great disgrace, after all," replied Sandy jeeringly. "But look here and
+listen, chiels.  I'll tell you a story--
+
+"Once upon a time, when pigs were called swine an' monkeys chewed
+tobacco, there lived a bully English captain, the commander of a man o'
+war.  This frigate, sailing up the channel on her return from foreign
+parts, sighted a French ship, not more'n about twice her size. Instead
+of closing with the Frenchy slap bang, an' givin' her what-for, she
+turned tail an' showed her a clean pair of heels.  This outrageous
+proceeding on the part of a British sea-dog demanded instant
+investigation, and so the jolly captain was promptly court-martialled.
+After the case had been put by the prosecuting officer, and not denied
+by the prisoner, he was asked by the president of the court why he did
+not engage the enemy.  The captain, in reply, said that he had ten
+reasons.  'Name them,' says the boss officer.  'The first is: I had no
+powder; it was all used up.'  'Enuf sed,' sings out the judge. 'We don't
+want the other nine.  You're discharged, my man, without a stain on your
+character.'"
+
+"Oh, that's all right for a yarn," cried Joe; "but I want to know what
+it's got to do with your father's message to Nosey?"
+
+"Just as much as it's got to do with the grass of a duck in a forty-acre
+paddock," jeered Sandy.
+
+"It's a story with a moral, boys; and as Captain Kettle--no, I mean
+Cuttle, says in that book of Dickens, the moral of the story lies in the
+application."
+
+"Apply it, my wise man."
+
+"Here then: old Nosey has ten reasons for not gettin' a written
+message."
+
+"Name the first!"
+
+"He can't read."
+
+"Now then, Joe," said Tom, turning to that worthy, "what's the verdict
+of the court?"
+
+"I s'pose we'll have to discharge the prisoner without a character,"
+replied Joe with a wink.
+
+"Blow these bally flies!" cried Tom, after an interval. "They're here in
+millions.  Faugh!--splutter--there's one down my jolly throat.  Say,
+Joe, what are you goin' to do?"
+
+"Boil the billy," replied that youth laconically.  "May as well do
+something, an' kill time."
+
+So the hours sped until the sun was well on its descending curve in the
+late afternoon.  Their patience was now thoroughly exhausted in waiting
+for the trapper.  They canvassed the reasons for his non-appearance,
+until they were mortally sick of discussing the subject.
+
+"Tell you what, boys, message or no message, Nosey or no Nosey," cried
+Sandy at last, "we must make tracks for home.  We are not to blame for
+old George's absence. They'll be wondering what's become of us.  It'll
+take us all our time to get there before dark as it is.  At the worst,
+we'll have to come out to-morrow."
+
+It took but a few minutes after this to secure the horses, saddle them,
+call the dog which had accompanied them to heel, and set out on the
+return journey.
+
+After jogging briskly for a couple of miles or so the cattle dog, a
+strong wiry hound and a noted warrior among his species, began to sniff
+about, uttering a series of low, short barks.
+
+"Hello, Brindle, what's up?  Got 'possum scent? Bandicoot, I 'spect.
+Fetch him, boy!"
+
+Just at this moment Brindle made a dash forward, what time a big
+dog-dingo started out from under an old log a hundred yards or so ahead.
+The route taken by the chase lay up a long gully.  This gully was, more
+correctly speaking, a depression, lacking abrupt and precipitous sides,
+and was comparatively free from rocks.
+
+The boys hesitated a moment, but the temptation was too strong.  Joe,
+clapping his spurs to his steed's sides, started off with a clatter, the
+others following pell-mell. The gully was long and winding, and to this,
+for some reason, the dingo stuck.  The hunters now began to gain a
+little on the beast, and were in full sight, the cattle dog just holding
+his distance.  At length the gully petered out at the base of a ridge,
+over which the quarry sped, the dog and boys in full chase.  The other
+side of the ridge was more precipitous, and covered with bracken and
+stunted bushes.  Down this the pursuit thundered, Joe in the lead and
+well to the cattle dog's heels: the dingo leading by not more than
+seventy yards.  So absorbed was the boy in the hunt that he remained in
+ignorance of a calamity that was even now happening to one of his mates.
+
+Tom's horse, in bounding down the ridge, and when close to the bottom,
+put his foot in a wombat's[#] hole that was hidden by bracken.  Over
+came horse and rider, Tom striking the ground on head and shoulder,
+while Sandy, who was about a length behind, narrowly averted collision
+with the fallen steed and boy.  As quickly as possible he pulled up his
+galloping animal, shouting out as he did so to Joe, who was too far away
+and too much engrossed in the chase to hear the call.
+
+
+[#] Wombat---a burrowing marsupial.
+
+
+Returning to the collapsed pair, Sandy jumped off and lifted Tom's head,
+for the lad lay stiff.  His appearance frightened the boy as he lay
+still and death-like.  To his great joy, however, on feeling Tom's
+wrist, Sandy detected a feeble pulse-beat.  Laying his stricken mate
+gently down in the bracken, he made a hasty examination of his head.  It
+bore no trace of wound, save some gravel scratches and a nasty bruise
+under the left eye.  The relieved boy hurried to the bottom of the
+ridge, where by good hap was a rill of water.  Filling his hat he
+returned and laved the brow and wrists of his companion.  After some
+twenty minutes or so Tom began to stir, and quickly regained
+consciousness.  No bones were broken, but the boy was badly shaken, and
+all thoughts of further pursuit were out of the question.  The horse, by
+a miracle, was without hurt.
+
+"You're a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few minutes.  "From
+the way you crashed down I made sure every blessed bone in your body was
+broken.  How do you feel now, ole boss?"
+
+"Oh, I'm all right," replied Tom feebly.  "Shoulder's the worst.  It's
+not dislocated, but it pains a lot.  Phew! but it does hurt when I move
+it.  I expect it felt the full force of the tumble.  But--where's Joe?"
+
+"Joe's ahead.  Goodness only knows where he's got to by now.  He hasn't
+a ghost's show of getting the dingo if he makes for the hills."
+
+"I tell you what," continued the boy; "we'll get off home as soon as you
+feel fit.  It's no use waiting for Joe. He can easily catch us.  You'll
+have to go slow, old man, you know."
+
+This was true, for Tom's shoulder was in an agony of ache, which the
+movement of the horse, after they had mounted, intensified to an almost
+unbearable degree.
+
+It was long after dark ere the pair sighted the homestead lights.  They
+had not been overtaken by Joe, much to their surprise.  They were met at
+the slip-rails by Harry and Jacky, who had just been dispatched to look
+for them, as the family were getting uneasy at their prolonged absence.
+The men returned with the lads to the house.  Beyond a severe word to
+Sandy for being tempted to pursue the impossible when on the homeward
+track, the squatter justified their act of returning from the camp; also
+in not waiting for Joe.
+
+"I expect the rascal will turn up in a few minutes.  His horse would
+soon be knocked up in that country, and he would therefore be unable to
+catch you after he abandoned the dingo.  The cheek of you boys, to think
+you could run it down in that country!"
+
+The minutes sped without sight or sound of the huntsman. Anxiety
+deepened in the women; the men, too, became uneasy.
+
+"Some one ought to go after the lad," broke in the perturbed mother, at
+length.  "The poor laddie must have met trouble.  His horse has knocked
+up.  Perhaps he has lost himself.  Perhaps he----!"
+
+"Perhaps nothing of the kind has happened, except that the horse may
+have knocked up.  You women will always jump to the worst conclusions.
+Willy, you and I'll ride back a bit; come you too Sandy, if you're not
+too tired."
+
+Mr. M'Intyre feared more than he showed.  It would be easy enough after
+all, he reflected, for a boy who was ignorant of the lay of the country
+and who had no experience in bush travelling, to lose his way.  He
+determined, therefore, to take his son with him, so that he might lead
+them to the spot where the accident occurred, if it were necessary.
+Accordingly the three set off on the track.  Fortunately it was
+moonlight and clear, so that they were able to make good headway through
+the bush.
+
+
+It is time, however, to return to Joe.  That ardent hunter had followed
+the chase for some distance ere he missed his pals.  What with the
+severity of the pace and the increasing roughness of the course, its
+twistings and turnings, all his attention was focussed on the quarry. If
+he did think at all of his companions, it was to picture them following
+close behind.  But in the heat of the chase he had little thought for
+others.  When it did dawn upon him that he had outdistanced his
+companions, as happened eventually, he attributed little importance to
+that.  They, no doubt, had good reason for slackening their pace.  His
+horse, as he well knew, had a dash of speed denied to theirs.  Maybe
+their steeds had caved in.  Anyhow, he was having a glorious time, and
+"the finish" was touched with roseate hues to his imagination.
+
+His horse was justifying the reputation given of him to Joe by Harry,
+the stockman, one day when they were discussing the relative merits of
+their mounts.
+
+"For a hack," that worthy had remarked, "there's nothing on the run
+equal to the little thing you're ridin'. With a light weight up like
+yourself she can show a dash of foot an' staying powers that'll take a
+tremendous lot of lickin'."
+
+This was a just criticism, as events were proving. Still, the pace was
+beginning to tell, and Joe was forced to ease the mare somewhat, even at
+the risk of losing sight of the quarry.  The rough ridges, too, made the
+going to be precarious.
+
+Things were as bad with Master Dingo, however.  The pursuit was hot
+enough to extend him to the fullest.  He was always in view, and could
+not shake off the foe.  As long as he remained in sight it was
+impossible to resort to any trick by which he might gain time or wind.
+The ordinary pace of the dingo when on the chase may be described as a
+lope.  This can be kept up the live-long day, and thus wear down the
+fleetest victim.  To keep extended at full gallop in this unwonted
+fashion is not at all to the dingo's liking, and the sooner he can reach
+the distant scrub, which is his objective, the better pleased he will
+be.  The cattle dog, though not ordinarily a hunter, is strong and
+tough, and possessed of a good pair of bellows.  He started the game
+with the utmost alacrity, and now continues it with the greatest vim and
+determination.
+
+So the chase continues, and is now but little more than a mile from the
+scrub belt which fringes the base of the hills.  To this ark of safety,
+therefore, the dingo strains every muscle, and seizes every small
+advantage which his instinct discerns.  No less strenuous is the cattle
+dog. He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs to win.  In
+this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry over bush and brake, over
+stony ridges and across intersecting gullies.
+
+Within half a mile of the scrub the country flattens out, and this gives
+an advantage to the cattle dog, who closes up.  Joe's horse is now in
+distress.  The course has been long and rough, the pace severe, and the
+grass-fed steed is weakening, can make no headway, is indeed losing in
+the race.  The lad sees this, and chevies the dog on, for he can plainly
+mark now that unless the chase be ended on this side of the scrub all
+hope must be abandoned, Oh, to win!  A supremely glorious thing were he
+to achieve the impossible!  There are chances.  Lots of things might
+happen yet.  On, on, good doggie!  Catch him, Brindle!  Hurrah, Brindle
+is closing; is surely creeping up!
+
+They are now about three hundred yards from the timber belt, and the
+dingo is slowly but surely being overhauled.  Visions of the scalp as a
+proud trophy fill the boy's imagination.  If only Brindle may seize his
+victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute its quietus
+with the stirrup iron!  Brindle is now not more than four lengths
+behind, and the beasts are still a hundred yards from the scrub.
+
+"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe across the widely
+intervening distance.  The voice is borne faintly to the dog's ears, and
+nerves him to heroic effort in this the final stage of the struggle, the
+last lap, so to speak.  Breath is too precious to be wasted in answering
+cry, but the spurt of the hound speaks volumes: "I shall catch him,
+master, never fear: I am gaining; but ''twill be on the post."
+
+Both dogs, wild and domestic, are stretched to their fullest extent.  It
+is the crowning burst.  They are labouring heavily, staggering, and
+rolling in their stride. The pace is slow but hard.  It is a question of
+endurance. Every ounce of strength in each body is laid under
+contribution.  Once within the scrub the chances in favour of the dingo
+will immediately increase a hundredfold, for in doubling and dodging
+through the densely timbered belts the native dog has no equal.
+
+Only thirty yards now lie between the dingo and his salvation--the good
+thick scrub that will swallow him up; but--the breath of the pursuer
+blows hot upon him. Throwing his head over his shoulder for the fraction
+of a second, the desperate beast sees that only by a miracle can he
+escape.  The adversary is upon his quarters, and in another second the
+brute's fangs will be buried in his back.  It is a supreme moment.  Now
+or never!  Making a super-canine effort, the fear-stricken thing draws
+away from its enemy in the last dozen strides.  Saved, saved! Alas,
+alas!  Right at the very fringe, and within a single step of safety, he
+tumbles in a heap, and with a convulsive gasp rolls over and gives up
+the ghost: the prolonged exertions have broken his heart.
+
+You can work your will on the hunted one now, Brindle: no need to fear
+the vicious snap that was reserved for you should the worst happen.  But
+the dog's instincts inform him that all power of resistance has gone
+from that mute and still form; indeed, he has no strength to worry
+should the call be made: the last spurt has left him without a vestige
+of strength.  And so, when Joe appeared upon the scene a few minutes
+later, it was to behold the motionless dingo, and by his side, with
+lolling tongue and cavernous mouth, the panting and exhausted Brindle.
+
+In a moment the boy has slid from his horse, and is dancing a grotesque
+fandango, expressive of his unbounded joy.  But, when in a calmer moment
+he understood the tragedy of it from the dingo's side of things, a
+feeling of compassion possessed him, yet joy persisted.  "He's a noble
+fellow, and has given me the grandest sport I've ever had.  I'm sorry,
+and yet I'm glad," quoth the lad. "What'll old Nosey say to this!  My
+stars, ain't the boys out of it!  Wonder where the poor beggars have got
+to. Hope nothing's happened to them.  Poor beast!" apostrophising the
+dingo, "you made a royal struggle and deserved to escape, but the fates
+were against you.  And you, good old Brindle; my word, you've covered
+yourself with glory, sir!  Poor fellow, you are done up; can only blink
+your pleasure; can't wag even the tip of your tail. Good doggie, I'm
+proud of you!"
+
+"I'm blest if I don't skin the dingo," exclaimed he, after a moment's
+pause.  "I'll keep it as a trophy.  Something to look at in after years
+when I'm a grey-beard," chuckled the youth.  So saying, he whipped out
+his knife.  Joe had never before skinned a dingo, but as he had
+performed that office on many a wallaby and 'possum he was fairly
+expert, and in a few minutes had achieved his object.  Rolling the pelt
+in the approved manner, the youth bound it with a stout piece of cord
+which he extracted from his pocket, and fastened it to the saddle ring.
+
+"Next thing's to get some water.  My word!  I'm as dry as leather, an'
+could drink a tank dry.  The animals, too, are clean done up, an' I'll
+get nothing out of them unless they have water.  Good gracious! why--the
+sun's down, an' it'll soon be dark."
+
+Not until this moment did the young hunter realise his position.  "Must
+be miles and miles off the track," muttered he as he took a brief survey
+of his surroundings. "I'll have to make tracks with a vengeance!  Won't
+do to be nipped here.  Let's see; yes, the way back is across that flat
+for a certainty, and then over yon stony ridge. Beyond that we bend to
+the right till we reach a rocky creek."  In this way the hunter strove
+to recall the innumerable bends and curves taken in the chase.  "Ah,
+here's the moon rising: good old moon!"
+
+Joe had plenty of heart, nerve, and resource.  His good spirits were
+proverbial.  Yet the situation was not at all inviting.  Fourteen miles
+or so from home on the eve of night.  A complete stranger to this rough
+and trackless region, and his horse badly used up!  These were things
+calculated to try the nerves and tax the courage of the benighted youth.
+
+He made small bones of these, however, and started off at a slow pace on
+his return.  The dog had recovered sufficiently to drag himself along at
+the horse's heels. The boy eagerly scanned the country for signs of
+water for this would afford the greatest relief to man and beasts: all
+of whom felt an intolerable thirst.  At last they dropped across a small
+pool in a stony creek, to their great delight.
+
+Both horse and dog drank as if they would never stop. This, the boy
+felt, would be bad for the animals, and he sought to stay them.  He with
+difficulty checked the horse, but the dog would not quit lapping until
+he was as tight as the proverbial drum.  Joe himself drank sparingly,
+and then moved onward.  The dog soon began to vomit, and appeared to be
+on the verge of collapse. So after vain waiting and entreaty the lad was
+forced to leave it behind, in the hope that it would recover during the
+night, when he had small doubt as to its ability to find its way home.
+The horse went easier, now that she had assuaged her thirst.  All light
+had vanished save that of the moon, which shed an uncertain light,
+making puzzling shadows on the rough ground.
+
+"It's time I was at the head of the long gully," muttered the lad.
+"From there it's only a mile or so to the home track.  Get up Jill, and
+moosey along.  The other chaps are home by this time I expect, and
+they're wondering what's become of me."
+
+Strange to say, the long gully refused to appear, until it dawned on Joe
+at last that he was off the track.  None but those who have experienced
+it can understand the weird feeling that possesses one in the dawn of
+that consciousness.  To be in the lonely Australian bush, where the
+silence is an oppression, is something like being cast adrift in
+mid-ocean on a raft, with nothing in sight save the wild waste of
+waters.
+
+That he had lost his bearings became increasingly evident to the
+wanderer as he moved along.  He became a prey to disquieting qualms and
+the creeping chill of apprehension.  Gruesome accounts of the fate of
+lost travellers had often been related at the home fireside, and these
+memories awoke in his mind.
+
+"I'm off the track all right; still, I'm sure to cut across the
+Razorback trail; it'll lie over in that direction."  After a pause he
+determined to adhere to the way that he had been pursuing for some
+little while.  On then "breast forward."  There is no semblance of a
+track, and presently the lad gets into very difficult country. It would
+be bad enough to travel through in daylight, but now the trouble is
+accentuated; yet the boy, with strong faith in his ultimate emergence
+from this chaos, bravely faces the situation.  Up hill, down dale,
+across gullies, forcing the patches of scrub, slithering down ridges,
+going on hands and knees, ever and anon, to feel for the hoof-prints on
+what appeared to be the longed-for track--an unceasing march goes on.
+
+At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief over a tree root,
+and tumbles to mother earth.  The rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare,
+who has strained her fetlock.  What is to be done now?  It is a serious
+mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation. The only
+thing to be done is to relieve his steed of saddle and bridle, cache his
+accoutrements, and trudge along on foot.
+
+"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad. "Poor Jill!  I
+don't like leaving you; but it won't be for long, my beauty.  Your
+master will send some one to look after you to-morrow.  To-morrow!--Why,
+it must be past midnight now!  Good-bye, Jill."
+
+On speeds the gallant youth, whistling and singing snatches as he tramps
+the interminable bush.  "Might be worse," he reiterates in thought.
+There's a chill in the midnight air, and the walk will warm him nicely.
+On, then, through the still hours!  Not even the hollow note of the
+night-owl or the familiar thump made by the feeding marsupial breaks the
+monotony of silence. No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the
+traveller's boots on the rough ground.  How long drawn out the day has
+been.  It seems an eternity since he dowsed Tom and Sandy on the bedroom
+floor.  Lucky beggars, they are snug and sound under the blankets,
+dreaming the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is tramp,
+tramp, tramping.  At length the thought of his comrades' sweet repose
+fills him with longing for rest and sleep.
+
+"How long ago it is since I broke my fast?  Must be eight, ten, twelve
+hours; yes, twelve mortal hours! Eat!  Oh, for a slice of damper and
+salt junk!  That were a feed if you like.  Puddings, tarts, cakes!  Bah!
+Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey's damper, an' a slab of that corn-beef."
+
+What a sinking seems to fill his being!  How heavy his boots have grown!
+How steep those everlasting ridges have become!  How lovely to crouch
+down on that patch of bracken--for five minutes only!  He must stop and
+rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get his wind and ease his
+tired limbs.  Shall he----?  But no! he must first cut the track--then!
+His limbs are trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall.  On,
+on--to the station track!  Onward, then, creeps the tottering, stumbling
+lad.  Whistle and song have long ceased.  Fatigue reigns supreme, and
+sheer weariness confuses his brain, and bears heavily on will.
+Mechanically now, the dear lad staggers over the pathless waste.
+
+But see!  Yes, there is a change.  What is that line ahead?  Is it on
+the ground or in the air?  It rises and falls in the moonlight, but
+still persists.  The ground, too, is getting smoother.  The ridges have
+disappeared. Hurrah!  Is not this the end?  A few steps more now,
+and--the station track!
+
+On trudges the lost boy with rising hope.  But, alas! the line thickens,
+darkens, deepens, until it stands out solid, an impregnable scrub.  How
+weird it all is; how awful!  In a moment the benighted lad is stripped
+of hope.  He is frightened beyond words.  With a momentary strength born
+of despair the wretched youth coasts the dismal scrub, seeking an
+opening in vain.  Suddenly he stumbles over a soft, dark mass, and falls
+to the ground.  Putting out a hand instinctively, he touches the
+substance.  Great Caesar, it is the dingo!  Yes, it has happened to poor
+Joe Blain as it has to many a one more experienced in the ways of the
+bush--he has circled!
+
+This shock is the last blow.  Nature is drained of her resources and can
+hold out no longer.  The lad sinks back into a half-swoon, which
+presently merges into a dreamless sleep.
+
+                     *      *      *      *      *
+
+"Joe, old fellow, wake up!  Wake up, I say; Joe--Joe--d'ye hear?"
+
+"W-w-w-what is it?  Drat you, lemme lone.  'Snot mornin'.  There's
+goo-good fler, so s-s-sleep----"
+
+Joe Blain, eyes sealed, dead with sleep, rolls over on the ground, and
+never was any creature more gently rocked in the arms of Morpheus than
+he.
+
+Another voice now breaks the silence, sharp and penetrating.
+
+"Hi! hi! there, you sleepy lubber.  Are ye going to lie there all day?
+Rouse up, laddie!"
+
+This imperative speech was accompanied by vigorous shakings and
+rollings.
+
+"Well, well," grunted the half-awakened boy, "sounds like Mr. M'Intyre's
+voice.  Never knew him to come into the room be-before.  Wish they'd
+leave us alone. Can't open"--and the next moment Joe had relapsed into
+sleep.  Only for a moment, though.  The next he was taken neck and crop,
+lifted to his feet, and shaken violently, what time a voice rasped his
+ear drum: "Wake up, wake up, ye young Rip Van Winkle!"
+
+Opening his eyes, the dazed Joe starts at the unwonted scene.  He is not
+in his bedroom, then!  What on earth has happened?  Who are these that
+surround him? Why--he's in the bush!  And then the truth dawns upon the
+weary and weakened lad; he was really lost, and--thank God he is found!
+
+He greets the squatter with a wan smile, and, with the grace
+characteristic of the boy, begins to thank him. But Mr. M'Intyre,
+patting him affectionately on the back while supporting him with his
+arm, extracts the cork of a pocket flask with his teeth, and puts it to
+the lad's mouth.
+
+"Tak' a pu' at this, ma laddie; it'll revive ye wonderfu'."
+
+The brandy worked wonders on the boy, so unaccustomed to it.
+
+"We--we ran the dingo down, sir--Jill and Brin--why, here's ole Brindle!
+Left him at the water-hole; too sick to follow.  The horse too----"
+
+"Horse's all right, Joe.  We picked her up at the water-hole, where
+we'll leave her for a few days, as she's limping badly.  Can you sit on
+the saddle before me?"  Joe is sure he can, and no time is lost in
+starting homewards.  M'Intyre, to whom the country was an open book,
+knew a short cut that would take them home in ten miles.
+
+During the ride Joe recited his experiences to the squatter, who in
+return related how Willie had picked up the tracks, sighting first the
+horse and then the dog, and followed the trail till they came upon the
+sleeping lad.
+
+It was a weary but not unhappy boy who reached the homestead at length.
+The household, duly apprised by Willy, who had ridden on ahead, were in
+readiness to cheer the conquering hero.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XIX*
+
+                        *CONCERNING WILD HORSES*
+
+
+    "Now welcome, welcome, master mine,
+      Thrice welcome to the noble chase:
+    Nor earthly sport, nor sport divine,
+      Can take such honourable place."
+        _Ballad of the Wild Huntsmen._
+
+
+"Where's Floss and Jeannie, Harry?  Don't see 'em in the yard this
+morning."
+
+"No, sir, they didn't come in with the others."
+
+"Hoo's that, mon?"
+
+"I harsk'd Jacky about 'em when he yarded the others, an' he said they
+wasn't with the rest.  Too lazy, I bet, to look after 'em."
+
+"But I dinna see Tallboy or Dolly, eyther," said the squatter as he
+peered through the rails at the horses.
+
+"I speck they're with the mares down by the dam, or p'raps campin' on
+the box ridge."
+
+"Weel, see that they're no missed the morn.  Here you, Jacky," to the
+black boy; "come along here."
+
+"What's matter, Boss?"
+
+"What for you bin no yard all yarraman?"[#]
+
+
+[#] Yarraman--native name for horse.
+
+
+"Bail me see some, Boss."
+
+"You bin getting lazy.  I'll hae to gie you a taste o' the stock whip."
+
+"Me no 'fraid you, Boss," replied the black with a grin. "You not like
+my ole boss, Cap'n White.  Him murry quick with whip.  Sandy bin tellin'
+me you only gammon."
+
+"See that you drive in every hoof to-morrow morning, or, Sandy or no
+Sandy, ye'll get a surprise, my boy."
+
+"I cam across some brumby tracks yesterday aifternoon in the springers'
+paddock," continued the squatter to Harry, the head stockman.  "Meant to
+hae spoken aboot it afore."
+
+"They're a rare nuisance, they brutes!  There maun be a gap in the
+dog-leg fence at the far side for 'em to ha'e got in.  You'd better tak'
+Jacky and Denny at once, and mak' the fence secure.  That pack o'
+rubbage'll be doing a lot o' mischief among the springers wi' their
+galloping.  Ye'd better go across by the horse-paddock, an' see if ye
+can get a sicht o' the mares.  It's almost as near as the other track."
+
+"All right, Boss.  Jacky, you go to Ah Fat an' tell 'im to put up some
+grub.  Git the billy an' tots, an' bring 'em along.  Tell Denny I want
+'im.  He's working in the garden."
+
+"Oh, I say," bawling after the retreating boy; "tell Denny to git the
+small cross-cut, an' a couple o' tommies, an' a bit o' wire to do the
+mendin' with.  Slither away, now, ye son of a black buck!"
+
+In a few minutes the men are on their way through the horse-paddock to
+the slip-rails in the far corner, to carry on the repairing work in the
+springers' enclosure.
+
+It may be explained to the uninitiated that the horse-paddock is that
+nearest the homestead, where the station horses in use are kept; a
+larger or smaller mob according to requirements.  These are yarded at
+daylight every morning.  When the horses required for the day's work are
+selected the balance are turned loose for the day. The springers'
+paddock, reserved for the breeding cows, was a large one; one of the
+best on the run, in fact. The men as they rode along kept a sharp
+look-out for the missing steeds.  Separating as they neared the
+dam--which was a large sheet of water backing up in the gullies for a
+mile or so--they rode on either side, coming together at the box-tree
+ridge where the slip-rails were located.  No sign of the horses!
+
+"Strange, chaps!  Wonder where they can be.  Floss an' Dolly are fair
+terrors for hidin'.  But--hello! there's the slip-rails down!"
+
+Sure enough, the two topmost rails were down.  Who could have done it?
+
+The mystery is soon solved; the ground on the outside being trampled
+with horse hoofs.  It told its tale of cause and effect quickly enough
+to these bushmen.
+
+"The blessed brumbies hev got in an' coaxed 'em out, sure enough.  It's
+the warrigal's[#] mob for a quid.  Fifty of 'em, if there's a hoof.
+
+[#] Warrigal--wild, savage; applied indifferently by the natives to
+animals and men.
+
+"How d'yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"
+
+The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum at this kind of work.
+
+"Why, it's the ole warrigal's work o' course.  Trust 'im fur findin' out
+a way o' gettin' up a flirt with the ladies.  He's the cutest cuss in
+Australia, bar none.  Full o' blood he is too.  New Warrior strain outer
+a great arab mare of Kurnel Dumaresque.  I know 'im well, fur I was with
+Captain White just after he'd bought both dam an' foal from the ole
+Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque swopped 'em fur a stud
+Hereford 'e was terribly struck on.
+
+"Yes; he was allus a wild un.  My word, you should 'a' seen 'im as a
+yearling!  Allus leadin' the other youngsters into mischief; breakin'
+into the lucem paddocks, an' chasin' the dorgs till they was in mortial
+terror of 'im; gettin' mad fits among the horses; kickin' an' squealin'
+an' chiveyin' em', till one day the Captain gits in a towerin' rage an'
+says to me an' one-eyed Bob, who was workin' fur 'im then: 'Run in that
+dad-busted, bloomin' brute an' fix 'im; it's the only way ter take the
+divvil outer 'im.'
+
+"You see, 'e was a grand, upstandin' beast as a colt, an' the Captain
+wunst thought to have 'im fur stud purposes, fur all 'e was a mix breed;
+but 'e soon seed that was outer the question.
+
+"Well, as I was sayin', the Captain orders me an' one-eyed Bob to yard
+'im.  'Twarn't no easy job nuther, I tell you; for the brute soon
+cottoned what we was up to.  At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards
+'im, and with 'im a couple o' colts an' a lot er fillies.  Bob threw the
+lasso a dozen times afore 'e noosed 'im, cause 'e kept dodgin' in an'
+out among the fillies.  It was the deuce's own job to separate 'em.
+
+"At larst, I say, Bob fixed 'im, an' didn't 'e perform. Howe'er, Bob
+'olds 'im, an' I gits 'old of the slack to give a turn round the post,
+so's ter bring 'im up.  But all of a suddent 'e makes a mad rush at Bob,
+sendin' 'im sprawlin' with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer my
+hands, an' streaked fur the slip-rails--six on 'em there wor--an' by
+'evans! jumps like a cat at 'em; comin' down with 'is belly on top,
+smashin' the rail, but fallin' on the outside; never, of course,
+breakin' 'is bloomin' neck--an' galloped orf like mad.
+
+"Must 'a' bin red mad sure enuff, fur 'e broke through the wire fence
+the Cap had round 'is 'orse-paddock; and that's the larst we seen of 'im
+fur months.
+
+"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin' after some steers, when
+I come acrost 'im in a mob of brumbies he'd chummed up with.  'E was
+'aving a pretty rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o'
+stallions in the mob as wasn't agreeable fur 'is company in the 'arem;
+an that's 'ow we come ter git 'im a few years after, I 'spect."
+
+"Thin you did git hould iv th' grey divvil?" exclaimed Denny.
+
+"Yes; we got 'im all right.  But, look here, chaps, no time's to be
+lost.  These beggars may be still in the paddock.  If not, they've got
+out the way they came in, an' are 'eadin' fur the ranges.  We'll cut
+across to the north end where the fence crosses Rocky Crick.  I 'spect
+that's where they've broken in.  It looked a bit shaky a fortni't ago,
+as I come by.  I don't think they've got in at the dog-leg end, that the
+Boss spoke about.  Anyhow, we'll try the Crick fust."
+
+A sharp ride of about four miles brought the men to the spot indicated
+by Harry.  It was a rocky bit of country, and sure enough they found the
+"shaky" post and rails lying on the ground.  The immediate cause of this
+was a big limb of a dry stringy-bark tree, which had fallen upon the
+weak spot and smashed it down.  The horse tracks about the spot showed
+conclusively that the mob had gone in and out by this means.
+
+According to Jacky, the black boy, the inward tracks were about three
+days old; the outward, a few hours. Without doubt, the brumbies had
+"nosed" the rails to which the mares had been attracted by their
+neighings, early in the night.  Then in the dawning of the morning they
+had moved out to one of their haunts in the ranges.
+
+"The only thing now is to get back an' tell the Boss. 'E'll be mad when
+he knows, you bet; thinks no end o' Floss an' Jeannie.  Put up the
+rails, boys, quick an' lively."  In a few minutes the men had fixed up
+the broken panels securely, and then rode homewards.
+
+"Saay, Harry, me bhoy, how'd yees yard th' ould stag, as ye was sayin'
+when ye was talkin' forninst th' slip-raales?
+
+"Wasn't an old stag then, an' isn't now, fur that matter, the brute's in
+'is prime yet.  Let's see, 'e's risin' 'leven now, an' we got 'im just
+afore I left the Captain fur the Boss here.  Lemme think.  Yes, it's
+just over five year ago; he'd be about six, then.  Fur all his tricks,
+the two stallions had driven 'im off their beat.  'E'd got a couple o'
+mares, though, an' kep' 'em in the range country on the out-station; but
+it was all of an accident that we got 'im.
+
+"One day me an' the Captain was ridin' through the run, havin' a good
+look at the stock; fur we had a notion of cuttin' out a mob o' fats.
+Well, as I was sayin', we was ridin' along the back part of the run, an'
+we came acrost a couple o' brumbies, each with a foal.  'Stead o'
+scootin', as they does in giniral, the mares galloped in a circle, but
+didn't clear.
+
+"'It's mighty strange,' ses the Captain.  'What are they 'angin' about
+fur, an' where's their mate?  Never seed 'em parted afore.'  'It is
+strange,' ses I; 'an' there's only one thing to account fur it, an' that
+is the cove's about sumwheres 'andy.'
+
+"We moved on to a rocky gully that opens out on to a big plain.  At one
+place a log fence runs acrost to keep the stock in.  Bymby we comes
+plump onter it, an', great gosh alive! if there weren't the grey.  'E
+seed us as soon as we spotted 'im, an' set up a great squealin' an'
+pawin', but cuddn't get away.  There 'e was, like a bandicoot in a
+V-trap.  'E was caught by the off hind-leg, between two big logs that
+lay clost together.  'E was jammed tight enough.  Wunder was 'e didn't
+break a leg.
+
+"When the Cap saw the fix 'e was in, didn't 'e just cuss fur joy.  Then
+'e sends me back to the hut, about two mile away, fur ropes, an' ole
+Jack the keeper.  Well, I streaked fur the hut, you bet, an' was there
+less'n no time. Soon me an' Jack, with two green 'ide lassoes an' an
+'emp one, also a axe, was on the spot.
+
+"When the 'orse sees the ropes 'e yelled, an' roared, an' pawed, an'
+snapped 'is teeth, fur all the world like a trapt dingo.  An', wud you
+believe it? _the blarmy mares hadn't follered us up_!  There they was
+just ahind us, whinneying and screamin'; their way o' swearing an'
+cussin' I s'pose.  Wish-I-may-die if we didn't have to put the stock
+whip on 'em to roust 'em away.
+
+"'How are yer goin' ter manage 'im,' ses I to the Cap when I comes up
+with the things.
+
+"'I'll soon let yer see,' ses 'e.  'Fust of all we'll pass a rope round
+'is free 'ind-leg well up on to the shank. Then we'll put another on the
+front fetlock an' acrost 'is flanks.'
+
+"Well, it took us a goodish bit to fix 'im up.  I forgot ter say that we
+tied the third rope round 'is neck, an' that was no easy job, fur every
+time the Cap threw the lasso he'd dodge it with 'is 'ed like a fightin'
+kangaroo. But, ter make a long story short, when we'd roped 'im, we
+levered one of the logs with saplin's so's ter git 'is other leg free.
+Then, didn't 'e play up!  But by the time we'd given 'im arf a dozen
+falls, an' two o' them riglar croppers, 'e seed it was no use, throws up
+the sponge, an' comes along quietly.
+
+"We didn't give 'im any charnse, you bet, as 'e was such a sly demon.
+So we got 'im ter the stockyard at the 'ead station, a matter o'
+thirteen mile or so.  We put 'im in the crush fust, then got a 'evvy
+'alter on 'im, an' tied it to 'is front off leg so's 'e cuddent jump; in
+that way we fixed 'im fur the night.
+
+"Early nex' morning, just as I was thinkin' o' gittin' up, there comes a
+tremenjious 'ammerin' an' bangin' at the door, shoutin' out sumthin' I
+cuddent understand. I jumps up an' opens the door, an' there was ole
+Jack singin' out an' makin' a great fluster.
+
+"'What in thunder's the matter, Jack?' ses I.
+
+"'Warrigal's gone!' ses 'e, all tremblin' like.  'Cleared right out in
+the night.'
+
+"Off I rushes ter the yards, an' sure enuff, the beast had cleared; yet
+the rails was up.
+
+"''Ow the dickens 'e got out, Jack?' ses I, lookin' round.  Presently I
+comes ter the slip-rails, an' soon spots 'ow 'e done it.  I'm blest if
+the ole cuss didn't lay down ter it at the rails an' 'riggled 'is way
+out sideways.  You cud see the ground all tore up by 'is 'oofs as 'e
+inched 'is way out.  There was a knot at the lower side o' the rail, an'
+it was covered with 'air an' blood, which shows what a tight squeeze it
+was."
+
+"But 'ow the blazes did he gat out iv th' pathock whin he was
+knee-haltered?"
+
+"Like enuff 'e worked 'is 'edstall off as 'e 'riggled through.  We
+thought we'd made it tight enuff fur anythin'.  Anyways 'e cleared, an',
+what's more, 'e an' the mares moved off the run an' wasn't 'eard of fur
+long, then 'e was found bossin' a mob on Bullaroi."
+
+By this time the men had reached the homestead. Leaving the others at
+the stockyard, Harry proceeded to the house to break the bad news to the
+owner.
+
+The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the affair had taken.  Two
+of the horses were brood mares on which he set a high value, and for
+which he had given a big price.  They were full of breeding, having the
+famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire's side.  The occurrence was no
+less than a calamity in more ways than one.
+
+Their location was in difficult country, and with such a rogue as the
+grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job of rescue seemed by no means
+easy or certain.  Mr. M'Intyre, however, was determined to regain his
+mares, and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine demon.
+One thing in his favour was the fact that in midsummer there was a
+scarcity of water in the ranges, and their run, for a while, at any
+rate, must be in and about the foot-hills.
+
+As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders were
+invited to join in the brumby hunt, which is, as a rule, the most
+exciting, and, at times the most dangerous, sport that Australia can
+furnish, keenly relished by bushmen.
+
+The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than the mustang is a
+native American horse; that is to say, it is not indigenous to the
+country.  Brumbies are the descendants of imported horses which have
+escaped into the bush and bred there.
+
+When Australian settlements were confined to the barest fringe of the
+continent, it was very common for stock, both horses and cattle, to
+stray from the settled areas into the great wilderness beyond.
+
+An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis of colonial
+expansion.  When the first expedition sailed from England, not only were
+officials, soldiers, and convicts shipped; but also an assortment of
+domestic animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony
+proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.
+
+As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many beasts strayed
+beyond the borders of the occupied country to the interior forests and
+plains; and before very long "brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers"
+(wild cattle) covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the
+advancing line of settlers.
+
+
+
+
+                              *CHAPTER XX*
+
+                           *THE BRUMBY HUNT*
+
+
+    "Like a wintry shore that the waters ride o'er,
+      All the lowlands are filling with sound;
+    For swiftly we gain where the mobs of the plain
+      Like a tempest are tearing the ground!
+    And we'll follow them hard to the rails of the yard,
+      Over gulches and mountain-tops grey,
+    Where the beat and the beat of our swift horses' feet
+      Will die with the echoes away."
+        HENRY KENDALL.
+
+
+"How many are coming to the hunt to-morrow, dad?"
+
+"About a score all told, my son.  That is," continued the speaker
+somewhat inconsequently, "if they a' turn up."
+
+"Gills coming, ain't they?"
+
+"Yes; the old man, son, and ane o' the stockmen'll be here this evening,
+so as to be ready for the early stairt the morn's morn.  That reminds
+me, I've no telt your mother.  They'll be here aboot supper-time."
+
+"Captain White coming, I s'pose?"
+
+"If he's above ground.  We'd best coont 'em up. Get a bit o' paper,
+Saundy, and pit doon the names. Then we'll ken for sure."
+
+"Ready, father."
+
+"Pit doon oor ain lot first.  Mysel', you, Hairry, the blacks, Denny,
+the bullock driver, the ration carrier, Redgate and Broon from the
+oot-station, Joe, Tom, N-eville--I suppose.  Hoo mony's that?"
+
+"Thirteen."
+
+"So mony's that?  At that rate we'll hae ower a score. Weel, that's a'
+the better.  Let's see, noo: pit doun the Gill lot, that's three more.
+Then there's Captain White. Old Dumaresque says he'll be along, but I
+dinna reckon on him, so you needna coont him in.  White's going to bring
+twa men wi' him.  And, m-yes, there's Davison o' the bank, and Dickson
+the lawyer.  Told 'em the other day I'd let 'em know.  They'll need to
+be here the nicht, too.  We'd better send Willy in wi' a message at
+once.  That's a' noo I think.  Hoo mony does that tot up?"
+
+"Twenty-one not counting the Colonel."
+
+"Weel, I hope they'll turn up, that's a'."
+
+"I say, father, could Jimmy Flynn an' Yellow Billy come?"
+
+"Eh?  Weel, I--I dinna ken.  Can they ride?"
+
+"Ride?  Listen to him!  Why, Yellow Billy's the boss rider among the
+boys.  You know his steer----"
+
+"Ah weel," said Mr. M'Intyre laughingly, "we'll hae 'em.  Send word by
+the boy."
+
+Accordingly, the invitation was taken to the four Tareelians.  Gill and
+party turned up about dark, and shortly after them the town lot, all of
+whom were welcomed by their hospitable host.
+
+M'Intyre had made extensive preparations for the hunt.  There are
+various methods for trapping wild horses.  The one in vogue at Bullaroi
+and the surrounding stations was that called the "wing" trap.  This
+consists, first of all, in determining the usual brumby run.  The next
+work, and an important one, is the building of yards in a locality
+specially selected, the object being to get as near as possible to the
+natural line of the horses' travel when stampeded.
+
+The yards must be well constructed, with a high, strong fence, having an
+open mouth so wide as to give the hunted steed no suspicion of running
+into a trap.  The upper and nether lips of this mouth, after running
+parallel a short distance, gradually converge to the throat, as it were,
+finally meeting, and forming a cul-de-sac.
+
+From the mouth extremity a vast roll of canvas, or, rather, calico
+strips about six inches wide, is made fast to one of the fence
+terminals, and from there, at a slight outward angle, is often taken for
+miles, being secured at intervals to trees or stakes which are driven
+into the ground.  The wing is fixed breast high.  This, to the
+inexperienced, seems but a flimsy obstacle; but the calico barrier,
+frail as it appears, acts as an effectual boundary. Brumbies are both
+timid and suspicious, and very rarely charge a wing.  When driven on to
+one they wheel either to right or left, with never a thought of breaking
+through or jumping it.
+
+The strategy of the "drive" is to station men at intervals from the
+terminal point of the wing; each man is armed with a heavy stock whip, a
+cruel enough weapon in the hands of an adept.  Others are left at the
+trap-yard mouth on the outward side, concealed as a rule, and ready to
+dart out and head the mob should it scent danger when nearing the
+opening.  The remainder of the men proceed to locate and enflank the
+mob, and drive them in the given direction.  This, often, is a very
+difficult matter, and sometimes the best laid scheme is defeated by a
+determined and irresistible rush of the mob in the teeth of their
+assailants.
+
+Premising the "round up" and drive to be successful as far as the wing,
+the wing supports wheel them in the right direction; then close in and
+pass to the outside to strengthen the flank men, who now form a parallel
+line with the racing brumbies.  Thus, with the calico wing on one side,
+a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on the other, and a harrying
+force behind, the spectacle is as brilliant and as exciting as Australia
+can furnish in the line of sport.
+
+
+At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the Bullaroi party,
+well mounted, wend their way to the appointed rendezvous, from whence
+the amalgamated forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.
+
+The men and boys are variously mounted.  All the horses, however, are
+used to stock work; some of them, within certain limits, being as
+intelligent as the men who bestride them.  Many of them are what is
+known as "camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and
+cutting out work on the cattle camp.  Quick to wheel, to dodge, to
+out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even to divine the enemy's
+intention; skilful in wedging through a pack; ready to advance
+backwards, so to speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders
+unavail; needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the work,
+the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a cattle run.
+
+Both M'Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted on favourites of the
+above-named variety.  The price of each was regarded by its rider as
+beyond rubies.  Both men were strong-boned, grizzled, and expert
+bushmen, with not a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bodies. Neville
+was of the company.  He had learned many things in the intervening days;
+the first, and most essential, was that England could furnish no
+precedent to Australia in things that are peculiar to station life. He
+gradually dropped his pet phrase, "The way we do things in England."
+The scales had fallen from his eyes concerning many things "Colonial."
+
+Mr. M'Intyre, who liked him, paid him no little attention.  He rode out
+on the run with him, giving common-sense hints in his dry way, from time
+to time, which his guest was ready enough to take.  He learned to ride
+fairly well, and, after many mortifying failures, could crack a stock
+whip without entangling it in the horse's legs.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre was dubious about Neville going.  The Englishman, however,
+was so set on joining the cavalcade that to object seemed discourtesy.
+All hints of the danger attached to this expedition were scouted.  So,
+on this eventful morning, mounted on his host's favourite hack, Curlew,
+the visitor formed one of the company.
+
+The others need no description.  With spirits mounting high in
+anticipation they pass over open plain, through brigalow scrub, along
+box ridges, and across country on a ten-mile spin to a spot on Rocky
+Creek called the Glen--a place already decided upon.  As there was no
+knowing to what extent the powers of both men and horses would be tried
+during the day, the journey was made at a moderate speed, so as to spare
+them for the arduous task of the drive.
+
+The pals, on this occasion six in number, were compelled to curb their
+tendencies to fun and frolic; though there were some very tempting and
+well-nigh irresistible inducements to spurts as the game rose or scudded
+before them.  Inviting jumps, too, lured them; but high jump or low
+jump, kangaroo or emu, charm they never so wisely, are resisted.
+
+But their tongues are uncurbed.  How they did chatter, to be sure!  It
+did the older members good to hear their gay and joyous prattle.  Their
+views of life in general, and brumby hunting in particular, were novel
+and unconventional. They settled everything touching the day's
+proceedings, from the place of the "find" to the number yarded.  All
+that the warrigal might do, and all that they would positively do to
+circumvent him, together with many other things, were discussed with the
+self-confidence of youth.
+
+In due time the Glen is reached, and the Bullaroi party find that they
+are first upon the scene.
+
+"Off saddles all o' you.  Must ease the horses a' we can.  Saundy, you
+and the boys mak a fire and get the billy going.  Denny, bring the
+tucker-bag from the pack-saddle.  Mr. Neville, what in the name of
+common-sense are ye tying yure nag to that dead tree for?"
+
+"What's wrong with it, sir?"
+
+"What's richt wi' it, mon?"
+
+"I--I--don't know what you mean."
+
+"Boss means yer a fool ter tie the moke up in the blazing sun," said
+Harry in an undertone, as he passed by the new chum.  "Put 'im under a
+shade tree same as the rest of us."
+
+"Beg pardon, yes--er--I see," answered he, mortified for a moment, as he
+moved from the leafless trunk to a clump of currajongs, whose thick
+foliage effectually screened the sun's rays.
+
+"Wot sort of a bloke's that 'ere cove?" asked Jimmy Flynn of Tom
+Hawkins.  "He's a regular greeny, ain't he?"
+
+"Oh, a good enough sort!" replied Tom.  "He's new, but he's a learner.
+He picks up pretty fast, considering. You should 'a' seen him when he
+came here first; my word, he was a greenhorn then!"
+
+"Here's the Captain, father!" sang out Sandy, as three men cantered up
+the track.
+
+"Guid-day, White!  Guid-day, men!  Glad to see you. Off saddle and join
+us in a tot o' tea and a bite."
+
+"Good-day, M'Intyre!  By George! you've got quite a troop, man.  Day,
+Dickson!  Day, Davidson!  What on earth do you townies think you're
+going to do?  Stand a good chance, Dickson, of cracking your skull and
+spilling all that legal soph--I mean lore, that's bottled up there.  Oh,
+I say, Mac, old Dumaresque's coming along," rattled on the Captain.
+
+"I'll believe it when I see him, no' afore.  The auld boy's better at
+hame when this wark's on."
+
+"Well, all I know is that he sent me word last night by one of the men,
+and cautioned me to be sure and tell you."
+
+"If he comes he comes, and if he disna he'll no' be much missed.  Noo,
+boys, bring in the tea!"
+
+"By Jove!  M'Intyre, your wife's a sensible woman: this is the sort of
+grub to work on.  Last month I was over at the Glenormiston mustering.
+De Little asked me to join him at midday after a heavy morning's work,
+and as I was as hungry as ten hunters I readily consented. What d'ye
+think he produced from his tucker-bag? Some lettuce sandwiches, no less;
+and cream puffs!  De Little's as good as gold, you know, so I couldn't
+refuse to take some; but, I give you my word, I strolled over to his men
+as soon as I could get away decently, and got a slice of beef and a
+chunk of damper."
+
+"Hoo's De Little getting on?"
+
+"Well, between you and me and the billy-can, he's no more cut out for a
+squatter than for an archangel. Pity he ever left London.  He'd be more
+at home in Rotten Row.  Hello! here's the old Colonel and two boys.
+Seeing will dissipate even your scepticism, Mac."
+
+Dumaresque was a choleric but plucky old superannuated Indian officer,
+who on his retirement came over to Australia and purchased a small
+cattle run, living bachelor fashion.  He was now quite old, yet fancied
+himself equal to any toil.  To hint at his age infirmities was to raise
+a very sirocco of indignant language.
+
+"Hello, Cornel! wha'd 'a' thocht that you----"
+
+"Stop, M'Intyre, stop!  I know right well, sir, what you are going to
+remark.  If you, sir, look upon a bit of a brumby hunt as an
+extraordinary thing, let me inform you that to me 'tis but a trifle.
+Why, man, when I was stationed on the northern frontier----"
+
+"Yes, yes, Dumaresque," broke in the Captain, who knew the other's
+weakness, "we're all delighted to see you.  Just in time for a pannikin
+of tea and a mouthful. Here you, Dick, Tom, Harry, one of you, take the
+Colonel's horse."
+
+A few minutes later the men filed out of the Glen, and proceeded along
+the creek to a spur in the foot-hills. Then they left the water-shed,
+crossing the spur, from which they continued up a grassy valley which
+extended nearly three miles before it broadened out into an open plain,
+lightly timbered at the upper or ridge side, but perfectly treeless at
+its other extremity.
+
+Two-thirds of the way up the valley, in a belt of box trees, was the
+trap-yard.  The trap mouth, before described, extended across the belt
+to the outermost verge.
+
+After a short inspection of the yard the calico wing was fixed.  It was
+attached to the terminal post of the yard mouth, nearest to the ridge
+that skirted the valley on the top side.  From thence it was taken in a
+straight line on the ridge side of the valley, until the plain was
+reached.  From this point, inclining slighting outward and made fast at
+short intervals, it extended right across the plain, ending in a clump
+of iron-barks.
+
+"Noo, men, ye'll jist hae a wee bit grub and then we'll stairt."
+
+The meal was soon dispatched, and a short consultation ensued.  M'Intyre
+apportioned the men their places.  Six, under Gill, were located in the
+iron-bark clump.  Five others were sent back to the trap-yard, two miles
+distant, to assigned duty there.  The remaining sixteen were to execute
+the task of first "feeling" the enemy; then of outflanking them; and,
+finally, directing the stampede.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXI*
+
+                       *THE WARRIGAL'S STRATEGY*
+
+
+    "Hast thou given the horse his might?
+    Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    The glory of his snorting is terrible.
+    He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.
+    He goeth out to meet the armed men.
+    He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    He smelleth the battle afar off:
+    The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."
+        JOB.
+
+
+"Noo, men, we'll be on the move."
+
+The leader sprang to his horse and directed him on to the plain.
+
+"Where do you expect to pick 'em up, Mac?"
+
+"Micht sicht them at ony minute, maybe no' for hours; maybe no' at a',
+Captain."
+
+"Willy and Jacky, you gang on aheed and keep your een weel peeled for
+signs.  No sae fast, lads; mustna spoil the sport at the stairt.  Let
+the blacks get weel aheed. We maun sicht them afore they tak alairm, or
+it'll be a hopeless stern chase."
+
+Joe, Tom, and Sandy, greatly to their delight, were with the "flying
+column."  Yellow Billy was with the trap contingent, while Jimmy Flynn
+was stationed with Mr. Gill in the iron-bark clump.  Neville, at his
+earnest request, was given a place with Mr. M'Intyre.
+
+As soon as he touched the myall country, the leader cautiously skirted
+it, until the party were well out and away from the range of hills that
+continued on the eastern side.  He then took an inward course, and made
+a slant which carried them back to the foot-hills.
+
+So far there was neither sight nor sound of the mob, nor were there any
+indications of their presence at any recent date.  From the range base
+another tack was taken, which brought them upon the edge of a scrub that
+had wedged itself into the plain.  By this time the column had covered a
+lot of ground.
+
+"We'll fringe the timber for a while, and then, if we've nae luck, we'll
+hae to divide; half to go into the ranges, and the other to keep richt
+along the plain.  Keep weel in, lads, we'll cut that pint," continued
+the leader, as the men moved on through the outer fringe of scrub; while
+out on the plain, which was dotted with rosewood and myall clumps, the
+black boys moved with lithe and stealthy movements.
+
+"Father, I hear a whistle!"
+
+"Hist, men! quiet all o' ye!"
+
+"There it's again!" exclaimed Sandy after a moment's silence, as a low
+whistle came from the plain.  "That's Jacky's whistle, dad, sure enough.
+I'd know it among a thousand----"
+
+"A' richt, my boy.  Jacky's got something.  We'll move oot quietly and
+see."
+
+Wheeling to the right, the column soon arrived at the spot indicated by
+Jacky's whistle.  The black boy stood by the side of his horse, pointing
+to some fresh droppings and to numerous hoof-tracks.
+
+"What is it, Jacky?" exclaimed Mr. M'Intyre as the men rode up.
+
+"Blendy brumby bin here, Boss, few minutes ago."
+
+The tracks and signs were so fresh that, as the black said, it was only
+the question of a few minutes since they occupied the spot.
+
+"Most fortunate we've got ahint them.  They're near by.  At ony moment
+we micht sicht them.  Ye'll fa' into a doubble column, men.  Captain,
+ye'll tak seeven men and I'll keep the ithers.  We'll hae twa columns a
+hunder yairds apairt."
+
+In this fashion the men proceeded slowly, with a black boy ahead of each
+column as a scout, and following the tracks of the brumbies.  As
+predicted, in a few minutes Willy held up a warning hand.
+
+The columns quickly closed up to the scouts, and their leaders saw,
+through the willow-like branches of a myall clump, the long-sought-for
+mob.  The horses were standing close together in an expectant attitude.
+Their suspicions were aroused.  Though they had not scented the wind of
+their pursuers, nevertheless, with that wonderful _something_ so common
+in wild things, they _felt_ the enemy's presence.
+
+The intervening distance was about three hundred yards.  According to
+arrangement, each column opened out at its head, with the object of
+outflanking the horses. Silently the columns wheeled to the left and
+right sharply, and then moved forward.  While in the act of executing
+this tactic their presence was detected, and scanned in a moment.  Then,
+with a snort, or rather a fusilade of snorts and neighs, heads erected,
+manes and tails streaming, away flew the alarmed steeds; and in swift
+pursuit, maintaining their formation, the men followed.
+
+There was no intention of unduly alarming the brumbies, therefore all
+shoutings and stock-whip crackings were restrained.  And now the hunters
+begin to feel the ardour of the chase, both horses and men; for so eager
+were the station horses to join in the hunt that the riders were obliged
+to take a double pull on them.
+
+Neville, in the excitement of the raid, forgot the orders, and broke his
+line, making a rush for the tail of the flying mob.  The Captain,
+however, nipped his intention in the bud with a few red-hot expletives,
+ordering the Englishman back to his place in the line.
+
+The brumbies, when started, were about eight miles from the wing, and
+headed directly for it, going off from the jump with a fine burst.  The
+wily warrigal, however, was not going to be run off his legs in a spurt;
+in a short time the breakneck pace is moderated, and the straggling mob
+close up.
+
+The horsemen hung on the flanks of the galloping steeds, steadying into
+an accommodating pace, and, as previously directed, making a semicircle,
+whose points extended beyond the sides of the retreating animals.  The
+station mares were in the mob, capering for the moment as wildly as any
+in their company.  Tallboy lagged somewhat in the rear.  He had
+evidently received scant courtesy from the brumbies.  It was observed
+that his heart was not in this matter.  Had they wished, the horsemen
+could easily have cut him out of the mob.
+
+The flying steeds--about fifty, young and old--had covered about
+two-thirds of the distance to the terminal point of the wing, and had
+not once swerved from this direction.  The men were in high glee.  So
+far it was nothing more than an exhilarating gallop, and they kept up
+the formation beautifully.  The horses, too, although the day was very
+hot, had not yet shown any sign of distress.  It was a different thing
+with some of the hunted animals, however.  There were some very old
+stock among the mares.  The pace and the heat combined were telling
+heavily upon them, and they that rode could read.
+
+One of these was a chronic "roarer," and her distressed gasps were
+plainly heard above the thunder of the hoof. Two of the mares began to
+lag in a palpable manner, despite the encouraging whinneying of the
+stallion, as he turned from side to side with a troubled look.
+
+They who belittle the intelligence of animals, and treat them as lacking
+heart and soul, can have had little experience of their nature and ways.
+The old sheik of the wilderness was full of concern for his many wives.
+Love, despite all that the poets may say, is not blind; it is open-eyed
+and alert.  Had he been alone the warrigal would have snorted at his
+foes with the utmost disdain, and led them such a dance as not all their
+imaginings had ever conceived.  But, alas! some at least of his faithful
+ones would be overtaken; were even now in peril.  Desertion? Never!
+
+Rescue! but how?  Yes; he will plan, he will outwit. He will use
+strategy against strategy, and at once, by which he may draw these
+merciless foes from the weaklings and give them an opportunity of
+escape.
+
+Quickening his pace, he raced along, closely followed by his
+company--save some half-dozen of the more exhausted mares, who were now
+widely separated from their mates. Then, wheeling sharply, the flying
+squadron dashed across the plain towards the foot-hills in a furious
+gallop.
+
+Divining his altered tactics, the Captain and M'Intyre increased their
+speed, taking no notice of the hindermost horses, and closely watching
+the head and ruck of the flying squadron.
+
+On, on! in mad gallop, whip and spur going freely now, sped the hunted
+and the hunters; and as they suddenly dashed across the face of the
+Captain's column, it seemed as if nothing human could stay their flight.
+The bold Captain and his men, however, nothing daunted nor surprised,
+wheeled a little more to the left, having some advantage in being well
+out, as well as being high up on the brumbies' flanks.
+
+"Now, boys," cried Captain White, "head 'em, rush 'em!"  Saying which,
+he rode straight for the stallion's head--who was leading--with four men
+pounding at his heels.  It was a splendid attempt to head the mob, and
+succeeded save with one exception.  That exception was the warrigal!
+
+The bunch of men hurled themselves on the leader, and had he not swerved
+there would have been a terrific impact, which might have spelled
+disablement or death to more than one.  When a man's blood is up in
+riotous chase he joyously challenges death in ways that chill him to the
+bone in cool blood.
+
+The grey demon, however, swerved to the right with tremendous speed, and
+the Captain crossed his course within a couple of feet of his stern; his
+only revenge being a savage cut with his whip across the retreating
+animal's flanks.  But if the men's rush failed with the leader, they
+stopped the stampede of his immediate followers.
+
+Floss and Jeannie, who were hard on the heels of the warrigal, were
+intercepted and turned.  The stock whips, cracking like a blaze of
+musketry, played upon the ruck of the confused animals in merciless
+fashion, scoring their flanks and ribs.  In a few seconds they were
+driven, pell-mell, back to the line of retreat.  In the meantime those
+immediately behind the mob, and those on the right flank, kept the
+balance going and together.  Thus the defeated ones regained their
+fellows, discomforted, and not a little cowed, in their leaderless
+condition.
+
+And what of the warrigal?
+
+To continue the chase of him were only to knock the horses up in
+fruitless pursuit.  No! he must be abandoned.  With liberty uncurtailed
+let him roam the wilds, fancy free.  The station runaways remain, as
+well as others that will be of value and service.
+
+So wisely reasoned man, but not so the warrigal. Foiled in his purpose,
+regardless of his own pursuit, the great equine leader wheeled in a wide
+circle, uttering the while shrill neighs to attract his consorts.  'Tis
+for naught, however, that he utters challenge to his enemies and appeal
+to his mates.  The stockmen have ringed the mob, and now at a slower
+pace they continue the drive; the men opening out, and keeping abreast
+the leading horses.
+
+And now the iron-bark clump is near at hand.  To this the enraged
+stallion gallops.  The wing men, on the alert, watch this last
+manoeuvre, and line out to intercept him should he make for the hills.
+Such was not his intention, though; and their appearance only
+accelerates the execution of his determination, which was simply to
+regain his companions; this he did with a rush, no one saying nay.
+
+M'Intyre and his men were careful not to push the driven beasts, but
+were content to let them make the pace.  And now at a swinging
+canter--old mares well up, despite all fatigue---they struck the clump,
+and passed the point to which the wing extended.  The wing men, joining
+in the cavalcade by orders of their leader, pass to the right flank and
+reinforce the drivers there.
+
+They are now within half a mile of the trap.  At a preconcerted signal
+the men close up, and amid an unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings
+the beasts are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.
+
+The calico wing acts effectually on the one side, allowing a strong line
+to form up on the other.  Barring accidents, the hunt is as good as
+finished; for in a moment or two the horses will be entering the trap
+mouth.
+
+The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the yard.  But, stay!
+His keen eyes sight the fence.  _It is a trap_!  Past adventures flood
+his recollection and shape judgment and determination.  Inside the trap,
+death or slavery!  Outside, liberty!
+
+Is it too late?  No!  By the ashes of his fathers he will elude his
+would-be captors!  His faithful spouses, naught, alas! will save them.
+Let those who dare follow him!  Away, then!
+
+With a wild rush, when within some two hundred yards of the trap mouth,
+he turns swiftly to the right at a tangent, so as to head his enemies
+and cut away on the outside of the fence.
+
+The gallant grey well deserves his freedom.  His courage, devotion, and
+intelligence should surely prevail upon the men.  But the pursuers were
+not indulging in any sentiment just then, and as soon as his last tactic
+was revealed the race of interception was begun.  He might yet have
+escaped, for he was full of running, but, alas! the unseen foe!
+
+The five men detailed at the trap mouth, were grouped thereat, just
+behind a cluster of silver wattles, ready for any emergency.  It seemed
+to them that their services would not be required.
+
+But, see! the warrigal!
+
+There is no time to reason.  In a flash they streak out from cover and
+ride straight at the flying barb.  Something must happen.  The fearful
+impact, narrowly escaped but an hour ago, occurs.  There is no attempt
+on either side to avoid the issue.  With a mighty bound and a savage
+snap of his teeth the warrigal flings himself at the foremost, bringing
+horse and rider down with a crash, both lying motionless upon the plain.
+
+At the same moment, and scarce a length behind, came Yellow Billy.  His
+attempt to head the runaway was blocked by the impact of the steeds.
+Too near to swerve, his horse struck the leading beast on the
+hind-quarters at the moment of the crash, adding to the confusion, and
+coming down a cropper.
+
+Staggered by the violent collision, the stallion is brought to a sudden
+stop, but not to the ground.  And now an astounding thing happens.
+Yellow Billy, while falling with his steed, to save himself from the
+warrigal's feet clutched frantically at that animal's mane, and, by a
+clever vault, to the amazement of his comrades, sprang upon the outlaw's
+back.
+
+It would be hard to say if at that particular moment the horse himself
+was cognisant of the act.  The pause covered but the fraction of a
+second.  With a bound he leaped the fallen bodies, and, there being no
+one in front to stay him, tore off in a direction that skirted the trap
+fence.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXII*
+
+                 *HOW YELLOW BILLY BROKE THE WARRIGAL*
+
+
+"The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the
+neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth."--JEREMIAH.
+
+
+The tragic ending of the last rush held all breaths for some brief
+moments.  Such a contretemps had never happened before.  It beat all
+previous experiences.  The vanishing horse and rider seemed a wild
+fantasy of the brain, that passes like the breaking of a soap-bubble.
+There, before their very eyes, lay the slain; the victims of the mad
+charge.
+
+Several of the men dash after the desperate horse and his acrobatic
+rider.  Simultaneously, a small group of men--among the foremost is Mr.
+Gill--rush to the fallen men and beasts.
+
+Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was known as a fearless
+and somewhat reckless rider.  At the critical moment, with the lust of
+the chase upon him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed. To
+swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain attempt.  "I'll ride
+the beggar down!"  With naught of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of
+consequence, hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.
+
+But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves. These, alas! more
+than defeat the object of the horseman. The warrigal's last hope
+trembled in the balance.  A narrow gap of open space, and--liberty!
+This way then, with slap-dash speed!
+
+
+We have already related the countervailing efforts to stay that rush:
+how that hidden horsemen flash from their ambush; how that one, a little
+in advance, moved to the strike with tornado-like velocity.  Then Greek
+met Greek.  Comes the inevitable, the sickening thud; and
+then--oblivion!  Come running men who lift young Dick with all the
+gentleness of women, and bear him to the shade trees.
+
+Yellow Billy's horse lies stone dead with broken neck. Dick's, with
+broken back, vainly strives to rise.  Its great brown eyes look round
+with painful entreaty that sends Harry silently to the camp for a rifle,
+and then the handsome filly joins her companion in the happy hunting
+grounds.
+
+Meanwhile, under the shade trees, Dick Gill lies, the image of death.
+An examination reveals a fractured forearm; while a blue-black bruise on
+the right temple, as big as a crown-piece, attests the violence of the
+blow.  The general verdict is that Dick, the life and soul of his
+company, will never more crack joke, sing song, or join in the merry
+chase; and so the conclusion is, dead, or as good as dead--a distinction
+with a slight difference.
+
+There were two, however, who clung to some shreds of hope; the father of
+the boy and the Colonel: the latter with obstinacy and emphasis.
+
+"I've seen 'em on the frontier far worse than your boy, Gill, and get
+better.  The lad's stunned with that dickens of a blow; but he'll rally
+directly and be as spry as ever."
+
+"Poor Dick is alive yet; of that I feel sure, even though I cannot
+detect any pulsation.  What the issue may be, Dumaresque, neither you
+nor----"
+
+"Tut, tut, man! he's young, and as tough as leather. Neck's all right.
+Keep up heart, old man.  I'll trot down to the yards and see what
+they're doing to the brumbies."
+
+With that the old officer, whose words were braver than his heart,
+strode to the yard, where all the others had congregated, save Joe and
+Sandy, who were in the rear-guard when the accident happened; and who,
+chilled at heart and filled with apprehension--all zest in sport
+gone--remain by the side of their companion.
+
+When the warrigal broke, the others of the mob were in full gallop,
+being rushed by the men.  They are subjected to a battery of flogging
+whips, and swept into the trap-yard; down the converging sides of this
+they hustle, only to find an impasse.  There they huddle, a compact mass
+of sweating, shivering, and cowed brutes.
+
+The horsemen form a line across the way of retreat, until half a dozen
+wires are stretched.  The rest is a matter of detail which expert
+bushmen make small bones about.  When all is secure the men inside cut
+out selected horses under the direction of Mr. M'Intyre, who, with those
+not actively employed in the arena, occupies a place on the rails.  The
+brumbies designed for use are thrown and branded, etc., then haltered
+and made fast to the rails.  The station runaways were secured early in
+the proceedings, which, from first to last, consume a couple of hours.
+The final act is one of horse massacre; all the discarded stock are shot
+down.  It is cold-blooded but necessary work, for brumbies are rightly
+regarded as a pest on a run.
+
+By this time the sun is well down in the west, and having finished their
+work at the yards, the men repair to the camp for a bite and a drink.
+
+To their great surprise and delight they find Dick Gill "nather dead nor
+spachless," as Denny Kineavy put it.
+
+While his father and the boys anxiously watched him, hoping against hope
+for signs of life, the unconscious lad suddenly stretched his limbs and
+opened his eyes, as one just awaking from a sound sleep.
+
+The as-good-as-dead youth sat up in wonderment, falling back in pain and
+weakness the next moment. A wave of joy surged through Gill's heart at
+this manifestation of life.  "God be thanked for His mercies!" he
+exclaimed.  Putting an arm under the sick boy's shoulders, and carefully
+raising his head, he held the Colonel's brandy flask to his lips.
+"You've had a spill, that's' all.  A bit of a knock-out.  Your left arm
+is broken, and there's a nasty bruise on your forehead.  Sip a little of
+this spirit; it'll brace you up."
+
+A pull at the flask revived the youth, and he pillowed his head on his
+father's arm, who laved the bruised head with cold water.  This greatly
+helped in the work of restoration.  By the time the men had finished,
+Dick was able to sit up, and expressed a desire to have a look at the
+brumbies.  Beyond acute pain in head and arm the lad seemed but little
+affected.  He enjoyed a feed with the men, and especially was he
+grateful for a pannikin of tea.  Good billy tea is better for the tired
+feeling than all the grog ever invented.
+
+After a short consultation it was decided that Dick and his father, with
+Sandy, should proceed to a selector's house about three miles distant.
+They would be sure to get the loan of Mrs. Mulvaney's spring-cart, and
+by that means reach Bullaroi.  This was carried out despite Dick's
+protests that he was fit to start on another brumby drive.
+
+What of Yellow Billy and the bolting warrigal!  Have they been
+forgotten?  Not by long chalks!
+
+As soon as Mr. M'Intyre had selected the horses that were to be saved
+and used, he left the other work to the Captain, and, accompanied by
+Jacky, started off on the tracks of the outlaw.  Before long they met
+some of the pursuers returning.  Their horses were knocked up, and they
+had failed to trace the runaway.  "Deeficult as the country may be,"
+mused Mr. M'Intyre, "Jacky's equal to onything in the trackin' line.
+It's only a maitter o' time when we'll run 'em doon."
+
+There was much speculation at the camp over the fate of the half-caste.
+It did not lean to pessimism, though jeremiads were uttered by some.
+The pals, who knew Billy's ability better than the others, had unlimited
+faith in their mate.  Whatever happened to the steed, the boy would turn
+up safe and sound.  The steer rider, in their opinion, could ride
+bare-back the toughest outlaw that ever sniffed the wind.  "You'll see,"
+said Tom confidently to the Captain, "Billy'll more'n hold his own."
+
+"Didn't youse tell us the other day thet at your gra-at
+billy-horse-ma-ale-robbery, the steer slung the yallar bhoy----"
+
+"Oh!" retorted Tom pettishly, "that was only----"
+
+Just then the returning men rode up.  They had no good news to relate,
+but said that by Mr. M'Intyre's orders all were to proceed to the Glen,
+and if the missing boy was not brought in before dark they were to
+disperse. Let us now follow the fortunes, or misfortunes, of Billy.
+
+As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the yellow boy held
+fast with knees and hands, the stock whip over his shoulder trailing in
+a long line behind the flying pair.  To stick on the racing horse was a
+comparatively easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick
+should unseat him.  But to guide the scurrying brute, unbitted,
+unreined, were as impossible as to turn and check a Mont Blanc
+avalanche.
+
+The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the trap-yard was to
+dismount his rider by violent means, but there are eager pursuers on the
+track--so away!
+
+He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley apace, twists up
+a gully with a swerve that almosts unseats Billy, dashes into Glen
+Creek, and mounts the bank to enter a defile.  The first shock over, the
+half-caste begins to realise his position.  For a moment a pang of fear
+seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the ride dawn upon
+him.  This soon yields to a different sensation as they rush through
+space.
+
+There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which goes out in
+unconscious sympathy for the bestridden beast.  Despite the mutual
+antagonism, which, after all, is not that of hate, there is in some way
+a sense of kinship.  Wild answers to wild.  Man nature comes thus into
+close gripping quarters with horse nature.  There is no intervening
+saddle.  Flesh mates with flesh, and spirit answers to spirit.  Whose,
+then, shall be the victory?  The strains of many generations of desert
+lords is in the quadruped.  But what of the biped?  A curious admixture
+of blood there!  On the white side are the well salted strains, which
+hark away back to the old Vikings.  On the other and darker, the stream
+points backwards to the misty past, when his ancestors, subtle and slim,
+moved southward from the older civilisations of the north, and swarmed
+the valleys of the Ganges and the Indus, fighting for a foothold.
+
+Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild blood of the
+human?  It riots through the youth's veins, giving vim and sparkle to
+his courage.  Who shall win the lordship?  Away then, and away!--through
+the mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast and thighs
+are torn and blooded with innumerable scores; slithering down the gorges
+to the accompaniment of rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and
+smashing through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded away--the
+infuriated steed holds his course.  On, on! ever up to the inaccessible
+heights.
+
+But, has the half-breed been doing nothing save holding on, meanwhile?
+
+With incredible difficulty, owing to the mad career of the horse over
+the wilds, Yellow Billy has managed to pass his whip thong twice round
+the brute's neck.  This, knotted together, forms just the sort of
+hold-fast the boy has been accustomed to on his steer rides.  The grip
+gives him a great advantage.
+
+But the horse is now scrambling up a gully, which becomes sharper and
+steeper as he advances, merging into a deep gorge at last, with
+precipitous sides and frowning, unscalable face.  A cul-de-sac, indeed!
+Even this the indomitable warrigal essays.  Again and again does he rush
+the battlements, and mount some distance; only to tumble back with
+sobbing breath but dauntless energy.
+
+Cannot Yellow Billy now dismount in safety?
+
+As easily, oh, reader, as one might slip off a rocking-horse.
+
+Why not, then, fling himself off; abandon the desperado, and be thankful
+for life and limb?
+
+What!  Billy show the white feather?  Billy throw away his chance of the
+honour and glory of capture thus?  Not for all the wealth of Australia!
+This is the most ecstatic moment of his existence.
+
+Foiled in his attempt to scale the heights, Bucephalus begins to think
+more seriously of the foe upon his back. Were he dislodged, what might
+not become possible? Here then!
+
+So began the battle royal between these well-mated antagonists, to be
+fought to a finish, there, on that small patch of earth in the rocky
+fastness; with none in the arena to interfere or to applaud.  None,
+indeed, to witness, save the rock wallaby perched high on a beetling
+crag, who may have moralised on the unwonted spectacle of the whirling
+grey-and-brown mass of flesh and blood below.  Higher still, wheeling in
+mid-air, is an eagle hawk, who keenly watches the solitary duel down
+there, with unwinking eyes of insatiable greed; caring not a doit which
+wins the mastership, so that the issue may provide a fit object for
+tearing talons and lacerating beak.
+
+But below there!
+
+The warrigal, with bloodshot eyes flaming in rage and malice, ears set
+back, head and neck well down between the forelegs, back arched like a
+bent bow, bucks and squeals, kicks and twists.  Forward, backward,
+sideward; round and round; up and down; now in the middle of the patch;
+now trying to rub the boy against the rough sides of the rocky canon,
+but all in vain.  Not even the young Mazeppa, lashed to the wild horse,
+was more securely bound than was Billy to his steed.
+
+There he is; Yellow Billy!  Behold him!
+
+Grasping with both hands the encircling stock whip, head and shoulders
+inclined backwards, his knees grip the horse's sides like a vice.  The
+horse's hoarse neighs are answered with shrill shouts.  And so, amid
+battle-cries, dust and flying pebbles, sweat and foam, with evolutions
+to which those of the circus ring were flat and monotonous, the tug of
+war for supremacy between man and beast goes on.
+
+Presently, however, the bucking desperado moderates. There is a lull.
+He shifts from side to side, making at the same time a slow gyral
+movement.  Is this premonitory of collapse?  He is blowing like the
+proverbial grampus, and ejecting steam from quivering nostrils like an
+exhaust pipe.  The sweat flows from neck, belly, and flanks to the
+ground in streams.  Spasmodic sobs like those of a broken-hearted child
+send shudder after shudder through his whole frame.  See! his head is
+hanging upon his breast; the symbol of despair.  Yes! he is done,
+conquered!  He is broken.  Well done, Billy!  But the most dangerous
+moment of Billy's existence is at hand.
+
+Suddenly rushing backwards, the demon rears and throws himself to the
+ground, almost turning a complete somersault in the act.  Crash! down
+come body and hoofs and--Billy.  The boy is taken unawares, and can do
+little to avert the consequences of this trick.  Still, the little saves
+him.  When, in the fraction of a second, he sees the inevitable, a
+spasmodic jerk flings him just beyond the horse's legs, which are
+working like the arms of a windmill.  Scarce has the animal regained his
+feet ere, with panther-like spring, the half-caste is reseated.  Again
+the horse is down, but now he is weakening--is rapidly nearing the limit
+of endurance. All the reserves have been called up.
+
+Again, behold! a rapid change of tactics.  The outlaw whips round his
+head with open mouth and snaps at the rider's leg.  Again and again, on
+both sides, and it is only by the utmost dexterity that the lad escapes.
+This, more than anything else, begets fear; for Billy, like the horse,
+is fast tiring.  With despair in his eyes the boy looks round him for
+help, and catches sight of the whip handle, which is hanging, with some
+two feet or more of thong, from where it is tied to the neck.  In a
+trice his knife is out and the thong is severed near the knot.  This
+end, coiled round his hand, becomes a weapon of offence. A loaded
+stock-whip handle is as formidable as an Irishman's shillelah.  And now
+every snap is met with a cruel smack, and this not for long can even the
+warrigal stand.  Yellow Billy does more, he rains blows upon the steed's
+shoulders and head with such severity as almost to paralyse the brute.
+The end is coming fast now. Worn, blown, trembling with weakness, dazed,
+the battle has indeed turned.
+
+There is a point in horse-nature up to which no man may call himself
+master.  In some animals it lies low down.  In others, the warrigal, to
+wit, it is placed at the apex of his mettlesome temper.  Let that point
+in mastery be taken by the adversary and all is yielded. That citadel
+stormed, there is naught left but the white flag.  The independence once
+surrendered is never regained.  In other words, once the complete
+master, always the master.
+
+See now the lord of the wilderness! the equine conjurer of tricks!
+There he stands with shrunken form, drooping head, lack-lustrous eyes,
+motionless and clinging tail, subservience incarnate: fit statue of
+unconditional surrender!  The struggle has been gallant, heroic,
+prolonged; the capitulation is complete.  A well planted blow, now,
+between the ears, and that noble creature; that thing of bone and
+muscle, of arching neck and glossy coat; that creature of will and
+courage, which made him emperor among his kind by right of merit--with a
+stride worthy the envy of Lucifer!  Just one blow in the right spot--he
+staggers, trembles, and falls.
+
+Yellow Billy is standing at the horse's head.  'Twas a glorious ride, a
+royal fight, a grand victory.  Nothing is left now but--pity!  And so,
+with soft and cheery word, rubbing the nostrils, wiping the drying
+sweat, massaging the trembling limbs, the boy is mercifully engaged when
+footsteps are heard, and in a moment the squatter, Jacky, and a couple
+of men ride on to the battle-field.
+
+
+Darkness is mantling the earth, and the men at the Glen camp have all
+gone, save a few, including the boys and Neville, who are still
+anxiously waiting.  The striking of iron on the flints of the creek-bed
+breaks the dismal silence, as a group of horsemen steal out of the
+surrounding gloom, and stand half-revealed in the light of the camp
+fire.  Yellow Billy is perched on the croup behind one of the men,
+while, with a stock whip converted into a halter, Jacky leads the bone
+and soul sore warrigal, who, in this abject spectacle, drinks the cup of
+humiliation to its bitterest dregs.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXIII*
+
+                            *A DAY'S SHOOT*
+
+
+    "Alas! that, when the changing year
+      Brings round the blessed day,
+    The hearts of little native boys
+      Wax keen to hunt and slay,
+    As if the chime of Christmas time
+      Were but a call to prey."
+        BRUNTON STEPHENS.
+
+
+"S-a-n-d-e-e!  S-a-n-d-e-e!"
+
+"H-e-ll-o!  H-e-ll-o!"
+
+"Where--are--you?"
+
+"Down--here."
+
+"Where's here?"
+
+"Find--out!"
+
+"Where's that horrid Sandy, Joe?" exclaimed Jessie M'Intyre to Joe
+Blain, as she came out into the back yard, shortly after breakfast, one
+fine morning a few days after the brumby hunt.
+
+"Can't split on me mates, Jess."
+
+"You're a nasty, good-for-nothing boy, Joe Blain: that's what I think of
+_you_, and I don't care if you _do_ know it."
+
+    "Tweedlum, tweedlum, tweedlum twee,
+    The cat and the rat ran up the tree,"
+
+quoth Joe, as he capered about just out of reach of the girl, who chased
+him round the room with a broom.
+
+It so happened that as Joe was dancing past the kitchen window, Ah Fat
+the cook was in the very act of throwing out a dish of kitchen slops,
+and the contents struck him fair on the head and shoulders.
+
+This unintended but well-delivered blow came so swiftly and so
+unexpectedly that for the moment Joe was stupefied, gasping and
+spluttering between wind and water, so to speak.  He cut so ludicrous a
+figure that Jessie had to fairly hold her sides with laughter. Meanwhile
+the innocent Ah Fat stood gazing at the spectacle in amazement.
+
+"Oh, Missee Joe, I welly solly.  Me neffer see you when me tlew um----"
+
+"You jolly Chinaman!" cried Joe, in great wrath. "You--you--yellow
+joss!"
+
+With that the irate boy jumped through the window and vigorously
+assaulted the cook with hands and feet.
+
+"Oh!--Missee Joe--welly solly.  O--h!  Oh, Clismus! O-u-c-h!"
+
+At first genuine sorrow controlled the Celestial.  And indeed the onset
+was so furious and determined that the Chinaman had enough to do in
+fending blows, and was not a little alarmed.  But when Joe, in closing,
+clutched him by the head, and essayed to unwind his pig-tail, alarm
+yielded to horror at this unexpected indignity. An ominous glitter came
+into his eye, and a string of curses in his native tongue flew from the
+angry heathen.
+
+The boy, having loosened the tail, wound a coil of it round his hand,
+and began to give fierce tugs.  Passion in an Oriental may take any
+turn.  A passion-fired Chinaman, however well-disposed and peaceably
+inclined at other times, will wreak his vengeance regardless of moral
+issues.  With a yell of mingled pain and rage the maddened man executed
+a Chinese edition of Jiu-jitsu, sending his youthful antagonist whirling
+through the air, to come down with a rattling bump that shook the breath
+from his body.  Fortunately for Joe, the part of his anatomy which bore
+the brunt of the contact was that least susceptible to damage.
+
+This act would have been followed by one severer still had not Mrs.
+M'Intyre at that moment run into the kitchen, and, seeing the fallen boy
+at the mercy of the rage-possessed Chow, who was in the act of assault
+and battery, made for the man with a shrill scream, and hauled him off
+the prostrate lad.  All the while, John Chinaman was in a state of wild
+excitability, sending forth a torrential stream of pidgin-English.
+
+Joe tumbled to his feet none the worse for the bout save a bruise or
+two.  The sight of Ah Fat with flowing pig-tail and grotesque
+gesticulation sent the lad into fits of laughter.  This only the more
+incensed his adversary, who made another effort to get at him, being
+hardly prevented by Mrs. M'Intyre.  In this hilarity Joe was joined by
+Jess, who had followed her mother and stood first in terror, but now
+with hearty laughter.
+
+"Joe Blain, get out of this kitchen this moment, you wicked boy!  Be
+quiet, Ah Fat, or I'll call for one of the men!  Stop laughing at once,
+Jess, you bold hussy, or I'll box your ears!"
+
+Both Joe and Jess disappeared in a flash, and this had the effect of
+calming the Chinaman, who told the tale to his mistress as well as his
+perturbed condition and broken English would allow.
+
+"Me thlo dirtee watah outa window.  Joee comin' plast.  Me no see him.
+Watah 'it 'im head and soljer. He jumpee tloo window, pullee hair, welly
+angly.  Me get angly too, and thlo 'im down."
+
+"Quite true," said Joe, who suddenly appeared at the window.  "It's all
+my fault.  He didn't see me, I'm sure, when he pitched the stuff out.
+My paddy got up, an' I went for him like a terrier.  I think the
+terrier's got the worst of it, eh, Ah Fat?"
+
+The quick acknowledgment of wrong produced an immediate effect on Ah
+Fat.  There was a winning grace about Joe that few could withstand.
+Hitherto he had been the cook's favourite.  And now, no sooner did he
+express his sorrow for the summary proceedings, and own his defeat, than
+the mantling frown of anger on the Chinaman's forehead vanished, and his
+dingy and stolid countenance lit up with a smile.
+
+"Me welly solly----"
+
+"Oh, stow that!  No harm done.  I'm off to get rid of this muck," cried
+Joe, as he disappeared from the window. A few moments later, Joe was in
+the act of passing this same opening to convey a message to Sandy, who
+was doing a job for his father in the carpenter's room, at the rear of
+the stables.
+
+The act was observed by Ah Fat, who made a rapid move to the window.
+
+"Hello, Joe!"
+
+"Hello, Ah Fat!"
+
+"Come here, Joe," said the Flowery-Lander, beckoning as he spoke.
+
+"No more soap-suds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"No mo dirtee watah," said he of the pig-tail grinningly.  "See a-here,
+Joe"--displaying a jam pasty, hot from the oven.  "You takee dis
+plastee.  Stlawbelly jam, welly good."
+
+"By Caesar!  Ah Fat, you're no end of a brick!" cried Joe, as he
+received the peace-offering with eager hands and glistening eyes.
+
+"Saundy, ye scoondrel!" shouted he a moment later, bursting in upon
+Sandy, who was spoke-shaving a piece of timber designed for a swingle
+bar.  "Didn't you hear Jess call you a few minutes ago?"
+
+"I did hear some sort of a cackling an' flustration. What's up?"
+
+"We've got to go an' shoot some ducks."
+
+"That all?"
+
+"That all, ye cauld-blooded Scotchman!"
+
+"An' when have we to go?"
+
+"Now, at once, immediately, if not sooner, ye spalpeen."
+
+"Ye're an odd mixture of Scotch an' Irish this morn, me hairy-breasted
+hero, an' a bad hand at either.  But why all the hurry about the ducks?"
+
+"Your mother's just got word to say some chaps are coming out from
+Tareela to dinner this evening, an' they're sure to expect game."
+
+"All serene.  Tom comin'?"
+
+"No, he ain't.  He's out with Harry on the run. There's only you an' me
+for't."
+
+"I'll be with you in a jiff, my son.  Just finishing this bar."
+
+"Where'll we go for the birds, Sandy?"
+
+"Up the creek, I s'pose.  Too far out to the swamp if it's to-night they
+want them.  There's a mob o' woods I'd like to get a smack at--the ones
+we saw when we were fishin'."
+
+"Jacky told me yesterday he saw 'em the other night roosting on the old
+dead gum just at the junction of Mosquito Crick an' the Crocodile.  How
+far d'ye call that?"
+
+"'Bout three mile."
+
+"Your mother said we are to try and get some pigeons when we're out."
+
+"Used to be a lot o' pigeons in the scrub; but the last time Dickson and
+some other coves came out shooting, they went through the scrub, but
+didn't see a feather--so they said."
+
+"No good goin' there, then?"
+
+"Well, I don't know.  We can give it a try, I s'pose. What's the time,
+Joe?"
+
+"Struck ten as I came along; so we'd bes' be off in less'n no time,
+sonny."
+
+In a few minutes the boys were loaded up with guns, ammunition, sculls,
+and the tucker bag.  They decided to take the skiff and try their luck
+on the water, instead of stalking the game along the banks.
+
+"Don't be later than four o'clock.  Try and be back before, if
+possible."
+
+"All serene, mother; we'll be back on time, luck or no luck."
+
+"We'll fetch you some shags anyhow for fish soup," yelled back Joe as
+the lads walked briskly along.
+
+Sandy took the oars at the start, Joe sitting in the stern with his
+muzzle-loader.  Breech-loaders were at that time a rarity in Australia.
+There were handicaps in shooting in those days of the muzzle-loader, the
+powder-horn, and the shot belt, when compared with the modern
+choke-bore, smokeless powder, etc.  But there were compensations. Men
+were far more careful of their ammunition.  Loading itself was an art in
+which the expert took considerable pride.  To every novice the formula
+was carefully given by the senior--
+
+    "Ram your powder well, but not your lead,
+    If you want to kill dead."
+
+
+But, beyond all other considerations, there was more of the element of
+sport in it.  There was a greater call for skill.  The very limitations
+of gunnery in those days put the game on a nearer footing of equality
+with the hunter. There were greater chances for the quarry, and
+therefore greater merit in the kill.  These are the days of machinery,
+and even in gunnery there is a disposition to do the work by turning a
+handle--"pumping the lead into 'em," as the moderns put it.
+
+Sandy's father was the possessor of a renowned Joe Manton, and many were
+the tales told by the lad of his father's prowess and the wonderful
+distances at which this Joe Manton could kill.
+
+The creek on both sides was lined for the most part with rushes, weeds,
+and water-reeds, which afforded fine cover and food for the wild-fowl.
+It was possible to pass within short distances of the ducks in the
+rushes without being aware of their presence.
+
+"Keep your eyes skinned along here, Joe," remarked Sandy, after rowing
+some distance.  "Might start a brace at any time."
+
+The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth when a bird rose out of the
+reeds with a great flutter.  Joe's gun was up in a trice, and before it
+had flown a dozen yards, it fell into the water with a splash.
+
+"Good shot, Joe; but what's the use of wasting powder and shot over a
+red-bill?  Thought you knew a coot from a duck."
+
+"Well--I--I'm blest!  If I'm not a dumplin'-headed, double-dyed duffer!
+As if I hadn't shot tons of 'em. Well, well, well!"
+
+"It's not well at all," answered Sandy with a grin, as the boat glided
+past the beautiful glossy black and purple-hued bird, which, though
+edible enough, generally ran to toughness, and was not classed as game.
+Yet a plump red-bill that has fattened on the river-end patch of the
+settlers' maize is by no means to be despised.
+
+Joe quietly reloaded, and was doubly on the _qui vive_ after the
+misadventure.  He had his revenge before long, for on rounding the point
+they ran into a mob of teal which were camping on a shady mud-beach.
+The teal rose in a very alert fashion, flying back over the boat.
+Quickly turning, Joe poured the contents of right and left barrels into
+the retreating birds.  Three of them soused into the water, two of which
+were stone-dead. The third, though badly wounded, was nevertheless
+exceedingly agile in dodging the boat by diving.  After some trouble the
+boys managed to secure it, and so a good start towards a full bag was
+made.
+
+Then their luck departed for a while.  Two or three pairs of black duck
+rose, but out of range.
+
+"Here, Sandy, let me take the oars and give you a spell," said Joe,
+after proceeding about two miles from the landing.  The positions were
+reversed, and the boat sped on its way to the junction.
+
+"Pull easy, Joe," said Sandy, as that point came in sight.  "There's a
+chance of the wood-duck on the spit. We mustn't miss this lot, anyway.
+You'd best land me here, ole man, an' I'll stalk 'em."
+
+Joe, whose back faced the spit, to coin an Irishism, turned round to
+survey the birds, which clustered thickly on the spit-end.
+
+"See 'em, Joe," said Sandy excitedly.  "It's a grand mob.  If I don't
+knock half a dozen, you may----"
+
+"Bag the whole bloomin' lot if you like, Sandy M'Intyre," replied the
+rower, who had been gazing intently on the birds, and now turned to his
+mate with an amused smile.
+
+"Why--why--whatcher mean?"
+
+"Mean!  Mr. Alexander Duff M'Intyre, bushman, waterman, sportsman, and
+naturalist by profession, but only a Scotch mixture of bat an' mole for
+all that! Why----"
+
+"Do you mean to insinuate, Joe Blain, that yon's not a mob of
+wood-duck?"
+
+"Yes; and ready to swear to it till all's blue.  I _did_ think you knew
+the difference between a duck of any sort and a plover!"
+
+"You call 'em plov----?"
+
+Here one of the birds stretched its neck, flapped its wings, gave a hop
+and a short run, plover-ways, and finished with the typical harsh note.
+
+"Great Donald! you're right, man!" finished the boy, in a mortified tone
+and with a considerable amount of disgust.
+
+"Oh, well," he resumed, after a moment's silence, "a few plover won't
+come amiss, especially if we don't collar any more duck.  Like 'em
+myself, grilled, as well as anything; they've such plump little breasts.
+Pull on, Joe."
+
+Joe made for the spit, coming in so quickly with a few quiet but
+vigorous strokes that Sandy was able to get in a pot and a flying shot,
+accounting for no fewer than five.
+
+"I vote," exclaimed that youth, when they had bagged the plover, "that
+we pull into the mouth of 'Skeeter Crick, tie up to the bank, an' stalk
+the crick for a mile or so; then we can cross over to the scrub by the
+old tree. We'll chance to get a pigeon or two, or I'm mistaken. P'r'aps
+we'll have better luck with the ducks on our way back.  Never saw 'em so
+scarce on the Crocodile before."
+
+Accordingly, they landed a hundred yards or so up the creek, assailed
+the contents of the tucker bag, and then proceeded to skirt the right
+bank, on the look out for duck.  A single bird, a very fine drake, fell
+to Joe's gun near the fallen log which bridged the narrow stream. This
+crossed, the boys entered into a belt of virgin scrub that extended back
+a mile or so from Crocodile Creek, abutting Mosquito Creek along its
+breadth.
+
+"We'd bes' separate, Joe," said Sandy, when they had gone a little
+distance into the jungle.  "You keep on a few hundred yards, and then
+bear on the left towards the Crocodile.  I'll make straight for there
+from here.  It'll be hard if we don't account for a bird or two."
+
+The scrub was very thick and interwoven in places. It contained a number
+of native fig trees of great height and spread.  These trees were in
+fruit, therefore there was a better chance of getting pigeon, some
+varieties of which are exceedingly fond of the native fig.
+
+The umbrageous trees formed a lofty canopy whose cool shades were very
+agreeable after a couple of hours on the water under a January sun.  The
+lawyer and other cane vines hung from the great trees in long festoons,
+varying in thickness from ropes no thicker than one's little finger to
+the great cables extending downward from the huge limbs of the fig
+trees.  Besides these growths were scrub bushes, many of which were
+covered with blossom, and still others with berries, blue and red. There
+were also spaces of bare ground, occupied only by giant fig and other
+columnar trees.  These, by natural formation, made arched aisles, whose
+loftiness, lights, distances, and vistas constituted a grandeur, and
+even splendour, unapproached by any of the great cathedrals of earth.
+These, however ancient, are but things of yesterday when compared with
+nature's porticoes, cloisters, and altar spaces.
+
+The boys, however, took little heed of these things. They were in the
+scrub neither for architectural nor devotional purposes.  Pigeons and
+other scrub game alone had any attractions for them.
+
+After separating they walked warily, listening with both ears and
+scanning with both eyes.  Sounds there were in abundance.  The
+ubiquitous minah, as the noisy and saucy soldier-bird is called, is as
+widespread as the gum tree itself. The thrush, though smaller than its
+English namesake, and with a differing note, is equally melodious.  Then
+peculiar to scrub country are the musically metallic notes of the pretty
+but exceedingly coy bell-bird.
+
+Henry Kendal, the greatest of Australian nature poets, has limned it in
+song.  Here is a stanza--
+
+    "The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime,
+    They sing in September their songs of the Maytime.
+    When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
+    They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
+    They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
+    And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
+    Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."
+
+
+There is also the merry Coachman, who cracks his whip with his beak, so
+to speak, in such verisimilitude that the wandering new chum looks round
+eagerly for a coach-team.
+
+Added to these are the soft coo-coo of the doves and the stronger and
+booming note of the pigeon tribe.  And beyond all these, the calls,
+chirpings, and chatterings of scores of feathered favourites.  They who
+call the Australian bush songless libel it.
+
+The pigeon has a coo that is as monotonous and far-reaching as a fog
+horn.  For this sound the boys are now cocking their ears.  Presently
+the loved note reaches Sandy's ears: coo--coo--coo!
+
+"A wonga for a dollar, and where's one is sure to be another."
+
+To locate a pigeon by its note is often a most difficult thing in the
+scrub.  It may be on the tree under which one happens to be standing, or
+hundreds of yards away. To run down a pigeon by its note is a work that
+needs experience and patience.
+
+Sandy listened intently, mind as well as ears working. "Not high up,
+that's certain.  Seems to be right behind me.  Bet tuppence he's on that
+white cedar," said the boy to himself after a further scrutiny in the
+supposed direction.  Away in the locality indicated, distant a hundred
+yards or so, rising above a clump of myrtles, was a white cedar tree,
+its shining yellow berries revealing its presence as seen through the
+tree boles and shrubs.
+
+Stealthily moving through the undergrowth and timber, the lad cautiously
+advanced towards the cedar.  Gaining the myrtle cluster, he was thereby
+screened to some extent even when viewed from above.  Just then a coo
+gave him the location.  Moving to the edge of the saplings, he now got a
+fair view of the tree beyond; and there, on a lateral limb, distant from
+him not more than thirty-five yards, sat a glorious wonga-wonga, the
+finest species of Australian pigeon, not to be beaten for table purposes
+throughout the wide world.  The specimen before Sandy was a male bird as
+big as three ordinary pigeons.
+
+"That fellow's calling his mate, and she's not far off, by the way he's
+noddin' his head," surmised the youth. "Shall I pot him, or wait for his
+mate and cop 'em both?"
+
+The question was soon settled, for suddenly, and with a great whirr, the
+hen rose from the ground, or rather, tiny water pool: for she had been
+drinking and bathing and admiring her reflected image in the glassy
+water.  Her return, alas! is the signal of death, for what time she
+alighted on the bough at her spouse's side, the remorseless hunter, with
+hasty but true aim, brought both fluttering to the ground.
+
+Their necks are wrung and they are bagged instanter, with a laconic but
+satisfied grunt from the sportsman: "Not so bad."
+
+At this moment a double shot broke on Sandy's ears. This was immediately
+followed by a deep, mellow sound that formed the common signal of the
+pals.  Putting his two hands with hollowed palms together, conch-shell
+fashion, the boy raised them to his lips and blew a prolonged and
+resonant note followed by three short notes staccato, which conveyed to
+the other's ears the answer: "Heard you, am coming."
+
+"Joe wants me for something.  Got into a covey of bronze-wings, or maybe
+a mob o' flocks," muttered the lad as he made in the direction of the
+sound.
+
+He soon espied his mate at the butt of an enormous fig tree, and
+signalled his advent.  The moment Joe perceived Sandy he stooped down
+and picked up a couple of large black-looking birds, and waved them
+excitedly.
+
+"My word! ole Joe's run into a flock of turkeys. Hurrah! here's luck."
+
+Yes, Joe had been fortunate enough to "rise" a fine lot of tallagalla,
+to call them by their native name, better known as scrub turkey.
+
+Unlike the so-called turkey of the plains--which, indeed, is not a true
+turkey, but a bustard--the scrub turkey is true to its title, being
+seldom or never seen out of thickly wooded country.  Its breeding home
+is a huge mound raised by scratching together the dry leaves and bits of
+rotten bark and wood.  On the top of this elevation of debris the eggs
+are laid, some scores of them, and barely covered.  As the birds use the
+same spot for many years, the nests become in time mounds of vast
+dimensions. Turkey nest, as it is called, becomes in time a rich compost
+of leaf-mould, and is eagerly sought for garden purposes.
+
+The bird itself is stronger in the legs than in the wings.  Unless
+startled and rushed, it will not rise, but scuttles through the
+undergrowth with inconceivable speed, and he is a fortunate man who is
+able to draw a bead as it darts through the thousand obstacles of the
+scrub.  Hence the necessity of a good dog to rush the birds pell-mell
+and startle them into immediate flight, when they almost invariably seek
+refuge in the trees near by.
+
+Joe, fortunately, heard the drumming and clucking of a turkey gobbler
+before he was seen of them.  Moving with intense caution through the
+bush, which was very thick at this spot, he saw at last through the
+intervening leaves, on a patch of bare ground, scratching among the
+decayed vegetable matter for grubs, a flock of turkeys containing a
+score or more.
+
+They were exceedingly active, running hither and thither; many of them,
+just at the pullet stage, indulging in mimic warfare.  The elder ones
+were busily engaged grubbing. Joe could easily have shot two or three of
+them as he stood an unseen watcher.  There was a better way than that,
+however.  Once "tree" them, and one could leisurely pick his birds.  How
+are they to be got into the trees? He'll be his own dog.
+
+Bursting out from his cover with a hair-raising and blood-curdling yell,
+making at the same time a high jump and wildly waving his arms, the
+stalker rushed into the midst of the mob, catching, indeed, a young one
+by the leg, and generally making such a hullabaloo as to scare them into
+instant flight.
+
+It is a peculiarity of this bird, like that of its American brother,
+when once "treed," to remain there.  Wanton shooters, taking advantage
+of this trait, will often shoot a flock right out.
+
+The birds put up by Joe, with one or two exceptions, flew into the trees
+surrounding them.  The lad's first act was to slip a piece of string
+round the captured turkey's legs and swing it from a tree limb.  This
+done, he took a couple of pot shots, bringing down a young gobbler each
+time.  Having made sure of a brace, he signalled to his mate, as
+described.
+
+The shooters, with true sporting instinct, refrained both from wanton
+destruction and from shooting at the hens.  They picked out half a dozen
+of the biggest males, leaving the others on their perches.
+
+Needless to say, the boys were greatly pleased with their success in the
+scrub.  On their way home good fortune followed them.  Though they did
+not sight the mob of woods, they surprised a pair, which they promptly
+secured.  Though the bag could not be considered a big one for those
+days, it was a good one for variety.
+
+Greatly to Mrs. M'Intyre's delight, the boys reached home a little after
+three o'clock.  During their absence of five hours they accounted for
+the following game: one black duck, two wood-duck, three teal, five
+spur-wing plover, six fat turkey gobblers, two plump pigeon, and the
+captured turkey.
+
+"You are dear, good boys," was Mrs. M'Intyre's comment as the game lay
+side by side on the bench at the rear of the kitchen.  "What fine birds!
+what a lovely variety!"
+
+Mrs. Mac., while not an epicure, was a noted housewife, and dispensed
+hospitality in such a whole-hearted fashion and in such an acceptable
+manner that her dinners were things to be remembered with delight.
+
+"Go into the kitchen, boys, and get a snack: you'll be dying for
+something to eat.  After you've finished you can bear a hand with the
+plucking and cleaning, as Denny's the only one about.  Come here, Ah
+Fat!  What do you think of the birds, Ah Fat?"
+
+"Dem welly good, missee."
+
+"Yes, they'll do very well.  The boys'll clean them for you--at least
+the ones we're using to-night.  We'll hang the rest.  Let me see! they
+had better clean the pigeons and plover first.  You can put them on to
+stew: we'll turn them into a game pie.  Grill the teal, and roast a pair
+of ducks and two gobblers."
+
+"Allee lita, missee; I do 'em.  That all?  I mos go back an' look after
+puddens."
+
+Denny and the boys set to work on the fowl, and were soon feathers and
+down from head to foot.
+
+[Illustration: "Retreating one moment and advancing the following,
+uttering war-cries."--_See p._ 219.]
+
+"Tell me, Joe, me bhoy, did ye or Sahndy here shute the most b-i-rr-ds?"
+
+"Honours are easy, Denny."
+
+"Begorra! phwat th' divvil's thot?"
+
+"It means that each shot an equal quantity."
+
+"An e-qu-a-al quantitee!  Be jabers, wheres did ye put 'em?"
+
+"Put what?"
+
+"Whoi, th' pair iv e-qu-a-al quan----  Be Saint Michael, it's a new sort
+iv a b-i-rr-d ye've shuted!"
+
+Denny was not so dense as he pretended to be.
+
+"You're a downy cove, Denny," laughed Joe, who caught a twinkle in the
+young Irishman's eye.
+
+"That's true for ye, Joe," retorted the wit, surveying himself; "but,
+bhoys, why doan't ye's take me wid youse? Sure an' it's a foine shot Oi
+am."
+
+"That's news, Denny.  Didn't know you'd ever let off a gun."
+
+"Manny an' manny's th' wan Oi've seen me farther bang off, annyways.
+Did youse never hear tell iv me farther's shutin'?  Shure he was a
+sealabrity in Killarney!"
+
+"Never.  Tell us."
+
+"Well, la-ads, wan da' he was rowin' th' Dook iv Dublhin, who was a
+g-rr-a-at sport, on th' woild la-a-kes iv Killarney.  They was lukin'
+for dooks."
+
+"Set a duke to catch a 'dook,' eh, Denny?"
+
+"Be aisy, Marsther Joe.  It's th' flyin' dooks Oi'me dascribin'.  Be
+jabers! farther rowed about a tousan' moile, and th' only dook th'
+g-rr-a-at mahn shuted was a gull, though they was there in g-rr-a-at
+mobs."
+
+"The gulls or the ducks, Denny?"
+
+"If you'd 'a' bin there they wud 'a' bin two gulls, annyhow, me mahn."
+
+"Good for you, Denny.  Let him finish, Joe."
+
+"Well, shure, saays farther at last, ses he, 'If y're Riall Hoiness wud
+let me have wan shot, maybe Oi'd bring ye luck.'  An' he did it.  So
+farther, he gits th' Dook's big gun, an' th' Dook he tuk th' pathles,
+an' bynby they see a mob iv dooks all in a loine acrost th' boat's bows,
+saalin' for all th' warld loike th' owld loin-iv-batthle ships in th'
+pictures, stim an' starn.
+
+"'Howld aisy,' saays farther, ses 'e, whin they got abreast thim fowls.
+With that he pinted th' gun at th' la-adin' dook, an owld dr-a-ake be
+th' same token--pulled th' thrigger an' let her off.  Wud ye bela-ave
+me, so quick was he that before all th' shot had got out iv th' way-pon
+he'd got her down to th' tail-most birr-d, an' betune you an' me an'
+little Garr-ge Washintong in th' Bible, ivry sowl iv thim dooks lay
+spaachless dead upon th' wather. Now thin, phwat div ye think iv that
+f'r shutin', ye gosoons?"
+
+"Think of it, Denny," said Maggie, who had been standing at the kitchen
+door, unobserved of the boys, an amused listener.  "Why, you'll be
+writing a book one day that will put the Kybosh on Baron Munchausen."
+
+"Well, if iver Oi does, Miss Maggie," replied the incorrigible Irish
+boy, "Oi'll pit y'reself in as th' laaden acthress--Oi mane th'
+herr-owyne."
+
+"Maggie!"
+
+"Coming, mother."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIV*
+
+                           *THE CORROBBERIE*
+
+
+    "Deep in the forest depths the tribe
+        A mighty blazing fire have spread:
+    Round this they spring with frantic yells,
+        In hideous pigments all arrayed.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    One barred with yellow ochre, one
+        A skeleton in startling white,
+    Then one who dances furiously
+        Blood-red against the great fire's light.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+    Like some infernal scene it is--
+        The forest dark, the blazing fire,
+    The ghostly birds, the dancing fiends,
+        Whose savage chant swells ever higher."
+          WILLIAM SHARP.
+
+
+"Jacky and Willy want to know if they can have some raddle,[#] whitning,
+and blue: can they, dad?"
+
+
+[#] Raddle: a red pigment used for marking sheep, etc.
+
+
+"They're very reasonable, I maun say.  And what are they aifter noo, the
+scamps?"
+
+"Oh, I thought you knew, dad!  There's going to be a grand corrobberie
+to-night.  Old Tarpot has sent in a messenger for them to go out, and
+take this stuff with them, and----"
+
+"Precious cool cheek on the pairt of Tarpot, and o' the boys as weel.
+Why couldna they come oure and ask me properly?"
+
+"Dunno, dad."
+
+"It's the blacks' way all over, dad," said Maggie.
+
+"Dad, dad," interrupted Jessie, who was eagerly waiting a chance to get
+in a word, "you said, the last time there was a corrobberie, when you
+refused to let us go, that you would the next time.  Now then, dado, you
+can't refuse to let us this time.  Say you will.  Ah, I know by your
+eyes you will say yes!  You dear thing, it's worth a kiss and a hug."
+
+When the ardent girl had bestowed these filial pledges she turned round
+to Sandy and the others, out of whose sails she had taken the wind in a
+manner.
+
+"There now, young people, we are all going, for which I ought to be
+thanked.  Only for my good memory, I'm afraid the dear man would have
+said no! wouldn't you, dadums?  We'll make up a party, and Mr. Neville
+will, I am sure, be delighted at the exhibition."
+
+"My stars, Jess, but you're gettin' 'em bad!  You will be applying for a
+school teacher's billet next.  Such consideration for Mr. Neville, too!
+Why----"
+
+"Oh, brither mine, bless your poor thick skull; it's positively no use
+you trying to be funny--you simply can't.  Oh, it'll be glorious fun,"
+continued she, turning to the Englishman.
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, please!  In the first place, what is this corbobbery?
+Is that the way it is pronounced?"
+
+"No, sir, it is not; though to be sure they do kick up a tremendous
+bobbery."
+
+"Well, whatever the name, I suppose it stands for an aboriginal
+ceremonial or pastime?" said Neville smilingly.
+
+"Exactly.  Cor-rob-ber-ie is their Cafe Chautant, a free-and-easy; with
+this difference, though--all their performers appear in full dress; got
+up to kill by the aid of the tribe tonsorial artists and valets.  The
+young bucks are perfect pictures, I do assure you; and as for the
+girls----"
+
+"Don't take any notice of the saucy kid, Mr. Neville," broke in Sandy,
+who felt that he owed his young sister one.  "She's only jigging you.
+It's their native dance and song by the firelight; she's right there.
+The men do the dancing, and the women simply play the music."
+
+"Music!  I had no idea that they were----"
+
+"Musicians.  Oh well, not exactly that.  They beat time for the men.
+They, the men, are all painted up and armed.  It's a sort of action
+song, but it's jolly fine, a tiptop sight, especially when there's a big
+mob of them. Sometimes four or five tribes get together for what they
+call the 'great corrobberie.'  Then you see something; for there's
+generally ructions before they finish, particularly if there has been
+any grog in the camp.  In that case they usually wind up with a fight,
+and then there's the killed and wounded to count when the cleaning-up's
+done.  It's all right to-night, though.  There will be only two tribes
+in it, and they've always been friendly.  Would you like to come?"
+
+"Come!  I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Yes, you may reckon on me for
+one--that is, of course, if your father is agreeable for us to go."
+
+"I suppose, dad," said Sandy, turning to his father, "we may all go?
+It's to be held at the old spot."
+
+"Oh, weel, I suppose you'd think me hard-herted if I said no?  I'll jist
+mak' one condeetion, and that is, dinna interfere wi' the blacks.  You
+maunna mak' ony attempt to boss them.  Let them cairry oot things in
+their ain way."
+
+"All serene, dad."
+
+"Can the boys have the whitnin' and other things from the store?"
+repeated Sandy.
+
+Consent is given, and the heart of Tarpot, the King of Bullaroi, is made
+glad with a goodly parcel of pigments.
+
+That night after tea the party, including Denny Kineavy, mount their
+steeds and ride out to the corrobberie grounds, a matter of three miles.
+
+It was situated on a lightly timbered box-tree flat, where a cleared
+space occurred forming a natural amphitheatre, wherein the aboriginal
+tribes foregathered periodically and disported themselves in their
+national characters and games at night time.
+
+The blacks make a distinction in these festivals.  There is the
+corrobberie and the cobborn (or great) corrobberie. It was one of the
+former that the whites were to witness. The latter occurred only at long
+intervals, and was a time of feasting as well as amusement; both
+feasting and play being prolonged often for weeks, and generally
+attended by all the tribes within a radius of hundreds of miles.
+
+Each tribe would bring its song and dance (corrobberie), in many cases
+composed for the special occasion.  This produced the exciting element
+of competition.  A corrobberie of exceptional excellence would be
+learned by the other tribes, and on their return to their own country
+passed on to the surrounding tribes.  Thus it happened sometimes that a
+corrobberie of singular merit travelled round and through the continent.
+
+These folk-songs were associated with the dances, and treated on
+elemental themes, as war, the chase, the feast, love, birth, death.
+Often some humorous theme would be introduced, causing immense fun.  As
+a rule each tribe had clowns, whose grotesque attitude and voice
+intonations were mirth-provoking to a degree.  The Australian native
+manifests a keen appreciation of a joke and has an inborn tendency to
+laughter.
+
+The preparations were far advanced by the time the station party arrived
+at the camp.  The gins, to whom fell all labour of a manual sort, were
+lighting the fires, while the bucks were busy "dressing" for their
+parts.
+
+The girls remained in the clearing talking to some of the old gins,
+while the males proceeded to the outskirts of the forest, where the work
+of adorning went on apace.
+
+For this no pains were spared.  The naked bodies of the dancers were
+treated by the tribe experts, and some fearfully and wonderfully
+startling effects were produced. Take His Majesty, Tarpot, as a sample.
+The ordinary court dress of the King consisted of a tattered police
+uniform, together with a crescent-shaped brass plate that adorned his
+breast, where it hung, suspended by a chain from his neck.  The
+plate--presented to him on one occasion as a joke--bore upon it the
+inscription--
+
+                        TARPOT, KING OF BULLAROI
+
+
+But to-night Merri-dia-o is resplendent in a warrior's full rig.  A hole
+bored through the cartilage of his nose peak displays the bone of an
+eagle's wing, about four inches long, the insignia of his maturity and
+dignity--his knighthood's spurs, so to speak.
+
+Behold, then, athwart his nose, the polished bone, gleaming like ivory
+against the ebony background!  His grey hair is trussed up, forming a
+big top-knot, and is adorned with the sulphur-hued crest of the white
+cockatoo, also with turkey-tail feathers.  Wound several times round his
+somewhat corpulent body is a belt of human hair.  This serves to hold
+the boomerang and other short weapons.  A dingo-tail skin, split up the
+middle to the brush, and bound round the forehead with the brush erect
+and plume-like, gives grace and height to the stature.  But the body and
+limb painting is the principal part.  Each tribe has its devices.
+Pigments are largely used.  The greater the number of colours the more
+fantastic is the effect.
+
+When the boys strode up to the "dressing-room" where the tribe artiste
+were engaged, they found that most of the men had completed their
+adornments and were strutting about casting admiring or envious glances
+at one another.  Merri-dia-o, however, was still in the hands of the
+dressers, and his markings were a triumph. Being a large-framed and
+portly fellow, he showed the designs to the best advantage.  The colour
+scheme was brilliant, if nothing else.  On his massive chest, which was
+whitewashed for a background, were drawn an emu and a kangaroo.  The
+bird's plumage was bright blue, while the marsupial was as glaring as
+red ochre could make it.  These cartoons covered breast and belly, the
+limbs being like animated barber's poles in red and white. On his back,
+upon a white ground, was coiled an enormous carpet snake, with erect
+head and protruding tongue. When seen in the corrobberie, armed with
+spears, shield, and boomerangs, this fantastic figure was without peer
+among the warrior-clowns, the whole effect being an extravaganza at once
+whimsical and wild.
+
+By the time these preparations were ended the great central fire was
+blazing furiously, fed as it constantly was from a dry tinder stack.
+
+The "orchestra," to the number of six, sat in a cluster behind the fire
+and beat time to the primitive measures. The musicians for the most part
+were old women, who were well-practised performers.  Their instruments
+were as primitive as the songs they accompanied, consisting generally of
+a tightly folded opossum rug or a shield. These were operated upon by
+the palms of the hands or by sticks; a vigorous slapping of the thighs
+also gave variety to the combination.  At any rate, a surprising din was
+raised.
+
+It has been stated that two tribes participated.  The Ding-donglas were
+the guests of the Bullarois, who had provided a grand supper of fat
+grubs, native yams, and roast kangaroo for the festivities.
+
+According to immemorial precedence the visiting tribe "took the flure"
+first, and gave a most interesting and picturesque display.  The subject
+of the corrobberie was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident,
+presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter. The
+descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort of runic lay,
+beginning in a low and monotonous key and gradually waxing louder as the
+chase progressed, finally ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what
+time the animal is overcome and slain.
+
+The spectators, black and white, applauded most generously, our old
+friends Jacky and Willy being among the loudest.  The station boys were
+in no ways different from their brothers in get up.  For the moment they
+had abandoned the role of station hands for that of barbaric
+magnificoes.
+
+The whites, especially the girls and Neville, who witnessed the
+spectacle for the first time, were delighted beyond measure.  The
+silence following the huntsman's song was of short duration.  The
+story-teller of the visiting tribe now advanced within the circle of
+light, and in sing-song tones recited one of their folklore stories.
+
+
+                        THE COCKATOO'S NEST.[#]
+
+
+[#] Tom Petrie's Reminiscences.
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived happily together on an island three young
+aborigines, a brother and two sisters. This land was not very far from
+the mainland, and the three often used to gaze across at the long
+stretch of land, and think of journeying forth from their island home to
+see what it was like over there.  They felt sure they would find lots of
+things to eat.  So one day by means of a canoe they really did cross
+over, and began without loss of time to seek for 'possums, native bears,
+and so forth.  In this search round about they at length espied a hollow
+limb, which looked uncommonly like a place where a nest would be, and
+so, going into a scrub near by, they cut a vine for climbing up.  Up
+went the youth, while his sisters waited beneath.  When he had cut open
+the limb, he found to his great joy a cockatoo's nest with young birds
+in it, and these latter he proceeded to throw down one by one to his
+sisters, the fall to the ground killing the poor things.
+
+Now it so chanced that as the young fellow picked up the last little
+bird from the nest, a feather detached itself from its tail, and
+floating away on the air, at length settled fair on the chest of an old
+man asleep in a hut some distance away.  This old man was really a ghost
+who owned the place, and the feather disturbed his rest and woke him up.
+Divining at once what was happening, he arose, and getting hold of a
+spear and a tomahawk, sallied forth to the tree, where he arrived before
+the young fellow had started to climb down.  Seeing the birds dead, the
+old man was very angry, and said, "What business you take my birds?  Who
+told you to come here?"  He then commanded the tree to spread out and
+grow taller and taller, so that the young fellow could not get down,
+and, taking the dead birds, he put them in a big round dilly, and
+carried them to his hut.
+
+Although the old man did not wait, the tree did his bidding, becoming
+immediately very wide and tall, and the young fellow tried his best to
+come down, but could not.  So at last he started to sing to the other
+trees all around to come to him, which they did; and one falling right
+across where he stood, he was able to get to the ground that way.
+Somehow, though, in coming down he got hurt, and the gins had to make a
+fire to get hot ashes in order to cover him up there.  He lay covered up
+so for half an hour, at the end of which time he was all right again.
+
+Of course these three felt very indignant at the old man's behaviour,
+and they thirsted for revenge.  So, calling all the birds of the air to
+them, they sought their assistance.  These birds went in front, while
+the three cut their way through the thick scrub to the old man's hut;
+and ever as they went, to drown the noise of the cutting, the birds sang
+loudly, the wonga pigeon making a tremendous row with his waugh! waugh!
+waugh! When they had got nearly to the hut, the old man, who had been
+trying to make up for his disturbed sleep, heard the noise of the birds,
+and called crossly to them, "Here, what do you make such a noise for?  I
+want to sleep!"  But even as he spoke he was dozing, and presently went
+right off, suspecting nothing; and when the three reached the doorway,
+looking in, they saw him quite soundly sleeping.  So the three clutched
+their weapons tightly,--the man his spear, and the women their yam
+sticks,--and advancing into the hut, they all viciously jobbed down at
+the old man, and lo! he was dead.  His body was dragged forth and
+burned, and after the hut was robbed of the young cockatoos and all
+objects worthy of value it also was burned, and the three found their
+way back to the canoe, and departed home to their island laden with the
+spoil.
+
+
+At the conclusion of the "yarn" the Bullarois retired to the trees
+fringing the clearing on the side directly opposite the audience.  After
+a short harangue from Merri-dia-o, the braves, about twenty in number,
+fully armed and in their war-paint, issued from the forest, headed by
+their chief, shouting their battle-cry, gesticulating wildly, and making
+a great clatter with their weapons. Advancing upon the foe, now in line
+and now in sections, they battled with the enemy, crouching one moment
+behind their shields to receive the shower of imaginary spears thrown by
+their assailants, the next springing erect and casting, as it were,
+their weapons of offence. Following up this round, they bore upon the
+visionary foe and engaged in personal encounter.  Retreating one moment
+and advancing the following, uttering war cries and fierce challenge,
+hurling coarse and stinging epithet, they gradually approached the fire;
+the gins meanwhile beat time, giving coherence and harmony to the
+bellicose proceedings.
+
+There was such reality in the battle-play, the men were so earnest,
+their cries so passionate, their taunts so bitter; in short, there was
+such a ring of sincerity, such a presentation of the actual, that the
+white spectators were carried away as in the drama when the master
+mummers live their parts.
+
+The boys were in a condition of exultancy.  They were inspired by the
+martial display to a participation of fellow-feeling with the warring
+company.  Neville, too, was fairly captured by this weird yet fierce and
+savage sham-fight.  The thrill of combat held him so strongly that he
+could not refrain from leaping to his feet and yelling with the
+rest--urging them, indeed, to greater slaughter.
+
+It was different with the girls.  Fear laid hold of them at the unwonted
+sight.  At first they joined in the hurrahs, but when the fighters
+neared them, and it seemed, as was indeed the case, that the very actors
+were being carried away by frenzy and battle-lust, their tongues ceased
+and a cold chill of apprehension seized them.
+
+The warriors are now right up, fronting the fire.  In a few minutes the
+grand finale will have been enacted, and the curtain rung down.
+Unfortunately, however, one of the young men has a quarrel with a youth
+belonging to the visiting tribe.  In the culminating point of this sham
+fight he sees his enemy among the crowd of onlookers, and, urged by his
+excited feelings, he directs insulting remarks full at this man, who,
+running out into the clear space in front of the fighters, returns these
+with interest.  This so enrages the Bullaroi youth that, darting from
+the ranks, he slings his spear full at the enemy, and transfixes him in
+the breast.  Loud cries of consternation come from the women, and a
+moment's awful stillness from the men. Then, as if by magic, the
+Dingdonglas have risen in their wrath, arms in hand.  The play has
+vanished, and downright fight and bloody battle ensues.  Spears hurtle
+and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of nulla-nulla on
+shields supplants the music of the orchestra, the while the gins flee in
+sheer terror from the bloody scene to their huts in the forest, rending
+the air with their shrill screams as they speed.
+
+But what of the whites?
+
+They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging human cyclone.  At
+first the grim reality seemed unreal, just as previously the sham
+battle-action appeared real. Joe is the first to size up the situation.
+Not only are the blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril
+to the spectators.  The combatants are surging to and fro in the strife
+of conflict, and circling as though in a vortex. At any moment the
+spectators might be drawn into the battle zone through the movements of
+the belligerents.
+
+"Come, Mag, Jess, quickly!" cries that youth, seizing the girls as he
+speaks and drawing them away.  "The brutes are at it in real earnest.
+Come! we must bolt to the trees.  Great Caesar, look at that!"  A spear
+whistled through the air and impaled itself in a tree near by.
+
+Just then, one of the fighters detached himself from the scrum and came
+bounding up to the little group, spear extended.  As he seemed to be on
+hostile intent, the youths lined up in front of the girls, ready to
+defend them and grapple with the foe.  On nearing, Sandy knew him to be
+Willy the station boy.  Willy, loyal to the family, came to entreat them
+to leave the field.  There was little fear of any direct attack upon
+them, though it were hard to say what turn the savage mind might take.
+The apparent danger was from fugitive spears and boomerangs. So Willy
+paused but to cry out, "Take 'em girls to horses: safe there; no safe
+here.  Go!" and then skipped back to his band, throwing himself heart
+and soul into the fray.  For the hour the boy was as great a savage as
+any of the young men of the tribe.
+
+The girls, now really terrified, need no pressure to leave; so they
+scurry from the field and reach their horses, some distance beyond spear
+reach.  There they watch the tide of battle as it ebbs and flows until
+it dies, which it is not long in doing, from its very violence.
+
+When the casualties were reckoned it was found that most of the
+combatants had received bruises or gashes, limbs were broken, but the
+only fatalities were those of the lads who began the quarrel.  Now that
+the fight is over, both sides settle down to supper in the best of
+humours.  The slate has been cleaned in this primitive fashion, and now
+friendships are renewed over handfuls of luscious tree-grubs and hunches
+of roast kangaroo. To-morrow there will be weeping in common over the
+biers of the departed braves.
+
+"Well, Denny, what do you think of this dreadful corrobberie?" exclaimed
+Jessie to the Irish boy as they rode home about midnight.
+
+"Phwat div Oi think iv it, Miss Jassie?  Whoi, it's been a lovely
+foight, shure.  Och, they're the very divils ontoirely!  Nivir seen sich
+a bit of divarsion since Oi left owld Oireland, bedad!  Begorrah, it'd
+ta-ake owld Tipperary itself to bate it."
+
+"Do you know what I've been thinking of, Denny?" continued the
+mischievous girl.
+
+"Nawthin' but lovely thoughts, Miss Jassie."
+
+"You of course are the best judge, Denny, being an Irishman.  What I was
+thinking was this: scratch an aboriginal, and you have an Irishman."
+
+"Och, dear-a-dear, Miss Jassie, to maline me poor counthrymen loike
+that!  Troth, then," cried the lad, with a serio-comic air and the
+suspicion of a wink, "there's one thing indade which Irishmen have in
+common wid these poor naggurs."
+
+"What is that, Denny?"
+
+"We both suffer at the hands of Saxon landlords."
+
+And Jessie had no answer.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXV*
+
+                      *IN THE BUSHRANGERS' CAVES*
+
+
+    "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
+    A stately pleasure-dome decree,
+    Where Alph the sacred river ran
+    Through caverns measureless to man
+    Down to a sunless sea."
+      KUBLA KHAN.
+
+
+"Joe!"
+
+Silence.
+
+"J-o-o!"
+
+No answer.
+
+"J-o-o-o!"
+
+Profound stillness, broken only by a buzzing fly.
+
+"If you don't answer within five seconds, an' short ones at that, look
+out for squalls.  You're only 'possumin', you rascal!"
+
+Presently a hurtling pillow, and not too soft a one either, struck Joe
+Blain, who lay flat on his back, with open mouth, closed eyes, and deaf
+ears.  The missile hit him fair and square on the face, hermetically
+sealing his breathing apparatus for a moment.
+
+A muffled sound, a quick contortion of the body, and an instinctive
+clutch of the hands got rid of the obstruction, which in a twinkling
+described a trajectory that impinged on Tom's left ear.
+
+"Well, what's in the wind, now?" asked Joe, after this customary
+exchange of shots, which was an everyday occurrence.
+
+"I've an idea, Joe."
+
+"Howly Moses, you don't mean it!  Terrible, terrible! Where did you
+catch it?"
+
+"Catch your grandmother's sister's cat!  Only, you're such a numskull,
+I'd try an' put it in your head."
+
+"What! my grandmother's sister's----"
+
+"No, you ass; a simple idea!"
+
+"Then I'll bet tuppence it's simple enough, you goat!"
+
+After this complimentary interchange Tom proceeded: "When we went out to
+the caves the other day, we said we'd return before the holidays were
+ended, an' we've come to the larst day, ole man.  Ding-bust it! we'll
+have to make for home to-morrer, an'----"
+
+"Ugh! don't mention it!  Go on about the caves."
+
+"Well, then, that day we went out----  Oh Joey! shall we ever forget the
+sight of 'Fevvers' rollin'----?"
+
+"Look here, Hawkins, if you can't spit out that idea of yours quick an'
+lively, you'd better swallow it!  If you think to waste my valuable
+time----"
+
+"Your time wasted!  Pish!  Listen, then.  I vote we go out to the caves
+an' have a look round for the place where Ben Bolt kep' his horses.
+It'd be no end of a lark for us to find, after the police an' others
+have given it up.  What say?"
+
+"There's not much in your notions, Hawkins, generally speaking; still,
+you've struck ile this time, sonny. Gewhillikins! it's all right.  Let's
+have a talk with ole Sandy about it."
+
+"Oh, he's sure to be nuts on it!  He's always talkin' about the
+mystery."
+
+"Up, guards, an' at 'em! as Cromwell sang out at the battle of
+Marathon," quoth Joe, in slight historical confusion, as he tumbled out
+of bed.
+
+They dressed quickly and then rushed out to find Sandy, who had risen
+earlier to yard the horses.  Sandy was nothing loth.  Indeed, he was as
+eager as the others, if not more so.  He had often brooded over the
+puzzle, and discussed it at times with his mates, but oftener with
+himself.  Like the others, he had theories.
+
+"I've got to take the harrow to the cultivation paddock after breakfast,
+an' then I'll be free."
+
+"Can't you take it now?" suggested Tom.  "Good hour yet to breakfast.
+You'll have whips of time, an' we'll help you."
+
+Sandy was agreeable, and the boys soon hoisted the harrow on to the
+cart.  They returned in good time for breakfast, and got Mr. M'Intyre's
+consent.
+
+"Best take us with you, Sandy."
+
+"Girls 'd only be in the way, Mag."
+
+"Thanks, me brither!  Just wait till you ask me to cut your lunches!"
+
+"Oh, mother'll do that."
+
+"Yes; rin to your mither and hold on to her apron-strings. For
+selfishness and for cheek, commend me to a brother!  You're all alike.
+I expect Tom and Joe are no better at home, for all they put on mighty
+innocent airs here," prattled the girl, in mock sarcasm.
+
+"I hope you'll count me in, boys?" said Neville.  "I have intimated to
+Mrs. M'Intyre that I shall be forced to tear myself away from her
+unbounded hospitality,"--"Fevvers" was still a trifle stilted,--"but she
+will not hear of my leaving till the end of the week.  You know," he
+went on, "I did not have an opportunity--the last time I--er--we were
+out there--and----"
+
+"You lassoed an Englishman with a stock whip," broke in Jessie the
+tease.
+
+"And behaved like a brick," interposed Maggie, who noticed the
+involuntary wince on the part of the Englishman.  This was, indeed, a
+sore spot; but he was growing rapidly in grace.
+
+Neville winced under Jess's sally, but took it in good part.  "It's all
+part of the breaking-in process, Miss Jessie.  I believe I can dismount
+now a little more gracefully.  I shall be glad of an opportunity to see
+the famous bandit's caves.  It will be something to relate in England."
+
+It did not take the boys long to get ready.  Half an hour later the
+party was _en route_ for the caves, determined to solve the puzzle.
+
+"You'll do nothing rash, boys?" said the careful mother at parting,
+"Have you enough candles?"
+
+"Plenty; also ropes and tucker.  Don't worry about us, mother; we may
+not be back till near bedtime--depends on what luck we have."
+
+"You've got a scheme, Sandy, I s'pose?" remarked Joe, as they jogged
+along the road.
+
+"Yes, Joe, I've an idea; but of course only testing it will prove its
+worth.  The caves are situated in a spur running north and south.  The
+opening, we know, is on the east side.  Nothing bigger than a wallaby or
+a dingo, save of course a man, can squeeze through that opening. Either
+there is another and separate cave adjacent, where the 'rangers stalled
+their horses, or there is an easier entrance somewhere in the spur that
+has a connection with the ones we have already visited."
+
+"You must remember, though, Sandy, that Inspector Garvie and his men
+spent days in searching the locality, an' how are we chaps to do in a
+day what they failed to do after several days, and with black trackers,
+too?"
+
+"I'm not likely to forget that."
+
+"I vote, then," said Joe, "we go straight to the caves an' explore 'em
+first."
+
+"It'd take us all day to search those ravines and bluffs on the west
+side," added Tom, "so I'm in favour of Joe's proposal."
+
+"I'm not sure that I should have a voice in this matter," spoke Neville.
+"You fellows will have to settle it between yourselves.  Whatever you
+decide upon will be agreeable to me."
+
+"Matter's decided, then," answered Sandy.  "Joe and Tom are for the
+caves direct.  Honestly speaking, although I would dearly love a try at
+the western side, for I'm convinced that the outlet lies there, I think,
+on the whole, we'd better stick to the caves, giving them first show,
+anyhow."
+
+"Carried unanimously by a large majority, as Denny would say," cried Joe
+the spokesman.
+
+On arrival at the camping grounds, the place of the late serio-comic
+adventure, the explorers--for such we must call them--unsaddled, and
+short-hobbled their horses.
+
+"I vote," said Joe, "that we boil the billy an' have a go at the tuck
+before we tackle the caves.  It'll be better than taking the prog with
+us, an' 'll save us coming out for lunch."
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the rest with a readiness and gusto which in matters of
+meat is almost an instinct of boyhood.  Accordingly the wood is
+gathered, and ere long, with whetted appetites, they are absorbingly
+engaged on a substantial meal.
+
+"There are three things to remember, mates.  First of all, the candles.
+We'll divide them equally, three apiece. Here's a box of matches for
+each.  Father gave me a caution, about lights.  We're to carefully watch
+the candles as we proceed through the passages.  He says the poisonous
+gases collect in places that are not well ventilated, an' that means
+death in no time if we remain in such spots."
+
+"How'd we know, Sandy?"
+
+"I was just going to tell you.  If we get into such places, father says,
+the candle will burn dimly, an' if it's very bad, will go out
+altogether.  When we happen on such spots, if there are any, we are to
+retreat immediately; so don't forget, boys, should we be separated."
+
+"That," said Neville, "is most important."  He related one or two
+incidents of fatal accidents in connection with English collieries
+through fire-damp.  That danger, though, is seldom encountered in such
+caves as the boys were intent on exploring.
+
+"What's the third thing, Sandy?"
+
+"The third thing, Hawkins, is to make fast to this green-hide.  It is
+twenty-five feet long, an' we'll tie on to it as we go through the
+passages.  Father says there are often holes in the floors and very
+steep inclines.  Best to be on the safe side, though I don't suppose
+we'll really need it."
+
+"I say," queried Neville, "hadn't we better take some stout cudgels with
+us, for fear of snakes and wild beasts?"
+
+"Happy thought, Mr. Neville.  Not for wild beasts, though an old-man
+kangaroo can be as dangerous as a bear with his paws when he's bailed up
+by the dogs."
+
+"What about monkeys, then?"
+
+"Monkeys?  We haven't any."
+
+"Well, I heard one of the travellers say, while he was having a feed at
+the men's hut, that he'd been engaged to go for a mob of monkeys."
+
+"Ha--ha--ha!  Well, you are a----Why, the man was talking about sheep.
+Monkey is a pet name for them.  We'll want some sticks, though, as well
+as the tomahawk."
+
+So saying, Sandy proceeded to hack at a cluster of gum saplings, and cut
+three waddies about five feet in length, and a fourth one eight feet
+long, and proportionately thick.  Armed with these and carrying the
+other necessaries, including a billy of water and a snack of food, the
+exploration party proceeded to the cave entrance.
+
+After gaining access to the first cave, the boys allowed Neville a few
+minutes' pause to get at home with his surroundings, before going on to
+the second or cathedral chamber.  They then pursued their way through
+the tortuous and difficult passage between the two chambers, till at
+length they arrived at the opening.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Sandy, who was in the lead, with an involuntary gasp.
+
+"What's up?" cried Joe, who was immediately behind him.
+
+"Why, ladder's gone!"
+
+"Jemima! you don't say so.  Why--how----?"
+
+"It's gone, all right," replied the leader, as he peered by the light of
+his candle into the gloomy recesses of the cave.  "Clean gone!  Don't
+see it on the floor below, so it can't have dropped."
+
+Joe, squeezing abreast Sandy, and doubling the light power, added his
+eyes to those of his mate in the search.
+
+"No go," said he, after a keen but vain search.  "Anyway, I can see how
+to get down easy enough."  So saying, he placed his stick across the
+mouth of the passage, jamming it on either side into an interstice.
+"There!" he exclaimed, as he hung his weight upon the transverse beam,
+which, though bowing, did not crack when bearing his weight.  "Let's put
+the rope round this, an' we'll slip down less'n no time."
+
+"Wait a jiffy, Joe," said Sandy, who had been critically eyeing the
+staff.  "We'll make 'assurance doubly sure,' as your father said in his
+sermon last Sunday,"--poking his stick while he spoke, into the same
+cavities as the other occupied.  "That will stiffen it.  It's easy
+enough getting down: we could jump, for that matter.  It's the getting
+up that's the problem.  There, it's as stiff as a fire-bar now.  Here's
+the first to go down."
+
+Holding the rope, the boy swung off, and was soon standing on the floor
+of the lower cave.  The others followed rapidly.  They could find no
+trace of the missing ladder.  Not only was the ladder spirited away,
+there were other signs which showed that the caves had been entered
+since the last visit of the boys, and on proceeding to the third
+chamber, where the bushrangers slept, there were manifest signs of
+disturbance.
+
+"Some un's been here, that's certain."
+
+Sandy gave voice to the one opinion.  The bark bunks occupied by the
+outlaws were thrown off their trestles to the ground.  There was no
+gainsaying Sandy's statement. The situation was peculiar.  The boys
+might well be pardoned for being a little fearsome and creepy under the
+circumstances.
+
+"I heard Dickson tell your father, Sandy, at the brumby hunt, that a
+party was comin' out from Tareela to visit the caves.  P'r'aps it's them
+that have moved the ladder."
+
+"Don't think it could have been," persisted Joe. "There's no sign of
+their camp outside."
+
+"What about the 'rangers?"
+
+The thought was decidedly unpleasant, and when voiced it struck a chill
+in the hearts of all.  As a matter of fact, the thought had lain in
+Sandy's mind from the time he missed the ladder.
+
+Ben Bolt was not a desperado of the Morgan or Kelly type--men who were
+conscienceless, treacherous, and full of the blood-lust.  Many, indeed,
+of his acts of gallantry and open-hearted generosity, if theatrical,
+were nevertheless redeeming qualities in the old-time bushranger.  A man
+of great resource and daring, a thorough bushman, a superb rider,
+mounted always on the finest of horses,--stud stock mostly, which he
+"lifted" from celebrated breeding stations,--the 'ranger was, in some
+respects, a picturesque figure, and had a most adventurous career. Often
+located and even sighted by the police, he was always able to make good
+his escape, either by bush strategy or by an amazingly daring piece of
+riding in rough country, at which even his intrepid pursuers, themselves
+accomplished horsemen, stood aghast.
+
+There was a spirit of romanticism about the fellow. His dress and
+appearance gave colour to that.  He was passionately attached to his
+wife and children, and often incurred desperate risks in visiting them
+when "home-sickness" seized him.  His house was ever under the
+surveillance of the police, who fondly hoped to catch him by that lure.
+Yet, though often within an ace of capture, he always escaped.
+Outwitting the subtlest efforts of the police, he was their despair.
+Though of a sanguine temperament, there were seasons when he was the
+victim of a black mood.  At such times he was most dangerous and cruel.
+
+"It could hardly be Ben Bolt," said Sandy at length. "It's quite
+possible that the town party has been.  How could Ben be here an' in
+Queensland?"
+
+"Well, what's next, Sandy?"
+
+"I'd like us to explore the opening in the passage first, Joe.  Come,
+boys, let's shin up."
+
+This was speedily accomplished, and the pals proceeded to the spot that
+was in Sandy's eye, so to speak.
+
+"Here's the place I meant!" exclaimed he, when they had retraced their
+steps some distance through the passage.  The opening, at first sight,
+appeared to be a deep recess.  Upon close examination, however, it was
+found that the wall and the roof did not meet.  There was a hole some
+two feet in diameter.
+
+"I spotted this when I came with father," explained the leader.  "Now,
+if one of you fellows will give me a hoist, I'll get my head and
+shoulders into that opening above, and find out whether it's a chimney,
+or takes a turn and forms a passage."
+
+Accordingly Joe, stooping a little, received Sandy on his shoulders, by
+which he was able to rise into the hole.
+
+"Hurrah--hurrah!" he exclaimed a minute later.  "It's a passage all
+right, boys.  There's a sort of landing, anyway, and it looks as though
+there's a passage beyond. Hold steady, Joe, an' I'll try an' get my
+hands on the ledge."
+
+The boy made several efforts without avail, for he was an inch or so too
+low.
+
+"Step on my shoulders, Sandy."  It was Neville who had placed himself
+alongside Joe.  His shoulders were at least three inches higher.  Thus
+raised, Sandy had no difficulty in grasping the ledge of the landing.
+Catching the lad's feet with his hands, Neville pushed the boy higher,
+and soon he worked his way on to the floor of the ceiling, as it were.
+
+This done, he proceeded to light his candle and explore, for it was
+impenetrably dark.  Following the passage inwards, the boy advanced some
+distance.  He found that it widened as he proceeded, and became easier
+to traverse.
+
+"I'd better return now for the other chaps," muttered the lad.
+Accordingly he retraced his steps and explained matters to the anxiously
+waiting group.  By the aid of the green-hide lariat, the others were
+soon up with the leader on the landing.
+
+Here, then, was a new situation.  In all probability the foot of man had
+never trodden this place.  There were no traces of any living thing.  It
+was in no light mood, therefore, that the boys made a start.  Their
+position was unique and thrilled them.  They might, in a literal way,
+bring to light the hidden things of darkness.  Not for ages, or ever, in
+all likelihood, had those walls been lighted up and gazed upon.  Whither
+would the pathway lead?
+
+Proceeding, they encountered no difficulty for some time, as the passage
+widened in places, enabling them to walk abreast.  Soon, however, it
+began to contract, and in places it became a squeeze.  The roof, too,
+dipped considerably, so that it could be touched by the extended hand.
+
+Sandy, who was still leading, began to experience a tired feeling.
+There was a peculiar sensation in his ears, and a tightening in the
+throat.  After advancing a few steps farther he stumbled and almost
+fell.  His candle, too, began to burn very dimly.  His followers were
+experiencing similar feelings.  In a moment the cause of this untoward
+feeling came flashing across his mind.
+
+Joe, behind him, cried out, "I say, Sand ... I'm gettin' ... short..."
+
+"Back, everybody!  Fire-damp!" cried the leader in a raucous voice,
+after a violent effort.
+
+It was a narrow squeak.  Though only a few minutes in the poisoned air,
+they were all on the verge of unconsciousness.  Gasping, trembling, the
+sweat oozing from every pore, they struggled on until they reached the
+widened area of the passage, and then sank, exhausted, to the ground.
+Tom, who was at the tail of the procession was not so bad as the others,
+not having penetrated so far into the poison zone.
+
+The pure air soon revived them.  Their respiration, which was very
+laboured at first, improved as soon as the sweet, dry air entered their
+lungs, and ousted the putrid gas which had lodged there.  A pull at the
+water-can, which fortunately they had brought with them, helped them a
+lot, and in a short time they were themselves again.
+
+"That ends chapter one," said Joe dryly.  "Whereaway now, Captain?"
+
+"We've come to the end of our tether sudden enough, and with a
+vengeance.  It'll be something, Mr. Neville, to tell 'em in England.
+Let us get back to the old passage. This is nothing but a death-trap."
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXVI*
+
+                            *THE EXPLORERS*
+
+
+"'The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest,' replied my uncle
+Toby."--STERNE.
+
+"That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a
+lion!"--SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+"How quickly we ran into that poison-trap!  No smell or anything to warn
+us," remarked Neville, when the normal condition of the lads was
+restored, "save a nauseous feeling which supervened."
+
+"Whatcher think made it hang like that, Mr. Neville? Seemed to me like
+an invisible fog that we suddenly encountered."
+
+"That is really what I believe it to be, Tom.  I know from what I have
+read and heard, the gas is colourless and quite heavy.  An uncle of mine
+is a colliery manager in Wales, and this fire-damp, or choke-damp, as it
+is sometimes called, is often fatal, because it fills the lungs so that
+no other air can enter, and in this way suffocates its victims.  We were
+just on the fringe of it, I think.
+
+"As I was saying, this fire-damp, which is always much more dangerous
+after an explosion in the mines, is generally formed by the
+decomposition of certain substances in vegetable fibres, or in veins of
+carbonised mineral.  That is why it is called carbonic acid gas.  It is
+much heavier than the air.  You remember the passage was contracted, and
+the air seems to have become impregnated at that particular place."
+
+"Well, whatever it is," said Joe, who had just made a few spasmodic
+heaves, "it's good enough to keep out of.  Let's give the acid, or gas,
+or damp, or whatever it's called, leg bail."
+
+The party of defeated but not disgraced explorers now retraced their
+steps.  Eagerly scanning the walls as they retreated for signs of
+diverging passages, they soon found themselves at the landing, whence
+they swung down into the blind alley that led to the main passage.
+
+"Sandy," said Joe, when the party had emerged, "give that passage a
+name.  Leichhardt gave names, you know, to all the creeks, hills, and
+water-holes he discovered in his travels.  I reckon yon's our discovery.
+Faugh!" ejecting a mouthful of saliva, "it tastes like rotten
+soda-water.  Let's call the beastly place by a name that'll fit it."
+
+"Christen away."
+
+"Me!  Well--er--how'd 'Poison Pot' do?"
+
+'"Death Trap' would be better," replied Sandy.  So thought the others,
+and it was accordingly named "Death Trap Passage."
+
+"Now, chaps, let's get back to the cathedral.  There's a likely spot
+there--that hole, I mean, where the boulder was jammed."
+
+"What's the time, Mr. Neville?" asked Joe, on arrival at the big
+chamber.
+
+"Quarter to one."
+
+"Why, we've hardly been three hours in!  I made sure it was about six."
+
+"I vote we have a go at the prog," chipped in Tom. "It'll help to take
+the nasty taste away."
+
+"Good idea!" was the general verdict.
+
+The pals had lost a good deal of their natural spirits. Three hours
+groping in semi-darkness, with a throat full of choke-damp thrown in,
+was enough to stale the strongest; yet they had no thought of surrender.
+They were "baffled, to fight better."
+
+In a few minutes the outer entrance is gained, and in another five
+minutes they reach camp.
+
+The hot tea was particularly acceptable.  Nothing in the wide world
+could have been more refreshing and stimulating.  Billy-tea boiled with
+gum sticks, just so far sweetened as to countervail the natural
+roughness without impairing the aromatic flavour, stands at the head of
+all beverages--whether aerated, brewed, distilled, or concocted.
+
+"My word, this is bully tea, ain't it?" cried Tom, smacking his lips
+with satisfaction, after emptying his pannikin for the third time.
+
+Neville in particular--to whom the outing and the exploration was a new
+experience--felt, as he puffed at a cigar, the stirrings of a larger and
+a nobler nature than that which had hitherto exercised him.  Business
+life seemed flat and stale compared with this al fresco existence.
+
+"Time to be goin' back again," said the practical Sandy, breaking in on
+a post-prandial reverie.  "Gimme the tommie, Joe."
+
+Tomahawk in hand, the boy walked to the sapling clump, and selecting a
+stout specimen, vigorously attacked it with the weapon.  From this he
+cut two six-foot lengths, sharpening the thicker ends, crowbar fashion.
+
+"What's that for, Sandy?"
+
+"To prise the boulder.  They'll make capital levers."
+
+Armed with these additional implements, the lads returned to the caves,
+and in due course lowered themselves into the cathedral.
+
+The spot which Sandy had mentally marked as a likely one has already
+been described.  It was a cleft in the floor at its junction with the
+wall, and immediately behind a huge stalagmite.  It must have escaped
+the vigilant eyes of the professional trackers.  The corner was a very
+dark one, and unless one looked closely behind the boulder the cleft
+would not be observed.  Sandy had lit upon it in a promiscuous search,
+and was impressed by its possibilities as another outlet, or inlet, to
+other cavities.
+
+No sooner had the boys arrived at the spot, and Sandy had cast his eye
+upon it, than he exclaimed, "Somebody's been here!"
+
+"How d'yer know?"
+
+"This stone is not in the same position as when I last saw it."
+
+"Who could it 'a' been?"
+
+"Dunno.  I'm crack sure, however, that this stone was not square down
+the other day.  The flat of it was down and the point of it up.  Now
+it's reversed.  Besides, here are crowbar marks."
+
+"It'll be hard enough to get out--much harder than it would 'a' been if
+it hadn't been touched."
+
+"Must have been a strong chap that turned it!"
+
+"Strong?  No one man could ever have done it!  It would be difficult for
+two.  Why, that stone's not a pound less than four hundredweight!"
+
+"Well, time's goin'," said Joe, "and what's done's done. Let's at it,
+Sandy.  Up-end her, and throw her over on the floor."
+
+The lads vainly tried to insert the wooden bar. The cracks between the
+lid, so to speak, and the edge at the opening were not sufficiently wide
+to admit this.
+
+"It won't do," said Sandy after a while; "we're gettin' no forrader."
+
+"I suggest," interposed Neville, "that you widen the cracks."
+
+"How can we do that?"
+
+"Will you let me have a try?"
+
+"My!--rather.  Anything to get the blame thing out."
+
+Neville picked up the tomahawk that was lying near at hand, and began
+striking the edges of the hole where Sandy had been prising.
+
+"That's the stitch!" cried Tom.  "Well done, Mr. Neville!"
+
+The limestone readily yielded to Neville's strokes, and the crevice was
+soon wide enough to take in the thick end of the stout gum sapling.
+
+Sandy and Neville, taking a pull at the end, levered the stone high
+enough for Joe, who had the other bar ready to insert between the raised
+end and the floor stone. With this additional lever power the "stopper"
+was canted on one side, high enough to put the stone chocks in.  Another
+application of the bars, with two boys hanging on each and pulling
+simultaneously, brought the "stopper out of the bottle," and toppled it
+over with a thud that shook the floor; bringing down a stalactite with a
+crash, fortunately without harm to the exploring party.
+
+Before venturing down, Joe, in whose mind an idea had been fermenting
+while the stone-raising business was being carried on, critically
+surveyed the stone "stopper."
+
+"Look here!" remarked he, "these are the marks of an iron crowbar.
+Whoever removed this had the proper tools for it.  Whatcher make of
+that?  That upsets the town party theory, don't it?"
+
+"It certainly makes the puzzle harder," said Neville.
+
+"Think so?  Makes it easier to me," quoth Sandy.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Looks more'n more like Ben Bolt's work."
+
+"Think he's in there now?" exclaimed Tom, in an awed whisper.
+
+"No, I don't think that.  But it shows me that he's knocking about here
+again, an' he's been in the caves quite recently."
+
+The boys looked into each other's faces, and felt--well, just as you
+would feel, brave reader, were you in the cavernous depths of earth, in
+the very haunts of proclaimed outlaws, not knowing at what moment they
+might spring upon you.  Standing in the cold, damp, dim underground, at
+the mouth of an unknown passage, which might take you to the innermost
+den of the outlaws, could you contemplate advance without an attack of
+the creeps? The crevice, after going down sheer a few feet, turned on a
+level plane, right across the floor of the cathedral, in a westerly
+direction.  How far could be known only by actual travel.
+
+"Come on, boys," said Sandy, after a moment's silence; "it's what we've
+come here for.  I believe, for one, we're goin' to solve the mystery."
+
+One by one the lads dropped into the bottom of the well.  The passage
+was of unequal width, but always wide enough to allow the party to
+proceed without squeezing, and had a fairly level floor.  The floor,
+after extending two hundred paces or so in a westerly direction, began
+to decline somewhat sharply, and presently Sandy gave a warning shout--
+
+"Water ahead!"
+
+The others crowded round him as well as they could. There, at their very
+feet, was a pool of water of unknown depth.
+
+"Here's a go, chaps!  Looks as if it might be a swim."
+
+The pool covered a fairly wide stretch, and was in a dip of the passage.
+
+"Don't think it's a swim myself," remarked Joe. "Let's take off our
+boots an' pants.  I fancy we'll find it only a wade.  We can move
+cautiously and test it with a bar as we proceed."
+
+The party did as suggested, and found to their satisfaction that the
+water did not rise above their knees; for none of them relished a swim
+in the icy water.  After re-dressing, the company moved forward, and
+soon emerged into a spacious cavern that fairly sparkled with lime
+crystals.  Little time, however, was spent in admiration.  They moved
+across it in the same direction, and found two exits.  After a short
+consultation, they decided to take the larger of the two passages,
+because it seemed to be a continuation of the old track.  Just as they
+started, Tom, who was in the rear, on looking round, saw what appeared
+to be a bundle on the floor of the cave, some distance to the right.
+
+"Wait a moment," cried he, as he ran to the object. "Oh, I say, here's a
+find!"
+
+The others, who were in the entrance, backed out, and ran to his side.
+Tom held the old vine ladder in his hands.
+
+There was no longer any doubt.  There could be only one conclusion.  At
+the sight of this the boys had a bad attack of the creeps.
+
+"It's the 'rangers all right.  They've slipped the police again."  There
+seemed to be no alternative to this conclusion.  "Seems to me,"
+continued Joe, who was the quickest of the lot in reasoning out a thing,
+"that they've been back here again, and knowing that the bobbies'll be
+on the watch to trap 'em at this spot, they've locked up the house, in a
+way of speakin', an' thrown the key inside.  I vote that we go on."
+
+No one said nay, and so the advance was made.  The passage presented no
+serious obstacle, widening and narrowing at intervals, but never too
+narrow to proceed. As they were squeezing through a difficult place,
+Sandy again sounded the alarm.
+
+"What's up now?" said Joe, who was just behind.
+
+"'Nother big cave, an' a deep drop into it, same as the other.  There's
+a bar across here where they've slung ropes.  Undo the lasso, chaps."
+
+"Let's hope we're getting near the end of it."
+
+The speaker was Joe.  The truth is, the work was most tiring in its
+nature, and the spirits of the party were yielding to a very uneasy
+feeling, despite Joe's plausible theories that the end might be the
+reverse of pleasant. Should Ben Bolt, after all, be in hiding, well--the
+worst might happen.
+
+Fixing the rope, they slipped down to the floor of the new cave.  This,
+though not remarkable for beauty, was commodious enough, and had several
+outlets, in one of which there were indubitable evidences of the
+one-time presence of horses.
+
+"Hello! here's the stable," cried Tom, who was first in this recess.
+
+Sure enough in a vault-shaped but very roomy cavern, entered by a wide
+passage, was the robbers' stable. Several bundles of bush hay were
+stacked in one corner. A manure heap filled the other.  All this pointed
+to a prolonged occupation.  The idea of the robbers' presence had so
+materialised by these later evidences that the boys felt they might be
+confronted at any moment by the desperadoes.
+
+"What'll we do, Joe?" said Tom.  "Slip quietly back again?"
+
+"Slip back again, after getting this far!  Don't be frightened, Tom."
+
+"I'm not; y'are yourself."
+
+"Well," replied Joe, with a smile, "I'll not deny that I've felt like it
+more'n once.  But there's one thing you've not noticed, chaps."
+
+"What's that?" chorused the group.
+
+"There's not been any horses here for weeks."
+
+"How d'yer know?"
+
+"No fresh droppings."
+
+That fact was indisputable, conclusive, and enheartening. It lifted a
+load of apprehension, to call it by no harder name; and now, with
+buoyant spirits, to which they had been strangers for some time, the
+boys continued the search.  The end, indeed, was close at hand.
+
+"Look out sharply for tracks," was the command of the leader on leaving
+the stable, stooping low as he spoke, and eagerly scanning the floor.
+Hoof-prints were discovered and followed.  They led to a corner of the
+big cave which narrowed at that point, and continued on as an opening.
+After going a few paces, Sandy called out, "Hurrah--hurrah!  Light
+ahead!"
+
+Sure enough, a few yards farther the passage was lighted with natural
+rays that shot through a small opening some distance ahead.  The party
+was exultant, and needed no telling that this was sunlight.  In this
+subterranean fashion the explorers had traversed, mole-like, the range
+spur, and proved the theory of the dual entrance.
+
+Like as the exultation of Columbus when the first sight of the new world
+convinced him that he had solved the riddle of ages, or as Leichhardt
+felt when he and his dauntless band stood upon the shores of the great
+northern gulf, after having passed through the very heart of Australia's
+_terra incognita_, so did the breasts of these brave youths swell with
+the spirit of triumph when that ray of light revealed the joyful fact
+that they, a group of mere youngsters, had succeeded where the experts
+had failed.
+
+The whole company darted through the spacious passage to the opening.
+It was in the face of a cliff, and fully fifty yards from its sloping
+base.  So steep was the cliff that, viewed from a distance, it appeared
+perpendicular; forbidding to anything save rock wallabies and--Ben Bolt.
+
+Its very roughness, however, made its ascent a possibility.  Had it been
+a smooth face, no horse, however capable, could have climbed it.  Ben
+Bolt was always able to achieve the possible.  Many of his wild rides
+bordered on the miraculous.  His personality magnetised his steeds.
+Wherever he led they would go, and so the steep ravine that rose from
+the rocky base to this entrance afforded a precarious footing for the
+outlaw's horses.
+
+"Now then, boys, before we go down, let's give a cheer," said Sandy.
+Led by the leader, the group signalled its victory--for such it was, and
+no mean one--by a rousing cheer that woke the echoes of the precipice
+and spread wave-like over the landscape beyond.
+
+It penetrated the ears of two men who were riding quietly in the bush
+that lay beyond the rocky plateau which formed the base of the cliffs.
+
+"What's that?" exclaimed the elder to the youth who rode at his side.
+
+"Sounds like a cheer," replied the youth.  "Who can it be--traps?"
+
+Turning their horses' heads, they rode swiftly but silently to the edge
+of the scrubby timber which they were traversing.  Halting just within
+the bushy barrier, they parted the leaves, and there, perched high up
+the cliff's side, were four youthful forms--the band of cave explorers.
+
+"Now, boys, we'll go back an' have another look round before we leave.
+Might find something belonging to Ben Bolt worth carryin' away.  We can
+easily get out on this side, and cross the spur a little higher up,
+where the cliff runs out.  'Twon't take long neither!  I say--won't we
+have a yarn to spin to-night!"
+
+But the unexpected is yet to happen.  The company retraced their steps
+to the cave, and did a little exploration; finding nothing, however, but
+a couple of leather mail-bags and some opened letters--the remains of
+coach-robbery spoils.
+
+"This is the last one, mates," remarked Sandy, as the group entered the
+mouth of a passage.  After traversing its course a little distance, it
+opened up into a small cave, twenty feet square.  On one side of it were
+bunks similar to those in the other cave.  While in the act of examining
+it, Joe fancied he heard a footfall.  Stopping a moment to listen, he
+distinctly heard the sounds of stealthy footsteps.
+
+"'S-s-sh-h-h, boys!  Some un's followin'!"
+
+At this startling statement the boys halted and turned round, to be
+confronted by two forms hardly distinguishable in the surrounding gloom.
+The pals gave a gasp of terror as the call peculiar to highwaymen smote
+their ears and they faced two weapons, levelled point blank.
+
+"Hands up!"
+
+Candles are dropped in sheer fright in an eye-wink, and hands go up in
+gross darkness.
+
+
+The sun had just set as the four youths, in company with two men,
+mounted their horses and took the track leading to Bullaroi.  Strange to
+say, the lads showed no signs of fear, nor were they bound with cords.
+
+"By jingo!" cried Tom, who had just put his horse at a big log and
+cleared it in fine style, followed in order by Joe, Sandy, and Neville,
+"this is the grandest outin' I've ever had!"
+
+"It's a' very weel," answered Mr. M'Intyre, who with Denny Kineavy had
+been following the tracks of some strayed cattle which were making for
+the ranges, and were passing the cliff opening while the cave explorers
+were ringing the welkin with cheers, "but supposin' that instead o' us,
+it 'd really been the bushrangers returnin' and catcht ye trespassin'?
+What then, ma laddies?"
+
+This query raised visions of possibilities that sobered the vaulting
+spirits of the pals for some brief moments. Very thankful were they in a
+moment of reflection that they had been bailed up by a friendly enemy.
+
+"Heigho!"
+
+"What's matter, Joe?"
+
+"Fun's all over: measly school opens to-morrow!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVII*
+
+                              *A RESPITE*
+
+
+    "Ah! those were the days of youth's perfect spring,
+    When each wandering wind had a song to sing,
+    When the touch of care and the shade of woe
+    Were but empty words we could never know,
+    As we rode 'neath the gum and the box trees high,
+    And our idle laughter went floating by."
+      GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+Joe little thought when making the melancholy statement, "measly school
+opens to-morrow," how prophetic the utterance was.
+
+The first words that greeted the party on their return to the homestead
+were: "School won't open for another three weeks; the town's full of
+measles."
+
+The pals tried hard to look sober and concerned as Mrs. M'Intyre dilated
+upon the nature of the epidemic. It was a vain attempt.  To their credit
+be it said, they were very poor hypocrites.  Whatever sorrow they might
+feel on account of their friends who were in the grip of the disease was
+more than counterbalanced by the blissful intimation that, owing to the
+epidemic which had unexpectedly broken out, the school authorities had
+resolved, for at least three weeks, to keep the school closed.
+
+"There's no going home at present, boys.  I wouldn't dream of letting
+you return.  I'll just write to your mothers to say I intend keeping you
+here, unless they want you particularly.  I feel sure they will be
+thankful for your absence at such a time.  So you'll have to make the
+best of it, boys.  Are you sorry?"
+
+"Well--er--of course--I'm a----"
+
+"Yes--a--of course--you're--a--shedding tears at the thought of staying
+here another fortnight or so--aren't you, Joe?  You and Tom do look as
+miserable as moulting fowls in wet weather at the bare thought of
+holiday extension."
+
+The lads burst out laughing at Jessie's sally, and declared that it was
+the crummiest news they had received during the holidays.
+
+"That's a' very weel, and ye needna fash, laddies, that you'll ootwear
+your welcome.  But here's some news that may no' be so pleasant," said
+the squatter, who had been busy with his mail.  "Here's a letter frae
+Inspector Garvie to say that Ben Bolt and his mate are in the deestric'
+again.  He stuck up Dirrilbandie Station three days ago, drivin' a' the
+hands aboot the homesteed, along wi' Wilson and his faimily, into ane o'
+the men's huts, in which they were held by his youthfu' confederate
+while he ransacked the place."
+
+"Oh! the poor Wilsons!  Did he hurt any of them? and did he get much?"
+
+In reply to a fusillade of questions from the excited household,
+M'Intyre stated that though Ben Bolt was in one of his black humours,
+was in fact on the point of shooting one of the men for cheeking his
+mate, and was only dissuaded from this atrocity by the pleading of Mrs.
+Wilson, no one was injured.  He had taken a considerable amount of loot,
+however, in the shape of jewellery; also a pair of new improved
+revolvers, as well as three horses, one of them being Wilson's handsome
+chestnut gelding, the finest hack in the district, and for which he had
+a short time previously refused seventy pounds from the police
+authorities.
+
+There had been an outcry against the Government for not having provided
+a better class of mount for the troopers.  Again and again the schemes
+of the police to capture the bushrangers in various parts of the colony
+failed, chiefly because they were out-classed in horse-flesh.  A tardy
+Government, aroused at last to action by the clamour of the people, was
+doing its best to remedy this unequal condition.
+
+"I suppose, sir, the police are in full chase of the desperadoes?"
+
+"They're doin' their best, ye may be sure, Mr. Neville. Garvie has two
+pairties oot scoorin' the country, and is holdin' himsel' in readiness
+to move to ony pint at a moment's notice.  As the scoondrels hae cut the
+Walcha telegraph line, the presumption is they will be raidin' the
+place, and Sergeant Hennessey is following up with the utmost speed.
+The Sub wants the loan o' Jacky or Willy, or both, as trackers, and to
+let him ken at aince should there be ony signs o' them on Bullaroi,
+'specially aboot the caves."
+
+"Are you goin' to lend him the boys, father?"
+
+"Weel, it's very awkward, but I'll hae to assist the coorse o' juistice
+when ca'd upon.  We maun dae oor pairt to catch the rascals."
+
+"Suppose you _had_ tumbled across the 'rangers in the caves, boys?"
+
+"Well! an' s'p'osin' we had, Miss Jessie?" replied Tom, whose answer in
+tone and query suggested unspeakably bad things for the outlaws had they
+been unfortunate enough to meet the cave heroes.
+
+"Let me pit ye a sum in arithmeetic, Thomas, ma laddie; juist a sma' sum
+in proportion.  If twa stock wheep hondles, pinted at fowr cave
+explorers, each wi' a lighted candle in his hand, would cause the said
+candles to drop to the flure and fowr pair o' hands to go up like a toy
+acrobat when ye pu' the strings, what attitudes would the aforesaid
+explorers strike if a pair o' rale loaded peestols had been presented?"
+
+"Tom is always a duffer at proportion," interjected Joe laughingly.  "He
+has a trick of givin' answers that make Simpson sit up.  To tell you the
+truth, sir, I don't think that the real article could have given us a
+greater shock.  Speaking for myself, I confess that I've never had so
+bad an attack of the shakes before.  My skin went goosey in a moment,
+an' my hair stood up like a hedgehog's spikes.  I couldn't 'a' said a
+word for a hatful of sovereigns.  You see, sir, _it was all very real to
+us for the moment_, and none of the others felt any better than myself,
+I bet tuppence."
+
+"Joe's quite right, sir.  I had a most dreadful feeling as we stood
+there in the black darkness.  It seemed as if a vast abyss had suddenly
+engulfed us and we were sinking to fathomless depths."
+
+"I'll back up Joe and Mr. Neville, dad.  My word, when you spoke, it was
+as if some one had suddenly pulled me out of a dreadful nightmare."
+
+
+The pals went to bed early, as they were tired out after the unwonted
+exertions of the day, but not to sleep. They were too excited for that.
+
+"I say, chaps," exclaimed Sandy, jumping out of bed after he had tossed
+about for a few minutes, dragging his stretcher alongside the bigger
+bed, "let's settle what we're goin' to do."
+
+"Was just thinking of doin' a sleep, Master M'Intyre, when you commenced
+to drag the jolly stretcher with enough noise to wake the seven
+sleepers.  An' as for ole Tom, I fancied I heard a snore comin' through
+a hole in his pumpkin----"
+
+"Pumpkin yourself, Blain.  I'm as wide awake as you, or that grinnin'
+ape Sandy."
+
+"How d'yer know I'm grinnin'?"
+
+"'Cause I can see your jolly teeth shinin' in the dark. But I say, ole
+chap, I'm on for a confab.  Ouch! my legs _are_ stiff.  Wish I'd taken
+that hot bath your mother advised.  Whatcher got in your ole noddle?"
+
+"Something big, mates, but the difficulty will be with mother.  You see,
+now ole Ben's prowlin' about, mother'll be hard to persuade."
+
+"Well, tell us what's up your sleeve; we can discuss ways an' means
+after."
+
+"It's this: go on a campin' trip to the Bay, where there's grand
+fishin'; then go out to the gold-diggin's, an' put in a couple o' days
+with the fossikers."
+
+"Jemima! that'd be no end of a prime lark!  It'd top off our stay here,
+wouldn't it, Tom?"
+
+"Susan Jane! it would that, Joe.  My word, it'd be a scrumptious finish!
+but what charnce would we have of carrying it out?"
+
+"I don't think that either your Jemima or Susan Jane'll have much to do
+with it.  Mother'll be the chief obstacle."
+
+"What about a tent, Sandy?  We'd have to get one, wouldn't we?"
+
+"There'll be no trouble about that part of the business. There's a big
+drover's tent in the harness-room; 'sides, Harry has a small one he'd
+lend if necessary.  Lemme see: what _would_ we want?  First an'
+foremost, a tent or tents, an' a packhorse to carry 'em an' the other
+things. Then plenty o' prog, o' course: fishing lines--there's tip-top
+schnapper-fishin' down the Bay, to say nothin' of jew, bream, an'
+whitin'.  Then, the guns--we ought to get some good shootin'; both fur
+an' feather."
+
+"A fryin'-pan and a camp-oven 'ud come in handy, pannikins too, and some
+tin plates."
+
+"Yes, yes, we'll need those; at any rate, the fryin'-pan for the fish.
+Don't think there'll be any need to bother about a camp-oven: it's a
+plaguey thing to carry; we wouldn't use it 'cept for bread, an' we can
+make plenty of damper in the ashes.  But I'll tell you what we must
+have, an' that's a couple o' small barrels an' a good few pounds o'
+salt."
+
+"Why, what for?"
+
+"Fish.  We'll be down at the Bay pretty near a week, I reckon; an' as
+we'll catch whips o' fish, it'd be a fine chance to dry some, an' salt
+some as well.  Mother's got two good barrels that hold about
+half-a-hundred-weight each; they're salmon casks.  The salmon's all
+used, an' I reckon schnapper is as good as salmon any day.  That reminds
+me we'll want three or four sheath-knives; they'll come in handy for
+scalin' an' splittin' the fish."
+
+"I say, Sandy, when'll we start?"
+
+"Start!  Ah--well--we'll talk about that when we get leave--which, let
+me tell you, is pretty doubtful. 'Twouldn't take long to get ready once
+we have permission: a day at most.  I declare I'm gettin' sleepy.
+Good-night, chaps."
+
+The boys opened at short range during the breakfast hour the next
+morning.  In other words, they pled most vigorously for permission to
+camp out for a week or so, according to the programme concocted the
+night previously. The chief objection lay in the reappearance of Ben
+Bolt in the district.  It was all in vain that the boys insisted that
+even were the redoubtable 'ranger to visit their camp, which was most
+unlikely--he would not harm them: would, in fact, have no interest in
+bailing up a parcel of boys.  Mr. M'Intyre showed palpable signs of
+yielding, and had it been left to him would have granted a reluctant
+permission.  The insurmountable barrier, as indeed the boys knew
+beforehand, lay in Mrs. Mac's excessive fear.  She held the fort, so to
+speak, against all comers.
+
+"I'm more sorry than I can tell you, boys, to say no, but nothing you
+could say would alter my mind. Neither Joe's mother nor Tom's would
+dream of letting them go camping out while those dreadful men are
+about."
+
+The pals felt the reasonableness of the refusal, and showed not a
+flicker of resentment, though of course their disappointment was keen.
+
+"I say, chaps, let's put in the mornin' fishin'," suggested Joe.
+
+The vote was unanimous, and in a few minutes, armed with rods and lines
+and a tomahawk--the latter for use in cutting grubs out of the
+honeysuckle trees--the boys were _en route_ to some of the deep pools in
+the creek.  They had a really good time with some giant perch.  The
+dangling grubs formed an irresistible lure to these voracious denizens
+of the water-holes, and the fishermen had no reason to grumble at the
+result.  On their return home to lunch they were dumbfounded with the
+news shouted out by Denny as soon as they were within speaking distance,
+"Owld Ben's dead!--shot by the p'lice in th' ranges."
+
+The whole household was greatly excited by the news, which had been
+brought by a stockman from Captain White's station.  There seemed no
+reason to doubt the intelligence, which had come via the "bush
+telegraph."  Hennessey's lot had picked up the 'rangers' tracks and
+partly surprised them in the mountains.  The outlaws promptly but barely
+succeeded in getting away.  They gradually drew away, however, from all
+save the Sergeant, who was on a new mount--one of the Tocal noted
+breed--which proved to be a "ringer."
+
+The leader and his companion, who was a light weight, tried every dodge
+to shake off the pursuit, and in this they were past masters; but they
+had to reckon with Hennessey, who was one of the finest troopers in the
+force--as dare-devil a rider as Ben Bolt himself.
+
+After some marvellous riding among the ravines and tangled mountain
+scrub--during which a few long-range shots had been exchanged--Hennessey
+began to draw upon the outlaws.  Even that equine magician, Samson, was
+reaching his limits.  The capture of this illusive freebooter seemed now
+a certainty, could the Sergeant hold out another ten minutes.
+
+He was now within a hundred yards of his man.  He lagged a little behind
+his youthful mate, who was riding the chestnut gelding looted from
+Wilson's station.  Had he wished he could have shot the 'ranger down;
+but being extremely anxious to capture him alive for the bigger reward,
+he refrained.  The only advantage Ben Bolt possessed was an intimate
+knowledge of the ground, by which he often gained a bit.  They were now
+racing up a steep ravine which presently terminated abruptly at a
+precipice.  Down this the outlaws apparently flung themselves; or so it
+appeared to Hennessey.
+
+Arriving at the spot a few seconds later, the trooper perceived a
+winding, narrow pass.  He was a stranger to the precipitous track, but
+both the bushrangers and their horses were familiar with it, for they
+slithered and scrambled down at breakneck speed: a single stumble, and
+man and horse would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In vain did the
+gallant Sergeant spur his steed towards the pass.  His horse resolutely
+refused to face it.  His chances of capture are fast diminishing to a
+vanishing point, as in a few minutes his prize will have escaped.
+
+The outlaws have now reached the comparatively even ground below,
+distant about five hundred yards from where the trooper stood gnashing
+his teeth in rage, and praying that they might break their necks before
+they reach the bottom.  Fortune favoured them, however, and they might
+have made good their escape without further trouble.  But, instead of
+galloping off to safe cover, they reined up their steeds, while Ben
+Bolt, standing in his stirrups, shouted at the top of his voice an
+insulting message for the Sub-Inspector, making at the same time an
+ironical bow.
+
+While this little piece of comedy was being enacted, and just as the
+bushranger was in the act of bowing, the Sergeant had dismounted.
+Swiftly throwing his rifle to his shoulder and adjusting his sights in
+an eye wink, he made a hasty but true shot.  The outlaw had not finished
+his bow ere he toppled from his steed and lay prone, shot through the
+heart.
+
+Such was the news brought by the stockman, and accepted by the station
+folk.
+
+"Weel, it was bound to come sooner or later.  It's what happens to a'
+law-breakers--simply the choice of bullet or rope.  It's no' for us to
+ca' the unfortunate and misguided mon names.  If a's true, he suffered a
+grave injuistice at the hands o' the police when but a youth, which
+embittered his whole life an' gave a moral twist to his actions.  We
+maun leave him to Ane above wha mak's nae mis-judgments."
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXVIII*
+
+                         *THE CAMP BY THE SEA*
+
+
+    "Bright skies of summer o'er the deep,
+      And soft salt air along the land,
+    The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,
+      Sinks gently on the yellow sand;
+    And grey-winged seagulls slowly sweep
+      O'er scattered bush and white-limbed tree,
+    Where the red cliffs like bastions stand
+      To front the salvos of the sea,
+    Now lulled by its own melody."
+        GEORGE ESSEX EVANS.
+
+
+"And now, boys, what about the camping-out project? I see no reason why
+you shouldn't carry out your little plan, now all danger's removed;
+indeed, I should love you to have the jaunt.  Who were going?"
+
+The boys could hardly believe the good news, it was so sudden.
+
+"Us three, and Denny, if father could spare him, mother," was Sandy's
+remark.
+
+"Oh, ye can tak' the laddie.  He's due for a holiday, onyway.  So's
+Harry, for that matter.  I can do wi'oot 'em for a spell."
+
+Harry was nothing loth, and entered into the scheme with considerable
+enthusiasm.  As an old bushman he was able to give good advice in the
+matter of camping-out requirements, and was later to render signal
+service by which a life was saved.
+
+Behold the party, early the next morning, accoutred and ready for the
+road; making, as they held their steeds, quite an imposing cavalcade.
+Two stout roadsters were requisitioned for packing purposes; for the
+maternal solicitude of Mrs. Mac was both prolific and varied, judged by
+the articles of food and service which she forced upon the travellers.
+
+The squatter's pawky humour found ample scope for indulgence.  He
+expressed a hope that "the pairty would keep a guid look oot for traces
+o' the lost Leichhardt expeedetion; and look oot for alleegaitors when
+ye strike the Gulf o' Carpeentairia."
+
+The girls, too, indulged in good-humoured banter, raising hearty laughs
+against the boys, in which the victims joined as lustily as any.
+
+Said Maggie, striking a grandmotherly attitude, "There are three things
+I would warn you against, boys; damp socks, draughts, and earwigs.
+Don't leave out the flour when mixing the damper.  Have you packed the
+tape measure, Sandy?"
+
+"Tape measure!  What in the name of Madge Wildfire do you mean?"
+
+"Why," cried Jessie, breaking in, "to measure the giant jew fish that
+will snap Joe's line as he is in the very act of landing it."
+
+"Whatcher givin' us, Jess?"
+
+"It will also come in handy," continued the saucy girl, turning on Tom,
+"to record the girth, length, and throat capacity of the monster snake
+that you, Tom, are sure to see when roaming alone in the scrub."
+
+"That's one for your nob, Tom!"
+
+"Your turn next, Sandy," retorted that youth.
+
+"Then there's the 'old-man' kangaroo that me brither Sandy will shoot
+at, missing by 'just an hair's-breadth,' of course, and which he will
+declare--when he returns to camp--to be as 'high as one of those extinct
+mammals that Simpson has in his natural history book'; at any rate as
+'big as Bullocky Bill's off side poler.'"
+
+"But, Miss Jessie, how wud th' bhoys put th' measure on th'----?"
+
+"As for Dennis Kineavy," continued the sprite, "he will be sure to run
+into a group of mermaa-des, when diving in the deep blue sa-ay, who will
+be discussing the all-important question of waist measurement.  As
+Denny's an expert in fairies and hobgoblins, he will be appointed judge
+and referee."
+
+So, amid laughter and banter, and final good-byes, the gay party start
+for the Bay.
+
+Neville was prevented from joining them through important business
+interests in Sydney.  The "call" of the bush, however, was strong and
+insistent, and, as he bade farewell, he announced his determination of
+returning at no long date to settle as a landholder.
+
+The road to the Bay passed within a short distance of the caves, and,
+despite the news of the tragic end of Ben Bolt, the lads, as they jogged
+past the neighbourhood, were unable to rid themselves of a feeling that
+the outlaw still lurked about his old haunt, and felt relieved when they
+had left this region behind them.
+
+The journey to the Bay proved uneventful save in one particular.  In
+mounting a very steep incline, the cinch strap, that formed the final
+fastening of the pack on one of the animals, broke, whereupon the
+pack-saddle, being loosely girthed, worked backwards.  Some of the
+contents, also, fell to the ground, frightening the horse, who bolted
+along the road, parting with sundry utensils and eatables, which lined
+the track for some distance at irregular intervals.  The frightened
+steed was at length secured, the wreckage gathered and replaced--this
+time more securely--and the journey resumed.
+
+The Bay is reached without further mishap or adventure. After coasting
+it for some little space the party cast anchor, in seamen's parlance, on
+a miniature promontory which jutted for a furlong or so into the waters
+of the Bay, forming a grassy, treeless plateau throughout its area.  The
+advantage of this site was apparent to the group of campers, inasmuch as
+the foreshores of the Bay were covered for the most part with a stunted
+scrub that extended to the beach.  The advantage was twofold: it
+obviated the necessity of clearing a space for the tents, and it was
+comparatively free from bush vermin.
+
+To the southern part of the Bay, distant some six miles, was the Pilot
+Station; while towards the northern extremity, where a large creek
+debouched into the sea, was a camp of cedar-getters.  Otherwise, in its
+shore vicinity, the Bay was uninhabited.
+
+Two hours of daylight yet remained, and the members of the party made
+instant preparation for pitching camp. The necessary tent poles and pegs
+were speedily secured from the neighbouring scrub, and, under the
+direction of the experienced stockman, willing hands are busily engaged
+in the erection.
+
+The bigger tent was set upon a ridge pole that rested in the forks of
+two upright saplings which had been firmly fixed in the ground.  When
+the requisite number of pegs had been hammered into the ground, the tent
+was hauled taut by cords passed through eyelet holes at intervals along
+each side, and about thirty inches from the bottom.  This under section
+of the tent assumed a perpendicular position, forming the walls, which
+were secured by the same method.  This formed the pals' cover, while the
+smaller tent sufficed for the other two. A rough shed formed of four
+uprights, with a brushwood roof, held the provisions and saddles.
+
+So expeditiously were all these arrangements made that ere the darkness
+fell they were completed, and Denny--who was promoted to the responsible
+position of cook--was building a fire for tea-making purposes. Meanwhile
+the horses were led to a small, freshwater lagoon in the vicinity, where
+they were belled and short-hobbled, and left to browse on the succulent
+grass.  The last act of preparation was that of cutting a quantity of
+gum bushes for bedding.  No sweeter or healthier bed can be contrived
+than a layer of fragrant eucalyptus leaves.  The beds had scarcely been
+made ere the welcome summons to supper came, in the Irish boy's best
+brogue: "Jintilmen, will yees come to ta-ay?"
+
+There is a charm peculiar to an evening meal taken in the open.  The
+charm is heightened in the present instance by the contiguity of the
+sea.  The youths dine to the musical accompaniment of the rolling waves,
+which strike the beach in deep, muffled thunder-tone, rising crescendo
+fashion as they race to a finish along the shelly incline.  Then,
+landward, are the insistent noises of the things of the forest.  Ever
+and anon the soft tinkle-tinkle of "The horse-bell's melody remote" is
+to be heard as the cropping animals move over the lush grass.  The
+illimitable dome above is alive with sparkling lights.  Thus an
+environment is created which gives a sacramental aspect to the feast.
+At least it forms a romantic picture which centres in the fire-lit faces
+of the happy, care-free youths.
+
+Supper ended, they eagerly discuss their projects, the while they clean
+their guns and fix the fishing tackle.
+
+On the morn, at earliest dawn, they will try likely spots for fish, and
+have a swim in the briny.  And now the slow movements of the tongue,
+with frequent yawns, proclaim the nightly toll which nature is wont to
+exact.
+
+Ere the pale dawn is flushed the pals, sleep banished, half-dressed,
+tongues wagging, trudge along the beach to the rocky point of the
+promontory, stopping here and there at likely places to dig in the sand
+for whelks, which make capital bait.  The water is fairly deep where the
+nose of the promontory marks the terminal point, and soon lines are
+unwound, hooks are baited, and practised hands fling the lead-weighted
+hempen cords far into the Bay.  Fair success rewards their efforts.
+Sandy's line hardly reached the bottom ere he experienced the delightful
+thrill of a fierce tug, followed by a smart, strong rush which betokened
+a good fish.  After a few minutes' play he landed a fine specimen of
+black bream, scaling over two pounds.
+
+Sandy and Tom had varying luck with black and white bream, and
+flat-head.  Joe, however, was out of it. He did, indeed, have a gigantic
+bite soon after Sandy had captured his first fish.  The line whizzed
+through his fingers with a rush that skinned them as he began to take a
+pull.  When the line had reached its limit it snapped like a piece of
+pack-thread.  The biter was either a young shark or a big jew fish.
+After this no fish troubled the boy.  His mates struck their fish at
+frequent intervals, while his line remained motionless.  After a time he
+wound up and left his companions.  Retracing his steps some distance
+along the beach, he halted at a shelving rock that ran out into the
+water.  It looked a likely spot, and he determined to try with a lighter
+line than the one he had been using.  Baiting his hook with a soldier
+crab, he made a cast, and almost immediately had a bite, hauling in a
+black-back whiting.  It was a good specimen, weighing at least a pound.
+He had good sport for about half an hour, catching in all about a dozen
+whiting and half a dozen soles.
+
+The sport began to slacken about an hour after sunrise, and the pals,
+having captured sufficient for the day's requirement, set to work and
+cleaned their catches. This task finished, they have a plunge in the
+sparkling and cool waters of the Bay.
+
+Meanwhile Harry attended to the horses, and did little jobs about the
+camp, whilst Denny devoted his attention to the preparation of the
+breakfast.  The lads returned in due course with the spoils of the sea,
+and with appetites as keen as a razor.  In a few minutes the pan is full
+of sizzling fish, which are presently transferred to a hot dish, and the
+pan is filled with a fresh lot.
+
+"Goin' to try 'nuther panful, Denny?" said Tom, when the second lot had
+been demolished.
+
+"Anuther pan!  Howly Moses! div yees hear him! Och, thin, me bhoy, ye'd
+soon rise th' price ov fish.  Not anuther scrap will Oi cook f'r yees.
+Oi've kep' th' rest f'r dinner?  Sure, if we go on loike this 'twill be
+Fridah ivry da'; glory be!"
+
+The morning was devoted to a go-as-you-please programme, in which there
+was much disporting in the water; even the juvenile pastime of building
+castles in the sand was not considered _infra dig_.
+
+In the afternoon the whole party set out for Schnapper Point.  It was on
+this spot that the fond expectations of the lads were centred.  It was
+reputed to be the best fishing ground in the extensive Bay, and owed its
+name to the fact that school-schnapper frequented its vicinity. A
+schnapper trip--taken as a rule in a small steamer--is voted one of the
+finest outings by Australian sportsmen. This highly prized fish, be it
+said, is known variously, according to its age and changing habits.  It
+often attains large dimensions, weighing up to thirty pounds.
+
+None of the party had previously visited the Point. Their great concern
+was to find out if suitable bait could be procured in its neighbourhood.
+The principal bait was a small species of whiting.  These, they
+discovered, were to be obtained without much trouble on shelly patches
+along the beach.
+
+Early next morning the campers are astir, and busily engaged in
+necessary preparations.  After a hearty breakfast, in which the corned
+round and the spiced beef are conspicuous features, behold the young
+sports jogging along the beach towards Schnapper Point.  A stoppage is
+made at the whiting patch, where the fishermen are kept going for an
+hour with very fine lines.  By this time they have secured about two
+hundred small fish as bait.
+
+And now, having arrived at the fishing ground, leaving Harry and Denny
+to attend to the horses, the pals, all eager for the promised sport,
+unwind their heavy schnapper lines, and prepare for the catch.
+
+It was agreed that the boys were to fish, while Harry, who voted fishing
+a bore, and was devoted to the gun, would scour the adjacent scrub for
+birds, and the forest beyond for kangaroo; Denny having promised the
+boys a "foine boilin'" of kangaroo-tail soup.  To quote the actual words
+in which he preferred his request--"If Harry wud shute wan iv thim
+fellas as hops wid their ta-ales, and carries their childre in their
+pockets,[#] Oi, wud ma-ake sich a soup as niver was."
+
+
+[#] The natural pouch of the marsupial for bearing its young.
+
+
+The shooter, armed with a fowling-piece and a short rifle, after
+attending to the horses, disappeared in the scrub in search of game.
+Meanwhile the fishers, having cast their lines, assume an expectant
+attitude.
+
+To their great disappointment there are no bites; not even the
+stimulating nibble.  The patience of these amateurs is sorely tried.  A
+whole hour passes without the slightest sensation of a bite.  Lines are
+cast and recast.  The fishermen move to and fro, to no useful purpose.
+
+"Well, of all the rotten frauds of places for fishin', this takes the
+bun!  Dash it! we'd better have stayed at the camp an' fished there.  At
+least we'd----"
+
+"Howld yer whisht, bhoys!" said Denny in an excited whisper.  "Oi'm jist
+goin' to git a boite; th' line's thrimblin' sure.  Faith 'tis a Dutchman
+smellin' the ray-shons, Oi'm thinkin'."
+
+"It's not a schnapper, if that's what you mean by a Dutchman.  No
+nibblin' about a schnapper, Denny. More likely a crab."
+
+"By Saint Michael!  Joe, div yes call that a crab? Be dad, thin, it's a
+big sa-ay whale, or maybe one iv thim mare-mades Miss Jassie warned me
+aginst.  Be th' hokey, th' loine's cuttin' me fingers!"
+
+The line, which for a minute or two had given faint twitches, and a few
+premonitory shakes, now suddenly whizzed through the Irish boy's
+fingers.
+
+"Take a pull on her, an' steady her!" cried Sandy. "You'll lose fish an'
+line, too, if you're not mighty smart."
+
+Denny thereupon made a "brake" of his fingers, which steadied the fish
+after it had run out about fifty yards or so of the line.  He began to
+haul it as if it were attached to a sulky calf.  The fish was a heavy
+one, and a fighter; but what Denny lacked in skill he made up in
+strength. Fortunately for the angler the line was stout and new, or it
+would surely have snapped in the struggle.  By sheer strength the fish
+is drawn to land.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXIX*
+
+                    *AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA-TIGER:
+                            A NARROW SHAVE*
+
+
+The pals watched the seaman-like efforts of Denny to land his "sa-ay
+whale," or "mare-made," with great curiosity.
+
+"It's no schnapper, unless, maybe, a real boss 'un.  More like a young
+shark," was the remark passed by Joe.
+
+Their curiosity is soon satisfied; the fish is now in the shallows, and
+the next moment is drawn to the water's brink.  Denny has landed a
+monster sting-ray.
+
+It was the first of the kind the Irish boy had ever seen, and, as he
+pulled the struggling ray into the shallows and exposed its body, he was
+struck mute for a few seconds with astonishment, and not a little alarm,
+at its uncanny appearance.  Dropping his line in the excitement, he half
+turned to the boys, and, pointing to the floundering fish, exclaimed,
+"Begorrah! 'tis th' div-vil himsilf.  Saints presarve us, but if yen's
+not he'es ta-ale!  Or, ma'be 'tis th' dhragon phwat Father Daly towld us
+about at Mass larsht Sun-day."
+
+"He'll be a drag-off in a moment," cried Joe, making a clutch at the
+line, for the brute was wriggling into the deeper water.  The next
+minute the ray was smacking the earth with his flappers, and whipping it
+with his tail.
+
+"Phwat be th' crathure, anny ways, Sahndy?"
+
+"It's a stingaree, Denny.  Mind you don't touch its tail, or you will
+find out to your cost that it's the dragon, black angel, an' 'th' owld
+bhoy,' all mixed up like an Irish stew.  Run for the tommy, an' we'll
+whip it off."
+
+"And does it bite wid its ta-ale loike a schn-ake, bhoys?"
+
+"No, you precious duffer! it's got a spike near the tip that it rams
+into you like a needle, an' then look out! Yellow Billy trod on one once
+when he was havin' a bogey down below Tareela, in the river--they make a
+hole in the mud an' lie there--an', by jings! he was ravin' mad in
+twenty minutes.  The doctor had to shove a syringe into his arm, and
+squirt laudnaum, or somethin', to quiet him down.  There!" flourishing
+the tomahawk, "that's off, clean as a whistle!"
+
+"My word!" continued Sandy, a moment later, "we'll keep the tail for
+Harry.  He promised Bill Evans, the jockey, to get one for him if he
+could.  He's goin' to ride White's horse at the Armidale races, an' he's
+the laziest o' mokes he reckons.  Bill says it'll be only by sheer
+floggin' that he'll fetch him along.  Says if he only had a
+stingaree-tail whip[#] he could do the trick."
+
+
+[#] The sting-ray tail is sometimes used for this purpose. It is a cruel
+instrument of flagellation in the hands of an unfeeling rider.
+
+
+"This is not schnapper fishin'," interjected Joe.  "My word! the
+stingaree'll make stunnin' bait.  Put a bit on your hook, Denny, it may
+entice 'em."
+
+Sandy cut off a slice from the flapper and baited Denny's hook with it.
+The line had hardly reached the bottom ere it was seized by a fish--a
+monster.  The fish did not rush, he bored; the resistance was of a
+sullen nature.  Joe came to Denny's help, and between them they drew the
+fish to land.  It proved to be a huge rock cod, or groper, as it is more
+commonly called, scaling close upon a hundredweight.
+
+"A jolly groper, by dad!  We're in luck all right," exclaimed Tom.
+"We'll have groper steak for supper to-night; besides, we can pickle one
+half of this cove and dry the other."
+
+Their luck had changed in more respects than one.  The ray and the
+groper seemed to be avants courier for the school-schnapper, which now
+began to bite freely.
+
+For the next two hours the boys were kept well employed, landing near
+upon forty fish, varying from three to twelve pounds in weight.  The
+tide now began to ebb, and after that there were no more bites.  It was
+just as well, for by this time they had caught as many fish as they
+could cure.  Counting the groper, they had nigh upon three
+hundredweight.  The weight of these when scaled and cleaned would be
+reduced by at least one-fourth, leaving about two hundred and fifty
+pounds of choice fish.
+
+"What's bes' thing to do now, Joe?"
+
+"W-e-l-l--er--I dunno.  Oh, I say, how'd a jolly swim go down?"
+
+"Spiffin'!  A swim, a feed, an' then start cleanin' the fish an' gettin'
+'em ready for smokin' an' saltin'.  'Bout noon I reckon it is."
+
+"Come on, Denny," cried Joe, as they walked down to a sloping beach a
+little back from the Point; "come an' have a dip in the briny."
+
+"Bedad, thin, that same will Oi not.  'Twu'd be threadin' on wan iv
+these stinkin'-rays Oi'd be.  Oi can seem to feel th' brute's dirty
+pisen fangs already in me leg.  No, no, thanks be, Oi'm not takin' th'
+wather tra-atement at prisint.  Oi'll go an' start the foire so as to be
+ready f'r yees; that is, if th' sharks div not ma-ake mince-ma-ate of
+yees."
+
+Was it a premonition which caused a cold, tingling thrill to run along
+Joe's nervous system, from tip to toe; to be followed by the creeps,
+which made goose-flesh of his smooth skin?  Disagreeable as the
+sensation is to the lad for the time, it lasts but for a moment, and in
+less than no time, so to speak, he is revelling in the glories of the
+crisp, emerald-tinted wavelets of the Bay.
+
+It should be stated that Schnapper Point did not extend into the Bay at
+right angles to the beach.  It inclined northward, and at the spot where
+the boys were bathing was not more than two hundred yards from the
+beach.
+
+"Say, chaps," shouted Joe, who was some distance out, "I'm going to swim
+over to the main beach."
+
+So saying, he swam slowly towards the other side, enjoying to its
+fullest extent the luxury of the exercise. He had covered about a third
+of the distance when he heard a great commotion behind him.
+
+Denny, who had been attending to the fire, had his attention attracted
+by a moving object in the sea.  Gazing intently thereon for a moment, he
+left his occupation and ran swiftly towards the boys.
+
+"Look, bhoys! look at that gra-ate fish sa-alin' in forninst the Point.
+Troth, it's a monsther groper, Oi'm thinkin'!  Glory! but he'es a
+gra-ate big bullock-groper!"
+
+So saying, Denny came towards the boys with a puzzled air, as though his
+description of the object to which he was pointing did not exactly
+determine its species.
+
+"Whereaway, Denny?" exclaimed Sandy, who was paddling in the surf,
+standing up and gazing in the direction indicated.  "A bullock-groper.
+That's a new creature surely.  Never heard----Hello! why, it's a---- Hi,
+hi!  Joe!  Joe!" shouted the lad in a wildly excited state.  "Joe,
+there's a big shark roundin' the Point an' coming this way.  Come back,
+quick! quick!"
+
+Joe, who was almost on a level with the water, was unable to locate the
+enemy as quickly as the others.  It was not until he began to tread
+water that his eye caught the moving object.  In a flash he realised his
+danger, for it was a large tiger-shark, the man-eater of the sea.  Not
+even the man-eater of the jungle, roused through the blood-lust to a
+killing frenzy, could be more merciless to his victim than this
+cold-blooded, pitiless, silent tiger of the seas.
+
+Terrible as was the shock, his courage survived.  He conned the
+situation, and formed his judgment in a moment. The shark was eighty
+yards or so above him, swimming parallel with Schnapper Point beach, and
+within thirty yards or so of it.  As far as he could judge the fish was
+ignorant of his presence, but were he to return to his companions he
+could not expect to escape its vigilant eyes; would be crossing its bow,
+so to speak; and, were it in an attacking mood, would not have the ghost
+of a show.
+
+His only hope of escape lay in keeping along his course, getting to the
+farther shore in the smallest number of minutes possible.  All this
+cogitation did not cover twenty seconds, and the boy resumed his swim
+with the utmost vigour.
+
+Had not something happened to divert the shark from its course nothing
+alarming would have occurred, for Joe was rapidly widening the distance,
+and every stroke was improving his chances.  The boys on shore, with the
+hope of frightening the monster away altogether, began to make a great
+clatter; pelting the shark at the same time.  No more fatal policy could
+have been adopted.  The only result of their tactics was to divert the
+shark from its course, and to drive it out in the direction of their
+comrade.
+
+Almost as soon as the brute's course was changed it sighted the swimmer.
+This it indicated by giving two or three strong strokes with its
+powerful tail, and gliding at a rapid rate in the wake of the lad.  Joe
+was made acquainted with this change of course by the frantic cries of
+his mates.  Throwing his head over his shoulder for a moment, he saw the
+shark heading directly for him. He knew in that moment that unless the
+miraculous happened his hours were numbered, and in a few seconds--or
+minutes at most--his body would be mangled by this pitiless sea-tiger.
+Yet, although this terrible result appeared an absolute certainty to the
+fleeing youth, he did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and
+steady stroke.  There is such a thing as hoping against hope. He would
+not surrender life; it must be torn from him. Joe's home upbringing,
+with his father's daily chapter and prayer, sent his thoughts
+heavenwards in this his moment of extreme peril: "What time I am afraid
+I will put my trust in Thee."
+
+Here was the situation.  Joe was about sixty yards from the beach, while
+the relentless pursuer was within thirty yards of him.  His mates were
+powerless to aid him, and were racing round to the spot where he
+intended to land as swiftly as their legs could carry them.
+
+The shark glided within a few yards of the lad, and then swam round him,
+while conning him.  This the boy felt to be simply the preliminary, yet
+every stroke was taking him nearer the shore.  The water should be even
+now shoaling.  Might he dare to sound it?  But, alas! the enemy seems to
+understand this, and gives a cunning look as it half-raises its body
+from the water, and scrutinises its helpless victim preparatory to
+making its final swoop.
+
+"God help me!" cries the youth, with a dry sob; his last moment has
+come.  In that supreme moment--as in the case of drowning men--the whole
+past came before him.  Home, parents, sisters, brothers, pals! There,
+almost within arm's-length, is his merciless foe; while there is still
+quite a stretch of water between him and the beach.
+
+The great, cold-blooded, insatiable fish is poised for the final spring.
+A single second now, and----
+
+Instead of falling upon its victim, the huge brute lashed the water into
+foam, and swam round and round in a circle.  What had really happened
+Joe knew not. He no longer swam shorewards, but, half stupefied, watched
+the "flurries" of the frenzied fish as it lashed the water in rage or
+pain.
+
+Then he heard a great splashing shorewards, and a voice shouting
+encouraging words.  Turning in that direction, the boy beheld, with
+unutterable joy, Harry, rifle in hand, rushing through the water to him.
+In a few seconds the stockman is abreast Joe, the water being only up to
+his arm-pits.  Pointing the rifle at the fish, which was circling in
+blind fashion, but a few yards off, the rifleman--for it was he, under
+God, who worked the miracle--drove a bullet through the shark's brain.
+
+"My word! 'twas a touch-and-go, old feller!" exclaimed the man, as he
+put an arm round the boy--who had, in a sense, collapsed--and drew him
+to the shore.  "There now, Joey, me brave boy.  Y're all right, ain't
+ye?  Y're not the chap ter faint, I know.  Here's the others," as the
+rest dashed up, breathless; the Irish boy fairly crying with excitement.
+
+They could do nothing for a while but look at Joe as he sat leaning
+against a mangrove--where Harry had placed him--making a brave but weak
+effort to smile. The reaction had set in, and the boy felt it was only
+by the most resolute exercise of his will that he kept from swooning.
+
+Tom, who was blowing like the proverbial grampus, stuttered at last:
+"Let's m-make tr-racks h-home, b-boys. I-I'd rather be b-b-bailed up by
+a thousand 'r-rangers, than w-w-w-one of th-hose sea-devils.  Oh! the
+sight of the m-monster as he r-rose to make a d-dive at p-poor Joe!
+Y-yes, let's c-clear."
+
+"Clear, be hanged!  What are you drivelling about, you jolly idiot?"  It
+was just the tonic Joe needed. "We're not goin' to let a thing like this
+spoil our sport, not by a long shot.  I'm all right.  Was a bit knocked
+out for a few minutes, I will confess.  Tell you what, boys; I'll never
+be nearer death till my last moment comes.  That I am alive is due,
+first to God, an' then to ole Harry, here.  'Twas a great shot, that
+first one of yours.  'Nother second later an' 'twould have been too
+late.  Ugh! don't believe I'll ever get the green glitter of the thing's
+eyes outer my mind.  Tell you what, I'll jolly well punch the first cove
+that hints at goin' home.  I vote we go back an' scale an' gut the jolly
+fish."
+
+"Bedad, thin, it's a plucky wan y'are, Joe, me bhoy! Y're th' mahn f'r
+me money ivry toime.  But, ye'll not do a sthroke iv wark till yees have
+a feed.  Faith, Oi'll do a sthreak an' get th' billy boilin' f'r a
+pipin' hot cup o' tay.  It's what we all want; Joe in particular."
+Suiting his action to the word, the cook strode off in quick time to
+prepare the lunch.
+
+Meanwhile the dead shark had drifted into the shallows until it stranded
+on the beach.  The party now made a closer examination of the brute.
+The first shot, fired from the bank as the creature raised itself, had
+caught it in the throat; the second passed through the eye to the brain.
+
+"Why, it's a tiger-shark!" exclaimed Harry; "twelve foot if he's an
+inch.  Thought 'twas a blue-nose at fust; they're bad enough, but this
+joker's the worst kind that swims the sea.  My word, Joe, it'd been all
+U P if this chap'd once got 'is teeth intil yer."
+
+"Budgeree, budgeree, you bin shootem shark?  Him murry bad p-feller.
+Catchem plendy black p-feller; eaten.  This p-feller live longa Point
+plendy years."
+
+[Illustration: "The huge brute lashed the water into foam, and swam
+round and round in a circle."--_See p._ 271.]
+
+The group, which had been intently gazing at the carcass, turned round
+in a startled manner on bearing these guttural sounds.  Immediately
+behind them was a cluster of aboriginals, five in number, who had stolen
+silently upon the scene.
+
+"Hello, Cock-eye! that you?" cried Harry, as he surveyed the blacks.
+"Where you bin sittin' down, eh?"
+
+"Cedar Crik.  We bin come longa here get fis' for choppers."
+
+"Oh, the timber-getters, hey!  Well, you seem ter know this ole boss.
+You bin see 'im afore?"
+
+"Plendy times.  Bin often try catch 'im.  He kill-ee mine sister.  He
+too much lika dingo; no take bait."
+
+"Well, you can git even with this joker, Cock-eye. He eat your people;
+now you chaps gobble 'im up."
+
+The blacks are inordinately fond of shark's flesh, and--cannibal as this
+sea-tiger is--no question of sentiment may stand between these primitive
+men and a gorge.
+
+"I say, Harry, cut that dorsal fin off for me, there's a good man,
+before these niggers tackle it.  I'd like to keep that."
+
+After a considerable amount of hacking, the stockman managed to separate
+the fin, and, leaving the blacks in undisturbed possession of the
+carcass, they returned to the Point, to feed, and to finish their work.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXX*
+
+                        *IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP*
+
+
+    "O mellow air!  O sunny light!
+    O Hope and Youth that pass away!
+    Inscribe in letters of delight
+    Upon each heart one golden day--
+        To be there set
+        When we forget
+      There is a joy in living yet!"
+          G. E. EVANS.
+
+
+The fish cleaning occupied the best part of the afternoon; and when the
+party reached camp, about sunset, they were dog-tired; inclined for
+little else than supper and sleep.
+
+"But you haven't told us how it came to pass that you were just on the
+spot to prevent the shark scoffing Joe," exclaimed Tom to Harry.  "We
+didn't expect you back for hours."
+
+"Niver had such a thing 'appen afore, I give yer my word.  Lost me way
+in the dashed scrub; carn't understand it nohow.  As a rule yer carn't
+lose me in a scrub; can feel me way be day or night.  Instinct, they
+calls it. Ole Dumaresque says ter me one day, when we'd bin ridin' fer
+hours through heavy pine country after some strayed heifers, gettin'
+caught in the dark long afore we makes the homestead: 'How do you manage
+to tack an' criss-cross this beastly country without track or compass;
+not even a star to guide you?  It fair beats me, my man. Why, I'd 'a'
+bin lost a dozen times over but fer you.  You always seem ter be goin'
+wrong, yet always come out right.'
+
+"'Carn't explain it, sir,' ses I.  'I jist do it.
+
+"'It's all instinct,' ses 'e.  'It's like wot the dingoes an' blacks
+'ave.'
+
+"Instinct or no instinct, I got bushed all right ter day. There's
+something erbout it I carn't understand.  'Twasn't that I was careless,
+an' takin' no notice.  I 'ad worked through the scrub a distance of four
+mile or so when, all of a suddent, I ses ter meself, ses I, 'Where the
+dickens am I?'  Well, as soon as I put the question to meself I knows I
+was bushed, an' fer the fust time in me life I begins ter feel quite
+creepy like.  I didn't know which way ter go.  At larst I starts out in
+a direction that seemed the likeliest, but, somehow, I cud make no
+headway.  Something seemed ter clog me feet, an' I was allers gettin'
+mixed up with vines an' brushwood.
+
+"'Dash it all,' ses I, 'this won't do.  Don't believe I'm goin' the
+right way, after all.  Believe this ere way's leadin' me back to the
+Bay, an' I wants ter git through this blarmy scrub ter the forest, fer
+'oppers' tails.  I'll righterbout face, danged if I won't!'  So round I
+turns, an' as soon as I started I got on fust clarss.  Didn't git mixed
+up an' stumble as afore, but gits through the brushwood as slick as a
+bandicoot.  'Mus' be nearly through the belt,' ses I, after goin' fer
+an' hour or so. 'Mus' git the rifle ready, fer I might sight a kangy any
+moment now.'  So I unslings the rifle from me back an' puts the gun in
+its place, an' stops a minit ter load 'er--the rifle I mean.  I'd jist
+finished when I heers voices shoutin', an' then a great yellin', as if
+somethin' orful was 'appenin'.  So orf I rushes through the scrub, an'
+comes out on the beach.  I was knocked inter a heap, I gives yer me
+word; fer there before me was the sea, an' I thought I was on t'other
+side of the scrub altogether. Then, in a flash, I sees wot was really
+'appenin'.  Jist afore me very eyes was Joe.  He was strugglin' in the
+water not more'n a hundred yards away, an' that 'er brute seemed as if
+it was jist a-fallin' on 'im.  Why, I fired the rifle a'most without
+pintin' it.  Somethin' seemed ter say, 'If yer waits ter aim yell be too
+late.'  Be gosh!  I'm thinkin' 'twas the Almighty Hisself directed that
+shot."
+
+"If ye'd not losht your enstink, as ye calls it, ye'd be moiles an'
+moiles awa-ay at th' toime th' shark was goin' to gobble Joe up, wuddent
+ye?"
+
+"In course I wud."
+
+"Well, don't ye think th' good God had a hand in losin' ye in th'
+scrub?"
+
+"It's wot yer father'd call an answer ter prayer," replied the stockman,
+turning to Joe as he spoke.
+
+By this time the camp-fire--around which the group had been sitting--was
+burning low, and the party was quite ready for bed after the exciting
+and tirng adventures of the day.
+
+The campers were astir at an early hour next morning, to make the final
+preparations for curing the fish.  After filling both barrels, there was
+a quantity available for smoking.  To carry out this object a sapling
+frame, about four feet square and seven feet high, was constructed, and
+enclosed with bushes, leaving an opening at the top and bottom.  The
+fish were hung by stout cords, and a fire kindled on the earth inside
+the curing shed.  Some green wood was used with the dry, to produce a
+fair, volume of smoke; and so the curing went on apace.
+
+Leaving Denny in charge of the camp, the others spent the afternoon
+shooting over a chain of lagoons that lay back from the beach a couple
+of miles or so.  The ducks were plentiful, and they returned to the camp
+well laden. They passed the two following days shooting and fishing,
+both fins and feathers being exceedingly plentiful.  By this time they
+judged the fish to be cured, and packed it in a maize bag.
+
+"Tell you what, boys!  S'pose we ride over to the Pilot Station to-day?
+It'll be a change, won't it?"
+
+The others received Joe's suggestion with ready approval, and before
+long were racing along the beach towards the Pilot Station.  This was
+situated at the mouth of the river, and consisted of the residences of
+the pilot and the boat's crew.
+
+It should be said that at the mouth of every Australian river flowing
+into the Pacific is a sand-bar.  These sand barriers frequently shift
+their position, owing to tidal and other ocean influences.  This makes
+entrance and exit to be a somewhat dangerous proceeding, and many a
+craft has come to grief on these treacherous sands.  To reduce this
+danger to a minimum a pilot station exists at each river entrance.  The
+pilot is generally a sea-captain with a large experience of these
+treacherous bars.  It is his duty, weather permitting, to take daily
+soundings so as to locate the exact position of the bank, and by means
+of signals to apprise incoming and outgoing vessels of the position and
+depth of water on the bar; also, when required, to pilot the vessel over
+the dangerous spot.
+
+Captain Craig, the pilot, was an old salt, with nearly half a century's
+experience of the eastern rivers of Australia.  He received the boys
+very kindly, and, after offering them refreshment, took them to the
+signal station and look-out.  When he had explained the methods of
+signalling, he allowed them to look through a very fine telescope.  He
+was justly proud of this instrument, it having been presented to him by
+a company of passengers for his gallantry and seamanship in extricating
+his vessel from a rocky shore in a hurricane.
+
+The time had now arrived for taking the bar soundings. Much to the boys'
+delight Captain Craig invited them to accompany him in the life-boat,
+and a few minutes later the crew were pulling the party from the
+miniature cove to the bar.
+
+The water here, owing to the bar formation, was generally in a turbulent
+condition.  Although it was a calm day, they found the boat exceedingly
+lively as she moved to and fro over the bar while soundings were being
+taken.  They experienced sundry disagreeable qualms, and a certain
+screwed-up feeling in the region of the "bread-basket."  The clacking
+tongues of the youngsters grew suspiciously quiet, and Tom's ruddy
+cheeks paled to an exceedingly bilious complexion.  Had you quizzed
+these boys upon their sickly looks, they would have protested with might
+and main against the insinuation of mal-de-mer.  Nevertheless they were
+mighty glad when the pilot, after half an hour's sounding, having
+accomplished his purpose, turned the boat's nose in the direction of
+home.  Once out of the troubled waters, the sick feeling passed away,
+and at the solicitation of the lads "for a pull," the pilot
+good-naturedly allowed them to row to the landing-place.
+
+Before leaving, the pals recited the story of the shark adventure,
+ending in the death of the tiger shark. Captain Craig listened with
+great interest, and not a little excitement, to this narration.
+
+"You have had the narrowest of escapes, Joe Blain, and have very much to
+be thankful for," exclaimed he. "That shark was a most notorious
+character.  He has roamed the Bay for years and years, and has destroyed
+many human lives.  Innumerable efforts for his capture have been put
+forth by the fishermen, and by my own men, but in vain.  Often sighted
+and fished for, he has resisted the many lures set for him.  Again and
+again, when enclosed in their nets, he has broken through, and has long
+been their despair.  Now, however, thanks to a good Providence, and to
+the clever shot of your friend here, this dreadful man-eater has been
+removed."  Advancing to the stockman, the pilot shook him warmly by the
+hand, and thanked him in the name of the community.
+
+As the party rode home in the cool of the evening, they decided to break
+camp next morning, in order to carry out their original intention of
+paying a visit to the old diggings.
+
+
+
+
+                             *CHAPTER XXXI*
+
+                       *OFF TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS*
+
+
+    "The mountain air is cool and fresh,
+      Unclouded skies bend o'er us,
+    Broad placers, rich in hidden gold,
+      Lie temptingly before us."
+        SWIFT.
+
+
+Tents were struck, and the campers' impedimenta securely fastened to the
+pack-saddles, in the grey dawn of the following morning--the party
+having breakfasted by starlight.
+
+The gold diggings about to be visited was situated in the ranges,
+equi-distant from Bullaroi and the Bay.  The route from the Bay lay
+along the homeward track as far as the caves.  At this point the trail
+turned due north--winding among the rugged country to the site of the
+mining camp, which, in its palmy days, covered a flat that lay between
+some precipitous hills and a swiftly flowing mountain stream.
+
+The diggings in question was deserted, save by a few fossikers, or
+gully-rakers, as they were generally called--men who earned a precarious
+living by following up the dry gullies, and picking out wash dirt from
+between the rocks; or else dry-blowing likely spots of the surface. The
+lure of gold--so common to all--fed the imagination of these men.  They
+became nomads; lived in the most primitive ways; faced and endured
+untold hardships; and, if not cheerful, were always hopeful.  They saw
+visions and dreamed dreams--of gold.  The years passed, age pressed
+heavily, eyesight grew dim, and limbs palsied with weakness: but even
+when broken down and encompassed with infirmity, their very senility
+sustained its spirits upon visions of the rich find that was surely
+coming--to-morrow.
+
+When the diggings "broke out," and the rush "set in," the flat was white
+with tents, the population running into four figures.  It was an
+alluvial diggings; that is, the gold was washed from the earth, and not
+crushed from the quartz.  In the flush days of Rocky Gully, rich
+"pockets" of gold were struck, and huge fortunes made. Life then, in the
+character of its splendours and pleasures, was barbaric.  Lucky diggers,
+with the spending lust upon them, ordered champagne baths, lit their
+pipes with five-pound notes, shod their horses with plates of gold,
+squandered their suddenly acquired riches on camp wantons, and among the
+harpies of the gambling hells. There were many exceptions to this
+foolish course, 'tis true; but such is the mental intoxication
+consequent upon a lucky find, and the sudden acquisition of wealth, that
+the majority of lucky diggers succumb, and in a few weeks or months,
+shorn of their possessions, either blow out their brains in remorse, or
+challenge fortune once more upon the same or some other goldfield.
+
+Rocky Gully was now a worked-out diggings, and its population had long
+ago drifted away to other fields. Naught remained to remind one of its
+glory now but a few tumbledown houses, and the wood skeletons of iron
+buildings, together with countless heaps of empty tins and other refuse.
+Naught, that is, save a dozen or so of fossikers, who were distributed
+over the field; each having his area, into which the others never
+intruded.
+
+How was it, then, that the Bullaroi party should have included a trip to
+the deserted mining camp in their programme of sport and adventure?
+There was nothing inviting in the region so far as game was concerned;
+nor was there the rough excitements of a live diggings. The truth is, it
+was the outcome of a suggestion of Harry. The stockman had a yarn he was
+very fond of relating, which included some tragic incidents associated
+with Rocky Gully.  As a youth he lived there in its "boom" days, and
+towards the close of his stay there he was mates with Humpy Bob.  Humpy
+Bob was an eccentric character, well known on a dozen goldfields, whose
+shrewdness as a gold finder was countervailed by his incredible folly in
+spending his riches.  On one occasion, when he had struck a "pocket,"
+from which he drew over a thousand ounces, he began a carouse which
+continued until the last penny was spent.
+
+As illustrative of his folly during that spree, he purchased a general
+store for the sum of one thousand pounds.  The same evening, in company
+with the drunken guests of a champagne party he had given, he proceeded
+to the store, deliberately fired it, and, with the other banqueters,
+stripped stark naked, danced a wild corrobberie while it burned.
+
+Bob sober was the antithesis of Bob drunk.  Abstemious, taciturn,
+industrious, solitary, with a genius for divining likely places, he
+followed the pursuit of gold: seldom failing to earn good wages; often
+winning handsome profits; occasionally making a pile.
+
+Humpy's end came suddenly and tragically; and of this Harry was a
+witness.
+
+The two men were driving a tunnel at a likely spot in the bank of a
+blind gully about three miles from the main camp.  They worked in
+relays, and had driven in about a score of yards, when Harry suggested
+shoring it with saplings for safety.  Humpy Bob, however, who was always
+running risks, made light of the suggestion. They had just struck a vein
+of promising stuff, which gave "prospects" of several grains to the
+dish.  When it was Bob's turn to go on, Harry again suggested shoring up
+certain loose spots; especially one near where he had been picking, for
+there had been a small fall during his shift.  This the other would not
+consent to, though his partner pleaded earnestly.
+
+"There's a hundred to one chances against there being anything serious,
+mate, and I'm not goin' to waste any time in propping up the blessed
+tunnel.  It's not worth it. We'll most likely clean it out to-morrer.
+So-long!"
+
+So saying, the digger entered the drive, and was soon at his work.
+Harry, having nothing to do for a while, went to the tent and stretched
+himself on his bunk for a rest, intending to return in an hour or so to
+wheel out the mullock.  Unfortunately he fell asleep, and hours passed
+by before he awoke.  When he did, he jumped from his bunk and ran out to
+the drive, scolding himself for his negligence.  The barrow was missing
+from its usual place, and, after a hasty search, the youth went to the
+tunnel's mouth and shouted to his mate.  There was no response, nor were
+the usual pick sounds to be heard.  The light was still burning at the
+end of the tunnel.  Hastily traversing the drive in a half-stooping
+position, as indeed compelled by the size of the tunnel, the youth
+covered about half the distance when he stumbled over the barrow,
+severely barking his shins.  Using hot language against the carelessness
+of his mate at leaving the barrow in such a place, and with a half fear
+at the unsatisfactory look of things, he scrambled up and went on
+towards the end of the tunnel.  He had not taken more than two steps
+when he again stumbled; this time over a softer substance. It was his
+mate!
+
+Humpy Bob was lying unconscious, half-covered with a mass of fallen
+earth and rocks.  Groping his way across this pile of debris, the
+excited and frightened youth reached the end of the drive, seized the
+light and returned to his mate.
+
+Tearing frantically at the soil and stones, he liberated old Humpy, and,
+as gently as possible, drew him to the tunnel mouth.  Then dashing to
+the little stream below, he brought water in a billy, and made the
+customary attempts to restore his stricken mate to consciousness. His
+utmost attempts availed not.  The vital spark had fled.  Not all the
+resources of medicine or surgery could bring light into the half-closed
+eyes, or life into those rapidly stiffening limbs.  Humpy Bob would
+never again unearth a nugget, rock a cradle, appraise the value of a
+prospect, or get on the "razzle-dazzle" and "paint the town red."
+
+It would seem that after working for a while, and making a heap of
+mullock, the digger had come out of the tunnel for Harry.  Not seeing
+him about, the old man seized the barrow with the object of wheeling out
+some of the earth.  He had loaded it, and was in the act of wheeling it
+along, when a mass of earth fell full upon his back, fracturing the
+spine.
+
+Harry was greatly affected by this sad occurrence; for Humpy Bob had
+many good points of character, and a strong attachment had grown up
+between them.  As soon as his mate was buried, he left the goldfield,
+and got a job on one of the stations.
+
+He had often thought of revisiting this scene, for he had a feeling that
+good gold would be found there.  Of late the desire to test the ground
+again had grown strong, and, when the project of the jaunt to the
+seaside was launched, he suggested a trip to the old diggings.  The boys
+gladly fell in with the idea, for it furnished them with an item that
+gave additional spice to the outing.
+
+The journey to the diggings was necessarily slow.  The pack-horses were
+heavily weighted by the extra burden of the fish, and the method of
+progress was that shuffling gait known as the "jog."  Though monotonous
+and tiring to the rider, it is the easiest pace for the loaded animals,
+and one that can be kept up all day.
+
+"Seems a pity that we should cart this blessed fish to the diggings,
+Sandy.  Wouldn't it be better to 'cache' it somewhere near the junction?
+It's giving the horses unnecessary work, in my opinion.  Let's see, it's
+twelve miles to the junction, an' fifteen from there to Rocky Gully.
+Supposin' we planted the stuff in the scrub at the junction; it'd save
+thirty miles of hauling, an' be no end of a gain all round."
+
+"Good enough, Joe!  What d'yer say, Harry?  We could hide the barrels
+an' bag easy enough in the scrub."
+
+"M-yes, perhaps so.  Come ter think of it, I'm not so sure.  Barrels'd
+be all right, but 'twon't be the dingoes' fault if they don't root out
+the dried fish.  Tell you what, boys, plant 'em in the caves!"
+
+"Good shot!  The very thing the doctor ordered!  The caves! yes.
+'Twon't take us more'n a mile out of the way; an' 'twill be on the road
+to Bullaroi on the return trip. We can easily strike in on the west side
+of the cave ridge, and hide 'em in the stables.  Nobody knows of that
+place but father an' the 'rangers; now poor ole Ben's shot----"
+
+"Maybe it's ha-aunted, bhoys.  It's juist th' sphot owld Ben'd hide his
+sowl in, so as to frighten awa-ay th' p'lice whin they goes rummagin'
+about f'r booty; loike th' carr-sthle ghosts in th' owld conthry.
+Bedad, thin, Oi'll be expactin' t' see th' bowld raider comin' on us out
+iv th' dark, his face shinin' loike th' stuff phwat matches is made ov."
+
+"Brimstone an' treacle you're thinkin' of, ain't you, Denny?  But, I
+say, chaps, it'll be better to hide 'em at the 'ranger's outlet; though
+it'll be the dickens own job to get the barrels into the cave up that
+slope.  Wouldn't it be better, after all, to hide the stuff in the
+scrub, slinging the bag into a tree, high enough to be safe from the
+dingoes?"
+
+So it would, and have saved a most painful experience; but having
+started the idea of hiding the fish in the caves, it presented an
+attraction that the others would not surrender.  It gave a flavour of
+romance to the act.  Now that he was dead, the bushranger's hiding-place
+took on a new interest; and so it came to pass that Tom found himself in
+a minority of one.
+
+They found it a tough piece of work to get the barrels up the
+precipitous slope to the cave entrance.  But, when the fish was at last
+stored in the forage chamber, as it was now called, and the party had
+remounted their horses, they could appreciate the advantage gained by
+relieving the pack-horses of so much dead weight.
+
+They now made more rapid headway, and struck an accommodation house, in
+the early afternoon, kept by one Jago Smith--an old acquaintance of
+Harry's.
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXII*
+
+                         *HOW THEY STRUCK GOLD*
+
+
+    "There's a bonny wee spot in the mountains I love,
+    Where the pine trees are waving o'erhead far above,
+    Where the miners are happy, kindhearted, and free;
+    And many come here from way over the sea.
+    There's gold in the mountain, there's gold in each glen,
+    The good time is coming, have patience, brave men;
+    Hold on to your ledges, and soon you will see
+    Both money and mills coming over the sea."
+      C. CRAWFORD.
+
+
+Jago Smith was an "old timer," as, in Colonial parlance, men with his
+past were called.  A Londoner by birth, he was initiated when but a
+child into the arts and artifices of that profession which flourishes by
+the application of sleight-of-hand tricks to the pockets and purses of
+an unsuspecting public.  In short, this London arab was a thief,
+belonging to just such a school as Dickens has portrayed in _Oliver
+Twist_.
+
+His career as a collector of "wipes" was brought to a summary end
+through being caught full-handed in a theatre crush.  A "Children's
+Court," or a "First Offender's Act," was unknown in the early days of
+the nineteenth century; consequently young Jago Smith was had up before
+the magistrate, committed to the Assizes, convicted to the hulks, and
+ultimately transported to Botany Bay to serve a term of penal servitude.
+
+At a theatrical effort made by certain prisoners of histrionic talent at
+Sydney, at the tail-end of the eighteenth century, to which first
+Governor Philip and his wife were "graciously" invited, the following
+lines form part of the prologue composed for the occasion--
+
+    "From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas, we come,
+    But not with much eclat or beat of drum.
+    True patriots all; for be it understood,
+    We left our country for our country's good.
+
+    No private views disgraced our generous zeal,
+    What urged our travels was our country's weal,
+    And none can doubt, but that our emigration
+    Has proved most useful to the British nation."
+
+
+Fourteen years' penal servitude for the theft of a few
+pocket-handkerchiefs!  Such a sentence to-day would be regarded as a
+monstrous iniquity; it passed without comment in those days.
+
+But transportation was not an unmixed evil to Jago Smith.  As early as
+1793 schools were started at the penal settlement, under the impression
+that they would be the most likely means of effecting a reformation in
+the morals of youthful prisoners.
+
+Jago, with the consent of the master to whom he was assigned on landing,
+attended a night school, and gained some insight into the three R's.
+
+[Illustration: "'We've struck it rich, I do believe,' cried the
+stockman."--_See p._ 295.]
+
+After a somewhat varied career, the ex-pickpocket, who had served his
+time, became a settler on Rocky Creek; and when the Rocky Gully gold
+rush set in he drove a very profitable trade with the diggers.  In
+addition to raising cattle on his selection, Smith kept an accommodation
+house, where board and lodging was to be had.  As the place was on the
+public road, about five miles from the diggings, it received much
+patronage. Jago was very proud of his signboard.  It was an
+incontestable proof of his accomplishments in writing and spelling.
+
+
+                         ACKOMERDASHON FUR MAN
+                          AN BESTE SMALL BIER
+                        SOULED HEAR GORD SIVE TH
+                            E KWEEN J SMITH
+
+
+As the party drew up to the hitching blocks, old Jago, who was lounging
+in an arm-chair in the verandah, hobbled out to the front, quietly
+surveying the group; to whom Harry addressed himself.
+
+"Good-evenin', Mister Smith.  How are yer gettin' on these times?"
+
+"Not gettin' any younger, you may be sure.  But who be you?"
+
+"Don't yer remember me, Jago?" replied the stockman, walking up to the
+old man.
+
+"Yes; I see who it is now.  You be the boy wot worked with old Humpy,
+an' used ter stay here when Bob had an attack of the jim-jams."
+
+"The same, ole chap.  We're goin' to put up here for the night, and
+intend goin' on to-morrer to where me an' Humpy worked when 'e was took.
+Got room for us, I s'pose?"
+
+"Plenty o' room, me lad.  Not over rushed with travellers these times.
+Better take your 'orses round ter the back; ye'll find the saddle-room
+in the old plice, an' yer can turn the neddies inter the paddock.
+There's plenty o' grass fer 'em."
+
+The boys were ready for the supper of homely fare which awaited them at
+sunset.  After supper, Harry and the old man got into a conversation, in
+which the former stated that he was determined to have a try at the old
+claim; for, though Humpy had put it about when working it that it was a
+"shicer," Harry, of course, knew differently. The gold-bearing stuff, it
+is true, was but a thin vein, but they expected it to develop into
+something better farther on.  Old Jago informed him that no one had
+touched the spot, so far as he knew.  Yes, he had some picks and shovels
+and prospecting dishes, which he had taken as payment at one time and
+another from hard-ups. Harry was welcome to make a selection.
+
+This the stockman did without any delay.  He took from the curious
+assortment of diggers' tools two picks, two short-handled shovels, two
+prospecting dishes, the roller and handle of a windlass, a couple of
+buckets, some stout rope, a length of chain, a strong hook, a crowbar,
+and a pound or two of blasting powder.
+
+These he obtained as a loan, for Smith would not hear of pay.  He viewed
+the whole thing in the light of a joke. The idea of Harry starting to
+work a claim with a parcel of kids who had never seen a gold shaft in
+their lives, with a time limit of three or four days at the most!  The
+stockman was but humouring the fancies and ambitions of the kids.  They,
+no doubt, expected to locate the golden nuggets in the same fashion that
+they would track a missing bullock on the bush, or run down a wild cat
+to its lair in a hollow log.  Well, they would at least develop their
+arm muscles and have blistered hands to show their friends.  So the old
+settler--who at the time of the rush had listened to the confident
+prediction of many a greenhorn, going post-haste to pick up the nuggets
+that were waiting for somebody to tumble over. Not so Harry; he, at
+least, was no greenhorn.  He would give the abandoned workings a trial.
+It would be a novelty for the boys, and though they mightn't get
+anything to boast about, would, he was confident, get enough to give
+each member of the party a souvenir of the visit.
+
+Leaving the accommodation house after an early breakfast, the band of
+diggers, for such we must now call them, arrived at the old workings in
+a couple of hours, passing _en route_ two or three fossikers who were
+working their shows.  These ancients looked with a degree of
+astonishment upon this cluster of youths, whose very jauntiness was
+suggestive of a prime lark.
+
+Arrived at the diggings, the party had a good look round.  Intense
+solitude reigned everywhere, and save for the heaps of rusty cooking
+utensils and other rubbish there was little to indicate that the place
+had once been a busy hive of life and energy.  An old signboard, written
+by another hand than had done Jago Smith's, was seen nailed to a tree.
+Its language was simple and to the point.
+
+
+                              ROYAL HOTEL
+                             ALL DRINKS 6c.
+
+                         _N.B.--Clean Glasses_
+
+
+Harry took a rapid survey of the situation.  The place apparently had
+not been disturbed since the fatal accident.  The old tent poles
+remained as he had left them, and there was no evidence of any one
+having camped there for years.
+
+Proceeding to the tunnel, which, as previously described, was driven
+into the perpendicular bank of a deep gully, things looked pretty much
+as they did on that fatal day, excepting that the earth had fretted away
+about the tunnel mouth, and, on venturing in a short distance, the man
+saw that the roof had broken down, completely blocking the mine.
+
+"Well, Harry," exclaimed Joe, when the leader emerged from the tunnel
+mouth, which the boys had been eagerly watching, "is it all clear?  Did
+you go to the end?"
+
+Didn't git half-way.  Tunnel's half blocked."
+
+"What a pity!" chorused the lads.
+
+"Dunno 'bout that; cause, yer see, it's proof ter me no one's bin
+interferin.'"
+
+"'Twon't be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?" continued Joe.
+
+"Carn't say; depends on the amount that's fallen. But 'tain't my notion
+ter use the tunnel at all.  Yer see, it's this way: it may take us an
+hour or a day to clear the rubbage outer the tunnel.  When we'd done
+that, we'd have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the
+wash-dirt.  Fust an' foremost, there's plenty of foul air in the far end
+of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you coves in the caves.  Let me
+tell you, it's hard work clearing the stinkin' air outer a tunnel.  You
+can git it outer a shaft easy enough, by tyin' a bunch o' bushes onter a
+rope and running 'em up an' down; but it's mighty hard work clearin' a
+tunnel, an' orften a long job.  Then, s'posin' we got it out, we'd have
+ter shore up the whole blessed length; for, let me tell you, I'm not
+goin' ter run any risks in this 'ere job.  We've had fright enough over
+Joe an' the shark, an' I cuddent face the Boss an' the missus if
+anything happened to any of you here.  Now, to shore up this blessed
+tunnel'd take a power of timber, an' ter git it an' fix it'd take a far
+longer time than we've got."
+
+"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep disappointment, voicing
+the feelings of the group of boy diggers, "don't tell us it's all a go,
+an' we're to return without havin' a try!  Can't you find some other
+spot?"
+
+"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was diggin' up
+gowlden prr-aties, an', ochone!  Oi'd just stuck th' pick into a
+monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the laast, an' was tryin' me
+best to upind her wid a laver, whin owld Jago comes bangin' at th' dure.
+Begor!  Oi was sweatin' loike a stoker whin th' owld mahn woke me. Jist
+give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an' be Saint Michael Oi'll----"
+
+"Ye'll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret.  They's more ways of killin'
+a pig besides chokin' 'im with a lump o' butter.  It never was my plan,
+boys, ter use the ole tunnel.  There's a better way nor that.  When me
+an' ole Humpy drove in 'ere, we wus follerin' a lead, an' ye niver can
+tell 'ow far yer 'ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe a 'undered yards
+afore it opens out inter a body.  So we did the right thing then.  Now I
+propose ter put down a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end
+of the tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that.  I calkerlate
+we'll tap it in twenty feet or so.  I know the clarss of country we'll
+have to go through.  All this bank's wot we call 'made up.'  It's a
+formation called pudden stone. It's formed o' river wash, an' is pretty
+pebbly.  The pebbles is the plums.  We'll go through it in a couple o'
+days at most, an' that'd give us two days more afore we need clear orf
+'ome."
+
+The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry's proposal, and set
+about rigging up the camp near the spot which the leader had selected to
+put down the shaft.
+
+While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set to work at sinking
+the shaft.  So expeditious were they that by night they had sunk the
+hole about ten feet and had rigged up the windlass.  All the boys had a
+turn at digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the novelty of
+the work.  Harry and Denny, however, did the main part, while the lads
+manned the windlass, and hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the
+buckets were filled.
+
+At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast preparatory to
+a long day's work at the shaft.  They had to do a good deal of blasting,
+for some of the stones were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed
+time.  It was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy blast,
+Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried out, "Haul up quick!
+we've broken through.  Foul air!"
+
+On winding their comrade up, he declared that the blast had broken the
+ground into the tunnel, and that the foul air was coming freely into the
+bottom of the shaft. "We'll let it stay as it is till termorrer, an'
+then we'll clear it out."
+
+The pals went to sleep that night to dream about the El Dorado which, in
+their imagination, they had struck. The earliest dawn found them at the
+shaft's mouth. Harry tied several bushes to the end of the rope, and
+this was rapidly lowered and raised for about a couple of hours, the
+condition below being tested from time to time by a lighted candle
+placed in a bucket and lowered to the bottom.  At last it remained
+alight, though it burned very feebly.  About half an hour after this,
+the candle, on being sent below again, burned brightly.
+
+"It's all right, now, boys!  We've got rid of the gas, that's a
+blessing.  Lower away!"  In a few seconds Harry was filling the buckets
+with the broken rock and earth.  In a short time it was all cleared up,
+and the leader had started to drive along the line of the vein.  He had
+not cut in more than a couple of feet when he threw down the pick and
+shouted up the shaft, "Hurroar, boys! I've struck a patch.  Be gosh, it
+looks like a pocket!"
+
+The excitement above at this good news may be better imagined than
+described.  The vein of wash-dirt suddenly expanded into a cube of about
+sixty buckets of auriferous earth.  It was a genuine though small
+pocket.  Whether rich or poor could be determined only by washing.
+
+Harry filled a bucket with the dirt, which was speedily hauled up.  The
+next minute he was pulled to the surface, and, spreading the stuff on
+the ground, examined it.  To the great delight of the pals, he picked
+out several large specks and a small nugget, scaling about half an
+ounce.
+
+"It's all right, mates!" cried the stockman, now almost as excited as
+the boys.  "We've struck it rich, I do believe.  Sandy, me boy, git your
+nag an' a packhorse, an' streak fur Jago's as fast as yer can git, an'
+borry a cradle.  It'd take too long ter pan this stuff--must have a
+cradle.  But, look 'ere, don't give the show away.  Tell 'im I got a few
+specks from a bit o' stuff I came acrost, an' that I'm jist goin' ter
+give it a try.  He'll most likely call me a big fool, an' don't yer
+conterdict 'im."
+
+A cradle, it may be said, is a machine on rockers for washing the
+auriferous earth.  The machine is fed with the wash-dirt, a stream of
+water being poured on while it is rocked like a child's cradle.  The
+heavy sand and gravel, together with the precious metal, sink to the
+bottom and are retained by the "ridges," whilst the earth and all light
+matter pass away with the water.  It is finally treated in a dish so
+skilfully that only the pure metal is left.
+
+While Sandy is speeding off to Jago's the rest are busy picking the
+pocket and carrying it down to a flat by the side of the tiny stream
+which ran along the gully bottom.  The work was hard, for the wash-dirt
+was heavy, and the buckets big; but they made fun of the hardships of
+bruised fingers and strained muscles, as they hauled the precious earth
+from the shaft mouth, and then humped it to the stream.
+
+They had not quite finished their work ere Sandy reappeared upon the
+scene with the cradle.  Very little grass had grown during the
+performance of his task.
+
+Scarcely allowing themselves time to bolt down their midday meal, the
+party were grouped around the cradle, which Harry had fixed within a
+yard of the stream. The stockman soon made his dispositions of the
+forces. Joe and Tom are to lift the water and pour it on as required,
+while he and Sandy work the cradle.  Denny is to feed the machine with
+the dirt.
+
+So the work of "washing up" started.  Every now and then Harry stopped
+the work and "cleaned up" the cradle--that is, took out the heavy golden
+sand which was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied it in
+a bag, to be "panned" later.  From time to time the party were gladdened
+by the sight of large specks, and now and then a tiny nugget of some
+grains' weight.  The gold, for the most part, however, was fine.  The
+work went on continuously till night closed in upon them. Though
+dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their work for the day, and
+after supper threw themselves upon their primitive beds and slept the
+sleep of the just.
+
+"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry's last word.
+
+The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#] for their early
+waking.  Perched on the limb of a tree close to the tent, they began
+their morning orisons at the first paling of the stars, making such a
+cachinnation as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in
+startled tones, "Dressin', dad; goin' for the cows this minute."  While
+Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn over on his side, saying in
+sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me
+darlin'! an' sa-ay ye----  Howly Moses, 'tis th' owld Johnny-axes at
+their thricks!"
+
+
+[#] Giant kingfisher.
+
+
+In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as soon as breakfast
+is demolished the lucky diggers make their way to the gully to start
+operations.  The work was a repetition of yesterday's, and, according to
+Harry's calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck well
+to the job; bullock teams couldn't have drawn them from it.
+
+After working for about an hour, Denny, who was shovelling the dirt,
+picked up a lump of rock, saying at the same time, "Oi'll pitch this
+awa-ay, annyways.  It feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: 'tis as
+heavy as lead.  Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"
+
+"Hey, you fool!  don't throw that away.  Let's see it," cried Harry,
+seizing the piece of rock, which was about the size of the lad's head.
+"Why, great jumpin' Jehosaphat!  it's a bloomin' nugget.  You precious
+duffer! if you'd thrown that away I'd 'a' pitched you down the shaft."
+
+The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the leader as he held
+the lump with both hands.
+
+"See 'ere, this white rock's quartz, an' all these yaller veins is gold.
+It isn't wot you'd call a pure nugget, but by the weight of it I guess
+there's a power of the yaller stuff inside.  'Ere, Tom, streak up ter
+the tent fur a tommy an' we'll soon see."
+
+Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the quartz nugget on a
+flat stone that cropped out of the ground near by, and dealt vigorous
+blows upon it with the head of the weapon.  In this way he crushed the
+quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold formed a mass
+in the centre.
+
+"That's all we'll do at present; we'll crush it out properly in a mortar
+when we get home.  Guess there's full twenty ounces o' gold in 'er."
+
+There were no more such finds in the dirt, but the last few lots yielded
+a good deal of coarse gold, one piece weighing about four ounces.
+
+By nightfall they had washed out the bagged ore. There it lay on a cloth
+before the fire, a little heap of pure gold, and beside it the quartz
+nugget, so to call it.
+
+"Call me a frog-eater if there ain't full seventy ounces o' gold in that
+there lot--close on three 'undered pounds' worth!"
+
+
+
+
+                            *CHAPTER XXXIII*
+
+                        *BULLION AND BUSHRANGER*
+
+
+    "And if you doubt the tale I tell,
+    Steer through the South Pacific swell,
+    Go where the branching coral hives
+    Unending strife of endless lives,
+    Go where the rivers roll down through the sand
+    Under skies that are blue in a golden land."
+      KIPLING.
+
+
+"Pull up a moment, chaps.  I want ter say a word afore we strike Jago
+Smith's--we'll sight it over the next ridge. No blabbin' erbout the
+gold.  The ole cove's sure ter arsk erbout our luck.  You keep mum, an'
+leave me ter answer 'im.  He's er good ernuff sort in hes way, is ole
+Jago, an' me an' 'im always got on well, as 'e sort er took a fancy ter
+me.  All the same, 'im an' Ben Bolt is, or was great friends.  That's
+why I steered clear o' the shootin the night we stayed there.  'E might
+'a' cut up rusty, like.  Many's the time 'e's planted the 'ranger when
+the p'lice 'as been 'ot on 'is trail.  'Twuddent s'prise me a bit if the
+kid that wus Ben's mate wus 'idin' somewheres erbout Jago's.  'E's
+several good plants.  At any rate, there must be no blow.  Bes' be on
+the safe side."
+
+In a few minutes the party sighted the accommodation house at a distance
+of a quarter of a mile or so.  They could see the old man in the front,
+talking to a man who held a horse by the bridle.  Even as the party
+sighted the pair they were themselves seen.  After a few hasty words
+with Jago the horseman threw his bridle over the steed's neck, vaulted
+to the saddle, and rode away briskly.
+
+"By George, that 'ere cove's ridin' a good nag.  See the style o' 'im!
+'E's a beauty, 'e is; all muscle an' spirit. If ole Ben wusn't a goner,
+I'd say 'twas 'im on Samson; blamed if I wuddent."
+
+The mounted band have approached the house by this time.  The owner
+stood awaiting them by the hitching posts.  Saluting them as they rode
+up, he jeered good-humouredly--
+
+"I 'opes yer left a few specks fur them fossikers, gintilmin?  'Twud be
+too bad to scoop the pool an' leave the old uns nothin' but mullock
+heaps.  At any rate, ye've brought back the tools--cradle an' all.  Come
+now, 'ow did the stuff pan out?"
+
+"I'll tell yer wot we did git, ole man, sore bones an' blistered 'ands.
+Blame me, but yer soon gits outer the diggin' business.  Tried that bit
+o' stuff I come acrost, wot the kid tole yer erbout.  Waal, speakin' in
+confidence, we didn't git ernuff ter hire a gold escort ter fetch it
+erlong.  We did git a bit--ernuff ter make these young coves a
+breast-pin apiece.  But let me tell yer, one of these days I'm comin'
+back ter have a good prospect. Keep it close, Smith; I don't want any of
+these blessed gully-rakers ter smell anythin'."
+
+"Dark it is, young feller.  Yer can trust me fer not givin' the show
+away.  Comin' in?"
+
+"No, we're makin' fer 'ome.  Just tote the tools ter where youse got
+'em, boys, an' then we'll be orf."
+
+The lads speedily discharged, and were in the saddle again.  The party
+was moving off when Harry said to Jago--
+
+"Forgot ter arsk yer whether yer 'eered that Ben Bolt wus shot by
+Hennessey t'other day."
+
+"Yes, I 'eered it," replied Smith dryly.
+
+"Kid not collared yet?"
+
+"You're more likely ter 'eer about 'im than me: so-long."
+
+"Ole Jago's a deep un," soliloquised Harry as they rode along.  "I
+forgot ter arsk 'im erbout the man we saw ridin' away as we came up," he
+remarked a few minutes later to Joe, who was riding at his side.  "If
+that 'ere 'orse 'e wus ridin' warn't Samson, I'm a greenhorn."
+
+"It might have been the young fellow that got away when Ben was shot.
+It struck me Jago was bluffin' you, Harry."
+
+"My word, Harry," said Tom, riding up on the other side, "you bluffed
+ole Jago over the gold."
+
+"Ain't so sure o' that," replied the stockman.
+
+"No one could have done it better," broke in Joe. "You circumnavigated
+the truth."
+
+"Don't know wot yer mean, my boy: unless it's somethin' in the circus
+line."
+
+"Not exactly that," replied Joe laughingly; "but it reminds me of an
+epitaph I heard about, that was stuck on a fellow's tombstone--
+
+                    HE TRIED HARD NOT TO BE A LIAR."
+
+
+"Wot I said about tacklin' that ground's true ernuff, anyways," replied
+the stockman, with a smile.  "But erbout this gold: we'll go shares, o'
+course.  We'll divide it up inter five equal lots when we get to
+Bullaroi."
+
+"No; that's not fair, Harry," said Sandy.  "We must have a fair
+division."
+
+"Well, wot yer call a fair division, if that's not one?" said the man
+shortly.
+
+"If it was left to me to decide, I would give you half, to start with.
+It was your show.  You did most of the work.  We were more like wages
+men; so at the very least you should get half.  Then I'd divide the
+other half among the rest of us in equal shares."
+
+"Sandy's right," broke in Joe.  "As far as I'm concerned, Harry'll have
+the lot.  I'd like him to take my whack, anyway, because----"
+
+"No, yer don't, Joe.  I know wot yer goin' ter say. Think I'm mean
+ernuff ter take pay fer shootin' a jolly shark?"
+
+"Oh--I--didn't--mean--it--just----"
+
+"Joe meant it as a mark of gratitude, Harry.  I think my way's best.
+Whatcher say?"
+
+"Agreed!" chorus the four.
+
+"Joe, me mahn," said Denny a little while later, as he and Blain were
+riding together, "cud ye tell me phwat me quarter ov a half ov th'
+gowld'll come to?"
+
+"Lemme see, seventy ounces; half o' that, thirty-five; quarter of
+thirty-five is eight an' three-quarter ounces: yes, your share is eight
+an' three-quarters, Denny."
+
+"Give it in pounds, plaase, Joe."
+
+"Pounds!  Oh, I say, you've got me there.  Well, let's see.  What was it
+Harry said they'd give us per ounce at the bank?"
+
+"Three sivinteen an' a tanner, Joe, me bhoy.  Oi tuk note ov that."
+
+"Yes, that was the price, I 'member.  Eight and three-quarter times
+three seventeen six--er--lemme see, that'd be--eight threes twenty-four,
+twen--bother it, I mean eight times seventeen an' six, that's a hundred
+an' ninety--no, _that's_ not it.  Let me put it down in me mind--one,
+seven, six; that's right!  Well, multiply it by eight, an' leave the
+quarters out for a bit.  That's--why, it's three hundred an'--no, it
+can't be that much, surely?  Bust it, if I only had a pencil an' a bit
+o' paper I'd soon tot it up.  Try again.  Eight into seventeen and six
+is----  Blest if it isn't an interest sum, after all, Denny; an' they
+always sew me up."
+
+"It's th' troth, Joe; it's th' most interastin' sum Oi iver heerd tell
+iv.  Thry it agin, Marsther Joe; doan't let a little sum loike that
+ba-ate ye.  'Twas two hondered pounds ye said larrst.  Make her go a
+little higher if yes can."
+
+"What! two hundred pounds!  Murder! 'tis shillin's I was reckoning."
+
+"O-o-h!" exclaimed Denny, with a profound sigh. "Awaay goes me bright
+dra-ames!  Sure, thin, 'twas buyin' th' owld family carr-sthle Oi was
+thinking ov, an makin' melyinaares o' me dear payrunts; maybe the Quaan
+wud be makin' me farther Lord Kineavy!"
+
+"Well, you are a cure, Denny.  You'll have me addressin' you as the
+Honourable Dennis next.  Oh, I say, didn't Harry say he wouldn't be
+surprised if the gold fetched four pounds an ounce, it was so rich?
+Well, let's reckon it at four quid.  Eight fours are thirty-two--that's
+thirty-two pounds.  The three-quarters of four pounds is three.
+Thirty-two and three are thirty-five; thirty-five pounds.  There you
+are, ole boss, thirty-five."
+
+"Thirty-foive pounds!  Begorrah! it's a bloomin' capertillist Oi am!
+Whoi, glory be! it'll do betther thin buyin' a rotten owld sthone
+carr-sthle made ov brick an' thatch; it'll pay for bringin' out me
+payrunts in th' emigrr-ashon ship.  Be Saints Pathrick an' Michael, 'tis
+a happy bhoy Oi am at this moment!  Phwat wid me savin's, an' Norah's,
+an' this haape ov gowld, Oi'll buy thim th' best cabin on th' boat, and
+so Oi will!"
+
+In due time the party arrived at the junction of the roads, and crossed
+the ridge to the cave entrance.  After placing their horses in the patch
+of scrub near the road, they scrambled up to the opening.  Lighting the
+candle, Sandy led the way to the forage chamber, where the fish was
+stored.
+
+"You don't feel so creepy, Denny, as when you were here last," said Tom
+to the Irish "boy, as they followed the others into the chamber.
+
+"It's thrue for ye, Tom.  Owld Ben's not thrubblin' me to-da-ay.  'Tis
+only thinkin' ov me dear farther an' mauther comin' out on th' sa-ay Oi
+am.  As for th' 'ranger, he's as dead an' dhry by this toime as the
+smoked fish yonder."
+
+"Is he?" cried a loud voice from the rear.
+
+"Howly Moses! 'tis th' 'ranger's ghost," cried the Irish boy, as a
+bull's-eye flashed in his face, dazzling his eyes and confusing his
+mind.  Terror-possessed by this ghostly manifestation--for he saw naught
+but a bright light, preceded by an awful voice--the boy bolted.  He
+rushed towards the chamber exit, which he barely reached ere the sharp
+crack of a revolver sounded, what time the panic-stricken youth
+staggered forward, falling with a dull thud upon the stone floor.
+
+It need hardly be said that the other members of the group were startled
+out of speech and action.  Not ten seconds elapsed between the cry of
+the man or ghost and the tragedy of the revolver shot and the fallen
+boy.
+
+The moment the boy fell the others ran towards him, but before they had
+taken three steps the light flashed on them and a revolver covered them.
+Behind the lantern came a voice that more than the lantern, or even
+pistol, cowed them: "_Stop!  Hands up!_"
+
+
+          *[Illustration: Behind the lantern came a voice that
+           more than the lantern, or even pistol, cowed them:
+             "*_*Stop!  Hands up!*_*" (missing from book)]*
+
+
+For the second time the hands of the boys went up at command.  One thing
+was made quite clear, at any rate: this was no ghostly visitant.  Ghosts
+didn't carry revolvers, nor was there long any mystery about this
+personage.
+
+"That young cove reckoned I was dead and dry as your smoked schnapper,
+did he?  The young fool'll smoke and dry fast enough in the place I've
+sent him to. You infernal asses to come here!  But you'll never live to
+tell any one; make up your minds to that."
+
+It was in truth the bushranger himself.  Of that there could be no
+doubt.  The news of his death was either a make-up or a gross
+exaggeration.  Here he stood, in the flesh, in one of his most dangerous
+moods.  A black fit was on him.  Under its influence he was capable of
+almost any atrocity.  The lads were horror-stricken. There, before them,
+lay the body of their comrade, the gay, witty, affectionate Denny, who
+but a few moments ago was in the seventh heaven of delight at the
+thought of bringing out his parents with the proceeds of his share of
+the gold; and now--it was too awful!
+
+"Look 'ere, Ben Bolt!" exclaimed Harry, after a few seconds' silence,
+"you've shot an innercent boy in cold blood.  You've grossly belied your
+reputation that you never laid a hand on woman or child.  We came here
+with no thought of spyin' upon yer, for we believed yer to be dead.  In
+five minits we wud 'ave gone away with our fish, none the wiser for your
+presence.  You've not the slightest justerfication fer takin' that life,
+an' if yer shoots me the next minit fer it, I tell yer to yer face ye're
+a blaggard an' coward, an' the pity is that the news of yer bein' shot
+wasn't true."
+
+Why Harry was not shot off-hand, it were hard to say. The bushranger was
+convulsed with rage: thrice he levelled his revolver at the brave man,
+and as often lowered it.  At last, with a voice hoarse with passion, he
+said, "I'll send you along the road I've driven your mate, curse you!
+You think you're very game, but I'll take all that out of you before
+I've done with you.  You'll be longing for your end hours before it
+comes....
+
+"Here, boy," continued he, pointing to Tom.  "Take that green-hide and
+tie your mates as I tell you.  Look sharp, or I'll lay you alongside
+your mate yonder."
+
+Thus dragooned, Tom securely tied his mates' hands behind their backs.
+As soon as this was accomplished, the outlaw, sticking his revolver in
+his belt, served Tom in the same way, and in addition trussed each
+victim. Having set them in a row like a group, of mummies, he addressed
+them--
+
+"You'll lie here for the present.  I'll deal with you later.  I've got a
+little job to do first.  That fool Hennessey's coming out this way with
+a couple of troopers to trap me.  'Twasn't enough that he winged my
+mate, he's sworn to have me inside of the week.  And I swear that I'll
+have him inside of six hours.  I'm going out now to have a look round.
+If you coves try any of your tricks, I'll make hell for you.  I shan't
+be far off, you may bet."
+
+So saying, the outlaw went out into the chamber where his horse was
+stabled, and led him along the passage to the cave entrance.
+
+"I say, Harry, it was Ben Bolt that we saw at ole Jago's this mornin'."
+
+"True.  I cud 'ave taken me oath a'most that the 'orse wus Samson, but I
+didn't git a fair view of the bloke's face.  Yes, 'twor Ben that we saw.
+He must 'a' got 'is information erbout Hennessey from the ole man. It's
+wunnerful 'ow they does git the news.  I 'ope 'e don't git er charnse
+ter draw er bead on Hennessey.  He'll 'ave ter be mighty smart ter do
+it.  But, dear! dear! on'y ter think of poor Denny lyin' over
+there--dead!  I wish ter 'evven 'e'd 'a' shot me instead.  Wot'll your
+father an' mother say, Sandy?  Poor Norah, too!  It'll be the killin' of
+'er."
+
+"Whisht, boys, spaake low: Oi'm not kilt ontoirely; only knocked
+spaachless.  Oi'm betther nor tin dead Chinymen yit."
+
+It was the sweetest sound that ever ravished the ears of the boys.  Here
+was the blissful fact--Denny was not dead; was very much alive.  If the
+lads did not immediately cry out with joy it was because their joy was
+too deep for utterance.
+
+"Don't spaake or sthir awhoile till Oi see if th' coast's clear."
+
+Rising quietly to his feet, the Irish boy stole along the corridor that
+led to the mouth of the cave.  After a hasty but keen survey of the
+immediate neighbourhood, he returned to his companions, knife in hand,
+and in a few minutes had freed them.
+
+"And are you not wounded, Denny?  We never dreamed but that the villain
+had shot you dead.  You lay just like a corpse.  He was under that
+impression too, or he'd never have left you."
+
+"Yez see 'twas this way: Oi was fair flabbergasted whin th' blazin'
+light dazzled me oiyes.  Oi made shure 'twas th' 'ranger's ghost.  Oi
+wud 'a' stood, but me ligs wuddn't.  They sthreaked off loike a
+paddy-melon goes for a hole in th' fince--carryin' me body wid thim.
+Th' firsht thing Oi felt was a rock sthrikin' me fut, an' thin, begorra,
+somethin' whistled past me ear as Oi tumbled forrard, hittin' th' flure
+a nasty crack wid me head.  Th' nixt thing Oi heard was owld Harry
+tongue-bangin' th' rapscallion ov a murtherer fur killin' me.  'Be
+jabers!' ses Oi to meself, 'he's kilt me ontoirely wid a shot from hes
+pisthol, if phwat me bowld frind ses be th' thruth. Go it, me brave
+bhoy!  Tare an' ouns, but ye're givin' him th' coward's blow in foine
+style!'
+
+"Thin Oi sees him rope yez up loike dhrapery parr-sels, an', ses Oi,
+'Jist wait till yez is gone, me hairr-y breasted sna-ake!' an' wid that
+Oi comes to me ray-son an' knows that Oi was not dead at all, at all.
+Oi was jist goin' to git up an' give him a bit iv me tongue, whin the
+thought comes--'Lie still, ye gossoon, till he goes an' ye can liberaate
+yer mates!'  So now we'll be even wid th' omadhaun."
+
+"The quicker we're outer this the better!" exclaimed Harry, as soon as
+he was released.  "There's no knowin' when the 'ranger'll return; if 'e
+finds us loose, 'e'll shoot us to a cert.  What a pity we left our guns
+with the 'orses!  'Ope 'e won't find 'em.  It'll be risky goin' out, as
+we don't know where the feller is.  'E may be close by watchin' the
+'ole.  The bes' thing'll be for us ter make a dash ter the scrub as soon
+as we're outer the cave."
+
+"There's a much safer way than that," said Sandy. "We'll go out the way
+we came in when we first discovered this place.  Lucky we brought a
+candle with us.  Come along; every moment is precious."
+
+So saying, Sandy strode in advance, the others following closely at his
+heels.  The party soon hit upon the passage leading to the cave opening
+on the other side of the ridge.  In twenty minutes or so they were in
+the open.
+
+Their first act was to plunge into the thick bush.  This shielded them
+from ordinary observation.  After a short confab, they concluded that
+the wisest thing to do was to creep along in the thickest part, in the
+direction of the horses.  They had hardly started when the sharp crack
+of a rifle broke upon their ears.  Stopping short, they listened
+eagerly; with beating hearts, it must be confessed.  Again and again,
+shots were fired; at last they heard the pounding of hoofs, rapidly
+nearing them.
+
+"'Ssh--don't move--they're on the hard road," said Harry to the
+nervously excited youths.
+
+The road passed the caves about two hundred yards from where the party
+lay.  Presently, with increasing clatter, Ben Bolt rode furiously along,
+and after a minute's interval, Sergeant Hennessey, accompanied by two
+troopers, the Sergeant leading by about fifty yards. Just as he was in
+the act of passing, the officer took a snap-shot at the 'ranger.  In a
+few minutes all sight and even sound of pursued and pursuers had gone.
+
+"No fear of Ben Bolt trubblin' us now fer a spell. 'Ope Hennessey 'll
+nab 'im sure this time.  Let's moosey erlong, lads."
+
+It didn't take the party long to pick up the steeds and load up the
+packhorses with the fish.  The sun had barely set ere they were well on
+the last stage of the return journey.
+
+
+The M'Intyres are just concluding the evening meal. The conversation
+chiefly centres around the campers. Mrs. M'Intyre had given many a look
+along the track during the afternoon, in the hope of sighting the lads.
+The understanding when they left was that they were to return at the end
+of the second week.  It was now Saturday evening.
+
+"I won't give them up till ten o'clock.  I expect they have made a late
+start.  Yes, Maggie, I own that I am a bit fidgety now that I've heard
+that Ben Bolt has been seen in the vicinity of the caves."
+
+"Weel, ye can juist ease yure mind on that pint, my dear, for the
+Sairgeant and a pairty o' troopers are patrolling in that direection, so
+that there's no' the sma'est pairtical o' reesk."
+
+"It was lucky for them, mummie, that they had started for their trip
+before the revised version of the engagement between the police and the
+bushrangers was published, for had you known of the mistake you would
+never have let the boys go.  What are they going to do with the youth
+that Hennessey wounded?  They say Ben Bolt's mad over it, and swears to
+have Hennessey's life."
+
+"The misguided lad wull be pit on his trial as sune as the wound on his
+thigh permeets."
+
+"Do you think they'll hang him, father?"
+
+"Nae, nae, they'll no' hang the chiel; he has never ta'en life, nor is
+he a hardened ruffian.  He stairted this wild life 'for the fun o' it,'
+like mony another silly laddie.  The Sairgeant tells me that Jock Smith,
+for that's his name, is gled to be captured.  His eyes hae been opened
+to the folly and sin that are compreehended in sic a life.  Insteed o'
+fun, he has encountered nought but hairdship and meesery.  The misguided
+laddie wull hae plenty o' time for repentance."
+
+The evening calm is suddenly and noisily disturbed. The station dogs set
+up a great babble of barking, and Jessie, who had gone out to the front
+verandah, comes running in helter skelter and screaming--
+
+"Father, mother, hear the dogs!  It's the boys, I bet tuppence.  Hurrah!
+Hurrah!----"
+
+"Jessie, Jessie!  you are certainly developing very----"
+
+Mrs. Mac is prosing without an audience, for the girls are flying along
+the track to the slip-rails, accompanied by the barking dogs.
+
+
+It was verging on midnight when the Bullaroi household broke up.  The
+adventures were told with a degree of modesty to an intensely interested
+and at times breathless company.  The spoils of the sea and the spoils
+of the mine were displayed to the admiration of all. Mrs. M'Intyre gave
+high praise to the pals for their success as fish-curers; while the gold
+spoke for itself, needing no expert opinion.
+
+Mr. M'Intyre had the last word.
+
+"Ye've advanced a big step towards yure manhood, laddies, and I'm prood
+o' ye the nicht.  Yure conduc' under they perils by sea and land is more
+precious by far that yon gleeterin' gowd.  A guid name is raither to be
+chosen than great riches.  Thank the Lord for a' His mercies!
+Guid-nicht, bairns."
+
+
+
+                           "GOOD-NIGHT ALL."
+
+
+
+
+           _Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
+
+
+
+
+
+
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