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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of First in the Field, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: First in the Field
+       A Story of New South Wales
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: L. Rahey
+
+Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21308]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST IN THE FIELD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+First in the Field, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+Here we have another Manville Fenn book, full of realistic characters
+who get into positions of great suspense--the usual formula for this
+excellent author.
+
+The time of the story is the early part of the nineteenth century, and
+the place is, for most of the book, a sheep and cattle station in New
+South Wales. The owner is a former Doctor who had practised in London,
+and who had driven himself to illness with his work: the only
+possibility for him was a new outdoor life.  There are various people
+working on the farm, including three "tame" aborigines; old Samson,
+full of wisdom; Brookes, a younger farm-servant; and Mayne, known as
+Leather, who is a convict whose good behaviour so far has meant that he
+can be trusted to work on a farm.  There are also Mrs Braydon, and Nic's
+two sisters, Nic being the protagonist of the story.
+
+Nic, who had been left behind aged ten in an English suburban boarding
+school, is collected from there when he was fifteen, and brought out to
+Australia on the Northumbrian, an East Indiaman. After an "uneventful"
+voyage, they arrive in Sydney.  The main part of the book concerns the
+doings of Nic and the farm workers on The Bluff, along with some
+upsetting interventions from the man farming a nearby sheep and cattle
+station, The Wattles.
+
+As always, a dramatic story, well worth reading or listening to.
+NH
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+FIRST IN THE FIELD--A STORY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+ONE AFTERNOON.
+
+"I say, don't, Green: let the poor things alone!"
+
+"You mind your own business.  Oh! bother the old thorns!"
+
+Brian Green snatched his hand out of the quickset hedge into which he
+had thrust it, to reach the rough outside of a nest built by a bird,
+evidently in the belief that the hawthorn leaves would hide it from
+sight, and while they were growing the thorns would protect it from
+mischievous hands.
+
+But the leaves opened out slowly that cold spring, and a party of boys
+from Dr Dunham's school, the Friary, Broadhurst, Kent, was not long in
+spying out the unlucky parents' attempt at house-building and nursery.
+Still, the thorns did their duty to some extent when Brian Green of the
+red head leaped across the big dry ditch, rudely crushing a great clump
+of primroses and forcing them down the slope, for when the
+freckled-faced lad thrust his hand in to grasp the nest a sharp prick
+made him withdraw it, while this action brought it in contact with a
+natural _chevaux de frise_, scarified the back, and made a long scratch
+on his thumb.
+
+"I wish you'd keep your tongue inside your teeth, Nic Braydon!" cried
+the boy fiercely.  "You won't be happy till I've given you another
+licking.  Look here what you've made me do!"
+
+"I didn't make you do it," said the first speaker.  "Why don't you let
+the birds alone?"
+
+"Because, if you please, Miss Braydon," said the bigger lad mincingly,
+"I'm not so good as you are.  Oh dear, no!  I'm going to take that nest
+of young blackbirds because I want them to bring up and keep in a cage.
+I'm going to transport them to the shed in the playground."
+
+The first boy winced sharply at his companion's words, and the four lads
+present burst into a derisive laugh at his annoyance; but he smothered
+it down, and said quietly:--"Then you may as well leave them alone, for
+they're not blackbirds."
+
+"Yes, they are, stoopid."
+
+"No, they're not."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because I found the nest when it was first built, and saw the eggs and
+the old bird sitting."
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?  Oh, I say, isn't he a nice, good little boy?  He
+doesn't want me to take the young birds because he wants to steal them
+himself."
+
+The others laughed in their thoughtlessness as their schoolfellow winced
+again, and Brian Green still hung on to the bank, sucking the scratches
+on his bleeding hand and grinning with satisfaction at the annoyance his
+innuendoes caused.
+
+"I say, boys," he cried, "they don't transport people for life for
+stealing young blackbirds, do they?"
+
+There was a fresh roar of laughter, and the boys watched Dominic
+Braydon, who stood frowning, to see if he would make some sharp retort,
+verbal or physical, and perhaps get thrashed again.  But he concealed
+his annoyance, and said quietly:
+
+"That's a thrush's nest."
+
+"You don't know anything about it, Convict," said Green.
+
+The boy winced again; but he went on:
+
+"Well, I know that.  Blackbirds make rougher nests, and they're not
+plastered inside so neatly with clay as that is.  Then the eggs are
+different: blackbirds' are all smudgy, dingy green; those were beautiful
+blue eggs, with a few clear spots on one end.  Yes, look," he cried;
+"there's half one of them."
+
+As he spoke he leaped down into the ditch, and picked up a fragile,
+dried-up portion of an egg and showed it to his companions.
+
+"Yah!  Old Botany Bay don't know what he's talking about," said Green,
+dragging a hedge-stake from the top of the bank, and wrenching the upper
+part of the dense hawthorn growth into a gap, through which he pulled
+the nest with its contents, four half-fledged birds, looking, with the
+loose down at the back of their heads, their great goggle eyes and wide
+gapes, combined with the spiky, undeveloped feathers and general
+nakedness, about as ugly, goblin-like creatures as a painter could have
+desired.
+
+"There!" cried Green, dropping the hedge-stake and leaping back over the
+ditch; "aren't those blackbirds?  Oh, murder!"
+
+There was a great roar of laughter, for the clumsy leap resulted in two
+of the callow birds being jerked out heavily into the bottom of the
+ditch, and upon their recovery one was found to be dead.
+
+"Never mind," said Green; "three are better to bring up.  Now then, in
+you go, ugly."
+
+He placed the bird in the nest with its companions, down by which it
+snuggled itself at once, so that the three completely filled the bottom.
+
+"Fits splendidly, boys.  I shall make old Botany Bay get worms for me
+and chop them up to feed them."
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself;" said the first boy, frowning.
+"You know you let those young starlings die."
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself;" retorted Green, "getting yourself
+put in a school among young gentlemen.  I don't know what the doctor was
+thinking about to take a convict's son."
+
+"My father is not a convict," cried Dominic angrily.
+
+"Oh, isn't he, just.  Transported for life.  We know, don't we, boys?"
+
+"Yes--yes," was chorused.
+
+"Of course he was," cried Green.  "You can't keep these things quiet.
+Pretends his father is a settler.  Yes; the judge settled him for life."
+
+The boy looked round for applause, and received it sufficiently to make
+him go on with his banter.
+
+"Just as if we weren't sure to find out the truth.  Calls him a
+squatter.  Yes; the government made him squat pretty quickly."
+
+There was another laugh as the boys wandered on along the edge of the
+great common, where the quickset hedge divided it from the cultivated
+land, high above which a lark was circling and singing with all its
+might.
+
+"I want to know why the doctor lets him stop amongst gentlemen's sons."
+
+"I know, Bry Green," said a mischievous-looking, dark-eyed boy; "it's
+because his father pays."
+
+"He wouldn't be here long if his father didn't," said Green laughingly.
+
+"Unless he supplied the doctor with sugar and soap and candles and soda
+and blue."
+
+There was a roar of laughter once more, in which Dominic Braydon joined,
+and Green turned so suddenly on the last speaker that the young thrushes
+were nearly jerked out of the nest.
+
+"Do you want me to give you a wipe on the mouth, Tomlins?" cried the boy
+angrily.
+
+"Oh no, sir; please don't, sir," was the reply, with a display of mock
+horror and dread; "only you said gentlemen's sons, sir,--and I thought
+what a pity it was Nic Braydon's father wasn't a grocer."
+
+"My father's a wholesale dealer in the City," said Green loftily; "and
+it's only as a favour that he lets old Dunham have things from his
+warehouse at trade price."
+
+"Ho, ho, ho! here's a game!" cried the dark boy, throwing himself down
+on the velvety turf and kicking out his legs in his delight.
+
+"My father isn't a poor parson," continued Green contemptuously; "and if
+any of you fellows like to call on me during the holidays, any one will
+show you Alderman Green's big house on Clapham Common.  We keep a
+butler, footman, coachman, and three gardeners."
+
+"And the gardeners make all the beds," said Tomlins, at which there was
+another laugh.
+
+"You're a little idiot, Tomlins," said Green loftily.
+
+"Yes, sir; but I can't help it," said the boy meekly.  "You see my
+father never brought home turtle soup from the Lord Mayor's dinner so as
+to make me big and fat."
+
+"You won't be happy till I've rubbed your ugly snub nose against the
+next tree," cried Green.  "Get up, you gipsy-looking cub!"
+
+He stepped quickly as he spoke to where the boy still lay upon the green
+and kicked him viciously.
+
+"Oh!" yelled the boy, who began to writhe now in earnest as he fought
+hard to control himself, but in vain, for he rose to his knees at last
+with the tears coming fast, and then limped slowly along, sobbing
+bitterly.
+
+"Serve you right," cried Green.  "Teach you not to be so jolly saucy.
+Now then, none of your sham.  I didn't hurt you much.  Go on."
+
+"I--I can't yet," sobbed the boy.
+
+"Oh yes, you can.  None of that.  Here, carry these."
+
+He thrust the nest of young thrushes into the boy's hand, and forced him
+to proceed, limping heavily.
+
+"Look at the little humbug," cried Green, as they all went on, with
+Dominic Braydon hanging down his head and gazing hard at the ground to
+keep from darting indignant glances at the tyrant who had bullied and
+insulted him till it had been almost beyond bearing.  He felt a choking
+sensation in the throat, and an intense longing to do something; but his
+ways were peaceful, and Green, was heavy, big, and strong.  In addition,
+he was cock of the school, to whom every one had yielded for a long time
+past; and Dominic Braydon had still fresh in his memory that day when he
+had resisted a piece of tyranny and fought at the far end of the school
+garden, where an unlucky blow on the bridge of the nose had half blinded
+him and made him an easy victim to the enemy, who administered a severe
+drubbing and procured for his adversary a birching for fighting--it was
+before caning days--and a long series of impositions for obstinacy, a
+trait the doctor said that he absolutely abhorred--Dominic's obstinacy
+consisting in a stubborn refusal to confess who had beaten him.  This
+his schoolfellows called honourable; but Green had other opinions, and
+set it down to the fear of getting another thrashing for telling tales.
+
+But Green was not quite correct.
+
+And so on this bright spring half-holiday the boys went on along the
+side of the common toward the dense furze clump, Green hectoring,
+throwing stones at everything he saw, from the donkeys and geese to the
+yellow-hammers which flitted along the hedge, stopping now and then to
+twitter out their quaint little song about "a little bit o' bread and no
+cheese," and looking as much like canaries as they could as they perched
+upon some twig.
+
+"I'll give you a bit o' cheese and no bread," cried Green, as he hurled
+stone after stone, but fortunately with the worst of aim.  "Now then,
+you Tomlins, stop that miserable snivelling, and walk upright; you're
+not hurt."
+
+The boy hastily wiped his eyes, as he mentally wished that he was big
+and strong.
+
+"And don't you drop those birds, or I'll give you another," shouted
+Green, as he sent another pebble flying.
+
+The boy stifled a sob, and followed limping.
+
+"Lean on me, Bob," said Dominic.
+
+"Thank you," sobbed the boy; and then in a whisper, "My hip hurts as if
+it was put out."
+
+"Not so bad as that," said Dominic in a low tone; and he helped the boy
+along till Green looked back, saw what was taking place, and shouted:
+
+"Now then, none of that, Convict.  He's only shamming.  Let him alone."
+
+"Don't let him touch me, Nic," whispered the boy piteously; "I can
+hardly walk."
+
+Dominic said nothing, but his brow was full of lines; and he looked down
+at the ground and supported his companion by tightly holding his arm.
+
+"Do you hear?" roared Green, stopping now.  "I told you to leave that
+little sham alone."
+
+"I'm not shamming, Nic," sobbed the boy in a whisper; "it hurts
+dreadfully every time I move my leg."
+
+"Oh, you won't, won't you?" cried Green menacingly.  "I shall have to
+give you a lesson too, Master Braydon, and transport you into a better
+state of mind.  Stand aside, will you?"
+
+As he came up he struck Nic a back-handed blow across the chest, forcing
+him backward and making Tomlins utter a cry of pain.
+
+"Now then, none of that," continued Green.  "Go on, and take care of
+those birds,--go on!"
+
+The boy in his dread and pain, wincing in the expectation of a fresh
+kick, staggered on for a few paces, and then with a cry of misery fell
+forward flat upon his chest.
+
+"Mind those birds!" yelled Green, starting forward, and bending down he
+flung the wretched boy over on to his back so as to extricate the bird's
+nest.
+
+But he was too late; the unfortunate callow songsters had been saved
+from a lingering death by starvation and imprisonment, the sides of the
+clay-lined nest being crushed in, and the breath out of the tender
+little bodies.
+
+They were quite dead, and in a fit of vindictive rage Green flew at the
+innocent author of the mischief.
+
+"You miserable little beast!" he roared; and his foot was raised to
+deliver a savage kick.  "Get up!"
+
+But instead of Tomlins getting up, Green went down.  For, quick as
+thought, Dominic rushed at him.
+
+"Let him alone!" he cried hoarsely; and the fierce thrust he gave sent
+the young tyrant into a sitting position upon a cushion-like tuft rising
+from the closely cropped grass.
+
+But that tuft was only cushion-like in appearance.  There were geese
+feathers about, but they did not form its contents, for it was stuffed
+with keen, stiff thorns such as can grow to perfection upon a Kentish
+common; and if Brian Green had been an indiarubber ball he could not
+have rebounded more suddenly than he did.
+
+Raising the now empty nest he threw it with all his might at Dominic,
+and both his fists after it.
+
+The nest missed; the fists took effect, alighting as they did upon
+Dominic's breast and shoulder, and completely driving all thought of
+consequences out of the boy, who retaliated with such good effect that,
+as the lookers-on cheered and shouted encouragement, the fight raged
+fiercely.  Even Tomlins forgot his sufferings, and watched every
+fluctuation of the struggle with an intense longing to see the school
+tyrant effectually mastered and dragged down from the pedestal whence he
+had so long dominated and ill-used all around.
+
+The others shared his feelings, and a couple immediately constituted
+themselves seconds during the few minutes the fight went on fast and
+furious, Dominic always being ready to dash into the affray after being
+dragged up at the close of the wrestling bout which ended each round,
+while Green grew more and more deliberate, as buzzing sounds came into
+his head, ringings into his ears, and it began to dawn upon him that Nic
+Braydon had the hardest face he ever touched, and that it was of no use
+to keep on hitting it, for it always returned to be hit again.
+
+At last, to the intense delight of the boys, it became evident that the
+result of the encounter must be a sound thrashing for Brian Green, and
+Nic's second kept on whispering to him to do this and do that to bring
+it to an end.
+
+Then came a most exciting finish, in which Nic was following up blow
+with blow, and Green, backing slowly away, guarding himself
+ineffectually, and growing confused and helpless, was wondering whether
+Nic had had enough, when the fight came to a sudden termination, and
+fists dropped down to sides, for the sonorous voice of the doctor arose
+from close at hand with:
+
+"Young gentlemen, what is the meaning of this disgraceful scene?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+AFTER THE FIGHT.
+
+Three boys began to explain at once; but the doctor, who was walking
+with his wife and two daughters, and had been attracted by the struggle
+going on, held up his hand.
+
+"That will do! that will do!" he said in his most dignified manner and
+with his deepest-toned voice.  "I have seen enough.  Disgraceful!
+disgraceful!  It would have been bad enough in the village lads and the
+farm labourers' boys; but in the young gentlemen of the Friary it is
+outrageous.  Silence!" he nearly shouted, as Nic began to speak.  "I
+tell you I saw enough.  You, sir, were attacking Green with a violence
+that was nothing less than brutal and savage.  I am shocked, quite
+shocked.  Such conduct cannot be borne.  Ladies present too, exposed to
+seeing your ruffianly violence."
+
+"But, sir--" began Nic.
+
+"How dare you speak, sir, after I have ordered you to be silent!  Your
+half-holiday is cancelled.  Back all of you to the Friary; I will see
+you on my return.  Now, my dears, we will resume our walk."
+
+The doctor turned upon his heels, and went off with his ladies talking
+in a loud voice about botany, the words _Ranunculaceae_ and
+_Caryophyllaceae_ being plainly heard as he stopped and picked a yellow
+blossom and a tuft of weed, the young ladies glancing back twice at the
+boys who had been guilty of so disgraceful a breach of scholastic
+etiquette as to have their fight take place upon an open common and let
+it be seen.
+
+Nic stood arranging his jacket and torn-off collar, looking down rather
+dismally at Green, and wishing that he had not hit him quite so hard;
+for his adversary was seated upon the grass where there was no furze,
+embracing his knees and resting his brow upon them, softly swaying his
+head from side to side.
+
+Tomlins was the first to speak, for the others were looking after the
+doctor, and were--especially the two seconds--wondering what the doctor
+would say when he came back, and how severe their punishment would be.
+
+The fight had done the little dark-eyed fellow good.  It was like so
+much liniment rubbed into his bruise to see the brutal tyrant of the
+school well thrashed; and feeling that with such a protector as Nic he
+had no more to fear from Green, he was not above giving expression to
+his thoughts.
+
+"Never you mind, Nic Braydon," he said.  "I shall speak out when the
+doctor has us up.  It wasn't your fault, but bully Gooseberry Green's.
+He began it, knocking me about, kicking me--a brute.  I shall tell the
+doctor everything just as it happened."
+
+At this Green raised his face to dart a vindictive, threatening look at
+the little fellow, but he had not paused to think about the state of his
+face, which was comic in the extreme, and instead of alarming Tomlins
+made him forget his lameness more and more, and sent him into a fit of
+laughter.
+
+"Here, boys, look at Gooseberry's phiz.  He seems as if he'd been
+washing it and left it too long to soak!  My! what a swelled head!"
+
+The others joined in the roar of laughter, and Green's face was hidden
+again directly.
+
+But Nic had not laughed.  He was hurt bodily and mentally.  There was a
+feeling of regret, too, uppermost, which made him resent this unseemly
+mirth as cowardly to a fellow enemy.
+
+"You be quiet, Tomlins!" he cried.
+
+"What for?" retorted the boy.  "You haven't been kicked as I have.  I
+shall laugh at Gooseberry if I like.  He began it all, and he has got
+his dose, and serve him right.  Here, let's get back.  Old Dictionary
+turned his head just now.  I say, Greeny, like to have another kick.
+I'm such a little one, I shan't hit you again."
+
+"Wait a bit," muttered Green.
+
+"Oh, certainly; I'm in no hurry.  Only you may as well do it when Nic
+Braydon's here, because he can give you my compliments afterwards, and
+leave my card in each of your eyes.  Poor old chap!  I'm so glad you've
+been licked."
+
+"Will you be quiet, young un!" cried Nic angrily.  "It's mean and
+cowardly."
+
+"Well, that's the stuff he deals in," said Tomlins.  "He likes that
+better than anything else."
+
+"That's no reason why you should," cried Nic.  "Let him be, I tell you."
+
+"Oh, all right, I've done; but I suppose I may say I'm very sorry for
+him."
+
+"No, you _mayn't_," cried Nic.  "Here, come on back, Greeny; we've had
+it out, but we needn't be bad friends.  I'm sorry we fought; you'll
+shake hands, won't you?"
+
+Green made no movement, and Nic drew closer and held out his hand again.
+
+"Come on," he said; "I'm sorry now; shake hands."
+
+But Green did not move.  He sat there crouched together, till Tomlins
+went behind him.
+
+"He's asleep," cried the little fellow.  "I'll give him a job like he
+gave me, and wake him up."
+
+Green spun round upon the bottom of his spine and faced his little
+tormentor, who started back with a cry of mock alarm.
+
+"Here, hi, Nic!" he shouted.  "Hold him back.  He's going to bite."
+
+Nic made a rush, not to protect Tomlins, but to seize him and drag him
+away.
+
+"If you tease him again, I'll kick you too," he whispered.  "Let him be;
+he's beaten.  You don't want to hit him now he's down."
+
+"Yes, I do," said the boy, struggling to free himself.  "I owe him a
+lot, and it isn't safe to hit him when he's not down.  Oh, I say, don't;
+you're hurting me."
+
+"Serve you right.  Come away."
+
+"Here, boys, help!" cried Tomlins, making a grimace.  "Convict's setting
+up for--Ah!"
+
+He did not have time to finish his sentence, for Nic caught him sharply
+by the shoulders and gave him an angry shake.
+
+"If you say that again, I'll serve you worse than Green did.  No, I
+won't;" he said in repentance.  "There, go on back."
+
+The boy was silenced, and in a startled way joined his schoolfellows,
+while Nic once more went close up to Green.
+
+"Let me help you up," he said.  "Here, shake hands, Green.  It was only
+a fight, and you might have won."
+
+There was no answer, and Nic took his adversary by the arm, half forcing
+him to rise; but Green did not turn his head, nor raise his face to gaze
+in that before him, though he unresistingly allowed himself to be helped
+along the side of the hedge, so as to reach the lane that led to the
+high road and the village, at one end of which the park-like grounds of
+the doctor's establishment stood.
+
+"He'll come round soon," thought Nic.  "He's sure to feel sore after
+such a licking."
+
+"I say, isn't old Convict a rum one," whispered one of the boys who had
+been seconds.
+
+"Well, he always was," said the other.  "What do you mean?"
+
+"Why giving Green a licking, and then going to help him like that."
+
+The other boy looked at the battered pair, and let them pass on in
+front, following afterwards with the others.
+
+"It's the proper thing to do, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, with some fellows," said Tomlins, who was listening.  "I should do
+it to either of you chaps if I'd licked you."
+
+The pair looked at each other and laughed.
+
+"Hark at Mouse Tomlins," said one of them.
+
+"Ah, you wait.  I shall get bigger some day, and then I shall do just as
+Convict Braydon does; but I shouldn't to old Green.  You see if he don't
+hit foul before long, and serve poor old Convict out."
+
+"Don't you be so fond of calling him Convict; he doesn't like it," said
+Braydon's second.
+
+"Well, he shouldn't be a convict then," retorted the boy.
+
+"And you shouldn't be a cocky, conceited little donkey," said the elder
+boy.
+
+"But I'm not," said the little fellow, laughing; and then wincing and
+crying, "Oh, my leg!"
+
+"And he's not a convict."
+
+"But Gooseberry Green says his father is, and that he was sent over to
+Botany Bay, and that's what makes poor old Braydon so mad."
+
+"His father and mother are both out there somewhere, because Nic told me
+so, and he says he's going out there some day; but his father can't be a
+convict, or else he wouldn't be at a good school like this.  It's all
+Green's disagreeableness."
+
+"I'm jolly glad he has got a licking," said the other, "though I
+seconded him; but I wish he hadn't spoiled our afternoon.  If Nic
+Braydon would come too, I'd go and get into the Hurst.  The doctor won't
+be back for two hours safe, and he's sure not to send for us till eight
+o'clock.  Let's get him to come."
+
+"Well, you ask him."
+
+The boy hurried on and overtook the adversaries.
+
+"Here, Nic Braydon, let him go on by himself.  We're going to finish the
+afternoon together.  We don't see any fun in going back yet."
+
+Nic turned his face to his companion, who burst out laughing--a laugh in
+which he was joined by the others as they came up, Tomlins being the
+most facetious.
+
+"I say, look at his open eye," cried the little fellow, "and the crack
+on his lip.  I say, don't laugh, Nic; it'll hurt.  Don't he look like
+enjoying himself!"
+
+"Be quiet, Tomlins!" cried Nic's second.
+
+"All right; I've done."
+
+"I say, will you come, Nic?"
+
+"No; I'm going to see Green back to the Friary."
+
+"And then," cried Tomlins, "they're going to have a can of hot water and
+sponge one another, and make friends and live happy ever after.  I say,
+wouldn't they both look nice in a glass case!"
+
+Nic smiled in spite of himself; and went on back to the Friary, where
+the man-servant also indulged in a grin as he saw the battered, pair,
+who partook of their tea with pain, and looked thoroughly unpresentable
+when at eight o'clock they were summoned to the doctor's study to be
+lectured severely, Nic getting the greater part of the scolding, which
+ended with the ominous words:
+
+"I will say no more, Dominic Braydon, for I don't like to come hastily
+to decisions; but I am afraid that I shall be forced to expel so
+evil-tempered, virulent, and quarrelsome a boy.  Now retire, sir, to
+your dormitory.  I will see you after breakfast in the morning."
+
+Nic went slowly up to the room he shared with Tomlins and the boy who
+had been his second, feeling that the doctor was cruelly unjust in
+refusing to listen to explanations which he had on his side been
+extremely unwilling to make.
+
+"Nobody seems to understand me," he said to himself; "convict, always
+convict.  And, suppose I am expelled, what shall I do? what will my
+father say?  It seems sometimes more than I can bear;" and for hours
+that night he lay awake, feeling no bodily pains in the fiercer ones of
+the mind, and always dwelling upon his position--quite alone in England,
+with father, mother, and sisters at the other side of the world, at a
+time, too, when it might take a year for a letter sent to bring back its
+answer; so that it was getting far on toward the early dawn when he
+ceased thinking about the far-away land of the convict and kangaroo, and
+went off fast asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A STARTLER.
+
+Constant dropping will wear a stone, says the old proverb; and if you
+doubt it, go and look at some step where the rain has dripped from
+gutter or eave, and see what a nice little hollow is worn.  The constant
+dropping of unsavoury words wears the mind too; and these remarks and
+banterings about Australia and its convict life in the early days of the
+century began to have their effect upon Nic Braydon.
+
+He was a good deal younger when his father, an eminent physician in
+London, awoke to the fact that he had been curing other people at his
+own expense, that he had worked and studied and been anxious over
+patients in his dingy house in Finsbury till he was completely broken in
+health; and he knew enough of his own nature to be aware that, if he
+kept on as he was, he would in a year or two be a confirmed invalid, if
+he were still living.  In other words, he had worn the steel spring of
+life till it had grown thin in some places, and rusted and eaten away in
+others for want of use.
+
+Then he said to himself like a wise man, "I advise others and neglect
+myself.  I must be my own physician now."
+
+He knew perfectly what he ought to do--take to some open-air life in a
+healthy country, where his avocations would give him plenty of outdoor
+exercise; and just at that time he met the newly appointed, governor of
+the penal colony of Australia at dinner.  He heard a good deal about the
+place, went home and read, and inquired more; then, striking while the
+lion was hot, he sold his practice, house, and furniture, provided all
+that he could think of as necessaries, communicated with the government,
+and, after placing his son Dominic, then aged ten, at the Friary with
+Dr Dunham, he sailed with his wife and two daughters for the far-off
+land.
+
+Now, Nic's notions about all this had grown a little hazy, while the
+teasings of his companions grew keener and sharper day by day, and
+mastered the facts; so that at last he had often found himself wondering
+whether there was any truth in his schoolfellows' words, and his father
+had, after all, done something which necessitated his leaving the
+country.
+
+That seed did not take root; but it swelled, and shot, and gave him a
+great deal of pain, making him grow morbid, old, and thoughtful beyond
+his years.  He became more sensitive; and when at last the doctor seemed
+to side against him, and treated him as he thought harshly, Nic began to
+find out thoroughly that it is not good for a boy to lose the loving
+help and companionship of father, mother, and sisters, and he grew day
+by day more gloomy, and ill-used as he believed, till at last, after the
+sharp reproof from the doctor about his quarrelsome disposition and
+ill-treatment of his schoolfellow Green, he began to feel it was time he
+set off to seek his fortune, never once pausing to think that the doctor
+had only judged by appearances.  He had seen Nic attacking Green quite
+savagely, and not having been present earlier, and, truth to tell, not
+having sufficiently studied the inner life of his boys, he had looked
+upon Nic as an ill-conditioned, tyrannical fellow, who deserved the
+severest reproof.
+
+So Nic thought it was time to seek his fortune.
+
+Who was the miserable ass who first put that wretched idea into boys'
+heads, and gave them a mental complaint which has embittered many a
+lad's life, when, after making some foolish plunge, he has gone on
+slowly finding out that castles in the air, built up by his young
+imagination, are glorious at a distance, but when approached the colours
+fade?  They are erected with no foundation, no roof; no walls, windows,
+doors, or furniture--in fact, they are, as Shakespeare says, "the
+baseless fabric of a vision."
+
+So much by way of briefly moralising on the fact that for, a boy to make
+up his mind to go and seek his fortune means, in say nine hundred and
+ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a
+million, trying to climb upward in search of a castle in the air, or
+tying a muffler round the eyes before making a leap in the dark.
+
+So Nic wanted good advice, change, and something to drag him out of the
+belief that he was one of the most ill-treated young personages in the
+world.
+
+But something came just a fortnight after the fight.
+
+Nic's brow was all in puckers, his cheeks were pushed up in folds by his
+fists, his elbows rested upon his desk, and he was grinding away at a
+problem in Euclid--with thoughts of Green, Tomlins, the doctor, and a
+sore place upon one of his knuckles, which had partially healed up and
+been knocked again and again, all netted and veined in among
+right, acute and obtuse angles, sides, bases, perpendiculars,
+slanting-diculars, producings, joinings of AB and CD, and the rest of
+it--when one of the doors opened, the servant went up to the desk of the
+usher in charge, and the hum in the big schoolroom ceased as the usher
+tapped the desk before him.
+
+"Braydon."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"The doctor wishes to see you in the study."
+
+Nic had started up, and now the wrinkles in his brow grew deeper, and
+then disappeared as if by magic, for he had caught sight of Green
+grinning at him with satisfaction in every curve of fat,
+self-satisfied-looking countenance; and putting on an air of calm
+indifference he moved toward the door.
+
+As it happened he had to pass just in front of Green's desk, and the lad
+raised himself a little, put out a leg to cause a stumble, and
+whispered:
+
+"Birch.  Keep the door shut, and don't--"
+
+Green was going to say "howl," but he illustrated his meaning by
+uttering a cry wonderfully like that sent forth by a cat under similar
+circumstances.
+
+"What's that?" cried the usher.
+
+"I trod on Green's foot by accident, sir," said Nic.
+
+"Green should not leave his feet lying about all over the floor," said
+the usher, trying to be facetious, and then looking satisfied, for his
+joke was received with a roar, which was increased at the sight of
+Green's ghastly smile as Nic went out of the schoolroom.
+
+"That's birch for him," he muttered, as he passed through the baize
+door, which shut out the noise of the school from the rest of the house;
+and the boy drew a deep breath as he crossed the hall toward the study,
+connected in his mind with scoldings and reproofs of the severest kind.
+"What have I been doing now?" thought Nic, as he laid hold of the handle
+after knocking and hearing a deep-toned "Come in."
+
+Then he started and stared, for there was a fine-looking middle-aged
+lady seated near the doctor's table, who turned to look at him
+searchingly as he stopped short.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir.  You sent for me?"
+
+"Yes, yes, Braydon: come in.  This is Lady O'Hara."
+
+"Yes, I'm Lady O'Hara.  Look at that, now.  A great strapping fellow!
+And he told Sir John that it was his little boy."
+
+Nic stared, for this was spoken loudly, in a pleasant rich voice, with
+an intonation that decidedly fitted with the name.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the doctor, who was smiling and very courtly; "but Dr
+Braydon forgot that his son has been with me over five years, madam, and
+he has grown bodily, and mentally, I hope."
+
+"To be sure.  Shake hands, Dominic.  Why, you ought to be Irish, with a
+name like that."
+
+"Lady O'Hara!" cried Nic excitedly, as he grasped the hand extended to
+him.  "Do you know my father?"
+
+"Oh, don't make jam of my fingers, boy, and I'll tell you," cried the
+lady, with a pleasant grimace.  "Ah, that's better.  Yes, of course I
+know him.  He lives next door to us, about a hundred miles away."
+
+The doctor chuckled, and Nic stared.
+
+"Sit down, Braydon, sit down," said the doctor.  "Ah! that's better,"
+said the lady, in a fresh, cheery way.  "Well, now, look at that,
+doctor.  Here am I, come at his father's wish to take care of him, and
+he's big enough to take care of me."
+
+"But--I beg your pardon," cried Nic--"you know my mother, madam?"
+
+"To be sure I do, and the two girls; and here's a batch of letters I've
+brought."
+
+"Oh, tell me, please," cried Nic excitedly, taking the letters with
+trembling hand,--"my mother and Janet and Hilda, what are they like?"
+
+"Gently, gently," cried the lady; "where will I find breath to answer
+your questions?  Why, the poor boy's like an orphan, Dr Dunham, living
+all these years away from home."
+
+"Mrs Dunham and I try to make this my pupils' home," said the doctor,
+with dignity.
+
+"Yes, I know," said the lady, smiling a broad, pleasant smile, and
+showing her fine white teeth; "but sure, doctor, there's no place like
+home.  It's very pleasant out yonder with Sir John, but I long for wild
+old Galway, where I was born.  Well, Dominic, and do you know what I've
+come for?"
+
+"You said something about taking care of me, madam," stammered Nic.
+
+"Ah, and don't stammer and blush like a great gyurl, and don't call me
+madam.  I am a very old friend now of your dear mother, and I've come to
+take you back with me over the salt say--I mean sea, doctor, but I
+always called it say when I was a gyurl.  I was in England a great deal
+after I was married, but the fine old pronunciation clings to me still,
+and I'm not ashamed."
+
+"Why should you be, Lady O'Hara?" said the doctor in his most courtly
+manner, as he rose.  "There, you would like to have a quiet chat with
+Dominic Braydon.  I will leave you till lunch is ready."
+
+"Oh, I don't know about lunch," said the lady, hesitating.  "Yes, I do.
+Dominic here will lunch with us, of course?"
+
+"Of course," said the doctor, smiling; and there was a curious look in
+his eye as Nic glanced at him sharply.
+
+"Sure, then, I'll stay," said the lady.  "But wait a minute: I shall be
+obliged to answer the question when we get back over the say.  Did I say
+say or sea then, Dominic?"
+
+Nic coloured a little.
+
+"Oh, there's no doubt about it," cried the lady.  "It was say, doctor.
+Now then, tell me: has he been a good boy?"
+
+The doctor wrinkled his brow and pursed up his lips.
+
+"Ah! ye needn't tell me.  I can see--about half-and-half."
+
+"Well, yes--about that," said the doctor.
+
+"To be sure," said the lady; "and I'm glad of it.  What's wrong with
+him?"
+
+"Oh, I don't like to tell tales out of school," said the doctor
+jovially.  "Not quite so much of a student as I could have wished.  His
+classics are decidedly shaky, and his mathematics--"
+
+"Look here, doctor: can he write a good plain English letter, properly
+spelt, and so as you can read it without puzzling because he hasn't
+dotted his i's and crossed his t's?"
+
+"Oh! yes, yes, yes," said the doctor; "we can do that, eh, Braydon?  But
+there's rather a long list of black marks against his name," he
+continued severely.  "For instance, there has been a tendency toward
+fighting."
+
+"There, that'll do, doctor.--Come and give me a kiss, my dear.--Sure,
+doctor," she continued, after Nic had obeyed, "he's coming out to a new
+country, where that part of his education will be of the greatest value
+to him."
+
+"My dear madam!" cried the doctor, staring.
+
+"Oh, I mean it, sir.  It's a new country, full of savages, black and
+white, and the white are the worst of them, and more shame for us we
+sent them there, though I don't know what else we could have done.
+Dominic, my lad, do you know we're going to make a convict of you?"
+
+Nic gave a violent start, and darted a reproachful glance at the
+visitor.
+
+"There, leave us together a bit, doctor," she said quickly, "and I'll be
+bound to say when lunch is ready we shall both of us be as hungry as
+sailors with talking, for I've got to question him and answer all his."
+
+"To be sure, to be sure," said the doctor.  "Then, if you will excuse
+me, Lady O'Hara, I will adjourn to the schoolroom."
+
+"There, Dominic," cried the lady as soon as they were alone, "now we can
+talk like old friends.  But tell me what made you start and colour like
+a great gyurl when I talked of making a convict of you?"
+
+Nic was silent.
+
+"Won't you tell me?" cried the lady, smiling at him in a winning, frank
+way, which unlocked the boy's lips at once and made him feel eager to
+confide in one who took so much interest in him.
+
+"Yes, I'll tell you," he cried: "it's one of the boys--the biggest.  He
+has set it about that my father is--is--is--"
+
+"A convict?"
+
+Nic nodded, and his brow contracted.
+
+"The impudence!"
+
+"And he nicknamed me Convict.  And it isn't true, Lady O'Hara?  Pray,
+pray tell me."
+
+"About your father, Dr Braydon?  Be ashamed of ye'self, boy, for ever
+thinking it.  Your father's the finest gentleman in New South Wales, and
+the best friend that Sir John and I ever had in our hard life yonder."
+
+Nic drew a long, deep breath.  Something seemed to be swelling up in his
+throat, and he reached forward to catch hold of and retain the plump
+white hand, which returned his pressure.
+
+"And so the big fellow called you Convict, did he, because your father's
+over the water!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I see now: that accounts for the fighting?"
+
+Nic nodded.
+
+"I bore it as long as I could," he said eagerly; "and it began about
+something else."
+
+"Sure, and why did you wait for that?  You should have done it at once.
+I would."
+
+Nic stared in wonder and admiration at his new friend.
+
+"But tell me: did you give him a great big beating?"
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid so."
+
+"Then don't be afraid any more.  It would do him good.  There, I was
+thinking I was going to have the care of a tiresome young, monkey of a
+boy; but I promised your dear mother, and should have taken you back.
+But, do you know, Dominic, you and I are going to be great friends."
+
+"I hope so," said Nic.
+
+"I'm sure of it.  There, I don't want to know any more about you.  I
+only say that you're just the lad for over yonder, and your father will
+be delighted.  Now, then: ask me anything you like."
+
+"May I?"
+
+"To be sure."
+
+"Then what is my mother like now?"
+
+"Look yonder," said the lady, pointing to a great mirror.  "Now think of
+your face made thinner and more delicate, and with soft curls of silky
+grey hair, beside a very white forehead; and a gentle expression, not a
+hard look, like yours.  That's your mother."
+
+"And my father?" cried Nic eagerly.
+
+"Look again," said the lady, "and fancy your face in thirty years' time,
+with dark grey hair, all in little rough half-curls, and a great many
+lines in the brown skin all over the forehead, and about the eyes."
+
+"Yes," said Nic eagerly, as he stared at himself.
+
+"And a look of a man who is strong as a horse; and that's all.  No,
+stop: I forgot his birrd."
+
+"His bird!  Does he keep a bird?"
+
+"The young ruffian! he's making sport of me," said the lady.  "I said
+birrd: b-e-a-r-d, birrd.  And it's all tinged grey and black.  That's
+your father."
+
+"And the girls?"
+
+"Oh, just two bright sun-browned colleens, like you, only better
+looking.  What next?"
+
+"What sort of a place is it?"
+
+"Place?  Oh, there's a wooden house on a slope looking down a bluff at
+the edge of a great plain, from which you look over the Blue Mountains."
+
+"Yes, they call them blue because they're green, I suppose?" said Nic,
+with a smile.
+
+"And people say it's only we Irish who make bulls," cried the lady
+merrily.  "No; they call them blue because in the distance they look as
+clear and blue as the loveliest amethyst.  Ah! it's a beautiful place,
+Dominic, as you'll say."
+
+"And big?"
+
+"Big?"
+
+The lady laughed softly.
+
+"Yes, boy; it's big.  There's plenty of land out yonder, and so the
+government's pretty generous with it.  Here at home they count a man's
+estate by acres: we do it in square miles out there."
+
+"Look here, Dominic," said the lady, after answering scores of
+questions, during what seemed to Nic the happiest hours he had ever
+spent in his life, "I've been thinking."
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+"Say Lady O'Hara, boy," cried the visitor petulantly; and then, with a
+sad smile full of pathos on her quivering lip, she added softly, "I
+can't tell ye to call me mother: my son died, Dominic, just when he
+began to know me; but look here," she cried, brightening, though the lad
+could see tears in her fine dark eyes, out of which she seemed to peer
+as from passing clouds.  "Sure, I tell ye I've been thinking.  Your
+father said it was time you left school to finish your education out
+there."
+
+"Education?" faltered Nic.
+
+"Oh yes; but not book learning, boy: hunting, and shooting, and riding,
+and stock-keeping, and farming, and helping to make Australia a big
+young England for John Bull's sons and daughters, who want room to
+move."
+
+"Yes, I see," cried Nic.
+
+"To be sure you do.  Well, then, the ship sails in a month from to-day:
+so what's the good of your stopping here for a month?"
+
+"But I've nowhere else to go," said Nic.
+
+"Oh! yes, you have.  You and I have got to be great friends--there,
+something more than that.  I shall just borrow you of your father and
+mother till I have to give you up at Port Jackson.  So, what do you say
+to my taking you away with me at once?"
+
+"Lady O'Hara!"
+
+"Don't shout, boy: this isn't the bush.  Will you come?"
+
+Nic sprang from his chair.
+
+"Look at that, now!" cried Lady O'Hara, showing her teeth.  "Hadn't we
+better have a bit of lunch first?"
+
+"Oh! yes, yes, yes, of course.  But, Lady O'Hara, will you take me?"
+
+"Take ye?  Why, what an ungrateful young rapparee it is, wanting to
+leave the home of five years like that!"
+
+"Home!" cried Nic piteously.  "Oh, Lady O'Hara, it hasn't been like
+home.  I haven't been happy here."
+
+"Sure, I know, boy, and it was only my fun," said Lady O'Hara, laying
+her hand upon the lad's head: "as if a boy could be quite happy away
+from all who love him, and whom, in spite of his thoughtless way; he
+loves!  Then you shall come and live with me at the hotel, and help me
+do all my shopping and commissions, beside getting your outfit and the
+things you're to take out for your father.  Come, Dominic, is it a
+bargain?"
+
+"Do--do you really wish it?"
+
+"Why, of course, boy, or I wouldn't ask you.  Ah, here's the doctor and
+his lady.  Sure, madam, I'm glad to make your acquaintance," said Lady
+O'Hara, with grave dignity.  "Dominic Braydon and I have been arranging
+matters, and I should be obliged by your having his boxes seen to and
+sent off to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow?" said the doctor.
+
+"Yes," said the visitor, in a quiet, decisive tone; "and as for your
+pupil--your late pupil--I shall take him away with me directly after
+lunch."
+
+Both the doctor and his lady began to make excuses about the
+impossibility of Braydon being ready at so short a notice; and Lady
+O'Hara turned to the boy.
+
+"Do you hear that, Dominic?  You can't be ready in the time.  What do
+you say?"
+
+"I can," replied Nic.
+
+"Of course you can, boy.  There, doctor, I've come to take him, so now
+let's have lunch."
+
+The lunch was eaten, and the doctor and Mrs Dunham having nothing more
+to say, Nic hastily packed up his things, and then ran to the schoolroom
+to say good-bye.  Ten minutes later he was in Lady O'Hara's carriage,
+with the cheer given by the boys humming in his brain and a peculiar
+sensation of sadness making itself felt, though all the time his heart
+was throbbing with exultation, and the intense desire to go on faster
+and faster, far away from school, and to make his first plunge into the
+unknown.
+
+Lady O'Hara did not speak for some time, but took out her little ivory
+tablets, and sat back in the carriage conning over the memoranda they
+contained, while her companion read and re-read his letters.  Then,
+shutting them up, she returned the little book to its case and faced
+round.
+
+"Well," she said, with a merry look, "have you done breaking your heart,
+Dominic?"
+
+"Yes," he said gravely.--"I can't help feeling sorry to come away, and
+I'm afraid the boys liked me better than I thought for.  It isn't so
+nice as I fancied it would be."
+
+"No, I suppose not," said his companion; "nothing ever is so nice as we
+thought it would be.  Like to go back for a month till the ship sails?"
+
+"What!" cried Nic.
+
+"I'll tell the man to drive back, if you like."
+
+"You're saying that to tease me, Lady O'Hara."
+
+"True, my boy, I was."
+
+"And you know I wouldn't go back.  All I want now is to get on board and
+start on our long journey."
+
+"Ah, and that's, as I told you, a month hence.  There, Dominic, you must
+mind I don't spoil you before I get you home.  Now talk to me and tell
+me about yourself."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+PREPARATIONS.
+
+It was like a new beginning of life to Nic Braydon, and he lived for the
+next three weeks in a round of excitement.  The principal way in which
+he spent his time was shopping with Lady O'Hara, who saw that he had a
+regular outfit of suitable articles of clothing, all of the most durable
+and useful make.
+
+"You're not going to a land of filled shirts and dancing pumps,
+Dominic," said the lady; "you're going out to work as your father has
+done, and is doing now."
+
+"I shall not mind work," said Nic sturdily.
+
+"I know that, boy.  But business.  Now I think I've got through all the
+clothing--Sir John's, yours, and some that the doctor asked me to order.
+Now, what next?" she continued, turning to her tablets.  "Oh, I see: a
+light gun that will carry shot or ball, a rifle for your father, and
+another for my husband.  Then there are knives, axes, and fishing
+tackle.  Really any one would think I was a man to execute such
+commissions.  But I'm an old traveller, Nic, and have helped my husband
+over his wants for many, many years."
+
+So that day was devoted to selecting guns, Lady O'Hara handling and
+testing the various pieces in a way that made the gunmaker open his eyes
+and Nic stare.
+
+"You have a gallery, I suppose, where I can try any piece I select?"
+
+"Oh! yes, ma'am--I beg pardon--my lady," said the gunmaker.
+
+"Then I'll try those two rifles, and those three shot guns--no, those
+two.  That other is only just long enough in the stock for me.  It would
+not suit a man.  Stop; you shall try it, Dominic.  Well," she continued,
+smiling; "so you think it very unladylike for a woman to handle a gun,
+eh?"
+
+"I--I did think something of the sort," said Nic hesitatingly.
+
+"Of course you would; but I have often had to handle a gun, Dominic.  A
+woman who goes out with her husband into all kinds of savage places
+needs to be able to use a piece."
+
+"Then you have been in savage places?" said Nic.
+
+"Often, my boy; and it is a dangerous place we are in now.  And you'd
+like to ask whether I ever shot any one, eh?" she said, smiling.  "No, I
+never did, and I hope I never shall.  It was the power of being able to
+use a piece that has saved me from having to use it, Dominic.  Wild
+people and ruffians don't care about attacking people who can defend
+themselves."
+
+The gunmaker was ready with the charged guns, and he had led them into a
+long gallery with targets, where the lady astounded the man by her
+ability and knowledge of what a gun ought to be.
+
+Then Nic had his first trials, and made so poor a business of it that
+Lady O'Hara said to him laughingly:
+
+"Sure it must be a bad gun, with a crooked barrel.  Let me try."
+
+The reloaded gun was handed to her, and she raised it, lowered it, and
+raised it again and again to try the balance and weight.
+
+"It comes up very nicely," she said, balancing it in her hands.
+
+"It is really one of our best make, my lady," said the gunmaker.
+
+"But my young friend does not seem to find that it shoots straight.  Now
+then."
+
+She raised it quickly to her shoulder, glanced for a brief instant along
+the barrel, and the white mark at the end of the gallery was speckled
+like a currant dumpling, while the gunmaker smiled with satisfaction.
+
+"It was my fault," said Nic dolefully.  "I suppose I can't see
+straight."
+
+"Perhaps not," said Lady O'Hara drily.  "How many times have you fired
+before?"
+
+"Never till to-day, only little brass cannons," said Nic.
+
+"And they're poor things for educating the hand and eye," said the lady.
+"Shooting looks easy, Dominic.  You think you have only to pull the
+trigger; but it's like other things, my boy, it wants learning."
+
+They walked back into the shop, where the guns and rifles selected were
+ordered to be packed with an ample supply of the best flints and
+ammunition in proper cases for the journey; and the gunmaker smiled his
+thanks, and wished for more masculine lady customers.
+
+There were more peaceful purchases to be made, though.  Cases of seeds
+were ordered, and the seedsman undertook to pack and send in the autumn
+a couple of bundles of fruit trees for experimental purposes.
+
+"For I want your father to try and make a good English garden out there,
+Dominic," said Lady O'Hara enthusiastically.  "Australia must become the
+home of many of our people; and though it is right on the other side of
+the world, we don't want it to remain foreign, but English."
+
+Those four weeks went like magic, and when only two days remained the
+list of purchases was pretty well complete, and included horses, cows,
+and sheep of select kinds, and a couple of retrievers, setters, and
+Scotch collie dogs.
+
+They had been twice to the East India Docks, from which the ship was to
+sail, and now another visit was to be paid to make sure that the various
+packages had been delivered on board, to see to the live stock, and to
+have another look at the cabin.
+
+"There, Dominic," said her ladyship at last, "I think I may say that I
+have--that we have--done all our work.  Now two days to pay a few
+visits, and then we go on board for our long, long journey.  How do you
+feel--ready for the start?"
+
+"Quite," said Dominic eagerly.
+
+"That's right.  We start with the knowledge that our home is ready made
+out yonder.  What must it have been for the brave folk who acted as
+pioneers, not knowing what they were going to find?"
+
+That was mental food for the night; but Nic's busy days precluded his
+being troubled with sleeplessness, and he lay down to dream of the
+far-off home, and woke to say, in his intense eagerness:
+
+"Only one more day, and then--off!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+OUTWARD BOUND.
+
+"But why not go on board to-night?" asked Nic.
+
+"Because," said Lady O'Hara drily, "it will be better to leave it till
+to-morrow."
+
+Nic wondered, and said nothing, but he knew afterwards.  The fact was,
+he did not think about anything for long.  There was too much to see and
+do.  One thought crowded out another.  This minute he would be wondering
+how the dogs were, the next whether cows were ever sea-sick, and this
+made him wonder whether Dominic Braydon, off on his first voyage, would
+suffer from that most unpleasant ailment.  There were the new clothes to
+think about, and the guns.  It happened, too, that while he was thinking
+about them Lady O'Hara, looking worried and tired, entered the hotel
+room.
+
+"I hope that man sent the guns all right," said Nic.
+
+"He did, for I received a note from him and a receipt for their
+delivery."
+
+"I'm glad of that," said Nic.  "I was anxious about them."  Lady O'Hara
+looked amused.  Then, watching the boy closely, she said:
+
+"By the way, Dominic, I don't think I told you I meant that gun with the
+short stock for you."
+
+"For me?" cried Nic, flushing with excitement.  Then hastily, "Oh no, I
+don't want to shoot people."
+
+"You may if they want to kill you or those whom you love, my boy.  But
+in any case you may want to shoot snakes and the wonderfully beautiful
+birds which you will see in the bush.  A gun is a necessity for a
+settler, and so are those."
+
+She pointed to a parcel on a side table.
+
+"Fetch those here, and open the paper."
+
+Nic fetched the strongly done-up packet, opened it with trembling
+fingers, and laid bare a beautifully finished axe and a sheath knife of
+the finest steel, with stout buckhorn handle and leathern belt.
+
+"Not drawing-room presents, my boy," said the lady, smiling, "but
+suitable for a young settler.  There, you can squeeze those in your
+portmanteau; the gun you can have when we get over the sea."
+
+"But, Lady O'Hara!" faltered Nic; "the gun--such an expensive one."
+
+"Of course it is.  Who'd buy cheap rubbish to take abroad?  You want the
+plainest and the best that money can buy."
+
+"Yes, but I meant--"
+
+"That they were too costly to accept?  Not a bit, my boy.  We owe your
+father a deep debt.  Didn't he doctor and save both our lives?  And he's
+a dreadfully obstinate man to deal with; but I can do as I like with
+you, so now hold your tongue."
+
+"But I must thank you, Lady O'Hara."
+
+"No, you needn't.  Now then, Dominic--dear, dear! three syllables to say
+every time I speak to you.  What a tiresome, long name, though it does
+sound Irish."
+
+"Latin," said Nic.
+
+"Irish; and don't contradict me, sir.  Sure I had an uncle in Galway,
+who was Dominick O'Hara, with a _k_ to it.  I shall call you Nic."
+
+"Yes, do, please."
+
+"I will.  So now then, Nic, you haven't a husband to meet when you get
+over yonder--a fierce-looking governor, who barks at people; and when I
+get back he'll be asking me what I forgot to bring.  Now, my dear boy,
+do tell me what I've failed to get."
+
+"I can't," said Nic laughingly; "you seem to have bought nearly
+everything."
+
+"Ah, ye're no use to me at all, at all, boy.  I'm sure there's something
+I ought to have bought, and I shall remember it when we're hundreds of
+miles from land.  I know: it was another pair of razors for Sir John!"
+
+"But you bought those seven in a case, with the days of the week on
+them, Lady O'Hara."
+
+"Sure, and I did, Nic.  Good boy.  You are of some use, after all.  My
+poor head's nearly worn out with thinking, and I'm bothered entirely.
+Nic, I mean to go to sleep for a week as soon as we get on board by way
+of a good rest.  Now then, do try and think for me, Nic; what was the
+other thing I forgot?"
+
+Nic shook his head.
+
+"I could think of hundreds of things that might be useful out there."
+
+"No, you couldn't," said the lady shortly.  "You've never been there,
+and you'd be taking out all kinds of things that would be just of no use
+at all, the same as I did when I first went.  I've got something on my
+brain, only it's buried under a heap of other things.  Well, never mind;
+it will shake up to the top at last when it's too late."
+
+Lady O'Hara's head was bothered till the last moment, when the hotel
+bill was paid, the hackney coach and driver in his coat of many capes at
+the door, and landlord, landlady, and servants all waiting to bid the
+amiable, bluff-spoken Irish lady God-speed in her long journey to the
+other side of the world.  Then the door banged; and, followed by a
+cheer, the coach was driven off, Nic feeling in a peculiar state of
+mind, a mixture of high spirits, low spirits, and pain; for Lady O'Hara
+plumped herself back in her corner, took out a handkerchief, covered her
+face, and burst into a fit of sobbing, rocking herself to and fro as she
+cried aloud till Nic could bear it no longer.  He had been fidgeting and
+wondering what to say or do, growing more and more wretched, till, at
+the end of ten minutes, he laid his hand upon his companion's, and said
+simply:
+
+"Oh, Lady O'Hara, pray, pray don't cry."
+
+"Sure, and I won't," she exclaimed impetuously, as she hastily wiped her
+eyes; "but I couldn't help it, Nic.  It hurts me when people are so kind
+and sorry to part from you, and ye feel that ye may never see them
+again.  I'm afraid I'm a very silly old woman.  Give me a kiss, my dear,
+and I won't cry another drop.  There, it's all over now, and that's
+cleared my head.  It doesn't feel bothered a bit.  What's forgotten's
+forgotten, and I don't think my darlin' will be very cross with me.  If
+he is, I shall call you to witness that I've worked very hard."
+
+"That you have," cried Nic.
+
+"There, the work's done, and we'll have a rest, and enjoy our voyage.
+And do you know what sort of a ship we're going in, Nic?"
+
+"Yes; the _Northumbrian_."
+
+"Of course; but do you know what she is?"
+
+"East Indiaman."
+
+"That's true enough; but has nobody told you what we shall have on
+board?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then I'll tell you now.  We might have waited for the next, but that
+would have been for a month, and I want to get back home again, Nic; so,
+as Sir John's name was enough to get me what I wanted, I settled we'd go
+in the _Northumbrian_, which is taking out a lot of convicts."
+
+Nic's brow grew rugged.
+
+"But there's a big draft of the 300th Regiment and their officers too,
+and they'll take care of us, boy, so you won't mind."
+
+"Oh! no," cried Nic, "I shall not mind."
+
+In fact, he failed to see what there would be to mind, for it did not
+occur to him that it might be unpleasant and awkward for the governor's
+wife.
+
+The bustle of departure had commenced when they reached the dock, and
+the quay swarmed with the friends and relatives of the company of
+infantry off on foreign service, while dock officials were busy issuing
+the orders which began to take effect a few minutes after Nic had seen
+Lady O'Hara into her cabin and hurried back on deck to gaze on the novel
+scene.
+
+For hawsers were being secured round posts, men were leaving, a couple
+of boats were out ahead ready to tow, and soon the great three-masted
+vessel began to move slowly along by the quay to the great gates, with
+the soldiers cheering and waving their caps, and shouts and cries rising
+from those being left behind, till the gates were passed, and the long
+narrow channel between stone walls gave place to the river, with its
+tide at the height; the faces began to grow smaller and smaller, and
+soon the _Northumbrian_, with her littered decks and bustle and
+confusion, began to drop slowly down with the tide.
+
+There was plenty to see as well as plenty to learn.  The first thing was
+to be able to see in peace, and to do this Nic found he had to learn to
+get out of the way of the men busy lowering down packages, getting rid
+of the litter of the deck, and blunderingly making matters shipshape--
+blunderingly, for the crew, almost without exception, were suffering
+from the effects of their holiday ashore, and were working the mate and
+boatswain into a state of red-hot indignation at the slow progress made.
+The latter, too, a big, burly, red-faced man with stiff whiskers, was
+every now and then asking people how he could be expected to have clear
+decks when his ship was being turned into a farmyard.
+
+This recalled the live stock on board, and Nic went forward to have a
+look at the cattle in their pens, where they were contentedly enough
+munching away at the hay placed ready for them, while the dogs, which
+recognised Nic, began to tug furiously at their chains, and made their
+eyes seem ready to start from their heads as they tried to strangle
+themselves by straining at their collars.
+
+Nic was leaning over the pen in which they were chained up, patting and
+caressing them, when a gruff voice cried fiercely:
+
+"Those dogs yours?"
+
+"Not exactly.  They're for Sir John O'Hara."
+
+"Then I wish he'd got 'em.  Who's to move with all these things on
+board?"
+
+"What's, the matter, Buller?" said a bronzed man, coming up.
+
+"Matter, sir? everything.  There isn't a man aboard fit to pull a rope,
+and I can't move without breaking my shins over cats and dogs, and all
+this here Tower mynadgery.  Is the skipper going to start a farm?"
+
+"Get on, man, and don't make so much noise."
+
+"Noise, sir!" growled the boatswain, for it was he; and he looked hard
+at a couple of officers in undress uniform, whose attention had been
+taken by the dogs.
+
+"It's enough to make any one grumble.  I'm 'customed to tea and rice and
+a few passengers.  I don't understand all this--ship turned into a
+live-stock show, a barracks, and a farm all in one."
+
+He went off growling, and the mate turned to the officers.
+
+"A bit rusty, gentlemen," he said, smiling.  "It will soon wear off, as
+we get shipshape."
+
+"Sooner the better," said one of the officers, who turned to the dogs,
+and had a look at them before speaking to Nic.
+
+"Yours?" he said.
+
+"I have charge of them."
+
+"Then you are a passenger?"
+
+"Yes; I'm going out with Lady O'Hara."
+
+"The governor's wife!  Well, how do you think you will like the sea?"
+
+"Oh, very well," said Nic.  "Of course I shan't like it when it's
+rough."
+
+"Nor anybody," said the officer, "eh, Harvey?"
+
+"I shall not," said the gentleman addressed, as he pulled the setter's
+long ears.
+
+"So long as it isn't rough.  Well, as we are to be fellow-passengers all
+through the voyage, we may as well be friends and go through our
+introductions.  Who are you?"
+
+Nic told him.
+
+"Going to join your people, eh?  Well, that's pleasant.  We are going to
+leave ours."
+
+"Who are you?" said Nic, taking his new acquaintance's tone.
+
+"I?" said the officer, laughing at the manner in which the question was
+put.  "Lieutenant Lance, His Majesty's 300th Light Infantry.  This is
+Ensign Harvey of my company.  Both at your service, sir, and our company
+too."
+
+"Thank you," said Nic, laughing; "but I'm not likely to need it."
+
+"Unless the birds want to take _flight_," said the ensign.
+
+Nic looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"He means the gaol birds, youngster," said the elder officer, laughing,
+"if they rise against us.  Not a very nice arrangement for your lady
+coming out in a ship like this."
+
+"Is there any danger?" said Nic anxiously.
+
+"No," said the ensign, rather importantly; "we shall see that there's
+not."
+
+"Then you are here to guard them?" asked Nic.
+
+"Bah, no!  We are going to join our regiment.  There is a warder guard.
+Of course, if there was any necessity--"
+
+Nic looked rather startled, and the lieutenant said, smiling:
+
+"There'll be nothing to mind, my lad.  The winds and waves will trouble
+you more than the convicts; but they're not pleasant fellow-passengers
+to have, on board."
+
+Nic did not think so the next morning, when, after guard had been
+mounted under the lieutenant's charge, just as they were getting well
+out of the mouth of the river, with the soldiers stationed at intervals
+with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, orders were given, and the
+stern-looking warders ushered up the convict gang of fifty men from
+below to take their allotted amount of air and exercise in the forward
+part of the deck; for almost without exception they were a
+villainous-looking lot, their closely cropped hair and ugly prison garb
+adding to the bad effect.
+
+Talking was strictly forbidden, every movement being carefully watched,
+and not least by Nic, at whom the prisoners looked curiously as they
+passed, one man putting on a pleading, piteous aspect, as if asking for
+the boy's compassion, and twice over his lips moved as if he were saying
+something.
+
+But somehow, though the man was not bad-looking, and formed one of the
+exceptions to the brutally fierce faces around, his pleading look did
+not excite Nic's pity, but caused a feeling of irritation that he could
+not explain.
+
+This happened again and again, when, attracted by the daily coming up of
+the men on deck, Nic found himself watching them, unconscious of the
+fact that he was watched the while.
+
+Every now and then the chief warder, a stern, fierce-looking man with a
+cutlass in his belt, shouted out some order; and as it was obeyed by
+this or that man the boy soon began to know them as Number Forty-nine or
+Hundred and eighty, or some other number.  One particularly
+scoundrelly-looking fellow, who made a point of catching his eye
+whenever he could, for the purpose of winking, thrusting his tongue in
+his cheek, or making some hideous grimace, and following it up with a
+grin of satisfaction if he saw it caused annoyance, was known as
+Twenty-five; a singularly brutal-visaged man with a savage scowl, who
+never once looked any one full in the face, was Forty-four; and the
+mild, pleading-looking man, who annoyed Dominic by his pitiful, fawning
+air, was Thirty-three.
+
+"Well, sir, what do you think of them?" said a familiar voice one day;
+and turning sharply, Nic found himself face to face with the chief
+warder.
+
+"Think?  I hardly know," said Nic.  "I feel sorry for them."
+
+"Just what a young gent like you would do, sir.  Pity's a good thing,
+but you must not waste it."
+
+"But it seems a terrible thing for these men to be sent out like this."
+
+"Seems, sir.  But is it?  You see, they needn't have been sent out.
+They only had to behave themselves."
+
+"But some of them may be innocent."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the warder drily; "but which of 'em?  Look at that
+fellow coming round here now, slouching along, and never looking at
+anything but the deck.  He'll never look you in the face."
+
+"Yes, I've noticed that."
+
+"Wouldn't pick him out for an innocent one, would you?"
+
+"Well, no," said Nic; "one seems to shrink from him."
+
+"And right enough too, sir.  He got off with transportation for life;
+but I'm afraid he deserved something worse."
+
+"Did he kill anybody?" said Nic in an awe-stricken whisper.
+
+"Yes; more than one, I believe, sir: sort of human wild beast.  I never
+feel safe with him, and we all take care never to have Forty-four behind
+us.  Try again, sir."
+
+"Well, this one coming now," said Nic.  "He's rather common-looking, but
+he doesn't seem so very bad.  One would think he could be made a better
+man."
+
+"Twenty-five, sir.  Well, he'll have every chance out yonder.  He has
+only got to get a good character over his work, and the governor and
+them will soon let him go up country as a signed servant, and when he
+has served his time he can start farmer on his own account.  Makes faces
+at you, doesn't he?"
+
+"Yes," cried Nic eagerly.
+
+"Ah, he won't now I'm here."
+
+Nic smiled, for the man screwed one side of his face as he passed,
+thinking that the chief warder would not see, but he did.
+
+"You, Twenty-five!  How dare you?  Extra punishment for that.  Pass by,
+sir."
+
+"No, no, don't punish him," whispered Nic.  "He did not mean any harm."
+
+"Not going to, sir," said the warder drily; "but one must keep them in
+their places.  He's a comic sort of blackguard.  Not much harm in him."
+
+"I thought not," said Nic eagerly.
+
+"And precious little good, sir," added the warder.  "But he may turn out
+right.  Housebreaking, I think, was his offence.  When he gets out to
+the convict lines they'll teach him to know better; and some day he'll
+have a house of his own, if it's only a bark hut--gunyah they call 'em
+out there--and then he'll know the value of it, and be ready to upset
+any one who tries to break in."
+
+"Then you have been out before?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir.  I know the country pretty well, specially the part where
+your father is.  I've been there."
+
+"And you know my father?"
+
+"Oh no, sir.  I never saw him.  But it's a fine place, and you'll like
+it.  I wish I was you, and going to begin life out there in the new
+land."
+
+"Then you think I shall like it?" said Nic.
+
+"You can't help it, sir.  But if I was you I should be careful.  You'll
+have a deal to do with the convicts."
+
+"Oh no," cried Nic.  "I am going straight up the country to my father's
+place."
+
+"Yes, sir, I know; and that's why I was presuming to give you a bit of
+advice--that is, as a man who has had twenty years' experience."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+The warder laughed.
+
+"I suppose not, sir.  Well, it's like this.  Your father has taken up
+land, and keeps sheep and cattle, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, thousands."
+
+"And employs men?"
+
+"Of course.  He has said so in his letters.  He is obliged to have
+several."
+
+"And if he was in England he could engage farm labourers easily enough."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How's he going to engage them out there, sir?"
+
+"The same as he would in England."
+
+"When there are none, or only a few, and they all want to be masters
+themselves?  No, sir; you'll find there--with perhaps a black or two who
+can't be trusted to work, only to do a bit of cattle driving or hunting
+up strayed stock--that your father's men are mostly convicts, 'signed
+servants, we call them--that is, assigned servants."
+
+"What?"
+
+"That's it, sir: men who are assigned by the prison authorities to
+gentlemen."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Nic; and the warder smiled at his surprise.
+
+"That's it, sir, and I say a good thing too.  Here's a new country with
+plenty of room in it, and the judges and people at home sentence men to
+be transported for fourteen or twenty-one years, or perhaps for life."
+
+"Yes, I know all that," said Nic, nodding his head.
+
+"Then, sir, the law says lots of these men are not all bad, and they're
+sorry for what they've done; so if they are, and show that they want to
+lead a new life, we'll give 'em a chance.  Then all those who have
+earned a good character in the convict lines and mean work are assigned
+to settlers who want labourers and shepherds and stockmen; and if they
+behave themselves, and show that the punishment has cured them of their
+bad ways, all they've got to do is to report themselves from time to
+time; and so long as they don't try to escape out of the country they
+can do pretty well as they like, and plenty of them out there are doing
+far better than they would have done at home."
+
+"That's very good," said Nic.
+
+"To be sure it is, sir; and that's why I say to you, be a little
+careful, and not be ready to trust the convicts.  Plenty of them you'll
+find good fellows; but there are plenty more who are very smooth and
+artful, and only waiting their time.  But you'll soon learn which are
+sheep and which are goats.  Now, here's a chap coming round here--
+Thirty-three, sir.  What do you say to him?  He's got fourteen years for
+robbing his employers.  Embezzlement they call it.  Now, he's been a
+well-brought-up sort of man--good education, always well dressed, and
+lived on the fat of the land.  He looks at you, I suppose, when I'm not
+here, as much as to say, `Isn't it cruel to shut me up with these
+ruffians and murderous wretches?  I'm a poor, innocent, ill-used man!'"
+
+"Yes, that is how he always does look at me," cried Nic.  "Yes, sir, and
+at everybody else; but if he was an innocent, ill-used man, he'd wrinkle
+up his forehead and look bitter and savage-like, ready to treat
+everybody as his enemy.  That chap's a sneak, sir, and I've no
+hesitation in saying he deserves all he has got.  Don't you listen to
+him if ever he speaks, and don't you break no rules by petting him with
+anything good from the cabin."
+
+"I certainly shan't," said Nic.  "I don't like him."
+
+The warder turned sharply, and looked hard at Nic, as he said, smiling:
+
+"You'll do sir.  Dame Nature's made you a bit of a judge of men, and
+what you've got to do is to sharpen up that faculty, as people call it.
+I'm not bragging, but I've got it a little, and I've polished and
+polished it for twenty years, till I'm not such a very bad judge of
+convicts.  You give me a gang, and in a week's time, if there's an
+innocent man, or a man who wants to do the right thing, or one who's
+been always wrong and could be worked up into the right, I'll pick him
+out.  Here you, Twenty-five, I've got my eye on you, and you'd better
+make an end of those monkey faces, unless you want the cat."
+
+"The cat?" said Nic.
+
+"Yes, sir, with nine tails.  That's the punishment for convicts who
+won't behave themselves, assigned servants and all.  You'll soon know
+all about the lash when you get out to your father's station."
+
+"I'm sure I shall not," said Nic indignantly.  "My father is too humane
+a man."
+
+"That's right, sir.  You always believe in and stick up for your father;
+only recollect you're going to a new country, where there are thousands
+of convicts, the scum of our own land, and the lash is part of the law,
+and the law is very strict.  It's obliged to be, for the protection of
+the settlers.  See how stern we are here where we have them all under
+our eye.  You're obliged to be harder where they're free like and
+scattered all over the country."
+
+"Yes, you're stern enough," said Nic indignantly, "threatening to give a
+man the cat-o'-nine-tails for making faces."
+
+The warder smiled, his hard, stern face lighting up as he gazed
+admiringly at Nic.
+
+"Bah! that was only talk, sir, just as one would threaten a boy.
+Twenty-five's a man of five-and-thirty, but he's only got brains like a
+boy.  I could make anything of him."
+
+The warder nodded good-humouredly, and then his face grew hard-looking
+as an iron mask, as he shouted out orders to first one and then another
+of the men under his charge; while the soldiers, standing here and
+there, rested on their muskets, and looked grimly on at the evil-looking
+prisoners pacing the deck.
+
+Nic walked aft with his forehead puckered up and his mind hard at work
+thinking of the home that he was going to, and feeling somewhat damped
+by the warder's words; and as he reached the quarter-deck he went to the
+side, after noticing that Lady O'Hara was talking to the officers, and
+resting his arms upon the bulwark he leaned there gazing away at the
+sunlit sea, flecked by the flying-fish which flashed out, skimmed along
+for some distance, and then dropped back into the water.
+
+"Convicts--convicts," he thought.  "What a place for Lady O'Hara it is
+here with these men aboard!  Suppose they should rise some night--
+suppose they should rise at home where mother is, and the girls--
+suppose--"
+
+"Why, how now, my thoughtful young philosopher?  What are you thinking
+about?"
+
+Lady O'Hara had laid her hand upon his shoulder, and the boy was silent
+for a few moments.
+
+"Well, what is it?  Not going to turn sea-sick, after behaving so well
+all across the bay."
+
+"No," said Nic; "I'm quite well."
+
+"Then what makes you look so glum?"
+
+"I was thinking about the convicts."
+
+"And a very unpleasant subject too, Nic.  Don't think about them, boy.
+They used to make me ill when I first went out yonder.  It seemed so
+horrible to have them mixed up so with one's daily life."
+
+"Yes, that's it," cried Nic; "that's what I've been thinking.  I suppose
+father will have some at his station?"
+
+"Not a doubt about it."
+
+"Well, it seems so shocking, and--and unsafe."
+
+"Not a bit of it, my boy.  That's just what I used to think, but I don't
+now."
+
+"But I shall never get hardened to it, Lady O'Hara."
+
+"Sure, I hope not, Nic.  I don't like hardened people.  You think by my
+words that I'm hardened to it.  There, don't turn red, boy.  I can read
+what you thought.  I'm as soft as you.  Sure, I wept all night when that
+poor boy died over there, and kept crying out for his mother when he was
+delirious; and it was no use to say to myself, he should have thought
+more of his mother and her teachings when he grew wasteful and
+dissipated and stole his master's money, for I couldn't help thinking
+that he was back in the old days and felt in trouble, and called for his
+mother; and who should a boy call to but his mother at a time like
+that?"
+
+Nic sadly thought of how little he had seen of his, and the governor's
+wife went on.
+
+"No, Nic, I'm not a bit hardened; I only look now at things from a
+sensible point of view, and say to myself, `Here are these men who have
+done wrong, and the law has sent them out for a punishment; those who
+are very bad will be unable to do any more mischief, while those who
+have any good in them have chances given them to lead a new life.'  Why
+some of them are getting to be well-to-do bodies, Nic, and married and
+have children, who will grow up better people in a new land.  Don't you
+fret about the convicts, boy; but take them as you find them.  When you
+have to do with the bad ones, keep them at a distance; and when you have
+to do with the good and repentant, just shut your eyes to the past and
+open them as wide as you can to the future.  Sure, Nic, I'm the
+governor's lady with a title, and everybody's glad to be my friend,
+yourself included, my boy; but how do I know what I might have been if I
+hadn't been tenderly cared for when I was young?  You'll like some of
+the transported people, Nic, my boy.  I've got some out there whom I
+look upon as friends, and just because I see that they've put the past
+behind, and are doing what these sailor lads do here, keeping a bright
+look-out ahead.  Yes, Nic, they're looking to the future, and so am I
+and you.  What a place this world would be if we hadn't a future before
+us every one!  There, you will not fret nor worry yourself about any
+dangers we are likely to meet with from the convicts now."
+
+"Oh no," said Nic eagerly; "you have done me no end of good, Lady
+O'Hara.  But--"
+
+"Well, but what, boy?  Out with it, and don't hesitate."
+
+"Are they ever likely to rise against us over there, or here aboard
+ship?"
+
+"Sure, I don't know, Nic," said Lady O'Hara coolly.  "Very likely, my
+boy.  They are always thinking about it, I know."
+
+"But if they do?"
+
+"Well, we shall just have to rise too, and teach them manners.  We've
+got right on our side, and they haven't; so we are sure to win."
+
+"But you don't seem at all alarmed, in spite of all that I have said."
+
+"Sure, and why should I be, Nic, or you either?  They may rise, and a
+hole may burst out in the bottom of the ship, and we may run upon a
+rock, and there may be a storm, and there are plenty of other maybe's,
+Nic.  But let them be, my dear boy.  You and I have got our duty to do,
+and let's do it, and while we're doing that, leave all the rest.  Nic,
+boy, faith's a grand thing.  I'm full of it, and ye're just a little
+wanting; so get it as fast as ye can; it's a fine thing in the making of
+a true man."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+ON THE OTHER SIDE.
+
+The voyage was long but uneventful.  They sailed on, in fine weather,
+down and down into hot inter-tropical sunshine, and reached the Cape,
+took in fresh stores, and then sailed on south, so as to get into the
+region where the winds are chill, but blow strongly in the right
+direction, carrying the big ship onward in its course.
+
+Week succeeded week in slow monotony, broken by a little rough weather,
+but that was all.  The soldiers were drilled on deck till Nic pretty
+well knew the ordinary routine, and Lieutenant Lance laughingly asked
+him if he would like to take command.  The convicts came up morning by
+morning and had their exercise in the old monotonous way; and Nic went
+round with the doctor to see the men in their quarters and visit
+patients.  But there was no rising or mutiny, nothing to break the even
+course of the voyage but a little tossing among the huge waves that came
+rolling from the south-west, threatening to engulf the ship, but only
+dived beneath it, raising it upon a rolling bill, and then gliding
+onward to give room to the next.  Nic saw the albatross till he was
+tired of watching its gliding flight.  He fished and had very bad
+fortune, but better when he joined in with the sailors, who
+good-humouredly made room for him to help haul after they had hooked a
+shark, drawn the fierce fellow alongside, sent a loop down over its head
+right to the narrow part in front of the tail, and so got a double hold.
+
+Then came the evening when all was excitement, for the skipper announced
+at supper that in all probability they would see land next morning, and
+a thrill ran through every breast.
+
+He was correct: land was in sight at daybreak, and Nic was standing on
+deck to see it, hardly willing to be dragged away to breakfast, and back
+again with Lady O'Hara and the officers, all eager after their long,
+long voyage--for ships did not reach Australia in less than six weeks in
+the days of King George the Third--to see the land that was to be their
+home for many months, in some cases years, to come.
+
+That afternoon they sailed out of the rough water between the great
+headlands into the lake-like expanse of the glorious harbour; and before
+long, after signalling, boats were seen approaching, their white sails
+glistening in the clear air.
+
+"Smell, Nic," said Lady O'Hara, "home at last, boy!  What do you think
+of the sunny land?"
+
+"Think?" cried Nic huskily--"it is glorious!  I never saw the sky so
+blue, the land so green, and everything so beautiful.  But pray, pray
+don't talk to me.  I want to try and make out whether my father is in
+any of those boats."
+
+"I should say yes: in that," said Lady O'Hara, who spoke in a deep,
+subdued voice.
+
+"Which--which?" cried Nic.
+
+"That one, with the union jack at the stern."
+
+"What, with the men in white?"
+
+"Yes; it is the boat from the man-o'-war yonder.  The governor is in it,
+please God; and your father, as his friend, will most likely be with
+him."
+
+Just then one of the officers handed her a telescope, and went forward
+to order up a guard of men to receive the governor.
+
+Lady O'Hara did not seem herself.  She was no longer the bluff;
+outspoken woman, but appeared trembling and nervous, as she stood
+resting with one hand upon the rail.
+
+"I can't use it to-day, Nic, boy," she said.  "You try the glass."
+
+Nic took it, rested it on the rail, had a long look, and focussed and
+re-focussed it, without avail.
+
+"I--I can't see with it," he said huskily.  "It is so dim.  The glass is
+not clear."
+
+"Try again," said Lady O'Hara; and Nic looked at her sharply, her voice
+was so changed.
+
+But he raised the glass once more, and this time brought it steadily to
+bear upon the boat rowed by the man-of-war's men.
+
+"Now, Nic, tell me what you see," said Lady O'Hara.  "Some soldiers with
+muskets and bayonets.  I can see the scarlet quite plain."
+
+"Yes, yes: the marines.  What else?"
+
+"There's an officer just in front of the flag."
+
+"One officer?"
+
+"Stop a minute.  Yes, there's another: he seems to me a bigger man."
+
+"Look--look again."
+
+"It's so far off that I can't quite make out, and the glass won't keep
+steady; but I think he has a big white beard.  Yes, and he has taken off
+his hat.  His head is white."
+
+Lady O'Hara half closed her eyes, and the captain, who was near, saw
+that a smile came upon her lip.
+
+"But you see some one else, Nic?" she said faintly.
+
+"Yes," said the boy in a very husky voice; "but it must be a seaman:
+there is some one in a straw hat."
+
+"And who will that be, Nic?"
+
+"A sailor, I suppose."
+
+"I do not say.  Your father generally wore a straw hat.  Can't you make
+out his face?"
+
+"No," said Nic, taking his eye from the glass quickly, and gazing at the
+boat, which seemed to have suddenly gone back some distance.
+
+"I want to look without the glass," he added, after a minute or so; and
+then, forgetful of the glorious panorama spread around beyond the blue
+lake-like harbour, he held on by the rail, gazing hard at the
+approaching boat, seeing neither of the others, only that one with the
+white jacketed men who made the water flash at each dip of the oars.
+
+Then by degrees Nic began to make out the faces, which grew clearer and
+clearer, till the figure wearing the straw hat rose up and waved it, and
+the officer in uniform rose up then and took off his hat.
+
+At that moment Nic was conscious of the fact that Lady O'Hara was close
+by him, waving a white handkerchief.
+
+Then he seemed to see nothing but a blurred picture of boats drawing
+nearer, as the great _Northumbrian_, with her sails hanging almost
+motionless, glided slowly onward through the calm water.
+
+He was conscious, though, of the gangway being manned, and of a guard of
+soldiers being drawn up to receive the governor, the officers and the
+captain and mates being ready too.
+
+At last the boat came close in alongside; a sharp order was shouted, the
+guard presented arms, and a big burly grey officer stepped easily on
+board, raised his hat to the officers, and then took Lady O'Hara's hands
+in his, gazed at her for a moment, and then quietly drew her arm through
+his, while she drew a deep, long breath, and stood there proud and
+happy.
+
+Nic just saw her, but only as it were out of the corner of his eye, for
+he was tremblingly watching the gangway for the next comer--a tall,
+spare, grey, aquiline-looking man with face of a warm sun tan, and eyes
+that seemed to pierce the boy through and through, as he held out his
+hand and cried "Father!"
+
+"Yes, my boy.  Then you knew me again?  Why, Nic, lad, what a great
+fellow you have grown!  Lady O'Hara, welcome back."
+
+"And glad to be back," cried the lady, shaking hands, and after a glance
+at Nic, asking the question hovering on his lips, "And how are they at
+the Bluff?"
+
+"All well, and send loving greetings."
+
+"Which I'll answer for myself, and very soon," cried the lady.
+
+"And all well?" said the governor, with a look round as if addressing
+every one.
+
+Lady O'Hara answered.
+
+"Yes, all well.  An excellent voyage, and you'll thank the officers for
+their kindness to me and Dominic Braydon here.  Gentlemen, I am going
+ashore in the boat, but I shall not say good-bye.  My husband bids me
+say that he will be glad to see every one who can leave the ship this
+evening at dinner.  What time, my dear?"
+
+"Six, gentlemen," said the governor; and after a little official
+business the party descended into the boat, and, feeling as if it were
+all a dream and impossible, Nic sat there being rowed ashore toward
+Government House, holding his father's hand for the first few minutes
+till he fancied that he was noticed, and then listening to him as he
+pointed out the various buildings ashore, and the vessels afloat, two of
+them being men-of-war, whose rigging was gay with bunting in honour of
+the governor's lady's return.
+
+"Well, Nic," said his father at last, as they gazed searchingly in each
+other's eyes, and with the most satisfactory result, "do you think you
+will like Australia?"
+
+"Like it?" cried Nic.  "Why, of course, father: isn't it home?"
+
+"Yes, but rather a rough, unpolished place."
+
+"What does that matter!" said Nic proudly.  "Shan't I be with you all
+again?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+PREPARING TO START.
+
+In those days it did not take long to see the town.  There were some
+shabby-looking stores and shops, a few settlers' houses, the hotel,
+taverns, and plenty of tents.  The substantial parts were the buildings
+erected for the soldiery and convicts.  But these latter were busy
+enough, gangs of them being marched out every morning under a strong
+guard to work at road making, quarrying, and other tasks; and as Nic,
+boy like, went round everywhere during the few days of his stay at the
+governor's house, he ran up eagerly, as soon as a convict gang appeared,
+to see if he could encounter his old shipboard friend the head warder,
+and whether he could recognise any of the convicts who came out in the
+_Northumbrian_.
+
+But they and the soldiers seemed to have been absorbed in the large body
+of men in the convict lines and barracks, and he looked in vain for the
+fierce, swarthy ruffian, his comic, grimace-making friend Twenty-five,
+and the pitiful, pleading countenance of Thirty-three.
+
+Still, there was a great deal to see, and the time went rapidly as he
+watched the convicts at work with their armed guard always on the _qui
+vive_ to shoot down any man who attempted to resist their warders or
+make for the bush.
+
+There were the blacks too, fairly plentiful in those days, hanging about
+the place ready to help drive sheep or cattle, or do any light work
+which did not entail much labour.
+
+The hospitality at Government House was everything that could be
+desired, and here the lieutenant and ensign were welcomed again and
+again during their stay.
+
+The last day came, when, after making all his preparations, the doctor
+announced that they would start at dawn the next morning.
+
+"Why not stay another week?" said Lady O'Hara.
+
+"You know," said the doctor: "those at home are eager to see us back;
+and Nic here is longing to find out what home is like.  When shall we
+see the governor and you?"
+
+"Before many months are over.  That road is begun, you see, and we shall
+work up in your direction.  Perhaps we may run over for a flying visit
+before."
+
+That evening Nic accompanied his father to where the various goods
+purchased for him by Lady O'Hara had been stored at a kind of warehouse;
+and here Nic found a large, light waggon in the course of being loaded
+by a couple of fierce-looking, bearded men, whose bare arms were burned
+of a reddish tan.
+
+The elder of the two, a man of about fifty, was standing up in the
+waggon pulling at a great packing-case, while his companion, a
+well-built fellow, who looked strong and active as could be, was
+hoisting up the case, helped by a shaggy-haired native, whose face shone
+as if it had been blackened and polished like a boot.  The white, or
+rather the reddish-brown, man attracted Nic's attention at once, as he
+stood there with his muscles standing out, making him resemble an
+antique statue; but it was the embittered, proud, and resentful look in
+his face which struck the boy.
+
+It was quite evident that he was attempting a task for which he was not
+equal, and that, instead of the case being deposited in the waggon, it
+would the next minute go down with a crash to the ground; and, as soon
+as this was seen, Nic involuntarily ran to help, and his father shouted
+as he, too, ran and seized one side of the case, with the result that
+the black grinned and made way, to stand looking on.
+
+"Jump down, Brookes!" cried the doctor.  "You ought to know better.  Get
+the case up first, and then put it in its place."
+
+"Know better?" growled the man.  "I know how to load a waggon; but who's
+to do it with a fellow like that and a nigger?  One's got no muscle, and
+t'other's like a black-pudd'n."
+
+"Get down--quick!" cried the doctor.
+
+"I'm a-comin'," growled the man; and he descended slowly, placed a
+shoulder under the end of the chest, and it was turned over on to its
+side.
+
+"Jump in, Leather, and work it into its place."
+
+"Oh, I can do that," grumbled the elder man; but his companion sprang up
+lightly, hoisted one end of the case, and walked it bit by bit to where
+it was to stand, before leaping down again.
+
+"Is this our waggon, then?" asked Nic.
+
+"Yes, boy.  We take the load back with us.  I think we shall just get
+all up in one load."
+
+"Are the roads good?" asked Nic, as he gazed at the heavy packing-cases;
+and the elder man grinned, while the labourer addressed as Leather, (a
+name which accorded well with his tanned skin), glared at the speaker
+once with a frown, and then told the black to help him with the next
+case.
+
+"Neither good nor bad," said the doctor, smiling.
+
+"But I mean for the horses to draw the load?"
+
+"There are no roads, my boy, and there will be no horses to draw the
+load.  We have only a rough track through the bush, and our men use
+draught-oxen in yoke."
+
+This was the first hint to Nic of the place being very wild.  He said no
+more for some time, but readily set to work trying to help where he
+could, his father nodding approval as he noted his eagerness.
+
+Under the master's eye and in accordance with his suggestions the
+loading went on better now, though from time to time little matters kept
+showing that the elder man lost no opportunity for finding fault with
+the younger, who was either weak, stupid, unwilling, or clumsy in the
+other's eyes.  But the man worked steadily and well, and Nic began to
+feel annoyed and ready to tell the elder servant that if he would only
+work as well as his fellow the waggon would be laden much sooner.
+
+"I dare say father will give it to him soon, though," said Nic to
+himself; "I've no right to interfere."
+
+The intended short visit to the waggon lasted three hours before the
+doctor was satisfied to leave his men to rope everything on securely.
+
+"And it will not be done, Nic," he said, as they walked away.  "That's
+where I want you, my boy, to grow up into a sort of lieutenant--to act
+as my second pair of eyes, and see that the men do not shirk things.
+I'm sorry to say that they will do it if I am not looking on.  Now then,
+I'm going to show you the horses that draw our waggon."
+
+He led the way to a fenced-in pen, where a dozen fine, healthy-looking
+bullocks were grazing; and upon Nic looking up wonderingly, his father
+laughed.
+
+"Yes," he said, "those are our draught animals.  They are terribly slow,
+but very sure.  By the way, though, Nic--I never thought of that--can
+you ride?"
+
+"Not bullocks, father," said the lad proudly.  "I'll walk."
+
+"Rather a long walk, Nic," said the doctor quietly.  "Well, I can walk
+part of the way, and ride on the waggon the rest.  But will it take us
+more than a day?"
+
+"Yes," said the doctor dilly; "it will take us more than a day.  But
+come here."
+
+He led the way to a rough, shed-like building, entered, and a couple of
+sleek, well-bred horses turned their heads from the posts to which they
+were haltered, and whinnied.
+
+"Will one of these do for your lordship to ride?" said the doctor,
+smiling, as he went up to and patted the horses in turn.
+
+"Yes!" cried Nic.  "What beauties, father!"
+
+"Glad you like them.  I bought that sorrel nag for you.  He isn't up to
+my weight."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Well, but what, boy?"
+
+"I've never been on a horse, father," said Nic, with a shamefaced air.
+
+"Never learned to ride?  No, of course not," said the doctor.  "Riding
+was not included in the range of studies at the Friary."
+
+"But we boys used to catch the donkeys on the common of an evening, and
+mount them."
+
+"Oh, come," cried the doctor; "then you can ride a donkey?"
+
+"Sometimes, father," said Nic, laughing.  "They often used to send us
+off."
+
+"Kicking?"
+
+"It was hardly kicking, father.  One I used to try and ride would stand
+perfectly still till I was on and tried to make him go, and then he used
+to bring all his legs close together, put his head down, arch up his
+back, and somehow or other, when he began to dance about, we always got
+shot off, and came down on our backs.  You never saw anything so queer."
+
+"Oh! yes, I have," said the doctor drily, "often.  Our horses here have
+that bad habit, and we call it buck jumping, for it is very much the
+action of a bounding deer.  Have you been pitched off like that more
+than once?"
+
+"Oh! yes, father; scores, perhaps hundreds of times," said Nic,
+laughing.
+
+"Come then, you will not be afraid to mount this horse, and I dare say I
+can soon teach you to ride.  It's too late now, or I'd give you a
+lesson."
+
+He closed the door of the shed, went back to the waggon, where the
+younger man was on the top straining at a rope, and the elder giving
+orders, while the black was squatting down and looking on.  Here a few
+words of instruction were given, and a question or two asked about the
+flour barrels and bacon.
+
+These being answered satisfactorily, the doctor led the way back to the
+Government House, where they had just time to prepare for dinner and
+meet the two officers and the captain and ship's doctor, who had been
+asked to meet them by way of farewell.
+
+Bed was sought early, the doctor laughingly telling his son to make much
+of it, for he would have to make shift for some time to come.
+
+"It's good-bye to civilisation when we leave here in the morning," said
+the doctor, looking hard at his son.
+
+"And he won't mind it a bit," said Lady O'Hara.  "He's just the boy to
+take to a bit of rough work in the bush."
+
+"I'm glad of it," said the doctor drily, "for we rough it in the bush,
+and no mistake."
+
+Nic lay down that night in his comfortable bedroom after a long look out
+of his window at the beautiful moonlit harbour, with its shipping bathed
+in the soft, silvery light, and a feeling of melancholy came over him.
+He was sorry to leave frank-spoken, motherly Lady O'Hara, and the
+thought of going right away into the wilds, though fascinating, would
+inspire him with a shrinking feeling of awe.
+
+For during the few days he had been ashore he had picked up some
+information, and not always of the pleasantest nature.  People about had
+not been backward in telling him that the blacks were rather fond of
+spearing people who entered the bush.  They had some ugly stories, too,
+about tiger-snakes, which lay waiting for unwary passers-by, and then
+struck them, the bite being so venomous that the sufferer would survive
+only a few hours at most, possibly only a few minutes.
+
+There were other terrors and dangers, too, in the bush, they said; but
+when asked what, they shook their heads very strangely, as if the
+subject were not to be mentioned, for fear of ill befalling those who
+talked lightly.  So one way and another Nic was pretty well primed, and
+consequently only slightly buoyed up by the knowledge that he was going
+to his real home, he fell asleep to dream of all kinds of mysterious
+horrors, among which was one that was terrible in the extreme.  He was
+lost in the bush, and nothing was left for him to do but lie down and
+die; and the first part of this he had, he thought, just achieved, when
+a loud voice came out of the blackness and cried:
+
+"Now, Nic, boy, it's time to get up.  And I want you to see to the dogs.
+They know you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+TO THE BUSH.
+
+For some moments Nic acted involuntarily as he scrambled on his clothes,
+feeling, as he did, in a confused way that it was his duty to dress, but
+why and wherefore, he had not the most remote idea.
+
+It was cold and raw, and everything went wrong; and as he could not get
+himself quite dry, his shirt stuck to him and refused to go on.  Those
+things which ought to have been in one place had got into another; and
+even when the cold water had thoroughly wakened him he did not get on
+very well, and felt ill-humoured, stupid, and out of sorts.
+
+"It's so vexatious starting so soon," thought Nic, as lie thrust brush,
+comb, and nightshirt into the bag he had nearly packed over night; and
+at last he opened the door, just as his father called up the stairs:
+
+"Come, Nic, my boy: they didn't teach you at school to be quick."
+
+"Hush! you'll wake Lady O'Hara," protested the boy.
+
+"I should be puzzled to," replied his father shortly.  "Come in here."
+
+"In here" meant the dining-room, where the first person he saw, by the
+light of the candles standing on the white breakfast-cloth, was their
+hostess.
+
+Nic was quite awake now, and the last trace of ill-temper passed away as
+he shook hands.
+
+"I did not expect to see you this morning," he said.
+
+"And did you think I was going to let old friends start without a
+comfortable breakfast?  Why, it will be days, boy, before you get
+another."
+
+"Days?" said Nic.
+
+"To be sure, boy.  There is no stage coach for you, and you'll have to
+keep with your waggon.  These bullocks go about two miles an hour."
+
+This was news to Nic, who had been imbued with some kind of notion that
+he was going to get home that same evening, and that was why his father
+had started so early.
+
+Sir John entered the room directly after, and the meal was just as if it
+had been nine o'clock instead of four in the morning; so that the
+travellers were well prepared, when the doctor rose, to say good-bye,
+for the cracking of a stock whip and sundry ejaculations and apostrophes
+to the bullocks to "come on," and "get over," and "pull," were heard
+outside, where a couple of horses freshly brought round were stamping
+and pawing the dust, impatient to be off.
+
+The dogs were hurried round from the stables--these being the two
+collies intended for the doctor--and after many frantic dashes at the
+horses, they were taken forward toward the waggon, where the bullocks
+were immediately driven into a state of commotion, and faced round to
+lower their horns and receive their enemies.
+
+Finally, however, the two excited animals were safely chained to the
+back of the waggon, which started at once with a great deal of whip
+cracking and shouting on the part of Brookes, his fellow, Leather, being
+perfectly silent, and the black nowhere to be seen.
+
+This start having been accomplished, the doctor returned with his son to
+say their final farewells to the governor and his lady.
+
+"There, good-bye, Nic," cried the latter; "it's only a little way off
+you live.  We think nothing of a few hundred miles here, and we shall be
+coming to see you, or you will us before very long.  Are you a good
+horseman?  That's a spirity-looking thing I see you're to ride."
+
+Nic was nonplussed, and his father came to his help:
+
+"Nic hasn't had time to practise much; he'll be a better rider next time
+he comes down to the front."
+
+"That's right," cried Lady O'Hara.  "There: goodbye, and bless you, my
+boy!  Give my dear love to your mother, and tell her I shall want to
+steal you for a visit first time I come."
+
+"I shall not be able to spare him," said the doctor, who had mounted,
+and now held the rein of the second horse.  "Come, Nic, boy, up with
+you."
+
+Nic nervously raised his foot to the stirrup, made a desperate spring as
+he clung to the pommel and cantle of the saddle, and somehow came down
+in his seat; but the horse started, and nearly threw him on to its neck.
+
+"Steady!" cried the doctor sharply, as he held the rein firmly; and,
+nervous and startled, Nic shuffled back and nipped the saddle with all
+the force of which his knees were capable.
+
+"Are you all right, boy?" cried the governor.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Nic, as firmly as he could, though he was wondering how
+long it would be before he was all wrong.
+
+"Good-bye, O'Hara," cried the doctor.  "You will hear from me when I get
+home."
+
+"Good-bye," cried the governor; and, leaning toward his old friend, he
+whispered:
+
+"I'd take care: that boy can't ride a bit."
+
+"I know," said the doctor.  "Don't let him see that you do.  Good-bye."
+
+He touched his horse's sides, and the beautiful beast started to go off
+at a canter, but was checked instantly, to keep it in a walk, with the
+result that it began to fret and dance.  Nic's lighter steed followed
+suit, and the boy's position grew moment by moment more desperate.  Now
+he lost one stirrup, then the other; and it was only by getting a good
+grip of the pommel with one hand that he was able to stay on.
+
+Finally, though, the horses were quieted down, and paced together in a
+walk, when the doctor said quietly:
+
+"Why, Nic, it's a good thing that it is still dark.  I'm afraid we
+should have had some remarks made if people had been about."
+
+"I--I never said I could ride, father," said Nic, in a reproachful tone.
+
+"I'm glad you did not, boy.  It's a good thing that you have no spurs."
+
+"Is it, father?"
+
+"Of course," cried the doctor; "if you had, Sour Sorrel would have soon
+pitched you off."
+
+"I'm very sorry, father," faltered Nic, who felt very miserable as well
+as uncomfortable.  "Had I better get down and lead him?"
+
+"If you feel so much afraid that you dare not stop on, my boy," said the
+doctor drily.
+
+The dawn was coming, and Nic turned to glance at his father's thin,
+cleanly cut profile, to see that he was gazing straight before him
+towards where the waggon could be dimly seen in front.
+
+"Well, are you?" continued the doctor, without turning his head.
+
+Nic was silent, and the horse stumbled through putting a foot into a
+deep rut of the unkept road.
+
+"Hold up, sir--steady, steady!" cried the doctor, drawing more heavily
+upon the rein he still held, as well as his own; and then, after Nic had
+shuffled back into the seat from which he had again been shaken, "I
+said, are you too much alarmed to stop on?"
+
+These words sounded very stern, and stung and hurt the boy to the quick.
+
+"I have never learned to ride, father," he said reproachfully; "and it
+is all fresh to me to be mounted upon a spirited horse like this."
+
+"Of course it is: perfectly fresh.  Then you feel afraid?"
+
+"Yes, of falling off, father.  I have nearly been down three times."
+
+"Six, Nic.  Well, get off and climb on to the waggon."  Nic drew a deep
+breath as his father checked the horses; and, stung more than ever, the
+boy kicked his nag with his heels and sent it forward.
+
+"Well, why don't you get down, sir?"
+
+"Because I'd rather keep on and ride, father," said Nic huskily.
+
+"Do you mean that, sir?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Thank you, Nic," said the doctor, turning to him with a smile.  "I like
+the boy who is not afraid to own that he is alarmed; and better still to
+hear you say through your teeth that you will not be beaten--
+metaphorically, of course.  Now, then, we understand our position.  This
+is not boasting, mind--look at me.  You see me here?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Nic, feeling envious of the easy, upright position
+of his father in the saddle.
+
+"Let me tell you, then, that I feel as easy and comfortable here as if I
+were seated upon a cushion in a carriage.  More so, for this noble beast
+knows me as I know him, and after a fashion we are as one together in
+going over the ground.  Do you understand what that means, Nic?"
+
+"Yes, father; but you have learned to ride."
+
+"Yes, and more, boy.  It means the confidence which comes of knowledge.
+When I came out here, years ago, I had not been on horseback for twenty
+years; I was a miserable invalid, and when I mounted my horse--a
+necessity out in a wild country like this--I suffered a martyrdom of
+nervous dread.  But I did what you have just done, made up my mind that
+I would master my fear and ride, and I won.  It took me a whole year.
+As for you, it will not take you a month."
+
+"So little time?" cried Nic excitedly.
+
+"Or less.  We have about a week's journey before us; and from what I
+have just learned, I shall be greatly surprised if you do not canter up
+to the station with me, a little stiff and sore about the knees, but
+good friends with Sour Sorrel there, and ready to think riding a
+delightful accomplishment."
+
+Nic shook his head.
+
+"You don't know me yet, father," said the boy sadly.
+
+"Better than you know yourself," replied the doctor.  "But don't let's
+waste time.  You want to learn?"
+
+"Horribly, father," cried Nic.
+
+"Very well, then.  I'll give you a lesson at once."
+
+"Not faster, to begin with?" said Nic quickly.
+
+"No," said the doctor, laughing.  "I want to give you confidence, not
+destroy it.  So now then, to begin with, you shall learn what danger you
+run.  I am an experienced horseman, I have tight hold of your rein, so
+that your horse cannot bolt, and I have promised you not to go faster
+than a walk.  You see, then, the utmost that could happen in that way
+would be that the nag might caper a little."
+
+"Or kick and throw me off."
+
+"He will not kick, boy.  He is too well broken.  Secondly, you might
+lose your seat and come off: If you did, how far would you have to
+fall?"
+
+"About four feet, father."
+
+"Say four.  Suppose you were on a see-saw at school, would you be afraid
+of falling, off four or five or six feet?"
+
+"No, father, of course not."
+
+"Then why should you be afraid of falling that distance from the horse?"
+
+"I don't know," said Nic.  "It is because it is all so fresh, I suppose.
+Yes, I do: my foot might hang in the stirrup and the horse gallop away
+with me, kicking me every time he strode."
+
+"When I am holding him?  The stirrups, then: take your feet out."
+
+"Out of the stirrups, father?  Is it safe to do so?"
+
+"You were alarmed lest your foot should hang in one.  Quick! out with
+them.  That's right: now draw them up, cross the leathers, and let the
+irons hang over on each side.  Now how do you feel?"
+
+"As if I must go off on one side or the other, father.  The saddle is so
+dreadfully slippery."
+
+"Take tight hold of it, then, with your knees, and keep your balance.
+That's not right: I said take hold with your knees, not the calves of
+your legs."
+
+"That way, father?"
+
+"Yes, that's better.  Let your legs go well down, your heels too, and
+whatever you do don't touch the pommel with your hand."
+
+That last order was hard, for it was very easy to make a catch at the
+pommel so as to hold on.
+
+"Sit up, boy.  Don't bend forward.  It hurts you a little at first, but
+you get more and more used to it every hour.  Now, then, we'll walk
+gently past the waggon.  Don't let the men think you have never been on
+a horse before."
+
+The horses' pace being so much faster than that of the bullocks, they
+were soon by, after the doctor had spoken in a friendly way to the dogs,
+given his men an order or two, and then cast a critical eye over the
+sleek, patient oxen, which trudged along with swinging tails and horns
+giving a smart rap now and then as they encountered their yoke-fellows.
+
+The track was plainly marked, but it had no pretence of being a road as
+it went on and on, to be lost in the distance of the bright grey
+morning.  Away to their left was the harbour, with its shipping, and
+beyond it the ocean; the town lay behind them, and on either side of the
+track with its lines of ruts there were plenty of green pasture and
+trees scattered here and there--monsters some seemed to be--and in the
+openings were great patches of short, scrubby growth.
+
+All at once, as Nic was thinking how peculiar the trees looked in
+colour, there came a loud musical series of notes from a grove-like
+patch, in which the boy immediately concluded there must be a house.
+
+"Hear that?" said the doctor.
+
+"Yes, father, plainly."
+
+"Well, what do you make of it?"
+
+"Some one playing a kind of flute."
+
+"No, Nic.  That is our Australian magpie."
+
+"Magpie?" cried Nic, forgetting his uncomfortable seat; "but magpies at
+home in Kent have a harsh kind of laugh."
+
+"Like that?" said the doctor, as a loud, hoarse chuckle arose.
+
+"No: harsher and noisier.  Was that the magpie?"
+
+"No, Nic; that was our laughing jackass."
+
+"What!  A donkey?"
+
+"No; there he sits, on that bare limb," cried the doctor, pointing up to
+a big, heavy-headed, browny-grey bird, which seemed to be watching them,
+with its great strong beak on one side.
+
+Nic examined the bird carefully.
+
+"You would not think that was a kingfisher?" said the doctor.
+
+"No," cried Nic; "though the shape is something like, all but the tail,
+which is so much bigger."
+
+"But it is a kingfisher all the same, though he does not fish as his
+ancestors may have done.  He lives on beetles, lizards, mice, and frogs,
+and that sort of game.  There's your flute-player again."
+
+For the sweet, melodious, whistling notes arose once more, sounding
+somewhat as if a person were running the notes of a chord up and down
+with different variations.
+
+"It's very sweet," said Nic.
+
+"Yes.  The colonists call it the magpie, but it is the piping crow of
+Australia.  It is one of the earliest singers, and if we'd been here at
+daybreak I dare say we should have heard quite a long solo."
+
+Farther on Nic had a good look at one of the piping crows in the
+black-and-white jacket which had obtained for it the familiar name of
+magpie; but it was far from being like that handsome bird the British
+magpie, with its long tail glossed with metallic reflexions of golden
+green and purple, and with wing feathers to match.
+
+Two or three times over, out in the open country, the horses startled
+Nic by their disposition to go off at a canter, but after being checked
+they calmly settled down to their walking pace, which was fast enough to
+leave the bullock team behind; consequently Dr Braydon drew rein from
+time to time at the summit of some hill or ridge, so that his son might
+have a good view of the new land which was henceforth to be his home.
+Here he pointed out the peculiar features of the landscape and its
+resemblance to an English park, save that, instead of the grassy land
+being dotted with oak, beech, elm, or fir, the trees were always what
+the doctor called "gum," with their smooth bark and knotted limbs, but
+gum trees of several varieties.  Here and there a farmstead could be
+seen, but they were few and far between; still, where they did show,
+with the roughly built houses and their bark or shingle roofs, flocks of
+sheep and droves of cattle could be seen scattered widely over the
+plain.
+
+"Did you say we should be about a week getting home?" said Nic, after
+one of these halts.
+
+"Perhaps longer," said the doctor.  "Everything depends on those
+crawling gentlemen behind.  They have a heavy load: you see there is no
+road, and if rain comes, as it is sure to before long, the load will
+seem twice as heavy to the patient beasts, and I can't afford to hurry
+them and get them out of condition.  Rain falls very seldom here, Nic;
+but when it does come there's no nonsense about it.  There's a river on
+ahead which we shall have to cross."
+
+"Then you have bridges," said Nic naively, "if you have no regular
+roads?"
+
+"Bridges?  No; we shall have to ford it if we were going across to-day,
+it would be a few inches deep; if one of our big rain storms comes, it
+might be forty or fifty feet.  I have seen it sixty."
+
+Nic glanced at his father.
+
+"Simple truth, my boy," he said.  "The river is in a deep trough between
+two ranges of hills; and if there have been rains we might be detained
+on the bank for days or weeks."
+
+"And whereabouts does home lie?" asked Nic.
+
+"Yonder," said his father, pointing toward the north-east.  "The air is
+wonderfully clear now, and perhaps you can see what I do--that faint
+blue ridge that looks like a layer of cloud low down on the horizon."
+
+"Yes, I can see it," said Nic eagerly; "but surely it won't take us a
+week to ride there.  It looks quite close."
+
+"Yes, in this clear atmosphere, Nic; but it is a long way off, as you
+will find before we get there.  Of course if we could canter our thirty
+or forty miles a day we should soon be there, but we are an escort only.
+We want to take care of the waggon."
+
+"But couldn't the men take care of that?"
+
+"Perhaps; but a good master looks after his valuables himself.  Brookes
+is a pretty trusty man, but the other is a new hand, whom I have lately
+had from my neighbour Mr Dillon, the magistrate, and I have not tried
+him yet sufficiently to trust.  That load contains things that will be
+of great value to me, things Lady O'Hara bought me: seeds and
+implements, guns, ammunition, powder, and endless odds and ends wanted
+by your mother and sisters, who cannot send into the next street to buy
+what they want."
+
+"But surely in this wild, open place no one would interfere with the
+waggon?"
+
+"Think not?  Why, Nic, we have bushrangers--escaped convicts--beside
+plenty of people less desperate but more dishonest, without counting the
+blacks."
+
+"Are there any of them about here?" asked Nic, with a glance round.
+
+"Perhaps.  We hardly know where they may be.  You see they belong to
+wandering tribes which roam about in search of food.  They are here
+to-day and gone to-morrow.  We never know when they may come."
+
+"Are they dangerous?"
+
+"Yes and no, my boy.  We always have to be on our guard, especially in
+such a lonely place as ours."
+
+"But why did you go and live in such a lonely spot, father?" said Nic.
+
+"Because the place suited me, my boy.  I rode over hundreds of miles of
+country before I pitched upon the Bluffs and took up the land.  It was
+beautiful, the pasture was good, and there was that more than great
+necessary we look for in this droughty country--a good supply of water.
+I have known squatters out here lose hundreds of cattle and thousands of
+sheep in a dry summer, when everything is burnt up."
+
+By this time the bullocks had dragged their load close by, and for the
+first time Nic stared at a black figure, dressed in a strip of cloth and
+a spear, walking behind the waggon.
+
+"There's one of the blacks, father," whispered Nic, staring at the
+shock-headed fellow, who turned a little on one side, and displayed a
+short club with a large knob at one end.
+
+"Only the fellow who helped to load," said the doctor.
+
+Nic looked hard, for he had not recognised the man.
+
+"He has got rid of his shirt and trousers, Nic, for the march home.
+These blacks are eager to get clothes, but it always seems a misery to
+them to wear anything but a bit of cloth."
+
+"But is it never cold here?"
+
+"Very, sometimes--frosty; but they make a bit of a shelter and a tiny
+fire, and linger over it till the hot sun comes out, and then forget the
+cold.  The old people here never even built a hut, Nic--only a shelter--
+a rough bit of fence."
+
+In the middle of the day, when the sun came down with tremendous power,
+a halt was called beneath the shade of a gigantic gum tree, and Nic for
+the first time realised why this name was applied to the one great
+family of trees peculiar to the land, for drops of gum which had oozed
+out were gleaming red like carbuncles in the hot sunshine.
+
+The doctor sprang from his horse, but Nic sat quite still.
+
+"Dawn with you, my boy," cried his father; but, instead of obeying, Nic
+screwed up his face into a peculiar shape.
+
+"I don't feel as if I could, father."
+
+"Oh!  Stiff.  Down with you, boy.  You must work that off."
+
+Nic set his teeth, and rolled off his horse in a most ungraceful way, to
+stand feeling as if the ground was unsafe and all on the move.
+
+"Hurt?" said his father, smiling.
+
+"Yes, father.  It's as if my legs had been dragged wide apart and
+stretched."
+
+"Getting in shape for your saddle, my boy.  You'll soon get over this.
+Now look here."
+
+Nic did look there, and was shown how to hobble his nag's fore legs to
+keep it from straying, and how to unbridle and take off the saddle.
+
+"Always give your horse a good rub down where the saddle has been, Nic,"
+said the doctor.  "Horses are delicate animals.  They deserve good
+treatment too.  Your nag carries you well, and he looks to you for
+payment in food, rest, and good treatment.  These make all the
+difference in the way a horse will last on a journey.  Now, my lads,
+come along.  Water."
+
+The doctor led the way, and the horses followed like a couple of dogs.
+Nic was following too, with the sensation strongly upon him that he
+should like to go down on all-fours and follow like a dog, for walking
+seemed to be a mode of progress to which he was not accustomed.
+
+"Wait a moment, Nic," said his father.  "Unfasten the dogs and lead them
+here.  They must want water too."
+
+Nic went to where the dogs were chained to the tail of the waggon,
+trying to walk firmly and erect, but it was hard work, for his legs
+seemed to be independent of his body, and there were moments when he
+felt as if he had none at all.
+
+But he tried not to show it, and while the men were unyoking the oxen,
+which immediately began to graze on the rich, succulent grass, Nic
+proceeded to unchain the dogs.
+
+The task was not so easy as it looked, for the collies were frantic at
+the thought of being unfastened, and barked and leaped about wildly.  To
+make matters worse, they had been hard at work trying to strangle one
+another on the way by leaping over their chains, and tying them up in an
+almost inseparable knot, one which refused to yield to his fingers; and
+after many tries Nic appealed to Brookes.
+
+"I wish you'd come and unfasten this," he said.  "I want to take the
+dogs to water."
+
+"Take the dogs to water!" grumbled the man.  "Why can't they take
+themselves?  Hi!  Leather!  Come and untie these dogs."
+
+The younger man left the oxen he was loosening, and approached Nic in a
+surly way, hardly glancing at him; but for a few moments the chain-knot
+baffled him, while the dogs bounded about wildly.
+
+"Hold them by the collars for a minute," said Leather harshly.
+
+Nic obeyed, feeling mentally lower now, for he seemed to be the servant
+instead of the other.
+
+Then he felt better, for the man softened a little in his manner.
+
+"Poor brutes!" he said: "prisoners and thirsty.  Steady, my lads,
+steady!"
+
+"Oh, they won't be prisoners long," said Nic.  "Father's afraid that
+they'd run back and try and get on board the ship or to the governor's
+house."
+
+"There you are," cried the man, placing the chains in his hand, when, as
+if scenting out the water, the two collies started off, with eyes
+starting and tongues hanging out of their mouths, tugging and striving
+to get on, and forcing Nic to follow at a trot, his legs hurting him for
+the first few moments horribly.
+
+They were not long reaching the shady pool where the horses were now
+standing in a shallow, with the drops falling from their muzzle.
+
+"Poor beasts! they are thirsty," cried the doctor, as Nic was literally
+dragged to the edge of the pool, the dogs striving to plunge right in.
+"Don't let them go, Nic."
+
+"But they'll have me in, father."
+
+"Don't let them, boy.  Ah!"
+
+Nic had not the least intention of letting them, but as the dogs had
+tugged at their chains the boy was forced from a hobble into a trot, and
+then, before the doctor could help, he caught one foot in the tough
+herbage, tripped, went down, and was dragged a yard or two, and then,
+with a rush and tremendous splash, he followed the dogs' plunge off the
+bank into deep water, to be towed here and there by the delighted
+animals, which swam about, barking, drinking, and threatening to tangle
+their chains in a worse knot than before--to wit, round Nic.
+
+But after the first few moments' confusion the boy touched bottom, and
+began to wade back, finding it easier to master the dogs in the water
+than out.
+
+"Well, that's a nice beginning, Nic!" said the doctor.
+
+"Isn't it horrid?" cried the boy.
+
+"Wet?" said his father laconically.  "There, it might have been worse.
+Let them drink, and then bring them back to the waggon and tie them up.
+We must keep them on the chain till we get them home.  Poor fellows,
+then!" he cried, reaching down to pat the dripping heads.  "There!
+you've had as much as is good for you.  Come along."
+
+A tug or two at the chains brought the dogs out, to let themselves off,
+as it were, and scatter glistening water drops from their shaggy hides,
+after which they broke out into a duet of barks, and danced about on the
+bank, wagging their tails, evidently inviting Nic to cast sticks into
+the water for them to fetch, but they followed quietly enough, with the
+horses behind them, lowering their heads to bite playfully at the
+collies' waving tails.
+
+"You can get at your portmanteau; it's on the top," said the doctor, as
+soon as the dogs were secured.  "Get out some dry things.  You can make
+a dressing-room behind the tree."
+
+All this the boy proceeded to do, and by the time he had changed he felt
+none the worse for his involuntary bath, and hung his wrung-out garments
+on the scorching waggon-tilt to dry.
+
+This done, he obeyed his father's summons, and found him seated in the
+shade, waiting with a basket of provisions, which Lady O'Hara had
+provided for their use, while the two men were seated beneath another
+tree eating, the black standing on one leg a short distance away,
+resting upon his spear and holding the sole of his right foot flat
+against his left knee so as to form a peculiar angle.  And every now and
+then one of the men pitched him a piece of bread, which he caught deftly
+and proceeded to eat.
+
+"Just as if he were a dog," thought Nic, as he sat down by his father
+and began his _al fresco_ dinner.
+
+And how good it was!  He forgot all about the stiffness in his legs in
+the pure enjoyment of those moments.  No school picnic had ever
+approached it, for everything was so gloriously new and fresh.  The
+beautiful land stretched undulating right away to the blue-tinted
+mountains, the water-pool sparkled in the sunshine, the horses and
+cattle grazed in the thick rich grass, and the waggon helped to form a
+picture against a clump of shrubs, half-covered with yellow flowers,
+while a delicious scent of musk filled the air.
+
+Never had repast tasted so delicious; and, with two exceptions, every
+living creature seemed to be partaking of this enjoyment in the midst of
+the peaceful repose in that lovely spot.  The exceptions were the dogs,
+which kept on watching them and uttering an uneasy bark now and then,
+for the rich grass in which they stood was not to their taste.
+
+Nic went on eating in silence for a few minutes, and then, breaking a
+loaf in two, rose and went off to the dogs, which readily attacked the
+bread, a long diet of biscuit on board ship having made them fairly
+vegetarian in their tastes.
+
+The doctor nodded approval as Nic returned wondering whether he would
+receive a reproof, and the wayside meal went on till the doctor spoke.
+
+"Well, Nic," he said, "how do you like the beginning of your rough
+life?"
+
+"It's glorious, father," cried the boy eagerly.
+
+"Humph!  In spite of the first lesson in riding, the ducking, and this
+muddly way of eating--no table-cloth, no chairs or table?"
+
+"Oh, I like it."
+
+"Because it's new and the sun shines?"
+
+"I know that the sun doesn't always shine, father," cried Nic.  "I shall
+like it, I know."
+
+"That's right.  But look: here come some visitors that you have only
+seen in cages at home."
+
+Nic had already sprung to his feet, and he walked out from beneath the
+tree to gaze excitedly at a flock of white birds that came sailing up,
+evidently to alight in the grove, but the sudden appearance of the boy
+made them turn off, shrieking harshly, to find a resting-place farther
+on, and Nic returned disappointed.
+
+"Legs seem to be better, Nic?" said the doctor.
+
+"Yes; I had forgotten them, father.  But those birds!"
+
+"Well, you scared them.  You saw what they were?"
+
+"Not white pigeons or gulls?" said Nic.  "I could almost have fancied
+that they were cockatoos."
+
+"No fancy about it, Nic.  They were sulphur crests.  You'll see
+thousands in the groves down by the river."
+
+"Is there a river about here?"
+
+"Your wet clothes seemed to suggest something of the kind," said the
+doctor, laughing.
+
+"But that was a pond," said Nic.
+
+"A water-hole--a deep place in the river.  That depression is a river,
+Nic," continued the doctor, pointing; "there it runs yonder.  You can
+trace it by the trees which cluster along its course.  It is dried up
+now, all but a hole here and there; but after rains it is a rushing
+stream, and I dare say a little water is always trickling along its
+course from hole to hole a few feet under ground.  Now then, pack up the
+basket.  We shall want it for supper.  Have a nap afterwards if you are
+tired.  I shall not go on for an hour and a half yet."
+
+But Nic wanted no nap--there was too much to see; and it did not seem to
+be long before the order was given to yoke the oxen and saddle up.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+NIC'S EXPERIENCES.
+
+"Now, Nic," said the doctor, as they stood ready to make a fresh start,
+"we shall go on, so as to reach another water-hole and camp for the
+night."
+
+As he spoke the doctor rammed down the last wad and examined the priming
+of the new gun Nic had brought out.  Then, finding the pan full of
+powder, he tried whether the flint was well screwed up in the hammer.
+
+"Put these on," he said, and he handed the boy his shot-belt and
+powder-flask.
+
+"Are we going to shoot anybody, father?" asked Nic eagerly.
+
+"I hope not, boy; but it is a custom out here to go armed when you are
+travelling, and we are getting some distance out now away from the town.
+Up with your and try and mount a little better.  Take hold of your
+reins and the mane there tightly, up with your left foot into the
+stirrup, and lay your hand on the cantle of the saddle; don't pull it,
+only support yourself by it.  Now draw your off rein a little, so that
+the horse cannot sidle away, spring up lightly, and throw your leg over.
+Mount."
+
+Nic obeyed, as he thought, to the letter, and got into the saddle
+somehow, making his horse fidget and wag its tail uneasily.
+
+"Bad--very bad," cried the doctor, laughing.  "I said throw your leg
+over.  You tried to throw yourself over.  Never mind; you'll soon learn.
+Look at me.  One moment: take your gun."
+
+Nic took the gun handed to him, and was shown how to carry it across his
+rein arm, and then he enviously watched his father take hold of a wisp
+of the horse's mane, place a foot in the stirrup, and lightly swing
+himself into the saddle, while his horse hung toward him a little,
+otherwise remained perfectly still.
+
+"You'll soon do it, Nic.  Legs feel stiff?"
+
+"A bit cramped," replied the boy.
+
+"Forward, then, at a walk.  I shall not hold your rein now.  Your nag
+will not leave his companion."
+
+"Hadn't you better, father, till I get more used to it?" asked Nic
+uneasily.
+
+"No," said the doctor decisively.  "It was quite right this morning over
+your first lesson.  You have learned a little already, and I don't want
+you, as it were, to learn to swim with corks.  Come along.  Steady, lad,
+steady."
+
+This was to Nic's steed, which began to amble, keeping up a nice gentle
+motion, which would have been very pleasant if the boy had not felt a
+bit nervous.  But as it found its stable companion continued to pace,
+Sour Sorrel followed its example and dropped into a walk.
+
+The waggon was already a quarter of a mile onward, and the dogs were
+hanging back watching them, barking furiously till they were overtaken,
+and having a few encouraging words delivered to them as father and son
+rode on.
+
+"I should like to set them free," said the doctor, "but I dare not yet."
+
+The afternoon ride was almost a repetition of that in the morning, and
+from time to time they passed water-holes, showing that they were
+keeping along the course of the river, though it was not until it was
+pointed out to him that Nic knew he was for some distance travelling
+along the dry bed and was crossing it, the depression seeming little
+different from the surrounding country.
+
+Weariness had something to do with it, for to Nic the country did not
+seem so beautiful as in the morning.  He had been many hours in the
+saddle, and though the pace had only been a walk, the unaccustomed
+position told upon his muscles, and, in spite of a hint or two from his
+father, the boy's attitude was far from upright.  He had ceased, too,
+for some time to keep a keen look-out for birds and kangaroos.  Earlier
+in the afternoon he had seen some reddish, dun-coloured animals in the
+distance; but these had, upon nearer approach, turned out to be cattle,
+and a feeling of disappointment began to make itself evident as they
+rode on and on, till toward sunset, when the waggon was quite half a
+mile ahead, Nic noticed that the bright greyish white tilt was glowing
+and turning ruddier against the dark lines of a clump of trees, and a
+minute later it still seemed to be in the same position.
+
+Nic felt disposed to draw his father's attention to the fact that the
+waggon was not moving, but his feeling of disinclination even to speak
+was growing upon him, and he was riding bent forward in silence,
+noticing what appeared to be a bed of whitish mist spreading among the
+trees, when his father startled him out of his thoughtful musings by
+saying laconically:
+
+"Camp."
+
+Nic turned and looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"Camp, Nic," he said.  "Don't you see that they've lit a fire?"
+
+"Oh!" cried the boy, raising himself up.  "I thought it was mist."
+
+"No, Nic, smoke.  That's the first thing we do out here when we halt for
+the night: light a fire and put on the billy."
+
+Nic gave another inquiring look, and his father smiled.
+
+"You'll soon learn all our colonial terms, boy," he said.  "A billy is a
+large cross-handled saucepan to boil water in and make our tea.  I'll
+show you how that is done--when we get there."
+
+"I know how to make tea," said Nic.
+
+"Yes, but not our way."
+
+Nic looked wonderingly at his father.
+
+"You are on the other side of the world now," said the doctor.  "Now
+then, what do you say to a trot for the rest of the way?"
+
+The boy winced, but he mastered his shrinking sensation.
+
+"Very well, father," he said.
+
+"No," said the doctor.  "I'll let you off till to-morrow.  You've done
+enough for one day."
+
+Ten minutes after they were dismounting in just such a spot as that
+chosen for their mid-day halt.  The cattle were unyoked, and had gone of
+their own accord to a water-hole about fifty yards away; the fire was
+burning brightly, and the kettle giving forth a few preliminary snorts,
+suggestive of rising steam; and the waggon was drawn close up under a
+huge, wide-spreading tree, among whose branches the soft cooing of
+pigeons could be heard.  The horses were hobbled, unsaddled, and rubbed
+down, and when they were led off to drink, the travellers went a few
+yards away for a refreshing wash.
+
+"Now, Nic," said the doctor after their return and when the provisions
+had been taken from the waggon, "you shall see our colonial mode of
+making tea."
+
+As he spoke he poured a goodly portion into the lid of the canister,
+waited till the water in the billy was well on the boil, when he tossed
+in the whole of the tea, gave it a rapid stir round to send all the dry
+leaf beneath the surface, and then lifted it off the fire, let it stand
+for a very short time, filled the big tin mugs with which they were
+provided, then those of the men, after which they sat down to their
+evening meal.
+
+The cattle and horses were grazing all around, and in the calm silence
+the _crop, crop_ as they bit off the grass sounded peculiarly loud,
+while from a distance came the loud wailing cry of the curlew, a strange
+trumpet-like tone, and a note from close at hand which made Nic turn
+inquiring eyes upon his father.
+
+"Curlew, crane, and the mopoke," said the doctor.  "More pork the
+settlers call it."
+
+"Mopoke?"
+
+"Yes.  There goes one;" and he pointed to where a dark, swift-winged
+bird was hovering about a tree evidently in quest of moths.
+
+"Why it flies like the goat-sucker does at home," said Nic, pausing to
+watch the bird.
+
+"To be sure it does.  It is a relative, only bigger.  You'll find plenty
+of birds that bear a resemblance to our own."
+
+"And animals?"
+
+"No.  Birds are most plentiful, and in great variety; quadrupeds are
+scarce, and very peculiar.  This, you know, is the land of the kangaroo,
+and we have varieties of that curious beast, from tiny ones we call
+rats, right up to the giants which stand up taller than the biggest
+man."
+
+The sun had set, the great stars were shining out through the clear air,
+and night was coming on fast, with the cries of the birds sounding
+strange and even awful in that loneliness.
+
+"Tired out, Nic?" said his father; and the boy started and stared.
+
+"Why, you were asleep, Nic.  Don't you understand me?"
+
+"Eh?  Yes.  What say, father?  Was I asleep?"
+
+"Soundly, my boy.  Come along; you can creep in under the tilt and go to
+sleep on the boxes.  There are two blankets rolled up ready for you."
+
+"But what are you going to do?" asked Nic.
+
+"Look round for a bit, and take my turn at watching."
+
+"But I must too," said Nic, shaking off his drowsiness.
+
+"When I tell you, my boy.  Now go to sleep, and get rested for
+to-morrow's work.  The dogs will give warning if any one comes near."
+
+Nic obeyed, and as he went to say "good night" to the dogs--towards
+which he felt no animosity for the ducking they had given him--he saw
+that the two men were making their bed under the waggon, while the black
+was sidling slowly up to the fire.  There the Australian curled himself
+up like a great dog, while the doctor stood about a dozen yards away,
+searching the dimly seen landscape with a little pocket-glass.
+
+Then Nic climbed in under the tilt, opened one blanket and doubled it,
+made a pillow of the other, and then--
+
+"Yes, father--directly."
+
+For the dawn was beginning to break, and a bright light shone up among
+the branches of the trees, out of which came a series of piercing bird
+screams.
+
+"Look sharp: kettle nearly boils."
+
+Nic scrambled from under the tilt, feeling now that he must be called to
+help keep watch, for he was convinced that he had only just lain down.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+A MORNING DIP.
+
+"Had a good night's rest, my boy?"
+
+"Night's rest?" stammered Nic.
+
+"Yes; you have been asleep eight hours, I should say."
+
+Nic stared.
+
+"Like a bath?  Do you good.  Get a towel, and have a plunge into the
+pool.  Don't be more than a quarter of an hour gone.  Can you swim?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Nic, who felt stiff and shivery; and as he climbed
+up under the waggon-cover for the towel, he wished bathing had never
+been invented.
+
+Getting down and making for the water-hole, he came upon Brookes, who
+was carrying an armful of wood for the fire, and he saluted the boy
+with:
+
+"Going to have a dip?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Hope you'll like it.  Don't ketch me at it."
+
+His face was only dimly seen reflecting the light of the fire; but
+recalling what he had seen, Nic could not help feeling that the stock
+man did not use water much for outward application.
+
+Half-way to the hole he met the black, who said something
+incomprehensible, to which Nic answered with "good morning," and hurried
+on to the bank, down in the hollow along which the river ran.
+
+There was a thin, whitish mist just visible over the water, which looked
+horribly black and cold, making the boy feel as if he would have given
+anything to evade the morning duty.
+
+"Why not shirk it?" he said to himself.  "I might wash my face and
+hands, and go back."
+
+Hurrying a dozen yards or so to where the bank was lower and the water
+not above eight or ten inches beneath, he prepared for a simple wash,
+and laid his towel on a bush; but his conscience attacked him, and,
+setting his teeth hard, he tore off jacket and vest in a way that was
+nothing less than vicious.  These he placed on the bush which acted for
+a chair back, while the morning air struck chill to the bare skin.
+
+"It's horrid," he thought,--"horrid.  How can one go on like this?"
+
+Ugh! how cold the black water looked in that grey dawn, for there was no
+sign of the sun, the stars being still faintly visible, and to keep his
+teeth from chattering Nic set them so hard that they began to ache.
+
+"Pretty cowardly fool I should have looked if father had asked me at
+breakfast if--Bother it all.  Why didn't I take off my shoes?"
+
+Nic had got one leg half out of his trousers, but not being so clever as
+the black at that crane or stork-like way of standing he overbalanced,
+tried to save himself failed, and went down on his side, in which safer
+position he dragged out first one and then the other leg.
+
+"Yes; pretty cowardly fellow I should have looked if father had asked me
+at breakfast if I enjoyed my swim."
+
+He rose and hung up his trousers on the bush, thrust off shoes and
+stockings, and then stood on the bank white and ghostly-looking, gazing
+down into the deep, still water overhung by thick bushes, which made it
+look still more untempting.  For it was big enough--there were two or
+three acres--to hold any number of terrible monsters.  There might be
+water-serpents hidden under those overhanging trees, waiting amongst the
+roots ready to seize and pull him down; or huge alligators or crocodiles
+might be lurking in the deepest holes.  Nic was not learned enough as to
+the way in which their teeth fitted between the others or into holes in
+the opposing jaws to know which was which.  It was enough for him to
+remember that they were shaped like the fierce little efts which seized
+the worms in ponds at home when he had been out fishing.
+
+The thoughts were horrible, and he stood shivering, and had it been
+broad daylight his skin would have been seen becoming covered with tiny
+pimples, like the cuticle of the goose plucked, and assuming a reddish,
+purply hue.
+
+"Oh," he thought, "if I could only escape this bitter task!"  But he was
+too determined to attempt that, though he could not help putting off the
+task as long as he could; for cold water which looks bad enough at dawn
+in a bath in a comfortable dressing-room seems far worse on the banks of
+a river; and a hundred times worse when an active brain suggests the
+possibility of its containing fierce, hungry reptiles in all their
+amphibious horror, watching and waiting, in a land of blacks, for a
+tender, well-fed breakfast off a delicate, well-bred white.
+
+"It's of no use," thought Nic.  "I must summon up courage and do it.
+He'll be waiting breakfast for me, and--Ugh! how cold!"
+
+Nic involuntarily turned his head to gaze in the direction of the trees
+where the fire was blazing, uttered a faint cry of surprise and horror,
+and turned and dived off the bank into the hole, to feel quite an
+electric shock run through him, while the water thundered in his ears,
+and he formed a graceful arch in the depths.
+
+Out popped his head directly, yards away from where he had taken his
+header, and he began to swim with a calm, vigorous stroke right away for
+the middle, gazing sideways the while and muttering to himself as he saw
+that the object which had startled him, shamefaced, into seeking the
+protection of the water, had walked close to the edge, taken up his
+favourite, crane-like attitude, and was watching him swim, with his lips
+drawn from his teeth and displaying them in a broad grin.
+
+It was something after the fashion of a conjuring trick.  One moment a
+white figure had stood there in the dawning day; the next there was a
+loud splash, the white figure had disappeared, and a black one stood in
+its place, not in the least ashamed, though almost as nude as Nic.  For
+the black had followed, stood watching, and studied with great enjoyment
+the appearance of one of his white masters wearing the natural garb
+which he himself generally affected.
+
+There were neither crocodiles, alligators, nor serpents in the water
+now, so far as Nic's fancy was concerned.  After the first plunge his
+whole nature had awakened to a sense of vigorous vitality.  The sharp
+touch of the electric water sent thrill after thrill of energy through
+him, and he swam half across the river-hole, and turned back feeling as
+active as an eel.
+
+"Here, who's to get out and dress with that fellow staring at me?"
+thought Nic, as he neared the black.  "I shall have to stop in till he
+goes.  Hi! you, sir!  Be off!"
+
+The black's grin ceased, and he turned and fled, while Nic sprang out,
+had a vigorous rub, began to glow, and then dressed, to run back to the
+waggon as hard as he could go, finishing off his head the while.
+
+Five minutes after his short hair had obeyed the comb, he made for the
+fire, where a pleasant odour saluted his nostrils, and he felt that he
+must have made a mistake or been deceived.
+
+But no: it was a fact.  Brookes and Leather had been busy.  Hot bread
+was waiting, and crisp, brown slices of bacon were fizzling in the pan.
+
+"Ready?" said the doctor; and then the boy started, for these words
+followed: "Have a good swim?"
+
+"Yes, father--glorious."
+
+"Water cold?"
+
+"Yes; but I'm all of a glow now."
+
+"Take your tea."
+
+Nic took the big tin mug.
+
+"Damper?"
+
+"Oh no, father; I had a thorough good rub."
+
+"I said damper."
+
+"Yes, father, I know.  Only my hair--just a little."
+
+"He dunno what you mean, sir," said Brookes with a chuckle, as he waited
+to take the men's share of the breakfast away.
+
+"Oh, I see," said the doctor, laughing.  "Have some hot bread with your
+bacon, Nic?  We call this cake damper."
+
+Nic did not mind what they called it, and he took his portion and his
+rasher of hot bacon, and he repeated the action with the greatest of
+pleasure, sipping at intervals from the milkless contents of his big tin
+mug without once regretting the absence of milk or cream.
+
+Memorandum.  Ride for many hours over the luxuriant downs on a clear
+day, when the air is laden with the health-giving odours of the gum
+trees, lie down tired out, and sleep with your slumber appearing to last
+one minute, but enduring for eight hours; lastly, have a plunge in a
+clear water-hole, and after a brief swim a tremendous rub, and you will
+be ready to perform as satisfactorily over the _al fresco_ breakfast and
+do it as much justice as Dominic Braydon.
+
+"A little more, Nic?" said his father.
+
+"Yes, please."
+
+Nic said that twice; and a little while after, as a recollection came
+suddenly back:
+
+"I say, father, are there any crocodiles or dangerous things in these
+rivers?"
+
+"If there were, do you think I should have sent you to bathe?" was the
+reply.
+
+"Oh no, of course."
+
+"There are plenty, I believe, up north, where the rivers are always open
+right to the sea; but never here."
+
+"But fish, father?"
+
+"Oh yes, there are fish, principally what they call here the black-fish.
+You'll have to try for them by-and-by."
+
+"Very big?" asked Nic, who was thinking of his bath.
+
+"Oh no; small fish, but delicious eating.  Now then, any more?"
+
+"No, thanks, father."
+
+"Then go and feed the dogs.  We start in a quarter of an hour.  One
+moment.  Do you feel very stiff?"
+
+"Stiff?--well, yes, a little, father."
+
+"Not very bad, then.  How do you feel about a trot to-day?"
+
+"I'll--I'll try, father.  Look--look!"
+
+The boy jumped up in his excitement, for there was a whirring of wings,
+a burst of screaming, and a flock of birds flew over their heads, with
+the plumage looking in the morning light as white as snow.
+
+"Cockatoos?" cried Nic wildly.
+
+"Yes," said his father, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm over what was
+one of the commonest sights to him.  "I have seen them before.  Now
+then, breakfast for our prisoners.  I shall be glad when we can let
+those dogs run free."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+HOW TO RIDE.
+
+"Poor old chaps!" cried Nic, as the dogs leaped and tore about when he
+left them, each straining at its collar with starting eyes, and uttering
+in unison a piteous howl which could only bear one interpretation:
+
+"Oh, I say, it's too bad!  Don't keep us tied up like this."
+
+Nic was ready to pity them again a few minutes after, when, in obedience
+to a shout and the crack of a whip, the sleek oxen, which stood yoked,
+blinking and chewing their cuds, started for the day's march, tightening
+the dogs' chains.  Then the collies sulkily allowed themselves to be
+dragged along by the neck for a few yards before, feeling that
+resistance was in vain, they gave up and began to start barking in
+protest, running forward as far as their chains would allow under the
+waggon, as if longing to get at the oxen's heels, and finally, after a
+loud yelp or two at one another, settling down to their prisoners'
+tramp.
+
+The horses were bridled and saddled after Nic had taken his gun from
+where it had been stood against a tree.  The two men were in front of
+the team, with Brookes talking loudly and unpleasantly to his fellow;
+and the black was following behind the dogs, with his spear over his
+shoulder, at times lowering it to stir the dogs up behind whenever they
+showed an inclination to hang back.
+
+This happened a minute after the start had been made, and Nic burst out
+laughing.
+
+"I say, father, look at that," he cried.
+
+"I was looking, my boy," said the doctor.  "That fellow seems to
+understand the dogs better than we do."
+
+For, at the first touch of the spear, one of the collies turned round
+sharply, and barked; then the other received a prod--from the blunt end
+in both cases--and the bark uttered was exactly like a protesting
+"_Don't_!"
+
+But the black, who was safe from attack as long as he kept beyond the
+reach of the chain, continued to administer pokes, with the result that
+the dogs trotted on as far as they could, looking back the while and
+uttering threatening barks and growls.
+
+But the long spear followed them right under the waggon, and kept up the
+annoyance, till, as if moved by the same impulse, the dogs charged back
+together to the extent of their chains, and the black made a bound out
+of the animals' reach.
+
+The result was that when, after a final look round to see that nothing
+had been left, the doctor gave the order to mount, the dogs were right
+under the waggon, with their tongues out, tugging away at their chains
+as sharply as if they had been born in Kamtschatka and belonged to
+Eskimo.
+
+"That's better," said the doctor, as Nic landed in his saddle without
+making a show in imitation of vaulting ambition and seeming about to
+fall over on the other side.  "Down again, and mount."
+
+Nic obeyed.
+
+"That's worse," said the doctor.  "Dismount.  Now again!"
+
+Nic dismounted, and mounted once more.
+
+"Not so good as the first time, Nic.  There, take your gun.  Mind: never
+do that!  It's the worst of high treason to let your gun-muzzle point at
+anybody."
+
+"I beg pardon, father."
+
+"Granted, on condition that you are more careful for the future," said
+the doctor, springing into his seat in a way that excited his son's
+envy.
+
+"Shall I try again, father?"
+
+"No; it will only fidget your horse.  Come along.  What a glorious
+morning!  We'll take a sweep round, and meet the waggon three or four
+miles on."
+
+The sun was now up, and sending its brilliant rays horizontally beneath
+the great trees, making every branch and leaf glow; and, as Nic's nag
+paced gently along, the boy felt as if he were riding upon the glorious
+elastic air.  He felt very little of the stiffness, only a bit sore
+inside the knees, where they were pressed against the saddle.
+
+As they passed in among the trees the waggon was soon lost to sight, and
+Nic glanced again and again in its direction.
+
+"Afraid we shan't find our way back to the waggon?" said his father.
+
+"I was thinking something of the kind," avowed Nic.
+
+"Ah, that is a great danger away in the bush, and you may as well know
+it; but we could not go very far now without finding a track or some
+station."
+
+"A police station?"
+
+"No, no," said the doctor, smiling.  "We have police here--mounted
+police--to look after the convicts and mind they don't escape; but we
+call farmhouses-squatters' places--stations here.  Our home--Blue
+Mountain Bluff; as we named it--is called a station by my neighbours."
+
+"Then you have neighbours, father?"
+
+"Oh yes, a few miles away.  Mr Dillon, the magistrate, Leather's late
+employer, is the nearest--ten miles distant."
+
+"Then home must be a very lonely place."
+
+"We have never found it so, Nic," said his father drily.  "Busy people
+are never lonely.  Now then, I think I've behaved very well to you and
+spared your feelings.  I promise that I will not laugh at you."
+
+"What about, father?"
+
+"Your first essay at trotting.  It is of no use to keep a horse and ride
+at a walk.  You can progress as fast as that on your own legs."
+
+Nic drew a deep breath, and wished that he was bestriding a donkey on
+the common near the Friary, with his schoolmates looking on instead of
+his father.
+
+"I'm ready, father," he said.
+
+"Wait a few minutes.  I want to accustom you to holding your gun on
+horseback.  You will always have either a gun or a stock-whip, but I
+don't want you to begin your career as a squatter--"
+
+"I say, father, what a horrible name that is for a sheep farmer!"
+
+"`A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,' Nic.  `Squatter' does
+very well; and I say I don't want you to begin your career by shooting
+your father or his horse.  So you shall have a shot at something.  You
+will not be afraid to fire your gun?"
+
+"Oh, I say, father!" said Nic reproachfully, "don't--please don't think
+me such a miserable coward."
+
+"I don't, my lad--nothing of the kind.  I only treat you as a raw lad
+who has to be trained to our ways."
+
+"But you expect me to shoot you as soon as I begin to trot."
+
+"I don't mean you to, Nic.  But such a thing is quite possible when you
+fall."
+
+"Then you think I shall fall," said Nic ruefully.
+
+"Certainly, if you lose your balance and do not hold tight."
+
+"But you told me not to hold!" cried Nic.
+
+"With your hands.  They are to hold your reins and gun.  A horseman
+holds on with his knees; and I suppose yours are a bit sore?"
+
+Nic nodded.
+
+"Then make up your mind not to fall; but we'll have that gun empty
+first.  You shall have a shot at something."
+
+Nic drew rein sharply, and his horse stopped and shook its head, and
+champed the bit impatiently.
+
+"Don't check your horse like that, boy!"
+
+"I only pulled the reins, father."
+
+"Yes, as if his mouth were made of wood.  You would soon spoil him, and
+make him hard-mouthed, if you jerked the bit about in that fashion.  A
+horse like this is extremely sensitive.  You only need just feel his
+mouth with the rein, and he will stop at the slightest additional
+pressure, just sufficiently to make him understand what you want.  Well,
+why are you making a face like that?"
+
+"I shall never learn all this," cried Nic; "I'm too stupid."
+
+"And you have ground away at algebra and Euclid!  What nonsense!  Come,
+be more ready to take a right view of things.  Horses are extremely
+intelligent animals, and love their masters if properly treated.  They
+are wilful at times, and then have to be punished; but I never strike or
+spur my horse without good reason.  Now look here, Nic: this is not to
+show off, but to let you see what can be done with the animal, which is
+one of man's most valuable friends out in these wilds.  Now watch!"
+
+The doctor threw the reins on the horse's neck.
+
+"I want to go to the left."
+
+To Nic's astonishment the horse bore away to the left, and his own
+followed suit.
+
+"Now I want to go to the right."  The horse turned in that direction.
+
+"Now I want to turn right round."
+
+The horse turned right about.
+
+"Now straight back."
+
+The horses began to return upon their tracks, Nic's eyes following every
+motion.
+
+"Now round again, and forward."
+
+Once more the horse, turning right about, went straight forward, Sour
+Sorrel taking pace for pace.
+
+"Why, it's wonderful, father!" cried Nic.  "Australian horses must
+understand plain English."
+
+"Well, they are English bred," said the doctor, laughing.  "Twenty years
+ago there was not a horse in the country.  But now, tell me, why did you
+check your horse?"
+
+"To get down so as to shoot."
+
+"Nonsense!  Fire from his back when I tell you."
+
+"But it will frighten him, and he'll gallop off, and I shall be sure to
+fall."
+
+"It will not frighten him, for the horse will stand like a rock, knowing
+when you are going to fire.  You can rest your gun between his ears if
+you like, only you could not get so steady an aim.  It's quite true.
+That nag is beautifully broken.  I reared him from a foal and trained
+him expressly for you."
+
+"Thank you, father; but I think I would rather ride yours."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He seems so much better trained."
+
+"Not so well, boy."
+
+"But tell me: how did you make him go any way you wished?"
+
+"The simplest way in the world.  Let your reins drop on his neck."
+
+Nic obeyed.
+
+"Now press the side with your right leg.  That's right.  Now with the
+left.  Good.  Now keep on with the pressure, and the nag will turn right
+round.  Now press both legs together.  Very well indeed.  Now you see
+there is no magic in the matter."
+
+Nic was astounded, for the horse had acted just in the same way as his
+father's.
+
+"Let me tell you another thing.  If you jump down--no, no, don't do it--
+but if you jump down, pass the rein over the nag's head and throw it on
+the ground: he will stand perfectly still."
+
+"Without the rein being fastened to a peg or tree?"
+
+"Yes.  Try it when you get down.  Now you see you are learning to ride.
+But I want this trot, so be ready for your shot.  Cock your gun."
+
+Nic made the lock click, and felt a thrill of anticipation run through
+his nerves.
+
+"Whit shall I shoot at, father?"
+
+"Well, you may as well practise at something running or flying."
+
+"A bird?"
+
+"Yes, if you see a good specimen.  You may as well collect some of our
+beautiful birds.  Wait a bit: I dare say we shall see something before
+long."
+
+They paced on for about a quarter of a mile, and then a large animal was
+startled from out of some bushes, made a flying leap, and then went off
+in a series of tremendous bounds, and all the faster for the shot Nic
+fired and which whistled through the air over its head.
+
+"A good miss, Nic," said his father.
+
+"Didn't I hit it, father?"
+
+"No, my boy--not with a single shot, even.  But you see your horse did
+not move."
+
+"I forgot all about that," said Nic.  "I suppose that was a kangaroo,
+father?"
+
+"No doubt about that, Nic.  They can go pretty well, eh?"
+
+"Tremendously.  But what an enormous tail!"
+
+"Yes, it seems to act like a balance and a support when they land, for
+they go almost entirely upon their hind legs.  But I meant you to have
+tried for a shot farther on, where there is a bit of river and some low
+damp ground.  You might perhaps have secured a goose for our supper, or
+had a shot at one of the snakes, which like the moisture.  But come:
+here's a good open stretch of land.  Let's have our trot.  Keep your
+heels down, sit fairly well up, and don't think about falling.  If you
+do come off, it is a very little way to go, and the horse's pace will
+take him clear of you.  Now then, turn those stirrups over his back."
+
+"Oh, father! let me keep my stirrups."
+
+"Certainly not; they would not help you a bit, only prove a danger to a
+novice; and remember this: once you can ride without stirrups you can
+ride with.  Ready?"
+
+Nic reluctantly turned the stirrup leathers across.
+
+"Yes, father," he said, rather hesitatingly.
+
+"Then off!"
+
+The horses started at the pressure given by the doctor's heels, and the
+next moment Nic was bumping about in the saddle, slipping first a little
+to one side, then to the other, making attempts to get over on to the
+horse's neck, and having hard work to keep his gun well across his
+knees.
+
+It was hot, breathless work; and moment by moment Nic told himself that
+he must come off; but he did not, and went on bump, bump, bump, bump,
+conscious that his father was watching him from the corners of his eyes.
+
+"I do wish he'd stop," thought Nic, as the nag trotted steadily on; and
+then the boy thought of the Kentish common and the games they had had
+with the donkeys--when, almost as soon as a boy was mounted, another
+came to tickle the donkey's tail with a piece of furze, with the result
+that the animal's head went down, its heels up, and the rider off on to
+his back, perhaps into a furze or bramble patch.
+
+"But there's no one behind with a furze or bramble," thought Nic, who
+began to find the trot not so very bad, when, to his horror, his father
+cried out "Canter!" and, with the horses snorting and enjoying the
+motion, away they went in and out among the trees, the docile animals
+keeping pace together, and avoiding the dense parts by instinct.
+
+"Now I am off," said Nic to himself; but to his surprise he kept on,
+finding the canter a delightfully easy pace, and that it was far less
+difficult to keep his seat in the saddle, the swing was so pleasant,
+elastic, and rhythmical.
+
+This went on for a good quarter of a mile, until the trees grew more
+open and patches of scrubby bushes appeared in their way, when, before
+he knew it, Nic's steed, instead of avoiding a clump about three feet
+high, rose at it, bounded over as lightly as a kangaroo, and came to a
+dead stop on the other side, for it had lost its rider.
+
+"I didn't mean that," said the doctor, pulling up and turning back.
+
+"Here, Nic, where are you?"
+
+"Here, father," said the boy dolefully, as he rose from where he lay--
+down among the thick brush.
+
+"Hurt?"
+
+"I--I don't know yet.  No; I don't think so, father.  Here, my gun's
+gone."
+
+"There it is, sticking up among the bushes.  I'll get it," said the
+doctor; and pulling his horse sidewise, he reached over and drew out the
+gun.
+
+"Now then, where are you hurt?"
+
+"Nowhere," said Nic, forcing his way out to where the nag stood, taking
+the reins, and after pulling down the near side stirrup, climbing into
+the saddle.
+
+At that moment there was a clapping of hands, and he turned to find his
+father applauding him.
+
+"Bravo!  Good!" cried the doctor, with his eyes flashing.  "I like that
+pluck, Nic.  Why, boy, you did wonderfully well.  You are as rough as
+can be in the saddle.  But really, you only want confidence: you can
+ride."
+
+"Can I, father?" said Nic dubiously.
+
+"Can you? yes.  You must have had some practice."
+
+"Only playing tricks on the donkeys, father, down in Kent."
+
+"Of course.  That's it!  Why, Nic, I have only got to polish you.
+Ready?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Then let's canter on."
+
+Oddly enough--paradoxically as it may seem--that tumble on to the
+elastic bush took away all Nic's nervousness, and now he began to enjoy
+the delightful motion of the easy-paced nag, with the wind fanning his
+cheeks, the sun seeming to flash by him, and the soreness about the
+knees forgotten.
+
+Everything about looked bright and glorious; and when, about eleven
+o'clock, they cantered up to the midday halting-place in a clump of
+gums, where the oxen had just been unyoked, Brookes and Leather stopped
+from their tasks to stare, and the black was so surprised that he forgot
+to stand on one leg, but watched the horsemen with wide-open eyes,
+standing upon two.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+A BLACK PERIL.
+
+At the end of six days, though a long way from being a horseman, Nic had
+reached a pitch when he could mount without fear, and enjoy thoroughly a
+trot, canter, or gallop; and his father used laughingly to say that now
+he would not be ashamed to show him to his mother and sisters.
+
+"It's a long, slow, monotonous journey, Nic," said the doctor, at the
+end of that sixth day; "but I don't think we've been idle."
+
+"Idle? oh no, father," said Nic; "and I've enjoyed it thoroughly."
+
+"In spite of the rough way of living?"
+
+"I haven't thought of that," replied Nic.  "It has all been so fresh and
+interesting, and there has been so much to see."
+
+"Well, you have been well introduced to the country, my boy, and you
+have mastered riding--a strong part of a settler's education, for you
+will have to help me hunt up the sheep and cattle, and save me many a
+long round.  Feel ready to see your mother and sisters?"
+
+"Ready?  I'm longing to see them, father.  Are we getting near?"
+
+"Yes; all being well, we shall sleep under our own roof to-morrow night,
+and have the waggon-load of stores and treasures under cover."
+
+That last night in the waggon was the most uncomfortable Nic had passed.
+It was hot; there was a chest beneath him which had suddenly developed
+a hard edge and an awkward corner; the dogs, too, were uneasy, and
+barked a good deal at the moon.  Then some kind of animal in the plural
+number seemed to be holding a meeting up among the branches of the huge
+tree under which they encamped, for there were endless squealings and
+skirmishes about, which woke the boy again and again, to lie and listen,
+and think about his new home in the great Australian wilderness, of his
+mother and sisters, whether they were much changed, and ending, just
+before dozing off again, by wondering what they would think of him.
+
+It was, then, with a feeling of no little satisfaction that he woke
+again to hear the magpie piping, and hurriedly scrambled out, fully
+convinced that he was up first that morning, but found, as usual, that
+the fire was already burning brightly, and that some one had been on the
+watch, not one of which had he been allowed to keep.
+
+This time it was the man Leather whom Nic joined, towel in hand, on his
+way for his regular morning swim.
+
+"Morning!  You're first, then?"
+
+The man gave him a nod, and by the light of the fire his face looked
+surly.
+
+"Has my father been out yet?"
+
+"Sleep in the front of the waggon."
+
+Nic felt disposed to go on, but he was in such high spirits that he was
+obliged to say a few words more.
+
+"We shall be at the Bluff to-night."
+
+"Oh?" said the man indifferently.
+
+"Well, ain't you glad to get home?"
+
+"No: I'm only a servant."
+
+"But it's your home for the present."
+
+The man threw a few more sticks on the fire, and said nothing.
+
+"I say, Leather, what sort of a place is it?"
+
+"Station's like other stations."
+
+"Yes, but is it pretty--beautiful?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What?  My father said it was a grand place with a glorious view."
+
+"It's built of wood and thatched with bark, and you can see a long way."
+
+"But the mountains?"
+
+"There are mountains; so there are for miles."
+
+"But the river?"
+
+"There is a creek, but this time of the year it is mostly water-holes."
+
+"But it's a beautiful place to live in?"
+
+"Is it?" said the man coldly.
+
+"Oh, I say, you want your breakfast!" said Nic laughingly.
+
+"No; I am not hungry."
+
+"Then what's the matter with you, Leather?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Ah, well, I must go and have my dip."
+
+The man gave him a sour look, and Nic ran on, passing the horses grazing
+together, which were ready to look up and whinny a welcome.
+
+"There," cried, the boy, as he gave each a friendly patting and stroked
+their cold wet noses; "you're ever so much better companions than old
+Leather.  Now then, finish your breakfast: to-night you will sleep in
+your warm stable."
+
+The announcement made, of course, no impression upon the horses, which
+lowered their heads again directly, and went on cropping the succulent
+coarse grass, while Nic went on to the side of the pool, and began to
+undress, when his attention was taken by a sudden splash; and as he
+stood wondering he could dimly see something swimming about toward the
+other side.
+
+"Must be a big water rat," muttered Nic, commencing to undress; and,
+confident that there was nothing likely to injure him, he plunged in,
+had his swim, crept out, rubbed, and was going on with his dressing
+again behind a clump of wattle scrub, when the splash excited his
+curiosity again, and turning his head cautiously, he peered down at the
+pool over which the pale grey light was now growing brighter.
+
+For the first few moments he could see nothing; then a sinuous line of
+disturbed water showed him where something was swimming.
+
+"'Tis a rat," he said to himself, "and those are ducks just on beyond
+it.  No, it isn't a rat: it's one of those things with the duck's bill
+that father was talking about.  I'll dress quickly and fetch the gun.  I
+might get two or three ducks for supper."
+
+The next moment he thought he would run as hard as he could to the
+waggon, and avoid being speared, but he did not stir, only stood in a
+stooping position staring wildly at' a black figure stealing along among
+the trees on the other side of the pool; and hardly had he realised this
+fact before another black appeared walking in the track of the first,
+and then' another and another.
+
+Nic felt paralysed.  They might be dangerous, for they were all carrying
+spears, and were stealing up to the water in the most cautious way.
+
+The next minute he could see at least a dozen, and lowering his head
+cautiously he dropped upon his knees well out of sight, and finished
+dressing before softly turning his head again to watch.
+
+The blacks were gone; and, though relieved, the boy was puzzled, for he
+could not make out how they could have left, as there was the open
+country just beyond the water-hole, and hardly a bush that could form a
+hiding-place.
+
+He could not have been deceived.  Those must have been blacks, a strong
+party of them; and it was evident that they had not been seen up at the
+camp by Leather, or he would have warned him of their presence.
+
+"Would he?" thought Nic.  "He's a disagreeable, surly fellow, and I
+don't wonder, at Brookes bullying him so much.  What shall I do?
+Perhaps after all they're gone.  Oh!"
+
+That last was a low, deep expiration of the breath, for Nic was having
+his first lesson in the clever cunning of the blackfellows.  They were
+not gone, but clustered together just on the other side of the
+water-hole, some sixty yards away, right in sight as he peered between
+the thick branches of the wattle.
+
+Nic felt fascinated for the moment, and was ready to ask himself whether
+it was real or a trick of his imagination.  For there across the water
+lay about and stuck up in all kinds of gnarled and grotesque shapes what
+seemed to be a large clump of burned-down and blackened tree stumps;
+broken branches sent off awkward snag-like pieces, others presented
+bosses and excrescences; and but for the fact that he had seen the party
+of blacks creeping up, Nic never could have imagined that they were
+really there, thrown into these strange imitations of what was likely to
+be found upon the bank of a water-hole.
+
+But there they were, either acting their part to deceive the wild fowl
+into coming near enough to be speared or knocked down, or trying to hide
+themselves from the encamping party.
+
+Yes, dim as the light was, there could be no deception, for Nic at last
+made out the glint of an eye.  It certainly was not a piece of gum
+gleaming in the dewy morning, but the eye of one of the blacks.  Then it
+was gone.
+
+What should he do?  They were so clever that Nic knew it would be the
+hardest of hard work for a white to beat them with their own weapons;
+but the boy knew that he must act, and at once.
+
+Dropping silently down, he lay on his breast thinking for a few moments,
+making his plans.
+
+It was quite three hundred yards to the tree where the fire had been
+made--a long way for him to go if he were seen, for the naked blacks
+would be swifter of foot than he.  His only course was to crawl from
+bush to bush; and feeling that for the present he was out of sight,
+sheltered by the patch of wattle, he began to crawl slowly and as
+silently as he could toward the waggon.
+
+Nic had never before realised how difficult it was to proceed over wet
+herbage after the fashion of a caterpillar.  But this was the only way
+for him to get along, and he did his best, moving slowly forward where a
+savage would have gone on at a little run.
+
+As he crept along it was with a strange quivering of the muscles of his
+back and loins, a curious kind of shrinking, in expectation moment by
+moment of the blacks having crept round the end of the water-pool
+through the dry bed of the river up the side to send a spear flying into
+him.
+
+But it did not come; and at last, perspiring profusely, he passed a
+detached bush, curved round so as to place it between him and the
+blacks, and then paused to glance back.
+
+He could not see them; but, to his horror, he found that the bush was
+not in a line between him and the water-hole, and he had to creep back.
+
+Worse still, he realised now how the ground sloped upward, so that at
+any moment he might be in full view, and he paused, hesitating about
+going any farther, when only a few yards beyond he saw that there was a
+hollow into which he could roll, and in it creep along to the first big
+trees.
+
+Nic felt that he was risking being seen by his impetuosity, but
+excitement urged him on, and the next moment he was in the little
+depression, most probably a dry rivulet bed, which ran down toward the
+water-hole.  But whatever it was it gave him shelter till he could reach
+the big trees, in and out of whose trunks he threaded his way, well out
+of sight now, and ran panting up to the fire as his father was angrily
+saying to Leather:
+
+"Surely you must have seen the black last night."
+
+"Not him, sir," said Brookes; "he won't see nothing that he don't want.
+I left 'em together, and he ought to know where he is."
+
+"Well, he has gone," said the doctor sternly; "and hullo, Nic, have you
+seen a snake?"
+
+"Quick! father, the guns!" panted the boy.  "Blacks! the blacks!"
+
+"You mean our blackfellow?"
+
+"No, father, twenty of them, just on the other side of the water-hole,
+hiding."
+
+"All of you," said the doctor, in a low, firm voice, "into the waggon."
+Then the boy heard him mutter, as he held him tightly by the arm: "Good
+heavens! can they have been to the Bluff?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+NIC'S MISSION.
+
+"Father! do you think they have?" said Nic, breathlessly.
+
+The doctor turned upon his son sharply.  "Did I speak aloud?" he said.
+Nic nodded.
+
+"I don't know.  I cannot tell, my boy.  I pray not."
+
+By this time they were all armed, and the doctor whistled sharply, when
+there was a whinnying answer, and the two horses came up as fast as
+their hobbled fore feet would allow.
+
+"Call in the bullocks," said the doctor to Brookes, who uttered a loud
+yell somewhat like the _yodel_ of the Swiss peasants to their cattle on
+the mountain side.
+
+The great sleek beasts responded directly, and came from where they were
+grazing, bellowing loudly, right up to the waggon, as if expecting to be
+yoked.
+
+"To keep them from being speared," said the doctor to Nic.  Then to the
+men: "Yoke up, and drive the waggon right out into the open.  They could
+reach the poor beasts from behind those trees."
+
+The men set to work leisurely enough, while at a word from his father
+Nic, whose hands trembled from excitement, bridled and saddled Sour
+Sorrel.
+
+"Take off the hobbles, boy," said the doctor; and this was done.  A few
+minutes later the bullocks, which had from long habit taken their places
+readily, were yoked, and drew out the waggon right into a clear spot
+away from trees, which would shelter the enemy if they made an attack.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the doctor, "now we can breathe freely.  Brookes, you
+are all right with a gun.  Have you ever used a piece, Leather?"
+
+"Not much," said the man sourly; "but I know how to load, and can keep
+you going."
+
+"My son will load," said the doctor sternly.  "You must do your best."
+
+"Yes," said the man shortly; and Nic thought to himself, "Father does
+not want me to shoot any one."
+
+"Now then, keep a sharp look-out," said the doctor.  "If the blacks
+show, up at once into the front of the waggon, and we will take the
+back.  No firing unless they try to spear the cattle.  Then the blacks
+must accept their fate."
+
+Incongruous ideas occur to us all, even in times of the greatest peril;
+and a waft of something in the air drew Nic's attention to the fire
+under the big gum tree, where the tea, hot cake, and bacon were ready
+for breakfast, and for a moment the boy felt hungry.
+
+All was perfectly still.  Then a magpie began to pipe his arpeggios,
+which sounded sweet and clear in the morning air; and this seemed to be
+the signal to start a chorus of whistling and shrieking up in the thick
+boughs, where a flock of paroquets were hidden; and a glow in the east
+made the morning grey look so opalescently beautiful that it was hard to
+believe there could be any danger.
+
+"Are you sure you saw blacks, Nic?" said the doctor.
+
+"Oh yes, father--certain."
+
+"We ought to do some scouting, to see if they have moved and mean
+mischief."
+
+"I'll go, father."
+
+"No, boy: you are not used to the ways of these people; and I don't like
+to leave the waggon for fear of a rush.  Brookes!"
+
+"Yes," came from the front.
+
+"You must go and reconnoitre.  I'll cover you as well as I can.  Just
+see if they are coming on."
+
+"Don't see why you should send me," grumbled the man.  "My wage ain't so
+very, high, and I've only got one life.  Send Leather: he is not so much
+consequence as me."
+
+The doctor uttered an angry ejaculation, and frowned fiercely; but it
+was no time for angry words.
+
+"Leather, take your gun, and try if you can make out where the blacks
+are.  Don't fire unless they see and attack you."
+
+The man came with a heavy scowl upon his brow, shouldered his gun, and
+walked back in among the trees, while the doctor stood patting the butt
+of his gun impatiently, as his eyes searched the place in the direction
+of the water-hole.
+
+"Our black must have known these fellows were in the neighbourhood," he
+said; "and he has either joined them or they have scared him away.
+Joined them, I think, or he would have warned me.  They are all alike,
+these men: they come and work for a time, and then tire of it and go
+back to the bush."
+
+"Here comes Leather," whispered Nic; and the next moment the man came
+back at a swift run, carrying his gun at the trail.
+
+"Well? seen them?" said the doctor.
+
+"Yes, over a score of them," said the man, who looked more animated now,
+in the excitement of the danger.  "They're jabbering together this side
+of the water."
+
+"Then they mean to attack.  Be ready."
+
+The man nodded, and moved toward where Brookes stood cutting himself
+some tobacco to chew.  Then he turned back, and there was something
+approaching a smile upon his face, which, in spite of sun tan and the
+deep marks on his forehead, looked almost handsome to Nic.
+
+"Yes: what is it?" said the doctor.
+
+"Isn't it a pity to leave the breakfast for those blacks?"
+
+"Never mind the food, man," began the doctor; but he checked himself.
+"Yes: try and get it," he said; "people must eat."
+
+"Hold my gun, sir," said Leather, who was now, full of animation; and,
+handing the piece to Nic, he dashed back to the fire, while the doctor
+followed him slowly, scanning the trees in all directions as he kept his
+cocked piece ready for instant use.
+
+Leather lost no time when he reached the fire, but, catching up the
+freshly made damper, he dabbed it down into the cross-handled frying-pan
+on the top of the bacon, placed the tin mugs in the kettle of boiling
+tea, carried the tea and sugar canisters under his arm, and taking
+pan-handle in one hand, kettle-handle in the other, he trotted back in
+safety, the blacks having made no sign.
+
+"Bravo!  Well done!" cried the doctor; and Nic noted that the bright,
+animated look passed away, to give place to a sullen scowl, which came
+over the man's face like a cloud.
+
+"Help yourselves, men," continued the doctor; and Brookes came to them
+once again.
+
+"Nic," said the doctor, "I am in agony.  It may be all imagination, and
+if it is I should bitterly regret leaving the waggon.  Do you see?"
+
+"No, father; I don't quite understand.  Do you mean you want to ride on
+to the Bluff, and yet don't want to because it may only be a scare?"
+
+"Exactly.  And if I did decide for us to ride on together, these men
+would take fright and leave the waggon to be plundered."
+
+The doctor paused to search the trees again, but all was still.
+
+"Send one of the men, father."
+
+"I don't want to weaken my defensive force, boy."
+
+"I'd go, father, but I don't know the way," said Nic.
+
+"Yes: you shall go, my boy.  The horse will take you straight to the
+station as soon as he is well away from his companion; and, look here!
+the track may prove faint, but do you see that notch in the mountains?"
+
+"Where it looks as if a square piece had been cut out, and a cat's head
+with its ears standing up?"
+
+"Yes: that notch is the pass through the mountains, and is just about
+two miles behind our house, which stands on a slope.  You could not miss
+it."
+
+"A wooden house: I know," said the boy; "but are the others at all like
+it?"
+
+"What others?  There is no other station for miles, boy.  Well, will you
+risk it?"
+
+"I don't see any risk, father."
+
+"No; but blacks may be there.  Well mounted, though, you could easily
+give them a wide berth."
+
+"I'm not afraid," said Nic.
+
+"That's right.  You will ride straight there, then, and--"
+
+The doctor stopped short, with his face drawn and wrinkled.
+
+"Yes, father: and what?"
+
+"If the station is a smoking ruin, ride back to us as hard as you can."
+
+"Oh, don't say that."
+
+"I have said it, boy.  There--prove yourself worthy of my mission."
+
+"Yes, father; but if all is right?"
+
+"Stay there, and tell your mother to keep any black-fellows at a
+distance till I get home.  You can help her defend the place for a few
+hours.  Now: no words.  Take a piece of the damper, and put a couple of
+rashers between, have a good deep drink of the tea--as much as you can,
+for you will have a thirsty ride--eat your breakfast as you go.  Mind,
+straight as the crow flies for that notch: never mind the track.  No
+words.  Shake hands.  Mount, and be off."
+
+Nic saw that it was no time for words, and hurriedly breaking the
+bread-cake, he placed the bacon between the thin pieces, saw that his
+shot belt and powder flask were right, took a deep draught of tea, and
+then, gun in hand, turned to find Leather holding his horse, and looking
+him fixedly in the eyes.
+
+"Yes; what is it?" said Nic hurriedly.
+
+"Keep in the open: don't go near any of the scrub."
+
+"Why not?" said Nic.
+
+"Blacks," said the man, as the boy settled himself in the saddle.
+
+"Off!" cried the doctor, pointing to the mountain gap.  Nic waved his
+hand, pressed his nag's sides, and it bounded off; the other horse
+making a plunge to follow but it was tethered to a waggon wheel.  But
+before the boy had gone fifty yards he turned, for there was a
+tremendous barking, and he saw that the doctor was at the back of the
+waggon doing something to the dogs.  Then there was a shout, and he saw
+that they were loosened, and were tearing after him, barking loudly in
+their wild excitement.
+
+"To come with me," thought Nic; and directly after, as he cantered
+steadily on, the two collies were racing round him, unsettling his horse
+as they leaped up, at its muzzle, at its legs, and then dashing on, mad
+with delight, but rather interfering with his comfortable seat, for they
+made the horse partake of their excitement and strain at the rein to
+join the two freed prisoners in their wild career over the tree-dotted
+plain.
+
+The dogs soon settled down, though, to a more sober pace, and began to
+hunt in and out among the bushes and trees; finding nothing, but
+thoroughly enjoying their freedom.
+
+Every now and then they came bounding back to the horse, to look up at
+Nic, barking loudly, their eyes flashing and tails whisking from side to
+side, as if telling him of their delight; and as the boy rode he gave
+them a word or two of encouragement.
+
+But Nic did not speak much, for he had too much upon his mind; and as
+soon as he saw that there was not the slightest fear of the dogs
+straying away from the horse, he kept his eyes fixed upon the notch in
+the mountains right ahead, and rode steadily on, keeping his horse to a
+steady canter; and bearing Leather's laconic warning in mind, he left
+the track to one side or the other wherever growth seemed to be
+abundant, his father's order about going as the crow flies being ample
+warrant for this.
+
+For the matter of that, the faint track of wheel and hoof-mark went
+pretty straight, only curving now and then to avoid some eminence or
+rugged patch of forest, which he watched with keen eyes for enemies,
+though, after what he had seen that morning in the grey dawn of the
+blacks' power of concealment, he felt doubtful about seeing them if they
+were in hiding to form an ambuscade.
+
+"I wonder whether they could hit me with their spears if I was going at
+this rate," he said to himself, as he bore off from one dense patch
+which might easily have hidden a whole tribe.  Then, in a state of
+intense excitement, he cocked his gun, trembling the while, for that
+there was danger at hand he felt sure, from the alarm of his horse,
+which suddenly cocked its ears, while the dogs lowered their heads and
+dashed together into the thicket.
+
+"They'll give me warning," cried Nic aloud, as he bore off more to the
+right so as to skirt the little wood some fifty yards away; when out
+from the other side dashed half a dozen large animals, some of a ruddy
+hue, others of a bluish-brown colour, bounding over the ground like
+gigantic hares more than anything else, while the dogs gave tongue
+loudly and tried to head them off.
+
+But at the end of four or five hundred yards, distanced beyond all
+possibility of overtaking their quarry, the collies stopped short to
+stand barking, and then trotted back to join the horse coming up,
+barking angrily, whining, and evidently thoroughly puzzled, as they
+looked up at Nic.
+
+"Can't you make them out?" he cried; and the dogs barked and whined
+again.  "Take them for sheep?" cried Nic; and in their way the dogs
+answered, and kept on running up the hillocks to bark at the little
+flock of strange beasts, that were growing smaller and smaller in the
+distance.
+
+Onward again in a bee line, and an hour passed, with the notch in the
+mountains apparently at exactly the same distance as it was when they
+started on their journey.
+
+Then came another little scene.  On Nic's right the meandering line of
+bush and tree suggested where there was the course of a river, and the
+dogs suddenly, from where they were some distance ahead, scented out an
+occupier in a clump of rough growth low down in a swampy patch of thick
+grass.
+
+Nic swung round his gun once more; but this time the dogs did not drive
+out a herd of kangaroo, for they stopped short, with the thick coat of
+hair about their necks bristling up while they charged in and retreated
+again and again.
+
+"Can't be blacks," thought Nic, and he checked his nag slightly, but
+found the horse began to show signs of uneasiness, sidling away as he
+approached, carefully watching for the point of a spear or some shock
+head.
+
+"There they are," he said to himself the next moment, as he made his
+horse bound away, for some distance farther on he saw both--the rough
+spears and long-haired heads dotted here and there.
+
+The next moment, though, he was annoyed with himself for his needless
+alarm, the objects he saw being only the native grass trees with their
+peculiar growth of tufted heads bearing some resemblance to a rough
+shock of hair, the long bare flower spike standing up above suggesting
+at a distance the native spear.
+
+There, too, in an open patch, was the cause of the dogs' uneasiness, in
+the shape of a snake richly marked with brown, and apparently six or
+eight feet long, as it lay in close curves, with head erect, playing
+about and seeking an opportunity to strike at the first dog which came
+within reach.
+
+Nic felt plenty of inclination to have a shot at what was probably, from
+its appearance, the venomous tiger-snake of which he had heard the men
+speak.  But the urgent duty forced him on, and he cantered forward for
+another hour, to where the track, now on his _left_, passed close by a
+pool of water, toward which the dogs set off, barking loudly; and the
+horse followed straight for the spot.
+
+As usual, it was well wooded all about, but after seeing the dogs reach
+it first and career through and, through it without so much as a yelp,
+Nic had no hesitation in riding up, loosening his nag's girths, and
+then, while it drank a little, taking out his own breakfast, a part of
+which he ate with poor appetite, sharing the rest between the dogs as
+soon as they had had a good drink and swim.
+
+The halt was very short, and while the horse was refreshing itself with
+a few mouthfuls of the rich grass, its master stood gazing through the
+clear sunny air at the notch in the mountains, which looked to him just
+as far off as it did when he rode off that morning--just as near.
+
+He tried to calculate how many hours he had been riding, how many miles
+he had come, but gave up in despair.  All he could feel was that the sun
+was getting very high, and that the heat would be very great for the
+rest of the way, and he knew that he must deal gently with his horse,
+and keep to the pace he had ridden through the morning: to go faster
+might mean a break-down.
+
+"Now, Sour Sorrel," he said suddenly; and the horse left off grazing,
+and stood gazing at him with its great deer-like eyes.
+
+It stood quietly enough while he gave it a good rub with some natural
+hay where the saddle covered its satin coat, then clapped the saddle
+back, tightened the girths and mounted, while the dogs careered round
+him with their ears up and brushes waving, barking with delight, and
+once more leaping up at the horse's muzzle.
+
+Then forward once more--out of the shade and into the scorching sun.
+
+Nic started his horse at a walk, and noted that it needed no guiding,
+but took to the faint track at once, steering straight for the notch,
+and making for a thick patch of wooded country, till a pressure from the
+rider's leg turned it off to a more open part, from which he bore away,
+so as to pass round to the west of the woodland.
+
+As soon as it was on the springy green grass, the nag broke at once into
+a canter, and the dogs now settled into a steady pace, keeping one on
+either side, while Nic found it hard to believe that he was riding over
+wild land, the ground bearing so strongly the appearance of forming part
+of some park devoted to grazing; but now he saw no trace of beast or
+sheep, little of wild creatures, save where there were signs of water,
+and then only a few birds, generally a kind of plover, or ducks.
+
+The heat was now intense.  Nic had only enjoyed a week's training, and
+he was in poor condition for so much exertion, so that before long he
+was soaked with perspiration, and growing weary as he gazed at that
+terrible notch which seemed to come no nearer, he began to lose heart
+and wonder whether he would be able to accomplish his task.
+
+The horse, too, was showing signs of exertion, and the dogs, as they
+trotted on, lolled out their tongues and displayed no disposition to
+break out of their steady pace to investigate anything to right or left.
+
+"Phew!  It is hot!" muttered Nic, as his horse cantered on, with the sun
+dazzling his eyes like molten silver, and biting his neck, while the
+whole of the atmosphere was quivering as it rose from the moister parts
+of the earth.  Then, in the regular rhythmic motion of that canter,
+there were moments when the traveller began to feel drowsy.  But he
+shook off the feeling, nipped the horse's sides more tightly, and felt
+how the beast responded by increasing its pace.
+
+On still, and on, over the rich green flower-decked earth; past groves
+of trees whose names he did not know,--some bearing the thin foliage of
+grey or sage green, with delicate shades of pink and blue, others like a
+coarse-leaved spiky-looking fir, whose boughs touched the ground, and
+densely clustered upward in a pyramid of dark glistening growth that
+would have hidden a dozen men from a traveller's gaze.
+
+There were the mountains, too, in a long ridge, stretching away to right
+and left, and always of a delicious amethystine blue, that looked as
+transparent as water, but always as far off as ever.
+
+A grand, a lovely ride, but a terrible one in that heat; for this was
+the time when the doctor always had a midday halt by water and in the
+shade of trees.  But there was no stopping for hours at a time like
+this.  Nic felt that he must get on as fast as he could, and with his
+eyes fixed upon the notch he rode forward to the regular beat of his
+horse's hoofs.
+
+Hotter and hotter grew the day, and as Nic glanced from side to side he
+saw that he was not the only sufferer, for the dogs were trotting along
+with their heads down, and they gazed up at him and whined.  His horse,
+too, began to look more distressed, but it did not flag, keeping up that
+steady canter toward the blue mountains that never seemed to grow any
+nearer.
+
+For a few moments the idea lingered in Nic's brain, that he must draw
+rein in the shade of the next clump of trees, but the thought evoked the
+face of his father, back there at the waggon, anxious about those dear
+to him, wondering how all had sped at the Bluff, and he felt that he
+could not halt even for an hour--that he must go on and on.
+
+Then he began wondering how he would find the place--whether the blacks
+had been during his father's absence, and attacked it when it was only
+defended by women and the servants, who might have escaped for their
+lives.
+
+This idea of the place having been attacked sent such a thrill through
+Nic that he felt ready for any amount more exertion, and instead of
+halting he urged his willing steed on, shouted to the dogs and made them
+leap forward, while his eyes wandered about in search of enemies, but
+only to see something moving in the distance which, resembled the
+ostrich of his old picture-books.  There was no sign of man, no house,
+flock, herd, or water, while his tongue was beginning to feel swollen
+and dry, and a peculiar thickness as of a mist began to obstruct the
+distant view.
+
+"How much farther is it?" thought Nic; and he shaded his eyes by holding
+the hand which bore the gun across his forehead.
+
+But he saw no better, and he winced from the touch, of the gun-lock, for
+it was hot.
+
+Then on, still trusting to the horse more than to himself, for the air
+had grown thicker, and the mist hot, strange, and dazzling for a time.
+There were singing noises, too, in his ears, and as he gave his head a
+shake in his effort to get rid of them, he suddenly found that the
+dazzling mist had gone, and he could see right away to the notch--that
+dent in the mountains which seemed to lead him on and on, but only to
+recede as he advanced.
+
+That clearness of vision did nut last, for the mist closed in again,
+lifted, and he saw a bright lake of beautiful silvery water, stretching
+out as far as he could see, and toward which with throbbing temples he
+urged on the horse.  The next minute it had disappeared, and some one
+was calling him; the thickening of the air was not from mist, but as of
+smoke.  He must, he felt, with a terrible sense of depression, have
+neared his devastated home, which was burning, and the light breeze was
+wafting the dense smoke all over the plain.
+
+"What news to take back to his father!" he thought, in his despair, and
+this made his senses reel; something struck him heavily, and then he was
+looking up at the blue sky, as a dark object came between him and it.
+
+For a few moments he must have been quite unconscious, while the next
+thing he saw was the horse's muzzle close to his face.
+
+He started up into a sitting position, for a dismal howl rang in his
+ears, followed by a loud joyous barking, which brought him to his feet,
+guessing the truth.
+
+For the heat had produced that dimness of sight, tortured him with the
+sight of that imaginary lake, and finally brought on a bad attack of
+giddiness, which had made him reel in the saddle and fall heavily to the
+ground.
+
+The shock had helped to revive him; and feeling better, he picked up his
+gun from where it lay beneath the horse, managed to climb back into the
+saddle, and the brave beast started on at once straight for a clump of
+trees about a mile away, while, before they were two-thirds of the
+distance, the dogs began to bark, and seemed to recover their strength,
+for they bounded on, and the horse broke into a gallop, following in
+their track.
+
+A minute or two later Nic knew why, for there was a flash of light from
+amongst the trees, and soon after he had thrown himself from his horse's
+back, and was upon his chest in the shade, drinking draughts that seemed
+to quench the fire in his throat, bathing his face, and listening to the
+gentle, sucking noise made by the horse where it stood knee deep, and to
+the barking and splashing of the two dogs as they revelled in the
+refreshing coolness of the great water-hole.
+
+Nearly half an hour passed before Nic resumed his place in the saddle;
+the horse broke into a canter at once, the dogs ran barking by his side,
+and, refreshed and clear of vision, it seemed now that the notch in the
+blue mountains was not quite so far away, while, in spite of the heat,
+the country on all sides was growing as beautiful as it had seemed at
+his early start.
+
+On still, but no sign of the station.  The ground had ceased to be so
+level, there was hardly any track, and their course was among clumps of
+trees, rocks, and rugged hillocks, and there were times when the view
+was cut off by their descent into some deep gully.
+
+But his father had said that if he kept straight for the notch he would
+be sure to see the house--the only one; and no house was in view.  He
+must be near it now: was it still in existence? or had some horrible
+catastrophe befallen it?
+
+The heat was growing insufferable again and the giddiness returning: he
+could not go much farther.  He had been trusting the horse too much: it
+had evidently brought him astray far down in that suffocating gully,--
+the growth was different.  He was riding amongst ferns--ferns like those
+he saw at home, and ferns that spread green lacework fronds right
+overhead.  He must be dreaming again and going to fall from his horse,
+which was ascending the rapid slope the farther side of the gully.  They
+were soon at the top, and the breeze came pure and sweet again; and a
+wild cry of exultation burst from the boy's parched throat, for, not a
+mile away, standing high upon the slope beyond another gully, there was
+a long, low, white house, with a cluster of wooden buildings near.
+Beyond it a rising ground was dotted with sheep; there were cattle, too,
+farther away, and, as in response to his cry, the dogs burst out into a
+loud barking, Nic pressed his horse's sides, the spirited animal
+breaking into a swift gallop and racing on.
+
+For there was no sign of fire or smoke: a glorious picture of a bright
+oasis in the great wilderness was before him, and his former fears were
+vain; for, yes--no--yes, out there in the clear air stood a group of
+watching figures, and the next moment the boy's eyes grew dim--not so
+dim, though, that he was unable to see white handkerchiefs waving him a
+welcome--a welcome to his long-wished-for home.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+"SWEET, SWEET HOME."
+
+Sour Sorrel wanted no reining in, but stopped short at the foot of the
+great hillock, down which two bonny-looking, sun-browned maidens had
+run, followed by a tall, grey, graceful-looking lady.
+
+"It is Dominic, isn't it?" cried one of the girls.
+
+"Yes, it is!" cried the other.  "Oh, Nic, how you have grown!"
+
+"And oh!" cried the other, "how you have distressed poor Sorrel!  You
+shouldn't have ridden him so hard."
+
+This was in the intervals between kisses, as the lad was embraced by
+first one and then the other.  But as soon as he could free himself, Nic
+ran to meet his mother, who was descending more slowly.
+
+"My dear boy!" she cried.
+
+"Mother!" and they were locked in each other's arms.
+
+Mrs Braydon could say no more for some minutes, but stood with the
+tears streaming down her handsome face, clinging tightly to her son,
+while the two dogs looked on uneasily, whining and giving short,
+half-angry barks, as if they did not quite understand whether the
+attentions of the three ladies were friendly toward their young master.
+
+The tears stood in the eyes of the two girls as well, but they were
+tears of joy, and in a merry, laughing way the elder cried:
+
+"Oh, mother, you must not keep him all to yourself!"
+
+"No, no, of course not," cried Mrs Braydon, locking one arm now in
+Nic's.  "Poor boy! how hot and weary he is, Janet!"
+
+"Yes; and he has nearly ridden poor Sorrel to death," cried the second
+girl.
+
+"In his eagerness to get home," said Mrs Braydon, clinging to her son
+affectionately.  "At last--at last!  Oh, my boy, it has seemed so long!
+But your father, is he just beyond the gully?"
+
+"No, no!" cried Nic excitedly.  "A day's journey away."
+
+"And you have come alone?"
+
+"Yes; but tell me," cried Nic.  "The blacks: have they attacked you?"
+
+"No, no," cried Janet quickly; "are they out?"
+
+"Yes; we saw a large party this morning coming to attack the waggon.
+Father was afraid that they might have been here, and he sent me on for
+news."
+
+"No," said Mrs Braydon, "they have not been near us.  But your father?"
+
+"I left him with the two men and the waggon."
+
+"They'll be all right, mother," said the second girl, squeezing up to
+Nic's side and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.  "Oh! how wet and
+hot you are.  Sticky boy!"
+
+"Yes, mother dear," said Janet.  "Hil is quite right.  There's nothing
+to mind."
+
+"But he said the blacks were going to attack the waggon, my dear," cried
+Mrs Braydon anxiously.  "We had better send over to Mr Dillon for a
+party to go and meet them."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, mother!" said Hilda, giving her dark brown curls a toss;
+"father would laugh at the idea.  He'll fire a few shots over their
+heads and send them scrambling away."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Janet calmly enough.  "Mamma is a little nervous
+sometimes, Nic.  We don't mind a few blackfellows about here.  They are
+only like big children."
+
+"But what ought I to do?" cried Nic anxiously.  "Shall I ride somewhere
+and get help?"
+
+"Perhaps it is not necessary," said Mrs Braydon, smiling rather
+piteously.  "The girls are right.  But, my dear boy, how did you find
+your way?"
+
+"Father pointed out that gap in the mountain over there, and told me to
+ride straight for it."
+
+"What place was it where you left your father?"
+
+Nic described it as well as he was able.
+
+"I know: it must be the third water-hole from here; five-and-thirty
+miles away."
+
+"And he has ridden all that way since morning!" cried Mrs Braydon.  "My
+poor boy!  It is dreadful!"
+
+"There," cried Hilda saucily; "it's all over, Jan.  I knew mamma would
+spoil him as soon as he came.  Go and have your face washed, Nic; you're
+not fit to touch ladies.  _Cooey--cooey_!"
+
+Nic stared to see his pretty young sister, a year older than he,
+suddenly put her hands to her mouth and utter a peculiar cry.
+
+"She's calling one of the men."
+
+"_Cooey_!" came in response, and a shock-headed black in shirt and
+trousers came running down from one of the sheds.
+
+"White Mary want er?"
+
+"No, no: where's Samson?"
+
+"White Mary want er--Sam," said the black aloud, as if telling himself;
+and he trotted off with a queer gait, his legs very far apart, as if he
+found trousers awkward to walk in; and he then burst into a sharp run,
+for the dogs, which had been smelling his heels, began to bark and rush
+after him.
+
+"Here, here, here!" shouted Nic, for the black uttered a yell; and the
+dogs turned back obediently, and came to his side wagging their tails,
+and, apparently satisfied in their minds, were ready to respond to the
+friendly advances of the two girls.
+
+"Hi!  Sam!" cried Hilda, as a diminutive grey old man came hurrying
+down, smiling and touching his hat.  "Take Sorrel, and give him a feed
+of corn and a good rub down.  Hardly any water."
+
+"All right, miss.  So this is young master?  How do, sir?  Glad to see
+you.  Master close home?"
+
+"No, no, Samson," said Mrs Braydon anxiously.  "What do you think?  My
+son was sent on to see if we were safe here.  The blacks are out, and a
+party surprised them by the waggon."
+
+To Nic's annoyance the man showed a few very old yellow teeth in an ugly
+laugh.
+
+"Master'll surprise some o' them if they don't take to their legs mighty
+sharp, missus."
+
+"Then you don't think there's any danger?"
+
+"Yes, I do--for them," said the man.  "Some on 'em'll be howling while
+t'others picks shot-corns out o' their black hides with a pynted stone."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Hilda coolly.
+
+"Then you don't think I ought to send over to Mr Dillon to get help for
+him?"
+
+"Help?  Tchah!  Don't you be so narvous, missus.  They blackfellows
+don't know no better.  They comes out with some streaks of white chalk
+on their black carcadges, and they goes up to a waggon flourishing their
+hop-poles and making faces, and frightens some people, and then they
+steal flour and stores; but if they've gone to our waggon, I 'magine
+they've gone to the wrong un.  Take a precious ugly face to scare the
+doctor.  Tell you what he'll do, ladies all.  He'll shoot over their
+heads _first_."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Hilda.
+
+"That's right, Miss Hil.  Then if that don't do no good, he'll give 'em
+a dose o' number six.  And then, missus, if that don't do, he'll try
+swan shot; but don't you be frecken.  Master knows how to manage strange
+blackfellows.  Come along, my lad.  Say, young master, you have give him
+a sweating, and no mistake."
+
+The horse went and placed its muzzle over the little old man's shoulder,
+and gave a puff like a deep sigh of satisfaction.
+
+"Knows me, young master," said the man, grinning.  "Ay, nussed you,
+Sorrel, when you was on'y a babby, didn't I?" he continued, patting the
+arched neck and carefully turning a few strands of the mane back in
+their place.
+
+"There, mother dear," said Janet affectionately; "you see it is not
+necessary."
+
+"But I feel as if, now I know you are all safe, I ought to go back,"
+said Nic.
+
+"You couldn't do it, sir," said the old man.  "Why, you don't s'pose I
+should be talking like this if I thought the doctor was in trouble!
+There's allus blacks about; and it's on'y missus as is so scared about
+'em.  It's all right, sir.  Where did you say you left the master?"
+
+"By the third water-hole."
+
+"By Bangoony," said the old man.  "Day's trot, and the bullocks'll want
+a three-hour rest half-way.  They'll be here twelve o'clock to-night,
+for master'll make it one day for the last.  Don't you fret, missus; the
+doctor knows what he's about.  Blacks ain't lifers.  He'll be here all
+right.  Come along, my bairn!"
+
+This last was to the horse, which followed him toward one of the sheds;
+and the dogs went after, one of them uttering a low growl as the man
+gave the nag a sounding slap.
+
+Samson stood still, and then turned to the dog.  "Now then: none o'
+that.  It ain't your horse."  The dog growled, and its companion joined
+in.  "Oh, that's it, is it?  I say, Mr Dominic, sir, hadn't you better
+interrajuice us?  They say they don't know me, and I'm too useful to
+your father to feed dogs."
+
+"They won't bite," said Nic, going up, but walking very stiff and lame.
+
+"That's what folks allus says," grumbled the old man; "but `dogs do bark
+and bite, for 'tis their nature to.'  Just you tell 'em to make
+friends."
+
+"Yes.  Look here: friends! friends!" cried Nic.  "Shake hands, Samson."
+
+"Sure I will, sir," said the old man, grinning, as he rubbed a hard
+blackened hand down one leg of his trousers.  "That ain't dirt, sir.
+I've been tarring some o' the sheep.  On'y a bit sticky."
+
+"I don't mind," cried the boy, holding out his hand, which was taken in
+a firm grip, and proved to be more than a bit sticky, for it was held
+tightly as the man stared hard at him.
+
+"And the master to'd me, he did, as you was on'y a bit of a sickly slip
+of a lad as he left in London or elsewhere when he come out here--a
+poor, thin, weak, wankle sort o' gentleman, not what he is now."
+
+Nic wanted to loose his hand and get back, but it was held fast, and the
+old man went on:
+
+"Why, you'll grow into a _big_, strong man, sir, bigger than the doctor.
+Ay, I 'gaged with him arter he'd nussed me for my broken leg, as the
+ship doctor down at Botany Bay said must come off.  `Nay,' says your
+father, and him all the time suff'rin' from a norful corf,--`nay,' he
+says, `don't you have it took off, my man,' he says; and I says I
+wouldn't, for o' course I didn't want to go about like a pegtop; and he
+sets to and makes it right.  This here's the leg, stronger than t'other.
+I call it the doctor's leg, and I said I'd come up country with him if
+he'd have me, and he said he would, and I helped him make this place.
+We cut the wood and knocked in the nails, and I've bred horses and sheep
+and cows for him, and I'm going to stick to him to the end, and then
+he's promised to dig a hole hisself under yan big gum tree with my name
+placed over me, and that's where I'm goin' to sleep.  Now you wants to
+go back to your mar.  She's been a-frettin' arter you for years while
+you was being taught to read and write, so be a good boy to her.  But, I
+say, you couldn't ha' rid another five-and-thirty mile to-day."
+
+"No," said Nic.  "Take care of the horse."
+
+"Ay, and the dogs too.  Here, give's your paw."
+
+The dog he spoke to growled and showed its teeth.
+
+"Ah, friends!  Give him your paw," cried Nic.
+
+The dog held out its right paw, but threw up its head and drew back its
+muzzle, as it looked at Nic protestingly, as much as to say, "He's only
+a stranger, and I don't know anything about him."
+
+"Now you," growled Samson; and the same business was gone through, with
+the dog whining uneasily.
+
+"Hullo! what's the matter?" said Samson, lifting the leg.  "There--don't
+make that row.  It's on'y a thorn.  You'll get lots o' them in your toes
+if you behave yourself.  Dogs ought to wear boots in some o' these
+parts.  That's it.  Big un too.  See it?"
+
+He made an offer as if to prick the dog's nose, after drawing out a
+long, sharp thorn, making the beast yelp; but as soon as it was out it
+gave the place a lick, and then barked loudly and danced about the old
+man, both dogs following him readily now as he went off grinning to the
+stable.
+
+Mrs Braydon and the girls were waiting, and Nic was led limping toward
+the house.
+
+"Only a bit stiff with riding," said the boy.  "Then we are to be
+comfortable about father?"
+
+"I suppose so, my dear," said Mrs Braydon.  "Janet, my love, see to the
+tea."
+
+"Everything is ready, mother dear," said the girl affectionately; "and
+really I don't think we need fidget.  Nic cannot go back.  He must stay
+and take care of us and the station."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Braydon sadly, as if she thought it would be of more
+consequence to take care of the doctor; and Nic was led into the house,
+after passing through a neatly kept, well fenced-in garden, full of
+trees, shrubs, and flowers new to him, though beyond a hedge there was a
+broad spread of homely old friends of a useful kind, growing
+luxuriantly.
+
+He was ushered at once into a pleasant room, made bright, in spite of
+its extremely simple furnishing, by white dimity curtains and home-made
+mats, the bed in the corner looking white as snow; and, left to himself,
+the boy luxuriated in a comfortable wash, though in place of ewer and
+basin he had but a bucket and tub.
+
+Before he had finished, his mother was back with a cup of refreshing
+tea, this time with cream.
+
+"You'll find everything very rough, my son; but every time the waggon
+goes on its journey to the port it brings back same more domestic
+comforts."
+
+"Never mind the roughness, mother," cried Nic, kissing her, and bringing
+a smile of joy playing about her lips; "it's home, and I'm along with
+you all again."
+
+"Yes, my son; and I can be quite happy now," said Mrs Braydon, clinging
+to him fondly.  "There, drink your tea," she said quickly, "finish
+dressing, and there's a brush by the window, and I've brought you my
+glass.  How brown and blistered your poor face is!"
+
+"Oh, that's nothing, mother," cried Nic.  "Hah! delicious!" he sighed,
+as he finished the tea, making his mother smile her satisfaction.
+
+"Be quick.  We have a tea-dinner ready, for we felt that you might come
+at any time.  You will not have to come downstairs, dear; we are all on
+one floor.  We only had one room and the waggon and a tent first; but
+others have been added, one at a time.  I ought to go now, but it is so
+hard to leave you, my dear."
+
+She kissed him lovingly again--they were the first kisses she had
+pressed upon his lips for over five years--and then she hurried out.
+
+"Hah!" sighed Nic; "I wish I knew that father was safe."  Then, stiff
+and with his hand trembling from his long ride, he took up the comb to
+smooth his hair.
+
+"Might as well sit down," he said; and he sank back on the bed.  "How
+soft!  Feathers!  And the pillow--how cool!  Cheeks burn so," he
+muttered, as he subsided on the restful couch to gaze sidewise at the
+window with its little sill and flowers growing in a box, all fresh,
+bright and fragrant.
+
+"I like flowers," he said softly, and then--"Hah!"
+
+He was breathing softly.
+
+The bow strained tightly for so many hours was now unstrung.  Every
+nerve and muscle were relaxed, and the soft, pure air which came through
+the open window played upon his scorched cheeks.
+
+The horse was swinging along in that easy canter out of the burning
+sunshine into the shade--a soft, cool, delicious, restful shade--on and
+on and on toward the Bluff; and Nic felt that there was no more care and
+trouble in the world.  There was nothing to trouble him.  He had felt
+his mother's kisses on his cheeks and lips, and the horse was not
+rushing, only swinging along in that glorious canter, for the shade had
+grown darker, into a soft, sweet obscurity, and everything was so still.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+AFTER NATURE'S REMEDY.
+
+Nic opened his eyes slowly, to gaze at a bright patch shining upon the
+floor, and he lay for some minutes gazing at it, thinking it very
+beautiful.
+
+He knew it was the moon shining through flowers--a soft, mellow
+moonlight which came through a small window.
+
+Then the full rush of thought came, and he started up.
+
+"Awake, dear?"
+
+"Mother!" cried Nic.  "Why, have I been to sleep?"
+
+"Yes, my darling, a long time."
+
+"And the tea--dinner?"
+
+"It's quite ready, my dear."
+
+"But--but what time is it?"
+
+"The clock has just struck one, my boy."
+
+"Oh, what a shame!"
+
+"No, my dear; it was nature's great need."
+
+"But I slept like that!  What news of father?"
+
+"None, my love," said Mrs Braydon, with a piteous tremor in her voice.
+
+"I ought to have gone," cried the boy angrily.
+
+_Bang_! _crash_! like blows on the wooden sides of the house.
+
+"What's that?" cried Nic, starting to his feet.
+
+"Hi! missus!" came in a harsh voice.  "Here they are.  What did I say?"
+
+"Come?" cried Mrs Braydon wildly.
+
+"Ay, missus.  Our black's just run in to where I was watching beyond the
+gully.  I heard the cracking of Brookes's whip, too, in the still.
+There! hear that?" he continued, as there was a faint distant report.
+"Master's yonder."
+
+Nic stepped to the corner of the room, where he had stood his gun when
+he entered, went to the window, cocked the piece, thrust it out with its
+barrel pointing upward, and fired, in answer to his father's signal.
+
+"He'll know what that means.  All right," said the boy.  "Oh, mother, I
+feel so guilty; but he did tell me to stay and take care of you, for if
+I did not return he said he should know that all was right."
+
+"My word, young squire, you made me jump," cried Samson, coming to the
+window.  "Was that to siggernal the master?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"I'm a-goin' to meet him now.  Too tired to come with me?"
+
+"Oh no," cried Nic; and the next minute he was trudging along beside the
+old man, leaving the house with its windows lit up and the fire shining
+through the open door as a welcome home to the master.
+
+"You ought to go first, young gentleman," said Samson, "but you won't
+know the way in the dark; and as I'm going along by the sheep track,
+there won't be room for you alongside me, so you'd better come behind.
+Keep close, for it's dark under the green stuff and a bit awkward, but
+it cuts off a quarter of a mile.  Come on."
+
+Nic followed the old man across a fenced-in enclosure, over the fence,
+and then down a steep slope into a gully, where their path soon
+resembled silvery lacework on velvet, for they were going beneath
+arching ferns of the most delicate nature.  Then they had to leap dark
+roaring water, that flashed and sparkled where the moonbeams touched a
+broad glassy curve before it plunged down into some dark mysterious
+depth.
+
+"Pretty place this by daylight, sir," said the old man.  "Mind how you
+come across here.  Give me your hand to steady you, for it's pretty tidy
+dark."
+
+"What is it--water?" asked Nic.
+
+"Yes; it's a deep bit of a pool as the master dammed up, and this here's
+a tree felled to lie acrost it like a bridge.  You won't like it by
+daylight p'raps, but it's quite safe, and you can't see how deep it is
+in the dark."
+
+Nic hesitated for a moment, then lightly grasped the man's hand, but
+only for a moment.  The next the bony hand had clutched his wrist like a
+vice.
+
+"That's better," said the old man.  "Now you can slip if you like, and I
+can hold you if you do."
+
+There was nothing else for Nic to hold but his tongue and his breath, as
+he stepped on to the rugged wood in the black darkness, for the
+moonbeams were shut out now by the rocks, overhead, and then, as he took
+step for step behind his companion, so close to him that he kept kicking
+his heels, he felt the difference underfoot for a few paces and the tree
+trunk yield and give a little in an elastic way.  Then all at once the
+character of the path was changed, and Nic felt the hard rock beneath
+his feet.
+
+"Is that deep?" he said, rather huskily.
+
+"Well, with what we've got not far away we don't call that deep.  It's
+on'y a sort o' crack like.  'Bout hundred and fifty foot, say."
+
+"A hundred and fifty feet!" cried Nic, with an involuntary shiver.
+
+"Somewheres about that," said Samson coolly.  "But you wouldn't hurt
+yourself if you went down, for there's a good depth o' water in the
+pool.  But you'd get strange and wet."
+
+Nic drew in a deep breath.
+
+"There--it's all good going now, sir: a bit downwards and then up hill."
+
+The old man strode on, leading his companion up and down for a while and
+then beginning a steady ascent.
+
+"This is the bit as the sheep made going to and from the folds.  'Nother
+five minutes and we shall be atop o' the side o' the gully.  You come
+along a bit higher up.  There we are," he said, at last.  "Now look
+straight ahead and tell me what you see."
+
+"A light swinging to and fro, and up and down."
+
+"That's it, sir; and that light's the master's waggon lantern.  Know why
+it dances about like that?"
+
+"Somebody seems to be swinging it."
+
+"Yes," said the old man with a chuckle; "and some, body's that big
+bullock with the white spot on his for'd.  Know how he carries the
+lantern?"
+
+"Tied round his neck."
+
+"Nay; it's been hooked on to his horn," said the old man with a chuckle.
+"I showed master how to do that, and you wouldn't think it was in a big
+stupid-looking hox; but it's my belief as old Cheery likes carrying that
+there light, and is quite proud of it."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Nic, as he watched the faint star down below them on
+the level.
+
+"No, I dunno as it's nonsense, sir.  I think he do, because if he didn't
+he'd on'y have to give his head a cant on one side and send that there
+lantern a-flying; and he never do.  Now steady: it's a bit steeper here.
+See your way better, can't you?"
+
+"Yes, it's so much more open; and how beautiful it looks in the
+moonlight!"
+
+"Ay, it do, sir; but it looks better by day a deal.  Now hold hard."
+
+Nic stopped, and the old man gave the Australian cry, which was answered
+hoarsely from the darkness round the swaying lantern.  Then there were
+several sharp cracks of a whip and the rattle of chains.
+
+"That's old Brookes.  He can slash a whip.  Good workman, Brookes, on'y
+he hayve got too much tongue.  There now, we're down on the level, and
+you can make out the waggon.  Leastwise I can."
+
+"Father!" shouted Nic excitedly.  "All well?"
+
+"All well?" came back.
+
+"Yes!" and a minute later the boy was walking by his father's side,
+holding on by the horse's mane, answering questions and asking others.
+
+"Oh yes," said the doctor; "they came out at last and made a show of
+attacking us; but I sent a charge of shot spattering among the leaves
+over their heads, and they turned and ran."
+
+Half an hour after, while the oxen were still laboriously tugging the
+heavy waggon up the slope leading to the station, Nic and his father
+reached one illuminated door, where the doctor sprang down to embrace
+wife and daughters, after which he handed his horse's rein to old Samson
+and waited till the wain was drawn up into the enclosure and the
+bullocks were turned loose to graze.
+
+"Our task to-morrow, Nic,--to see to the unloading."
+
+"But will the things be safe there?" said the boy.
+
+"Safe? yes, unless the blacks come down upon us.  But I have no fear.
+Now, Nic, I'm not like you: I haven't been fed and pampered by the women
+for hours.  I'm starving for a good meal."
+
+"So am I, father."
+
+"What, again?" said the doctor, as he reached the door, just as Brookes
+and Leather carried the lantern into the kitchen, where a meal was
+spread for them.  "Here, my dear, this boy says he's hungry again."
+
+"Again, father?" cried Hilda; "why, he has had nothing but a cup of
+tea!"
+
+"Why?  Not well?"
+
+"Oh yes, father, quite," cried Nic.  "I've only been asleep."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+LIFE AT THE STATION.
+
+The late supper in the plain, homely room--where the table was on
+trestles, the chairs were stools, and the arm-chairs ingeniously cut out
+of casks, the carpet sacking, and the hearthrug skins--and the
+performance in the way of sleep on his arrival, interfered sadly with
+Nic's night's rest.
+
+It was an hour after his father's return before they all retired; and as
+soon as Nic was in his room he felt not the slightest inclination for
+bed.  Everything was so new and fresh; the brilliant moonlight lit up
+the tract outside with such grand effects that the first thing he did
+was to take the home-made tallow candle out of its socket and hold it
+upside down till it was extinct, and then put it back.
+
+The room was now all bright in one part, black shadow in the others; and
+he was going to the open window to look out, but just then an idea
+struck him, and he took up his gun, closed the pan, drew the flint
+hammer to half-cock, and proceeded to load.  He carefully measured his
+charge of powder in the top of the copper flask, and poured it into the
+barrel, in happy unconsciousness that in the future ingenious people
+would contrive not only guns that would open at the breech for a
+cartridge containing in itself powder, shot, and explosive cap, to be
+thrust in with one movement, but magazine rifles that could be loaded
+for many shots at once.
+
+Then on the top of the powder he rammed down a neatly cut-out disk of
+felt, the ramrod, drawn from its loops and reversed, compressing the air
+in the barrel, driving the powder out through the touch-hole into the
+pan, and making a peculiar sound running in a kind of gamut: pash--
+pesh--pish--posh--poosh--push--pud--pod--por--with the wind all out and
+the powder compressed hard down by the wad.  Next a little cylindrical
+shovel full of shot was extracted from the belt, whose spring closed as
+the measure was drawn out, and the shot trickled gently into the barrel,
+glistening in the moonlight like globules of quicksilver.  Another wad
+was rammed down; the pan opened and found full of the black grains, and
+the ramrod replaced in its loops behind the barrel, the gun being stood
+in the corner beside the bed ready for emergencies in that rough land.
+
+Nic's next proceeding was to listen and find that the murmur of voices
+heard beyond the partition had ceased, and he slipped off his shoes and
+stepped softly to the open window.
+
+The flowers smelt deliciously in the cool, soft night air, and he looked
+out, leaning his arms on the sill to realise more thoroughly that he was
+in the place he had so often longed to see when he did a similar thing
+at the Friary in far-off Kent.
+
+It seemed impossible, but it was true enough.  His old schoolfellows
+might be looking out of the window now over the Kentish hills, but he
+was divided from them by the whole thickness of the great globe.  They
+were in the northern portion of the temperate zone; he, as he leaned
+out, was in the southern.  They would be looking at the hills; he was
+gazing at the rugged mountains.  Then, too, it was just the opposite
+season to theirs--summer to their winter, winter to their summer.
+
+"It's like a big puzzle," thought Nic.  "I shan't understand it all till
+I've made a globe.  I wish I'd studied the big one at the Friary more.
+How strange it all seems!"
+
+As he looked out, the place appeared very different.  He had seen it in
+the full sunshine; now, in the silence of the night, the trees glistened
+in the moonlight as if frosted, and the shadows cast stood out black,
+sharp, and as if solid.
+
+And how still and awful it all seemed!  Not a sound,--yes, there was: an
+impatient stamp from somewhere on the other side of the house.  He knew
+what that was, though: the horses were troubled by some night insect.
+There was another sound, too, as he listened--and another--and another.
+
+He was wrong: there was no awful silence; the night, as his ears grew
+accustomed to the sounds, was full of noises, which impressed him
+strangely or the reverse as he was able to make them out or they
+remained mysteries.
+
+As he tried to pierce the distance, and his eyes wandered through the
+network of light among the trees on the slopes which ran up toward the
+mountains, his first thoughts were of blacks coming stealing along from
+shelter to shelter, till close enough to rush forward to the attack upon
+the station; and over and over again his excited imagination suggested
+dark figures creeping slowly from bush to bush or from tree to tree.
+
+Once or twice he felt certain that he saw a tall figure standing out in
+the moonlight watching the house, but common sense soon suggested that a
+savage would not stand in so exposed a position, but would be in hiding.
+Then, too, as minutes passed on and he was able to see that the objects
+did not move, he became convinced that they were stumps of trees.
+
+That sound, though, was peculiar, and it was repeated.  It was a cough,
+and that was startling, just in the neighbourhood of the house.  But
+again he was able to explain it, for he had heard that cough in the
+fields of Kent, and the feeling of awe and dread passed off; for he knew
+it was the very human cough of a sheep.
+
+But that was no sheep--that peculiar croaking cry that was heard now
+here, now there, as if the utterer were dashing in all directions.  That
+was followed by a hollow trumpeting, and a short, harsh whistle, and a
+strange clanging sound from far away, while close at hand there was a
+soft, plaintive whistling and a subdued croak.
+
+By degrees, though, as he listened, he was able to approximate to the
+origin of these calls.  Night-hawks, cranes, curlews, and frogs might,
+any of them, or all, be guilty; and some kind of cricket undoubtedly
+produced that regular stridulation, as of a piece of ivory drawn along
+the teeth of a metal comb.
+
+Then there was a heavy booming buzz, as some great beetle swung by; and
+beneath all, like a monotonous bass, came a deep roar, which could only
+be produced by falling water plunging down from on high into some rocky
+basin.
+
+"What a place! what a wonderful place!" thought Nic, as he gazed out--
+perfectly sleepless now; and as he thought, the idea of wild beasts came
+into his head, for there was a deep-toned, bellowing roar, very
+suggestive of tiger or lion, till it was answered by a distant lowing,
+and he knew that the first was the bellow of some huge bull, the latter
+the distant cry of a bullock far up in the hills.
+
+The time glided on.  The white bed was no longer inviting, and he could
+not tear himself away from the window.  At last, though, thinking that
+he had better lie down for fear of being very tired next day, he reached
+out his hand to draw in the casement, but kept it there, for a very
+familiar sound now struck upon his ear: _Clap, clap, clap, clap_ of
+wings, and then a thoroughly hearty old English cock-a-doodle-doo! and
+the boy burst into a merry laugh.
+
+"Go to sleep, you muddle-headed thing," he muttered.  "Don't make that
+noise in the middle of the night.--They always do that at home when the
+moon shines."
+
+But the cock-crow was answered from a distance, and there was the lowing
+of cows; chirping came from the trees, there was the piping of the
+magpie, and soon after the deep chuckle of a great kingfisher, followed
+by burst of; shrieks and jarring calls from a great tree; and it
+suddenly struck the watcher that there was a pallid light shed from
+somewhere behind him.
+
+"Why," he said half aloud, in a regular Hibernian spirit, "it's
+to-morrow morning!"
+
+Morning it was, coming on fast; and all thought of bed being now given
+over, Nic began to put on his shoes.
+
+"Lady O'Hara said things were all upside down here," he muttered; "but I
+didn't know I was going to sleep in the daylight and sit up all night."
+
+A few minutes' thought, however, took away his surprise at the
+apparently sudden advent of the dawn, for it was well on toward morning
+when the family had left the dining-room--that name being maintained;
+and now, feeling bright, cheery, and full of anticipations of what he
+had to see in his new home, Nic had a wash and brush and hurried out, to
+find that the business of the day had begun.
+
+The first he encountered was Leather, who responded to his cheery good
+morning with a keen look and a surly nod, as he passed on, and went off
+from the shed he had left for the open field.
+
+The next minute, as Nic went round the house, there was a tremendous
+burst of barking, and the two dogs charged at him so excitedly that one
+went right over the other in collision; but they were up again directly,
+leaping at him, careering round, snapping playfully at each other, and
+madly showing their delight at meeting a familiar face in the strange
+home.
+
+"Hullo, old fellows!--good dogs, then!" cried Nic, lavishing his
+caresses on the excited beasts.  "Down there! steady there!  I'm not for
+breakfast: don't eat me."  The dogs sobered down and trotted beside him,
+each trying to walk with its sharp-pointed muzzle thrust into one of his
+hands.
+
+"Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle," came from a great tree which sheltered one
+side of the house, and the dogs looked up and barked.
+
+"'Morning, young master," came in a harsh, cracked voice: "smart
+morning.  Here, you two: I'm just going to feed old Nibbler, and I'll
+give you a share."
+
+There was the rattle of a chain hard by, and a heavy bark, as a great
+dog like a greyhound that had grown stout, came out of a kennel formed
+of a barrel laid on its side.  The great beast looked at the two collies
+and growled, while the latter set up the dense frills of hair about
+their necks and showed their teeth.
+
+"None o' that, now!" cried old Samson.  "You three have got to be
+friends.  You don't know Nibbler, Master Nicklas."
+
+"Dominic," cried the boy.
+
+"Ah, I allus forget.  Missus has told me your name times enough, too.  I
+can allus recklect that there's a Nic in it.  Hi, you, Nib, this here's
+the young master--young master! d'yer hear?"
+
+The dog growled, but wagged its tail.
+
+"We calls him Nibbler, sir; but he's a biter, and no mistake, ain't yer,
+old man?  You ought to ha' had him with yer when them blacks come
+yesterday.  He don't mind spears and boomerangs, do you, Nib?"
+
+The dog growled and showed its teeth.
+
+"Pst, lad!--blackfellow."
+
+The dog made a bound to the full extent of its chain, and uttered a deep
+bay.
+
+"All right, Nib.  Gone!" cried Samson, showing his yellow teeth.
+"Breakfast."
+
+The dog's manner changed directly.
+
+"Come and pat him, Master Nico-de--Dick-o-me--I say, sir, hadn't I
+better keep to Nic?"
+
+"Yes, if you like," replied the boy, approaching the great dog, but only
+to be received with a low growl.
+
+"Ah!" shouted Samson, "didn't I tell you this was young master come
+home?  Down!"
+
+The dog threw itself on its side, blinked at him with one eye and raised
+one paw deprecatingly, as it slowly rapped the ground with its long thin
+tail.
+
+"Now come and put your foot on his neck, sir, and pat his head.  Don't
+you be afraid."
+
+"I'm not going to be," said Nic; though he felt a little nervous, and
+thought of the consequences of a snap from those steel-trap jaws.
+
+"That's right, sir.  There--you'll be friends enough after this, Nibbler
+knows."
+
+But Nibbler shook his head and growled, for the collies, after
+protesting, whining jealously at Nic's favours being bestowed upon a
+stranger instead of upon them, barked again and came on steadily, as if
+to attack the stranger.
+
+"Down, down!" cried Nic; and they stopped.
+
+"It's all right now; they shan't fight.  Here, I'll show you.  You ketch
+hold of this, sir."
+
+Samson took an old pitchfork from where it stood in a corner, handed it
+to Nic, and then, somewhat to the boy's dismay, took hold of the big
+dog's collar with both hands, and set it free by dragging the strap over
+its ears.
+
+Then for a moment there were threatenings of a fight, but a shout from
+Samson checked the turbulent spirit.
+
+"Give Nib a rap over the head with that fork shaft if he don't mind you,
+sir.  He's hard as iron, so you may hit sharp.  Couldn't break you, Nib,
+eh?"
+
+The dog looked up and uttered a short bark.  "Here, Master Nic,"
+whispered the old man with a grin: "go closely to him and say sharply,
+`Kangaroo!'"
+
+Nic did as he was told, and the dog gave a tremendous bound and stood
+looking wildly round, ending by running back with a deep-toned bark,
+looking up at him as much as to say, "Where?"
+
+"Gone, Nib!" cried Samson.  "Now follow the young master, and he'll give
+you some breakfast."
+
+The little old fellow led the way, Nic followed, and the three dogs came
+behind, Nibbler with a collie on either side, keeping up a low muttering
+growl, which sounded like threats of what they would do if the big dog
+interfered with their master.  To which Nibbler responded by some
+language of his own, and leering looks to either side, as if in search
+of spots where there was not so much hair when he began to nibble.
+
+Samson stopped at the far end of the farthest shed, where there was a
+little lean-to; and on raising a wooden latch and throwing open the
+door, there within hung half a sheep, with the skin on a peg, and a
+chopping-block and a hatchet in the middle.
+
+"Slaughterhouse, sir," said Samson, with a grin.  "'Bliged to be our own
+butchers out here,--fishermen too.  S'pose you'll ketch our fish now?
+Mind chopping off some o' that sheep while I hold it on the block?"
+
+"I?  No," said Nic.
+
+"That's your sort!" said the man, lifting the half sheep from a hook
+fastened in the beam overhead.  "Emmygrunts does anything.  I want you
+to chop off that lyne, and then cut it in three bits for the dogs."
+
+"Then you don't only give them bones?" said Nic.
+
+"Gives dogs what we've got plenty on.  It's mutton now.  We don't want
+this to spyle.  It was alive and well yes'day, but a couple o' dingoes
+hunted the pore thing down.  Hi!  Nib, what come o' them dingoes?"
+
+"_R-r-r-r-ur_," snarled the big dog fiercely.
+
+"Ay, you did, mate.  He gave them dingo, sir.  These wild dogs is one of
+our biggest noosances after the sheep.  Now, please chop straight.  Well
+done, sir!  There's three.  Take care.  That chopper's very sharp.  Now
+through there and there.  That's right.  Three bits.  I was going to
+bury half on it, for it won't keep mor'n two nights; but your two sheep,
+dogs'll help him.  We'll feed 'em up a bit for two or three days, and
+then starve 'em for two or three more to put it straight.  Now then,
+sir, you stick the fork into they three bits, and you shall feed 'em,
+that'll clinch old Nibbler's making friends with you.  See?"
+
+Nic nodded.
+
+"Look," said Samson: "he knows what I've been saying."
+
+The dog, which was sitting watching, with a collie on either side--the
+latter evidently in doubt as to whether the joints were intended for the
+house--gave a deep bark.
+
+"Now give him the biggest bit, sir."
+
+Nic stuck the fork in the piece of loin and held it out to the big dog,
+and it came and took it with a low muttering sound, wagging its tail
+slowly from side to side, while the collies grew excited, growled, and
+tossed up their heads to utter a protesting whine.
+
+"Here, you, Nib, wait," cried Samson.  "Give t'other two their bits,
+sir."
+
+Nic served each collie, and then stared at what followed.
+
+"Now then!" cried Samson, "take it out in the back and eat it.  Show
+your chums the way.  Right off.  No messing about nigh the house.  Off
+with you!"
+
+The big dog uttered a low growl, and went off with its breakfast, the
+collies following; all three looking decidedly comic with their jaws
+distended.
+
+"There you are, sir," said the old man, wiping the chopper very
+carefully and then sticking it into the big clean block.  "Seems a pity.
+Beautiful mutton.  The brutes had only just pulled it down when Nib was
+on to 'em.  Leather called me to see.  It was half-hour's walk, and
+there he was sitting by the sheep, and the two dead dingoes close by."
+
+"Didn't he begin worrying it?" asked Nic.
+
+"Him, sir?  Nibbler worry a sheep?  Not him.  Why, I've seen him lie
+down and let the lambs play about him.  I should like to ketch him at
+it.  Not him, sir: I eddicated that dog.  There ain't his like nowhere.
+Coming along o' me, Master Nic?"
+
+"Yes: I want to see all about the place."
+
+"That's right.  Ah, you're a lucky one: it's all ready for you.  When me
+and master come there was just nothing; and now see what it is.  Look
+what a garden we're getting.  Here, Brooky!  Did you bring in the cows?"
+
+"Yes.--'Mornin', sir," said the man.
+
+"'Morning.  Tired after your journey?"
+
+"Wonder if I warn't!" said the man.  "I had everything to do.  Look ye
+here, Sam: next time waggon goes up to town you'll come too, and so I
+tell the master."
+
+"What's the matter, matey?"
+
+"Heverything.  That there Leather's no good at all.  I have to do all
+the work, and I won't stand it."
+
+"Why, I thought Leather did more than you," cried Nic.  "I noticed it as
+we came; but you always grumbled at him."
+
+Samson showed his yellow teeth and chuckled.
+
+"Don't you be sarcy, sir," growled Brookes; "and what are you crowin'
+at, old Sam?  You needn't begin makin' a noise like a laughin' jackass.
+Something's going to be changed, or I goes to another station."
+
+"Goin' now?" shouted Samson, as the man strode off angrily.
+
+"Never you mind," growled Brookes; and he disappeared round a barn-like
+structure.
+
+"He's got his knife into Leather," said Samson, chuckling.  "Strange,
+disagreeable sort o' chap, Brookes, sir.  Leather's sour as Devon crabs;
+but I will say this on him: he do work, and work well.  But yah! a
+hangel couldn't satisfy Bill Brookes.  Reg'lar curds-and-whey sort o'
+fellow.  But don't you stand none o' that, sir," continued the old man
+seriously.  "You're young master: you let him have it for telling you
+not to be sarcy.  He wouldn't ha' said it to me; and if you don't check
+him I shall tell the master.  Bill Brookes wants to play first fiddle
+here; but he can't and won't.  I'm foreman; and if I've on'y got a
+little body, Master Nic, I've got a will as big as Bill Brookes's, and
+bigger too.  Now I'll go and feed the pigs."
+
+This highly interesting piece of business was gone through, Samson
+mixing up some meal and water, pouring it into the troughs, and
+belabouring the greedy animals with the mealy stick.
+
+"Take your feet out o' the stuff, will yer?" he roared.  "They do make
+good pork and bacon and ham, Master Nic, but they are about the
+savagest, fiercest things I know.  Fine pigs, though, ain't they?  Come
+on: I want to see if that chap's getting on with the milking."
+
+Sam led the way to a shed with open side, where the black whom Nic had
+seen on the previous day was busy milking; the thick, rich milk given by
+one of half a dozen beautifully clean cows descending in its double
+stream, _quisk_--_whish_, and frothing up in the white pail.
+
+"Take some in to White Mary soon," said Samson, and the man raised his
+shining black face and grinned.
+
+"I say, why do you say White Mary?" asked Nic, as they left the
+cow-shed.  "Who's she?"
+
+"Because you've got to talk to them blackfellows so's they can
+understand you, sir.  White Mary's white woman to them.  He's going to
+take the pails as he fills 'em in to Miss Janet: she sees to the dairy.
+And Miss Hilda, she's White Mary too, and so's your mar."
+
+"Oh," said Nic thoughtfully.  "Now then, I want to see the horses."
+
+"Which? those on the run or in the stable?"
+
+"On the run?"
+
+"Yes.  They're miles away, and you'd want to ride."
+
+"Well, in the stable."
+
+"This way, then; but won't you come and see my garden first?  I've got
+real apple trees a-growing."
+
+"I'll see the garden after.  I want to look how Sour Sorrel is."
+
+"Fresh as a daisy, sir."
+
+"I want to feed him."
+
+"You should have got up sooner, Mister Nic.  I fed the horses more'n
+hour ago, and rubbed 'em down.  Do you like Sorrel?" said Samson,
+showing his teeth.
+
+"Like him!" cried Nic, with a voice intense in its appreciation.
+
+"That's right, sir.  I bred him speshly for you, Master Nic.  He was to
+be for you, and you won't ride him too hard, will you?"
+
+"Why, it would be a sin!" cried Nic.
+
+"Sin ain't half bad enough word for it, sir," cried the old man.  "Any
+one as'd hurt a horse with a temper like Sorrel, and such a willin'
+heart, ud do anything wicked, I don't care what it is.  Why, I don't
+believe even a lifer ud do that."
+
+"What's a lifer?" asked Nic.
+
+"Transported for life, sir."
+
+"Oh yes, I remember now," said Nic, as they turned into the long wooden
+stable.  "Ah, father! you up already?"
+
+"'Morning, Nic, my boy.  Oh yes, we are early birds here.  Been round
+the farm?"
+
+"Yes, some of it.  He has been showing me."
+
+"Well, do you think you can be content with our rough life?"
+
+"Oh, I say, father!" cried Nic protestingly, "don't talk to me like
+that!  Like it?  Everything seems too good.  Why, I love it already."
+
+"Don't be too enthusiastic, my boy," said the doctor, clapping him on
+the shoulder.  "It is not all bliss.  See what a journey it is to
+civilisation."
+
+"Bother civilisation!" cried Nic.  "That means me being away from home
+with people who don't care for me."
+
+"You should make people care for you," said the doctor gravely.  "Our
+friendships depend much upon ourselves."
+
+"But I wanted to come out, father."
+
+"And you've come to where nearly all our neighbours are blacks--savages,
+and many of the others convicts, who are not merely blacks on the
+surface, Nic.  Well, we shall see how you get on.  You may alter your
+tone, my boy."
+
+Nic said nothing, and the horses--six--were inspected.
+
+"Janet and Hilda ride those two little mares, Nic," said the doctor;
+"and sometimes I get your mother to mount this old favourite, but not
+often.  The others are away grazing."
+
+"You have plenty of horses, then?"
+
+"Yes.  They are a necessity here, where so many miles have to be covered
+a day.  You think you will be contented here?"
+
+"Of course, father."
+
+"But you'll have to work, Nic."
+
+"To be sure, father.  I'm sure I shall like it."
+
+"A great change from school, my boy."
+
+"Yes, father; but it was a great change for you to come from your London
+practice."
+
+"So it was, Nic," said the doctor: "a greater change, perhaps, for I was
+no longer young and sanguine.  Greatest of all was the change for your
+mother and sisters--leaving, as they did, all the pleasant comforts of
+life, to be their own servants and stoop to all kinds of work.  But they
+were very good.  They saw health was the great thing.  Nic, boy, for
+once let me refer to this seriously.  I came out believing that I might
+prolong my poor weary life a year.  At the end of that year I thought I
+could prolong it two more; and at the end of those three years I began
+to be hopeful of living with those dear to me another three."
+
+"And now, father, you are going to live to be a fine, healthy, hearty
+old man."
+
+"Please God, Nic," said the doctor, reverently raising his hat,--"for
+the sake of your mother and the girls."
+
+"He might have said, `and for your sake too,'" thought Nic, as the
+doctor walked away to pat one of the horses, returning directly after to
+talk in a bright cheery way.
+
+"I'm glad you like the horses and the place, Nic," he said.  "Your
+mother and I were a little nervous about it being dull for you."
+
+"Oh, I shan't be dull, father," cried the boy.  "Not if you have a boy's
+healthy appreciation of nature, Nic; and that I hope you have.  No, you
+can't be dull; there is too much to take your attention.  It will be a
+rougher education, but it is a grand healthy life--one like this out in
+a new land, to make a good simple natural home.  People fear to come to
+some of these places, because they say there's no doctor.  I am a
+doctor, Nic."
+
+"Yes, father; and I've heard say that you were a very clever one."
+
+"I did my best, boy.  But I was going to say I am a doctor, and saving
+for an occasional accident, which nature would heal, I am like a fish
+out of water."
+
+"Break-fast!" cried a merry, girlish voice; and Hilda, looking bright
+and eager, looked in at the stable door.
+
+"Ah! here you are, Nic!" she cried.  "What a shame! your first morning,
+and not been to say `how are you?' to mamma!"
+
+Nic rushed by her before she had finished, and ran into the house, where
+Mrs Braydon was eagerly waiting to welcome him to the board.
+
+"I needn't have been so apologetic," said the doctor drily, as he came
+in a minute later and took his place.  "Here have I been preaching to
+this boy about the hardships of our life, and our rough fare, and--
+humph!  French ham, new-laid eggs, coffee, cream, honey, jam, hot
+bread-cakes, and--tut--tut--tut!  My poor boy, I am so sorry there are
+no fried rolls.  Can you make shift?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Nic, laughing, as he thought of school fare.  "I'm
+going to try."
+
+He did.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+A STRANGE ENCOUNTER.
+
+"Don't go too far, Nic," said Dr Braydon, a few mornings after the
+boy's arrival at the Bluff.
+
+"Oh no, father; only I must see what the place is like all round."
+
+"Of course; I have no time to-day, or I'd take you for a ride round."
+
+"But ought he to go alone?" said Mrs Braydon.
+
+"He must learn to run alone, my dear," said the doctor.  "We can't chain
+him up like a dog."
+
+"No," said Mrs Braydon, rather piteously; "but there are the
+precipices."
+
+"Nic has eyes in his head, and will not go and jump down there.  He
+can't very well fall by accident."
+
+"The snakes, my dear."
+
+"He must learn at once to keep a sharp look-out for them.  I suppose
+there were plenty of adders on the common at school?"
+
+"Plenty, father."
+
+"But the blacks, my dear.  I have not got over that scare."
+
+"They're gone, my dear.  That man came back last night and said that he
+saw them, and hid because he was afraid.  The party hung about after the
+waggon for about an hour, and then went right off across the river."
+
+"But they may come back."
+
+"Oh yes," said the doctor tenderly; "but don't be afraid.  Nic will not
+go very far--eh, boy?"
+
+"Oh no, father; I'll really take care."
+
+"And you will be very careful, my dear?"
+
+"Of course he will," said the doctor.
+
+"I will really, mother," said Nic.  "I'll only go to-day and have a look
+round."
+
+"Shall we go with him and take care of him?" said Janet mischievously.
+
+"Yes, I'll come," cried Hilda, exchanging glances with her sister, while
+the doctor looked on quite amused, and waited for his son's reply.
+
+"No, that you won't," cried Nic indignantly.  "Just as if I were a
+little boy!  I know: you want to take me for a walk and each hold a
+hand.  I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I begin to feel at home
+in the place."
+
+"Of course," said his father.  "There, Nic, I'm going to trust to your
+discretion.  Of course the snakes are dangerous, and you must keep a
+sharp look-out.  You can take your gun with you."
+
+Mrs Braydon started.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, mamma.  Nic can be trusted to carry a gun.  It's of
+no use to wince, my dear.  Nic has come out here to grow into a man, and
+he must begin to act like one.  You'll be careful with the piece, of
+course?"
+
+"Yes, father: very."
+
+"That's right.  Now then, I'll tell you the great danger--one, however,
+that you are not likely to fall into now, because you will not go far
+enough--the danger is, being bushed."
+
+"Being bushed, father? what's that?"
+
+"Wandering into the bush and losing your way."
+
+"But I'm not likely to do that, father."
+
+"Old experienced colonists have been lost, Nic.  I have myself."
+
+"You have, my dear!" cried Mrs Braydon.  "I never knew."
+
+"No, I did not wish to alarm you," said the doctor quietly.  "It was on
+that occasion when I was a week away searching for stray cattle.  You
+remember now?"
+
+"Yes, I remember now," said Mrs Braydon, turning pale.  "There, don't
+be alarmed now.  Nic is not going anything like so far as the bush--not
+much out of sight of the house.  The danger is this, Nic: once a man
+wanders into the scrub the trees and shrubs are all so much alike, the
+hills and mountains so much the same, that the mind gets deceived and at
+last confused.  Then the country is so vast that, once he goes wrong, he
+may wander on and on till he frightens his mother out of her wits and
+makes his sisters cry," said the doctor merrily.  "Now do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, quite, father.  But I've got a pocket compass."
+
+"Good!  Learn to use it well."
+
+"And I promise you, mother dear, that I will not go into the bush, or
+anywhere to-day far from home."
+
+"That's right, my boy," said the doctor.  "Be off, then, and we shall
+have a big meal at sundown.  You are free till then."
+
+"Thank you, father," cried Nic, whose veins throbbed with eager
+anticipation of the pleasures to be enjoyed in what seemed to be the
+first real holiday he had ever had.  "You'll trust me too, mother, won't
+you?"
+
+"Yes, yes, my boy," cried Mrs Braydon.
+
+"Of course she will," said the doctor.  "Mamma has grown quite nervous
+since she has had a fresh chicken to take care of: she makes more fuss
+over you than she does over the girls."
+
+"But they know the place better, my dear," pleaded Mrs Braydon.
+
+"Nic will know it ten times better in a fortnight," said the doctor.
+"Eh, Nic?"
+
+"I'll try, father," cried the boy, laughing.  "I'm not going to be
+beaten by a couple of girls."
+
+"Off with you, then!"
+
+"Shall I take the dogs, father?"
+
+"Yes.  No: not to-day.  I shall keep them chained up for another week,
+to get them more used to the place.  They may do what you will not do--
+go astray."
+
+Five minutes later Nic was waving his hand to his mother at the window
+as he strode off, proud and elate, with his gun over his shoulder and
+his shot belt across his breast, the powder flask peeping out of his
+breast pocket--for in those days men had not dreamed of even percussion
+guns, let alone breech-loaders and cart ridges ready to slip into the
+piece.
+
+"Nic!"
+
+The boy turned to see his father mounted on his chestnut, and with a
+stock whip in his hand.
+
+"Which way are you going?"
+
+"I want to try and find my way to the edge of the precipice, father, and
+look down from the Bluff into the great gully."
+
+"Very well.  Straight away for a mile--north-west.  Shoot any snakes you
+see.  They alarm your mother and sisters, and they are dangerous to the
+dogs."
+
+The doctor pressed his horse's sides, turned his head, and went off at a
+canter, looking as if he had grown to its back, and Nic watched him in
+admiration for a few minutes.
+
+"I wish I could ride like that," he said to himself as he strode off
+taking great breaths of the elastic air.  "Well, father was a boy once,
+and could not ride any better than I can.  I shall try hard."
+
+"Hah! how beautiful it all is!" he said softly, as he paused at the end
+of a few minutes, to gaze right away; for he had reached an eminence in
+the park-like land from which he could see, fold upon fold, wave upon
+wave, the far stretching range of the Blue Mountains.
+
+"And they are blue," he cried aloud, "and blue and lavender and
+amethyst; but I suppose when one got up to them they would look green
+and grey and gravelly red.  It's the distance, I suppose."
+
+He was quite right: the lovely hues came from seeing the mountains in
+the distance through the layers of pure air; and after satiating himself
+for the moment, he strode on, keeping a sharp look-out for snakes and
+for the animals he was most anxious to see--kangaroos.
+
+But he could only see sheep dotted about in plenty, and farther afield
+ruddy-looking oxen grazing on the rich grass, and after a time he began
+to feel a little disappointed, for, let alone wild animals, he did not
+see so much as a bird.
+
+He kept on, though, with his eyes wandering in all directions, calling
+to mind all the different creatures which inhabited the land, and making
+up his mind that his next walk should be along the riverside.
+
+"There'll be birds in plenty there, and fish; and I may see the curious
+otter rat sort of thing, with its duck-like bill.  If I could only find
+its nest of eggs!"
+
+He laughed at the absurdity, as it seemed to him, of an animal having so
+strange a nature, and then began noting how different the trees were
+from those at home, so many being covered with a greyish-green and pinky
+foliage, while others seemed to have their leaves stuck on edgewise
+instead of lying flat, the consequence being that the shade they gave
+was rather thin.
+
+"A mile north-west," he thought: "I must have come as far as that, but I
+can see no precipices--only a hill or two yonder.  There are some sheep
+grazing, though, over there.  Father's, of course.  What a lot he must
+have!"
+
+He went on in the supposed direction for another five minutes, noticing
+that the trees were closer together, and that there was more
+undergrowth, amongst which the creamy-fleeced sheep were wandering; and
+before entering this undergrowth he took a look round and behind to see
+that his way home was unmistakable.
+
+"That can't be the bush," he said, with a laugh, as he threaded his way
+among the trees, and directly after caught sight of a man walking slowly
+along, evidently inspecting the sheep.
+
+"Hi!  Ahoy!" cried Nic; and the man turned.  "Why, it's Leather!"
+
+He started off at a trot to join the man, who stood stock still awaiting
+his approach.
+
+"'Morning, Mr Leather," he cried, as he joined the man, who faced him
+with his brows knit, and a bitter, sour look in his countenance, as he
+said morosely:
+
+"'Morning, sir.  My name's not Leather."
+
+"Oh!  I beg your pardon."
+
+The man laughed unpleasantly, and Nic felt an involuntary dislike to
+him.
+
+"But I heard them call you Leather."
+
+"Leatherhead generally," said the man roughly: "because I'm such a
+fool."
+
+"Then it's a nickname," cried the boy, thinking instantly of his own
+annoyance at school.  "I say, I'm very sorry: I didn't know.  What is
+your name?"
+
+"Call me the same as the others do," said the man roughly.  "Leather
+will do."
+
+"Oh, but I should be sorry to say anything to hurt you."
+
+"I'm used to it, young gentleman.  Well, what is it?  Does your father
+want me?"
+
+"Oh no: I'm having a walk to see the country.  I want to find the
+Bluff."
+
+"You are on the Bluff," said the man, in his surly tones.
+
+"Oh yes, I know.  The whole place is called the Bluff.  But I mean where
+you can stand on the edge and look down into a great gap thousands of
+feet deep."
+
+"Look round."
+
+Nic looked about him, and then back at the bitter-countenanced man.
+
+"What am I to look at?"
+
+"Can't you see the edge of the Bluff?"
+
+The man took a few paces, winding among the low growth, and Nic followed
+him, to start back directly in alarm.
+
+"Nothing to mind," said the man; but Nic did not see the freedom from
+danger, and he involuntarily caught hold of a handful of twigs at the
+top of the nearest bush to steady himself, as he gazed away down into a
+mighty valley whose sides looked to be sheer and whose bottom was
+thousands of feet below.  It was like looking down into an open country
+shut in by a perpendicular wall of mountains where a glittering river
+ran, and the trees were dwarfed into tiny shrubs, while patches of
+forest looked like tufts of grass.  The colours were glorious; but for
+the moment the boy felt nothing but that breathless, shrinking sensation
+which attacks some people upon a height; and he said huskily:
+
+"How horrible!"
+
+"Yes," said the man gloomily.  "Right: how horrible!" and he scowled
+down at the vast depression.
+
+"No, no," cried Nic excitedly.  "How lovely--glorious--grand!"
+
+"No," said the man, without turning his head; "how horrible!"
+
+"Oh no," cried Nic again.  "I did not mean it.  I was startled.  It
+looks so deep.  How do you get down?"
+
+"Step over the edge and fall," said the man bitterly.
+
+"What?"
+
+"One good step and down you would go, and be out of your misery."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," cried Nic.  "It's wonderful.  Show me the way to go
+down."
+
+"What, go first?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The man uttered a strange laugh which made Nic shudder; but he mastered
+his shrinking and said: "Tell me: which is the proper way down?"
+
+"They say there is no way down."
+
+"What! is it so dangerous?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that we could not get down to that beautiful
+place below?"
+
+"The regular way is to go as the sheep and cattle do sometimes.  They
+get grazing too close, and slip and fall.  Most of them are killed, but
+some fall from shelf to shelf and get over it.  Look!"
+
+He caught Nic by the shoulder, roughly pressed him nearer the edge, and
+pointed with one hand.
+
+Nic's heart began to beat heavily, but he drew a deep breath and would
+not shrink.
+
+"Well?" he said, after a pause.  "I'm looking.  What at?"
+
+"Can't you see sheep down below, and quite a drove of bullocks?"
+
+"No," said Nic: "my eyes are not used to it--yours are."
+
+"Yes, mine are," said the man.  "Those were your father's cattle and
+sheep, and some of Dillon's from the next station, and other people's
+from farther still; and now they belong to nature.  Don't you think your
+father is a fool to come and live where he loses his stock down a trap
+like that?"
+
+"No, I don't," said Nic haughtily, for the man repelled him.  "I think
+he was very wise to come and live in the most beautiful place I ever
+saw."
+
+"I don't," said the man, laughing curiously, as if it hurt him and gave
+him pain.  "I think the place hideous.  Well, you want to go down," he
+continued, tightening his grip and showing his teeth as he thrust Nic
+forward.  "There, I have only to give you one push and down you go; but
+you wouldn't see anything when you got down."
+
+"Because it would kill me," said Nic quietly.
+
+"Yes; and your old man would set us all to hunt for you, and one of the
+blacks would make you out at last, lying right at the bottom."
+
+"And fetch me up," said Nic, without flinching, but with the cold
+perspiration standing out on his forehead and in the palms of his hands.
+
+"No, even they couldn't get down to you; and your father would come
+every day with his glass to watch you till the birds and the ants had
+left nothing but your bones to whiten there, as the bones of bullocks
+have before now.  Well, shall I throw you down?  You asked me to show
+you the way."
+
+"No, thank you," said Nic quietly.
+
+"Why shouldn't I?"
+
+"Because you, a strong man, wouldn't be so murderous.  And because I
+never did you any harm."
+
+"No," said the man, drawing him back from the brink, and looking him
+full in the eyes, with the half-savage glare passing out of his own to
+give place to an air of profound melancholy.  "No, I wouldn't do you any
+harm, sir.  You're a brave lad."
+
+"No, I'm not," said Nic, letting himself sink back on the sunny herbage,
+for he felt sick and giddy.  "It was horrible: it made me turn faint.
+Why did you do that?"
+
+He spoke now in indignant anger.
+
+"Because I was a brute," said the man hoarsely.  "They've made me a
+brute.  I thought I would try you and see what was in you.  There, go
+back home and tell them," he cried, with his voice growing intensely
+bitter; "and you can have the pleasure of seeing me flogged."
+
+"What!" cried Nic, forgetting his own feelings in seeing the way the man
+was moved.  "You--flogged--for playing that foolish trick!"
+
+"Yes; foolish trick, my lad.  But there, now you've come home, keep away
+from me.  You've a deal to learn yet."
+
+"Well, you own it was foolish," said Nic, for want of something better
+to say.
+
+"Yes, a piece of madness, my lad.  You said you begged my pardon a bit
+ago.  I beg yours now."
+
+"Of course.  There, it's all right," cried Nic.  "But don't you think I
+should go and tell tales.  My father would, of course, be put out,--but
+flog you!  He doesn't look the sort of man to flog his people, does he?"
+
+The man looked at him curiously.  Then, drawing back sharply, his manner
+changed, and he began to look sullen, as he said in a morose voice:
+
+"Didn't your father say anything to you about me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Didn't he tell you what I was, sir?"
+
+"No," said Nic, with's suspicion now dawning on his mind.  "You are his
+stock man, are you not?"
+
+"Stock man?  No: Brookes is his stock man.  There--keep away from me, my
+lad."
+
+"Why?" said Nic.
+
+"Because I'm only a sort of two-legged animal, a machine to do your
+father's work.  I thought you knew."
+
+"That you are--"
+
+Nic stopped short.
+
+"Yes, my lad--a convict, sent out of my country for my country's good."
+
+"I know now," cried Nic eagerly.  "I've heard--I was told on board.  You
+are sent up the country for good behaviour.  Then you are my father's
+assigned servant?"
+
+The man stood looking down at him for a moment or two with his face full
+of wrinkles.  Then he turned quickly and walked hurriedly away, never
+once looking back as Nic watched him till he was out of sight.
+
+Then the boy shuddered.
+
+"How horrible!" he thought.  "He might have thrown me down.  No, it was
+only a mad trick.  But what a man to have about the place!  I ought to
+have bullied him well; but I can't go near him again.  I wish I had not
+shown the white feather so."
+
+Ten minutes later Nic had forgotten his adventure, as he lay there upon
+his chest close to the edge, gazing down from the Bluff into the
+tremendous gully, rapt in amazement by its wonders, fascinated by its
+beauties.  He stayed for hours tracing the river, and as his eyes grew
+more accustomed to the depth he made out the animals grazing below and
+looking like ants.
+
+"Yes, it is glorious!" he said at last; and he turned his head to look
+around and rest his eyes upon the green on the other side, when he felt
+as if turned to stone.  He had escaped one danger, and another seemed to
+have sprung up, for peering out at him from a dense patch of grass was a
+black face with glittering eyes and a surrounding of shaggy hair, while
+the gun was lying between them, and just beyond his reach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A FRIGHT.
+
+The position was startling in the extreme, and all the tales he had
+heard on shipboard and at home, as well as in the letters he had
+received from his sisters, respecting the blacks, flashed into his mind.
+He knew how dangerous they were, and the enmity some of them bore
+toward the white invaders of their shores; and though he could see
+nothing but the man's face, he felt certain that, hidden by the grass,
+the black would have his spear with its hardened point--a weapon these
+men could throw as unerringly as the peculiar boomerang which would be
+stuck in his waistband to balance the deadly nulla-nulla--the
+melon-shaped club carved from a hard-wood root, whose stem formed the
+handle.
+
+And as these thoughts ran through Nic's mind he kept his eyes fixed upon
+the bright dark eyes of the black, every nerve upon the strain, every
+muscle strung, and ready for action.  For in those painful moments Nic
+had determined to "die game," as he called it in schoolboy parlance,
+living as he did in days when a brutal sport was popular.  At the first
+movement made by the black Nic meant to spring upon his gun, and have
+one shot for his life; but he remained motionless, trying to stare the
+man down, and in the faint hope that Leather might come back, and the
+black shrink from attacking one who faced him.
+
+"Wild beasts shrink away, so why should not wild men?" thought Nic.
+
+And so they lay there each upon his chest, watching one another, Nic
+having a fine opportunity for studying the native's rugged features and
+shaggy hair and beard.  Every now and then there was a rapid winking of
+the eyes; but their fierce stare seemed to be uninterrupted, and caused
+a peculiar kind of aching and twitching at the back of Nic's eyeballs,
+as moment by moment he expected the man would attack.
+
+At last the strain began to be greater than the boy could bear.  He had
+developed an intense friendship all at once for Leather, and looked
+vainly again for his presence there; he would have shouted for him, but
+he felt that in the immense space around his feeble cry would not be
+heard, and that out there in that savage land he was, early as it
+seemed, to have his first lesson in the settler's duty--namely, to fend
+for himself.
+
+For Nic could bear the horrible state of suspense no longer.  He felt
+that he must fight for his life, and that after all the odds were fair.
+His enemy was a full-grown, sturdy savage, doubtless well armed, while
+he was only a boy, but he had the help of one of civilised man's most
+deadly weapons to balance matters.
+
+Then he felt that there was no balance in the matters for the black had
+his weapons ready, while he had left his gun out of his reach.
+
+"Only let me escape this time," thought Nic, in a despairing way, "and
+I'll never do such a foolish thing again."
+
+The sun beat down upon him, the air around quivered in the heat, and the
+locusts kept up a loud chirruping, jarring note which grew maddening.
+Then from far away there came faintly the melancholy _baa_ of a sheep
+calling plaintively to its missing companions, and directly
+after what Nic took to be the call of some wild bird in the
+distance--_coo-way_--_coo-way_--and this was answered faintly from
+farther off.
+
+The next moment Nic had grasped the fact that it was no bird-call; for
+the black's face was puckered up, his eyes nearly closed as his mouth
+opened, and he repeated the cry in a wild, shrill, ringing tone twice
+more, and then his mouth shut with an audible snap, and he remained
+perfectly still again, watching the boy.
+
+But Nic could bear no more.  This brought matters to a crisis.  It was
+the savage's _cooey_, and it meant that others were coming to join this
+man.  So the boy felt that he must either attack or retreat.
+
+To retreat meant to invite attack, and in his desperation Nic determined
+that the braver plan and the one more likely to prove successful was to
+take the initiative, and to do this he began slowly and cautiously to
+stretch out one hand towards his gun.
+
+In an instant the black's eyes twinkled, and there was a movement in the
+grass as of some animal gliding through it.
+
+"Getting his spear," thought Nic, with his heart beating frantically, as
+he drew himself sidewise toward the piece.
+
+As he expected, the black moved too, but only as shown by the motion of
+the herbage.  In fact, there were moments before the boy began to exert
+himself when it seemed to him that there was that fierce black head
+before him and nothing more, and that the whole scene was nightmare-like
+and unreal.
+
+But with the action all became terribly substantial.  He was reaching
+for his deadly weapon, so was the black, or to get himself into a better
+position for assault.  And as Nic with throbbing breast drew slowly
+nearer, never once taking his eyes from those of his foe, the knitted
+brows and shining black face seemed to approach.
+
+But he knew it was only an optical illusion caused by the intense strain
+upon his eyes; and feeling that quick action was necessary, he made a
+sudden spring to his right and grasped the gun, with which he leaped to
+his feet, just as the black also bounded up with a long, quivering spear
+in his hand, while there, plainly seen in the narrow band about his
+waist, were the boomerang and club.
+
+Click went Nic's gun trigger, as a thrill of confidence ran through him,
+and, holding the piece at the ready, he presented it at the black's
+breast.
+
+At this the man made a bound backward, and throwing himself into an
+attitude, he levelled his spear, as if about to hurl it and pierce Nic
+through.
+
+"I wish I knew nigger," thought Nic, getting more confident; "I'd tell
+him if he'd go away I would not fire."
+
+But no word was spoken on either side, white and black standing
+motionless in their attitudes of menace, eye fixed on eye, as if each
+were ready to shoot or hurl spear at the slightest movement made by the
+other.
+
+The situation at last became so irksome that Nic could bear it no
+longer, and in a hoarse voice he cried:
+
+"Now then, be off, and I won't shoot."
+
+To his surprise the black shouldered his spear, and then obeyed a sign
+Nic made with the barrel of his gun, turning round and beginning to
+march away, slowly followed by the boy, who felt that if driven to
+extremities he could easily hit the broad, shiny back before him, with
+the muscles playing elastically at every step the man took.
+
+"He understood the sign I made," thought Nic, who determined to keep
+near the black for fear of treachery, as the man strode on in and out
+among the trees, while a fresh idea now struck Nic.  Suppose the man was
+going on to join his companions who had cooeyed to him.  It was like
+walking into additional danger.  Still the boy did not flinch, for fear
+of receiving a spear in the back if he turned away.
+
+But he was master for the moment; and growing more and more confident,
+he strode on behind the black, heedless of the direction in which they
+went, and leaving the end of the case to fate.  All he hoped was that,
+sooner or later, the savage would suddenly make a dash for his liberty,
+when the boy fully determined to scare him by firing over his head, to
+make him run the harder.
+
+Nic had some idea that they were bearing toward his home, but he could
+see nothing but park-like trees and low wattle bushes; and after this
+strange procession had continued for some time he began to grow uneasy,
+and to think of taking out his pocket compass to try and make out his
+bearings, before stopping short in the first open place to let the black
+go on out of sight, covered meanwhile by the gun, when, just as the
+sufficiently open place was reached, there came a hoarse cooey from
+somewhere close at hand.
+
+Nic stopped short, feeling that he had walked right into the lion's
+mouth; and standing ready, with his eyes wandering round, waiting for
+the enemy, he listened to the black's reply.
+
+The next minute the black faced round, and the rustling of bushes was
+followed by the appearance of a second figure thirty yards away.
+
+Nic threw up his gun, not to his shoulder, but over it; for the figure
+was that of the stock man, Brookes, who shouted:
+
+"Oh, there you are, young gentleman.  Your mar's getting in a orful way.
+She sent Bungarolo to look after you, and then, as he didn't come back,
+she sent me."
+
+"Oh!" groaned Nic, in a tone of disgust; for all his bravery, as he
+thought it, had been thrown away, and a peculiar sensation of
+self-humiliation and shame came ever him.
+
+"Yes, here I am, Brookes," he said.  "Then this is a tame black?"
+
+"Tame un?" said the man, with a chuckle.  "Oh no, he's wild enough; I
+never see one on 'em yet as you could tame.  No tame man would go about
+without trousers when he's had two pair give him to my sartain
+knowledge.  He's one as hangs about sometimes."
+
+"But I mean he is not one of the more dangerous blacks?"
+
+"Oh no, I think not, sir--so long as you treat him well, and he gets
+treated right enough with soft tack and mutton.  He comes to see our
+other two as you know."
+
+"But does his tribe live about here?"
+
+"I dunno, sir.  Nobody does know.  These chaps is like the cockatoos:
+they swarm about the place one day, and next day there isn't one, and
+you might go for a hundred miles and never see one of their blessed
+heads.  He's wild enough.  Hangs about the place, and does a bit of work
+if he likes it.  If he don't, he goes.  These blacks is, to my mind, the
+only real gents as there is.  Look at him now.  He don't want no clothes
+nor no house, only a hut, as he makes out of a few bits o' bark and
+calls a gunyah, perhaps only a mia-mia."
+
+"What's a mia-mia?" said Nic.
+
+"Sort of a hurdle thing as he puts up for shelter, and to keep the wind
+from blowing his fire away.  Then as to clothes--look at him now."
+
+Nic turned to look, but the black had disappeared, and ten minutes later
+he passed out of the thick growth to come in sight of the house, outside
+which Mrs Braydon was standing, watching anxiously for the return of
+her son.
+
+"I wish he had been a real savage though, after all," thought Nic.  "It
+would have been far better fun."
+
+Perhaps!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+NIC SHOWS HIS TEETH.
+
+Nic did not say anything about his adventure with Leather, and was
+perfectly silent about his fright with Bungarolo, who showed his teeth
+next time they met, pointed to the lad's gun, and shook his head, the
+fact being that he was as much startled as Nic.
+
+During the days which followed the boy had long rides with his father to
+see cattle on distant ranges, to visit flocks grazing nearer home, and
+gradually grew acquainted with the pleasant, patriarchal life the doctor
+lived.
+
+The weather was glorious, for there had been rain in abundance a month
+earlier, and the consequence was shown in the rich pasture and abundance
+of flowers flourishing in the bright sunshine.  The air, too, was
+deliciously invigorating, and Nic never knew that he was tired, even
+when he had been a whole day in the saddle, until suddenly about bedtime
+he discovered that he could not keep his eyes open.  Then he would sleep
+soundly till the piping crows and the poultry awoke him at daybreak for
+another busy, happy day.
+
+Nic determined that he would have no mare to do with Leather, who went
+stolidly about his work.  He was a convict, and the boy felt that the
+man was a sullen, ill-tempered fellow, who, instead of trying to make up
+for the past, now that the opportunity had been given him to amend and
+begin a new life, evidently looked upon himself as ill-used, and avoided
+everybody.
+
+There were a certain number of slips printed from copperplate and pasted
+upon cardboard at Dr Dunham's, all consisting of good, sterling advice
+to the young, which the boys had had to copy over and over again, so as
+to get in the habit of writing a good, clear, round hand, with fine
+upstrokes and good, firm downstrokes; and one of them which Nic had well
+in mind was, "Judge not rashly."  But Nic did judge rashly all the same.
+
+One day he took his gun with the intention of shooting a specimen of the
+lovely Blue Mountain parrot or lory, and this he meant to skin and
+preserve.  He had seen the birds in flocks when out without his gun, and
+stood entranced at the beauty of the little creatures, with their
+breasts gleaming with scarlet, crimson, orange, and purple mingled in
+the most wonderful way, while their heads were of a peachy blue, and
+wings and backs, right to the end of their long tails, of a lovely
+green.
+
+He had taken some of the smallest shot, so as not to damage the plumage;
+and after a warning from Mrs Braydon to be careful, he was crossing the
+enclosure beyond the garden toward a field where he could hear Brookes's
+voice raised in a loud, bullying tone.
+
+Directly after he came upon old Samson, who was wheeling manure in a
+barrow made of half a barrel cut lengthwise, and furnished with a couple
+of good sound poles, nailed on so that two ends formed the widely apart
+handles the other two being fitted with iron, which drew them together
+and secured the wheel, which was a round cut with a saw from a tree
+trunk, bound with iron hooping, and looking like a single Gloucester
+cheese.
+
+"Heavy," said the old man, stopping to rest.
+
+"What's that for?" asked Nic, who liked the old, keen, but thoroughly
+amiable factotum.
+
+"Garden, sir.  Good, strong, fat stuff as'll grow anything.  I'm making
+a cowcumber bed."
+
+"Not much of a barrow, Sam," said Nic.
+
+"Well, it ain't, Master Nic, and I'd ha' made another afore now, on'y I
+can't get a wheel.  The master's going to get me one first chance, for
+the wheel bothers me.  I could make the box, but wheels want practice.
+I did try to make one, and I forged a pretty good tire down yonder but
+the wood part!  My word, it was a rickety, wobbly one, and broke down
+second day.  Didn't teach you to make barrow wheels at school, I
+suppose?"
+
+"No," said Nic, laughing.  "Wheel-making's an accomplishment."
+
+"Then they ought to ha' taught you.  Been strange and useful to you as a
+squatter, sir.  Didn't teach you to shoe horses nayther, I'll be bound."
+
+"No, nor blacksmithing either."
+
+"Then it's a shame, sir, for I know the master paid a lot o' money for
+you to be well taught.  I wish they'd teached you to make wheels, for
+you see these here soon warps in the hot sun and cracks.  But there,"
+cried the old man, grinning, "there's hard, sound trees enough to cut
+down and saw into thousands and thousands of barrow wheels; and as to
+horseshoeing, I can teach you that, my lad.  I shoe all ours, and the
+master likes my shoes better than those he makes."
+
+"Does father make horseshoes?"
+
+"Does he make horseshoes?" cried Sam.  "Why, I should think he does, and
+trims a hoof, and nails splendid.  He beats me hollow.  There he goes--
+at it again," muttered the old man, as Brookes's voice rose.  "I wish
+he'd leave the poor chap alone."
+
+"Is he bullying Leather again?"
+
+"Ay, my lad; and he'd like to tan Leather too, on'y he daren't do that.
+I 'most wish the poor chap'd give him one for his not, and then p'r'aps
+he'd be quiet with his tongue.  Brooky's never satisfied.  He's like
+lots of 'em: he thinks, because a chap's a 'signed servant, he's to be
+bullied and kicked.  They forgets as a convict is a man arter all."
+
+"Of course," said Nic, frowning.
+
+"The free men settlers is jealous of the government chaps, and hates
+'em.  I don't doubt Leather's a reg'lar crab, but set him to do a job
+and he does it.  I never know'd him skulk or flinch anything.  The
+master'll ketch old Brooky at it some day, and then there'll be a row.
+I do wonder, though, as Leatherhead don't give him one between the
+eyes."
+
+"Perhaps he will some day, if Brookes goes too far."
+
+"Nay, nay, my lad, he won't do that.  That wouldn't do.  'Signed
+servant's got to take what he gets, and be thankful.  Why, do you know
+what'd happen if Leather turned on Brooky?"
+
+"Brooky would complain to the master, and Leather would be fetched over
+to Mr Dillon's--magistrate, you know.  He'd have the cat, and a warning
+that if he didn't behave he'd go back to the chain gang, and it would be
+a bad mark agin him."
+
+"Then it would be very unfair," said Nic sharply.
+
+"Yes, sir, it would; but the world don't allus play quite fair, and, you
+see, government has to be very strict with 'signed servants, for some on
+'em's been shocking bad uns, and if they weren't kep' down with what
+they calls a hiron han', honest people wouldn't come to live out here.
+'Bliged to be very strict; if they weren't, the convicts might get the
+better of us all.  Well, this ain't making cowcumber beds, is it?  Going
+shooting?"
+
+"Yes; I want to get some specimens to stuff."
+
+"That's right, sir.  You do?  There's some very pretty birds about these
+parts; but if I was you, my lad, I'd get one o' the blackfellows to go
+with you.  He'd carry what you shot--when you happened to hit anything."
+
+"All right.  You needn't grin, Sam.  I can hold the gun straight
+sometimes."
+
+"'Course you can, my lad.  Why not?  You'll shoot and ride and do
+everything soon, and I'll teach you all I know 'bout shoeing and forging
+and gardening.  But as I was a-saying, you get Bungarolo or Rigar or
+Damper.  No, I can't spare Damper 'cause of the cows, and Rigar's handy
+with the bullocks.  You have Bung; he'll take you to places where the
+birds are.  These blacks know all that sort o' thing; and as to getting
+bushed, you'll never get bushed so long as he's with you."
+
+"What's bushed?"
+
+"What's bushed, sir?  My word, they did take your poor father in over
+your education.  Don't know what being bushed is?  Why, being lost, my
+lad.  There, you're a-romancing me, Master Nic.  You're a-making me a
+reg'lar old ruck-a-tongue.  I've got to do my work, and my work to-day's
+cowcumbers."
+
+Samson lifted the handles of his rough barrow, and went off without
+looking back, while Nic made off with his gun on his shoulder, bearing a
+little to his left, so as to pass round a shed, beyond which Brookes's
+voice could be heard.
+
+As Nic reached the fence he saw that about fifty sheep were shut behind
+hurdles, and Leather was catching them by the wool, turning them on
+their sides, and then carrying them to where Brookes knelt, with a brush
+and a tub and a sheep before him, dividing the wool and applying some
+tarry mixture to sore places caused by the attacks of virulent flies--a
+cruel-looking process, but one which saved the poor animals' lives.
+
+Brookes's back was towards Nic, and Leather's eyes on his work, over
+which he bent frowning, and using his great strength to master the
+struggling animals, and carry them to his companion, who went on loudly,
+as Leather slaved away, dripping with perspiration, in the hot sun.
+
+"Government's mad, that's what government is, to let loose such a set o'
+scum to mix with honest men.  I dunno what things is coming to.  If I
+had my way, I'd soon have yer again in the chain gang, and scratch yer
+back every day with the warder's cat--that's what I'd do with you.
+There,"--to the sheep--"off you go.  Now, then, how much longer am I to
+wait for that next sheep?  Of all the lazy, idle, skulking hands that
+ever came about a place you're the worst.  Now, then, don't kill the
+poor beast, and don't keep me waiting all day for the next."
+
+The sheep had made a sudden bound and nearly escaped; but Leather,
+bending low the while, flung his arm round it, hugged it to his breast,
+and bore it to Brookes.
+
+"Yah! you clumsy, lazy brute; you're not fit to handle a sheep.  Don't
+kill it, thick-head.  Hang yer, you're not worth your salt."
+
+This was too much for Nic.
+
+"Then why don't you go and fetch the sheep, and let him have a turn with
+the tar?" roared the boy, with his face scarlet.
+
+"What?" cried Brookes, swinging himself round, and dropping the brush.
+
+"Say `sir' when you speak to me," cried Nic.  "You heard what I said.
+You're always bullying and insulting people.  It's abominable.  The
+man's working like a slave, and you're kneeling there and doing hardly
+anything."
+
+"I'm blest!" panted out Brookes, with rings of white round the irises of
+his eyes.
+
+Leather was panting too.  His face looked corrugated, and he stood there
+bent down, frowning hard at the ground.
+
+"It's shameful!" cried Nic.  "I'm sure my father does not know you speak
+to your fellow-servants like that."
+
+"My what?" roared Brookes furiously.  "Do you know he's only a convict?"
+
+"Yes, I do.  But what's that got to do with it, sir?  As long as he
+works and does his duty to my father, he's to be properly treated.
+You're always bullying him.  I've heard you ever since I've been home."
+
+"Here!  Where's your father?" cried Brookes, rising to his feet, and
+advancing toward the fence with a threatening look, while Leather bent
+lower.
+
+"Gone on one of his rounds," said Nic, springing over the fence, and
+facing him.  "I wish he were here."
+
+"And so do I," roared Brookes.  "Look here, young gentleman; don't you
+think because you've come home that you're to lord it over me.  I'll
+have you to know that you've got to beg my pardon, insulting me before
+that lazy, lying, idle convict, you miserable young whippersnapper!"
+
+"What!" said Nic, beside himself now with passion.  "How dare you!  How
+dare you speak to me like that!  Insult you--you common, foul-mouthed
+bully.  Go on with your work, sir.  I'm your master's son, and if I'd a
+horsewhip here instead of this gun, I'd lay it across your back."
+
+Brookes stooped, picked up the brush viciously, and rolled up his
+sleeves.
+
+"Oh," he cried; "that's it, is it?  Horsewhip me, eh?  We'll soon see
+about that.  Here, you convict."
+
+"Do you want me to strike you?" cried Nic.
+
+"Yes; you'd better," growled the man, dropping on his knees.  "We'll
+soon see about that.  Here, you, bring me another sheep."
+
+"No.  Stop!" cried Nic, turning to Leather, who was bringing on the
+sheep; "let him fetch them for himself.  While my father's away I'm
+master here.  Go away.  You shall not be bullied like that, whatever you
+have done.  Go and find some other work amongst the sheep."
+
+Leather looked at him strangely.
+
+"You heard what I said," cried Nic.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the man, in a husky voice.
+
+"Then go at once.  Nic was treating you worse than he would dare to
+treat a dog."
+
+Brookes banged down the brush and rose to go.
+
+"You stop," cried Nic.  "My father said those sheep must be dressed
+to-day, and you know it.  Finish them, every one."
+
+Brookes dropped upon his knees again.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said Leather quietly.  "It is very hard work
+for one man.  I'm used to this sort of thing.  Hadn't I better stay?"
+
+"No," said Nic firmly.  "You heard my orders.  Go."  He pointed across
+the enclosure, and Leather went without a word.
+
+"Now," said Nic, "finish those sheep."
+
+Brookes muttered low threat after threat of what he would do, but he
+went on dressing the sheep; and Nic turned, walked back to the house,
+altered his mind, and went right away toward the bush, but his nerves
+were all of a quiver, as he thought over the meeting to come with his
+father, and he did not fire his gun that day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+LEATHER'S OTHER SIDE.
+
+"Well, Nic, what does all this mean?" said the doctor on the following
+day.  "Brookes has been complaining to me that he was busy yesterday
+dressing those sheep, when he found Leather, as they call him, my
+assigned servant, lazy, careless, and insolent.  He was speaking to him
+rather sharply, when you suddenly appeared from behind the fence, flew
+in a passion, abused him, defended the other man, talked in a way that
+would make Leather disobedient in the future, and finally ordered the
+man to go away and leave Brookes to do all the work himself.  Now then,
+my boy, is this true?"
+
+"Well, about half of it, father."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it, Nic, though I'm glad you are so frank," said the
+doctor, rather sternly.  "You own to half.  Now how much of the other
+half would be true if judged by an impartial observer?"
+
+"I don't think any of it, father."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor.  "This is a great pity, my boy.  I
+cannot have dissension here at the station.  Brookes is a valuable
+servant to me, where men with a character are very scarce.  He is, I
+know, firm and severe to the blacks and to the convict labourers I have
+had from time to time, and I must warn you these assigned servants are
+not men of good character.  Has this Leather been making advances toward
+you, and telling you some pitiful tale of his innocency to excite your
+compassion?"
+
+"Oh no, father," cried Nic.  "He has been as distant and surly to me as
+could be."
+
+"Ah!  There you see!  The man is not well behaved."
+
+"He works well, father, and was doing his best; but Brookes does nothing
+but bully and find fault, and he went on so yesterday at the poor fellow
+that at last I felt as if I couldn't bear it, and--and I'm afraid I got
+in a terrible passion and talked as if I were the master."
+
+"I repeat what I said, Nic.  I am very sorry, and I must ask you to be
+more careful.  You say you played the master?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Very badly, my lad.  He is a poor master who cannot govern his temper.
+Men under you always respect quiet firmness, and it will do more in
+ruling or governing than any amount of noisy bullying.  There, I am not
+going to say any more."
+
+"But you don't know, father, how cruelly he uses Leather."
+
+"Neither do you, Nic, I'm afraid.  You are young and chivalrous, and
+naturally, from your age, ready to magnify and resist what you look upon
+as oppression.  There, be careful, my lad.  I shall keep an eye on
+Leather and take notice for myself.  As to Brookes, I shall leave
+matters to you.  I do not ask you to apologise to him, but I should like
+you to run over yesterday's business in your own mind, and where you
+feel conscientiously that you were in the wrong I should like you to
+show Brookes that you regret that portion of what you said.  One moment,
+and I've done.  I want you to recollect that he is a man of fifty, while
+you are only about sixteen.  Do we understand each other?"
+
+"Oh yes, father," cried the boy, earnestly.
+
+"Then that unpleasant business is at an end.  Did you get your specimens
+yesterday?"
+
+"No," cried Nic; "the quarrel yesterday upset me, and I could only go
+and wander about in the bush thinking about it.  I did not shoot a
+bird."
+
+"Then go and make up for it to-day," said the doctors smiling.
+
+"But," said Nic, hesitating, "don't you want me, father--to begin work?"
+
+"Yes, by-and-by; not yet.  I should like you to have your run about the
+place for a week or two more--or a month, say.  It will not be waste
+time.  You cannot see what is going on about a station like this without
+learning a great deal that will be invaluable by-and-by.  Of course I
+shall take you with me for a few runs or rides.  By the way, did they
+finish emptying the waggon?"
+
+"Oh yes, father; I saw that done, and kept account of the packages that
+came over in the _Northumbrian_.  I didn't know the rest."
+
+"That was businesslike, and the more so for its being done unasked."
+
+"But Brookes didn't like my being there, father."
+
+"Indeed!" said the doctor slowly.  "And the other man--Samson?"
+
+"He liked it, father.  We're capital friends.  I like him: he's such a
+rum old fellow."
+
+"Well, you must get to like Brookes too.  Now have your run."
+
+Nic felt better, for the previous day's trouble had sat upon him like a
+nightmare.  Hurrying to his room he took his gun, and leaving it at the
+door was guided by the voices to the big store-room, where Mrs Braydon
+and the girls were busy unpacking and arranging some of the stores
+brought by the waggon.
+
+Here he was soon dismissed by his sisters, and after promising to be
+back in good time, he went off across the home part of the station,
+catching sight of Samson, Brookes, and a couple of the blacks busy over
+some task in an open shed, which task looked like the stacking up of
+bundles of wool rolled neatly together.
+
+"I can't go and tell Brookes I'm sorry before them," thought Nic; "and
+I'm afraid I don't feel sorry.  I suppose, though, I was a bit in the
+wrong.  Father knows best; but he wouldn't have let Brookes speak like
+that.  Brookes wouldn't have dared to do it."
+
+The boy had got about a mile away from the station and into a part of
+the doctor's land which looked as if it had been carefully planted with
+trees, but his common sense told him that it must be in precisely the
+same condition as when he took up that part of the country; and after
+stopping to look round and admire the beauty of the place in every
+direction, he began to wish that he had brought the two dogs for a run.
+
+"Father says that they are better at home, though, for a bit," he
+muttered, as he trudged on again, looking for birds or other game, but
+seeing nothing whatever, not so much as a snake.
+
+His direction this time was parallel with the tremendous gorge whose
+edge he had stood upon to gaze down; and as in comparison the present
+part of the huge estate was, though beautiful, somewhat monotonous in
+its constant succession of large ornamental trees and grassy glades, he
+was beginning to wish that he had gone in the other direction, to
+explore the gully down into which Samson had guided him on the way to
+meet the waggon.
+
+"I want to see that tree bridge, too, that we crossed.  Never mind: that
+will do for another time."
+
+Nic kept on in and out among the trees, glancing at his pocket compass
+from time to time, but satisfied of his ability to retrace his steps,
+for he was convinced that the huge gorge must be away to his left, so
+that if he kept it upon his right in returning he would be certain to
+come out correctly.
+
+Every now and then he obtained a grand view of the mountains, with their
+prevailing tint of blue in the distance gradually becoming grey,
+yellowish brown, red, and of many delicious greens, as the great spurs,
+bluffs, and chasms came nearer and nearer till they plunged down into
+the gorge.
+
+It looked to be a very fairyland of tempting mystery, waiting to be
+explored; and till the trees hid the towering eminences from his sight,
+he went on planning endless excursions for the future.
+
+"But it does seem so strange," he said to himself at last, as he wiped
+his streaming forehead and stood in the shade of a great green tree,
+gazing up in its forest of boughs.  "One would think that such an
+out-of-the-way place would swarm with birds and wild creatures; while
+except flies and beetles nothing seems to live here.  Ah!" he cried at
+last.
+
+For he had caught sight of something moving among the low scrubby bushes
+beyond the next tree, and softly cocking his gun he began to stalk it.
+But the next minute he had made up his mind not to fire at what would in
+all probability be a kangaroo.
+
+"And I don't want kangaroos," he said; "I want birds."  But he wanted to
+get as close as he could to the animal, and he stole on and on slowly
+for about fifty yards, till, as nearly as he could judge, whatever it
+was must be just beyond the next bushes.
+
+Toward these he was creeping, when he started round with a quick jump,
+for some one had spoken.
+
+"Are you looking for me, sir?"
+
+There stood Leather bending over a sheep, whose fleece he was relieving
+of a strange growth of burrs and prickly, brambly strands with which the
+creature was tangled.
+
+"No," said Nic, as soon as he had recovered from his surprise.  "I did
+not know you were this way.  What are you doing?"
+
+"Shepherding, sir," said the man, with a sad, weary-looking smile, which
+half fascinated Nic, and he stared at one who seemed to be quite a
+different man.  "The poor brutes get terribly tangled by these wild
+growths, and sheep are not very wise, sir.  They're poor, helpless sort
+of creatures.  As soon as they are helped out of one difficulty they get
+into another."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," said Nic, speaking as if he thoroughly understood
+sheep; though his knowledge of the popular old useful animal consisted
+in the facts that when they were young they were lambs, that they grew
+wool, and that when they were killed they became mutton.
+
+They have so many diseases, too, sir, and so many enemies.
+
+"What, the dingoes?" said Nic.
+
+"Yes, they play the part of the wolf in Europe.  It's astonishing how
+they have overrun the country."
+
+Nic stared again, but averted his eyes for fear the man should notice
+it.  This did not seem the Leather he had seen so much of on his way
+home and since.
+
+"Are there no wolves, then, here?" he asked.
+
+"No, sir, fortunately for the squatters; and it's a pity they introduced
+these dogs."
+
+"They?  Who did?"
+
+"Impossible to say, sir.  The captain of some ship, I suppose--perhaps
+of more than one ship; and they increased and multiplied till they run
+wild all over the land."
+
+"Oh no; surely they must always have been here?" said Nic.
+
+Leather shook his head.
+
+"This is a land of surprises, sir," he said quietly.  "There were hardly
+any, if any, animals here but the kangaroos and the like, when the place
+was first settled.  Haven't you read all this?"
+
+"No," said Nic; "I have only just left school.  But there doesn't seem
+to be many even of them."
+
+"Millions," said Leather, smiling, "if you know where to look for them."
+
+"But I haven't seen one since I left home this morning."
+
+"And perhaps passed dozens, sir, from large ones, bigger than I am, down
+to the kangaroo rats and mice, not much bigger than those at--in
+England."
+
+Nic noticed the man's hesitation, but appeared not to heed it.
+
+"But could you show me any of them?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir, if you wish.  They want looking for, but I spend so much
+time alone here in the bush that I get to know their habits.  Some of
+the small ones are pretty little long-legged creatures.  Wonderful
+jumpers too."
+
+"And you call them all kangaroos?"
+
+"Some people do, sir."
+
+"Kangaroo!  Why, that must be a native name."
+
+"Haven't you heard about that, sir?"
+
+"Heard what?"
+
+"About their name, sir?"
+
+"No--nothing."
+
+"They say that when the first people met the blackfellows they asked
+them what they called the leaping creatures they saw hopping along so
+far on two legs, like animal grasshoppers; and the blacks said
+`Kangaroo.'"
+
+"Yes, I thought it would be a native name."
+
+Leather smiled.
+
+"No, sir; `kangaroo' is the blackfellows' way of saying `I don't know
+what you mean.'"
+
+"Could you show me where I could shoot one of those Blue Mountain
+parrots, Leather?" said Nic, after a pause, during which the boy stood
+thoughtful and wondering at his companion's change of manner.
+
+"Oh yes, I think so, sir.  There are plenty about."
+
+"I haven't seen one for days; when I did I had no gun; and besides, I
+was not ready to stuff it."
+
+"This is not a good time of day to look after them, sir; but I dare say
+you have passed plenty."
+
+"No--not one."
+
+Leather smiled faintly.
+
+"They are very quiet, like most birds in the heat of the day, and are
+sitting up among the leaves, huddled up and with their feathers all
+loose, so that you don't see the bright underpart, and their backs and
+sides are all green like the leaves.  It wants practice to see them."
+
+"When is the best time, then?"
+
+"Early in the morning, when it is cool and fresh, and they are just off
+to feed.  You hear them whistling and shrieking to each other then."
+
+"But do you think you could show me one now?"
+
+"I'll try if you like, sir," said Leather quietly.  "One of the blacks
+would soon show you, but my eyes are not so well trained as theirs."
+
+The man led on, and Nic followed on tiptoe, thinking of how different he
+was, and wondering why so strong a feeling of dislike to him had sprung
+up: why, too, a man of bad character and a convict should be able to
+speak so well and take so much interest in the things about him.
+
+"You need not walk so carefully, sir," he said; "and you can talk.  The
+birds will not fly off.  They trust to their colours keeping them
+hidden.  These sheep look well, sir."
+
+"Yes," replied Nic, without glancing at the white-fleeced creatures
+feeding about, for he was thinking of the scene of the day before and
+felt afraid that Leather would allude to it.
+
+But he did not, for he seemed disposed to talk quietly and respectfully
+of the different things about them as they went on through the openly
+wooded region for about a mile.
+
+"Like honey, sir?" he said.
+
+"Oh yes.  Do people keep bees out here?"
+
+"Well, sir," said Leather, smiling pleasantly, "Dame Nature does.  There
+are plenty of wild bees.  There's a nest up just above that fork."
+
+He pointed to a spot about forty feet from the ground, where what
+appeared to be some flies were darting about a hole.
+
+"Those are not bees," said Nic, gazing up at the place where the bark
+appeared to be split and a portion of the tree decayed.
+
+"Yes, sir--Australian wild bees.  They make plenty of delicious honey."
+
+"Where you can't get at it!"
+
+"Oh yes; a man who can climb would get it.  The bark of these trees is
+soft and easily cut through."
+
+"But the bees would sting him to death while he was doing it."
+
+"If they could, sir; but these bees out here are harmless.  I've seen
+the naked blacks climb up, with a piece of smouldering, smoking wood to
+drive the insects away, and then rob a nest.  They would not have much
+protection from the insects if they were attacked."
+
+"Well, no, not much," said Nic, laughing.  "But the nests must be hard
+to find.  You won't know that place again."
+
+"Oh yes, sir," said Leather quietly, as he stood glancing up in the
+tree.  "You see I brought you straight here.  Besides, after seeing one
+of the blacks track the bees home it is very easy, for the country is so
+open.  It is not like being in the dense scrub."
+
+"How do they track them?" asked Nic.
+
+"Catch a bee when it is busy in a flower, touch its back with a tiny
+speck of gum from one of the trees, and touch the gum with a tuft of
+that white silky wool--"; and he picked a scrap from the seed-vessel of
+one of the trees.
+
+"And what good does that do?" asked Nic.
+
+"Good, sir?  The white cotton is easily seen when the bee flies
+homeward, the black chasing it till perhaps he loses it.  But he has got
+nearer to the nest, and he will do this again with other bees, till he
+comes at last to the place where the nest is."
+
+"And did you find that nest so?"
+
+"Yes," said Leather quietly.  "I lost sight of the first bee about forty
+yards away; the next bee I missed too, but the last showed me the way at
+once.  Now, then: look straight up there."
+
+"Oh, I can see them flying in and out plainly enough," replied Nic.
+
+"I was not talking about the bees then, sir.  I mean away to the right a
+little, and a good fifty feet higher."
+
+"Don't see anything, only the sun coming through like silver rain."
+
+"To the right of that, sir, where the leaves are thickest.  Now can you
+see?"
+
+"I can see where the leaves are thickest, that's all.  What am I to look
+at?"
+
+"The paroquets."
+
+"What?" cried Nic excitedly, as he gave himself an aching sensation in
+the back of the neck from the awkward position he assumed: "I can't see
+anything."
+
+"Look again, sir.  They are hard to see.  I can count six together, and
+one which seems to be a handsome cock bird, quite by itself."
+
+"That's the one I want," said Nic in a whisper, as he cocked his gun and
+stood peering up in the part indicated, but only to have his eyes
+dazzled by the rays which shot down from above.
+
+"You see it now, sir?" said Leather quietly.
+
+"Nor; nothing but leaves and twigs--nothing else.  Are you sure you can
+see the birds?"
+
+"Yes, sir, quite.  My eyes are more used to this sort of thing than
+yours.  I have been so much alone in the bush, often with no companions
+but the sheep or the blacks."
+
+"And are they friendly to you?"
+
+"Oh yes; in their way, sir."
+
+"But look here: are you really sure that you can see some of those
+parrots now?"
+
+"Certain, sir," said Leather, smiling.  "Try and follow my finger.
+There: now you can see them."
+
+Nic had a long look, and then shook his head in despair.
+
+"I'm sorry you cannot see them, sir.  Would you like me to shoot that
+bird for you?"
+
+"Yes," cried Nic, holding out his gun.  "No!" he said, drawing it
+sharply back.
+
+"Because you think, sir, it is a ruse on my part to get possession of
+your gun and then go off as a bushranger," said Leather bitterly.
+
+Nic coloured deeply as a girl, but he tossed up his head.
+
+"Well," he said sharply, "that's true; I could not help thinking it."
+
+"I suppose not," said the man sadly.  And he turned away.
+
+"You know you got hold of me out there by the precipice and talked about
+dropping me over."
+
+"Yes," said Leather, starting.  "It was the act of a fool; but I felt
+very bitter that day, sir."
+
+"And how do I know that you don't feel bitter to-day?"
+
+"Hah!  How indeed!" cried the man.
+
+Nic hesitated a moment, and then, ashamed of his suspicions, he held out
+the gun.
+
+"Shoot the bird for me," he said.
+
+Leather looked at him keenly.
+
+"I don't think so now," said Nic, as the man drew back frowning.  "I
+want the bird.  I can't see it.  I know you wouldn't trick me."
+
+The man snatched the gun almost fiercely, examining the priming; and it
+was hard work for Nic to stand fast and force himself not to believe
+that he had done a foolish thing.  But he did stand firm and met
+Leather's flashing eyes.
+
+He was not long kept in suspense, for, without a moment's hesitation,
+Leather took aim.  There was a flash, a puff of smoke and loud report,
+and a bird came rustling down through the twigs and boughs.
+
+"A fact--not a ruse, sir," said Leather bitterly, as he handed back the
+gun.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the boy excitedly; and the man looked at him
+in wonder.
+
+"People do not beg pardon of convicts," he said very shortly; and,
+bending down over the spot where the bird had fallen, he carefully
+parted the low growth into which the specimen had dived head first, and
+then, taking the beautifully coloured little creature by the hooked
+beak, he tenderly drew it out with the feathers falling back into their
+places, and hardly showing a mark.
+
+"That is about as perfect as one can be, I think, sir," said Leather
+quietly.
+
+"Lovely!" cried Nic enthusiastically.  "How am I to get it home safely?"
+
+"Take hold of it by the beak, sir, a moment," replied Leather; and,
+being relieved of the bird, he looked round till his eyes lit upon a
+peculiar-looking grass, one of the waving strands of which he picked,
+drew through his hand, and then passed it through the bird's nostrils,
+twisted the ends together lightly, and handed the loop to Nic.
+
+"That grass is nearly as tough as wire, sir," he said.  "Carry it by
+that, letting it swing.  Are you going to collect bird-skins, sir?"
+
+"I'm going to try, Leather.  I shall want to get a good white cockatoo,"
+said Nic, eagerly plunging into the subject, so as to try and make up
+for the suspicion he had displayed.
+
+"Oh yes, sir," said the man, who now showed not the slightest
+resentment.  "There will be plenty of work for you in that way.  You can
+get the sulphur crests, and those with orange crests, and the
+rose-coloured, and the pretty grey creamy-yellowish-cheeked birds which
+have the cockatoo's crest and the long tail of the paroquet."
+
+"I don't know of these," said Nic eagerly.
+
+"The country swarms with beautiful birds, sir, especially with those of
+the parrot tribe.  There is the black cockatoo, for instance--not that
+you'll care for it."
+
+"Why?" said Nic.
+
+"Because it is ugly," said Leather, smiling, as if he enjoyed the boy's
+enthusiasm.  "It is wanting in bright feathers, but it is a curious
+bird, with a tremendously strong beak."
+
+"I must have a specimen, though," said Nic.  "What others are there?"
+
+"I can hardly tell you, sir.  The parrots are in great variety.  Stop:
+there are two grass parrots that I know of.  One is a green bird striped
+all over across with a darker green, like the breast of a cuckoo or a
+hawk, and it has fairly long legs, which enable it to go about actively
+on the ground.  Other parrots have, as you know, very short legs, only
+suitable for clinging and climbing in the trees."
+
+"And the other--grass parrot you called it?"
+
+"A lovely little creature, cross-barred like the ground parrot; but its
+colours are brilliant, and it is one of the most graceful-looking little
+birds of the kind."
+
+"Why, Leather," cried Nic, "you are quite a naturalist!  How do you know
+all this?"
+
+"How could I help knowing, sir--spending days and weeks and months
+alone, out here in this great wild country, watching sheep or helping to
+hunt our stray cattle?  What should I have done in a solitary bit of a
+hut without speaking to a fellow-creature perhaps for a month?"
+
+"But you have not been like this?"
+
+"Not since I have been at the Bluff, sir.  When I came up the country to
+be Mr Dillon's servant I was almost constantly alone.  They used to
+send me my rations now and then.  It was a very solitary life."
+
+"How lonely!"
+
+"Yes, sir--lonely," said the man, with a tinge of bitterness in his
+tones; "but it had its advantages.  There was no Brookes."
+
+Nic started and looked keenly in the man's face; but he frowned and
+turned hastily away, as if angry at what he had said.
+
+"I must be getting back to the sheep, sir," he said hurriedly.  "They
+are terribly weak, foolish things, always catching some disease.  I hope
+you will get your bird home safely, sir.  I should skin it directly.
+Things so soon go bad out in this hot place."
+
+He turned away in among the trees; and Nic walked off with his gun over
+his shoulder, very thoughtful as he picked his way in and out among the
+bushes, till, feeling hot, he rested his gun against a bough, and sat
+down in the shade of one of the thick-foliaged, huge-trunked trees which
+seemed an exception to the rest--so many being thin-leaved and casting
+very little shade.
+
+He had laid his specimen carefully down upon the grass, and was gazing
+at it without seeing any of its beauties, when a sudden thought struck
+him, and he sprang up to carefully reload his gun and place it before
+him.
+
+"Mustn't forget that," he muttered.  "Never know what may happen."
+
+He sat down again in the pleasant shade to inspect his trophy; but once
+more he did not see it, for the convict's face filled his mind's eye,
+that lowering, sun-browned, fierce countenance which lit up at times
+with a smile that was sad and full of pain, and at others was so bright
+that the deep lines in the man's face faded, and he became attractive.
+
+"It's queer," said Nic to himself.  "One minute you regularly hate the
+fellow, and feel half afraid of him; the next you quite like and feel as
+if it would be nice to know more about him.  No, it wouldn't: he's a
+convict, and they warned me about him."
+
+Nic became very thoughtful, and though his lovely Blue Mountain parrot,
+the object of his morning's walk, was close to his side, he did not
+glance at it, and the beautiful birds the convict had mentioned were for
+the time forgotten.  For he found himself wondering what Leather had
+done, and why he had done it; whether he was a very bad man; and
+gradually found his head getting into quite a muddle of conflicting
+surmises.
+
+"I wish I hadn't let him think I was suspicious," he said to himself.
+"He jumped at it directly.  I suppose I showed it pretty plainly.  But
+no wonder!  Any one would have felt as I did.  To hand over one's gun to
+a convict, and give him a chance to point it at you and say, `Now then,
+hand over that powder flask and that belt and all your wads.'  Of
+course, so that he could go off--bush-ranging, don't they call it?  Why,
+it seemed a mad thing to do.
+
+"And yet I did it," said Nic to himself, after a thoughtful pause; "and
+he didn't run off.  Why, he acted just as a gentleman would under the
+circumstances.  I did feel sorry for him.  There, I don't care: he can't
+be such a bad fellow as old Brookes wants to make out.  Brookes is an
+old beast!  I'd tell him so for two pins."
+
+Nic's thoughts were flowing very freely, and feeling quite excited he
+went on:
+
+"He must have done something very bad, and he has been severely
+punished; then they let him come out from the gang to be an assigned
+servant, and he's trying hard to make up for the past, and when he gets
+bullied and ill-used it makes him look savage and fierce, of course.
+
+"Well," said Nic, after a thoughtful pause, "I can keep him in his place
+and yet be civil to him.  I'm not going to jump on a man because he has
+done wrong; and I don't see why he shouldn't be forgiven--if he deserves
+it, of course, and--somehow, though I don't like him, I seem to like him
+a good deal, and that's about as big a puzzle as some of the things in
+mathematics, and--" This next was aloud:
+
+"Oh, murder!  Needles and pins!  Wasps and hornets!  Oh!"
+
+Nic had jumped up, to begin dancing about, slapping his legs, shaking
+his trousers, pulling off his shoes, and trying hard to get rid of
+something that was giving him intense pain.
+
+"It's those bees!" he cried.  "They've got up the legs of my trousers;
+and he said they had no stings.  No! ants!--You nasty, miserable,
+abominable little wretches--no, big wretches," he muttered, as he picked
+off and crushed one by one the virulent creatures, which had made a
+lodgment upon his legs and evidently come to the conclusion that they
+were good to eat.
+
+He soon freed himself; but the tingling, poisonous nature of their bites
+was still very evident, and excited an intense desire to rub and
+scratch.
+
+"Why, there's quite a regiment of the little vicious wretches!" cried
+the boy as he was going back to where his gun stood by the tree.  "I
+suppose they smelt me."
+
+It seemed so for the moment, for a long line of the ants could be traced
+through the grass on and on; and then Nic uttered an exclamation, sprang
+forward and caught up his specimen, to hold it at arm's length and begin
+shaking it.
+
+"Why, it's covered with them," he cried, as he swept them off, got them
+on his hands, saw them racing up his arms, and found them so quick and
+so tight-clinging that the task grew painful in the extreme before he
+could get rid of them, and when he did he tossed the rumpled, disfigured
+bird back amongst his enemies.
+
+"There!" he cried: "eat it then.  It's completely spoiled.  What a pity
+I did not let it live!"
+
+"Never mind, Nic," said his father that evening, as he sat at home,
+giving himself from time to time a vicious rub.  "Take it as a lesson.
+We all have to go through that sort of thing, and you'll know better
+next time.  But it was a fine specimen, you say?"
+
+"Lovely," replied Nic eagerly; but he did not say a word about who shot
+the bird, for he felt that if he did his father would be annoyed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+A DAY'S FISHING.
+
+Nic felt uncomfortable.  There was something fascinating about being in
+company with a man who knew so much of the wild nature of his country;
+but then the man was a convict--he had been warned against him--and a
+companion that the doctor would not approve.  But still, somehow or
+other, the boy was constantly finding himself in Leather's company, for
+the man was as much drawn to Nic as he was to the convict.
+
+The consequence was that they were often together out in the wilder
+parts of the doctor's great estate.
+
+One day, after a hint from his father, consequent upon his saying that
+he was going to explore the gully by the waterfall, he had taken the old
+fishing-rod and line from where it hung upon two hooks in the kitchen--a
+rod the doctor had used in old trout and salmon-fishing days, and had
+brought over on the chance of wanting, but had never found time to use.
+
+"That gully is very beautiful higher up, Nic, and I have seen plenty of
+fish in the deep parts, gliding about among the tree roots and old
+trunks that have been washed down in the floods and got wedged in.  I
+should certainly take the rod.  The men tell me they are capital eating,
+but I have never tried."
+
+"We had a dish one day, father, when you were out," said Janet.
+
+"How did you get them?" asked the doctor.
+
+"Samson brought them in--a basketful," cried Hilda.
+
+"Then you had better ask old Sam what he baited with, and take your bait
+accordingly."
+
+"Yes, father," said the boy.
+
+"Take the biggest basket, Nic," said Hilda mischievously.
+
+"Ah, you think I shan't catch any," said her brother, nodding his head;
+"but you'll see."
+
+The rod was dusty, but good and strong, and in the bag the doctor
+pointed out there were plenty of good new hooks and lines; so leaving
+them ready, Nic went down the garden to where he expected to find old
+Sam.
+
+Sure enough there he was hoeing away, and he stopped and wiped his
+perspiring face upon his arm as the boy came up.
+
+"That's right, sir," he cried.  "Glad to see you here.  I want you to
+take a bit more hinterest in my garden.  See they taters: ain't they
+getting on?  Look at my peas and beans too.  I calls they a sight, I do.
+Make some o' they gardeners in Old England skretch their wigs and wish
+they could grow things like 'em."
+
+"Beautiful, Sam; but--"
+
+"There's cauliflowers too, sir: ain't they splendid?"
+
+"Couldn't be better, Sam; but--"
+
+"Try my peas, sir."  _Pop_!  "There's a pod.  Dozen fine uns, just as if
+they was a row o' green teeth laughing at you."
+
+"Deliciously tender, Sam; but--"
+
+"It's the sun, Master Nic; it's the sun," said the old man, who was too
+much wrapped up in his subject to heed the boy's remarks.  "Sun's a
+scarce article at home, but here you gets it all day long, and it's the
+clouds is scarce.  Why, you know summer at home, where the skies seem
+all like so much sopping wet flannel being squeezed; and not a sign o'
+sunshine for six weeks.  What's to grow then?"
+
+"Nothing, I suppose, Sam; but--"
+
+"Of course you wants the water, sir.  More sun you gets more water you
+wants, and that's why I tiddles it all along through the garden from up
+above yonder, just ketching it above where it comes over the waterfall."
+
+"Yes, waterfall, Sam," cried Nic heartily.  "I say, didn't you catch a
+lot of fish up there somewhere and bring home one day when my father was
+out?"
+
+"To be sure I did," said the old man, now beginning to lend an ear.
+
+"That's right.  I want to catch some too."
+
+"You'd ketch 'em then, my lad.  There's lots on 'em."
+
+"Tell me how you caught them.  What did you use for bait?"
+
+"Shovel," said the old man, grinning.
+
+"What?"
+
+"And peckaxe."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+"Why, it's plain enough, sir.  It was when I was turning a hole into a
+sort o' ressywar to supply the garden--irrigglygate it, the master said,
+but I calls it watering."
+
+"But I was talking about the fish, Sam."
+
+"I know, sir; so was I.  `How did you ketch 'em?' says you.  `Shovel,'
+says I.  I was making a place beyond the waterfall, and they swimmed in
+a hole there, where they'd got and couldn't get out again.  So I makes a
+dyke with the peck and turns the water off and then ladles the fish out
+with the shovel.  Two basketsful there was.  One I took indoors for the
+ladies, and t'other we ate; and Brooky put away so many they made him
+queer for some days.  But they didn't hurt me."
+
+"But I wanted to fish for them with a rod and line."
+
+"Oh-h-oh!" cried the old man.  "You won't get many that-a-way.  P'r'aps
+it would be best for you though.  It's nation hard work pecking and
+digging, making dams and gullies among the rocks when the sun's hot."
+
+"But I want some bait."
+
+"Ay, you'll want some bait.  We used to ketch eels at home with a big
+wum.  There's lots here--whackers, some on 'em.  Shall I get you a few?"
+
+"Yes, do, please."
+
+"So I will, Master Nic--barrowload if you like.  You get me an old
+canister.  There'll be some nice fat uns down aside where I grows my
+cowcumbers.  Ah!  I never thought, when I got digging 'em out o' the
+side of the cowcumber beds at home, I should ever get making on 'em out
+here, t'other side o' the world."
+
+Nic fetched a bag instead of a canister, and soon after stood ready to
+start.
+
+"You go same way as I took yer that night, Master Nic, and then work
+your way up for a hour or so, and all under they tree-ferns you'll find
+pools and pools with lots o' fish in 'em; but I don't know how you're
+going to get on with that long thin clothes-prop of a thing.  But,
+there, you're a gen'leman, and I s'pose you knows best."
+
+"Well, I shall try with it, Sam," said Nic, laughing.
+
+"Ay, sir, do, and good luck to you.  Now I'll get back to my hoeing."
+
+Nic shouldered his rod, and with his basket in his hand he left the
+garden, went round by the wooden building set apart for the men, and
+then struck across the open ground for the gully, where he soon came
+upon the tree-bridge he had crossed that moonlight night in company with
+old Sam; and he could not help hesitating for a few moments as he looked
+down into the narrow, dark rift, along which the water was rushing far
+below, while the noise of the waterfall was hollow, reverberating, and
+strange.
+
+Nic took a long breath, and looked at the tree, which had been felled so
+that it tumbled right across the rift, and then worked with an adze so
+as to make a level surface about as wide as an ordinary plank, the lower
+branches being left on at the sides of the trunk and beneath.
+
+He drew another deep breath, and noted that if he fell, unless he caught
+at one of these hanging branches, checked himself and managed to climb
+back, he must drop all that tremendous depth into the black-looking pool
+of water below.
+
+He drew a third deep breath, and thought that if he had known what the
+place was like, old Sam would never have got him across, that first
+night of his coming.
+
+Then he took another long, deeper breath than ever, and said to himself:
+
+"If that were a plank laid flat upon the ground I could hop along it
+upon one leg, so it is only cowardice to hesitate."
+
+The next minute he was across, and walking along the other side of the
+ferny gully, to stop by the waterfall and admire the beauty of the
+glassy water as it glided over the rocks and fell down into the thick
+mist, which rose like a cloud toward the overhanging mosses and ferns.
+
+But though the place was attractive enough to have kept him there for
+hours, and he wondered why he had not come to have a good look at it
+sooner, he felt that if he meant to catch any fish that day he must be
+stirring.
+
+There was a well-trodden path along by the river, which beyond the
+waterfall ran on in a continuation of the gully but here the walls
+opened out rapidly, till a few hundred yards above it became a lovely
+little sunny valley, with rocky masses piled near the bed of the little
+river, made beautiful by the abundant growth.  The ferns were much
+bigger than any he had yet seen, and the path wound in and out in many a
+zigzag, now toward the sloping sides of the ravine, now toward the
+sparkling, torrent-like stream, over which drooped many a bough, as if
+for the sunshine to rain through in a silver shower upon the water
+beneath, which flashed gloriously where the bright rays fell.
+
+"I don't wonder at father choosing this place," thought Nic.  "It grows
+more beautiful every way one goes."
+
+He must have wandered and climbed in and out for a couple of miles
+before he grasped why it was that the path was so well beaten.  A moist
+spot in a shady part, where the river was just upon his right, showed
+this, for the narrow track was printed all over by the hoofs of sheep,
+and he knew now that the footpath was their work, made when in hot
+weather they had selected the moist shades for grazing; while at a turn
+a few hundred yards farther on he had an indorsement of his surmise, for
+the slopes of the valley had grown less abrupt, and as far as he could
+see one side was dotted with creamy-white fleeces.
+
+And now in the more level ground the torrent had become a swift, bright
+stream, bubbling and rippling here, swirling round in eddies there, and
+again becoming dark and deep-looking.
+
+He gazed down into the transparent water, but his research was not
+rewarded by the sight of dark, gliding forms with sinuous, waving tails.
+Still, though no scaly prizes offered themselves for capture, there
+were plenty of other objects to attract him.  Every now and then some
+beautiful butterfly flitted across the water, and twice had he paused to
+gaze with pleasant vexation at a lovely streak of wavy blue, as a
+kingfisher darted from its perch to fly up the stream.
+
+"Well, I do call this tiresome," he cried, taking his fishing-rod from
+one shoulder to change it to the other.  "If this had been my gun, you
+wouldn't have shown yourselves."
+
+This was addressed to a little flock of small green birds which flew
+whistling and chattering more than chirping up the slope toward the
+level land above.
+
+"I dare say those are the little green parrots Leather talked about."
+
+Twice more he had capital chances to obtain specimens,--one being at
+some half-dozen birds, which seemed to be all pink except their snowy
+heads; the next time at a couple more in a tree.  These did not fly till
+he was close enough to see that they were bright with bronze and green
+and red.
+
+"Why, they must be pigeons," he said, as they darted off.  "Well, I
+suppose one may see birds of any colour now."
+
+At last!
+
+He had reached an ideal spot, where one side of the river was dammed by
+a tangled mass of tree trunks which must have been brought down by some
+flood, to get jammed, and then gradually be stripped by the action of
+the water, till only the stems and larger branches were left; while on
+his side there was a dark, tempting-looking pool of water, which he
+approached cautiously, after laying down his rod, and then crawling
+toward it, gradually looked over the sharp, rocky edge of the river into
+the sunlit depths, to see dark bodies in slow motion some feet below
+sailing here and there to capture the tit-bits brought down by the
+stream.
+
+Nic's eyes glistened as he drew back as cautiously as he had approached.
+
+"This looks like real fishing," he said to himself, as he thought of the
+unsatisfactory sport he had had at home at the various ponds in the
+neighbourhood of the Friary, when a farmer gave them leave to go.
+"Wouldn't some of the boys like to be here.  I shouldn't be surprised if
+this place has never been fished before.  My word! they ought to bite."
+
+Such uneducated fish certainly ought to have bitten; but though Nic
+approached the side again cautiously, keeping well back out of sight,
+and after carefully covering his hook with a worm, dropped it without a
+splash in a likely place, and then in a more likely one, and again and
+again into other spots which seemed each of them more likely than the
+last, not a bite did he get!
+
+He was patient, too.  He put on fresh baits, tried all over the pool,
+dropped in his worm so that it might be washed from the stream into the
+still, dark water, and sink among the fish.
+
+Still there was not the sign of a bite.
+
+"They must all have gone away," thought Nic, just as there was a burst
+of sharp screams from a flock of cockatoos, which, like the other birds,
+seemed wilder here in the moist shades than he had found them high up on
+the park-like downs near the great mountain gorge.
+
+He crept upon his chest cautiously once more to get his eyes just over
+the sharp rock edge of the pool, to look down into the depths, fully
+convinced that he would not see a fish; but to his surprise there was
+quite a shoal of a goodly size slowly sailing about, and after a few
+moments he was able to make out that they were close by the bait, which
+lay at the bottom, moving slowly, while one of the largest fish was
+certainly looking at it.
+
+"Bother!" muttered Nic, as he looked round about and thought of old
+Sam's style of fishing.  "Well, one can't catch these with a shovel and
+a pickaxe.  No one could bale out this pool."
+
+"Having bad luck, sir?" said a deep voice; and Nic started up to find
+Leather standing close behind.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+A WOOLLY PATIENT AND A SCARE.
+
+The man had approached over the soft moss unheard, though Nic had had
+warning of his coming from the cockatoos, which had shrieked out their
+alarm notes as he came down from among the sheep.
+
+"Why, Leather, I did not hear you coming," said Nic, half annoyed by the
+interruption.
+
+"I suppose not, sir.  You were too intent.  Don't they bite?"
+
+"No, not a bit," said Nic gruffly; and to himself, "I wish he'd go."
+
+"What are you fishing with, sir?"
+
+"Worms."
+
+"They will only take worms after a flood, when the water's thick."
+
+Then without a word the man walked away, and Nic drew his line sharply
+from the water.
+
+"Might have told me what bait they would take," muttered the boy.
+"Perhaps he doesn't know.  Wish I had brought some paste.  I don't care;
+that's good enough bait for anything.  Now, here, some of you--bite."
+
+But they did not, and Nic sat upon a great stone, feeling rather
+ill-used.  He was glad the convict had gone, and at the same time sorry.
+
+"I suppose I answered him very gruffly, and that sent him off," thought
+Nic.
+
+"Now, sir.  I've caught a few of these."
+
+Nic jumped again, for once more the man had approached in silence.
+
+"Eh! what have you got?"
+
+"Locusts, or grasshoppers, sir.  Have you a nice-sized new hook?"
+
+"Oh yes, plenty," cried Nic eagerly, opening a flat box from which the
+man took one he thought suitable.
+
+The next minute the hook bearing the great worm had been removed and one
+good-sized shot only left on the line.
+
+"Now,--sir," said Leather, "these grasshoppers are tender, so drop the
+bait gently on the surface, right over yonder where the stream comes
+round that end of the tree root.--Well done.  Couldn't be better.  Now
+be on the look-out, sir."
+
+The running water carried the great insect several feet into the still
+water before the weight of the shot began to act.  Then very slowly it
+was drawn down beneath the surface, and they saw it descend and
+disappear in the obscurity, the line being slowly drawn after it.
+
+"They won't take that ugly, crooked-legged thing," said Nic.  "Why, it
+would choke any fish that ever breathed."
+
+"Watch," said Leather quietly.  "It takes some time to sink, for you
+have only one shot on; but it looks more natural, and it has not yet
+reached the fish.  I think I'd draw in my slack line now, sir, and be
+ready to strike gently."
+
+"No good," said Nic, who, however, took the advice.
+
+"If you do hook one, don't let it run in among the old tree trunks, sir.
+If you do, the fish is lost.  Directly you feel one, strike and lead it
+to the other end of the pool, and get it out in the shallows, where I
+can land it for you."
+
+"Handle it carefully, Leather," said Nic, with a grim smile.  "You see
+your grasshoppers are no better than my worms.  These fish don't
+understand biting."
+
+"No, sir, or they wouldn't have taken that locust.  Steady, sir, steady.
+That's a heavy one.  Well done; you'll master it.  Your tackle's
+strong, and you must get it away from those roots and branches.  That's
+the way.  I'll go on and wait."
+
+For, quivering with excitement, his pliable rod bent into a bow, and the
+line running sharply here and there through the water, Nic was following
+a fish which had taken the bait with a rush deep down in the pool.
+
+A minute later he had it near the surface, and had drawn it into the
+stream which ran out of the deep hole, into the shallowest part of which
+the convict had waded, and as soon as line and current had brought it
+near enough, he gave one deft scoop with his joined hands and threw it
+out on to the bank.
+
+"I say! is it true?" cried Nic.  "I can't hardly believe it."
+
+"It looks true enough, sir," replied the man.  "Shall I take it off the
+hook?"
+
+"Oh yes, please," cried Nic excitedly.  "You've got some more of those
+grasshoppers?"
+
+"Three, sir," said Leather, as he laid the fish at the boy's feet, "and
+I can soon get some more.  You'll find these fish very good eating, but
+you must catch a dishful."
+
+"Why, Leather, you seem to know everything about the country."
+
+"I have had a long training, sir.  You will know more than I do when you
+have been here two or three years.  Now, then, throw in again."
+
+"Here, hi!  Do you know one of them sheep's falled down into a hole?
+I'm sure master don't mean you to be wasting all your time out there,
+and idling about like a schoolboy."
+
+This was yelled hoarsely from some fifty yards away, and Nic saw that
+his companion started as if he had been stung.
+
+An angry speech was on Nic's lips at this interruption, but he checked
+it, for he knew that he had no right to keep the man from his work.
+
+"Coming directly," he said in loud tones.  Then to.  Leather: "Stop a
+minute while I catch another, and then you shall go.  You must land it
+for me."
+
+Brookes was not kept long waiting, for another fish was hooked and
+landed in the same way; but before Leather had scooped it out Brookes
+was shouting again furiously.
+
+"Must go, sir," said the convict.
+
+"Stop and I'll come with you," cried Nic, laying down his rod as soon as
+the fish was unhooked, and he hurried with the man to where Brookes
+stood talking, though half he said was inaudible.
+
+"Here, Master Nic," he said, as they approached; "I dunno what your
+father'll say.  Here's one of his best sheep o' that new breed down in a
+hole.  You've no business to let that fellow leave his work."
+
+"Where is it?" said Leather anxiously.
+
+"Where is it?  Where d'yer s'pose it is?" said Brookes fiercely.  "Down
+in the narrer."
+
+"The sheep were all safe a few minutes ago," said Leather; and he ran
+off.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Brookes, in a sneering tone; "'course they were."
+
+"Is it badly hurt?"
+
+"Badly hurt?  I s'pose so.  It'll have to be killed."
+
+He trudged on, muttering surlily, and Nic followed up on to the level
+ground, where they could see the convict lowering himself down, only his
+head and shoulders being visible.
+
+The next minute they were standing at the edge of a narrow rift some six
+feet wide and as many deep--a rift that ran on down into the valley they
+had just quitted, and at the bottom of which lay a sheep bleating
+piteously as Leather bestrode its woolly carcass.
+
+"Why didn't you pull it out instead of coming sneaking after us?" cried
+Nic.
+
+"Eh?  What?" cried Brookes, staring.  "'Tain't my place to look after
+they sheep.  Leatherhead was set to do it, and he goes on neglecting his
+work.  Ah! here comes the master.  Now we shall see."
+
+For the doctor was coming cantering toward them over the level ground
+from about a quarter of a mile away, and Nic felt vexed and in dread of
+what was to follow.
+
+"Is it hurt, Leather?" he said.
+
+"Yes, sir, badly--its leg's broken," replied the man; and bending down,
+he placed his arms round the poor animal, raised it up on to his
+shoulder, and began to climb with difficulty out of the rift.  As he
+reached the edge he nearly slipped back.
+
+"Why don't you help?" cried Nic angrily; but Brookes did not stir; and
+if the boy had not darted forward and got a good pull of the wool, man
+and sheep would have toppled backward to the bottom.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said the convict.  "There's no foothold, and I lost my
+balance.  One moment.  That's it;" and the sheep was rolled off his
+shoulder on to the grass.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried the doctor, cantering up, leaping down, and
+throwing the reins over his horse's head on to the grass, when the
+beautiful animal stood still.
+
+"One o' the best ewes down in that grip.  I come and found it just now."
+
+"Yes, but you didn't try to get it out," said Nic.
+
+"It warn't in my charge," growled Brookes.
+
+"How was this, my man?" said the doctor.  "You were set to look after
+them."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the convict respectfully.  "The sheep were all right a
+quarter of an hour ago."
+
+"Yes, and they'd ha' been all right now if you'd looked arter them
+'stead o' wasting your time fishing," growled Brookes.  "I'm glad
+master's here to know."
+
+"Were you fishing, sir?" said the doctor sternly; but before Leather
+could answer Nic cried quickly:
+
+"No, father, he wasn't.  He came down to the river to get me a few
+baits.  I wanted him there.  Why didn't Brookes help the sheep out?"
+
+"Because it was the other man's duty, sir," said the doctor quickly; and
+Leather gave the boy a sharp look, as much as to say, "Don't speak, sir;
+you'll make things worse."
+
+"Ah, you needn't signal the young master to take yer part," cried
+Brookes.  "It's true enough; you ain't worth your salt on the station."
+
+"That will do, Brookes," said the doctor.
+
+"Oh, I don't want to say nothing, sir.  I was only looking arter your
+property."
+
+"Tut, tut, tut!" cried the doctor, as he felt the sheep's leg.  "One of
+my choicest ewes.  The leg's broken.  That active sheep couldn't have
+broken its leg through falling down there.  It would have jumped it like
+a goat.  Why, Leather, the poor brute has been savagely kicked."
+
+"It looks like it, sir," said the convict quietly.
+
+"Why, so it do," chimed in Brookes, as he bent over the helpless sheep.
+
+"Do you know anything of it, sir?" cried the doctor, eyeing the convict
+keenly.
+
+The man shook his head.
+
+"It's very strange," said the doctor, looking at Brookes, who took off
+his hat, scratched his head, and looked round at the convict, while Nic
+glanced at Brookes's boots and then at the poor sandal-like shoes the
+convict wore, which were evidently a piece of his own work.
+
+"Like me to kill the poor thing out of its misery, sir," said Brookes,
+"and take off its skin?"
+
+"No," said the doctor shortly.
+
+"Won't be nothin' the matter with the meat, sir."
+
+"Nic," said his father, "jump on the horse and ride home.  Ask your
+mother to give you a roll of bandage, and bring it back here."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Why, you ain't going to bind that 'ere leg up, are ver?" said Brookes.
+
+"Will you be good enough not to interrupt?" said the doctor.  "Here, hi,
+Nic, my boy.  Tell Samson to give you a sack and an axe.  You can throw
+the sack across the horse."
+
+"Yes, father," cried the boy; and he cantered off, obtained the bandage
+and sack, and was back in less than an hour, to find that Leather had,
+under the doctor's directions, cut some pieces of wood from a tree, and
+with these for splints the doctor cleverly bandaged the broken leg.
+
+"There, Nic," he said, "I should not do that in a regular way, but this
+is a very valuable sheep, brought out to me by one of the last ships.
+Now one of you cut a good stout pole, say twelve feet long."
+
+Brookes looked at Leather, who caught up the axe and ran off.
+
+While he was gone the doctor opened a part of the bottom of the sack,
+and cut four slits in the side; and this being done, Nic looked on in
+surprise while the sack was drawn over the struggling sheep's head, its
+head pulled out of the bottom, and the legs put through the four slits.
+
+"Now gather the sack together so that the poor brute cannot struggle
+out, Brookes," said the doctor; and this was easily effected, as the
+animal was upon its side.
+
+Then the doctor made holes and laced up the mouth of the sack securely,
+all but a few inches; and by this time Leather was back with a stout,
+neatly trimmed pole.
+
+"Do you see what I mean?" said the doctor.
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the convict, and he slipped the pole through the
+sack above the sheep's back, leaving about four feet out at each end.
+
+"Now, Brookes, take the other end," said the doctor; "lift together, and
+get the pole on your shoulders, both of you."
+
+"What, and carry that lame sheep home?" said Brookes.
+
+"Yes; and its legs must not touch the ground."
+
+"But hadn't you better let us chuck it across the back of the horse?"
+
+"No.  Now, together.  Lift," cried the doctor; and as this was done the
+sheep gave a dismal bleat, and hung from the pole, with its head and
+legs out,--a ridiculous-looking object, which made Nic smile, but
+Brookes's face made the smile expand, so soured and puckered did it
+become, for the sheep was heavy, the farm buildings were some distance
+away, and the sun was coming down hot as the two men strode away,
+Leather looking heavy and stern, but apparently ready to undertake any
+amount of work.
+
+"You can ride, Nic," said the doctor, as the boy fetched up the horse.
+
+"But my fishing-rod and line, father?"
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Down yonder, by one of the pools."
+
+"Oh, then you must go that way home."
+
+"Yes, father, and I have two fish."
+
+"Well done."
+
+"I say, father, I feel sure that Leather did not kick that sheep."
+
+"Who did then?" said the doctor.
+
+"I don't like to say, father."
+
+"That is suggesting your belief that it was Brookes, a man whom I have
+always found to work well in my interests, Nic.  He has no spite against
+me."
+
+"Do you think the other man has?"
+
+"I don't know, boy.  There, go on your way, and I'll go home.  One word,
+Nic.  I want you to enjoy yourself, but I cannot have my men taken away
+from their work, mind that."
+
+The doctor cantered after the men bearing the sheep, and as Nic stood
+for a few minutes watching them, he heard the sheep give a piteous baa,
+as if protesting against its treatment, after which the men halted and
+changed shoulders.
+
+Nic was too far off to see the expression of the men's faces, but he
+felt pretty certain that Brookes's was anything but pleasant, and he
+felt glad.
+
+"I believe he did that out of spite against Leather," thought Nic, "so
+as to make it seem as if it was through neglect.  I don't know, though,
+a man could hardly be such a brute."
+
+Nic descended into the little valley once more, and made his way along
+by the stream to the pool where he had left his rod.
+
+"There's one more locust," he said to himself; "and I'll try and catch
+another fish.  Three will make a much better show.  I dare say one would
+bite directly;" and determined to spend a few minutes in adding to his
+brace, he hurried on, thinking how beautiful the great, dense clump of
+trees on the other side of the stream appeared, many of them drooping
+gracefully over the water.
+
+"The beauty of a place like this is," he thought, "that you can leave
+things about and there is no one to take them."
+
+He smiled as he picked up his rod, drew the line through his fingers,
+and baited the hook with the great insect ready to cast right over into
+the stream so that the locust might be washed naturally into the sunlit
+pool.
+
+"Now, if I can catch another as big as the--Hullo! where are those
+fish?"
+
+Nic did not cast the locust, but stared hard at the spot where the fish
+had been laid down upon some fern leaves; but though the latter were
+still glistening with slime, the prizes were gone.
+
+"They must have flopped their way back into the water," said Nic to
+himself; "they went that way because it was all on a slope.  Well, of
+all the tiresome nuisances I ever knew, this is about the worst.  I
+wouldn't have lost those fish for anything.  They must have flopped to
+and fro down here and over that soft place."
+
+Nic's thoughts stood still.  The soft place he alluded to was close down
+to the shallow where Leather had waded in, and the water which had
+dripped from his legs lay upon the herbage and soft, dank, moist earth;
+but there was something else--footprints!  Not Leather's, made by broad
+shoe-soles, but newly impressed marks with wide-spreading toes, the big
+toe in each case being rather thumb-like in its separation from the
+others.
+
+For some two or three minutes Nic did not stir, but bent down staring at
+those footprints.  Then he glanced sharply over the shallows at the
+thick foliage, fully expecting to see a spear come flying at him.
+
+"That's the way my fish went," he muttered as he turned and fled,
+feeling a sudden check the next minute, as if some one had seized the
+rod which hung over his shoulder, and a thrill of fear ran through him
+as he turned sharply round, when snap went the line, and he saw that the
+hook and locust were sticking in an overhanging bough, and about a yard
+of the line was hanging down.
+
+That was enough to drive away some of his fear, but not all.
+
+"One can't fight blacks with fishing-rods," muttered the boy as he again
+began to run, and he made his way homeward more quickly than he had
+come, and did not pause once to look back, though if he had it was
+doubtful whether he would have seen the cunning black face peering from
+out of the wattle scrub, watching him as he ran in and out through the
+trees, and then disappearing as soon as Nic was out of sight.
+
+The fugitive did not pause till he reached home bathed in perspiration,
+just as his father rode slowly in side by side with the laden men, they
+having taken a shorter cut while he had followed the wanderings of the
+stream.
+
+"Ah, Nic," cried his father, "you shouldn't run and overheat yourself
+like that, boy.  Now, men, carry the poor beast into the stable and rest
+the pole on the rails; its hoofs will then be about five inches from the
+ground.--What?"
+
+"Blackfellows, father," said Nic, as soon as he could get his breath; "I
+saw their footmarks, and they have carried off my fish."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A SQUATTER'S LIFE.
+
+Nic's announcement caused a little panic.  The three blacks who came and
+went about the place were summoned and sent out searching, the house was
+placed in a state of defence, and Samson, Brookes, and Leather all
+furnished with guns and ammunition to stand ready for any emergency,
+taking it in turns though to keep watch, while horses and cattle were
+driven into the south enclosures by the house, and everything possible
+done to secure their safety.
+
+Knowing his mother's nervousness, Nic could not help staring in wonder
+at the calm way in which she and her daughters behaved at what might,
+for aught they could tell, be a dangerous time, for neither showed the
+slightest trace of fear.
+
+In a couple of hours, though, the black known as Bungarolo came back to
+announce that, "Blackfellow all agone," and he pointed away toward the
+dense bush, miles from where they were standing.
+
+The explanation of the other two blacks when they returned cleared away
+the rest of the alarm, the doctor concluding that a few of the many
+wanderers had been near and gone away again, blacks probably belonging
+to a friendly tribe.
+
+Consequently the next day matters went on as usual, save that Nic had to
+mount with his father, and, accompanied by two of their blacks, made a
+wide circuit about the station, touching the edge of the great gorge at
+one point and then riding round for miles.
+
+Twice over the men, who trotted along easily enough step for step with
+the horses, pointed out tracks going and coming; and as the party was
+made out to be three only it was felt that there was no cause for alarm,
+and toward evening they rode back to the station with the glad news.
+
+"But wouldn't it have been very awkward for them if the blacks had come
+while we were away, father?"  Nic ventured to ask on their way back.
+
+"Yes, but they would have shut themselves in at once," said the doctor;
+"two of the men would have been with them, and the other would have
+followed us, firing signals as he came.  If the danger had been
+imminent, he would have seized the first horse and galloped over to Mr
+Dillon's station."
+
+"I see," said Nic.
+
+"It's mutual help out here, Nic.  If one station is in danger, those
+nearest are always ready to gallop to its help."
+
+Then came days and weeks of busy life, with Nic finding little time for
+amusement, but enjoying the novelty of his new career.  There were long
+rides to drive in cattle; visits to be paid to flocks miles away from
+the station; messages to be taken to Samson, Brookes, or Leather, who in
+turn were far away with the roaming sheep or oxen; and the boy was joked
+at home by mother and sisters for the way he ate, slept, and seemed to
+expand.
+
+During this period he saw little of Leather, and the incident of the
+injured sheep and Brookes's apparent enmity toward the convict was for
+the time forgotten, these two rarely being together.
+
+Still, at different times Nic could not help noticing what a rooted
+dislike there was in the regular men against their convict
+fellow-servant, even old Samson shaking his head and expressing his
+belief that the station would be far better without "such as he."
+
+"I don't want to be hard on anything 'cept blight, Master Nic," said the
+old man one day; "but it comes nat'ral to a man to feel shy of a gaol
+bird who may rise agen you at any time and take to the bush."
+
+"Oh, but Leather is not that sort of man, Sam," said Nic.
+
+"Ah, that's very nice, young gentleman; but you don't know, and I don't
+know.  All I say is if there's a bull about on that side o' the fence
+it's best to walk on this."
+
+"But the bull may not mean to do you harm, Sam."
+
+"P'r'aps not, sir; but bulls have mad fits now and then, so does
+convicts.  I've know'd two stations 'tacked and every one killed, and
+they said it was the blacks; but they very soon found that it warn't,
+for in each case a lot had escaped from the chain gang, took to the
+bush, and every 'signed servant as they come across jyned 'em."
+
+"That's very horrible," said Nic.  "And what became of them?"
+
+"Ah, you may well say that, sir: some was shot down by the soldiers,
+some was killed by the natives, some was lost in the bush and died o'
+hunger and thirst, while the blacks speared the rest all but one, and he
+gave himself up.  They do a lot o' mischief, these chaps, when they take
+to the bush, sir; but, fortunately for honest folk, they all come to a
+bad end."
+
+Then came a more leisure time, when old Samson took a holiday, as he
+called it--that is to say, he worked from daylight to darkness over his
+rather neglected garden; while Nic had leisure to think again of his
+natural history specimens, and went out with his gun; but he did not
+feel at all keen about sitting down in a woody place near the river to
+fish and offer himself as a mark for any black who meant to practise
+hurling his spear.  It was so much more satisfactory to mount Sour
+Sorrel and ride off, gun in hand, through the open woodland with the
+soft breeze sweeping by his cheek, and pick up a beautifully feathered
+bird from time to time.
+
+The injured sheep had grown quite well, and, save that it limped as it
+grazed, its leg was as strong as ever; "and that lameness does not
+interfere with its promising to be a good mother," said the doctor,
+smiling, as he pointed to the pair of white lambs gambolling by the lame
+sheep's side.
+
+"Did you ever satisfy yourself as to how its leg was broken?" said Nic.
+
+"No, my boy; and I did not want to.  I have my suspicions, but I let
+them rest.  It is the same at most of the stations--the free men dislike
+the bond.  It is natural.  And now that things are going on peaceably,
+we will let them rest."
+
+One day, quite by accident, the boy found himself thrown in contact
+again with Leather, whose brown, deeply lined countenance always
+brightened when Nic came across him somewhere with his sheep.
+
+"I say, Leather," he said, as he sat on his nag watching the man busily
+carving a stick he had cut: "you remember telling me about how the
+blacks followed the bees?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Can you show me?"
+
+"Yes," said Leather, smiling sadly; and he looked about till he found a
+tree with some of its seed-vessels full of fine silky cotton, smeared
+one end of a twig with a bead of gum from another tree, and then walked
+on, followed by Nic, till they came to a patch of bushes, whose fragrant
+blossoms had attracted the bees by the dozen.
+
+One pollen-laden fellow was soon caught, the gum stick touched its back,
+the white cotton was brought in contact, and the uninjured insect set
+free.
+
+Up in the air it went at once, regardless of the yellow flowers among
+which it had been buzzing, and then flew away in a straight line, with
+its white patch on its back, to be traced some forty or fifty yards,
+before it disappeared among the trees.
+
+"Gone!" said Nic, who was in advance, for he had followed the insect on
+horseback.  "Think there's a tree here?"
+
+"No; these are not the kind of trees they nest in.  They do not go
+hollow."
+
+"What will you do, then?"
+
+"Repeat the process, sir."
+
+And this was done four times, till the last bee was traced to a quarter
+of a mile from where they started, and a tiny hole was made out sixty
+feet from the ground, about which scores of little dark insects could be
+seen darting.
+
+"Now how to get the honey?" said Nic.
+
+"Send or bring Bungarolo here to-morrow with an axe and a bucket, and
+you shall have plenty."
+
+Eager to see the taking of the spoil, Nic was over in good time next
+morning, the black trotting by his side; and upon reaching the tree the
+Australian savage took the axe from his waistcloth, while Leather lit a
+great piece of touchwood by means of a burning glass.  This wood began
+to burn, emitting a dense white smoke, and as the convict waved it
+about, the black took off his waistcloth, passed it through the handle
+of the bucket, and tied it again about his middle, so that the bucket
+hung behind.  Then, axe in hand, he began to chop notches in the soft
+bark, to make steps for his active feet, and climbed steadily up and up,
+Nic watching him the while.
+
+"It looks very dangerous," said the boy.  "Think he is likely to fall?"
+
+"Not in the least, sir.  They begin doing these things when children,
+and they don't seem to have any nerves."
+
+It seemed indeed as if the black did not know fear, for he went on up
+and up till he was fully sixty feet from the ground, and here he held on
+with his legs while he undid his waistcloth once more and tied it now to
+a branch, so that the bucket hung close to the hole where the bees
+buzzed in and out, as if feeling in no wise incommoded by the black face
+so near.
+
+And now Bungarolo stuck the axe into the soft bark and rapidly
+descended, grinning hugely at his success.  Leather handed him the
+smoking torch, and he went up again, holding the end of the soft wood in
+his teeth.
+
+On reaching the hole, the smoke which had accompanied him in his ascent
+became thicker, and being held just below the entrance, scared away the
+bees coming back, and those coming out into pouring forth faster and
+faster, till there was quite a cloud darting about above that of the
+blinding wood smoke.
+
+Then a few cleverly directed strokes of the axe made a big opening
+through the bark, the axe was thrown down, and the black's arm thrust in
+right up to the shoulder, and his hand drawn out bearing a great cake of
+honeycomb.
+
+This he deposited in the bucket, pausing now and then to give the
+smoking wood a wave, or to hold it inside the opening, to drive out the
+bees before bringing out more and more comb, till the bucket was pretty
+well full.
+
+And now the most difficult task seemed to await the black; but he held
+on again with his legs, untied the waist cloth, rested the bucket on his
+chest, while he knotted the cloth ends together again, and slipped it
+over his head.  Then, taking the smoking wood from where he had placed
+it inside the hole, he threw it down and descended safe and triumphant,
+to begin cleaning his sticky hands after the fashion of a cat, before
+bearing the bucket back to the station, where Mrs Braydon gave him a
+lump of damper for a reward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+LEATHER SPEAKS OUT.
+
+Another day, it seemed as if Sorrel felt with his master, and took him
+straight to a fresh part of the great sheep run, near where the vast
+gorge was fenced at its edge with mighty trees, beneath one of which
+Leather was seated, looking hard and stern.
+
+Nic was very thoughtful that day.  There was something he wanted to ask
+the convict, but he always shrank from satisfying his curiosity; and
+this time he showed that he had something upon his mind so plainly, that
+Leather after their abrupt salutations had passed, said:
+
+"Not well, sir?"
+
+"Yes, quite well.  Why?"
+
+"Looked queer, sir."
+
+"Oh, nothing," said Nic hastily, for he had made up his mind to question
+the man, and now the opportunity had come he felt that he could not
+speak.
+
+"I was thinking about you a little while ago, sir."
+
+"About me?  Why?"
+
+"You were saying the other day that you had seen so few snakes.  I've
+seen four this morning.  Two of them are poisonous; you may as well have
+a shot at them."
+
+"How do you know that they are poisonous?"
+
+"Partly from the bad character they have, sir, partly from the shape of
+the head."
+
+"Let's see, I've heard something about that before: poisonous snakes
+have a spade-shaped head, haven't they?"
+
+"That's what they call it, sir.  It is really a great swelling at the
+back of the jaws on either side of the neck.  This swelling is made by
+the poison bags which communicate with their hollow fangs.  You'll see
+if you shoot the big gentleman I saw crawling back into his hole this
+morning.  I dare say he's out again now, to be in the hot sun.  Why,
+what's the matter, Master Nic?"
+
+"Matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you keep going off in a dreamy way, and not listening."
+
+Nic frowned and was silent.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir; it is like my impertinence to ask you.  I
+forget sometimes, when you are ready to treat me like a human being,
+that I am only a convict."
+
+"Don't take it like that," said Nic hurriedly.  "It was only because I
+was thinking, Leather."
+
+"Yes, sir, I see: some little trouble at home."
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Nic, ready to blurt out everything now.  "You see I like
+you, Leather."
+
+The man's eyes flashed and then softened for a moment, while his lips
+quivered; but his hard, cynical, bitter aspect and tones came back--the
+manner born of years of misery and degradation, and he cried mockingly:
+
+"Why?  Because I behaved like a brute to you, and made believe to throw
+you down into that gully?"
+
+"Don't bring that up," cried Nic angrily; "and don't talk in that way,
+Leather.  It isn't you.  It's only put on."
+
+"Indeed," said the man bitterly.  "Well, I didn't put it on, sir.  It
+was fate."
+
+"There, I didn't like to speak to you," continued Nic; "but I must now.
+I've long wanted to, for of course I can't help seeing how different you
+are from Brookes and old Sam.  You are always showing me that you are a
+man of good education, and what a deal you know.  It makes me ashamed
+sometimes."
+
+"Why?" said Leather sternly.
+
+"To ask you to do all kinds of rough work when I feel that you are
+better educated than I am--that you must have been quite a gentleman."
+
+"Ah, don't, boy!" cried Leather passionately, and with his face
+convulsed.  "For Heaven's sake hold your tongue."
+
+"I can't now," cried Nic, as excitedly.  "I feel as if I must know.  I
+do like you, Leather--I do really; and it worries me.  I think of it at
+night when I go to bed, and it makes me wild to hear Brookes talk to you
+as he does."
+
+"Brookes is an honest man, sir; I'm a convict," said Leather bitterly.
+
+"There you are, going back to your old way!" cried Nic; "and it isn't
+fair, after I've told you I liked you."
+
+The convict caught the boy's hand, and his eyes softened again; but he
+dropped the hand and drew back, sending a pang through Nic, who felt
+that he must have been guilty of some terrible crime, and they stood
+looking in each other's eyes for some little time.  Then the boy spoke
+in a husky whisper--for he said to himself, "Poor chap, he must be very
+sorry for it now,"--"What was it you did, Leather?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Then why were you sent out here?"
+
+Nic started, and repented having spoken, for the convict drew himself
+up, with his eyes flashing and his face convulsed by rage, scorn, and
+indignation.
+
+"Why was I sent out here, boy?" he raged: "because a jury of my
+fellow-countrymen said I was guilty, and the judge told me that I
+deserved the greater punishment because I--a man of education, holding
+so high and responsible a position, and who ought to have known better--
+was worse than a common ignorant thief; and that he must make an example
+of me, that the world might see how government servants found no favour
+when they sinned.  He said I had had a fair trial, that my countrymen
+condemned me, and that he quite agreed with their verdict; and he
+sentenced me to twenty-one years' transportation,--he might as well have
+said for life."
+
+Nic stood looking at him in pain and misery, and the convict began
+pacing up and down in the agony evoked by this dragging up of the past.
+
+"I'm sorry I spoke," faltered Nic.
+
+"No, no: I'm glad.  It is like stabbing me, but if I bleed, boy, it is a
+relief.  Transportation for twenty-one years, and to what a life of
+horror, misery, and despair!  Companion to the greatest scoundrels and
+wretches that ever breathed; loathed and hated by them, because I was
+not what they, called their sort.  Then, when sent out for good
+behaviour as an assigned servant, hated and scorned and trampled upon by
+every honest man.  You have seen--you know.  The convict from the chain
+gang, a branded felon.  Nic, boy!--I beg your pardon, sir," he cried
+bitterly--"Master, your slave wonders sometimes that he is alive.  I
+tell you I've prayed night after night for death, but it would not come:
+no spear, no blinding stroke from the sun, no goring by the half-wild
+bullocks which have chased me; no fall when I have desperately climbed
+down the side of that gorge.  No! spite of all risk I have grown
+stronger, healthier, as you see--healthier in body, but more and more
+diseased in mind."
+
+He stopped and threw himself down upon his breast, to bury his face in
+his hands; and just then there came a low, chuckling sound, as of
+laughter, from one of the great grey kingfishers in the tree above them,
+followed by a wild, dissonant, shrieking chorus from a flock of parrots,
+as if in defiance at the cruel laugh.
+
+"I don't mind your speaking to me as you did, Leather," said Nic at
+last, as he turned his head aside to hide his emotion, and he sat down
+to watch his beautiful horse quietly cropping the grass, thinking how
+much happier the dumb beast was.  "I only mind when you talk in your
+bitter way.--I'm sorry for you."
+
+"God bless you, my lad!" said the convict, in smothered tones: "I know
+it.  You've shown it to me a score of times.  My life has not been the
+same since you came here."
+
+"And I can't help seeing that you are sorry too.  How could you have
+done so bad a thing?"
+
+"I?  Did that!" cried Leather, springing up on one arm.  "I tell you I
+am innocent as a child.  Dominic Braydon, mine was a high position, and
+large sums of money passed through my hands.  There came a day when a
+heavy amount was missing.  It was gone, I could not explain how.
+Everything seemed against me.  My explanations were ridiculed, and until
+I had been out here a couple of years I could not see the light.  It
+came one day, though, like a flash--when it was too late."
+
+Nic looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"My subordinate was the guilty man: the meek, amiable wretch who broke
+down in the witness-box and wept at being forced to tell all he knew.
+Even I believed and liked him at the time--poor weak fool that I was!
+If it imposed on me, who listened to every word he spoke, seeking for
+some way of escape, how could I wonder that judge, jury, and counsel
+were deceived?  But it was too late when I read the truth, and that to
+save himself he sacrificed me--me who had helped him in every way."
+
+"Then you really did not take this money?" cried Nic.
+
+"Not one penny.  I?  But, there, why did you drag this all from me, boy?
+You made me speak.  I do not say it to excite your sympathy.  It is my
+fate, and I have tried to bear it like a man.  I have borne it like a
+man, boy, though it has made me hard, callous, and brutal.  Dead to all
+who knew and loved me, I have still lived, thinking that perhaps some
+day the truth may rise like the sun and throw its light around.  Then I
+know it will be time to join the only one who believed me what I am."
+
+"And who was that?" said Nic hoarsely.
+
+"She who was to have been my wife.  It was her death."
+
+There was the hot stillness of the Australian midday around them, and
+for some time neither spoke.
+
+Then all at once Leather sprang to his feet.
+
+"There, sir," he said, "you are the first who has heard my tale.  The
+law has branded me a convict, and I can only say `Please let all this be
+as if it had never been said.'  And yet I don't know," he continued,
+with his eyes softening; "it has done me good.  Still I don't ask you to
+believe me, sir.  There is plenty of deceit out here, and I have met
+some clever actors of innocent parts in the different gangs."
+
+"But I do believe you," cried Nic earnestly--"every word.  Oh, I felt
+that you could not have been so bad."
+
+"Thank you, my lad," said the convict, smiling; and Nic thought what a
+fine, handsome, manly fellow he was when his face lit up.  "No: I cannot
+shake hands.  Some day, perhaps.  I should like to help you, not drag
+you down.  It is master and servant, you know.  Yes," he added, after a
+pause, as he gazed earnestly in Nic's eyes, "you do believe me.  There,
+I shall work more easily now, for life is brighter than it was."
+
+He sprang to his feet now, and moved to go, but came back.
+
+"We were forgetting the execution of the poisonous snake, sir," he said,
+with a little laugh.  "This way."
+
+"No," said Nic quietly; "let it live another day."
+
+He walked to his horse, lifted the rein and threw it over the animal's
+neck, then sprang upon its back.
+
+"Master Nic!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"This is our secret, sir, and you must keep your place."
+
+"Secret?  Why shouldn't I tell my mother and father that you were
+condemned for that which you did not do?"
+
+"I'll tell you, sir," cried Leather.  "Because they cannot listen with
+your ears, nor see me with your eyes."
+
+"My father is everything that is just," said Nic proudly, "and my mother
+all that is gentle and true."
+
+"God bless her! yes, my boy," said the convict softly; "but if you
+speak, Mrs Braydon, knowing me for what I am, will say, `This man has
+wormed himself into my son's confidence--he has obtained an influence
+over him that is not healthy--he had better go,' and I should be
+exchanged, Master Nic, as they would exchange a horse or bullock.  Don't
+speak, sir, and have me sent away!"
+
+Nic looked in the pleading eyes, and saw that the man's lips were
+quivering from the strong emotion which animated him.
+
+"Our secret, then," he said; and at a touch of the heel the horse
+bounded away, with its rider feeling that every word the convict had
+spoken must be the truth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+NIC TAKES THE HELM.
+
+"Bad news," said the doctor, about a couple of months' shepherding and
+track riding later, as he held a letter out to his wife before coming to
+where a couple of men were carefully rubbing down the heated horses they
+had hitched up to the fence kept for the purpose.
+
+"Come in, my lads," he said.  "I'll have your horses seen to.  They must
+have a couple of hours' rest.  There'll be a meal ready for you
+directly."
+
+"What is it, mother?" said Janet and Hilda; and Nic looked at her
+eagerly.
+
+"It is bad news indeed," said Mrs Braydon.  "The letter is from Lady
+O'Hara, who is in the deepest distress about Sir John.  She says he is
+dying, and that there is only one man in the colony she believes able to
+cure him."
+
+"Father!" cried Hilda, flushing.
+
+"Yes, my dear; and she begs that he will come to her in her great
+distress.  Here he is."
+
+For the doctor, after showing the men round to the stable, where they
+preferred to attend to their horses themselves, re-entered the room.
+
+"Well, my dear, what do you think?  Lady O'Hara forgets that I have not
+practised for so long."
+
+"Lady O'Hara knows that she has spoken the truth," said Mrs Braydon
+proudly.
+
+"Then you wish me to go?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Braydon sadly; "but it is a duty you must fulfil."
+
+"It means going and leaving you all in a couple of hours' time," said
+the doctor.
+
+"Yes, you must go at once," sighed Mrs Braydon.
+
+"Yes, I must go," said the doctor.  "Perhaps I can save him."  Then
+cheerfully, "Now, Nic, my boy, you must step into my shoes and play the
+man.  I leave the Bluff and all that is dear in your charge.  You manage
+old Samson and Brookes better than I do, and as for Leatherhead he has
+become twice the man he was since you have been here."
+
+Nic flushed a little, for the secret pricked him.
+
+"And I am glad to see, my lad, that you keep him in his place with a
+tight rein.  I was afraid at first, and Brookes dropped a few unpleasant
+hints about the way he said that you were making friends with him.  I am
+glad to see, however, that all this is at an end."
+
+"But, father--" began Nic, whose conscience was uneasy.
+
+"No, no: I don't want to hear any explanation.  You will do your best, I
+know.  Now help me to pack my saddle-bags, all of you.  See to the gun
+and ammunition, Nic; hobbles for the horse, and what is necessary.
+Hilda, my dear, haul the meal bags in, and see that we have plenty of
+flour, tea, and sugar for our ride, What's the matter, mamma dear?"
+
+"I--I was thinking about the blacks," said Mrs Braydon nervously; and
+then, in an apologetic tone; "You made me speak, dear."
+
+"Yes, and I'm glad you have.  The blacks for miles and miles are
+friendly to us, for we have done them no harm.  There is not the
+smallest likelihood of any evil-disposed tribe coming near.  If one did,
+you have a brave son and trusty men to defend you till one of our own
+fellows went over to Mr Dillon's for help.  Now are you satisfied?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, quite."
+
+"And Janet and Hilda, both of them to fight for their mother, if there
+is need."
+
+"Of course," said Hilda merrily.
+
+"Janet had better use the poker," said the doctor, taking his cue from
+his younger daughter, and laughing too, so as to hide the pang he felt
+at the near-at-hand parting.
+
+"You know I can fire a gun, father," said Janet.
+
+"To be sure: yes," said the doctor.  "But, Hilda, my dear," he
+continued, "if you have to shoot at a blackfellow, be sure and remember
+that it is the wooden stock you hold to your shoulder, not the muzzle of
+the gun."
+
+"Oh, father, what a shame!" cried Hilda.  "Did I point the stock at that
+big hawk I shot for coming and stealing my beautiful little chickens?"
+
+"No: I remember now.  But bustle! those men want a good tea meal."
+
+Two hours had not elapsed when, with the two government messengers well
+refreshed, and their horses dry and ready for a long afternoon's work,
+saddle-bags and blankets strapped on, guns and ammunition ready, the
+doctor sprang upon his horse, and Nic moved toward Sorrel, whose rein
+was thrown over a post, the boy meaning to ride a few miles of the way.
+
+But the doctor took his hand.
+
+"No," he said; "your place is here.  Keep about the station, except when
+you take your daily rides round to see to the stock.  I leave you in
+charge, my boy, so take care.  I'll be back at the earliest moment I
+can."
+
+The next minute he had embraced Mrs Braydon, touched his horse's sides,
+and cantered off after the men, turning twice to wave his hat to the
+watchers by the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+"WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY."
+
+The girls, seeing how pale and depressed Mrs Braydon looked at
+breakfast next morning, began by way of a diversion to banter their
+brother by solemnly asking him for orders--whether he was going to be
+very strict and severe in his rules; whether he intended to put the
+station in a state of defence, and drill them or train them in the use
+of their weapons.
+
+Nic took it all in good part, as he made an excellent breakfast, his
+appetite being sharpened by two hours' busy work with the men and
+inspecting some of the stock, ending by finding for the three Englishmen
+tasks that required performing close about the house, and others for the
+three blacks, who had promised to be very industrious while the master
+was away, were also found close at hand.
+
+"They'll all be here if wanted," Nic confided to his sister Janet; "for
+I must go a very long round to drive in some of the cattle on the far
+run.  Father meant to have gone with me to-day."
+
+"It is hardly necessary to be so particular, dear," said Janet; "but it
+will make mother more comfortable.  I don't think I would say that you
+are going far."
+
+"No, I did not mean to," replied Nic.  "I shall go round and see that
+the men are at work all right, and then mount and be off just as if I
+were only going a little way."
+
+"When will you be back?"
+
+"About three or four o'clock at the latest."
+
+Directly after breakfast he went and saw that the men were at work, said
+a word or two of praise to the blacks, whose faces shone with
+satisfaction; then going to the stable he saddled his horse, led it to
+the fence while he fetched his gun, mounted and rode off, unconscious of
+the fact that Brookes, who was busy in the wood-shed, was watching him.
+
+Samson also rested upon his spade in the garden, and gazed with a smile
+at the lithe, active lad as he cantered easily away, looking as if he
+and the beautiful little highly bred horse were one.
+
+Then Leather caught sight of the lad, and his face darkened, as he felt
+low-spirited and had an intense longing to go with him somewhere far
+away from the work about the station.
+
+Just at the same moment Bungarolo, who had been busy weeding, raised his
+keen eyes, noted the direction Nic had taken, gave his trousers a hitch,
+grinned, dropped upon his chest, and began to creep rapidly like a slug
+toward the gate in the fence, through which he passed, and continued his
+way to where the other two blacks were busy cleaning out the cow-shed.
+
+What followed did not take long.  There was a whispered jabbering, a
+happy grin upon each face, and then, as if by one consent, the three
+blacks stripped off their shirts, unbuttoned and kicked off their
+trousers, and stood up in their native costume of a waistcloth.
+
+The clothes were bundled together into a corner, three spears and as
+many nulla-nullas and boomerangs drawn from where they were tucked in
+the rafters, and the trio astonished a cow tied up in a corner with her
+tender calf by going through a kind of war dance, and all in silence.
+
+Then the cow felt better in all probability, for there was no sign of
+the calf being stunned with a club to be cooked for a holiday, the
+performers of the dance stepping lightly to the door, out of which
+Bungarolo peered cautiously before dropping down upon his breast and
+crawling rapidly off to the garden fence, without disturbing the two
+collies, though Nibbler, who lay as if asleep, opened one eye, lifted
+his tail, and brought it down with a rap and closed the eye again.
+
+He opened it, though, twice more as the other two blacks passed him in
+the same way, gave two more sharp raps with his tail, and then sniffed
+at the last black as if wondering how he would taste.  But as he had had
+a pretty good piece of a drowned sheep, he subsided and closed the eye,
+not even turning his head to gaze after the three blacks as they glided
+on right under the fence on the side farthest from the house, and close
+by where old Sam was contentedly digging, in perfect unconsciousness
+that the three great children were off to the bush for a jovial day,
+hunting for fat grubs, honey, snakes, and other picnic delicacies in the
+glorious open wilds.
+
+Half an hour had passed, during which Brookes went to the door of the
+wood-shed three times to scowl at Leather; but the convict was hard at
+work at the end of the wood-yard, chopping away at rails which he was
+splitting, tapering at the ends and piling on a heap, ready for some
+fencing that was to be done as soon as there was a little time.
+
+Brookes felt ill-used.  He would have liked to find the assigned servant
+yawning and doing nothing, or taking advantage of the master's absence
+to have a nap, and give him cause, as he was in his own estimation head
+man now, to let loose his tongue at the man he hated intensely.
+
+But there was no excuse, and Brookes went back into the shed.
+
+"I shall catch him yet," he muttered.  "Only let him give me a chance."
+
+But Brookes could not rest.  He pitched the soft bundled-up fleeces
+about irritably, for they annoyed him.  He wanted something hard, and
+growing more restless from a desire to show his authority, he went to
+where the two blacks should have been cleaning out the cow-shed.
+
+Brookes had come out of the blinding sunshine, and the shed was dark and
+cool.  He did not see the blacks, but he was not surprised, for their
+faces would naturally assimilate with the gloom.
+
+"Here, you two," he growled, "nearly done?" an unnecessary question, for
+he knew that their task to be done thoroughly would take them some hours
+at their rate of working.
+
+"Do you hear, you charcoal-faced beggars?" he shouted; but of course all
+was still, and satisfying himself, by picking up a manure fork, that
+they were not asleep in a heap of straw by jobbing the handle in
+savagely, after making an offer with the tines, he uttered a low growl,
+and, fork in hand, went out to look sharply round about the yards; but
+not a soul was in sight.
+
+"Ah!" muttered Brookes, "that's it, is it?  Cuss 'em, I might have
+known."  Then, urged by a sudden thought, he went back into the long
+cow-shed, and looked round till he caught sight of the old trousers and
+shirts lying in a heap.
+
+"Hah!" he ejaculated, shaking the fork handle, "just wait till they come
+back.  I'll make them see stars."
+
+Then, striding out, he made for the garden, where, with his sleeves
+rolled up and the neck and breast of his shirt open, old Samson was
+digging away, turning over the moist earth, and stooping every now and
+then to pick out some weed that was sure not to rot.
+
+"Hi, Sam!" cried Brookes.
+
+"Hullo!" said the little old fellow, going on with his digging,
+whistling softly the while.
+
+"Where's Bungarolo?"
+
+"Down yonder weeding."
+
+"Nay," he cried.
+
+"Yes, he is.  I saw him ten minutes ago."
+
+"He's started off with the other two."
+
+"Nay!"
+
+"He has, I tell you!" cried Brookes.  "They've left their rags in the
+cow-shed, and all gone."
+
+Samson showed his yellow teeth and chuckled.
+
+"Just like 'em," he said; "just like 'em."
+
+"I don't see anything to grin at," growled Brookes.
+
+"Nay, you wouldn't, my lad; but I do.  `When the cat's away the mice
+will play.'  I wonder they've stopped steady at work so long."
+
+"What?"
+
+"They're on'y big savage children, lad," said the old man, "and you
+can't alter 'em.  `'Tis their natur' to.'"
+
+"Natur' or no natur', they shan't play those games while I'm master
+here."
+
+"Eh?  Didn't know you was, Brooky."
+
+"Then you know it now.  P'r'aps you're going to give yourself a
+holiday."
+
+"Having one," said the old man, breaking a refractory clod.
+
+"And going to take yourself off to the bush to have a corroborree with
+the blackfellows."
+
+"And if I was I shouldn't ask your leave, Snaggy," said the old man,
+showing more of his teeth.  "There, let 'em go.  They'll come back and
+work all the better after."
+
+"Heugh!" cried Brookes, giving vent to a final grunt; and he turned away
+and stalked out of the garden, striking the fork-handle down at every
+step.
+
+"Lookye here," said old Samson, taking up a spadeful of earth, and
+addressing it as if part of the dust of the earth of which he was made,
+and therefore worthy of his confidence: "sooner than I'd have old
+Brooky's nasty temper I'd be a kangaroo or a cat.  I'm sorry they sloped
+off, though.  Hang the black rascals!  Master Nic'll be so wild, an'
+nat'rally, when he comes back."
+
+Brookes turned and glared once at old Samson, who occupied the position
+about the place that he felt ought to be his; and, going straight back
+past the various sheds, he looked round toward the wood-yard, and then
+his eyes glistened with satisfaction.  Short as the time had been,
+Leather had left his work.
+
+He paused for a moment or two, to make sure that there was no regular
+_chop-chop_ at the end of the rails, and with a grin of satisfaction he
+walked quickly to the spot where he had seen the convict at work.
+
+He looked about the stacks of wood, stepping softly and peering round
+into shady corners, expecting and hoping to see his fellow-servant
+asleep; but he was disappointed, and five minutes elapsed before the
+convict came back, axe in hand.
+
+"Seen either of the blacks about, Mr Brookes?" he said.
+
+"Why?" snarled Brookes.
+
+The convict looked surprised, but he said gently: "I want one of them to
+come and turn the grindstone handle.  This axe is getting very dull."
+
+"You lie, you lazy hound!" roared Brookes.  "I've had my eye upon you.
+Your master's out, and so you think you're going to skulk, do you?  If
+there's any more of it, over you go to Dillon's for a taste of the cat."
+
+The blood flushed through the convict's bronzed skin and his eyes
+glistened, but only for a moment, and he said quite gently, for he saw
+Nic in his mind's eye: "It was the simple truth.  I was wasting time."
+
+"Yes, I know you were wasting time!" roared Brookes.  "You're always
+wasting time, and I won't have it.  Your master's out, and I won't have
+it.  Get on.  I'll have that pile o' rails done before you leave off
+to-night; so no more shirking, do you hear?"
+
+A feeling of fierce resentment made the convict's nerves quiver; but he
+thought of Nic, and, controlling his anger, he took a step or two to the
+block on which he cut the rails, picked up one, and gave it a couple of
+chops.
+
+"Quicker there, lout!" roared Brookes; "and none of your sulky looks
+with me."
+
+The convict took up another rail, while Brookes stood over him with the
+fork-shaft playing up and down in his hand; while, emboldened by the
+other's meekness, he went on with a brutal tirade of abuse, calling up
+every insulting expression he could think of, and garnishing them with
+bad language, till the convict winced as if under blows.
+
+"Trying to humbug me with your lying gammon about the axe.  It's as
+sharp as sharp."
+
+"It is not, sir," cried the convict, angrily now.  "Take it and judge
+for yourself."
+
+He held it out so quickly that Brookes started back, and brought down
+the fork-handle with all his might, striking the axe from the man's
+hand.
+
+"What!" he roared.  "Would you, you murderous dog?  Take that--and
+that--and that!"
+
+As he spoke he struck again savagely with the stout ash handle, the
+second blow falling heavily upon the convict's shoulder, the third
+coming sharply upon his head and making the blood spurt forth from a
+long deep cut.
+
+Then the fork was raised for another blow; but, quick as lightning, the
+convict flung himself forward, and his fist, with all the weight of his
+body behind it, caught his assailant full in the face, sending him down
+to strike the back of his head against the edge of the wood block, and
+lie there yelling for help.
+
+"Murder! help!  Sam!" he roared, as he lay there, a ghastly object, with
+the convict's foot planted upon his chest, he too bleeding freely from
+the wound in his head.
+
+At one and the same time Mrs Braydon, her daughters, and old Samson
+came running up in alarm.
+
+"Here! what's the matter?" said the latter, while Mrs Braydon turned
+sick at the horrible sight, and caught at her elder daughter's hand.
+
+"Can't you see what's the matter?" cried Brookes.  "Get a gun, Sam,
+quick!  He tried to murder me."
+
+"No, no!" cried the convict, startled by the charge, and shrinking from
+the horrified and indignant-looking Mrs Braydon and the two girls.
+
+"He did, missus," cried Brookes, struggling to his feet.  "I had to
+speak to him for idling, and he struck at me with the axe.  There it
+lies, and if I hadn't had this fork he'd ha' killed me.  You see, he's
+most mad: why don't you get a gun, Sam?"
+
+"I don't want no gun," said old Sam snappishly.  "He didn't cut your
+head like that with the chopper, did he?"
+
+"Yes, yes: look!  I'm bleeding 'most to dead."
+
+"Looks more as if you'd gone down on the block.  There, missus: hadn't
+you and the young ladies best go indoors?"
+
+"No; not yet," cried Mrs Braydon indignantly.  "In my husband's absence
+too!  Man, man, have you not been well treated here?"
+
+"Yes, madam," said the convict hoarsely.
+
+"Such an outrage--such a cruel outrage on Dr Braydon's trusted
+servant!"
+
+"What he said, madam, is not true," cried the convict, recovering
+himself now from the giddiness produced by the stunning blow.  "I did
+not, I could not raise the axe to him."
+
+As he spoke he turned his eyes from Mrs Braydon to her daughters, and
+he shivered as he saw Janet's indignant look.
+
+"I tell you he did," cried Brookes, holding the fork now threateningly,
+as soldiers would bayonets.  "He tried to murder me.  Sam, are you going
+to fetch a gun?"
+
+"Yah!  I'm going to fetch a bucket o' water if you won't do it yourself.
+Missus--young ladies, why don't you go?  This ain't the place for you."
+
+"No," said Mrs Braydon, taking Hilda's hand.  "Come in, Janet."
+
+But for a moment Janet did not stir, held as she was by the convict's
+imploring look as he said, addressing Mrs Braydon, though as if for
+her:
+
+"Indeed, madam, it is not true.  This man struck me brutally: I forgot
+myself--I did strike him in return."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Braydon coldly; and; uttering a sob, Janet gave the
+convict a reproachful look and followed her mother into the house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+BROOKES STRIKES BACK.
+
+"That's better!" said old Sam.  "The masters both out, and we're having
+a nice day here."
+
+Leather stood as if turned to stone.
+
+"Let's look at you," continued the old man, as he roughly spun Brookes
+round.  "Where's yer 'ankycher?"
+
+Brookes made a movement to seize the axe, but old Sam kicked it away.
+
+"Let it alone, stoopid!  What did you want to tell that lie for?  He
+didn't hit you wi' that."
+
+"I swear he did," cried Brookes fiercely.
+
+"Then you'd swear anything," said Sam, binding up the rough cut.  "But
+do you think I'm a fool?  Any one can see that wasn't made with the edge
+of a chopper.  Did he give you that lovely crack in the mouth with the
+chopper too?"
+
+"I'll let him see--I'll let him see!"
+
+"I wouldn't till I'd washed my face.  Sarves you right: you're allus
+letting out at somebody.  If I warn't a nat'ral angel in temper I should
+ha' let you have it years ago."
+
+"I'll let him see--I'll let him see," muttered Brookes savagely.
+
+"Better shake hands like a man," said old Sam.
+
+"Convict or no convict, he's only give you what you asked for."
+
+"I'll let him see," snarled Brookes; and he went off toward the stable.
+
+"Gone there to one of the buckets," growled old Sam.  "I was going to
+take you there.  Here, let's have a look at your head."
+
+"Oh, it's nothing--nothing," said Leather hastily.
+
+"Nothing! when you're bleeding like a pig.  Come along to the bothy, and
+let's bathe and tie it up.  Why, Leather, this looks as if he'd used the
+axe!  Reg'lar clean cut."
+
+"No, it was with the fork handle.  There, it will do me good.  Let out
+some of the hot, mad blood."
+
+"Ay," said old Sam, guiding him, for he staggered, to the men's bothy,
+and bathing and tying up the wound.  "It's a pity, my lad.  I wish you
+hadn't hit back, for you see if he should turn nasty and complain--"
+
+Leather looked at him wildly.
+
+"And him like that, there's no knowing what might come."
+
+The convict uttered a groan, and caught the old man's arm.
+
+"I'll say all I know, my lad; but you see--"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Leather hoarsely, "I know"; and he sat there on a block
+of wood which served as a stool, while the old gardener finished the
+dressing.
+
+"There, that's a spontanous bit o' grafting," he said, "and--'Ullo!
+what's that mean?"
+
+He turned to the doorway, through which they could see Brookes mounted
+upon one of the horses and cantering straight away.
+
+"Leather, my lad," said the old man sharply, "he's our fellow-servant,
+but he's a cur.  What'll you do, my lad?  He's gone to Dillon's, for a
+silver pound; he'll make up his tale, and it means the cat."
+
+Leather sank back against the wall, and gazed wildly toward the house.
+
+"If it was me I'd take to the bush, and--"
+
+"What! not face it out!" cried the convict fiercely.  "Own that I was in
+the wrong!  Not if they flog me and send me back to the gang."
+
+The sudden excitement passed away, and the convict sank sidewise to the
+floor, perfectly insensible, for he had fainted dead away.
+
+"And I thought I was going to have a good quiet day's gardening!" said
+old Sam.  "There's hundreds o' things wants doing badly, and I'm 'bliged
+to give up my time to cultivate convicts.  I wish to goodness the master
+was at home; then all this mess wouldn't ha' took place."
+
+But as the old man muttered he kept on acting.  Taking some fresh water,
+he bathed the convict's temples and tried hard to revive him.
+
+"Give you a clean face if it don't give you a clean character, my lad.
+I don't like you because you're a convict, that's all.  You're a good,
+manly sort o' chap, and if you'd ha' been a honest man I should ha' said
+you were as good a fellow to work as ever was.  Nothing never comes
+amiss to you, and you and me never had a word in our lives.  But you see
+you are one of the gang and a blackguard and a thief; not as you was
+ever a blackguard here, nor stole so much as one o' my taters, which I
+will say has been big enough and fine enough to tempt any man as was
+digging 'em, as you was.  I know they tempted me, Leather, for I took a
+dozen nubbly ones and roasted 'em three at a time in a bit o' fire as
+Bungarolo made for me; but then I did grow them taters and had a sort o'
+right in 'em."
+
+Old Sam left off talking to the insensible man, and looked at him
+anxiously as he kept on bathing his face.
+
+"I don't want to be hard on you, my lad, even if you are a convict.
+`Temptation sore long time you bore,' p'r'aps before you took it, and
+your head maybe wasn't as strong as your hands.  But I say, are you
+a-coming to?  None o' that nonsense!  Here!  Hi!  Leather!  Don't die!
+Don't be so stoopid as that just for a whack on the head as'll heal up
+in a fortnit."
+
+He gave the insensible man a shake in his excitement, but it made no
+impression.
+
+"What am I to do?  If I goes and tells 'em at the house it'll frighten
+the women, and they can't do no good.  They'd want to burn feathers
+under his nose.  Here, Leather, rouse up, man; don't be a fool!  D'yer
+hear?  Wait till you get back to town, where you can be buried properly;
+don't die here!"
+
+Sam began to mop and splash the water almost frantically, as the
+motionless features before him seemed to grow hard and stem.
+
+"Well, I thought you had more good stuff in you, Leather--that I did,"
+said the old man piteously.  "I don't wish no harm to nobody, but I wish
+to goodness you were old Brookes lying here instead o' yourself, for
+he's the wiciousest warmint as ever lived.  I never see things go so
+orkard: it's worse than locusts or blight.  Master going off like that,
+too, just when he's wanted.  Poor lad! and I can't do nothing for you,
+or I would.  There, I don't care what you done, Leather," he said,
+"convict or no convict, I forgive you, whatever you did, and here's my
+fist."
+
+He took the strong labour-hardened hand in his, and then dropped it
+hastily, for just as he pressed it there was a deep sigh and the convict
+opened his eyes to stare blankly in the old man's face.  Then, as
+recollection came back, he struggled up into a sitting position, rose to
+his feet, and stood with one hand resting against the boarded side of
+the bothy.
+
+"Come, that's better," said old Sam.  "You're a-coming round now.  I
+tell you what you do: just you lie down in your bunk and get a good
+sleep; you'll be all right then.  I began to think as you'd had a lob
+just a bit too hard.  Here, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Go on with my work," said the convict.
+
+"Yah!  That's foolishness; you can't do it, Leather."
+
+"I must," said the man gravely.  "Thank you for what you've done,
+Samson.  It was not true.  I did not raise the axe against Brookes."
+
+"I know that, my lad.  He'd say anything when he's nasty.  But I'm sorry
+you hit back--very sorry."
+
+"Yes, I know," said the convict; and he walked slowly out of the low
+wooden building, and five minutes later the regular _chop, chop_ of the
+axe was heard, and the rattle of rails as they were laid back in a heap.
+
+"Well," said old Sam, "that's better than him being as I thought I
+suppose I may go on with my work now, and get that garden in a bit of
+order.  Well, all I've got to say is this: if Brooky's gone to lay a
+complaint before the magistrate he's no man."
+
+Man or no man, midday had not long passed before old Sam, as he raised
+himself up from his digging to give his back a bit of a rest, caught
+sight of a flash of something bright, and there was another flash--the
+sun glinting from the barrel of a gun; and turning his eyes, there about
+a mile away, spurring across country, he made out a party of five
+mounted men advancing at a trot.
+
+The old man drove his spade savagely into the ground and trotted out of
+the garden and round to the wood-yard, where Leather was going on slowly
+and laboriously with his rail trimming.
+
+"Leather, my lad," he said, in a quick whisper, "they're a-coming over
+the hill: hadn't you better go off for a month or two?"
+
+"To be hunted down by the dogs and blacks?" said the convict bitterly.
+"No, old man; I shall get Justice Day, here or--in the next world."
+
+"But, my lad," pleaded the old fellow, "they're close here."
+
+"I am ready," said the convict quietly; and there was a pause.
+
+Then he spoke again.
+
+"Perhaps I shall be sent somewhere else, old man.  I shall be marked as
+dangerous now, and not fit to be at a station where there are ladies.
+But you'll tell young Mr Nic the whole truth?--you know what I've had
+to bear."
+
+"Ay, my lad, I do know."
+
+"Thank you, Samson.  You've always been a good fellow to me.  Good-bye."
+
+He passed the axe into his left hand and held out his right, but quickly
+placed the axe back and stood up firmly, as a heavily built,
+florid-looking man, mounted upon a fiery horse covered with foam,
+cantered up, followed by four more men, three of whom, like their
+leader, bore guns, while the fourth was Brookes with his head tied up,
+his face swollen, distorted, and still smeared with dried blood--
+altogether a horrible-looking object--but he sat his horse firmly
+enough.
+
+As the leader rode up he lowered the gun he carried and spurred his
+hesitating horse close up to the convict, as if fully prepared to drive
+in the spurs and ride him down.
+
+"Surrender!" he shouted.  "Down with that axe, quickly, or I'll send a
+charge of buckshot through you."
+
+Leather looked him straight in the eyes and threw down the axe.
+
+"Here, Belton: handcuffs."
+
+One of his men dismounted, handed his gun and rein to a companion, took
+a pair of heavy handcuffs from the strap which held his blanket to the
+saddle, and advanced to where the convict stood with folded arms.
+
+These were dragged roughly apart, and _click_!--one iron was about a
+wrist.  Then the other arm was seized, dragged downward, and _click_!
+the convict's wrists were secured behind his back, just as Mrs Braydon
+and her two daughters came hurrying out; and seeing what had taken
+place, Janet uttered a low cry, and would have fallen but for her
+sister's arm.
+
+The convict saw it, and his lips quivered for a few moments.  Then he
+stood up with his head erect, gazing straight before him.
+
+"Mr Dillon!" cried Mrs Braydon.
+
+"Your servant, my dear madam," said the new arrival, raising his hat as
+he rode forward.  "Young ladies, yours.  Don't be alarmed, Miss Braydon:
+there is no danger now.  I am very sorry that this outrage has taken
+place in the doctor's absence.  Your poor man rode over, and I came
+instantly.--Too glad to have been of service."
+
+Mrs Braydon's lips moved, but no word was heard.
+
+"Where is the young squire?" continued the visitor.
+
+"My brother has gone out on a round, I suppose, Mr Dillon," said Hilda
+quickly.  "But--but what are you going to do?"
+
+"What a neighbour should, my dear young lady.  What your father would do
+for me or any of our friends.  See that wives and daughters are
+protected in every way."
+
+Then, turning quickly, he rode back a few yards.
+
+"Go on, my lads," he said to his followers.  "I'll overtake you
+directly."
+
+The man who had handcuffed Leather loosened one end of a hide rope from
+his saddle-bow, and secured it to the irons on the convict's wrists.
+
+"Say, Mr Dillon, sir," said old Sam, who had been dividing his time
+between scowling at Brookes and watching what was going on.  "That there
+poor chap can't walk ten mile over to your place.  He's only just come
+out of a swound."
+
+"Indeed!" said the visitor, with a laugh.  "We shall see.  Now forward!"
+
+The little procession moved off; Belton first, with his prisoner, and
+the two others with their guns across their saddle-bows following.
+
+Then Mr Dillon rode back to the ladies.
+
+"I am very sorry, Mrs Braydon.  I wish you had kept away from this
+painful scene."
+
+"Yes, it is very terrible," said the trembling woman.  "But--it was in a
+fit of passion, I suppose, Mr Dillon.  You will not be very severe?"
+
+"I have a duty as a magistrate to perform, ladies, and I must be just.
+Your man has been barbarously attacked; and living as we do with these
+convict servants about, more in number in places than we are ourselves,
+any hesitation would be stamped by them as weakness, and our very
+existence would be at stake."
+
+"But he has always been a good, hard-working man, Mr Dillon," pleaded
+Janet.
+
+"And so long as he behaved, my dear Miss Braydon, the government said,
+`You can have almost your freedom.'  He and other assigned servants know
+the bargain with the government.  Good behaviour--liberty; bad
+behaviour--punishment."
+
+"But till my husband returns," faltered Mrs Braydon, "you will wait?"
+
+"These things cannot wait, madam.  The law here must be administered
+firmly and sharply."
+
+"But you will investigate the case?"
+
+"It has been investigated, Mrs Braydon," said Mr Dillon stiffly.
+"Your man came to me, with witnesses who cannot lie, branded upon his
+face.  Ladies, I respect your gentle, merciful feelings; but if you had
+the governance here, in a short time the Crown Colony would be a
+pandemonium, ruled over by a president too vile to live."
+
+"Hear him!" growled Brookes.
+
+"D'yer want me to kick yer?" whispered old Samson savagely.
+
+"But you will wait?  Keep him a prisoner for a time, Mr Dillon,"
+pleaded Mrs Braydon, as she saw her elder daughter's agonised look.
+
+"My dear madam, I must study your husband and the commonweal of this
+colony," said the magistrate firmly.  "Good morning."
+
+"But--you wish refreshments?" faltered Mrs Braydon.
+
+"Some other time, madam.  My visit now must be very painful to you all."
+
+He raised his hat, spurred his horse, and galloped off after his men;
+while, as Mrs Braydon stood gazing after him, Janet uttered a low wail,
+flung her arms about her sister's neck, and whispered, "Take me in,
+dear.  I cannot bear it, take me in."
+
+"Janet, my child!" cried Mrs Braydon; and in an agony of suffering she
+helped to lead the agitated girl into the house, while old Sam trotted
+off into the stable, and came back with a halter in his hand to where
+Brookes stood, shading his swollen-up eyes with one hand, holding the
+rein of his horse with the other.
+
+"Thank ye, mate," he said, as he saw the halter, "but I dunno as I want
+it.  Take the horse in for me; I want a wash.  Don't s'pose Mr
+Leatherhead'll hit at me again."
+
+"Yes," said old Sam in a husky voice, "I'll take the poor horse.  Here,
+ketch hold.  How are you a-going to face Master Nic when, he comes
+back?"
+
+"Face him!" cried Brookes savagely: "I'll face him and show him what his
+fav'rite has done.  He shall see my face, and then he may go and look at
+his convict's back and see how he likes that."
+
+"Here, ketch hold," cried old Sam, shaking the rope.
+
+"Tell you I don't want it," cried Brookes savagely.
+
+"And I tell you you do," said the old man fiercely.  "Take it and go
+right off to the first big green bough in the bush."
+
+"What for?" cried Brookes, with his swollen eyelids opening wide.
+
+"To use it--on yourself; for such a man as you ain't fit to live."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+AND ALL IN VAIN.
+
+"Cooey--cooey!" shouted Nic, as he came cantering up over the soft, fine
+grass a couple of hours later toward the house; but no one was in sight,
+and he turned off toward the stables just as Brookes came out of the
+wool-shed.
+
+"Why, hullo!  What's the matter?  Had a fall?"
+
+"Had a fall!" cried the man savagely.  "Look here."  But old Sam had
+been watching for his young master's return, and he hurried up.
+
+"Won't you listen to me, Master Nic?" he cried.  "Let me tell the tale."
+
+"Nic!  Nic! come here quick!" cried Hilda, running from the house.
+
+The boy looked wildly from one to the other, threw the rein to old Sam,
+and ran to his sister.
+
+"Hil dear, what is the matter?--mother?"  For answer she threw her arms
+about her brother's neck, and sobbing out told him all.
+
+"And Janet--fits of hysterics?"
+
+"Yes; I don't understand her, Nic.  Mother can't leave her.  What shall
+you do?"
+
+"Go in to them!" said Nic firmly; and giving his sister a push toward
+the house, he ran back to where the two men stood growling at each other
+and the horse impatiently stamping as it stood between them and tugged
+to get away.
+
+"Here you, Brookes," cried Nic imperiously, "tell me how it happened."
+
+"He was as nasty as nasty, because the blacks--" began old Sam.
+
+"Silence!" roared Nic.  "I did not speak to you."  Old Sam started in
+amazement, for it seemed to be a strong man speaking, not a boy.
+
+"Now you, Brookes."
+
+Brookes told the same tale he had told Mr Dillon when he rode over to
+Wattles Station, embellishing it with cuts--that is to say, showing his
+wounds.
+
+"No chopper would make a place like that!" cried Nic fiercely.  "I don't
+believe a word of it, you brute.  It's a lie."
+
+"So it is, Master Nic," cried Sam, showing his teeth.  "He give it to
+the poor fellow brutal."
+
+"Tell me, then--all you know.  Quick, man, quick!"
+
+"Oh, if father had been at home!" as soon as he had heard the old man's
+tale.  Then snatching the rein, he threw it over Sorrel's head, touched
+the beautiful little creature's sides and went off at a gallop.
+
+"Who's that?" cried Janet, starting up wildly as the hoofs were heard
+beating on the turf.
+
+"Nic!" cried her sister, running to the window to look out.  "He has
+gone off at a gallop."
+
+"Gone!" cried Mrs Braydon--"and at a time like this!"
+
+"He has galloped off.  I know: he has gone over to save that poor
+fellow."
+
+Janet uttered a low sigh, and as Mrs Braydon turned to her wonderingly
+the poor girl fainted away.
+
+Meanwhile, urged now as he had never been urged before, by voice and
+heel, Sorrel forgot his long morning's ride, and stretching out like a
+greyhound skimmed over the soft turf like a swallow in its flight.
+
+Nic rode on with his heart a prey to varying emotions.  He knew
+perfectly well that the convict's fate would be that of all unruly
+assigned servants.  He had heard it from old Sam again and again,--how
+that if Jack did not behave well, he was sent by his master to another
+station, where he would have so many dozen lashes of the
+cat-o'-nine-tails and be sent back; while another time Joe, who had
+behaved ill at that next station, was sent across to the first.  So the
+masters avoided the administration of punishment to their own men, but
+punished those of their neighbours.  It was the rough-and-ready custom
+in the early days of the colony, and common enough for small offences.
+Where a convict servant's offence became a crime, he was returned to the
+prisons--marked.
+
+To Nic, then, it was horrible that the man for whom he had gradually
+grown to feel a warm sense of friendship should suffer this horrible
+indignity.  It would be, he felt, an outrage; for he was as fully
+convinced as if he had been present that Leather had been maddened by
+Brookes's ill usage until he struck him down.
+
+The boy felt old as he galloped on in the direction of the Wattles
+Station.  He had never been there, but he knew it lay some ten or a
+dozen miles away to the north, and he hoped to find it by riding on and
+on till he came upon flocks of sheep, and then going up some one or
+other of the eminences, and looking about till he caught sight of white
+buildings, which would be the place.  This would come the easier from
+the fact that stations were built close to water, but high enough up to
+be beyond the reach of floods.
+
+When he had gone three or four miles he began to repent not bringing
+Nibbler, who would, in all probability, have been there in his time, and
+consequently might take it for granted, when going in that direction,
+that his young master was aiming at this place.  But in his excitement
+he had thought of nothing but getting over there; and faint, hungry and
+hot, he began now to find that he had done a foolish thing.
+
+A chill ran through him at the idea of missing the place, and he was
+about to change his direction and ride up a hill to his left; when it
+suddenly struck him that after once starting he had done nothing in the
+way of guiding his horse, which kept right on in one direction, merely
+deviating to avoid great trees or patches of scrub.
+
+Then he uttered a joyful cry, for gazing down he could see hoof marks
+faintly on the thick grass, and it dawned upon him that these were quite
+fresh, and the horse was following them as steadily as if going along a
+main road.
+
+Elated by this he slackened the rein just sufficiently to feel the
+horse's mouth, and left it to itself.  And then it galloped in its easy,
+swinging pace, with its rider leaning forward, heart-sick where the
+footprints were invisible, and exultant as he caught sight of them again
+and again, after feeling that all was over and the trail entirely lost.
+
+"If I only were clever as one of the blacks," he thought.  "Bungarolo,
+Rigar, or Damper would follow the faintest trail."
+
+But their services were needless here.  The sorrel nag had been to the
+Wattles more than once before its young master's time, and, besides, its
+natural instinct led it to gallop along where its fellows had been
+before.
+
+Two great ostrich-like birds started up from right and left, and though
+he had not come across them before Nic knew that they must be emus; but
+he only glanced at them as they raced away, with the rapid motion of
+their legs making them almost as invisible as the spokes of a running
+wheel.  Twice over, too, he saw a drove of kangaroos, which went flying
+over the bushes in their tremendous leaps; but they excited no interest
+now.  He must get to the Wattles soon, or he would be too late.
+
+It was a long ten miles--more probably twelve--and Nic's heart was low,
+for he seemed to have been riding three hours, and he began to fear that
+the horse would go on following tracks until rein was drawn, so he
+stopped; when all at once, as they turned a clump of magnificent gum
+trees standing alone upon a beautiful down, there below him, and not a
+mile away, was the place he sought--a group of buildings, with the sheep
+and cattle dotting the country as far as his eye could range.
+
+And now he checked his horse's speed to a gentle canter, and thought of
+what he should do.
+
+He knew that he would be most welcome as a stranger, much more so as Dr
+Braydon's son; so he rode straight up to the fence, leaped down, and
+hitched his rein over a post close to where several saddles rode upon a
+rail, and was going up to the door of the house, when Mr Dillon himself
+appeared, and came to meet him with a friendly nod.
+
+"Dr Braydon's son, for a wager!" he cried.
+
+"Yes," said Nic; and before he could say another word the big,
+bluff-looking squatter shouted:
+
+"Hi, Belton!  Come and rub down and feed Mr Braydon's nag.  Now, my
+lad, come in.  We're just going to have a meal, and you must be hungry
+after your ride."
+
+Nic was hungry after his ride, which was a far longer one than Mr
+Dillon guessed, for the boy had had nothing since the morning, and the
+mention of food struck a responsive chord in his breast.  But he had not
+come to visit, and, flushing slightly, he spoke out at once, plunging
+boldly into the object of his coming, though he felt that the magistrate
+knew.
+
+"Thank you, no, Mr Dillon," he said.  "I have come over about our man."
+
+"So I supposed," said Mr Dillon, smiling; "but we can talk as we eat."
+
+"I can't at a time like this, sir," said Nic.  "I've come for him,
+please, to take him back with me."
+
+"Indeed!" said Mr Dillon, smiling.  "Do you know all that happened?--
+while you were out, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, everything, sir, and how you were misinformed."
+
+"Misinformed, was I?" said Mr Dillon pleasantly.  "I think not."
+
+"But you were, sir, indeed.  I know both the men so well."
+
+"I suppose so, my lad.  Let me see, you have been in the colony quite a
+short time?"
+
+"Yes; but I've seen a great deal of them," cried Nic, whose face burned
+with annoyance at the magistrate's look of amusement.
+
+"And you are, of course, a good judge of convict servants?"
+
+"I know nothing about any but our own men, sir.  But I have heard
+everything, sir, and I am sure that our man Leather does not deserve to
+be punished.  It would be unjust."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"Yes, sir: I'm sure of it."
+
+"And you want to take him back with you?"
+
+"If you please, sir--now.  I know the man so well, and I am certain that
+I can answer for there being no more trouble."
+
+"That's speaking broadly, my boy," said Mr Dillon, slapping Nic on the
+shoulder; "but comes tea--dinner's ready, and we can continue our
+argument as we have it."
+
+Nic shook his head.
+
+"I couldn't eat, sir, with that poor fellow in such trouble," he said.
+
+"Well, that's very kind and nice of you, my boy," said Mr Dillon, "and
+I like you for it; but come now, let's be reasonable.  You see, I am the
+magistrate of this district, but I want to talk to you, not like a man
+of law, only as your father's friend and neighbour."
+
+"Yes, I felt that you would, sir," said Nic, who was encouraged.
+
+"Your father has, I suppose, left you in charge of his station?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, boys out here have to act like men, and I like your manly way
+about this business.  You came back, found out the trouble, and rode
+over directly to set it right?"
+
+"Yes, sir--exactly."
+
+"That's all very right and just; only as a man of long experience, young
+Braydon, you see, I know better how to manage these troubles than you
+possibly can--a lad fresh over from school."
+
+"Yes, sir, I suppose so," said Nic, "in most cases; but I do know our
+man better than you."
+
+"You think so, my lad; but you are wrong.  He was my servant first."
+
+"Still, you will let our man come back with me, sir?"
+
+"In your father's absence, my boy, I have too much respect for him, too
+much interest in the safety of your mother and sisters, to send back
+unpunished a desperate man."
+
+"Don't say that, sir.  You don't know Leather indeed."
+
+"`Nothing like Leather,'" said Mr Dillon, smiling.  "Yes, I should
+think he was a great favourite of yours.  But, come now, my boy; you
+have done your part well.  Here, come in and have a good meal.  Your man
+has done what many more of these fellows do--broken out in a bit of
+savagery.  He is shut up safely in yonder, too much done up for me to
+say anything to him to-night; but tomorrow morning he will be tamed down
+a bit, and kept for three or four days to return to his senses, and then
+he will come back and go on with his work like a lamb."
+
+"Mr Dillon, you don't know him, sir!" cried Nic earnestly.  "Such a
+cruel act would drive the poor fellow mad."
+
+"I know him, and I know you, my boy.  There, you are young and
+enthusiastic; but I see, plainly enough, you have been too much with
+this fellow.  There, frankly, you have been with him a good deal?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Nic.
+
+"Precisely.  And he has not corrupted you, but he has made you believe
+that he is an injured, innocent man.  Frankly, now, is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, and I do believe," said Nic quietly.
+
+"Exactly.  Well, my dear boy, you see I do not; and if you will take my
+advice you will have nothing to do with him in the future."
+
+"Mr Dillon, you are mistaken," cried Nic.  "Pray--pray do not punish
+him!"
+
+"My dear young friend, pray--pray don't you interfere with a
+magistrate's duties."
+
+"Then you will not let him come, sir?"
+
+"Certainly not, for at least a week."
+
+"But, Mr Dillon, promise me that--that you--you will not flog him,"
+said Nic, in a husky whisper.
+
+"I promise you, my good lad, that tomorrow morning I shall have him out
+in front of my men and my four assigned servants--convicts, and have him
+given a good sound application of the cat.  Now that business is settled
+in a way that ten years hence you will agree is quite just; so come in
+like a sensible young neighbour, have a good feed, and I'll ride part of
+the way back with you after."
+
+"Do you mean this, sir?" said Nic hoarsely.
+
+"I always say what I mean, boy, and act up to it.  Once more, come in."
+
+Nic walked straight to where the man was rubbing down his horse, stopped
+him, picked up and girthed his saddle, saw to the bridle, and then
+mounted, while Mr Dillon stood watching him, half amused, half angry.
+
+Then a thought struck Nic, and he bent down as if to reach the
+cheek-piece of the bit, and slipped a shilling into the man's hand.
+
+"Where's our man shut up?" he whispered.
+
+"In the big shed behind the house," said the man, staring.
+
+Then at a touch Sour Sorrel started off.
+
+"Going now?" shouted Mr Dillon.
+
+Nic raised his hand to his hat as he galloped off, but he did not turn
+his head.
+
+"The conceited young puppy!" cried Mr Dillon angrily, as he watched the
+boy's receding form; "and he wouldn't eat bread and salt.  He deserves
+to be flogged himself for his obstinacy.  I don't know, though: I wish
+I'd had a boy like that."
+
+He re-entered the house, and Nic rode on homeward, the slowest, saddest
+ride he had had since he entered the colony, for as soon as he was out
+of sight of the house he drew rein and let Sorrel walk.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+A NIGHT'S WORK.
+
+"What shall I do?" said Nic to himself.
+
+Being faint, and feeling half stunned, no answer came; and he looked
+round at the beautiful country, which appeared newer and more beautiful
+than ever in the orange-gold of approaching evening, while all within
+was black with misery and despair.
+
+He never knew before how much he liked the stern, manly fellow who that
+next morning was to be tied up and flogged; and the more Nic thought of
+the horrible punishment the deeper grew his misery, as he felt what a
+helpless boy he was in the matter; and a number of wild plans began to
+enter his head.
+
+He had no gun with him now, but he could ride back, fetch it, and wait
+till morning.  Then he would ride up to the Wattles just when they were
+going to tie up Leather, take his place beside him, and, with presented
+gun, dare any one to touch his father's servant.
+
+Then the weak tears came into the boy's eyes, and he laughed a piteous,
+contemptuous laugh at himself for harbouring such a silly, romantic
+notion.
+
+And all the while Sorrel went on at his steady walk, growing cool and
+comfortable, refreshed too by the light feed he had had and the rub
+down.
+
+They went slowly on till sunset, when Nic drew rein, and sat gazing at
+the large orange ball sinking away beyond the mountains.
+
+"So beautiful!" he said, forced into admiration of the glories of the
+coming evening; "and poor Leather lying there handcuffed and waiting to
+be flogged."
+
+He leaped from his horse and threw the rein over its head.
+
+"There!" he cried, patting the soft arched neck, "eat away, old chap.
+You needn't be miserable if I am.  I can't go and leave poor Leather
+like this."
+
+He threw himself down on the grass to think--to try and make out some
+plan, while the birds winged their way overhead back to their roosting
+places, and here and there the kangaroos and their many little relatives
+began to steal out of the woodland shelters they had affected through
+the heat of the day, to lope about like huge hares, look around for
+danger, and then begin to browse.
+
+At first the only idea that would come to the boy was that he would wait
+there till daybreak, and then ride the three or four miles he had come
+in his homeward direction back to the Wattles, getting there in good
+time; and when the preparations were being made for punishment he would
+ride boldly up and make a final appeal to Mr Dillon to either let
+Leather off or to defer everything till the doctor returned.
+
+"Poor Leather!" he said to himself: "he'll see that I have not deserted
+him."
+
+_Crop_, _crop_, _crop_; the horse went on browsing away upon the rich
+grass, but keeping close at hand, as if liking its master's company, and
+raising its head now and then to whinny softly.
+
+The sun had gone down, and the glorious tints were dying out on and
+beyond the mountains.  Then a great planet began to twinkle in the soft
+grey of the west, which rapidly grew of a dark purple, lit up again with
+a warm glow and grew purple once more, with the planet now blazing like
+a dazzling spot of silver hung high in the heavens.
+
+Soon after, it would have been dark but for the glorious display of
+golden stars which now encircled the vast arch overhead, far more
+beautifully in that clear air than Nic ever remembered to have seen at
+home.
+
+And all this splendour of the heavens made him the more miserable, for
+it seemed to him as if at such a time everything ought to be dark and
+stormy.
+
+The night birds were out, and strange cries, wails, and chuckling noises
+reached his ears, mingled with the whirr and whizz of crickets and the
+soft pipe and croak of frogs in and about a water-hole not far away.
+
+Once or twice, half startled, Nic thought he saw dusky, shadowy figures
+stealing along, and his heart beat fast; but he soon told himself that
+it was all fancy, for if any one had approached the horse would have
+been alarmed, whereas it was close at hand cropping the grass
+contentedly, its loud puff of breath with which it blew away insects
+upon the grass sounding regular in its intervals.
+
+It was restful lying there, but Nic's faintness increased, and he was
+glad to pick a few leaves and blades of grass to chew and keep down the
+famished feeling which troubled him.  But that calm night-time was
+glorious for thought, and before long he had determined that, come what
+might, he would wait for another hour or two and ride back to the
+Wattles and set Leather free.
+
+For he knew whereabouts the convict was imprisoned.  The man who
+attended to Sorrel had said it was behind the house.  Then what could be
+easier than to ride round, and, close up, find which was the big shed,
+and give Leather a signal; and then, with one working outside, the other
+in, it would be easy enough.  Why, if he could not get the wooden bar
+away with which these big sheds were mostly fastened, he could guide
+Sorrel alongside, stand on the saddle, and remove some of the bark or
+shingle roofing.
+
+Nic forgot hunger, misery, and despair in the glow of exultation which
+came over him, and he felt contempt for his readiness to give up and
+think that all was over.
+
+"More ways of killing a cat than hanging it," he said, with a little
+laugh, and lying upon his back in a thoroughly restful position he set
+himself to watch the stars, till all at once they turned blank, and he
+leaped to his feet in alarm and went to pat his horse.
+
+"That won't do," he muttered.  "Done up, I suppose, and it was the lying
+on my back and leaving off thinking.  But I couldn't have slept for many
+minutes."
+
+For the matter of that the time might have been two or three hours, for
+aught he could have told; but as it was he had not been asleep a minute
+when he sprang back into wakefulness, and, determined now not to run any
+more risks, he stopped with his horse, resting against its flank and
+thinking of what a great solitary place he was in, and how strange it
+seemed for that vast country to have so few inhabitants.
+
+His aim was to wait until everybody would be asleep at the Wattles, and
+then ride softly up, when he felt that there would be light enough for
+his purpose, which ought not to take long.
+
+The time glided away slowly, but at last he felt that he might start,
+and after seeing that the bridle was all right he proceeded to tighten
+the girths.  But Sorrel had been pretty busy over that rich grass, and
+Nic found that if he did anything to those girths he ought to let them a
+little loose.
+
+"You greedy pig!" he said, patting the horse affectionately, "eating
+away like that and enjoying yourself when your master starves."
+
+The horse whinnied.
+
+"Ah! don't do that," said Nic in alarm.  "You would spoil everything."
+
+He mounted and cantered back for a good two miles, finding no
+difficulty, for the horse went over the same ground again.  Then Nic
+drew rein and walked on and on till he thought he must have missed the
+place in the dark; but all at once below him he saw a faint light move
+for a few moments, and disappear.
+
+Evidently a lantern which some one had carried into the house.
+
+Nic checked his horse for quite a quarter of an hour, and then walked it
+slowly down the slope, till there, dimly showing up before him, he could
+make out building after building, looming all dim and ghostly-looking,
+but plain enough to one whose eyes had grown accustomed to the dark.
+
+But there were fences to avoid, and there was an enclosed garden; so the
+boy felt that the wisest plan would be to take a pretty good circuit
+round and then go up to the back.
+
+Starting to do this, he was very nearly thrown, for Sorrel suddenly made
+a tremendous bound and cleared a large tree trunk, which had been felled
+and lay denuded of all its branches right across his way.
+
+This was a shock; and it had other effects, for at the heavy beat of
+hoofs a deep-mouthed dog suddenly set up a tremendous bark, which was
+taken up by half a dozen more in chorus, accompanied by the rattling of
+chains in and out of kennels.
+
+Nic paused, with his heart beating, but the barking went on, and a voice
+was heard to shout faintly:
+
+"Lie down!"
+
+But the dogs still barked, and a window was opened and a loud voice,
+which Nic recognised, shouted:
+
+"Hullo!  What is it, my lads?"
+
+The barking turned to a burst of whimpering and whining, and after a few
+sharp commands to lie down Nic heard the window closed; and the rattling
+of the dogs' chains began again, a whimper or two, and then all was
+silent once more.
+
+Meanwhile Nic had peered carefully round, and became aware of the fact
+that there were several pieces of timber lying about, as if a group of
+trees had been felled where he stood, and cautiously dismounting and
+leading his horse, he began to guide it out of the dangerous place.
+
+But he had hardly achieved this when the barking broke out again, making
+Nic mount and ride slowly off, while the window was once more thrown
+open, and the voice the boy had recognised as the magistrate's cried
+sharply:
+
+"What is it there, boys?" the dogs barking wildly in reply.
+
+Just then a shrill whistle rang out, and directly after a man shouted.
+
+"All right, sir, here!"
+
+"What's the matter with the dogs, Belton?"
+
+"Dunno, sir.  Dingo, perhaps."
+
+"Or something else.  Here: go and see if that scoundrel's all right."
+
+"He's all right, sir.  I've been twice.  Just come from there now."
+
+"Humph!  That's right, my lad.  But they seem very uneasy."
+
+"Well, yes, sir, they do," said the man; "but they often have a fit like
+this.  Lie down, will yer!"
+
+There was a general rattling of chains at this, while every word had
+come distinctly to Nic's ears in the soft silence.
+
+"Good night."
+
+"Good night, sir."
+
+There was shutting of the window, and then the man said slowly:
+
+"I'll bring a whip round to some on yer directly.  Hold yer row!"
+
+One dog barked as if protesting.
+
+"Quiet, will yer!" cried the man.  "Think nobody wants to sleep?"
+
+Then silence, an uneasy rattle of a chain, the banging of a door, and
+Nic wiped the perspiration from his brow.
+
+The case seemed hopeless, but he would not give up.  Twice over he tried
+to get round to the back of the house, but the dogs were on the alert;
+and the last time, just as he drew rein closer than he had been before,
+the window was opened, two flashes of light cut the darkness, and there
+came the double report of a gun, making Sorrel bound and nearly unseat
+his rider.
+
+"See any one, sir?" cried the man, hurrying out.
+
+"No; but I'm sure there's some one about.  Get your gun.  I'll be down
+directly, and we'll keep watch."
+
+The window closed, and Nic heard the man growl at the dogs:
+
+"You've done it now.  Keep watch, eh?  But I'll pay some on yer
+to-morrow."
+
+The dogs burst out barking again, for Nic was guiding his horse away in
+despair, feeling that he could not accomplish his task; then he waited
+till he was a few hundred yards distant, and cantered on, feeling that
+in all probability some of the dogs would be loosened and come after
+him.
+
+As he rode he listened, and there was the yelping as of a pack, making
+him urge Sorrel into a gallop; but the sounds died out, and at the end
+of a mile he drew rein, for there was no suggestion of pursuit.
+
+Nic walked his horse beneath one of the great trees, and sat there like
+a statue, thinking, and trying hard to come to some determination.  To
+get at the building where Leather was imprisoned was not the easy task
+he had thought.  In fact, he felt now, that with all those dogs about,
+that he had not noticed the previous afternoon, when they were probably
+away with the shepherds, it was impossible.
+
+"What shall I do?" he said to himself again; and he cudgelled his brain
+in the hope of some idea coming, but all in vain.
+
+And so a good hour passed, when, sick and in despair, he determined to
+make one more essay, for he argued, with a bitter smile, "The dogs may
+be asleep."  At any rate he would try, and if he failed he would ride up
+in the morning, and they should not flog the poor fellow while he was
+there.
+
+"Yes," he said, "the dogs may be asleep; but suppose Mr Dillon or his
+men are keeping watch."
+
+He had put his horse in motion, and was riding out of the black shadow,
+but drew rein sharply, and Sorrel stopped short, for away in the
+distance came the loud yelping and baying of dogs in pursuit of
+something, just as he had heard them in the Kentish woods at home when
+laid on the scent of a fox, but not with the weird, strange sound heard
+now on the night air.
+
+"What does it mean?" thought Nic, as his heart seemed to stand still and
+then began to beat with heavy throbs; for the idea came that Leather had
+broken out--was escaping--was coming in his direction; and at that
+moment there was a pause--a silence which jarred the boy's nerves.
+
+Had they got him?
+
+No; for the dogs were in full pursuit once more, probably on the
+fugitive's scent, and faintly heard there were shouts as of some one
+urging the pack on.
+
+How long what followed took Nic never knew, for he was listening,
+intensely excited, and agitated as to whether he should go or stay, when
+the thought came that perhaps the dogs were on his scent; but he cast
+that idea away as foolish, for he had been mounted nearly all the time.
+
+Then all at once, as the hounds were evidently coming nearer and the
+shouts plainer, Nic felt that he must sit out the affair and hear what
+had happened; when Sorrel drew a deep breath, there was a heavy
+breathing, and a man came on at a steady trot straight for the shadow in
+which Nic sat, so that the next moment he was upon him.
+
+"Back, for your life!" came hoarsely, as the man raised his arm.
+
+"Leather!"
+
+"You here!" panted the convict.  "But quick--they're after us.  Canter
+right away."
+
+As he spoke he took a firm grip of the nag's mane, and as it sprang off
+ran easily by its side, the docile beast making straight for home.
+
+For some minutes they went on like this, with the sounds growing
+fainter; and then the convict broke the silence.
+
+"Master Nic," he whispered, "I am innocent, my lad.  I did not use the
+axe.  That ruffian struck me with the fork handle till my manhood
+revolted against it, and I knocked him down with my fist, boy--my fist."
+
+"Yes, I know: Sam told me," said Nic hoarsely.  "I came to try and get
+you away."
+
+"God bless you, my lad!  I couldn't bear to stay there and be disgraced
+more than I have.  It was too hard."
+
+"How did you escape?"
+
+"Broke the handcuffs apart, climbed to the rafters, pulled open the bark
+thatching and let myself down; but the dogs gave the alarm."
+
+"Well, they shan't have you now," cried Nic, pulling up.  "Jump on and
+ride home.  I'll run beside you.  They can't take you away again."
+
+The convict laughed bitterly.
+
+"You foolish boy," he said gently, "the law is on their side.  No.
+Good-bye, lad.  Don't forget me.  You know the truth, but you must not
+be mixed up with my escape.  You have done nothing yet.  Off with you--
+home!"
+
+"But you, Leather, what are you going to do?" said Nic huskily.
+
+"Escape if I can, and I think I shall."
+
+"But where--what to do?  Wait till father comes home?"
+
+"No.  What can he do?  Dillon will send me to the chain gang as a
+dangerous man; and I am now, boy--I am, for it shall only be my dead
+body they shall take."
+
+"Leather!"
+
+"No, Nic.  Frank Mayne, an honest man.  Home with you, boy!"
+
+"But you?"
+
+"I?  There's room enough yonder.  To begin a new life of freedom--a
+savage among the blacks."
+
+There was a smart blow of the open hand delivered on the horse's neck,
+and the startled beast sprang forward into a wild gallop, which the boy
+could not for the moment check.  When he did, and looked round, there
+was the darkness of the night, the cry of some wild bird; the baying of
+the dogs had ceased, and he was quite alone.
+
+"He can't be far," thought the boy, and he whistled softly again and
+again, but there was no reply.  He tried to pierce the darkness, but it
+was very black now, and he noticed that the stars had been blotted out,
+and directly after there came _pat_; _pat_, _pat_--the sound of great
+drops of rain, the advance-guard of a storm.
+
+It would have been useless to try and follow the convict, and at last
+Nic let his impatient horse move on at a walk, then it cantered, and
+then galloped straight for the Bluff, as if trying to escape from the
+pelting rain, while it quivered at every flash and bounded on as the
+lightning was followed by a deafening roar.
+
+"There'll be no trail to follow," cried Nic exultantly; "it will all be
+washed away, and he'll shelter himself under some tree.  But hurrah!  I
+shall see him again.  Let old Dillon flog the whipping-post, or, if he's
+disappointed, let him have old Brookes."
+
+For a peculiar feeling of exultation had come upon the boy, and the
+storm, instead of being startling, seemed grand, till he rode into the
+enclosure, seeing that lights were in three of the windows, and a trio
+of voices cried:
+
+"Nic, is that you?"
+
+"Yes, all right," he shouted.  "So hungry.  In as soon as I've seen to
+my horse."
+
+Five minutes after he ran in dripping wet, and had hard work to keep
+Mrs Braydon from embracing him.
+
+"Not till I've changed, mother," he cried.
+
+"But where have you been?"
+
+"Over to Dillon's, to get him not to punish Leather, and let him come
+away."
+
+"Yes, Nic?" cried Janet excitedly.
+
+"He wouldn't let him come."
+
+Janet heaved a piteous sigh and sank back in her chair, while Nic
+hurried to his room to get rid of his soaking garments.
+
+When he came out to go to the room where the meal had been kept waiting
+all those many hours for his return, he met Janet.
+
+"You coward!" she whispered: "you have not tried."
+
+"I did my best," whispered Nic.  "But, I say, Jan, can you keep a
+secret?"
+
+"Yes: what?" she cried excitedly.
+
+"Old Dillon must be as mad as mad.  Leather has escaped, and has made
+for the myall scrub."
+
+Janet uttered a peculiar sound: it was caused by her pressing her hands
+to her lips to suppress a cry, as she ran to her own room.
+
+"Poor chap!" said Nic to himself.  "I'm glad she likes him too."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+THE QUEST.
+
+As Nic had supposed would be the case, hoof-marks were either
+obliterated or looked faint and old from the heavy soaking they had
+received in the storm, while those made by a man were invisible, unless
+to the ultra-keen eyes of some natives.
+
+He noted this when he went out that same morning in pretty good time,
+for he felt convinced that Mr Dillon would give him the credit of
+helping Leather to escape.
+
+It was a glorious morning, the dust being washed away by the storm, and
+everything looking beautifully fresh and green in the sunshine.
+
+When he went out he was soon aware of something else being wrong, for
+Brookes was rating the three blacks, who had thoroughly enjoyed their
+truant holiday, and would have stayed away for days in the myall scrub,
+but the bush in wet weather is to a blackfellow not pleasant, from the
+showers of drops falling upon his unclothed skin.  Consequently the
+storm had sent them back, and they were all found clothed and curled up
+fast asleep in the wool-shed by old Sam, who had roused them up.
+
+His words had brought Brookes on the scene, armed with a stout stick,
+with which he was thrashing them, while the rascals were hopping about
+in a peculiar shuffling dance, whose steps consisted in every one
+wanting to be at the back and pushing his fellow to the front.
+
+Bungarolo was the least adept player, and Damper and Rigar managed to
+keep him before them as a kind of breastwork or shield, behind which
+they could escape the threatening stick.
+
+"Baal mumkull! baal mumkull!  (don't kill)," he kept crying piteously.
+
+"But that's all you're fit for, you lazy rascals.  Where did you go?"
+
+"Plenty go find yarraman.  Budgery yarraman (good horses).  Plenty go
+find.  Run away."
+
+"I don't believe it.  What horses ran away?"
+
+"Kimmeroi, bulla, metancoly (one, two, ever so many)," cried Rigar, from
+the back.
+
+"It's all a lie.  Come: out with you!"
+
+"No, leave him alone, Brookes," said Nic sternly.  "I'll have no more
+quarrelling to-day."
+
+The man faced round sharply.
+
+"Look here, young master, are you going to manage this here station, or
+am I?" he cried.
+
+"I am, as far as I know; and I won't have the black-fellows knocked
+about."
+
+The three culprits understood enough English to grasp his meaning, and
+burst out together in tones of reproach:
+
+"Baal plenty stick.  No Nic coolla (angry).  Black-fellow nangery
+(stay), do lot work."
+
+"Work!  Yes," cried Nic.  "Go away with you, and begin."
+
+The three blacks set up a shout like school-children who had escaped
+punishment, and danced and capered off to the work that they had left
+the day before.
+
+"Look here, sir--" began Brookes again.
+
+"Why don't you hold your tongue, Brooky?" cried old Sam.  "You ain't
+looked in the glass this morning, or you'd see enough mischief was done
+yesterday."
+
+"Who spoke to you?" cried Brookes fiercely.
+
+"Not you, or you'd get on better.  Young master's quite right.  You
+can't deal with the blacks that way."
+
+"Breakfast!" cried a clear voice; and Nic turned to find his sister
+Janet coming to meet him, looking very pale, but quite contented.
+
+"I shall keep it a secret, Nic," she whispered.  "I'm so glad, for all
+that seemed so dreadful to me."
+
+At that moment Mrs Braydon appeared at the door, she too looking pale,
+but eager to welcome her son; and no allusion was made during breakfast
+to the previous day's trouble.
+
+But hardly had they finished when Nibbler burst into a deep-toned volley
+of barking, which immediately started the two collies, and they rushed
+round to the front.
+
+"Some one coming," cried Hilda.  "Oh,--they're bringing back poor
+Leather!"
+
+Nic sprang to the window, to see Mr Dillon, followed by five of his
+men, three blacks, and seven or eight dogs, among which were three
+gaunt, grey, rough-haired, Scottish deer-hounds.
+
+The boy had expected that Mr Dillon would come, but his sister's words
+staggered him and gave him a sharp pang.
+
+The next moment, though, he saw that she was wrong; and turning from the
+window, he exchanged glances with Janet, as he said quite coolly, "What
+does he want so soon?" and made for the door, thinking that he knew well
+enough that they were on a man-hunting expedition, but congratulated
+himself on the convict's long start.
+
+"Good morning, Mr Dominic," said the magistrate, riding up, while the
+two collies ran on to investigate the strange dogs, and Nibbler tore
+furiously at his chain.
+
+"Good morning, sir," said Nic.  "Here, Rumble--rumble!  Come here, both
+of you!  Hi, Samson!  Shut these two dogs up in one of the sheds."
+
+"Yes," said the visitor, "or there'll be a fight."  Then, as Sam came
+running up and relieved Nic of his task of holding the pair by their
+black frills, "Will you be good enough to walk a little way from the
+house, young man?  I want a word or two with you."
+
+"He can't know I was there," thought Nic; and he walked beside the
+visitor's horse till it was checked, and the rider looked down sharply
+at the boy.
+
+"Now, young gentleman," he said, "I don't want to quarrel with your
+father's son, but I am a man who never allows himself to be played with.
+You played me a pretty trick last night."
+
+"I, sir?  How?"
+
+"Do you want telling?"
+
+"Of course, sir."
+
+Nic felt the magistrate's eyes piercing almost into his very thoughts;
+but, at the same time, he saw those armed men and that pack of dogs
+ready to hunt down the convict, and if he could avoid it he was
+determined not to say all he knew.
+
+"You came over to my place last night and broke a way out for that
+fellow to escape."
+
+"I did not," said Nic firmly.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that you did not bring over a handcuff key which
+your father has, and climb in at the roof and unlock the bracelets?"
+
+"I do tell you so!" said Nic.  "I did not know we had such a thing."
+
+"On your word as a gentleman?"
+
+"On my word as a gentleman," said Nic.  Then to himself: "If he asks me
+if I came over, I must say Yes."
+
+"Then I beg your pardon," said Mr Dillon.  "But you have him here?"
+
+"No," said Nic, "he is not here."
+
+"I must ask your men.  Will you summon them?"
+
+"The blacks too?" said Nic.
+
+"Yes, all of them, please."
+
+"Hi, Sam!" cried Nic, as the old man banged to and fastened the door
+where he had shut up the dogs.  "Call Brookes and the blacks; then come
+here."
+
+"Right, sir," said the old man; and Mr Dillon went on:
+
+"He got away somehow, and the dogs were after him till the storm spoiled
+the scent."
+
+"Then you can't flog him," said Nic in triumph.
+
+"Not this morning, of course," said Mr Dillon good humouredly.  "All
+right, my young friend, you'll come round to my way of thinking."
+
+"Never," said Nic firmly.
+
+"That's a long time, squire.  But don't you look so satisfied.  You
+really do not imagine that our friend can get away?"
+
+"There's plenty of room," said Nic.
+
+"To starve, my led.  But, mark my words, if we don't run him down this
+morning, he'll come back before long to ask for his punishment, if the
+myall blacks have not speared him and knocked him on the head."
+
+Just then the men came forward, and the magistrate's attention was taken
+up, so that he did not see Nic's shudder.
+
+"Oh, Brookes," said Mr Dillon, "that fellow broke out and ran for the
+bush last night?"
+
+"What?" cried the man, changing colour.
+
+"Has he made you deaf?" said Mr Dillon.  "Your Leather got away last
+night.  Have you seen him?"
+
+"No, no," said Brookes, who looked unnerved.  "But you'll run him down,
+sir?"
+
+"Of course.  And you, Samson?"
+
+"No, sir, he hasn't been back here.  Here, you--Bung, Rig, Damper: have
+you seen Leather 'smorning?"
+
+"Plenty mine see Leather chop rail."
+
+"Yes, yes, that was yesterday.  'Smorning?"
+
+The three blacks made a peculiar sound, and threw up their chins.
+
+"No good, Belton," said Mr Dillon.  "Back to the bunya clump.  I have
+an idea that he struck off there, so as to keep up by the river.  Don't
+care to mount and come and see a convict hunt, squire, I suppose?" said
+the magistrate inquiringly.
+
+Nic gave him a furious look, and Mr Dillon nodded good humouredly and
+rode after his men, the dogs beginning to bark as they started back, to
+be answered by Nibbler and the collies, who thrust their noses under the
+bottom of the door.
+
+"Won't take them big stag-hounds long to hunt him down," said Brookes,
+trying to hide his nervousness with a grin.
+
+"Think they'll catch him, Sam?" said Nic.
+
+"Well, sir, it's just about like a pair o' well-balanced wool scales,"
+said the old man rather sadly.  "Dogs has wonderful noses of their own.
+But there, I 'spose we shall hear."
+
+Nic went off to the stables, for he had not the heart to go indoors.
+And as he stood by his horse the desire came upon him strongly to mount
+and ride after Mr Dillon's party, so as to know everything that
+happened, but he felt that it might appear to the poor fellow that he
+was with the party trying to hunt him down, and he stayed and hung about
+the station all day.
+
+"Bung," he said toward evening, "you like Leather?"
+
+"Plenty mine like damper."
+
+"No, no; I mean did Leather ever knock you about?"
+
+"Baal, no.  Budgery (good)."
+
+"Go over to the Wattles, Mr Dillon's, and find--did catch Leather.  You
+pidney?  (understand)."
+
+The man gave him a sly look, laughed, and ran into the cow-shed, to come
+out directly after in his dress clothes, and armed.  Then with a shout
+he ran off at a long, quick trot toward the track.
+
+It was getting toward midnight when he returned, to cooey under the
+boy's window.
+
+"Well, did you find out?"
+
+"No catch.  White fellow plenty run along myall bush."
+
+"Here, catch," cried Nic, and he pitched the man a big piece of damper
+and the blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton; and then, as he closed the
+window, he fancied he heard whispering outside his door, and another
+door closed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+BLACK SYMPATHY.
+
+Nic found the next day that in their tiny world of the Bluff there were
+others sufficiently interested in the convict's fate to have been making
+inquiries about the proceedings instituted by Mr Dillon; for on going
+round the place in the fresh early morning to see how the live stock was
+getting on, the first person he met was old Sam, who saluted him with
+one of his ugly smiles, and a chuckle like that of a laughing jackass--
+of course the bird.
+
+"They didn't ketch him, Master Nic," he cried.
+
+"Why, you ought to be vexed, Sam," replied the boy.
+
+"Yes, I know that, sir; but I ain't.  I don't like Leather 'cause he's a
+convict, and it ain't nice for honest men to have them sort for
+fellow-servants.  But I don't want him ketched and flogged.  Not me."
+
+"But will they catch him, do you think, Sam?"
+
+"Ah, that's what nobody can say.  Most likely yes, because if the dogs
+get on his scent they'll run him down."
+
+"But the rain?"
+
+"Ay, that's in his favour, sir.  But, then, there's another thing: the
+blacks will be set to work again."
+
+"But they can't scent him out."
+
+"Nay; but they can smell him out with their eyes and run him down.
+Bound to say, if I set our three to work, they'd find the poor lad."
+
+"They are very keen and observant."
+
+"Keen, Master Nic?  Ay!  It's a many years now since I shaved; but if I
+took to it again I shouldn't use rayshors, sir, but blackfellows' sight.
+Steel's nowhere to it."
+
+"But how do you know they didn't catch him?"
+
+"I sent Damper and Rigar to see the fun, and they came back to me
+grinning, and told me."
+
+"But did Mr Dillon set his blacks to work tracking?"
+
+"Ay, that he did; but it strikes me they didn't want to find the poor
+chap.  It's like this, you see, Master Nic.  Yes'day morning, as soon as
+our three found out, from Brooky's face looking like a bit o' unbaked
+damper, and his tied-up head, that he'd been having it, they asked me
+how it was, and I told 'em.  Next minute I goes into the cow-shed to see
+what the noise was, and them three chaps--for they're just like little
+children--there they were, with jyned hands, having a crobbery sort o'
+dance."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, sir?  Just because they were precious glad that Brooky had found
+his master.  They didn't say so, but I knew.  You don't suppose, because
+a chap's face is black, he likes to be hit with sticks, and kicked, and
+sneered at.  They're little children in big black bodies, master; but
+they like the man who shares his damper and mutton with 'em and never
+gives 'em a dirty word a deal better than him as treats 'em as if they
+was kangaroos."
+
+"Of course, Sam."
+
+"They get their likes same as little children do.  The lazy black
+rascals!" continued the old man, grinning; "they always want to be at
+play, and I give it 'em well sometimes, but they know they deserve it;
+and, after all, they'd do anything for me, Master Nic, and so they would
+for you."
+
+"Oh, I've done nothing to please them, Sam."
+
+"Oh yes you have, Master Nic, often; and just you look here--they didn't
+show their white teeth for nothing."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I'll tell you, sir.  They was along with Dillon's blackfellows yes'day
+most o' the arternoon, and Dillon's blackfellows didn't find old
+Leather."
+
+"No; you said so before."
+
+"Ay, I did, sir; but don't you see why they didn't hit out Leather's
+track?"
+
+"Because the rain had washed it away."
+
+"Nay!" cried Sam, with a long-drawn, peculiar utterance; "because our
+fellows wouldn't let 'em.  They belongs to the same tribe."
+
+"Ah!" cried Nic.
+
+"That's it, sir.  Our boys give 'em a hint, or else they'd ha' found him
+fast enough."
+
+"Then he'll escape!" cried Nic eagerly.
+
+"Nay!  There's no saying.  Government's very purticlar about running a
+pris'ner down.  'Bliged to be.  Soon as it's reported as Leather's
+jumped for the bush, some o' they mounted police'll be over, and they'll
+bring blackfellows with 'em as don't know him and don't belong to our
+boys' tribe, and they'll find him.  'Sides, there's black tribes in the
+bush as'd take a delight in throwing spears at him.  And then again,
+how's a white man going to live?  He ain't a black, as'll get fat on
+grubs, and worms, and snakes, and lizzars, and beadles, when he can't
+get wallabies and birds.  But there, we shall see.  I'm sorry he jumped
+for the bush; but don't you go and think I want to see him caught and
+flogged."
+
+"I don't, Sam."
+
+"Then you're right, Master Nic; on'y raally you mustn't keep me
+a-talking here.  I say, though," he whispered confidentially, and
+chuckling with delight all the time, "Brooky won't enjy his wittles till
+Leather is ketched."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"He's going about, sir, in the most dreadfullest stoo.  He walked over
+in the night to the Wattles, and come back all of a tremble, and he's
+got a loaded gun behind the wool-shed door, and another behind the
+stable."
+
+"Yes; I saw that, and wondered how it came there."
+
+"He put it there, sir," chuckled the old man.  "Just you watch him next
+time you see him.  He's just like a cocksparrer feeding, what keeps on
+turning his head to right and then to left and all round, to see if
+Leather's coming to pounce on him and leather him.  The pore chap don't
+know it, but he's sarving out Mister Brooky fine.  There, now I must go,
+sir, raally.  One word, though: Brooky's doing nothing but grumble, and
+look out for squalls, and the master away--not as that matters so much,
+for the way in which you're a-steppin' into his shoes, sir, is raally
+fine.  But I want things to look to-rights when he comes back."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+A FALSE SCENT.
+
+Two days, three days glided by, and the convict was not found.  Then a
+week passed, and another, and he was still at large; but a letter was
+brought up from the post, a couple of the mounted police being the
+bearers.  This letter, from the doctor, told that Sir John O'Hara was
+dangerously ill, and that his life was despaired of; it was impossible
+to leave him till a change took place; and the letter ended
+affectionately, with hopes that Nic was managing the station well, and
+that all was going on peacefully.
+
+The mounted police were going on to Mr Dillon's, and on their return in
+three days they were to take back Mrs Braydon's answer.
+
+The men had just ridden off after a rest and a hearty meal, when, as Nic
+turned to re-enter the house and hear the letter read over again, he saw
+old Sam's head over the garden fence, and the handle of his spade held
+up as a signal.
+
+"Want me, Sam?"
+
+"Ay, sir; come in here.  I don't want Brooky to see me talking to you as
+if I was telling tales.  We has to live together, and we're bad enough
+friends without that."
+
+Nic went round by the gate, and the old man sunk his voice.
+
+"He's been at 'em, sir."
+
+"Who has been at what?"
+
+"I don't mean what you mean, sir.  Brooky got at them two police.  Know
+what that means?"
+
+"About Leather?" cried Nic.
+
+"That's it, sir.  There'll be another hunt 'safternoon and to-morrer;
+and if they don't ketch him then, when they go back they'll take a
+'spatch from Mr Dillon, and we shall have a lot of 'em down here."
+
+Nic's face contracted from his mental pain.
+
+"Don't you look like that, my lad.  They ain't got him yet.  Do you
+know, I shouldn't wonder if he's gone right away with Bung's tribe, and
+they won't get him.  But I say, Master Nic, you won't go over to the
+Wattles, will you?"
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"But you'd like to hear?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Then I tell you what, sir: just you tell our three that, as they've
+been very good boys, they may have a holiday and go and get a good lot
+o' bunya nuts."
+
+"Get a lot of what?" said Nic, in a tone of disgust.
+
+"Bunya nuts, sir: grows on them trees something like firs.  They ain't
+half bad, I can tell you."
+
+"But I don't want to send them out nutting," said Nic.  "They're better
+at work."
+
+"You don't understand, sir.  I saw them staring over the fences at the
+perlice.  You give them leave, and off they'll go and watch everything,
+just as if they were on'y playing about.  Then we shall know
+everything."
+
+In the result, there was very little to know; for when the three
+blackfellows came back that night, they could only tell that there had
+been a long hunt for the convict.  They got to know, too, that there was
+to be another next day.
+
+Then the police returned, received their letters for the doctor, and as
+they rode off for their long journey to the port they told Nic in
+confidence not to make himself uncomfortable, for they would be back
+soon with a little troop and some trackers, and that then they would
+soon catch the escaped man.
+
+"I don't suppose he'll venture near the station, sir; but if he does,
+and don't surrender, you're justified in shooting him down."
+
+Nic drew his breath hard as he went back to the house very thoughtfully,
+but he said nothing indoors.
+
+That afternoon he mounted, and sent the two collies nearly frantic by
+whistling to them to come after him; and as they dashed on Nic rode
+after at an easy canter, to take a long round amongst the grazing,
+off-lying cattle, and carry out another project he had in mind.
+
+It was very pleasant riding there through the far-stretching, park-like
+place, and that afternoon the number of birds he passed was enormous,
+but Nic did not shoot at them.  A large iguana, a hideous, dragon-like
+creature, ran to a big tree, making Sorrel start as it crossed his path,
+and then the great lizard crept up among the branches, puffing itself
+out, waving its tail, and looking threatening and dangerous.  But Nic
+paid no heed to it, instead of shooting it for the blacks' supper.  And
+twice over large snakes were left unmolested, in spite of the furious
+barkings of the dogs, and their reproachful looks, which seemed to say,
+"Why didn't you shoot?"
+
+For Nic had been thinking that if he extended his round day by day, he
+would, sooner or later, come upon Leather, who must be in hiding
+somewhere near, for he would never dare to go right off into the wilds
+and seek starvation.
+
+There were the dogs too; and in all probability they would scent him
+out, and he could warn him of the coming of the police.
+
+But though Nic extended his rounds more and more, the days glided by,
+and neither in open glade, deep ravine, ferny gorge, hollow forest
+monarch, nor dense patch of bush did he come upon the slightest token of
+the convict ever having been there.
+
+Then in despair he tried a new plan.  He quietly got the three blacks
+together and explained to them what he wanted, and rode behind them in
+high glee as they trotted on, spear in hand.
+
+"What a stupid I was not to think of this before!" he said to himself;
+full of confidence.  But that night he rode back low-spirited and dull.
+The blacks had shown him holes in trees, out of which they chopped
+opossums; the lairs of kangaroos; the pool where a couple of egg-laying,
+duck-billed platypi dwelled; and trees bearing a kind of plum, and
+others with nuts: but no signs of Leather.
+
+He tried the next day, and at another time would have been fascinated by
+the unusual-looking objects the blacks pointed out; but now he wanted to
+find the convict, and everything else was as nothing; for he felt
+certain that if the party came over from Port Jackson, the result would
+be that Leather would be hunted out, refuse to surrender, and be shot
+down.
+
+But the trips with the blacks all proved to be dismal failures.
+
+Oh yes, they understood.
+
+"Plenty come along find Leather.  Corbon budgery.  My word, come along."
+
+But they found him not; and when bullied, they smiled, looked stupid, or
+shook their heads.
+
+"It's because they won't find him, Master Nic.  They know all the time,"
+said old Sam.
+
+Acting upon this idea, Nic attacked the three blacks separately, telling
+them he was sure they knew where Leather was in hiding, and insisting
+upon being told; but the only result he obtained in each case was a
+stare of surprise and puzzlement.  The man's face puckered up, and at
+last he mumbled out:
+
+"No pidney (understand).  Mine no take Leather fellow in myall.  Mine no
+been see it mandowie (tracks)."
+
+"Be off!" said Nic; and the others talked in a similar way, and went
+"off;" looking the quintessence of stupidity.
+
+"You're all wrong, Sam," said Nic, the next time he ran against the old
+man.
+
+"What about, sir--them calves?"
+
+"No, no--about the blacks.  I questioned each of them, and they were all
+as stupid as could be."
+
+"No, I ain't wrong, sir.  You get 'em all three together, and promise
+'em plenty of damper, some sugar, and a pot each of your ma's jam; then
+you'll see."
+
+"I'll soon do that," said Nic.  "They're in the wool-shed."
+
+"But Brooky's there, sir."
+
+"No, I saw him go off toward the fern gully an hour ago, with a gun upon
+his shoulder."
+
+"Look here, sir.  You'd better lock up all the guns, and keep 'em till
+they're wanted, or maybe we shall be having mischief done."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean, sir?  As Brooky's always going about with a gun, and on the
+watch.  He don't want a gun to go and look round o' they cows.  He feels
+as Leather's close handy somewhere, and afraid he'll take him unawares.
+If you was to ask him, he'd tell you he was sure the blacks knew where
+Leather's hiding.  There, I'm sorry for him after all."
+
+"So am I, poor fellow."
+
+"Nay, I don't mean Leather: I mean Brooky.  He can't even sleep of a
+night for fear Leather should come and pay him out.  It sarves him
+right, I know, for he always was a brute to Leather; but there, he's
+being paid back pretty severe.  You go and talk to them there black
+boys.  You'll get it out of them with that jam."
+
+Nic strode across toward the wool-shed, and found the blacks jabbering
+away hard, and evidently quite excited; but they heard his steps, and
+three rough black heads came softly into sight, one round each doorpost,
+and the other above a couple of broad boards which ran in grooves, used
+to keep pigs or other animals from entering to make a warm bed in the
+wool.  But the moment they caught sight of their young master they
+disappeared, the middle man going off cart-wheel fashion, like a black
+firework, with arms and legs flying, so as to get behind a stack of
+wool.
+
+"Here, you fellows," cried Nic, looking over the board, "come here!"
+
+"Baal go floggee blackfellow," protested Bungarolo.
+
+"No mine no flog," cried Nic.
+
+"Mas Nic corbon budgery (very good).  All come along."
+
+This brought out the other two grinning.
+
+"Mine come fish?" cried Damper.
+
+"No; I want to find Leather fellow.  You boys pidney where he is."
+
+The faces ceased grinning, and looked as if carved out of some burned
+wooden stump, all hard, solid, and immovable.
+
+"There, I know: so no nonsense.  You all take me and show me Leather
+fellow's mandowie, and I'll give you plenty damper, plenty mutton,
+plenty sugar and jam."
+
+"Mine no find mandowie (tracks)," said Rigar.  "You pidney (know),
+Damper?"
+
+"Mine no pidney," said Damper.  "Mandowie myall.  Bungarolo pidney?"
+
+"Bung no pidney," said that gentleman.
+
+"Yes, you all pidney--more sugar, more jam, more damper," cried Nic.
+
+But the men only stared blankly; and growing impatient at last with the
+three ebony blacks, Nic left them to go back to Sam, but turned sharply,
+to see that they were all three watching him with their faces in a broad
+grin.
+
+This exasperated him so that he made a rush back to look into the long
+dark shed, where he could see wool everywhere, but no traces of the
+blacks, who seemed to have disappeared.
+
+"I'll bring a whip," he shouted, and then went away, laughing at the way
+the men were scared.
+
+"Sam's right," he said: "they are like big black children.  Here!  Hi!
+Samson," he shouted, and the old man came to meet him.  "They don't
+know."
+
+"Don't know, sir?  What makes you say that?"
+
+Nic related his experience, and Sam grinned.
+
+"And they laughed at you," he said, showing his teeth.  "Why was that?
+On'y because they enjoyed being as they thought too clever for you,
+Master Nic.  They know, sir; but it's no use--they won't tell.  They
+like you and me; but if they'd speak out to us as they do to one
+another, they'd say, `No mine tell Leather fellow, Mas Nic, plenty mine
+jam, damper.  Leather fellow mumkull.'"
+
+"Mumkull?  Afraid Leather would kill them for telling?"
+
+"That's it, sir, safe."
+
+There was something to stir the pulses of Nic soon after, and he somehow
+felt glad that he did not know the convict's hiding-place, for a dozen
+of the colonial mounted police rode up, followed by half a dozen black
+trackers and a couple of chained and muzzled, fierce-looking dogs, whose
+aspect sent a shiver through Nic, excited the indignation of the
+collies, and drove Nibbler into a fit of fury, making him bound to the
+end of his chain so savagely that he dragged his tub kennel out of its
+place and drew it behind him, making him look like some peculiar snaily
+quadruped trying to shed its shell.
+
+"Better shut up your dogs, sir," said the policeman who had been once
+before.  "Letter for Mrs Braydon."
+
+The dogs were quieted and shut away, so that they could not commit
+suicide by dashing at the powerful brutes held in leash; and once more,
+while the police were being refreshed, Mrs Braydon read her letter over
+to her children, who learned that the governor was no better, that the
+doctor was bound to stay, and that while he regretted this, and the bad
+news about the assigned servant, every assistance ought to be given to
+the police who had come to fetch him back to the chain gang.
+
+Nic said nothing, but after a time he saddled Sorrel, and rode with the
+police leader as they started for their first search.
+
+"Now, Mr Braydon," said the man, "your father said that we must take
+this fellow; so as in all probability you know where he is, perhaps
+you'll tell us which way to go and capture him."
+
+"I don't know," said Nic quickly.
+
+The man smiled.
+
+"You needn't disbelieve me," said Nic warmly.  "I tell you I haven't the
+least idea."
+
+"And if you had, you wouldn't tell us, eh?"
+
+"I'm not going to answer questions," said Nic.  "But mind this: if you
+find him, I won't have him shot down."
+
+"Then he mustn't shoot at us, sir," said the man, smiling, "so you'd
+better send him word if you know where he is.  Forward!" he cried, and
+the party trotted toward the Wattles, but turned off a little over
+half-way there, and to Nic's horror he felt that they had hit upon the
+place where he and the convict parted that night just as the storm came
+on.  And here, after a few words from the head of the little force, two
+of the blacks came forward and began to quarter the ground like dogs,
+their bodies and heads bent forward, and their eyes searching the grass
+with the keenest eagerness.
+
+But it was a long time before either of them showed that he had found
+signs.
+
+Then one stopped short, dropped upon his knees, uttered a cry, and his
+fellows ran softly up behind him, keeping close to each other, and being
+careful not to go near the track or whatever it was that he had found.
+
+Then began a low excited jabbering, during which the mounted men sat
+fast, one of them holding the leash which restrained the dogs.
+
+At last the quick discussion ended, and the first black rose from his
+knees and made a sign to the police leader to come forward, Nic without
+hesitation following and peering over the blacks, who gave way a little,
+while the first pointed down to something which Nic expected to find was
+a footstep, but which proved to be a big common knife, rusted by
+exposure to rain and air.
+
+This was picked up now and handed to the leader, while Nic's eyes
+dilated a little, for he felt sure that he had seen the knife before;
+and in the convict's hands, when he was eating his cold meat and damper
+beneath a tree.
+
+"Yes," he said to himself with a little shiver, "that is his knife.  He
+must have dropped it here.  It had a buckhorn handle, and on the other
+side three crosses had been filed pretty deeply."  He remembered that
+fact well.
+
+Just then the police leader turned round sharply, saw his interested
+look, and said, in a decisive, imperative tone of voice:
+
+"You know that knife, sir?"
+
+To gain time the boy held out his hand, drawing his breath hard, and
+striving to control his voice and make it firm.
+
+Then, as he took the knife, he examined it as if in doubt, hesitating
+about turning it over, and then handing it back, saying firmly, "No."
+
+"That's a lie," thought the man, as he retook the knife, "and my lord
+here is trying to keep the lair hidden.  He knows."
+
+But the knife had no crosses filed in the handle, and Nic was breathing
+freely, when he noticed that the black was pointing to something else--a
+faintly marked footprint, evidently made by a coarsely made sandal or
+shoe.  Beyond this was another, and again beyond another.
+
+"That's right--go on!" rang in his ears, and the next moment the party
+was again in motion, with the blacks bending low, and from walking
+beginning to trot, while the policeman pressed his horse closer to
+Nic's.
+
+"Easy trail to follow, sir," he said.  "Now, then, don't you think you'd
+better save us further trouble by taking us straight across country to
+your man's form?"
+
+"I told you I did not know where he was hiding," said Nic shortly.
+
+"You did, sir, but I thought I'd save trouble.  These birds are a bit
+desperate when run down, and I'm sure you wouldn't like to see him shot
+when he refuses to surrender.  Now, would you?"
+
+"No," said Nic, rather faintly.
+
+"Out with it then, and we'll take him by surprise--surround him after
+dusk.  Then it will mean a flogging or two, and another year in the
+gang, and perhaps a fresh chance.  Better than being buried, sir, in the
+bush."
+
+Nic remained silent, but with his brow contracted.
+
+"Very well, sir, but you see.  Why, I can trace that track as I ride.
+We could find him now without the blacks."
+
+Still Nic held his peace, and rode on beside the man, as mile after mile
+was traced, leading, to the boy's surprise, toward the Bluff, but
+curving off a mile from home, as if to go round it to reach the other
+side.
+
+And so it proved, the blacks trotting on till they did pass the house
+half a mile away; and Nic jumped to the conclusion that the poor fellow
+had made for the fern gully, up which, somewhere probably on the
+riverside, was his lair.
+
+They went right on, without once being at fault, the footprints, with
+the left sole badly cracked across, showing clearly at times in the soft
+soil, till the place where the black-fish were caught was passed, and
+the valley slope mounted for the open ground, where the sheep was kicked
+into the rift that ran down toward the water.
+
+From here the footsteps went right across toward the station, and the
+leading black ran them easily and triumphantly right up to the men's
+bothy, at whose door Brookes stood hollow-cheeked and anxious.
+
+"Got him?" he cried hoarsely, when, to his surprise, the blacks dashed
+at him and had him down, while the leader secured and held up one of his
+boots with the sole toward the head of the police.
+
+"Mine find," he cried, pointing to a crack across the sole; and Nic
+forced the nag away, and trotted off to the stable to hide his laughter,
+and then stood patting his horse, feeling quite heartsick from the
+tension now relieved.
+
+For he had made sure that so as to be in a place not likely to be
+searched Leather had come by night to the station, and that he would be
+found hidden in one of the piles of wool, whereas it was evident that
+Brookes had been over to the Wattles, and had come that way back,
+searching along the fern gully, to make sure of Leather not being in
+hiding there.
+
+For two days more the police hunted in every direction, but neither the
+keen eyes of the blacks nor the senses of the dogs were of any avail,
+and at last the search was given up.
+
+"We shall find him back here some day," said the head policeman, "if
+he's still alive.  But,"--the man looked significantly at Nic--"they
+don't always have life left in 'em when we do find 'em.  Good day, sir.
+We may look you up again."
+
+They rode off, and the station was free of them, for they had made a
+sort of barrack of the wool-shed, where the fleeces made most
+satisfactory beds; and as they grew less and less, Nic turned away, to
+see the light all at once blaze, as it were, into his darkened mind.
+
+"How stupid!" he said, half aloud.  "Why, I know where he is hiding,
+after all."
+
+He looked up, and there was Brookes watching him with curious eye.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+IN A TRAP.
+
+Sleep did not come very readily to Nic's eyes that night, and he looked
+very heavy and thoughtful at breakfast time next morning.
+
+"How thankful I shall be when your father comes home, my dear!" said
+Mrs Braydon.
+
+"A bag of flour would be the best thing," said Nic to himself.
+
+"I know, of course, my dear, that you are doing wonders," continued Mrs
+Braydon, looking uneasily at her son, and misinterpreting his heavy look
+into showing annoyance at her remark.  "Both the girls and I are
+astonished at the rapidity with which you have taken up this wild farm
+life, and gone on with it as if you had been working for years; but we
+cannot help longing to see your father back to take the management and
+give us that feeling of protection which we miss."
+
+"I ought to have guessed it at once," muttered Nic.
+
+"Is anything the matter, Nic?" said Hilda.
+
+"Matter?  No.  Why?"
+
+"You seem so dull, and you are not eating your breakfast."
+
+"Oh yes, I am," cried the boy, with forced merriment; and he rapidly
+attacked the meal and made mother and sisters more uneasy by eating
+tremendously and talking rapidly at the same time about how glad he
+would be to have the doctor back.
+
+Soon after breakfast Nic went to the storehouse and filled a bag with
+meal, carrying it afterwards to the stable.
+
+"I suppose one of the horses is ill," said Hilda.  "Nic has been to
+fetch some flour to make it a mash."
+
+"Then that's what made him so anxious and thoughtful at breakfast time,"
+cried Mrs Braydon.  "Poor boy! it worried him.  He wants to get it well
+again before your father's return."
+
+Janet said nothing, but attributed it to the right reason--that her
+brother was troubled about the convict--and she trembled in her longing
+to ask him, but did not dare.
+
+Meanwhile Hilda had her thoughts; and the consequence was that Nic grew
+angry, as he busied himself about the place, going here and there
+looking after the men, inspecting the cattle, and carefully watching
+that no tasks were being left undone.
+
+"I never saw anything like it," he said to himself: "go where I will
+it's just as if some one was watching me.  They surely cannot suspect
+anything."
+
+Then, too, four or five times, when he had made up his mind to start,
+old Sam or Brookes or his mother wanted him about some matter.  But
+still it was yet good time in the morning, when, taking his gun, the
+mounted Sorrel, slung the big bag of meal across the saddle-bow and rode
+out.
+
+"You will not be late, my dear?" cried Mrs Braydon.  "Oh no, mother;
+back in good time."  Then to himself, "Don't--pray don't ask me which
+way I'm going."
+
+"It must be for some bullock at a distance," said Mrs Braydon, as she
+thoughtfully noted the bag across the saddle-bow, the fine sacking
+having now assumed an hour glass shape, at which Janet gazed curiously,
+feeling puzzled, though she could not have told why.
+
+"At last!" muttered Nic, as he pressed his horse's sides and rode off,
+feeling very guilty, and yet bright and exhilarated, quite confident too
+of having solved a problem, though he was doubtful still as to whether
+he would be able that night to write down mentally QEF.
+
+He cast an eye to left and right to see if he were being watched, but
+every one seemed to be busy over his or her affairs, and he began to
+think that his start was exciting no interest whatever, when he saw
+Brookes crossing the big field beyond the garden.
+
+But the man did not turn his head in Nic's direction; and the next
+minute, after forcing himself not to look round, the boy had placed the
+trees between them, and cantered away quite out of sight of the house,
+keeping down in a hollow leading toward the fern gully, as if going to
+visit some cattle on the other side of the hills lying to the
+south-east.  As soon as he was beyond those hills he bore away to the
+north, as if making for the Wattles; and when a mile or so in that
+direction he bore to the left again for some distance, and then made for
+the west--just the very opposite direction to that which he had taken in
+starting.
+
+The morning was delightful as he rode on, now in the full sunshine, now
+in shade; and the feeling of exhilaration which came over him seemed to
+be shared by his horse, which began to dance about and strain to get
+away for a swift gallop.
+
+A word or two always checked it, and the beautiful creature, whose satin
+skin glistened in the sunshine, playfully tossed its head and ambled on.
+
+"Nobody can have imagined which way I was coming," thought Nic; and
+then, "Bother the old flour!" he said, half aloud; "how it works through
+the bag!  Why, Sorrel, your back will be as white as my knees.  Woa!"
+
+The nag stopped short, and Nic stood at the edge of a glade dotted with
+clumps of acacia in full bloom, everything seeming to be covered with
+tiny golden balls.
+
+"Why, you two wretches, how dare you come hunting?"
+
+Nic sat like a statue among the trees watching, as he saw the two
+collies suddenly come into sight about five hundred yards away and then
+run among the low growth for which they were making.
+
+"Well, it won't matter," he said.  "They can't tell tales.  But they may
+come again and show some one the way.  I'll send them back."
+
+He pressed his horse's sides, and walked it toward where the dogs had
+disappeared, putting up a flock of the tiny zebra paroquets, which flew
+a little distance to another tree.
+
+"Poor fellows!  I should like to give them a good run," he said to
+himself; "but it's best not.  I suppose I'm doing something very
+unlawful, but the law did wrong to that poor fellow, and I feel as if I
+must help him.  Oh, what a thick-headed noodle I am not to have thought
+of it before!  Why, I remember quite well now all he said about it.
+Hullo! what are those?  They must be the great hawk parrots old Sam
+talked about.  Bother the birds!  I've got something else to think of
+to-day.  Why, there goes another of those great iguana things!  Where
+did the dogs go?"
+
+He had ridden on slowly, startling bird and lizard, and completely lost
+trace of the collies, when all at once he heard a smothered growl in a
+dense patch close at hand.
+
+"They've found a snake," he said to himself, cocking his piece.  "I
+mustn't have them bitten."
+
+He pressed forward, peering in amongst the bushes, passing some young
+clean-stemmed trees; and as he rode unconsciously by one, a nude black
+figure, neatly ornamented with two or three stripes of white pipeclay on
+its breast, pressed close up to the tree holding a spear erect, and, as
+the horse passed, moved so exactly round that the tree was kept between
+it and Nic.
+
+That tree did not appear to be thick enough to hide the black, but so
+cleverly did the man move that Nic saw nothing, though he was not ten
+yards away; and the black would have been unnoticed if it had not been
+for the action of the dogs, which suddenly charged out playfully, one
+going one side, the other the other, and then stopping barking at a
+respectful distance from the tree.
+
+"You vagabonds!" cried Nic; "how dare you come!  Here, what have you
+found?  Fetch it out!"
+
+Rumble dashed forward barking; and Nic noted that the dogs did not look
+excited or angry, but playful, and as Rumble charged on one side Tumble
+made a bound forward on the other.
+
+"It must be a 'possum," thought Nic; but he altered his mind the next
+moment, for he saw a spear come forward with a poke on one side of the
+tree, and then drive at the second dog on the other.
+
+Nic lowered the gun and moved round toward the other side cautiously;
+but the black edged himself along, as he did so cleverly keeping the
+tree still between them, and would have continued to keep himself in
+hiding if it had not been for the dogs, which, encouraged now by their
+young master's presence, made a playful dash together at the black's
+legs, and made him bound from the tree to keep them at bay with his
+spear.
+
+"Why, Bung!  You?" cried Nic, who felt considerably relieved, while the
+dogs now scampered around, barking and leaping as if at the end of a
+game of hide-and-seek.  "What are you doing here, sir?"
+
+The black grinned, and, supporting himself on one leg by help of his
+spear, made playful clutches at the delighted dogs with his right foot,
+whose toes worked about as he used it as if it were a great awkwardly
+shaped hand.
+
+"_R-r-r-ur_!" growled the dogs together, as they now justified their
+names, and blundered over one another in a make-believe attempt to bite
+and worry the foot; Nic looking on amused as they threw themselves down,
+rolling over and grovelling along on their sides and backs to get close
+up and feel the black's toes tickle them, and catch hold of their shaggy
+hair.
+
+"Why don't you speak, sir?  Why are you not at work?" cried Nic.
+
+"Little White Mary say, `Bung, go along see master.'"
+
+"What! did my sister send you?"
+
+The black nodded and laughed.
+
+"Then just you go back, sir, directly, and take those dogs with you."
+
+"Little White Mary say come along," persisted the black.
+
+"I don't care what any one said," cried Nic.  "Be off back."
+
+"Little White Mary say, `Gun no shoot--mumkull.'"
+
+"Put down that spear," cried Nic, who now pointed the gun at Bungarolo,
+who replied by striking an attitude, holding his spear in a graceful
+position as if about to hurl it at the boy's head.
+
+"No mumkull Bung?" cried the black.
+
+"Not if you run off back," cried Nic.  "If you don't I'll pepper you."
+
+"No pepper Bung, no mumkull.  Baal shoot gun.  Little White Mary fellow
+say Bung come."
+
+"You go back home," cried the boy, following him up.
+
+"Little White Mary say--"
+
+"Go home."
+
+"Little--"
+
+"Will you go, sir?  Here, Rum--Turn!  Run him home."
+
+The dogs made a rush, and the black darted off, but a hundred yards away
+ran behind a tree, where the dogs hunted him out.
+
+"Home!" roared Nic, and the black darted on again, Nic riding after him
+again and again, till, satisfied that the black was really making for
+the station, followed by the dogs, he made a circuit in among the trees,
+and rode hard for a time, altering his course at last, and not pausing
+till he was close up to the precipitous edge of the huge gorge.
+
+Here the boy dismounted in a patch of rich grass surrounded by mighty
+trees, hobbled his horse, removed the bit, which he hung to the saddle,
+and then paused to think.
+
+"He's here somewhere," the boy said to himself, "but the thing is
+where."
+
+He was not long coming to the conclusion that the convict had devoted
+himself during his shepherding tours to hunting out some place where he
+could descend the terrible precipice into that glorious valley far
+below, where there were sheep and cattle, plenty of water, and no doubt
+wild fruits to enable him to subsist.
+
+"And if he found his way down, why shouldn't I?" said Nic, with a little
+laugh.  Then, shouldering his gun, he dived in among the trees and
+wattle scrub which lay between him and the edge of the precipice, with
+the intention of keeping cautiously along it, first in one direction and
+then in the other, till he found traces of some one having climbed down.
+
+Two hours' work convinced him that he had undertaken a task that might
+have made Hercules sit down and scratch his ear, for it promised to be
+hard enough to equal any of the celebrated labours of that mythic
+personage.  Nic had toiled on in one direction only, forcing his way
+through thorns, tangles, and over and between rocks, pausing from time
+to time, whenever he came to an opening, to gaze across the tremendous
+gap at the glories of the rock wall opposite, or to look shuddering down
+into the beautiful paradise thousands of feet below, where the tints of
+green were of the loveliest hues, and he could see the cattle calmly
+grazing, mere dots in the natural meads which bordered the flashing
+waters seen here and there like lakes, but joined possibly, for the
+trees shut out broad stretches of the river in the vale.
+
+For a time he would lie there, resting and listening to the whistling
+calls of birds whose names he did not know, to the shrieks of parrots,
+and now and then catch sight of what seemed to be tiny fragments of
+paper falling fluttering down, till he saw them turn, and knew that he
+was gazing at cockatoos.
+
+Then, after yielding to the fascination of peering down into the awful
+depth, he would turn suddenly away, for a cold chill would run through
+him as he experienced the sensation as of something drawing him
+downward, and he would creep yards distant and sit there wiping the
+perspiration from his face.
+
+He soon recovered, though, and once more continued his search for a way
+down.
+
+"It is as if it would take years," he said to himself; "but I don't
+care, I shall come again and again and keep on trying.  I will find it,"
+he said half aloud, as he set his teeth in dogged determination, and for
+another hour he struggled on, till, feeling utterly exhausted, he seated
+himself at the edge of the precipice at a point where he could divide
+the bushes and look down.  Here, only a few yards away, he saw that
+there was a broad shelf some fifty feet below, and along it a mere
+thread of water trickled to a lower edge and disappeared, leaving among
+the stones amidst which it had meandered patch after patch of richest
+green, showing its fertilising power.
+
+That water was tempting in the extreme, for his mouth was dry; he was
+faint, and he knew by the position of the sun that he had been
+struggling through the dense growth for hours without refreshing
+himself, though all the time he had a cake of damper in his pocket,
+keeping the powder-flask company.
+
+If he could get down there, he thought, he might have half an hour's
+rest, and then tramp back to where he had left Sorrel, and ride gently
+home in the cool of the evening.
+
+"And come again."  For come again he would till he had found poor
+Leather, "unless," he said to himself with a shudder, "he has fallen
+down this terrible place."
+
+And yet it was not terrible, he thought the next moment.  It was grand,
+glorious, lovely, and the shelf below him, with its water, more tempting
+than anything he had ever seen before.
+
+"I must get down," he said; and going farther along he sought for a
+means, but had not far to go, for he soon grasped the fact that this
+shelf was only some eighty or a hundred feet off the top, which had
+slipped a little and then stopped.  It had broken away, gone down some
+fifty feet, and then been checked.
+
+While as he gazed down at the old edge of the precipice, and over it
+into the gorge below, he could hear the soft, whistling, humming trickle
+of the water, and it increased his eagerness.  He must get down, he
+thought--but how?  There were no overhanging boughs, no roots which had
+forced their way between cracks in the rock and gone on down and down
+searching for the moisture of that tiny rill which went over the edge to
+its present depth; and there were no stout bushes growing in the side
+beneath him.  All there was clean, broken-away stone, which could only
+be descended by stepping from projection to projection, while if any one
+slipped--
+
+"Well, what if he did?" said the boy contemptuously, as he gazed down:
+"he would, at the most, only get a few scratches and bruises.  Here's
+the best spot, and I'm going down."
+
+Without further hesitation he laid down his gun, turned upon his breast
+and lowered his legs, found footing easy to get upon a ledge, and
+lowered himself more and more till he was at the full stretch of his
+limbs, when a horrible thought occurred to him: suppose, when he jumped
+down upon that broad shelf formed by a sliding of the rock till it was
+checked by some inequality, his weight should be sufficient to start it
+going again, and he should be carried with it backward into the gulf.
+
+"What nonsense!" he thought; "why, my weight upon it will be no more
+than that of a fly;" and he lowered himself a little more, found it
+harder, moved to the right, and got on to a firm ledge, and from that to
+another, and was soon half-way down.
+
+There he came to a stop, for he could find neither foot nor hand hold;
+and there he was at last, spread-eagled against the perpendicular rock,
+unable to go down, and, upon determining to go up instead, utterly
+unable to retrace his steps.
+
+"Oh, this is absurd," he thought, and looking sidewise, he saw a little
+projection which seemed as if it would do then, feeling that if he
+stopped longer in his cramped position he would be less able to act, he
+measured the distance with his eyes, gathered himself together, made a
+clumsy spring, got a foot on the projection, but missed the crevice into
+which he meant to thrust his right hand, and went scrambling and sliding
+down the other five-and-twenty feet, to come into a sitting position on
+the broken stones, scratched, bruised, and uttering a loud groan of
+pain.
+
+"Oh my bones!" he cried, with a laugh and a wince of pain, as he began
+to rub himself; and then, as he looked up, a sudden chill struck him,
+for, he said to himself:
+
+"Why, it's like a trap.  I can never get up there again.  I ought to
+have looked farther before I leaped."
+
+He limped a little as he stood up, and his arms both required a rub,
+especially about the elbows; but while he performed these little
+comforting offices he was not idle, for he carefully inspected the
+shelf.  Escape on the one side did not seem possible, for it was over
+into the gorge; the other side, a curve, was one nearly perpendicular
+wall of rock, along which he walked from where he stood to the ends at
+the edge of the precipice and back.
+
+"It is a regular pitfall," thought Nic; and then, determined to make the
+best of things, he lay down upon his chest over the clear murmuring
+water, lowered his lips, and took a long, deep, delicious draught of the
+sparkling fluid.
+
+"That's refreshing," said the boy to himself, and he came to a sitting
+position on the warm stone, took out his piece of bread cake, and looked
+up at the wall facing him, as he broke off a morsel of damper.
+
+"Doesn't look so high as it did before I had that drink," he said, with
+a laugh.  "Not half so high; and by the time I've eaten my bread it will
+only look half as high once more.  Pooh!  I can climb up.  Cake's good."
+
+He sat munching away contentedly enough now, stopping from time to time
+for a fresh draught of water; and as he ate and drank he forgot the
+awkwardness of his position in wonder and admiration of the mountain
+precipice before him, and at last crept to the edge of that upon which
+he had been seated, to obtain another look down into the mighty gorge.
+
+"Ah, it's very grand," he sighed; "but it's time I climbed out of this."
+
+He started, for he heard a sharp double click, like the cocking of a
+gun, and looked up behind at the edge from which he had descended.
+
+"Cricket or grasshopper," he thought; and then he felt, to use a
+familiar old saying, as if his blood ran cold; for a slight movement at
+the top had caught his attention, and he found himself gazing at the
+muzzle of his gun, so foreshortened that there seemed to be no barrel--
+nothing but a round hole, and behind it a glittering eye.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+TRUST FOR TRUST.
+
+"Some one found my gun and taking aim at me," thought Nic, feeling
+thoroughly how bad a plan it was for any one to bring out a gun for
+self-defence and then leave it for an enemy to seize.
+
+That watch kept upon the gun muzzle did not last many moments, for a
+rough, mocking voice said loudly:
+
+"Well: come to take me?  Here I am."
+
+"Leather!--I mean, I mean Frank Mayne," cried Nic joyously, as he sprang
+to his feet; "found you at last!"
+
+"Yes," said the convict bitterly, "you have found me at last.  Where are
+your men?"
+
+"What men?" said Nic, staring.
+
+"The bloodhounds you've brought to hunt me," said the convict.
+
+"Don't talk nonsense!" cried Nic sharply.  "You don't think I should
+bring any one to hunt you?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because you know I wouldn't be such a brute.  But, I say, I was right
+then.  I've been trying ever since you went away to think out where you
+could be gone."
+
+"And sending the police after me," said the convict bitterly.
+
+"You know better than that," cried Nic; "but, I say, I was right then.
+I felt sure you would be here."
+
+"Why should you be?" said the man suspiciously.
+
+"Because, don't you remember once, months ago, talking about the gorge?"
+
+"True, I did; I had forgotten.  But where are the police now?"
+
+"Gone back to the port.  How did you know they had been?"
+
+"From the blacks."
+
+"There, I knew it!" cried Nic.  "The cunning rascals, and they pretended
+they had no idea of where you were."
+
+"Poor fellows," said the convict, smiling bitterly; "they are faithful
+enough."
+
+"But they might have told me," said Nic.  "Even you don't seem to trust
+me now."
+
+"How can a man, who is hunted like a wild beast with dogs and black
+trackers, trust any one, boy?" cried the convict fiercely.  "You know
+what it would have been if they had found me, and I had run instead of
+surrendering.  They would have shot me down like a savage beast."
+
+Nic nodded as he gazed up at the fierce countenance, whose eyes seemed
+to glare down at him.
+
+"There," continued the convict, "you have found me.  Of course you know
+there is a heavy reward.  You can earn it for pocket money."
+
+"Yes," cried Nic, speaking fiercely now, "and go over to the village
+tuck shop, and spend it with my school-fellows."
+
+"Of course," said the man banteringly.  "Only there's one drawback, boy.
+You are caught in a trap there, and when you are found there will only
+be your bones."
+
+"Oh, I say, Leather, what a savage you have turned!  I say, have a bit
+of damper?  I have some left."
+
+The man made no reply for a few moments.  Then, in an altered tone:
+
+"Have you found any way out?"
+
+"No.  It is a regular trap; but I was thirsty, and I came down to drink.
+Fell half the way," said Nic, holding up a bleeding hand.
+
+"I went down the same way," said the convict quietly.
+
+"Then there is a way out?" said Nic sharply.
+
+"Yes, over the brink yonder."
+
+"Oh yes, I found that out," said Nic, with a laugh; "but I don't want to
+break my neck.  How did you get out?"
+
+"Over there," said the convict quietly.  "It requires a steady head, but
+you can creep along a narrow ledge, and get back to the top here, three
+or four hundred yards farther on.  I did not find it out till I was
+nearly starved to death."
+
+"Poor old chap," said Nic quietly.  "I say, this sounds more like you."
+
+"Does it?  Did any one see you coming?"
+
+"Bungarolo.  But I sent him home before I was halfway here."
+
+"He would not tell tales, poor fellow.  They have had my life in their
+hands ever since."
+
+"But, I say, Leather, it's awkward talking like this.  I'll come up to
+you;" and he moved toward the edge.
+
+"No, no, don't stir," cried the man fiercely.  And Nic stamped angrily
+upon the rock.
+
+"Why don't you shoot me?" he cried.  "You've got the gun.  There, be
+off; I don't want to see which way you go.  Look here, Sorrel's over
+yonder somewhere.  Go and find him, and ride off up the country as far
+as you like.  Only send him back some day by one of the blacks, I'll pay
+him with blankets and things.  I can't give him to you, because, as you
+know, he was father's gift.  There's a pack of meal on his back; I
+brought it in case I could find you; but you'd better take this lump of
+damper too."
+
+The convict made no reply for some minutes, but lay there at the edge of
+the rocks gazing sadly down at Nic, who had thrown himself upon his
+chest, and was looking into the gorge.
+
+"Nic," he said at last.
+
+"Well," was the reply; but the boy did not turn his head.
+
+"Don't misunderstand me, lad; I said don't try to come up, because the
+risk of going along there made me shudder.  I'm coming down to help
+you--where's your hand?"
+
+"Oh, I say, I beg your pardon," cried Nic, springing up.  "I didn't
+mean--I thought--I--I say, Leather, mind how you come."
+
+"Yes, I'll mind," said the man.  "But the gun.  It is not safe to pitch
+it down to you."
+
+"No; leave it up there."
+
+"For another enemy to get hold of it.  No, my lad, that won't do.
+There, if I hold it crosswise like this, and drop it down, you can catch
+it."
+
+"Yes, I think so."
+
+"Then try."
+
+As he spoke the man went down upon his face, held the gun at arm's
+length as far down over the edge as he could, and then after a warning
+let it fall.
+
+"Right," cried Nic, catching it cleverly.  "Now, how are you going to
+manage?  I came down just there."
+
+"And I'll try twenty feet to my left here," said the convict; and,
+selecting a place, he lowered himself down until he hung by his hands,
+and then began to descend with wonderful activity, reaching the bottom
+without a slip, solely from the rapidity of his movements.
+
+"Why, Leather," cried Nic, grasping his hand, "you are as active as a
+squirrel."
+
+"A man needs to be to lead my life, boy," said the convict quietly.
+"Hah! that seems to put humanity into one again.  The blacks are
+friendly enough; but it is for the touch of a white hand one yearns."
+
+"Have some damper?" said Nic suddenly, so as to hide a peculiar feeling
+which troubled him.
+
+The convict took the bread cake, broke it, and began to eat, seeking
+refuge in the act for the same reason.
+
+"Hah!" he said, smiling, "it tastes good.  Nic, boy, you forgive me all
+I have said?"
+
+"Of course I do.  But, I say, how have you managed to live?"
+
+"The same as a black would.  This is the first bread I have eaten since
+I broke away and became a savage."
+
+"Do you think they will manage to catch you?" said Nic, after a pause.
+
+"Not alive, my lad.  Well, let's have just a few words together, and
+then you must go."
+
+"You will stop about here, I suppose?"
+
+The convict shook his head.
+
+"Hunted beasts stay where they are safe.  Hunt them, and they go farther
+away."
+
+"You have been hunted, but you have not gone farther away."
+
+"No, boy, because this is my sanctuary.  There, you see I trust you, and
+I know that I am safe in your hands.  Let's sit down."
+
+Nic willingly did so, and the convict went on eating the bread cake,
+talking quietly the while.
+
+"There is no place I could find where I should be so safe, Nic," he
+said; "and this is near human nature, which one likes, even if it is
+unkind.  I had often thought of breaking away and making for the bush,
+feeling convinced that if I reached the place I could manage to live
+where so many poor wretches who have escaped found their end.  But I was
+servant to a just man; your mother and sisters treated me when they saw
+me as if they were sorry for me, and I could not go.  Then you dame,
+boy, and tied me tighter to the place, making all the petty troubles
+caused by that overbearing brute seem like nothing."
+
+"I tied you tighter to the place?" cried Nic.
+
+"Yes.  Why, the hours I spent with you when you found me out in the run
+were the only happy ones I had had for years."
+
+"Oh, I didn't do much," said Nic hurriedly.  "I'm afraid it was because
+I liked to talk to you about birds and things.  But, I say, do you mean
+to keep to this life?"
+
+"Do you think I can give up and submit to that worst punishment of--to
+be flogged?"
+
+"No," cried Nic firmly; "you can't do that.  You must wait.  And look
+here, I tell you what: try and find a way down into the gorge, and keep
+it a secret.  Why, you can build yourself a gunyah (bark hut) somewhere
+below, and live there, and make your garden and keep fowls, and there
+are sheep and cattle.  I'll bring you a live chicken now and then, and
+seeds and cuttings, and tea and sugar and flour when I come, and then we
+can go fishing and hunting and collecting together.  Why, it will be
+capital."
+
+The convict smiled.
+
+"I don't see anything to laugh at," said Nic.
+
+"I suppose not, you young enthusiast."
+
+"That I'm not," cried the boy.  "It's you who take too miserable a view
+of things."
+
+"With cause, boy."
+
+"Well, yes, there is plenty of cause," said Nic: "but you really could
+live down there safely for years without being found out--if you could
+get down."
+
+"I can get down, and I have been down there since I broke away.  I have
+made myself a bark gunyah, and for the present that is my home, Nic."
+
+"Capital," cried the boy eagerly.  "Take me and show me."
+
+The convict shook his head.
+
+"No," he said; "you and I must never meet."
+
+"Why?" said Nic, in rather an ill-used tone.
+
+"Because you would be disgracing yourself by associating with a man of
+my character, and you would be breaking laws made for the protection of
+the settlers who employ convict servants."
+
+"You are not a man of bad character," said Nic quietly; "and as to law--
+well, I suppose it would be breaking that; but then the law doesn't know
+any better.  It does not know you like I do."
+
+"There, boy, we will not argue the question.  I'm black enough as it is,
+but I want to do you good, Nic, not harm.  Come," he continued, rising,
+"time is going on, and you are some distance from home.  Where is your
+horse?"
+
+"Miles away."
+
+"Then you must be moving."
+
+"There's no hurry," said Nic.
+
+"Yes, there is.  You have a dangerous ledge to go along."
+
+"I can get along better when I am more rested," said the boy.
+
+The convict smiled.
+
+"Then let me put it in a more selfish way," he said.  "It is close on
+sundown, and I have a long way to go to my home.  A more dangerous way
+than yours, and I could not attempt it after it begins to grow dusk."
+
+"I'm ready," said Nip, springing up; "but tell me this: when will you
+meet me again?"
+
+"Perhaps never," said the convict.
+
+"Then I shall come hunting for you every day till I find the way down
+into the gorge."
+
+"And bring the government people on my track?"
+
+"No, I won't do that," said Nic; "but I will find you out, and I can now
+that I know where you are."
+
+"I doubt it, boy.  The gorge is enormous, and I am the only man who
+knows the way down."
+
+"Pooh!  The blacks would know.  Bungarolo would show me now he knows I
+have seen you."
+
+"The blacks do not know, Nic.  I should not know if I had not discovered
+it two years ago by accident when trying to save the life of a sheep
+which had fallen.  There, be content.  You have seen me.  Some day we
+may meet again.  Now then, we must lose no more time."
+
+"Very well," said Nic; "only mind this: I will not do anything to risk
+having you discovered; but I will come to you."
+
+"I know you will not do anything to harm me, my lad; but you are
+deceiving yourself, my boy.  You will not come to me.  Now, are you
+ready?"
+
+"Yes.  Where's this dangerous shelf?"
+
+"I will take you along it.  Where is your handkerchief?"
+
+"It was too hot to have it round my neck," said Nic, smiling, as he took
+it from where it was tied about his waist.
+
+"I am going to bind it round your eyes," said the convict.
+
+"What!  For fear that I should find the way down into the gorge?"
+
+"No; because your head may turn giddy when you see the depth below you.
+I want you to trust me, Nic, to lead you safely along the shelf.  Can
+you do this?"
+
+Nic was silent for a few moments.
+
+"I feel as if I want to trust you," he said at last; "but I don't feel
+as if I can--no, no, I don't mean that.  I mean that I want to trust
+you, but I can't trust myself.  No, that isn't it exactly.  I suppose
+I'm afraid.  Why can't I walk close behind you?"
+
+"Because I doubt your doing it without practice.  I expect that you
+would go along half-way and then lose your nerve, and I don't think I
+could lift and carry you then.  Won't you trust me, Nic?"
+
+The boy looked sharply into his eyes for a moment, and then leaned
+forward for his eyes to be bound, thinking the while of the log bridge
+over the fern gully and his feelings there.
+
+"There," said the convict, as he secured the knot firmly.  "Now listen:
+I shall take hold of your hand to hold it tightly, and I want you to try
+and make yourself part of me for the next ten minutes, obeying every
+touch, and taking step for step with me.  Don't pause, don't hesitate;
+only keep on feeling that I am guiding you safely through the darkness.
+There is no risk if you do this."
+
+"I'm ready," said Nic; "only begin quickly, please, and let's get it
+done."
+
+"Then come along."
+
+Nic felt his hand seized in a strong, firm grip, and followed as he was
+led, hesitating once, and showing a disposition to hang back, but it was
+only for a moment.  The next he was walking slowly and steadily behind
+the convict, who led him between two or three bushes, and then along a
+narrow shelf which passed round the end of the rock slip; and as soon as
+it was cleared the buttress at that end grew still more narrow, so that
+the boy felt his right arm brushing against the perpendicular rock wall,
+while his left hung free.
+
+He could not see, but he knew that his left fingers must be pointing
+down into the tremendous gulf; and in imagination he saw with wonderful
+accuracy through the golden transparent air the various plants which
+grew from the interstices of the titanic wall, the bushes and shrubs,
+the pendent vines and clinging creepers, the shelves and faults in the
+strata here and there deeper down, and then lower and lower still the
+gaps and hollows whence stalwart trees had risen from seeds dropped or
+hidden by some bird--trees which had grown out almost horizontally, and
+then curved up into their proper vertical position, to rise up and up as
+the years rolled on, though now they looked mere shrubs a handbreadth
+high.
+
+And as the boy walked on he saw lower and lower the forest monarchs
+dwarfed to shrubs, and lower still patches of timber that were
+indistinct and looking hardly more than grass, while here and there the
+light of the setting sun gleamed ruddily from the water of the chain of
+lakes.
+
+It was but the picture raised by memory from where it was printed upon
+Nic's mind, but it was very accurate, and almost exactly what he would
+have seen had his eyes been free during that long, long walk, as it
+seemed--a walk of a few brief minutes though, and then his hand was
+dropped.
+
+"Don't do that till you've unbound my eyes," said Nic sharply.
+
+"Why not, boy? we are in safety now."
+
+Nic's breath was exhaled in a hoarse sigh as he felt the kerchief drawn
+from his face, and he looked round to see that they were among trees.
+
+"Was it very dangerous?" he said.
+
+"Very; or I would not have asked you to be bound.  Now, my lad,
+good-bye."
+
+"No, no; I have quite a load of meal for you on the horse."
+
+"There is no time to fetch it.  Leave it for me on the chance of my
+finding it."
+
+"But where?  You never will."
+
+The convict thought for a moment.
+
+"I'll tell you," he said.  "Lay it in the crack close to the edge of the
+precipice where I held you half over that day.  Cover it with grass.  It
+will be on your way home, and I shall be able to find it if the coast is
+clear.  Once more: straight away for where your horse is grazing.  Can
+you find it, do you think?"
+
+"Oh yes.  I can follow my way back," said Nic.  "I shall see my tracks
+here and there."
+
+"Then once more: good-bye."
+
+He turned sharply and disappeared, while, tired and disappointed, Nic
+had a hard task to retrace his steps to the horse, whistling for it as
+he drew near where he felt that it ought to be, and gladdened at last,
+just as darkness was falling, by a responsive neigh.
+
+The long bag of meal was hung up in a tree that Nic felt he could find
+again, and then he rode home.
+
+"Poor Leather will think I have deceived him and be suspicious, but it's
+impossible to find that place by the precipice to-night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+NIC HAS SUSPICIONS.
+
+The next day Nic walked over to the spot where he had hung up the bag of
+meal, took plenty of precautions to make sure that he was not observed,
+and carried it from place to place, halting, resting, and taking a look
+round as if he were stalking birds, and finally reaching the proposed
+spot, where he dropped the bag into a narrow crevice, covered it with
+green, and all the time carried his gun ready as if to aim at a bird.
+
+The precautions, however, appeared to be perfectly unnecessary, and he
+was satisfied that he had performed his mission unseen, but it remained
+to be proved whether the convict had been earlier and gone away
+disappointed.
+
+Making this an opportunity for looking over some sheep, Nic walked about
+a mile out of his way going back, and had just finished his casual
+inspection when he came upon Brookes, gun on shoulder, who immediately
+stood his piece against a bush and began to examine some of the flock,
+throwing so much energy into the task that Nic felt suspicious, and a
+chill ran through him as he thought it possible that the man was on the
+watch.
+
+But Nic felt that the only course open to him was to assume a careless
+air; and walking over to where the man had caught a sheep, thrown it,
+and was examining its fleece, he exclaimed:
+
+"Anything the matter with it, Brookes?"
+
+"My word, Mr Nic, how you made me jump!  Why, where did you come from?"
+
+"Over yonder.  I was here ten minutes ago, and didn't notice anything
+wrong then."
+
+"Oh, you've been a-shepherding, sir, have you?  That's right: sheep's
+things you can't be too 'tickler about.  No, there's nothing very wrong.
+I'll come round here with a bucket o' dressing, though, to-morrow."
+
+"Shall I go or stay?" thought Nic, as the man turned over layer after
+layer of the thick wool which opened down the animal's sides as if
+divided by a series of partings like that leading to the crown of a
+human being's head.  "If I stay I shall make him suspicious.  If I go it
+may disarm him."
+
+"Oh," he said aloud, "that doesn't look bad.  I shall go on and get
+Sorrel.  I'm going to ride round the bullocks.  Not coming yet, I
+suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; I'll just run my eye round that hundred over yonder with Black
+Damper.  Haven't counted 'em 'smorning, I s'pose?"
+
+"I haven't been there," said Nic.
+
+"Ah, they'd better be counted.  One'd think the blacks could count a
+flock of sheep, but not they.  It's _bulla_ and _kimmeroi_ and
+_metancoly_, and saying that over and over again.  They can eat as many
+as you like, but counting beats 'em."
+
+"Yes, they are stupid that way, Brookes," said Nic; and he went straight
+off for home, looking perfectly unconcerned, but feeling particularly
+uncomfortable as he turned over in his own mind the possibility of the
+man finding the convict's hiding-place.
+
+For now it seemed such a very simple thing, and he wondered that the men
+from the Wattles and the government police had not gone straight for and
+made some efforts to get down to the bottom of the great gorge.
+
+By degrees, though, he grew better satisfied, as he recalled that this
+place bore the reputation of being impossible of access, and even the
+blacks declared that no man had ever been down.
+
+Then came a horrible thought.
+
+"Suppose Brookes should encounter the convict and use the gun he always
+carried now!  Leather was unarmed, but--"
+
+Nic shuddered as he thought of what a strong, active man would do if
+driven to bay.  The gun would only go off once, but a desperate man
+would find weapons in sticks and stones.
+
+The boy made an effort to cast off the unpleasant sensation, and hurried
+home, where the calm aspect of everything and the look of content he saw
+in his mother's and sisters' eyes altered the current of his thoughts;
+and he hurried himself, saddling Sorrel, and rode off, after promising
+that he would be back in good time to take tea.
+
+He had a long round, found the cattle wanted driving in a bit, and after
+performing this duty by the help of his two dogs, he cantered towards
+home, coming round by where Rigar was playing shepherd with another
+flock.  But all was right here, save that the collies helped to bring
+them half a mile nearer the station to new pastures; after which Nic
+turned his horse's head homeward, arriving in good time and finding
+Brookes busily helping old Sam and looking more like himself.
+
+A couple of days elapsed, and on the following morning Nic announced
+that he was going to take a long round, the consequence being that his
+satchel was well filled with bread, meal, and cake; and he rode off
+after seeing that all was going on right about the place, and in a
+matter-of-fact sort of way as if he had been used to it for years.
+
+He cantered gently till he was out of sight, and then gave Sorrel his
+head and skimmed over the ground till he was compelled to draw rein and
+walk the horse in and out among the trees, besides being careful to
+avoid the blocks of stone which here and there thrust their grey heads
+out of the slope.
+
+For he was nearing the spot where he had hidden the meal, and he had
+determined to fetch it and carry it over his saddle-bow as nearly as he
+could to where he had parted from the convict.
+
+To his delight, on reaching the hiding-place he found that the bag was
+gone, and for the moment he was convinced that Leather had fetched it;
+but Nic's next thought was startling:
+
+"Suppose Brookes had been suspicious--had seen it and taken it away."
+
+The thought was horrible, but he dismissed it, telling himself that he
+was too ready to imagine things; and, determined to try and find the
+convict again, he mounted and rode along parallel with the edge of the
+gorge till he was as nearly as he could guess to where the patch of rock
+had slipped down.
+
+Here, in a shut-in tract of grassy land, he dismounted, cast his hobbled
+horse loose to graze, and shouldering his gun, went in among the trees
+and tried to find the stone trap in which he had been caught.
+
+He looked around him, and then started off in the direction Leather had
+taken that evening, keeping about fifty yards from the edge so that this
+distance would serve for his guidance back, and kept looking to right
+and left for some signs of the convict having passed that way, but
+finding none.
+
+Every step he took for quite an hour led him through fresh beauties.  He
+had no desire to use his gun; so, as if in consequence, birds of
+brilliant plumage flitted from tree to tree, or rose in flocks to fly
+shrieking to the coverts.  Twice over he saw snakes; lizards seemed to
+be wonderfully plentiful wherever the stones lay scorching in the
+sunshine.  Every now and then he saw the Blue Mountains, rising up tier
+after tier, across the gorge, and as he peered through the various
+openings he could not help noticing how thoroughly they deserved their
+names.
+
+But he only saw one natural object in his mental view, and that was the
+great deep crack, which he felt sure he would encounter before long,
+running at right angles across his path, and this he felt equally sure
+would be the way down into the gorge and to Leather's home.
+
+"And if he can go down it," said Nic to himself, "I can, and what's
+more, I will."
+
+But at the end of another hour there was no sign of any rift such as he
+had pictured, and beginning to grow hot and weary, he turned to find a
+sheltered spot where he could rest and refresh himself with some of the
+provisions that he had intended to share with the convict, when, to his
+astonishment, he found himself face to face with him, for Leather stood
+with his back against a stone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+IN SANCTUARY.
+
+"You here?" cried Nic excitedly.
+
+"I have been following you for the last hour," was the quiet reply.
+
+"And I've been tramping along here for nothing.  Why didn't you speak?"
+
+"Because I wanted you to tramp along there for nothing," replied the
+convict.  "You were not looking for me--I could see that.  You were
+trying to find a way down there below."
+
+"Well, yes, I was," said Nic, who felt startled by his companion's
+keenness; "but I _wanted_ to see you too."
+
+"Well, have you found anything?"
+
+"You know I've not," cried Nic.  "I say, you might trust me.  How do you
+get there?"
+
+"Why should I show you the way to the only place of safety I have got?"
+
+"Because you like me," said Nic, with a smile, as he held out his hand,
+which the other grasped and held.
+
+"Yes," he said; "you made me like you, Nic, and brought me back a little
+to a better belief in human kind just when I was growing day by day more
+and more into a brute--a savage.  Well, I will show you; but you are
+tired now."
+
+"Not too tired for that," said Nic eagerly, for there was a suggestion
+of adventure which attracted him.  "I'm ready.  Are you going to bind my
+eyes again?  You can if you like, and then you can lead me down and I
+shall not know the way."
+
+"Why should I do that when I said that I would trust you?  Besides,"
+said the convict rather grimly, "you will want your eyes."
+
+"Is it dangerous?" cried Nic.
+
+"In places; but you will not shrink."
+
+"Is it far?"
+
+"A mile from here.  This way, then.  But wait a few minutes."
+
+Nic stared, for the convict suddenly darted to one side and disappeared,
+leaving the boy wondering at his singular behaviour.  Then there was
+utter silence, and it seemed as if he had gone for good.
+
+All at once he reappeared from quite a different part, and came quickly
+up to Nic.
+
+"I am obliged to be watchful," he said.  "I did not know but that you
+might have some one following you; but all seems to be clear.  Now then,
+come along."
+
+He struck off in among the trees, and Nic followed closely, till,
+wondering at the course his companion was taking, he said suddenly:
+
+"Are you making some short cut?  Does the gorge bend round anywhere
+here?"
+
+"Oh no: I am going quite right."
+
+"But you are leaving the edge of the precipice right behind."
+
+"Yes; that is right.  No one would look for the way down where I am
+leading."
+
+Nic gazed at him wonderingly, for the man's manner seemed moment by
+moment to grow more strange; but they trudged on for quite a quarter of
+an hour, through a wonderful chaos of rocks and stunted trees, which
+formed a dense thicket through which it was hard to pass, and which was
+at last barred by the rocks closing in.
+
+Here the convict turned sharply to his left, went in, and out for a
+couple of score yards, and then came to a halt at a rock face, from
+beneath which a little stream of water gurgled down a long gully for a
+short distance, and then disappeared.
+
+"Is the water good?" said Nic eagerly.
+
+"Delicious.  Drink."
+
+"Then you have been coming to find that?" cried Nic, after taking a
+long, deep draught.  "It is good.  But I thought you were going to show
+me the way down into the gorge."
+
+"Yes: there it is."
+
+"What?  Why, where?" cried Nic, staring.
+
+"Down there, where the water goes.  Follow that, and you will reach the
+great valley."
+
+"But," cried Nic, gazing in wonder at what seemed to be a mere split in
+the rock, down which the light penetrated but a short distance, "that
+goes underground."
+
+"Yes, nearly all the way."
+
+"A cavern."
+
+"A series of caverns.  You do not care to go now?"
+
+"Well, it looks--It is so--One can't hardly--Yes, one can," cried the
+boy, ceasing his stammering and drawing himself up.  "I am quite ready.
+Will you go first?"
+
+The convict smiled, bent down a little, and passed out of the boy's
+sight.
+
+"You can jump down boldly here," came in deep, echoing tones: "there is
+good foothold.  A little slippery, but I'll catch you if your foot
+glides away."
+
+It requires a little effort of mind to leap down off _terra_ _firma_
+into a black-looking hole whose bottom is invisible, and Nic hesitated
+for a moment or two.  Then:
+
+"Trust for trust," he said to himself, and leaped, to feel for a brief
+instant or two that strange sensation experienced when rushing downward
+in a swing.  Then _splash_! and his feet sent the water flying as he
+landed upon soft sand, while a hand grasped his shoulder, and he could
+dimly see the convict's swarthy face.
+
+"All right?"
+
+"Yes.  Did I hit you with the gun?"
+
+"Pretty hard, boy; but, never mind--it didn't go off."
+
+Nic looked round, and by the light which gleamed from above through a
+lovely lacework of overhanging ferns he could see rugged rocks, which
+looked of a glistening: metallic green, but in places of a soft rippled
+cream, as if the rich produce of hundreds of cows had trickled down the
+walls and turned to stone.  Water was flowing about his feet, but only
+an inch or two deep, and beyond where the convict stood there was black
+darkness.
+
+"I say, is this really the way down to the bottom of that great gorge,
+Leather--I mean Frank Mayne?" said Nic breathlessly, for his heart, in
+spite of his having gone through no exertion, still laboured heavily.
+
+"Yes, and a gloriously easy way, as you will soon see."
+
+"See?" cried Nic.
+
+"Yes; come along."
+
+"One moment," said Nic, pausing to look upward at the arching ferns
+eight or ten feet overhead.  "No one would think of coming down there to
+look for a way.  But how about footmarks in this soft sand?  One of the
+blacks would trace us directly."
+
+"The water trickles over them and washes them full of sand directly,
+Nic.  I am safe in that."
+
+"But did you venture into this black darkness without knowing where you
+were going?  One might slip down into some horrible pit."
+
+"I slipped down into a horrible pit years ago, boy," said the convict
+bitterly, "and I felt that I could only lose my life in an adventurous
+search.  But I did not go far in the dark.  Come on a few yards, and I
+will show you.  There is nothing to mind."
+
+"Does the water get deeper?" whispered Nic, in an awe-stricken voice.
+
+"Never more than an inch or two, except in rainy time, and then of
+course it becomes a rushing torrent and impassable.  Come along: it is
+always a soft sandy or rippled path formed of petrifactions like that
+you saw just now."
+
+Nic braced up his nerves and followed the _wash_, _wash_ of the
+convict's footsteps till his companion cried, "Halt!"
+
+"Now," he said--"hold this."
+
+"This" proved to be a great piece of soft, crumbling touchwood, which
+felt as if it had been torn from some dry, rotting gum tree; and
+directly after _nick_--_nick_--_nick_ came the sound of a flint against
+a steel: tiny bright scintillations glistened in the black darkness, and
+soon there was a faint glow as the convict began to blow one spark which
+had fallen upon the wood Nic held.  Then the spark grew brighter and
+brighter, and at last shed a faint luminous glow sufficient to make
+darkness visible; and this was increased by the convict taking the piece
+of wood and waving it softly to and fro.
+
+"A poor light," he said, "but it takes off the worst part of the gloom,
+and it is comforting.  I have not begun making myself candles yet, Nic."
+
+"What's that?" whispered the boy, as there was a peculiar fluttering
+noise and something swept his cheek softly.
+
+"Only bats.  There are plenty here.  Don't you smell them?"
+
+"Yes, there is a black-beetly smell; but I thought it was the wood.  Are
+there any--any dangerous beasts down here?"
+
+"There are no dangerous beasts in this country," said the convict,
+"except poisonous snakes and the crocodiles in the rivers, and I have
+never seen one of them.  No, Nic, there is nothing to fear here but
+flood after a storm.  Now, come along; step out boldly.  It is nervous
+work the first time.  I felt a bit scared when I explored it.  I could
+walk through now in the darkness with my hands in my pockets.  One only
+has to let one's feet follow the water."
+
+"But if you did not follow the water?"
+
+"Then you might wander away into one of the side passages, or go down
+some wide rift and lose your way."
+
+"Is it so big, then?"
+
+"Farther on.  There it opens out into huge caverns, and rises up into
+great cracks and chambers caused by the petrifying stony water.  There
+are sheets and columns and hummocks of stone all made by the drip from
+above.  This place has all been formed by the water eating away the
+limestone rock, dissolving it here and piling it up there."
+
+As the convict walked on, and Nic followed close behind, the splashing
+of their feet echoed softly from the walls, and the man's voice sounded
+shut in and smothered.  The air felt hot too, and oppressive, while the
+smouldering wood glowed and made the convict's figure stand out like a
+solid carved block moving dimly outlined before Nic as he went on.
+
+Then, all at once, the echoes of the disturbed water grew louder, and
+went whispering away; and as Leather went on talking his voice seemed to
+grow free, and the air was cool and damp.
+
+"Now listen," he said; and he paused, waved his smouldering torch, and
+uttered a loud _cooey_.
+
+Nic caught at his arm, for there was a crash, and a bellowing roar as
+the cry went echoing away and then gradually died out in whispers.
+
+"Startling, isn't it?  But only sound.  The cavern is enormous here."
+
+"It's dreadful!" panted Nic.
+
+"No: wonderful and grand, boy.  Ah! who knows what may be deeper down in
+the interior of this mighty world on which we crawl!  Come along; you'll
+have other chances of exploring here--that is, if you come to see me,
+Nic.  Would you venture alone?"
+
+"No," said Nic frankly.  "I don't think I should dare."
+
+"Familiarity breeds contempt--even for darkness, Nic," said the convict
+with a laugh, which sounded horrible.  "Don't be in a hurry to say that.
+I believe that with a lantern you would come.  Forward, boy!"
+
+"Is it much farther?"
+
+"Oh yes--a long, long, long way.  I was months before I got right
+through."
+
+"What!" cried Nic in a startled voice; and he wished he had not spoken,
+for his exclamation sounded as if it would bring down the rocks upon
+their heads.
+
+"No, no; not as you take it," said the convict laughingly, as he waved
+the torch and made it glow.  "I mean that after I discovered it one day,
+as I told you, through a sheep falling down into that well-like opening,
+I made myself a rough lamp from an old pannikin, some melted mutton fat,
+and a bit of rag, and when I had chances I came down and followed the
+stream a little farther and a little farther, led on and on by the
+interest of the place, always expecting to find that it would end with
+an underground lake."
+
+"And it did not?"
+
+"No, this little stream joins the river in the great valley, as you will
+see.  But we are losing time.  Come on."
+
+Nic followed in silence, but with the creepy, shivering sensation
+passing off; and a feeling of intense curiosity and wonder taking its
+place.
+
+"Is it much farther?" he said at last.
+
+"Like to go back now, boy?"
+
+"No," cried Nic firmly--"of course not."
+
+"Well, as to being farther to go, I could turn off in several places,
+and we could wander on for longer than I could say.  You can bring
+friends and explore it some day, perhaps; but down to the valley is not
+a great way now."
+
+"Down!  Are we going down?"
+
+"Of course: flowing water is always going downward.  There, you can hear
+that the rocks are farther away to right and left.  Farther on they
+close in again till it is like a crack, and they run up to a point far
+above our heads.  We must have a good light some day, Nic, if I am not
+taken.  You would like to explore the place?"
+
+"If you are taken!" cried Nic.  "Why, you could defend yourself against
+a hundred people here, and set them at defiance."
+
+"Yes, but I might be surprised.  I can't live without sleep, Nic.
+They'll take me some day.  Friend Brookes will find out that you come to
+see me, and track you to the opening."
+
+"He would not dare to come along here."
+
+"No, but he would send those who did.  But never mind that now.  Let's
+enjoy life while we can, even if it is such a poor life as mine."
+
+"I say, Frank Mayne," said Nic, after a thoughtful pause, during which
+he had listened to the _whish_, _whish_ of their feet through the water,
+and the whispering echoes, now close at hand, now far away.
+
+"Say on, boy."
+
+"I'm going to the port as soon as my father comes back."
+
+"Going, boy?  I'm sorry.  But you will come back?"
+
+"I hope so; with news.  I shall go and see Sir John and Lady O'Hara,
+tell them your story, and get you pardoned."
+
+"No.  The governor did what he could: I was allowed to go out as an
+assigned servant; I have disgraced myself, and I should have to go back
+to the gang."
+
+"Not if he knew that you were innocent."
+
+"My character with which I came out spoils that, boy.  Don't talk about
+it.  Mine is a hopeless case."
+
+"But Lady O'Hara is my friend."
+
+"Hush!  It is too late."
+
+They went on and on through the obscurity in comparative silence now,
+Nic feeling as if he were being led always by that black shadow of a
+gigantic man, beyond which there was a faint glow.
+
+Always the same tramp, tramp through the splashing water, and along its
+soft bed, which was never more than four or five feet wide at that time,
+and the flowing stream kept them easily in the right way.  Once or twice
+Nic felt startled at the want of light from the smouldering torch, but a
+few waves in the air brightened its faint glow again, and they went on
+and on as if their journey were to be right through the grim bowels of
+the world.
+
+"Is it much farther?" said Nic at last, to break the painful silence.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"But we seem to have come miles."
+
+"I dare say it is two," said the convict, "but imagination makes it
+longer.  My first journeyings made me think that it must be at least
+twenty.  Come closer here."
+
+Nic stepped up and touched the arm which bore the light.
+
+"Now look straight on."
+
+"I can see nothing."
+
+"You are not looking the right way.  Try again."
+
+"Yes, I see now.  What is it?  A spark?"
+
+"Of daylight.  We are nearly through."
+
+Nic's heart throbbed.  He felt as if a huge load had been taken off his
+brain; a thrill ran through him, and he stepped on briskly, with the
+faint light ahead rapidly growing brighter.  Five minutes later they
+could see the golden glow of sunshine, and in another minute they were
+wading in deeper water at the bottom of a vast rift overhung by the
+ferns which grew on the ledges higher and higher.  The next minute they
+stepped out into broad daylight on the sides of the deep cleft, and in a
+short time, after some sharp climbing, they were at the bottom of the
+mighty gorge, with Nic shading his aching eyes.
+
+"My little kingdom, Nic," said the convict.  "Welcome to my savage
+home!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+CASTLES IN THE AIR.
+
+"Don't try to find any more adjectives, boy," said the convict about an
+hour later.  "Be content with beautiful.  That's what it is."
+
+They were sitting in front of a loosely made bark gunyah, bare-footed,
+and with their shoes and well-worn stockings placed upon a scorching
+sheet of rock to dry.  The wallet was empty, for they had made a hearty
+meal; after which Nic had been piling up all the words he could think of
+to express his admiration for the valley shut in by those tremendous
+walls, or his delight with the beauty and novelty of the place.
+
+The troubles of his life seemed to have dropped from the convict, who
+laughed and talked as if he were a dozen years younger, and free from
+care.  The hard, bitter look had gone from his eyes, and he entered with
+boyish zest into the proposals his young companion made.
+
+"Oh yes," he cried, "we must have plenty of shooting and fishing.  How
+many birds have you collected and skinned?"
+
+"Two," said Nic, making a grimace.  "I've been so busy."
+
+"Never mind; you can come here and shoot.  I'll skin for you, and you
+can get a fine collection."
+
+"Birds ought to be plentiful here."
+
+"They swarm," said the convict.  "You can get the beautiful lyre bird,
+with its wonderful curved tail.  I can show you the bower birds' nests,
+with their decorations.  Then there is that beautiful purply black kind
+of crow--the rifle bird they call it.  As to the parrots and cockatoos,
+they are in flocks."
+
+"The kangaroos are plentiful enough, too, seemingly."
+
+"Herds of them, from the little wallaby rats right up to the red old
+men."
+
+"And snakes?"
+
+"Too many of them; I'm obliged to be careful.  We can have some grand
+hunts, Nic, and I can feast you afterwards on roast cockatoo and
+mutton."
+
+"And I shall bring you--I say, I'd forgotten: did you bring the flour
+down here?"
+
+"No," said the convict, smiling; "you forgot to hide it where you said."
+
+"It was too dark that night to find the place, but I put it there next
+day.  Didn't you get it?"
+
+"No; some one must have seen you hide it, and taken it away.  One of the
+blacks, I suppose."
+
+"Or Brookes."
+
+"Was he anywhere near, Nic?"
+
+The boy nodded.
+
+"That's bad, my boy," said the convict, with the bright look fading out
+of his face, to leave it cold and hard.  "There, the sun is getting low;
+we have the tunnel to go through, and then you have a long walk back to
+your horse.  We have been going too fast, Nic.  I'm afraid you must wait
+some time before you come again."
+
+Nic looked pained, and sat gazing at his companion sadly.
+
+"Must I go now?" he said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Nic thrust his stockings into his pocket, tied his shoes together to
+sling over his arm, and picked up his gun.  Then reluctantly he followed
+his silent companion to the mouth of the tunnel-like cavern, where a
+bigger piece of touchwood was lit, and they commenced the return
+journey.
+
+It was up hill, but it did not seem half so far; and at last they
+stopped close to the well-like opening, down whose side the water
+trickled musically.
+
+"Frank," said Nic, "I'm going to leave you my gun."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To protect yourself."
+
+"Don't leave temptation in my way, boy," was the stern reply.  "No; I
+will not have it.  Brookes and I might meet.  There are plenty of trees
+to cut myself a stout stick for a weapon, or I can defend myself with my
+hands.  Look, there are three notches in the stone where you can place
+your feet.  Up with you!  You can find your way.  Good-bye."
+
+Nic could not say "good-bye," but he grasped the convict's hand before
+climbing up the narrow shaft-like place and raising his head cautiously
+above the level.
+
+A kangaroo loped gently by--evident proof that there was no danger--and,
+drawing himself right out, Nic dived in among the trees and rocks, and
+began to return by the way he came.
+
+He had so much to think of that the way back did not seem to be so very
+long; and at last he reached the spot where he had left his nag,
+mounted, and rode home, wondering whether Brookes had found that flour
+and suspected anything.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+NATURE AT HOME.
+
+If Brookes suspected, he made no show, but went about his work watchful
+and quiet as could be, Nic noting that he never went to perform the
+simplest duty about the station without a gun, and always seeming to be
+on the look-out for danger lurking behind bush, tree, or fence.
+
+"He must feel that Leather is somewhere near at hand," thought Nic, "and
+he'll betray him if he can."
+
+The convict protested; but, after taking candles and going through the
+cavern alone, Nic took him flour, tea, and sugar, and various other
+things to make his solitary life more bearable.
+
+"There, I'm very weak," the poor fellow said one day; "but these are the
+only happy moments I have had for years, Nic.  You have made me like a
+boy again, and I feel as if I had begun to live a new life.  But it is
+too good to last, Nic.  There is too much sunshine, and the storm and
+flood will come.  When does your father return?"
+
+"Don't talk of him as if he were a storm," cried Nic.
+
+"But you will have less liberty then."
+
+"Oh, I don't know; I shall go on taking long rides round after the sheep
+and cattle.  I say, I never told you: we've lost two sheep during the
+past fortnight."
+
+"The blacks."
+
+"That's what we all thought; but Bungarolo and the others are sure that
+there have been no blackfellows in the neighbourhood.  They went out for
+two days afterwards, and came back and declared they had seen none.  If
+they had, of course I shouldn't be here.  I think it's the dingoes,
+though we found no skin or bones.  Old Sam and I are going to take the
+dogs and have a hunt.  Let Rumble and Tumble run them to bay, and then
+let loose Nibbler at them."
+
+"Try it," said Leather laconically.
+
+That day, in accordance with a promise, the convict took Nic for a long
+walk through the open gorge, where the gum trees grew of gigantic size,
+and on down the river for some miles, to where it spread out into a wide
+lagoon, completely shut in by the forest, and with the borders fringed
+by reeds and tall grasses, offering plenty of cover for them to
+approach.  The ducks were in abundance, and Leather laughingly spoke of
+it as his larder where he fished for them, hiding among the reeds, and
+sending a small fish sailing among them at the end of a line, with the
+result that he often hooked one and drew it ashore for a meal.
+
+But it was not to catch a shoal of ducks that they were come, the
+convict cautiously leading the way to a broad extent of marshy ground,
+from which the water had retired in consequence of the drought, and
+here, upon their crawling up to the screen of reeds, Leather drew aside
+for the boy to peer through to see pretty close at hand a flock of over
+a hundred grey stork-like birds marching about gravely, and darting
+their bills down sharply here and there at some fish or frog in a pool.
+Others were standing on one leg, with the other and the long neck
+regularly folded up, and the bill tucked neatly away among the feathers.
+
+All seemed grave, calm, and deliberate, every motion being made in the
+most solemn fashion, one of them the root of whose beak itched
+scratching it with a claw in a gracefully zigzag mode.
+
+They were fine tall birds, fully four feet in height, and of a beautiful
+grey; but after kneeling in a damp place for about a quarter of an hour
+Nic grew weary, and turned to look at the convict, who smiled, nodded,
+and held up a finger, as much as to say, "Be patient."
+
+"Things never do what you want at the right time," thought Nic; but
+hardly had he mentally spoken when one of the storks farther off uttered
+a peculiar cry like the low note of a cracked clarionet, and in an
+instant the long-legged birds from all quarters came trooping up, some
+of them helping their movements by extending their wings a little, till
+all were collected in a rough kind of circle, one remaining almost
+motionless in the middle of the ring.
+
+A few more of the quaint trumpeted-out notes were heard, and these were
+uttered by one of the cranes nearest to Nic, who could see the
+scissors-like beak open, the bright eye, and the gay scarlet ear-lobes
+of the solemn-looking bird, which drew itself up, took a look round in a
+stately way, and then seemed to Nic to have gone mad; for it suddenly
+began to dance and caper about, bowing and shaking its head to its
+companions again and again before leaping in the air and coming down
+upon its feet, to go through a series of the wildest gambols imaginable.
+It waltzed, advanced, retreated, set to partners, skipped here and
+there with wonderful activity, and began again.
+
+Its actions were contagious, for the next minute fully a hundred of the
+long-legged bipeds were capering about the marsh in a frantic dance,
+snapping their bills, and evidently enjoying this ebullition of
+fantastic gambols.
+
+Nic would have roared with laughter had he not been afraid to send the
+birds away and so end their game; and this went on for some minutes,
+ending in a regular wild country dance peculiar to bird-land, after
+which all was still.  Some of the cranes rested on one leg, with a heel
+projecting from beneath their tails, others stood still with their heads
+cowered down between their shoulders, and the rest stalked solemnly
+about, peering here and there in search of frogs or small fish, and it
+was hard to imagine that these grave and reverent-looking grey signors
+could ever have been guilty of such antics.
+
+On some days Nic arrived late, and when the moon rose went opossum
+shooting, the skins being prepared by the convict for a bed.  One
+evening he stayed late to be taken to see the lyre bird come dancing
+down a green lane between dense casuarinas, to a favourable spot for
+these beautiful creatures.  And once he saw the peculiar bird, large as
+a pheasant, spread its curious tail, dance, rattle its wings, and
+indulge in a series of cries and calls--now it would be whistling, at
+another time making a sound like the cracking of a whip, and at another
+time justifying its native name of bullan-bullan.
+
+Mayne had always some new natural history object to introduce to Nic,
+throwing himself heart and soul into his pursuits, and announcing at
+last that he had seen emus about in one particular spot, and saying he
+was sure that there must be a nest.
+
+Nic had longed to get specimens of the great dark green eggs, and he
+heard the announcement with delight.
+
+"Just what I wanted," he cried; "but I meant for us to explore the
+cavern next time I came."
+
+"If we soon find the nest, we shall have time to do some exploring as
+well," replied Mayne; "so bring your candles, and I'll get some of the
+bunya wood and dry it in the sun.  It burns well, and it will help to
+light up some of the dark parts.  When will you come over?"
+
+"Day after to-morrow."
+
+"If your father has not returned," said the convict sadly.
+
+"Well, if he does, on the next day.  I say, don't look so downhearted.
+You see that was all fancy about Brookes suspecting anything."
+
+"I don't know," said the convict thoughtfully.
+
+"I think I do," said Nic, laughing.  "He has been as nervous as can be
+for fear of your coming back to punish him for laying information about
+you with Mr Dillon.  If he felt that you were anywhere near, he would
+soon go over to the Wattles again.  Sam says you've gone right away a
+hundred miles up in the myall scrub to join the Gunalong tribe, and
+married and settled."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, he said we should never see you again.  Good-bye."
+
+The convict grasped his hand, and they parted at the mouth of the
+cavern.
+
+"Nic, my dear," said Mrs Braydon that night.  "You will be obliged to
+have some more shoes; those last have quite rotted away at the
+stitching.  You seem to be always wading and getting your feet wet.  Do
+be careful, my dear; it is so difficult to get anything new.  Is all
+well about the station?"
+
+"Everything, mother, excepting the loss of those sheep.  We must have a
+dingo hunt.  It won't do to lose any more before father comes home."
+
+Mrs Braydon sighed.
+
+"It seems so long since we have heard, my dear," she said.  "If it were
+not that I don't like to spare you, I would get you to ride over and see
+how Sir John is getting on."
+
+Nic thought he would like to go; but he, too, felt that it would not be
+possible to leave home, and for more reasons than one.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+A DOUBLE SURPRISE.
+
+"'Nother sheep gone, Master Nic," said Brookes next morning.
+
+"Then we'll have the dogs out and have a hunt round.  Whose flock was it
+among?"
+
+"Bung's."
+
+"All right, then; we'll have a turn at once."
+
+Old Sam was told of what was to take place, Damper and Rigar were
+fetched from their charges, and gladly joined in, while the dogs nearly
+went mad--all three seeming to fully understand what was going to take
+place, and displaying their mad delight by charging and rolling one
+another over, and a sham worry all round, that suggested horrors for any
+unfortunate dingo with which they were not at play.
+
+As Nic rode on between his two men, with the dogs and blacks in front,
+he began to feel a little suspicious of the latter, from the way in
+which they talked and laughed one to the other, as if they enjoyed the
+loss of a sheep as a very good joke; and the boy could not help asking
+himself whether they were taking advantage of his inexperience to help
+themselves to the wherewithal for an occasional feast.
+
+This impressed him so much at last that he mentioned his suspicions to
+old Sam.
+
+But the man shook his head.
+
+"No, sir; I think not," he replied.  "We look too sharp after 'em, and
+they're too well fed.  I won't say what a hungry blackfellow mightn't
+do, but our boys ain't hungry, and that makes all the difference.  What
+do you say, Brooky?"
+
+"I say it ain't the blacks; but I know."
+
+As the man spoke he examined the pan of his gun, and then took out his
+knife and began to chip the flint, so that it might be certain to strike
+out sparks.
+
+"What do you know?" said Nic, looking at the man wonderingly.
+
+"What do I know?" said Brookes, giving him a defiant look: "why, I know
+it's that there Leather as is skulking about like a rat, and snatching a
+sheep whenever he likes."
+
+"Absurd!" cried Nic indignantly.
+
+"Oh, all right, sir, it's 'surd, then; you know best, o' course.  You're
+master, and I'm on'y a servant; but I say as that there Leather killed
+all them sheep, and if the doctor was at home he'd soon stop that."
+
+"Go on, dogs!" shouted Nic, riding forward to hide his annoyance and
+fidgety looks, for Brookes had looked at him in a way which troubled
+him.
+
+The blacks led on among the trees and over the pastures, now nearly
+brown for want of rain; and to Nic's annoyance the men made for the
+stretch of country which ran along by the side of the gorge.  Then
+suddenly one of the collies uttered a sharp bark, which was taken up by
+the other, Nibbler gave forth his deep growl, and as they started off on
+the scent of something, he followed, and the blacks trotted close
+behind.
+
+Nic felt a peculiar, sense of hesitation; but his two men started in a
+run, and he felt that he must go too, though this part of the country
+seemed to him the least likely for dingoes, and he began to wonder
+whether the dogs had taken up the scent of a man who had passed that
+way, and if so, would it be the convict?
+
+Ten minutes later he felt ready to stop the hunt, for the dogs were
+right on the line he would have himself taken to reach the spring which
+ran down to the tunnel-like cavern.  Certainly it was miles away, but,
+going at a pretty good speed, Nic felt that the dogs would quickly
+reduce the distance, and his horror increased.
+
+"They'll soon have him, Master Nic," panted old Sam, who ran, in spite
+of his years, better than his companion, the blacks being now out of
+sight.
+
+"Have whom?" cried Nic; but he repented directly, for Brookes turned and
+gave him another curious look.
+
+"Why, that there dingo, sir," said Sam.
+
+"_Cooey_--_cooey_!" came from a distance, as the faint barking of the
+dogs ceased; and Nic pressed forward, to arrive, in a quarter of a mile
+or so, at a dense thicket, within which he could see the blacks and hear
+the dogs whining and snuffling about.
+
+"Got him?" cried Nic, with an intense feeling of relief.
+
+"Mine help dog follow find him," cried Bungarolo with a broad grin; and
+the boy urged his horse in through the bushes, to find a skin tossed
+down, and plenty of evidence of a sheep having been lately killed there.
+
+He was staring down at the remains, while the dogs stood whining and
+snuffling round, eager to make a feast of the offal, but kept back by
+the blacks, who each held a nulla-nulla with its melon-shaped knob in
+front of their noses.
+
+"He! he!" laughed Brookes.  "That's a clever sort o' dingo, Sam.  I
+never see one skin his sheep before and dress him."
+
+Old Sam rubbed one side of his nose and looked at Nic, who turned
+sharply to the blacks.
+
+"Here, you!" he cried angrily--"you killed this sheep!"
+
+"Baal!  Baal!" they cried in angry chorus.  "No kill--no mumkull sheep
+fellow.  Plenty mutton--plenty.  White Mary gib plenty mutton.  You
+pidney (know)."
+
+"No, I want to pidney," cried Nic.  "Here, Bung, who killed the sheep,
+then?"
+
+"No pidney.  Soon find."
+
+The man, imitated by his fellows, began to search about, and soon took
+up a barefoot trail and pointed to a drop of blood now and then where it
+lay dried upon a leaf.
+
+"Could Leather have killed a sheep and taken it away?" thought Nic.
+"No--impossible!" and he was following the blacks in a hesitating
+spirit, when Brookes stopped short.
+
+"What is it?" cried old Sam, imitating his action.
+
+"I ain't going to walk into no hambudges," growled Brookes.
+
+This roused Nic into action.
+
+"Here!--Hi!  Bung, all of you stop!" he cried, and the blacks paused and
+waited till they came up, looking at their young master inquiringly.
+
+"Find tracks?" asked Nic.
+
+"Plenty mine find mandowie."
+
+"Black fellow's?" cried Nic.
+
+"Baal!  Baal! white fellow!" cried all three--"white fellow."
+
+Brookes gave a ghastly grin and cocked his gun.
+
+"I ain't going no farther," he growled.  "It's walking into a hambudge.
+Black fellows don't kill sheep like that."
+
+"No plenty mumkull sheep," cried Damper.  "White fellow."
+
+"P'r'aps we'd better not go on, sir," whispered old Sam uneasily.
+
+Nic said nothing, but rode slowly back to where the remains of the sheep
+had been discovered, followed by the rest, the blacks chattering
+together in a great state of excitement, and the dogs whining and
+uneasy.
+
+"Pick up the skin, Sam," said Nic; and the old man made one of the
+blacks carry it shouldered over his spear.
+
+Nothing more was said, Nic riding along feeling sadly puzzled, and
+trying to follow out a peculiar line of thought without success.  It had
+something to do with an idea about, spite, and whether it was possible
+that Brookes had killed these sheep on purpose to make it seem that
+Leather was lurking about destroying his late employer's property, so
+that, when once this idea took deep root, another expedition might be
+planned for the purpose of hunting the convict down, and relieving him
+of an object which caused him constant dread.
+
+But Nic gave Brookes the benefit of a doubt, and rode silently on till
+he was in sight of the house, when he suddenly pressed his horse's sides
+and galloped forward.
+
+For he had caught sight of a light waggon drawn up in front; there were
+horses and men about, and he felt that something important had taken
+place in his absence.
+
+Ten minutes later he was grasping his father's hands, and then those of
+the governor, who looked very pale and thin.  Lastly those of Lady
+O'Hara, who held his tightly.
+
+"Oh! just look at him," she cried; "why, he's brown as chestnuts and
+getting as big as a man.  Sure, and what do ye water him with, Mrs
+Braydon, to make him grow like that?"
+
+"Yes, he has grown," said Nic's mother, smiling with pride.
+
+"Grown! why, he's shot up like a palm tree.  Nic, boy, we've come up
+with your father for me husband to get quite cured: will you have us for
+a bit?"
+
+Nic's eyes silently gave their answer as he clung to lady O'Hara's hand,
+just as he did that day when she came to the Friary to fetch him from
+school, not so very long back; but so many events had happened since,
+that it seemed an age to the boy, who felt how different he was since
+then.
+
+"You don't deserve for us to come, Mrs Braydon," said Lady O'Hara as
+they sat over their homely meal that evening, "for you never come to
+stay with me, nor the girls neither."
+
+"You see what a simple farmhouse life we lead," said Mrs Braydon,
+smiling.  "We are not fit for Government House."
+
+"Now just hark at her, John!" cried the lady.  "Do we want her to come
+and see Government House?  It's to see us."
+
+"Mrs Braydon knows that," said Sir John gravely, "and how deeply we are
+in her debt.  Here we are, after robbing her of her natural protector
+all this time, come to trouble her more."
+
+"Then let's go back, John," said Lady O'Hara dilly; "sure we're not
+welcome.  We're too foine for her."
+
+"Lady O'Hara!" cried Mrs Braydon indignantly.
+
+"That's brought her to her senses," said the visitor, rising and going
+to Mrs Braydon to kiss her affectionately.  "Don't you know that you're
+all the dearest and best friends we've got in the world?  Hasn't the
+doctor been sitting up with John night after night, and saved his life?"
+
+"Oh, nonsense! nonsense!" said the doctor quickly.
+
+"It's quite true, Mrs Braydon," said the governor warmly; "and God
+bless him for it!"
+
+"There!" cried Lady O'Hara, "now let's all be comfortable.  Why, it's
+like being at home, at the old place from which John fetched me when he
+was only Lieutenant O'Hara, and hadn't a grand handle to his name.
+Gyurls, I'm going to enjoy myself with you while the governor gets
+strong and well.  Sure I can make butter as well as either of you.
+Didn't we have two Kerry cows at home?  As for bread, there I'll bate--
+beat I mean--either of you.  Nic, boy, you'll take me round with you
+when you go to see to the stock; only I must have a quiet ould mare--
+none of your great tatthering savage craytures that want to go like the
+wind.  I've brought my strong riding habit.  And you gyurls, you'll ride
+too?"
+
+"Of course," cried Janet eagerly.
+
+"Then we're going to have quite a happy time; and John'll get quite
+strong, won't he, doctor?"
+
+"Yes, he'll be a new man in a month."
+
+"What!" cried the lady, with an assumed look of alarm: "John, darlin',
+order the waggon and horses out.  Ring for the men.  We'll go back home
+directly, and try the new doctor that's just come out."
+
+"Why?" said Sir John, smiling.
+
+"Sure, didn't he say he'd make a new man of you?  Don't I want you the
+same as you always were?  A new man, indeed!"
+
+A merry evening was passed, but before they parted for the night the
+doctor said:
+
+"I've asked no questions, Nic, boy; but all seems to be right."
+
+"Nearly, father--not quite."
+
+"Not quite?  Well, that doesn't sound very serious.  But I want to know
+fully what this upset has been about the assigned servant."
+
+Nic briefly told of the trouble.
+
+"Ah, well, we'll have that over in the morning, Nic.  I'm sorry, though,
+for I thought the man was trustworthy."
+
+Nic gave his father a pained look, as the doctor went on: "I shall ride
+over and see Dillon.  Well, what next?"
+
+"Three sheep have gone, father, one after the other."
+
+"I am not surprised," said the doctor drily.
+
+"But, father--" began Nic.
+
+"Not to-night, my boy.  I know what you are going to say.  This man was
+rather a favourite of yours.  Now, what other troubles?"
+
+"None, father."
+
+"That's good.  Then you've done well, boy.  But I was very anxious to
+get back, for there has been a serious rising among the convicts, and
+two parties have escaped to the bush.  I was afraid you might be having
+a visitation."
+
+"They're taken by this time, Braydon, depend upon it," said Sir John.
+"My people will not rest till they are.  There, I'm tired out.  You'll
+excuse me to-night?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, O'Hara," said the doctor.  "Yes, bed for us too.
+Good night, Nic.  To-morrow you will have to render me an account of
+your stewardship."
+
+Nic sought his bed that night with mingled feelings of pleasure and
+pain.
+
+It was delightful to feel the warm grip of his father's hand again, and
+to see Lady O'Hara's merry, cheery face; but, on the other hand, after
+being captain of the station so long, there was a slight suspicion of
+regret at having to give up his independent position; and then there was
+the trouble about the convict.  His father said he would go and see Mr
+Dillon, and there was what the magistrate would say about him.  Then his
+conscience smote him for that which was a lapse of duty.  He had made so
+great an intimate of Leather, and he felt as if he had been helping him
+to defy the law.  Sir John O'Hara was sleeping under their roof now, and
+he was governor, judge--a regular viceroy in the colony.  What would he
+say?
+
+Above all, what would the doctor do?
+
+It was a long time before Nic could settle off to sleep that night, and
+in consequence he was very late the next morning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+THE DOCTOR PLAYS MAGISTRATE.
+
+Do I mean Nic did not get down till breakfast was ready, about eight
+o'clock?
+
+No, I do not.  This was Australia in its earlier days of the colony, and
+people's habits were different from ours.
+
+Nic Braydon's lateness consisted in his being fast asleep when the
+piping crow began to run up and down its scales to announce that the
+stars were paling faster, when the laughing jackasses chuckled at the
+loud crowing of the cocks; and he was dreaming about Mayne being brought
+up to the station by mounted police when the sun had been visible an
+hour.
+
+Nic started up in a profuse perspiration, jumped out of bed and dressed
+rapidly, eager to get out in the paddocks to see that the bullocks and
+horses that brought the party on the previous day were properly attended
+to.
+
+He now met the three men who had come with the waggon busy enough
+unpacking, and he found that Brookes, old Sam, and the three blacks were
+all hard at work.  The fresh milk was being brought into the dairy, the
+horses were being fed and rubbed down, and all was going on in the
+satisfactory way which the boy felt would please his father.
+
+Directly after he ran against old Sam.
+
+"Does one's eyes good to see the master back again, sir.  How well he
+looks!"
+
+"Yes, Sam.  By the way, I didn't see the horse.  How does it look?"
+
+"Splendid, sir; but a good run in our enclosure won't do it no harm."
+
+"Let's go and look at it."
+
+"Look at it?" said the old man, grinning.  "Well, you'll have to wait
+till the master comes back."
+
+"Comes back!  What, is he up?"
+
+"Up, my lad?  Hours ago, and his nag saddled and gone."
+
+"And I asleep!" cried Nic, in a tone full of vexation.  "Which way did
+he go?  I'll saddle up and ride to meet him."
+
+"He's gone over to the Wattles."
+
+"To Mr Dillon's?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  He had a few words with Brooky, and went off directly.
+Here, let me clap the saddle on for you, sir."
+
+"No, thank you, Sam," said the boy, with the tone of his voice changing.
+"I don't think I wish to go now."
+
+The old man looked at him compassionately.  "Don't you be downhearted,
+my lad," he said.  "You've done right enough.  You out with the plain
+truth, and you call me for a witness 'bout Leather.  My word's as good
+with your father as Brooky's.  Don't you be afraid.  You and me's going
+to win."
+
+"Yes, Sam, I hope so," said Nic; and he walked away, to busy himself
+about the farm stock till breakfast time.
+
+Just before it was ready the doctor rode back, threw the rein to old
+Sam, nodded to Nic, and, looking unusually stern, he entered the house
+with his son.
+
+Breakfast was ready, the governor and his wife up, and the latter kept
+the conversation going merrily enough, for she could read the doctor's
+face, and felt from Nic's looks that something was wrong--something for
+which he was about to be blamed.
+
+Every one was glad when the meal was at an end, and the doctor rose,
+when Mrs Braydon darted an imploring look at her husband, the two girls
+one of commiseration at their brother, whose forehead did not wrinkle,
+but became crumpled and pitted, just as it used to at the Friary when he
+had to deal with a knotty sum or equation.
+
+"Oh dear!" said Lady O'Hara.  "I thought we had left all the business at
+home.  Are you coming with me, John?"
+
+"No; my dear; I think Braydon wants me."
+
+"If you please," said the doctor.  "Nic, my boy, fetch the two men round
+to my room.  This way, O'Hara."
+
+Nic went out to obey his father's order and the governor followed the
+doctor into the room which stood at the end of the house, and was used
+by the doctor for his own study, library, surgery, harness-room--
+storehouse for everything, in fact, in connection with the station.
+
+"It's not very serious, I hope," said the governor, as soon as they were
+alone.
+
+"Serious enough," replied the doctor.  "Dillon has told me all about it,
+and I am half pleased, half angry with the boy."
+
+"Then he can't have done much amiss, doctor," said the governor.  "Plus
+kills minus.  If Nic is half and half, he ought to be a very decent sort
+of boy."
+
+"You'll help me if I want help?"
+
+"Of course," said the governor.  "There, I dare say there's not much
+amiss.  Boys of seventeen, or so, are not at their worst age.  It is
+over that trouble about your assigned servant?"
+
+"Yes; the boy likes him, and I am not sure about him."
+
+"He may be honest enough now; but he was always a strangely soured
+fellow, and I don't think I liked him much."
+
+"Prejudice, perhaps."
+
+"I'm afraid so; but here comes the boy."
+
+In effect Nic came now to the door, followed by the two men, both of
+whom looked uneasy, while Nic's countenance was disfigured by rather a
+sullen, ill-used look.
+
+"Come in," said the doctor sharply.  "You too, my men.  Nic, stand
+there."
+
+Nic took the appointed place, and the men were nearly opposite, both
+stroking their heads carefully, Brookes his hair, old Sam his skin, for
+there was no hair on the top to stroke.  The governor, who looked pale
+and weak, sat back in a rough chair.
+
+"Now, Brookes," said the doctor sternly; "I have been over to Mr Dillon
+and heard about this trouble, one which ought not to have happened in my
+absence.  I should now like to hear your statement."
+
+Brookes gave it, and old Sam kept on uttering grunts till the man had
+done, when he gave his version.
+
+"Now, Dominic," said the doctor sternly, and the governor sat watching
+the boy keenly.  "You have heard what Brookes says.  Speak out, sir,
+like an English gentleman and my son.  Let me tell you, first of all,
+that I do not believe you would be guilty of such an offence against the
+law as Brookes suggests; but--"
+
+"Oh, it's true enough," grumbled the man.
+
+"Silence, sir!" cried the doctor angrily.  "You have spoken; don't
+interrupt again."  Then turning to Nic: "I was going to say, my boy, as
+this charge has been brought against you in the presence of our
+governor, that you have aided and abetted a violent convict, I call upon
+you to clear yourself at once.  Now, boy, speak."
+
+"Yes, father, I'll speak," said Nic firmly; "but I can't clear myself."
+
+"What!" cried the doctor angrily.  "Do you own that this accusation is
+true?"
+
+"Yes, it's true enough," cried Brookes.  "He helped him to get away from
+the Wattles."
+
+"Silence, sir!" cried Sir John sternly.
+
+"Speak, Nic.  Did you help this man to escape?"
+
+"No, father."
+
+"There!" cried the doctor in triumph; but his countenance fell directly.
+
+"I went to help him if I could, but he got away without."
+
+Brookes chuckled.
+
+"Then he is somewhere about here in the bush, as Brookes says?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"And you know where?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"And you have been in the habit of visiting this desperate man?"
+
+"Yes, father, all that is quite true."
+
+Brookes chuckled again with satisfaction, and rubbed his tawny brown
+hands as if he were washing them.
+
+"Nic, you astound me!" cried the doctor.  "You have, then, encouraged
+this man about the place during my absence, when I had placed confidence
+in you and left you in charge.  Had you no respect for your mother and
+sisters?"
+
+"Why, of course, father," cried the boy indignantly.  "You don't suppose
+I should have done what I have, if I hadn't felt sure Leather was
+innocent?"
+
+"Hear! hear!" said a voice, and Nic looked up to see that Lady O'Hara
+was at the door, and now came and stood behind Sir John.
+
+"Innocent," cried the doctor, "and hides in the bush, and kills one of
+my sheep whenever he is hungry!"
+
+"He doesn't, father.  I'm sure he wouldn't," cried Nic indignantly.
+
+"And pray, why not?"
+
+"Because he likes me too well."
+
+"Indeed," said the doctor.  "Nic, how can you let yourself be imposed
+upon so easily by a scoundrel?"
+
+"He is not a scoundrel, father," cried Nic, flushing up.  "He was
+condemned for what he never did, and sent out here as a convict."
+
+"I'm afraid they are all innocent, eh, Sir John?" said the doctor.
+
+"A very large percentage, by their own account," replied the governor.
+
+"But this man really is, father," cried Nic.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"He told me all his history, father, and I am sure he is honest."
+
+"And takes advantage of my absence to break out and nearly kill one of
+my men.  Then he escapes to the bush, and now steals my sheep."
+
+"It was Brookes who took advantage of your absence, father."
+
+"Oh, Master Nic!"
+
+"You did, sir.  You always behaved like a brute and a bully to poor
+Leather, and you struck him, and of course he struck you again; and
+then;" cried the boy rapidly, in his excitement, "you told lies to Mr
+Dillon, and had him fetched over there to be flogged; and do you think,"
+he continued, turning his flushed face to Sir John, "if I knew I was
+innocent, and I was dragged away to be flogged with the cat, I wouldn't
+run for the bush?  Why, I would to-morrow."
+
+Sir John frowned, and the doctor looked pained and angry, but he did not
+speak.
+
+"Well, all I know is, I've got the mark o' the chopper on the back o' my
+head still," said Brookes, rubbing the place softly.
+
+"Mark of the chopper!" cried Nic contemptuously.  "You ought to have the
+mark of the cat."
+
+"Silence, Dominic!" cried the doctor.  "It is very clear to me that you
+have let this man impose upon you by his insidious ways, and I am
+bitterly hurt by your folly.  You ought to know better.  However, the
+past is past.  Now make amends by helping to have this man taken.  Where
+is he?"
+
+"Out in the bush, father."
+
+"I know that, sir," said the doctor sternly.  "No evasions, if you
+please.  Where is his hiding-place?"
+
+"Don't be angry with me, father," said Nic, in a pleading tone.  "I
+can't tell you."
+
+"You know?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Then where is he, sir?"
+
+Nic was silent.
+
+"I desire that you tell me at once."
+
+Nic's brow grew more puckered, but his lips tightened.  "Look here, boy.
+Are you going to disgrace me here before Sir John O'Hara by your
+disobedience, and by refusing to give up this criminal to the law?"
+
+"Father, he is quite innocent, and he has trusted me.  I can't be such a
+coward--such a wretch--as to give him up."
+
+The doctor took a step forward as if to seize his son's arm.
+
+"One moment, Braydon," said Sir John.  "Let me speak to him."
+
+The doctor drew back, and stood frowning.
+
+"It is an error of judgment on the boy's part.  When we were his age we
+thought we knew better than our elders; but we know better now.  Look
+here, Dominic, my boy.  You are in the wrong.  This man, your father's
+assigned servant, was tried by a jury of his fellow-countrymen, found
+guilty, and sentenced to transportation.  Well, my boy, we are all under
+the law, which protects us, and we require its protection very much in a
+new colony of such an exceptional kind as this."
+
+"But the law was unjust to him, Sir John, and cruel."
+
+"I think not, my boy.  Certainly mistakes have been made.  But here, you
+see, the law was not so cruel, but said to this man, `You have served a
+certain amount of time; now go and prove your sorrow for your crime by
+making yourself a faithful servant, and in good time you shall go free,
+with an opportunity for commencing a new career.'"
+
+"Yes, Sir John; and Leather--his name's Frank Mayne--has been a good
+servant.  Hasn't he, father?"
+
+"Yes, he has worked very well."
+
+"And so he did, father, while you were away, till that man drove him to
+desperation."
+
+"I cannot argue about all this, Dominic," said Sir John.  "I have to
+judge this matter, and I am afraid, my boy, that you have been imposed
+upon, for matters look very black against this man."
+
+Nic shook his head.
+
+"Well, my boy, they do to me.  But look here, Dominic.  Now, more than
+ever, do we all need to join hand in hand--boys as well as men--for our
+mutual protection.  Even during the past few weeks has a desperate gang
+of scoundrels broken away and taken to the bush, where our warder-guard
+and the soldiery have been unable to hunt them down.  These men must be
+taken, and your friend too.  Now, listen to me, boy.  For your sake, as
+the son of my best friend, I promise you this: if you will enable us to
+capture this man, he shall have a fair examination before me, and I will
+carefully balance all evidence, and the good in him against the evil.
+You will trust me, Dominic?"
+
+"Yes, Sir John; but I can't betray the man who has made me believe in
+him, and whom I look upon as a friend."
+
+"Then--" cried the doctor.
+
+"Stop!" said Sir John firmly.  "This case is adjourned for a week,
+Dominic.  Take time to think, my boy.  This man must be taken--he shall
+be taken.  It will be better if you show us where he is, than for him to
+be seized and driven to desperation.  Blood may be shed."
+
+"Here, I can show you where he is, sir!" cried Brookes.
+
+"You know?" cried the doctor.
+
+"Ay, sir.  I ain't been keeping an eye on young master here for nothing
+ever since you've been away.  I'll show you where he's to be found, and
+where he takes the sheep he steals."
+
+"Stop," said Sir John.  "We will wait a week to give Dominic time to
+think.  And now, doctor, I think I'll take my airing out on your breezy
+hills.  I'm much stronger to-day."
+
+Sir John rose, and the doctor made an imperative gesture to the men to
+leave the room before offering Sir John his arm and leading him out;
+while directly after Mrs Braydon and her daughters entered, Janet going
+at once to her brother and whispering:
+
+"Thank you, Nic: it was very good and brave."
+
+"Ah," cried Lady O'Hara, "what's that ye're saying, gyurl, to this young
+criminal?"
+
+"I was only speaking to my brother, Lady O'Hara," said Janet
+indignantly.
+
+"Only shpaking to your brother.  I heard you.  Only, eh?  I only guess
+what you said.  Ye're encouraging him in his wickedness and his rising
+against the law.  Nic, my boy, you've behaved very badly; you're a
+disobedient son, and a bad citizen, and I ought to be very angry; but
+somehow I can't, for I like the spirit in you."
+
+"But you wouldn't have had me betray that poor fellow, whom I believe to
+be innocent, Lady O'Hara," cried Nic, in choking voice, "and give him up
+to be flogged, and sent back to the chain gang?"
+
+"Bedad, I wouldn't," cried the lady, turning very Irish, and dragging
+him to her, she gave him a sounding kiss.  "I'd have called ye no boy of
+mine if ye had, and your mother wid the gyurls say the same, don't ye,
+my dears?"
+
+"Oh yes," came in chorus.
+
+"But it's all very wrong, Nic; I say so who am the governor's wife; and
+this black sheep-thayving convict of yours'll be coming and killing us
+all in our beds."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+RIGHT WINS.
+
+One idea uppermost in Nic's mind was that he must go and warn Frank
+Mayne that his father was back, that the governor was at the station
+with two men, that--as he had since heard--a party of mounted police
+were coming up to scour the country for escaped convicts, and of course
+they would search for him as well.
+
+But how to warn him and tell him that he was sure Brookes must have been
+always watching, and knew pretty nearly if not surely of his
+hiding-place?
+
+Nic felt that he could not go to the cavern tunnel, nor even approach
+it.  Brookes would for certain be on the look-out, and the trouble would
+be made worse.
+
+The governor had said that Nic should have a week for consideration, and
+three days glided by rapidly without an allusion being made by the
+doctor, who took Sir John about with him for long rides, and in every
+way expressed his satisfaction at the state of affairs about the
+station.
+
+"You've done wonders, Nic," he said; but the boy felt no better.  There
+was that sensation of being half guilty always to the front, and there
+were times when he felt as if he would rather the seven days had come to
+an end, the subject been broached again, and the horrible suspense over.
+
+"I can't do anything," he said to himself.  "It is like going more and
+more against father's orders to warn poor Frank; but what can I do?"
+
+It was the evening of the fourth day, and as Nic was hanging about the
+garden outside the fence, listening to Lady O'Hara's cheery voice and
+his sister's answers, while the governor and Doctor and Mrs Braydon
+were seated in the sunlit verandah, Janet suddenly stood before him.
+
+"Nic," she said in a low voice, and her face was very pale, "you and I
+are both sorry for that poor fellow Leather?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lady O'Hara has been telling me that there will be a party of mounted
+police here to-morrow on purpose to hunt down escaped convicts."
+
+"So soon?" said Nic excitedly.
+
+"Yes; perhaps sooner.  You know where this man is hiding?"
+
+Nic was silent.
+
+"You need not tell me--I feel sure you do.  Ought he not to be told, so
+that he may escape?"
+
+"Yes," said Nic; "but if I try to warn him I shall be followed, and the
+way into his hiding-place found out."
+
+"Janet!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Here: Lady O'Hara wants you."
+
+"I must go," whispered Janet hastily.  "Pray do something, Nic.  It
+would be too horrible for that poor fellow to be hunted down."
+
+Janet hurried away.
+
+"Do something, when I cannot stir without feeling that Brookes and these
+two men of Sir John's are watching me!"
+
+Then a thought occurred, and the boy lounged leisurely about to where
+the dogs were playing, with the blacks looking on; and watching his
+opportunity he crept up close to Bungarolo.
+
+"Look here, Bung," he said in a low voice.
+
+The black turned round and stared.
+
+"No, no: look at the dogs," said Nic.
+
+"What for mine look at dogs?  White Nic going hit mine in back."
+
+"I'm not going to hit you," said Nic hurriedly.
+
+"Kick mine.  This fellow pidney."
+
+"Nonsense!  Look here.  You know where Leather is."
+
+"No pidney--no pidney."
+
+"I say you do," said Nic sternly.  "Now look here.  You go to him
+to-night and tell him that the white police fellows are coming to hunt
+him out.  You pidney?"
+
+"Yes, Bungarolo pidney."
+
+"Tell him he is to go right away and hide till the police fellows are
+gone."
+
+"Bungarolo pidney.  Mine tell Leather fellow jump right away, and police
+fellow baal find."
+
+"That's right.  Go as soon as it's dark."
+
+"You come along see?"
+
+"No, I won't watch you."
+
+The black nodded, and then laughed at some antics performed by the dogs,
+while Nic walked away feeling more comfortable in his own mind than he
+had since his father had returned--though that did not mean much.
+
+He was fully on the _qui vive_, and several times went out into the
+dark, still night to listen for the tramp of horses, but the police did
+not come, and he went to bed to dream of Leather being shot down in the
+bush because he would not surrender.
+
+The next morning, as soon as he was up, Nic went to look for his black
+messenger, but he was missing, and the other two blacks professed
+ignorance of his whereabouts.
+
+"He has gone and not come back," thought Nic; and he felt hopeful that,
+knowing his danger, the convict would escape right away along the gorge,
+and hide in some far-away fastness where he would be safe.  But about
+the middle of the morning, to the boy's horror, he saw Bungarolo come
+crawling up to the station driving a flock of sheep.
+
+Nic hurried up to him.
+
+"Did you go and tell Leather?" he whispered.
+
+"No go tell Leather fellow.  Leather say mine come nigh get mumkull."
+
+"But I told you to go!"
+
+"Leather mumkull Bungarolo.  Mine not want mumkull."
+
+Nic uttered a low groan.
+
+"Brooky look at mine.  Come along, see where mine go.  Doctor tell mine
+fetch sheep fellow.  Mine go fetch sheep fellow."
+
+"It's of no use--I must go," said Nic to himself; and then, casting
+aside all hesitation, he started off at once straight for the fern
+gully, crossed the bridge, and then made a sharp turn off to the right
+along another path and down by the little river, where, upon reaching
+the clump of rough growth which bordered the pool where he had fished
+that day, he suddenly crouched down in among the tree ferns and
+listened.
+
+There was cause for his suspicion.
+
+He had not been hiding five minutes before he heard a rustling sound,
+and directly after he caught sight of the barrel of a gun, which was
+followed by the man who bore it.
+
+There was no mistake.  It was Brookes following him, to see which way he
+went.
+
+Nic's countenance grew dark as he waited, meaning to slip back; when, to
+his surprise, Bungarolo suddenly crept into sight, following Brookes's
+trail, and he too disappeared.
+
+The boy did not understand this, but he knew enough.  Brookes had gone
+off on a wrong trail, and now was the time.
+
+Running back, whenever he could do so unseen, Nic passed round the far
+side of the house, and started right straight away across country, so as
+to strike the side of the great gorge not far from the well-like tunnel
+entrance.
+
+It was a long, hot walk, for Nic felt it would be wise to take advantage
+of every bit of cover whence he could look back to see if he were
+watched.  Then, satisfied that the coast was clear, he went on and
+reached the dense belt which ran all along by the edge of the precipice,
+feeling that a couple of hours' more walking would bring him to the
+mouth of the cavern.
+
+He would not be back before dark, he knew, even if he found the convict
+directly; but he felt that perhaps he would not be questioned, and he
+would have placed the fugitive upon his guard.
+
+Nic went pretty boldly onward, till he came within a mile of the
+opening, and then he sat down to rest and think.
+
+He dared not now go straight to the place, as it was still possible that
+he might be watched.  For Brookes had been so long amongst the blacks
+that he had picked up a great many of their habits, and for aught he
+knew, the man might be tracking him still--in all probability was.
+
+To meet this difficulty, then, Nic started again; but went away at a
+right-angle, struck off again, and zigzagging here and there, he slowly
+drew nearer and nearer to the opening.
+
+The sun beat down heavily in the treeless parts, but Nic heeded it not.
+He was anxious to reach the convict, give him a word of warning, and get
+back as rapidly as possible, unseen; and how to do this exercised all
+his thoughts.
+
+Every now and then, as he crept along, stooping amidst the bushes, he
+startled some wild creature--bird, reptile, or one of the numerous
+kangaroo family--and, the animal darting away, Nic's heart throbbed with
+satisfaction.
+
+For it was a good sign: nobody had been there lately.
+
+At last he was within a few hundred yards of the opening, and he took a
+fresh curve so as to approach from the farther side, meaning to creep
+among the rocks and drop down into the hole almost at a bound.
+
+And now his excitement culminated, for in a few more minutes he would be
+in the tunnel, and if fortune favoured him, would soon reach his friend,
+warn him, and return in comparative peace.
+
+He was congratulating himself upon having succeeded so well, when he
+suddenly stopped short, half stunned by the thought which struck him.
+There was that long tunnel with its many forkings to descend, and he had
+no light, neither the means of getting one, nor candle, nor wood.
+
+He went on again with his teeth set fast.  He would do it, he thought,
+even in the dark, for it only meant keeping in the water and wading.  He
+must go right.
+
+A hundred yards onward through the wilderness of rocks, trees, and
+scrub; and he stopped short again, grasping his gun nervously, for he
+fancied he had heard the crack as of a trampled-on piece of dead wood.
+
+But there was no sound now save the hum of insects.  The birds were
+silent in that torrid midday.
+
+"Fancy!" thought Nic, as he crept on again, stooping low and keeping a
+watchful eye in every direction, till once more a chill of apprehension
+ran through him, for there was a crackling, rustling noise.
+
+He knew what it was: a twig bent back had sprung to its natural
+position; but who had bent back that twig? was it he or some one
+following his trail?
+
+He listened, with every nerve on the strain, but there was no sound; and
+after crouching low, perfectly still for some minutes, he felt convinced
+that it was his own act: the twig had caught a leaf, been held by for a
+minute or so, and then released.
+
+"I wish I was not such a coward," thought Nic, as he once more started
+off, satisfied now that he was close at hand, for he could just see the
+piled-up rocks from beneath which the spring bubbled out.
+
+And now, as more cautiously than ever he crept on, so as to get within
+springing distance of the hole, he began to think of the long, deep,
+cool drink in which he would indulge--for his throat felt dry, and he
+was suffering from a parching, burning thirst.
+
+Closer and closer and closer he crawled, now on hands and knees, with
+his gun slung over his back--so near that he had but to spring up and
+take a few steps to be there, but holding back so as to preserve the
+greatest caution to the very last.
+
+In this way he reached to within five yards of the hole,--stretched out
+a hand to press aside a frond of fern, and gave one good look round.
+
+He did so, and held on as if paralysed, feeling as if he were dreaming
+of being back on board the _Northumbrian_ on his voyage out, and
+watching the convicts having their daily airing.
+
+For there, just in front of him, and one on either side of the hole,
+half hidden by clumps of fern, crouched, like a couple of terriers
+watching a rat-hole, two of the convicts whom he had forgotten, but
+whose features and peculiarities were once more filling his brain.
+
+Yes, there they were; he did not remember their numbers, but their
+features were clear enough: those of the pitiful, hang-dog,
+pleading-looking convict, whom he had set down as a sneak; and the
+good-humoured, snub-nosed, common scoundrel who had amused himself by
+making grimaces whenever he encountered his eye.
+
+But that which startled Nic the most was the fact that they were
+inimical to the tenant of the cavern, for, as they watched so intently
+that they had not heard the boy's approach, each man held a native war
+club or nulla-nulla--poised ready to strike the poor fellow who raised
+his head above the edge of the hole, and a blow from one of those clubs
+meant death.
+
+For some moments Nic felt too much stunned to even think, while the
+silence and the rigid motionless position of the two men before him
+added to the idea that it might be after all imagination.
+
+Then all at once one of the men showed him that it was no fancy, for he
+raised his eyes looked across at his companion, and made a mocking
+grimace, just as he had been wont to do on shipboard, getting as answer
+a deprecating shake of the head.
+
+And what did it mean?  Death to Frank Mayne as he came up.  For it was
+easy to see these were two of the convicts who had escaped.  They were
+to blame for the missing sheep, and they must have seen and tracked
+Mayne to his hiding-place and meant his death.
+
+This last was hard to comprehend, for why should one escaped convict
+wish to injure another?  But Nic had no time for arguing out problems.
+The men intended harm to his friend, and it was his duty to try and save
+him.  He had his gun, and if he could only hear Frank Mayne coming, a
+shout of warning would send him back.
+
+But that gun: he wanted it for his own protection as well; and a shudder
+of horror ran through him as at that moment he again recalled the deck
+of the ship, with the convicts marching round and round, the soldiers
+resting upon their muskets, the stern-looking warders with their
+cutlasses, and that other man with the lowered, restless eyes and
+savage, wild-beast aspect, who passed him by from time to time looking
+ready for any evil deed.
+
+How well Nic remembered now, and the old warder's words! and the cold
+shiver ran through him once again.
+
+For suppose that wretch had escaped as well, and was lurking about free
+so near the Bluff?  The idea was horrible, and but for Frank Mayne's
+sake Nic would have gloried in seeing the mounted police at hand.
+
+But that gun!  How could he have been so idiotic as to sling it across
+his shoulder just where he could not get at it without making some
+rustling sound!
+
+Still it must be done, and he very softly drew his fingers toward the
+buckle at his breast, meaning to undo the strap instead of drawing it
+over his head.  He kept his eyes fixed upon the men as they still
+watched that hole waiting for their prey.  The nulla-nullas were
+balanced in their hands, and moment by moment, as his fingers busied
+themselves over the tongue of that buckle, which would not yield, Nic
+expected to see Frank Mayne's head rise above the surface by the moist
+mossy sides.  The water bubbled and gurgled, the insects hummed
+overhead, and that tongue would not yield till he put more pressure on,
+and then, with a sudden rush, it was loose.
+
+The two men sprang up quickly, and Nic was in the act of rising too,
+presenting the gun, when there was a quick rustle, and a tremendous load
+fell across his back, driving him forward; the gun went off, and the boy
+was wrenched round and over upon his back, with a man's hands at his
+throat, heavy knees upon his chest, and the horribly savage eyes of the
+ruffian of whom he had been thinking a minute before glaring into his.
+
+"Hooroar!" cried the droll-looking convict, pouncing upon the gun and
+dragging it from Nic's hand; "just the little tool I wanted!  Where's
+its bread and cheese, mate?  Why, deary me, if it ain't the little chap
+as used to look at us aboard the ship!  How do 'ee do, mate?"
+
+He made a droll grimace, with his tongue in his cheek; but he turned
+serious directly, as the savage convict roared at him:
+
+"Look round, you fool!  See if any one's coming."
+
+The other two were startled for a moment, and looked round wildly.  Then
+there was another grimace.
+
+"There ain't no one to be coming.  Our bunny won't show out of his hole
+after hearing that row; so you won't have no chance of knocking him on
+the head to-day, mate.  Here, I say, don't choke all the life out of the
+boy."
+
+"What!" growled the ruffian.  "Why, I'll cut his very heart out if he
+don't speak.  Here, how many's along with you?"
+
+Nic made no answer, and the ruffian drew out a knife.
+
+"Did you hear what I said?" he croaked, in a low, guttural tone.  "Who's
+along with you?"
+
+"Don't kill him," said the other fellow, with his smooth aspect gone.
+"It's murder.  Take him to the edge yonder, and let him fall over by
+accident."
+
+"Yah!" cried the other man, making a grimace: "let him be.  Here, young
+un, they won't hurt yer.  You and me's old friends.  But you must oblige
+me with them shoes, and that there nice warm jacket and clean shirt.
+Tain't had one for weeks.  And I'll just trouble you for the powder and
+shot.  Let him get up, mate.  He won't try to run, because he knows I
+should have to wipe his head with this little nutcracker.  Why don't you
+let him get up?--Yah!  Quick!  Look out!"
+
+As the man spoke he swung round the gun and took aim at a figure which
+came rushing up.  He drew trigger, but the hammer struck out a few
+sparks--that was all, for he had forgotten that it was not loaded.
+
+What followed was very quickly done.  Frank Mayne--for it was he--sprang
+at the savage ruffian who was holding Nic, and struck at him sidewise
+with the stout stick he held in his right hand.  It did not seem much of
+a blow, but he delivered it in leaping through the air, just as a
+mounted soldier would direct a cut from his left.
+
+The effect was wonderful: the man rolled over and over, and Nic sprang
+up, free to gaze after Mayne as he sprang at the other man.
+
+The scoundrel struck at him savagely, and Nic heard the blow take
+effect.  Then he had to fend for himself; for the man with the gun came
+on.
+
+"Here," he cried: "out with that powder and shot, or--"
+
+He raised the piece with both hands by the barrel, and swung it back as
+if to get force for a blow.  But, boy as he was, Nic sprang at him.
+
+"Give me my gun!" he cried, and he was too close in for the blow to have
+any effect, as he seized the fellow by the throat and clung to him with
+all his might.
+
+But Nic's muscles were not yet hardened, and the man swung him round and
+round just as he liked, the boy gradually growing weaker; while, as he
+struggled, he saw with despair that Mayne was evidently getting the
+worse of it, for the man he had attacked partially disabled him at the
+first blow, and had now got his hand free and was striking brutally with
+the club.
+
+Mayne evidently felt that he was beaten, but he clung to his adversary
+tenaciously, bore him backward with his hands fast at his throat, and,
+bending down his head to avoid the savage blows, he leaped forward so
+that he and the convict fell, the latter undermost.
+
+"Joe, mate--quick!" roared the latter; and the big ruffian, who had now
+risen to his feet, stooped and picked up a piece of stone, raising it
+with both hands to bring it down on Mayne's head.
+
+"Leather!" yelled Nic; "look out--look out!"
+
+"Surrender!" roared a stern voice which sounded familiar, and the man
+with the stone paused for a moment to glance about like a wild beast.
+Then, seeing that he was surrounded by mounted police, who covered those
+present with their carbines, he hurled the stone with all force at the
+nearest man and made a rush to escape, when there were three puffs of
+smoke, three reports, and the convict tripped and fell.
+
+Taking advantage of the smoke and excitement, Frank Mayne's adversary
+struck at him once more, and made a leap to escape, dragging the
+half-insensible assigned servant with him; but the grasp was too
+tenacious, and though he tried hard, Mayne held on to the end; only
+sinking back when a pair of handcuffs had secured the prisoner's hands
+behind his back.
+
+"Now then, you with the gun there, surrender!" shouted the man who led
+the mounted police.
+
+This to the convict who had confined his fighting to his struggle with
+Nic.
+
+"'Course I do," said the man, making a grimace.  "That young shaver's
+got all the powder and shot: where's the good of an empty gun?  Here,
+ketch 'old.  No, I forgot; it's yourn, young un.  Well, how are you
+all?"
+
+The police laughed as the man held out his hands for the irons.
+
+"We've had a nice little 'scursion out here, only the nights was rather
+cold.  Well, Mr Government clerk, you won't have a chance to pull your
+friend a topper now.  How's old Joe?  What, more company?"
+
+This was accompanied by another distortion of the face, as two blacks
+came running up, followed by the doctor, the governor, Brookes, and Sir
+John's two men.
+
+"Got them?" cried the governor.
+
+"Yes, Sir John," said the leader of the police, whom Nic recognised now
+as the chief warder whom he had talked with during the voyage out; "but
+we had to shoot one of 'em down."
+
+"Here, quick, 'fore he goes!" said Brookes to the warder, huskily.
+"Handcuffs," and he pointed to Mayne.
+
+"Eh?  What?  Him?" said the warder.  "Why, he helped to take one of
+'em."
+
+"Yes," cried Nic; "he was fighting to save me."
+
+"I surrender," said Mayne faintly; "I'm satisfied now.  Dr Braydon, I
+never told you I was an ill-used man, but did my work.  Still, I told
+your son.  Dominic, lad, Heaven is just.  That handcuffed hound is my
+old fellow-clerk, for whose sins I have suffered all these years.  There
+are miracles in life, for it fell to me to take him when he was
+escaping."
+
+"After he had watched to take your life!" cried Nic.  "He was waiting,
+you know where?  There, Sir John--father, will you believe it now?"
+
+The doctor had been kneeling by the fallen convict, roughly bandaging a
+bullet wound when, as he turned to rise, Frank Mayne struck him aside,
+and flung himself upon the wounded man.
+
+The doctor turned fiercely upon Mayne, but the next moment he grasped
+the truth, just as a blow from the butt end of a musket struck the
+ruffian back; for as soon as the wound had been bandaged, the man had
+waited an opportunity to draw a knife and strike at him who had tried to
+assuage his pain.
+
+In a short time the party was on its way back, the wounded convict borne
+upon a roughly made stretcher, and Frank Mayne walking with the warder,
+to Brookes's great disgust, for the doctor had said that he would answer
+for his not attempting to escape.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The next day the police rode off with their prisoners, taking with them
+a light waggon, in which the wounded convict was laid, Dr Braydon
+having said that he was in no danger.  But Frank Mayne was not of the
+party, for Sir John had heard the simple tale.
+
+"And that man was your fellow-clerk in the government office?  Yes, I
+remember something about his coming out in the same ship as my wife.  I
+remember the case, because he was the second man charged with
+embezzlement at this government office; and I remember, too, saying that
+matters must be badly managed there."
+
+"Yes, he was my fellow-clerk, Sir John," said Mayne.  "He was found out
+at last, but the time has seemed very long."
+
+"And you say you were unjustly sentenced?"
+
+"In Heaven's name, Sir John, I do.  I was faithful to my trust."
+
+"I believe you, Mayne," said the governor, looking at him keenly; "and
+there shall be a thorough investigation of your case.  In the meantime,
+what I can do I will.  You hear, Nic, for your sake as well as his,
+Mayne is free to go anywhere in the colony, and I will see that justice
+is done him in every way."
+
+"Thank you, Sir John," said Mayne hoarsely; "it is more than I could
+expect on my bare assertion."
+
+"Some bare assertions are better than oaths, eh, Braydon?" said Sir
+John.  "What do you say?"
+
+"I say that I have much forgiveness to ask of Mr Mayne: I ask it now of
+the man who saved my life."
+
+There was silence for a few moments; for the doctor had held out his
+hand to Mayne, who stood looking at it with his lips quivering.
+
+"I am only your assigned servant, sir," he said at last.
+
+"Not now," said the doctor.  "I was offering my hand to a brave man who
+has been misunderstood.  I offer it, too, to my son's friend."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Nic looked dull the next day, but he brightened up when his father
+proposed that they should ride a part of the way with Mayne, who was
+going to take some despatches to Government House, where for the present
+he was to stay.
+
+"You see, Nic, it will be better," the governor said.  "The poor fellow
+would be miserable here with his old fellow-servants.  So I have
+arranged for him to go and wait till I come.  His story's true enough,
+and I shall see that everything is done for him before he goes back to
+England--to take his old position, I hope."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+But Frank Mayne had no such ideas.  England was dead to him, and he was
+content to stay.  And to Nic's delight, his friend received a grant of
+land some ten miles away, close to the great gorge, where the boy spent
+all the time he could, watching the erection of the house by convict
+labour; for in this Mayne was helped largely by Sir john, while the
+doctor had become one of his firmest supporters.
+
+Of course Frank Mayne had formed a very warm attachment to the lad, who
+had believed in him from the first; but Lady O'Hara used to laugh and
+joke, and say _she knew_, though she never said what it was she knew.
+Time, however, gave the explanation, about two years later Mayne had
+received a free pardon from his Majesty the King, "for suffering a great
+deal and nearly being driven mad," as Nic said.
+
+But Frank Mayne said he was very happy and quite content, and we need
+not go into the causes of his content, especially since every one, from
+Lady O'Hara and Mrs Braydon downwards, was in the same way of thinking.
+
+"Besides, Mr Mayne, it was worth it all, sure," said Lady O'Hara
+banteringly at the wedding.  "Now don't you think so, Nic?"
+
+"Of course I do?"
+
+"Then that's right," cried the lady.  "But tell me, Nic, how long is it
+since I brought you out?"
+
+"I don't know," said Nic.
+
+"Too busy; but about three years.  Look at that now, and him grown quite
+a man."
+
+"Yes," said the doctor, "farmer, cattle raiser, squatter."
+
+"Yes," said Mayne, laying his hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder.
+"One of the first in the field, and my true friend."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's First in the Field, by George Manville Fenn
+
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