CHAPTER I.
A MEETING—THE RIDE ROUND THE RUN.

The drays with which I was travelling (it was in the month of March, 1849) had arrived as far as Lake Boga, on the Lower Murray River, within a day's journey of our destination. We had halted for the night close to a sheep-station established there. In the course of the evening the gentleman in charge of it—Macfarlane was his name—walked over to our camp; and I was informed by him that Mr. Stevenson, the superintendent of the run I was about to visit, had on the previous day ridden over to meet me, and had only returned home that afternoon. Having ascertained from him that I was a medical man, Mr. Macfarlane had come to invite me to his hut, and to ask me to visit one of his blacks, who had been wounded by a party from a tribe fifty miles up the river. These men had started originally for the purpose of surprising the blacks on Stevenson's station; but, traces of their presence in that neighbourhood having been discovered, they were forced to beat a retreat. In their rage at their disappointment, they had resolved, if possible, to slaughter some of the Lake blacks, rather than return empty-handed; but there also they were happily frustrated in their design, and only succeeded in wounding one man, whose leg they broke with a musket ball.

After this second disappointment, it was confidently anticipated that they would, as they generally did when their intended surprise proves a failure, return home, and await a more favourable opportunity. But they did not do so in this instance, as the result will show; for I subsequently had an opportunity of witnessing a striking illustration of the savage and barbarous mode of warfare of the Australian aboriginal, an opportunity not often afforded to the white man.

I set the wounded black's limb as well as I could with bark splints, and next day we started on our way to the banks of the Murray. The drays had to cross the river in order to reach the station I was going to. This was done by means of a punt, which had lately been built by a man who had also opened an inn for the use of travellers to South Australia, the road to which passed by the banks of the stream.

As we came in sight of this building, which was of weatherboard, with a verandah in front, I saw a man standing in the middle of the track or road, and watching our approach; and upon drawing near I observed that he was a black. When the driver, by whose team I was, recognised him, he uttered an exclamation, and stopped his dray.

'If there isn't that villain himself I was talking about to you, sir!'

'What do you mean?' I said.

'Why, I told you those blacks we heard of at the Lake yesterday, and who came to attack ours, wanted to kill one man in particular. That's him! His name is Bobby Peel, and he's the biggest rascal in the whole country round. It's a wonder he's alive yet, for when we left the run for this last trip to town, six or seven weeks ago, the black police were after him; and yet there he stands, as cool as you please, as if he hadn't ever killed a white man. Look at him!' he added, as his mate came up with his team.

'Why, it's Sir Robert! So he isn't settled yet. It isn't for want of trying; for if he's been shot at once, he has been twenty times at least. He'd a been dead long ago, only for our super, who won't let our men shoot him, as any one of them would only be too glad to do. There's not a place in the whole country round where he durst show himself, only ours.'

'How is that?' I asked.

'Because he's allers been a-robbing the out-station huts, sneaking in when the hut-keeper's away. He's a capital rider; and he'd get horses as he'd stole planted away in the bush, tethered handy; and he gallops off thirty miles one way, and robs a hut, and then gallops back and shows himself at our station. Then, when the squatters complain to our super about it, he says, "It couldn't ha' been Bobby, cos Bobby was at my head station that day you say your hut was robbed." Then next day, perhaps, away goes Master Bobby another way, and plays the same game! You see he isn't like the other blacks, who're afraid to travel alone after dark on account of the "devil-devils" they believe walk at night in the bush. But he was bowled out at that game at last, not long before we started this trip, and the super threatened he'd shoot him himself if he heard tell of any more of his games!'

The drays had moved on as he was speaking, and drew up at the door of the inn, for the punt-man to put them across the river; but no one appeared, and we found upon entering that the publican was away, and that the women of the place had locked themselves into one of the rooms. Hearing our voices, and the teams stopping, they ventured out.

'Oh, Bill, is it you?' said the publican's wife to the driver; 'I'm so glad! Send that horrid man away. You know it was him killed Mr. Berridge. I wonder they let him go about that way; he ought to be shot! He knew my husband was away, and the punt-man gone across the river, or he wouldn't have dared to show.'

'He would run very quickly if any of the young Mr. Berridges happened to come this way and catch sight of him,' said the other woman. 'They have often hunted for him.'

I turned to look at the man thus spoken of, and who seemed to be an object of hatred to black and white alike. He was still standing in the middle of the road, where he could command a view up and down and across the river, so that no foe could approach him unobserved. He seemed about twenty-five, slenderly built and tall, and was dressed in a complete suit of cast-off European clothing,—brown linen jacket, trousers, and waistcoat,—so that at a distance he might pass for a European. His eye had that peculiar, watchful, suspicious glance characteristic of the hunted man; it never for a instant ceased to wander over the landscape, except now and then, when he fixed them upon me as I stood with the others in the verandah. He was a good-looking fellow for a black, but there was a dark and desperate expression lurking beneath the appearance of carelessness which he put on under the looks of our party.

'How he looks at you, doctor!' said the driver. 'Hullo! here he comes. What's he got to say?' and, paying no regard to the women, who ordered him off, the black walked up to where I stood.

'Name—you?' he said, looking keenly at me.

'He wants to know your name,' said the driver, Bill.

'This one—doc—doc?' he asked the man, and pointing at the same time to me.

'See that, now!' said the other driver; 'if he doesn't know already you're a doctor! How could he know that?'

'Easy enough!' said his comrade. 'Either he was at the Lake, or else met some black from there, and they've told him about the doctor setting the other one's leg; that's how he knows.'

Meanwhile Bobby went back to the middle of the road, and, after casting a comprehensive glance all round, beckoned to me to go to him.

'Don't you go near him, sir,' said the women; 'it's well known he has killed many white men, and you may depend his spears are lying handy somewhere close by!'

But I had no fears on that score, and, curious to know what he could want with me, I left the rest and approached him. He led the way to the river bank, which was about thirty or forty yards in front of the house, and very steep, and descended the cutting in it formed to permit the drays to be driven down on to the deck of the punt. Here he was hidden from the sight of those in the verandah, but he kept in such a position that he could see over the top of the cutting if any of the party approached. I told them, however, not to follow me, as I intended to keep within call. Here Bobby threw off his jacket, and showed me his left shoulder and arm, on which were the marks of two wounds. Upon examining, I found that two slugs had lodged in them, and the black intimated that he wished me to cut them out. One had entered and lodged above the shoulder-blade, and was easily extracted by the forceps of my pocket-case, aided by a slight incision. The other had entered half-way up the arm, and travelled downwards until it reached the elbow, where it prevented free motion of the joint. This required rather a deep incision to get out, but he stood it without flinching. The whole affair did not occupy many minutes; and when it was over he said,—

'You got um—'bacca?'

I had a cake of cavendish in my pocket, and I gave it him, and he then stretched out his arm with a pleased look at having again recovered the free use of it. Then, taking me by the hand, he said,—

'Good white fellow, you!' Then looking round at the house near, and spreading his hand out, to indicate all the stations about his native place, he said, while a savage scowl settled upon his face,—

'All about—white fellow—no good!' and he shook his fist and uttered a fearful execration. For, ignorant as most blacks are of English, in swearing at us they rapidly become proficient. Just then we heard the noise of a horse's hoofs coming down the road, and, after giving one look over the bank at the rider, Bobby turned to me and said,—

'Good-bye, doc, doc!' and plunged into the river, gained the other side, and disappeared in the reeds, which just there grew in thick patches. He had good reason for leaving in a hurry. The horseman was one of the sons of a neighbouring squatter whom he, in conjunction with others, had the credit of having killed. Vengeance had overtaken all his companions in that exploit; but Bobby was still at large.

* * * * *

The squatting-station of which Mr. Stevenson was the superintendent was of very considerable size, extending for twenty miles along one side of the Murray, and for nearly the same distance back from the stream, which there flows through a level country, consisting of open plains alternating with belts and forests of timber, the latter giving place in many parts to patches, more or less extensive, of mallee scrub. Three-fourths of the run were reserved for sheep, the remainder for cattle, the head station huts being placed on the river banks, not far from the crossing-place. Besides the superintendent, the only other occupant of his hut was a young gentleman named Harris, who acted as overseer, and who was fitting himself for one day being able to manage a station of his own.

I had been some weeks on the run when Stevenson invited me to accompany him and the overseer on a visit of inspection they were about to make round to the different out-stations. The main object of this ride round was to supply the hut-keepers and shepherds with some strychnine he had just received from Melbourne, and with which he intended, if possible, to destroy the dingoes, or warrigals (wild dogs), whose ravages amongst the sheep had of late been frightful, twenty, thirty, and in one instance thirty-seven sheep of a flock being bitten in a single night. And as every sheep bitten, however slightly, dies (pining away as imprisoned by the wound), and as there were eight or nine out-stations, each equally exposed to attack, the losses may be imagined. Four hundred were killed, or died, during the first fortnight of my visit; indeed, the gentleman who formed the station some two years previously had sold it solely on account of this pest. Stevenson had determined to try what systematic poisoning of the run would do to diminish if not destroy this nuisance.[1]

[1] The dingo is now almost extinct in Victoria. Strychnine has greatly hastened its extermination.

It was a beautiful morning in April, the beginning of the Australian winter, when we started on our trip, which was to occupy two days. Our first day's ride was almost one continued hunt, for on nearly every plain we passed over one or more groups of kangaroo were visible, and, as my companions had brought their two dogs with them, chase was always given, and to me, who had lately been cooped up on shipboard, the change was glorious. The day was warm, but a cool breeze swept over the plains. We were mounted on stock horses, fleet, and in excellent trim; the dogs were well-bred, and always selected the foremost kangaroo of the herd, passing by all the rest; and as this animal often runs in a circle, and the plains were frequently two or three miles or more in diameter, the hunt was in full view from the beginning to the end.

It was curious to watch the hawks, which to my surprise had followed us all day, ever since we left the home station. They had found out by experience that when the dogs accompanied the horsemen a dinner was always left for them on the plains. High above us they followed the course of the chase, and when kangaroo and dogs were lost in the timber, we could always tell, by watching the hawks, the direction they were taking. At the cattle-station where we passed the night, the old stockman, Steve, assured me that these birds had learned to distinguish between his cattle dogs and the kangaroo hounds, as they never offered to accompany him in his daily rides unless he had the latter with him.

The consequences of all this rough bush-riding were, however, rather unpleasant to me, who had not mounted a horse except at rare intervals for years; and when we started next morning to resume our journey I had some difficulty in reaching my saddle, and hoped that our ride home would be a more quiet one. In this, however, I was disappointed, for we had scarcely left the cattle-station a mile before the dogs sighted an emu; and, after killing that, some wild cattle from the mallee were seen, and a long gallop after them ensued, in which my horse, a wilful, hard-mouthed brute, would take part, despite my protests to the contrary; so that by noon I was completely done up, and heartily wished the day's ride were ended.

As we came up to an out-station hut close to the border of the cattle-run, the hut-keeper stood at the door to receive us.

'I expected you yesterday, sir,' he said; 'or else old Steve.'

'Why?'

'Didn't you get my message?' the man asked.

'No; I got no message. What about?'

'There's been some games going on among the cattle,' replied the hut-keeper. 'The shepherd thought he heard a shot early in the morning, and saw them scampering out of the timber on to the plain where his sheep were. Here is the shepherd coming now,' he added; 'he must have seen you riding across the plain.'

The man presently reached the hut, and corroborated the hut-keeper's statement, adding that he thought he saw a spear sticking in the side of a beast which passed nearer him than the rest of the herd.

'I knew there were blacks about the day before, for I see their tracks; and I bet any money,' he added, 'it's that vagabond Bobby Peel and his mob have been killing a beast.'

'He had better not go too far,' said Stevenson, with an ominous look. 'Which part of the timber was it, Dick, and when did it happen?'

'Day before yesterday; there was a traveller passed here that morning on his way down to the river, and he said he intended staying that night at the head station, and would tell you.'

'He never called. What kind of a traveller—a horseman?'

'No, sir; a shepherd looking for a job, with his swag on his back. He must have passed the station and gone on to the public-house; yet he promised faithfully to tell you.'

CHAPTER II.
'OLD MAN TOBY.'

'Well, Dick,' said Stevenson, after a thoughtful pause, 'you had better go back to your flock. Show us the place you saw the cattle come out of.'

The man pointed out a spot on the line of timber, about two miles off, and left us, while we rode off to the place indicated. For some time the superintendent remained in deep thought; then, addressing the young man, he said,—

'You heard what the shepherd said about sending me a message by a traveller?'

'Yes.'

'Well, three weeks or a month ago, when I was over on the Wakool, Mr. James asked me if I had engaged the two men he had sent me, as I had told him one day when he was passing our way that I was short-handed, and asked him to direct any men who might be looking for work over to me. Neither of those men ever came. One started two days before the other, and there is no station between James's place and our own. Still, I did not think it strange, as these men might have been mere skulkers, walking from out-station to out-station, and only pretending to look for a job. There are hundreds of such fellows tramping about the colony. But now—I don't half like the look of it!'

'Why, what do you fear?' I asked.

'I think it very strange that, of three men known to have started with the intention of coming to Swan Hill (the name of the locality), not one should have arrived. And this man mentioned by my hut-keeper could only have stayed either at the public-house two miles beyond us, or else gone fifteen miles down the river one way, or the same distance up the stream to the Lake station, and that after dark too, for he would only reach the ferry late in the afternoon. Now this is so utterly improbable, that if I find, on inquiry, that he did not call at the Ferry Inn that night'—

'Why, what do you suspect?' I asked, observing that he looked very grave.

'That he has been killed by the blacks?' asked Harris eagerly.

'I fear so; and in that case he is not the only victim. You see,' said Stevenson to me, 'owing to the crossing-place of the river being near us, all passing travellers from the Edward, the Wakool, and other places higher up, must come through our run; and only think, in the twenty or thirty miles of wild country, what facilities are offered in the innumerable swamps, reed-beds, and scrub-patches, for the cutting-off of solitary travellers passing on foot through such a wilderness, where the only inhabitants are the shepherd with his flock, and the hut-keeper in the lonely out-stations eight or ten miles from each other!'

'What will you do?' I asked.

'I will write to Mr. Brown, who is a magistrate on the Edward, and mention my suspicions, and tell him to send one of his constables to make secret inquiries at the different out-stations near that locality as to the travellers who have passed that way during the last two months. But, in the meantime, do not mention the matter to any one. I do not think any of our home-station blacks are concerned in it; still, if they know that anything of the kind has happened, and suspect that we are aware of it, they will pass the word on to the murderers (that is, supposing any murders have taken place). Do you know, Harris, where the main body of our blacks are?'

'Old Steve told me to-day they were still on the Ballima, but were going to shift their camp to Wingong; that is about six miles from the home station.'

Just then we reached the timber indicated by the shepherd, and soon found the tracks made by the cattle in rushing out on the plain; and after following them up for a short distance we came upon the remains of a dead cow. A number of the dingoes, or wild dogs before mentioned, hundreds of which then infested the station, were busy at the carcases; and, as Harris and the superintendent were each provided with one of the formidable stock-whips used in driving cattle, instant chase was given, the two dogs selecting one each, and Stevenson following a third, which, after a smart gallop, he succeeded in heading and turning on to the plain. I had no wish to join in this chase, but my horse would not stay behind the others. The dingo held his own for a mile, but he had too much of the cow inside him for a longer run, and the superintendent soon overtook him, and brought his whip down in a style that poor dingo could not have relished. The unfortunate animal tried to escape the infliction by crouching to the earth and letting the horse shoot past him, and then doubling away at an angle to right or left. But the stock horses we were mounted on could double almost as quickly as he, and after a severe run of about twenty minutes he gave in. In his doublings he had again approached the timber, and he now lay down at the foot of a tree in a small detached clump, and awaited his fate.

I said I had no desire to join in the hunt. The fact was, I was awkwardly burdened. It happened that young Harris had, for the purpose of gaining practical experience, formerly resided at one of the out-stations we had visited. He had returned to the head station to live, but had all his clothes still at the hut. Being desirous of removing them, he had emptied his box on to the horses' backs. Stevenson had a great heap in front of him, which he threw to me when he started. I had a quantity also, and as Harris could not use his whip while carrying his lot, he hastily transferred that as well to me. I was thus barricaded to the chin with flannels and cotton shirts, trousers, coats, etc., for it was an outfit he had brought from England, provided by an anxious mother. I could scarcely see before me, and when he started off after the superintendent I actually had to grope for the reins. I had hardly thrown my arms over the 'swag' (to use a colonial phrase), when off started my excited horse after the others. As I galloped about, the articles worked loose one after another, and I must have cut a ridiculous figure, as I helplessly scudded hither and thither, dropping a shirt here, and a pair of trousers there. I faithfully tried to fulfil the duty assigned me, and held on to the bundles as long as I could, but at last a shirt, which worked loose and streamed out like a banner, got over my head and blinded me, and I was obliged to let them go, in order to see where I was rushing to.

We all dismounted and surrounded the dingo. It was a touching sight (to me, at least, who was not a squatter) to see with what stoical resignation it met its doom. After it once lay down it never moved, except to turn its head to watch the preparations being made to finish him. It was not long left in agony. But I could not have credited that the eye of an animal like that could have been capable of so much expression! There seemed to me a mingled resignation and despair in its glance as it calmly looked at its executioner until the film of death gathered over its eyes.

'Why, doctor! you look quite sentimental over it! There's one rascal the less. No more mutton for you, at any rate,' said Stevenson, as he turned away.

After this small tragedy, we returned to the dead cow, picking up Harris's traps by the way. We found upon examination that its leg had been broken by a ball, and that it had been afterwards despatched by spears; although, as Stevenson would not allow the blacks on his station to possess firearms, his men being strictly forbidden to supply them, it was a mystery where the gun came from which inflicted the wound.

'Not that we ourselves apprehend any danger now-a-days from them possessing them,' said Stevenson to me, in explanation. 'But, as you are aware, they are always engaged amongst themselves in a murderous kind of warfare,—sneaking by night on each other, and killing by stealth,—and as I found that the possession of the guns we gave them encouraged that sort of thing, I took them away again.'

'Perhaps Bobby Peel has been robbing some hut again, and stolen a gun,' said Harris; 'it's a wonder to me they can't catch that fellow.'

'He is an ungrateful rascal,' said Stevenson, as he remounted his horse, 'to kill my cow with it, if he has. I have got into very bad odour with my neighbours for standing between such a pestilent knave and summary vengeance. The fellow dare not show his face anywhere within thirty miles round; he would be shot down like a dingo if he did. And this is the return he makes for it! I only hope, however, he is not concerned in any foul play with those missing men. I strongly suspect him. Robbing a hut now and then for a supply of flour, or killing a sheep, I could wink at, though, forsooth, he might leave my cattle alone, and only rob those who have injured him. But bloodshed is a very different matter, and so he will find.'

We visited another out-station, and then turned our horses' heads towards home. It was sunset, and as we had been, with short intervals of rest at the different huts, in the saddle since dawn of the preceding day, I was not at all sorry that the end of our ride approached. But we were not to reach the head station without having another chase.

The dogs had rejoined us a short time after we left the slaughtered beast, and as we were crossing a small plain, and were within half a mile of the timber, all at once they picked up some scent and set off at a smart pace.

'What on earth have they got hold of now?' said Stevenson. 'There are no kangaroo likely to be here, so near home.'

We followed hard after, however, and managed to keep them in sight, until presently they broke into full speed and disappeared in the timber. They had sighted the game they were after, whatever it was. We rode in the direction they had taken, but, not seeing them, we pulled up to listen if they gave tongue. They did not, but somebody else did, without mistake; for we all at once heard most vociferous cries of distress from a human voice. We galloped up as fast as possible, and arrived just in time to save from destruction 'old man Toby,' one of our head-station blacks, who was walking quietly along when, he happened to hear the rush of the dogs behind him. He had instantly made for a tree, but was too late; for Rush, a dog lately brought from Melbourne, who was young, and unused as yet to blacks, sprang up as if he would tear him down. Old Toby, however, managed to keep on his feet, and resisted most gallantly. He had his yam-stick in his hand (a pointed stick used for digging up a small edible root which grows on the plains), and with this he met the rushes of the dogs, jobbing them with the sharpened end, and tearing them as badly as they had torn him. It was wonderful, during the half-minute or so that we were galloping up, to witness the coolness and dexterity, and, above all, the agility the old fellow displayed in avoiding the bounds the dogs made at him; while leaping to one side to avoid the onset of one, he would meet the other with a dexterous prod of his insignificant-looking weapon, which would send it sprawling with a wound in its side.

The stock-whips soon brought the animals to their senses; and we found, upon examining them all, that the dogs were the worst off for the encounter; for one had an eye wounded, and the other had a very ugly tear in his flank, which required to be sewn up.

CHAPTER III.
THE NIGHT ATTACK.

One evening, about ten days after our ride, I was sitting in the hut with young Harris. I had been engaged in cleaning my own gun, as well as a rifle belonging to the superintendent, who had ridden over on the previous day to the Edward River, and was expected home that night. While the barrels were drying before the fire—which occupied the centre of a hearth extending nearly the whole breadth of the hut—I put on my hat and walked down to the miamis of the blacks, two or three families of whom the superintendent allowed to camp in his paddock; the main body he kept at a distance. Old Toby's wounds were fast healing, a circumstance he seemed rather to regret, as he had been pensioned by three substantial meals daily from the kitchen, and was getting quite sleek and fat. I went from fire to fire, chatting with the occupants, Jimmy and Billy who, with their lubras, occupied two of them.

Polly and Kitty were two fine young women. One had a picanniny about twelve months old; the other a little boy of four or five years. The latter was coiled up fast asleep; but the other was kicking and sprawling in his mother's arms, while Jimmy, its father, on the other side of the fire, sat gravely cutting away at a boomerang he was fashioning, now and then stopping to notice the child, which was crowing at him, or to say, in an insinuating tone to me, 'Doc, doc! you carry 'moke um bacca?' Billy sat at the second fire close by, busy in preparing a new pipe he had got, and making it fit for black fellows' use. This process consisted in rubbing it thickly with fat, and tying a greasy rag round it, and burning it in the ashes. At the third fire were my old patient Toby, and two lads of eighteen or nineteen respectively, named Pothook and 'little Toby,' to distinguish him from 'old man Toby,' who was either his father or grandfather, I could not make out which.

The miami where these last were was at some little distance from the other two, and I thought I saw a fourth figure; but when I came up I found only the old man and the lads. I asked where the other man was, but they denied that any other man had been there. I could see, however, they were lying, and believed that, from the glimpse I had got, it was Bobby Peel, although he was without his European clothing, and had on a 'possum-skin cloak. I had distinctly seen his face by the light of the fire, as I quietly approached from the huts across the grass of the paddock; and, although I had not met him since the day of our first interview, his features were too strongly impressed upon my memory for me to forget them. I found shortly afterwards that he had excellent reasons for keeping out of the way.

After staying some time, and having my pockets emptied of the tobacco which was in them, I left and strolled on to the river. As I drew near its margin I heard a slight splash, as of a turtle startled by my step, and throwing itself into the water; but all was quiet when I reached it; no cry of duck or other waterfowl broke the stillness of the night; and the stream itself, fifty or sixty feet in depth, flowed on silently. The banks were very steep, and the surface of the water was some four yards beneath the level where I stood. There were no trees growing anywhere near; but the dead trunks of several left by former floods projected above the water, or rested against the banks, where, in the dim light, they resembled so many huge antediluvian reptiles. The opposite side of the river, which was 100 yards wide, was an island formed by an ana[1] branch, which left the main stream four miles above the paddock, and joined it again just below it. As I stood looking down on the dark waters, and up and down the reach, and observed that the blacks' fires were less than fifty yards off, I could not help thinking how easily their enemies, if still in the neighbourhood, could, under cover of the river banks, steal unawares upon them. I little thought that in the deep shade beneath the very spot I was then standing on, in the water at my feet, and with their heads concealed behind one of the tree trunks on the margin, already lay hidden the murderous band who, twice baffled, had stolen back for their revenge.

[1] Ana branch is a channel which, leaving the main stream above, again joins it below. These ana branches are very characteristic of Australian rivers, often forming networks of creeks, which supply vast tracks of country, back from the main stream, which would otherwise be destitute of water.

As I walked past them on my way back to the hut, the blacks began one of their monotonous chants, to which the two women beat time with sticks, which they struck together, their eyes sparkling and white teeth glistening in the firelight, as they shouted a merry 'Good-night, doc, doc,' to me.

At the door of our hut I found the superintendent, who had just dismounted. Harris had gone to bed. 'I have some news for you,' Stevenson said to me when we had entered.

He hung his saddle up on a peg projecting from the partition which divided it into two parts, one being used as a storeroom, the other as a bed and sitting, as well as a dining-room. The beds being boards or sheets of bark, with sheepskins laid on them, on which were stretched mattresses stuffed with the 'wongul,' or down of the reeds which abounded everywhere near the river banks. There were four of these beds in the room, two on each side; they were placed on posts driven in the ground, and in the day-time were used as seats. The only other articles of furniture were a movable table standing against the partition, an easy chair made out of a flour-cask, and some shelves fixed on the walls. The centre of the room was therefore clear. After ascertaining that no blacks were lounging about the hut, Stevenson continued,—

'You know I wrote to Brown, the magistrate over on the Edward, and sent the note by Scott's overseer, who happened to pass here the day after our ride round the run. That was eight or ten days ago, and up to the day before yesterday I had got no answer; so I rode over to find out the reason. And would you believe it?—for nearly a week the fellow had actually taken no steps whatever in the matter.'

'How was that? Had he got your note?'

'Oh yes, he got it; and a pretty fellow he is to have J.P. written after his name. Can you credit it?—on the very morning after he got my letter, he had discovered that the horse-stealers had swept his paddock! Above all, had taken his two hunters! For you must know he keeps hounds to hunt the dingo, as the fox is hunted in England. Actually had the impudence to tell me he was surprised and shocked to hear that I was laying poison for those animals!—hoped I would give up such a design! They ought to be hunted, he said, fairly; not poisoned like rats, or other vermin. This to me! who had lost from first to last, during the few months I have been here, nearly a thousand sheep by these creatures. His is a cattle-station principally, and his sheep country is all open plain, so that he is not troubled by these pests. He can bear other people's misfortunes in that line very easily. I told him a piece of my mind'—

These same dingoes were the plague of poor Stevenson's life, and when once started on the subject he forgot everything else; so I ventured to interrupt and bring him back to the point.

'But how was it nothing was done about these suspected murders?' I inquired.

'How? Why, because the fellow sent all three of the constables attached to the lock-up there off in different directions to look for his horses! The lives of poor fellows travelling in the bush are nothing compared to his hunters! I told him I should report his conduct to the authorities in Melbourne, and so I will too!'

'But has nothing been yet done?' I asked.

'One of the constables came back three days ago, and he has been making inquiries at the most likely out-stations. He returned before I left; and from his report my suspicions are confirmed. Eleven travellers called in the course of the last three weeks at the places he visited, on their way to this crossing-place, from the Edward. Now only five or six have arrived here from that part. I inquired before I started at our own men's huts, and all agree in that.'

'Then you may depend that rascal Peel is concerned in the matter,' said Harris, sitting up in bed.

'I forgot to tell you,' said Stevenson, 'that I came upon that fellow yesterday as I was drawing a carcase across the run, and leaving the poisoned baits in its track. It was in a scrub which my horse could hardly get through; and I had no idea that any human being was near me at the time. He might have speared me easily enough too, for I was unarmed and dismounted, and he touched me on the shoulder as I was stooping to place the bait to the ground. The fellow has some gratitude, I suppose; for, much as he hates white men, he knows he owes his life to me.'

'Twenty times over!' said Harris; 'for he would have been finished long ago but for you.'

'You told us, doctor,' continued the superintendent, 'that you extracted some slugs from his arm and shoulder the day you first saw him. How long, do you think, had those wounds been there?'

'About ten days or so, I should think.'

'What were the slugs like? a bullet cut up?'

'Yes.'

'Then the rascal is decidedly guilty! I will tell you how I found it out,' said Stevenson. 'Ever since you told me of the circumstance I have wondered how he got those wounds; and on my rides about this and neighbouring runs I have inquired, but could not hear that he had been shot at lately. In fact, ever since he was detected in those hut robberies, he has kept quiet, and out of white men's sight.

'Yesterday, on my way to the Edward, I called at the inn on the Wakool. In the bar I noticed a beautiful specimen of the "loouee," as the blacks call a rare bird which inhabits the mallee; and I asked the innkeeper who had stuffed it and set it up for him. He replied that a man who had been up on the Darling, making a collection of birds, had stopped there, and sold him this specimen. "But," added the man, "didn't he call at your place?"

'"No," I said; "did he tell you he was coming over?"

'"He told me that he intended staying a week at Swan Hill before going to town by the mail-cart. He sold me his horse, as he said he was going to walk across, and shoot birds along the swamps and reed-beds. Perhaps he altered his mind, and went somewhere else."

'Upon hearing this I told the innkeeper in confidence my own suspicions; and, as the distance was not great, we both rode over to the out-stations the man must pass on his way. At one of these the hut-keeper told us that such a man had slept at his place one night, and had left to shoot in the neighbourhood promising to come back to sleep there again; but he never came; and in the course of our conversation it came out that, before starting in the morning, the man, having used all his large shot, had cut up some bullets he had into slugs of different sizes, to load one barrel, in case he fell in with turkey or wallaby. So that he has been waylaid and murdered is, I fear, only too certain; and Peel must have been wounded by him. It was with the unfortunate man's gun, too, that that cow was shot which we found killed on the day of our ride round the out-stations. But,' continued Stevenson, 'is that woman going to give me anything to eat or not? I have had nothing since breakfast this morning, and am starving;' and he went out to the door to call out to the kitchen to hasten operations.

The night was calm, but dense clouds threatening rain obscured the moon. The fires of the blacks gleamed brightly from the low ground near the river, which was open and quite free from trees or bushes; and a cheerful blaze also shone from the window and from between the slabs of the kitchen, a separate hut, where the hut-keeper's wife was giving the finishing touch to the steak she was cooking for the superintendent's supper. All was peaceful and quiet; the hissing of the frying-pan and the distant chant of the blacks being the only sounds audible; except at intervals when the mopoke uttered its cuckoo-like cry from the timber ranges across the river. In a few moments the woman brought in the dishes, and Stevenson, having satisfied the first cravings of his hunger, was about to renew the conversation which the meal had stopped, when all at once the monotonous song of the blacks was interrupted by several musket shots fired in rapid succession. Shrieks and yells succeeded; and we instantly guessed what had happened. Our blacks had been attacked by their enemies!

Our first impulse was to rush off to their assistance; but the guns were in pieces, and a brace of pistols kept in the hut were unloaded. Stevenson hastily proceeded to charge the latter, while young Harris and I endeavoured as speedily as possible to put the other weapons in order. Through the open door the fires were visible; and now and then dark objects would flit rapidly past them and disappear. Mingled with the screams of the women was the clatter of blows, and old Toby's voice, replying defiantly to the yells of his enemies, could be plainly distinguished. Presently, one after the other in quick succession, three dark figures dashed with the frantic speed of fear into the hut, and, rushing up to the fireplace, crouched in the ashes on each side. Two of these were Pothook and little Toby; the third was no other than 'Sir Robert,' or, as he was more commonly called by the men, Bobby Peel, himself, whose suspected doings we had that evening been discussing—now, like his companions, in a state of mortal terror.

As generally happens in such emergencies, the proverb, 'More haste, less speed,' proved applicable to the present case. Never was I so long in putting a gun together; Stevenson could not find the bullet-pouch; while Harris, who knew the hut-keeper had a loaded double-barrelled piece in the kitchen, kept calling out to him to run down the slope and fire a shot over the heads of the attacking party; but no answer was given. The man was a new arrival in the colony, had always been terribly afraid of the blacks, and on the first alarm had barricaded himself in the kitchen, whence all his wife's taunts could not induce him to stir, or hand out the gun to Harris, who had at last to run for it. As the young man peeped through the crevices of the slabs he saw, by the glare of his eye, that the fellow was well-nigh delirious with terror. By the time the superintendent and I had armed ourselves, full five minutes had elapsed; and the cries had ceased some time. Upon procuring a light and searching the paddock, four mutilated bodies were found—Jimmy and Billy having been shot as they sat by their fires, and their bodies dragged away and hastily opened, and the kidney fat, the great trophy of these barbarous exploits, removed. The two lubras had fled, but in their terror they ran from our huts instead of towards them. Polly was overtaken soon, and killed by a blow on the head; the infant she carried could not be found; doubtless they had taken away the body. Kitty's screams were long heard, as she fled hither and thither in the paddock with her fell pursuers after her. Had she run for the huts, or had the cowardly hut-keeper run down and fired a shot, she might have escaped. Her little boy we found crouching in a small patch of reeds by the river, trembling like a leaf; and we plainly heard the triumphant laugh of the wretches, as they watched our search from the island to which they had swum.

'I know who those fellows are,' said Stevenson. 'They are Gunbower blacks—I was there some months ago, when that scoundrel Peel and a party of curs sneaked on them, and played just such another trick as this. They have paid us off for that exploit, at any rate! But where is old Toby? Can it be possible that he has escaped?'

After some further search we found the old man's body at some distance from the fires, his head, arms, and body covered with wounds. By the traces, as seen next day, we found he had made a most desperate resistance. His hand still grasped the yam-stick with which he had done battle with the dogs; probably it was the first thing he had caught up. His prolonged resistance had saved him from the mutilation which had befallen the others, as our approach had disturbed the murderers and forced them to recross the stream. For fear they should return and complete their work, the bodies were drawn up to the huts by Stevenson and myself, while Harris started for the ferry, where some more of our blacks were camped, to warn them of what had occurred. Except the hut-keeper, who was still quaking in the kitchen, there happened to be no other men on the head station that night, the two bullock-drivers and carpenter being absent, one splitting and drawing timber in the bush, the other bringing a load of salt from the lake.

'Did you say you saw Bobby Peel when at the camp with the others?' inquired Stevenson of me.

'Yes,' I replied; 'but he saw me coming and slipped away. Will you detain him in custody?'

He replied that he was uncertain what to do; but presently a circumstance decided him.

In searching the paddock and the banks of the river with the lantern, we found a double-barrelled gun, powder-flask, etc., hidden in some reeds. It was a very superior article, not at all likely to be honestly in possession of a black, and no doubt existed in our minds but that this was the piece belonging to the unfortunate bird-collector, and that it had been hidden there by Peel before he came to the camp fires; but the attack had been so sudden that he had no choice but to run for the huts. It was resolved, therefore, that he should be secured and handed over to the authorities.

'Although our head-station blacks,' said the superintendent, 'probably had nothing to do with the actual murders, I am sure they were aware of what had happened. I have noticed a great change in them for the last week. The two boys, Pothook and little Toby, were always hanging about the huts before, but of late I observed they kept away from us. They know of the murders, and are frightened. Now you must back me up, doctor,' he said to me; 'I am going to try and obtain a confession from them. In their present state they will tell all.'

We made our arrangements accordingly, and returned.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CONFESSION.

He had been absent from the huts for nearly half an hour, but we found the three blacks still in a state of the most abject fear. They started with dread even at our approach; and, what surprised me much, Peel seemed even more panic-stricken than his younger companions. His eyes rolled, his teeth chattered, and every now and then he would shiver convulsively. When I had first seen him he was dressed in jacket and trousers, but now he was in his aboriginal costume, an opossum-skin cloak wrapped round his otherwise perfectly naked form. He was squatting on his heels by the fire, but with his face towards the door. The superintendent was a tall, powerful man, and a formidable antagonist to face. He stood in the centre of the hut (which, as I have explained, happened to be clear, the table having been placed against the partition), and looked sternly down on the three crouching, shivering figures beneath him. He had purposely left the gun we had found in the kitchen, telling the hut-keeper and his wife not to come near, whatever they might hear. In his hand he held a pistol, while I stood with another in my belt, and my gun in my hand, ready for action. We had provided ourselves also with a stout piece of cord, which I had ready to give to him when he should ask for it.

For nearly a minute Stevenson thus stood and looked at them in silence. I observed that, after the first glance at him, the two boys stared round the hut and hung their heads without looking at him again. Not so Peel. As his eyes met the superintendent's I noticed that they became fixed. The pupils, before dilated, suddenly contracted; the lids, previously wide open, half closed, and a spasm seemed to pass over him. His head sank lower in the folds of his rug, but never for an instant did he remove his glance from Stevenson's face. He saw something there which made him suspect that his villainy was known, and that he had run into a trap; and the second danger counteracted the panic caused by the first.

'Bobby Peel,' said Stevenson, 'where gun belongin' to white fellow you kill?'

At this question the two youngest absolutely grovelled in the ashes, and seemed to give themselves up for lost. Peel did not answer, but drew his cloak over his head, and gathered himself together beneath it, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

'Give me the rope, doctor,' said the superintendent, turning his face towards me.

It was but for a moment that he did so, but that moment was enough for the wary and agile black, who from beneath his covering had still watched every movement. Dropping his cloak, with one bound he sprang from his heels and shot himself forward against his antagonist, who was about five or six feet from him. His hands, held out at full length, caught the superintendent in the chest, and sent him reeling the whole length of the hut, until he came crash against the table, which was covered with dishes and plates, and fell heavily in the corner. Not hesitating an instant, the now naked black rushed to the door. I stepped back outside and raised the gun, but he paid no attention to my threat and order to stop, and slipped out and made off.

'Shoot him, doctor!' roared Stevenson in a towering rage, and for some time I had him covered, but somehow I could not pull the trigger; I felt a repugnance, guilty as he might be, at the thought of being his executioner.

I still had the gun pointed at the fugitive, who was fast disappearing in the gloom, when a shout arose from the superintendent, who had just risen from the ground in time to seize Pothook, who had decided—five seconds too late, however—upon following Peel's example. I barred the door, and the two were ordered to resume their places on each side of the fire.

'We have got these two fellows safe enough, doctor. Do you know they have been killing white men all about the run? Why did you not shoot Peel? I told you to fire.'

'But have they been killing white men?' I asked.

'Plenty. I heard of it to-day over at the Wakool—Peel, Pothook, little Toby, and Jumboy.'

In a low tone, as if for me, but taking care the two boys should hear us, we discussed what we should do.

The two hoys listened to us in silent terror. They knew, unhappily, only too well, from past experience, how little valued black lives were by the majority of the white men. With no provocation whatever, and in the mere wantonness of the power to slay, they had often been slaughtered by the settlers. But now, conscious that they were privy to many murders of the whites, and that a justification for their death existed,—kind and just as they knew Stevenson to be in general,—they believed that their hour was come. Their fear grew every moment stronger while we talked, and, as they thought, took counsel together how best to dispose of them. The end of it was that, only too anxious to save their own lives, they made a clean breast of it. Pothook had overheard Peel describe his doings to Jimmy—one of the head-station blacks. There were three or four others principally concerned, whose names were given. They waylaid their victims, sometimes spearing them from behind trees; at others accosting, and, after throwing them off their guard, striking them down unawares. Altogether Pothook knew of five or six thus killed. The bird-skin collector had met Peel when the latter was apparently alone, and had spoken to him. The two were walking along together, when the black made a sudden snatch at the gun the man carried, but he failed to obtain it, and took to his heels. Unfortunately, the white man, instead of letting the fellow go, and keeping his gun charged, fired the only barrel he had loaded at him as he ran away, wounding him slightly in the shoulder and arm. The other barrel was empty, he having shortly before discharged the shot it contained at a bird; and this Peel and his companions, who were lurking near, well knew. In an instant he was surrounded, and a volley of spears thrown at him, and he fell, pierced through and through.

Cupidity and revenge were the motives for these murders. Almost every man killed had a supply of tobacco; many had tea and sugar; and all had blankets. To them such spoil was of great value; but revenge, and the improbability of being found out, were doubtless inducements, for the class of men who wander about the interior from station to station are known to none: going nowhere in particular, but looking for employment as shepherds or hut-keepers, and heading in the direction of the districts where they are informed it can be obtained. Merely making this the pretext for lounging from one out-station to another, until shearing-time came on, they could earn money enough to indulge in their usual debauchery at that season, and were often marked as victims. Such men might disappear from the earth in numbers, and never be missed.

The lads seemed to have told all they knew, but Stevenson, to try them, pretended they had not done so.

''Pose you no tell what all about black fellow do,—eberyting,—mine hang you! You tell all.'

Thus urged, they informed us of the slaughter of another cow, killed the previous day (a thing we were as yet ignorant of). This was a great crime to any settler, and Stevenson threatened them severely if they kept anything back which they knew about destruction of sheep or cattle on the run; and they then confessed to several misdemeanours of that kind, though on a small scale, during the time he had been on the station.

In his anxiety to save himself, and tell 'eberyting what all about black fellow do,' Pothook confessed every piece of petty roguery his tribe had been guilty of for a long time past. It was now that we learned that, on two occasions when the slip panel of the paddock had been left down, and the horses all escaped into the bush—by the carelessness of some passing traveller, as we supposed—it was one of the blacks who had played the trick, and who had been rewarded with two sticks of tobacco for speedily finding and bringing them back. Percussion caps had been stolen, tobacco lying about the hut purloined, and even charges of powder taken from the flasks when our backs were turned. But, above all, it was a black fellow's dog which had killed the cat, which, on account of the snakes infesting the neighbourhood of the huts, the superintendent had taken such trouble and pains to procure, riding forty miles with it in a basket strapped behind him, and the unaccountable loss of which had much surprised and vexed him, for it had disappeared the day after its arrival.

'Whose dingo killed my cat, Pothook?' asked the superintendent.

Pothook rolled his eye towards young Toby, who hung his head with a guilty look.

'So, you scoundrel! that was the way the Colonel went, was it? And you pretended to hunt for it so diligently that I gave you your dinner and a stick of tobacco. If ever I see you or your dog after this within a mile of the head station, I'll take the stock-whip and make it a caution to the pair of you. What did you do with the body? Where put um pussy?'

No answer from the criminal; but Pothook, anxious to curry favour at everybody else's expense, informed us, 'Him yeat um.'

'Ate him?'

'Yes; him tink that one very good, white fellov 'possum.'

And Pothook furthermore let out that, under a somewhat similar delusion respecting a bottle of cold-drawn castor oil, from which he had one day seen young Harris draw the cork and swallow a glass, said little Toby had, at a moment when the hut was empty, slipped in, and, seizing the bottle as it stood on the shelf, hastily gulped down a goodly portion, under the impression that it was something of an intoxicating nature.

I observed that Pothook, in his narrative of delinquencies, did not mention any of his own exploits. This excessive modesty seemed quite misplaced to his companion, whose evil deeds he was bringing to light; and, plucking up a spirit, Toby junior retorted,—

'Mitta Tiffyson' (I may here observe that the superintendent's name was a great trial for most of the blacks. Almost every one of them had a method of his own of surmounting the difficulty. Some called him 'Mr. Stiffison,' others went further, and called him 'Stiffunson;' but plain 'Stiffuns,' with a splutter at the end, was the favourite pronunciation. I have, however, heard him called 'Stubbomson'),—'Mitta Tiffyson,' said young Toby eagerly, looking up at the superintendent, and pointing at Pothook as he spoke, 'this one marn (take) um fiz-fiz belongin' to flour.'

'Fiz-fiz for flour!' I said; 'what is that?'

'Oh, he means yeast!' said Stevenson.

'Yes, yist,' said little Toby; 'porter belongin' to bread. Pothook steal um that one.'

'Since you have been here,' said Stevenson to me, 'we have had yeast bread instead of damper. Mrs. Laidlaw got some from the publican's wife across the river. I remember her telling me that she had most unaccountably lost a quart bottle of it; she thought somebody had emptied it out in mistake. So Pothook take it, Toby?'

'Yes; him drink it all. Greedy fellow that one! no gib me any. Him tink it very good porter,' added the black, with a grin at the recollection. And upon further inquiry it was elicited that, having observed the woman place it on the table on her return home, and concluding it to be porter, Pothook had abstracted it, for he had often longed to taste that liquor. It would have been better for him if had shared the responsibility, as Toby junior proposed, and given him half, for the result was more than he could well bear.

Finding that the two had no more to tell, the superintendent informed them that their lives were spared for the present, but if they attempted to leave the hut they would be shot down. And in this Stevenson was quite in earnest, for after such a confession it was his duty to convey immediate information to the commander of the Border Black Police, the 'Black Troopers,' who were travelling down the river, and who, he had heard, would arrive at a station twenty miles off that evening. He resolved to start at once, and endeavour to return with them at daybreak, before the blacks, who might think themselves perfectly safe for that night, would suspect their vicinity and take to the scrub.

'It will be useless my starting to fetch the police if either of those two fellows escape out of your sight; and they are slippery as eels. Do you think you will be able to keep them safely?' said Stevenson to us.

I was very tired, and so was Harris; and the idea of sitting up all night was not pleasant. However, there was no help for it, and we promised to watch alternately during his absence. 'Where do you expect to find the troopers?' I asked; 'and how will you get to them?' I said.

'That is the question,' replied the superintendent. 'Lieutenant Walters, I heard, was to reach the Junction, twenty miles up on this side of the river, at sunset to-day; but the blacks are camped not far from the road I must go by, as it is too dark to travel through the bush. I must therefore cross the river here and go up by the other side, and then swim the river again—not a pleasant prospect truly. If I attempt to cross on horseback here, at the punt, the blacks there will instantly suspect the truth; so swim it I must, somewhere in our neighbourhood. Nice, isn't it?'

Finally it was decided that he should cross just below the island, carrying his clothes in a bundle, wrapped in a waterproof coat and placed in a bucket, which he held as he swam. He would then walk to the inn, taking care to approach it from behind, so that the blacks there, who, warned by Harris, had left their fires and were squatted in the verandah, should not hear him. A hundred yards behind the inn was the hut where the punt-man lived. He was to be roused and sent to the house, to tell the innkeeper to quietly saddle his mare, which was kept stabled at night, and bring her to Stevenson, while the man engaged the blacks in talk in the front of the house.

We watched until he had safely swam across and ascended the bank on the other side, and then returned to the hut. As we passed by the kitchen we looked in. Laidlaw, the hut-keeper, was sitting by the fire, and, to do him justice, seemed heartily ashamed of himself, for he did not turn his head as we appeared. His wife had made up a sleeping-place for the poor child whose parents had been so suddenly cut off. The poor thing was overcome by drowsiness, and every now and then would sink into sleep, from which, however, it would almost instantly spring up, screaming out violently that the blacks were coming to kill it, and clinging in the utmost terror to the woman's gown. It had found its way to the bodies of its mother and father behind the hut, and in its endeavours to arouse and awaken them had got covered with blood, which the woman was washing off as we entered, her tears falling plentifully the while; for she was much attached to the two lubras—who helped her in such household work as peeling potatoes, washing dishes, and bringing water, and the like, while their husbands caught fish or (before I came) shot wildfowl with the superintendent's fowling-piece. She was therefore much shocked at what had occurred, and was, moreover, heartily ashamed of her husband's pusillanimity.

We re-entered our hut, thinking that our adventures for that night at least were over—but I was mistaken.

It had been agreed that Harris and I should start an hour before daybreak and ride to a spot fixed upon, there to await the arrival of the superintendent with the troopers; and, having arranged that each of us should take a watch, I threw myself on one of the beds, and slept till two o'clock, when Harris woke me, and I took his place.

For some time I sat by the fire, musing over the different events which had occurred, and in imagination following the superintendent in his night ride up the river. It was about eleven o'clock when he started; and, allowing him an hour to reach the inn and get mounted, he would then have a straight gallop across a large bend of the river for about fifteen miles. He would then have to tether his horse and again swim the stream, as there were no other means of crossing at that spot, and walk a mile through the bush to the station where the troopers were. Allowing him till three o'clock to do this, he would have time to start with them on their errand, and be at the rendezvous fixed on before daybreak, always supposing no accident delayed him. Bobby Peel, we knew, would head for Winyong directly; but both he and the other murderers would certainly calculate upon having at least twenty-four hours undisturbed wherein to escape, during which they would be comparatively safe from the white man's vengeance.

I put some fresh logs on the fire, for the nights were now becoming very cold. The two blacks were lying sprawling by its side on the earthen floor of the hut; while Harris lay just above them on the bed next the chimney. The blaze from the burning wood and the light from the lamp fell strongly on the three sleepers, fully revealing their faces and figures, and I could not help being struck by the different aspect of the physiognomies before me, illustrations as they were of the highest and almost the lowest types of the animal man. For some time my mind wandered in a maze of theories as to the origin of types—effects of climate, food, and other modifying agencies in influencing the development of the genus homo, until all at once I became conscious that my ethnological speculations were rapidly coveying me into the land of dreams; so, jumping up to shake off the drowsiness creeping over me (for I had been shooting all day in the reed-beds), I slung the kettle, to make myself a pot of tea, and then went outside to look at the night.

The heavens were overcast with dense masses of clouds, and a light breeze blew from the southward, the damp feel of which indicated that the long-expected winter rains would not much longer be withheld from the parched-up country. After pacing up and down in front of the hut for some time, I turned to re-enter it, when all at once I heard one of the horses in the paddock neigh. Under ordinary circumstances this of itself would have signified nothing; but we were obliged to be constantly on the alert against the horse thieves, who often cleared out all the animals on several stations in a single night, and swept away with them over the borders and into the neighbouring colonies by routes known only to themselves, and where pursuit was in general utterly vain. As we had several valuable horses in our lot, I listened for some time, and, after giving a look at my charge, and ascertaining that both still slept soundly, I walked down to where they were grazing.

The paddock extended for nearly a mile up and down the river, and our huts were situated inside its fence and about in the centre. I found most of the animals a few hundred yards off, grazing quietly enough; but as I stood near one of them again neighed, and upon putting my ear to the ground I thought I heard a distant sound, which seemed to come from across the river. I went down to the bank and again listened. Sometimes it would die away, but presently it arose more strongly, until I plainly made it out to be the rushing gallop of either horses or cattle, my bush experience being then too slight to enable me to distinguish which. I concluded it must be the latter, as the sounds came from the island, which was some miles in length, being a broad, rolling plain, everywhere surrounded by deep water, and occupied exclusively by cattle, which, as they could not escape, had no one to look after them. It was not possible that any horsemen could be there by accident; for even our own stockman had to swim his horse over when Stevenson wished to muster the herd. Perhaps (I thought) the blacks who had made that night's murderous onslaught were still there, and the cattle on the island had been startled by them; for cattle have the greatest aversion to blacks, scenting them at a great distance and fleeing from their vicinity. Sometimes they will rush at the natives, charging them with great fury. Poor Leichardt relates, in the account of his most wonderful journey from Brisbane to Port Essington, that, having killed and eaten all their cattle but one, a bullock named Redman, to which they had become much attached for his patience and docility, the party was reduced to the very verge of starvation. For weeks they lived on boiled hide alone, and a very scanty allowance of that. Still, none could endure the thought of killing the faithful Redman, who had travelled with them for fifteen months through the wilderness, led by a rope passed through a ring in his nose. And the party did succeed in taking the animal into their destination, though at the cost of great suffering to themselves. In the last month or two of their journey, the explorers fell in with numerous tribes of blacks, who treated the white men with great kindness. Some of these tribes numbered five or six hundred souls. Whenever Redman, however, caught sight of them, it was with the utmost difficulty that he could be restrained. He would break away from his leader and charge the blacks with the utmost fury. 'Had the natives been hostile,' says Leichardt, 'Redman would have protected us and routed them all. I have seen three hundred men flee from his rush, for they were terribly afraid of him.'

All at once the sounds ceased, and for some minutes I heard nothing; but as my eye wandered over the river banks, suddenly I caught sight of objects moving on the island, and a short inspection convinced me that they were horses, and I fancied that they were mounted. I crouched down, to avoid being seen, but of that there was not much fear, as the shade of the rising ground behind me effectually concealed me. It was now darker than in the earlier part of the night, and the river was a hundred yards across, so that it was only when they passed along the summit of the bank and against the lighter background of the sky that I could distinguish them. They stopped opposite where I was, and at the only spot for many miles (except at the punt) where animals could descend and ascend to and from the water, the banks of the Murray being exceedingly precipitous. By this I felt convinced they were horse-stealers, and men, moreover, well acquainted with the locality, for they could not have passed down the river behind the inn, because the scrub, impenetrable at night, approached so close to the house that it would necessitate their passing within earshot. Higher up the river they could not cross without getting involved in a network of ana branches, impossible to ford in the dark. They were therefore obliged to cross at our paddock, and doubtless had the felonious intention of picking up our horses on their way.

As I lay watching their movements, as well as the darkness permitted, I suddenly remembered that there was a canoe, or little punt, a miserable, leaky, flat-bottomed affair, lying under the bank before me. The reason Stevenson had not used it to paddle down to the bottom of the island (a mile off) was the necessity of constant baling to keep it afloat in going such a distance. Merely to cross and recross the stream she would do well enough, as she would carry two men. I was determined the thieves should not have her for transporting their saddles and swags, and went forward to remove her. I crept along until I came to the huge log of dead timber to which the canoe was attached. Here I was completely in the shade, and sheltered, moreover, by the massive trunk, behind the upper end of which I crouched. I had reached out my hand to loosen the painter, when my eye fell on an object moving along the surface of the water, which was comparatively light. It was the head of a man swimming across for the boat; and I resolved to secure him.

As he approached nearer, I saw it was a black fellow. I was not surprised at this, as I had been informed that the organized gangs of depredators who carried on operations on a large scale between the different colonies generally secured the services of some of these dexterous children of the soil to assist them in travelling through the bush by the remotest and most unfrequented tracks; and, above all, to aid them in swimming the horses across streams when flooded with the winter rains. He did not seem to anticipate any ambush or interruption, for he came boldly though silently on, and, reaching the boat, hauled himself on, and, grasping the rope, lifted himself out of the water by its aid, and in two steps ascended to where it was fastened. I had drawn my pistol from its belt, and the moment he reached out his hand, I pointed it at him, and said quietly, 'If you move, I shoot you!'

Beyond turning his face quickly to the spot whence my voice proceeded, the black made not the slightest motion, but remained in the same attitude, as if suddenly paralyzed by this unexpected rencontre; and I stood up to seize and take him up the bank. I confess I acted like a blockhead; but I was new to such matters then; yet, after the example I had already witnessed that evening of the cunning, dexterity, and agility of the blacks, I ought to have known better.

Instead of keeping him covered with my pistol, and ordering him to come up the bank to me, I descended the steep face of it to him, and, reaching out my left hand, took hold of his wrist to lead him up. The fellow yielded without uttering a syllable, and as if he had not the slightest intention of resisting, and ascended a step or two, thus bringing himself close to and just beneath me. Another step would have placed us on a level, and he was in the act of making it, when, quick as lightning, the rascal, finding himself quite close to me, threw his arm round my body and hurled himself back into the river, head foremost, dragging me with him, and, when under water, instantly making the most desperate efforts to get loose from my grasp. I was a good swimmer, fortunately, and in falling I had let go his wrist and seized him by his bushy head of hair, which I kept a tight hold of. I was desperately enraged at having been so simply done, and when we reached the surface I gave him a blow or two with the pistol. I soon found I was the stronger of the two; but still he struggled viciously.

'What for white fellow kill black drooper?'

'Trooper!' I said; 'what do you mean?'

'Mine belongin' to p'leece!' he roared, while voices from the other side, which the noise and splashing of our struggle had hitherto prevented me from hearing, called out to know what was the matter.

'You blockhead!' I said; 'why didn't you say so at first?' and I scrambled out.

'Who is there?' I said.

'Lieutenant Walters and the native police. Is that you, doctor? Will you bring the punt over?'

It was Stevenson's voice. In a few moments I and my late antagonist were on the other side.

'What have you and the darky been up to?' he said.

'I took you for a lot of horse-stealers. Who could have dreamt it was you? Back so soon, and on the island too!'

'But how did you manage to get into the river? You fell in, did you not?'

'It was this black fellow pulled me in,' I said. 'What for you pull me in along a water, eh? What for no speak?'

'What for you poke 'um pissel along a me, eh? What for you pabber "mine shoot"? You stupid white fellow—you! Crack um cobra belongin' to mine!' and he rubbed said 'cobra' very gingerly. However, as his head was as hard as the generality of blacks', there was no great harm done.

'Mistakes on both sides, apparently,' said Stevenson; 'but you had better get across as soon as possible. I will go over with you. Are the two boys safe?'

'Fast as a church, when I saw them last,' said I, seizing the paddle and sculling vigorously, for I was getting benumbed with cold. One of the blacks swam alongside, to bring back the punt, and hurried home to change. As we went Stevenson explained that, when some distance on his journey, he had met the troop on the plains, and was told that, having found a note awaiting his arrival, with orders on the subject from Brown, the lieutenant had determined to push on that very night, and beat up the blacks' quarters next morning, if possible. Knowing that his every movement was closely watched, and that information is passed on from tribe to tribe with wonderful celerity, he was obliged to be very cautious. Feigning that the note was an unwelcome summons to another place, he, in apparent ill-humour, gave orders that the troop should cross the river that evening, in order to be ready for an early start for the Avoca, where he pretended that his presence was urgently required. At midnight he sent out two or three scouts to examine the neighbourhood for any lurking spies, and, finding that his ruse had succeeded, he quietly saddled up and started, and met Stevenson on his way.

Upon approaching the station, they debated whether they should try to surprise and secure the four or five blacks at the Ferry Inn, and then recross the river by the punt, or whether they should get on to the island, and swim the river opposite the huts. As the blacks were on their guard, the first idea was abandoned; and the more readily, as it transpired that one of the troopers on a former marauding expedition had discovered a ford across the branch, by which they could reach the island without the necessity of swimming. They were thus enabled to ferry over their saddles and clothes.

While Stevenson was giving me these particulars, and I was changing my clothes and imbibing some hot tea, the troopers swam their horses across, and presently mustered before the huts. Their commander was a young fellow of four or five-and-twenty, in some respects well fitted for his post, for he was a dashing, reckless fellow, with plenty of courage and hardihood. But, as regarded discipline or organization of any kind, his troop was sadly deficient. They were simply black fellows clapped into uniforms, armed with carbine, sword, and pistol, and mounted on horseback; and wonderful airs they gave themselves as they strutted about. When I say they wore uniforms, I must except boots. These supposed essentials to the equipment of the cavalry soldier were dispensed with by them, except on grand occasions, such as the review of the force. Then, with great agony and numerous contortions, these were dragged on, and their usual springy, elastic gait was instantly changed to a most unsoldierlike and pitiful hobble. But on active service the boots were hung at the saddle-bow, while each sable warrior inserted his great toe into the stirrup, the spurs being lashed to the naked heel.

The hut-keeper and his wife had been roused to prepare supper, or breakfast, for it was now long past three o'clock, and soon the frying-pan was hard at work.

'Do you think any of your head-station blacks who were killed last night had anything to do with the murders?' asked Walters, when he had returned from inspecting the bodies.

'They knew of them, but took no active part, I believe; Pothook had overheard Peel telling poor Jimmy about them.'

'It was a good thought of yours, keeping these fellows,' said the lieutenant to me; 'shouldn't have caught them for months if they had got wind of our coming. Sorry that fool of mine gave you such a ducking; he always was a stupid blockhead. Now, the question is, Where are these fellows we want? What kind of country are they camped in? Can I get at them so as to surround their miamis? Who knows the locality? I must have that fellow Peel this time, he has dodged me so often.'

'I rather think the doctor here knows that ground better than any one, as he has shot ducks up and down the creek almost every day, and fished for eels in nearly every water-hole,' said Stevenson.

'But does he know the murderers? I have got orders to catch the next lot, and send them prisoners to town. It makes more impression on the rest than shooting.'

'Harris and I know them all. We will both go with you. When will you start?'

'In time to reach and surround their camp just before daybreak. Will you be good enough to give me a rough sketch of the ground near it?' he said to me.

I made out a plan; and, while he was studying it, Harris went to the woolshed and brought down a number of sheepskins, which each trooper quickly made into pads for putting on their horses' feet on approaching near to the camp, in order to deaden the sound.

'I see there is a swamp near the camp; can horses cross it?'

'No; it is all soft ground, boggy in many places—I have walked over it often,' I replied.

'Then we must try and cut them off from it, that's all. When we have had something to eat, it will be time to start.'

He sat down to the meal the woman had just brought in; and while he was engaged with it Stevenson took me aside. We went towards the kitchen, where the troopers were crowded together, eating their supper also, some sitting at the table, the rest squatted on the floor. After examining them through the window for a while, Stevenson pointed out three of the twelve, whom he knew to belong to the same tribe which had made the onslaught on his blacks that night.

'I saw those fellows just now, when you and Walters went to look at the bodies, spitting and stamping upon the tracks made by our blacks about the hut, and shaking their fists towards the camp they are going to attack. They are gloating over the prospect before them, and the scoundrels will kill lubras and children without scruple, for Walters alone will not be able to restrain them. He is altogether too young and reckless—in fact, too indifferent about the lives of these poor creatures; and in that respect he resembles too many of the squatters, I am sorry to say. Now, I am determined that my blacks shall not be cut up by these fellows, if I can prevent it. You will come with us, of course?'

'Not I. I have not the slightest wish to see the pour wretches killed or captured, I assure you.'

'Still I hope you'll come,' he urged. 'Your presence, as a stranger, will be even a greater restraint upon them than mine, who am supposed to have an interest in the destruction of these troublesome pests to the squatter. Walters will exert himself to obey the orders he has received, and take them alive; and I must offer these fellows some bribe or other to induce them to behave mercifully, and prevent the slaughter of women and children at least.'

'If you think my presence will have any good effect, I shall, of course, be only to happy to go with you. But the fact is, I am sick of bloodshed after what happened last night,' I said.

'I don't wonder at it; and yet, just look at those fellows,' he added, pointing to where the troopers were enjoying their sweetened tea, damper, and beef. 'What fills us with such loathing is to them a source of the keenest delight. They are in their glory now. Strange, is it not—this dreadful instinct to kill, even in the case of men living far apart, and who never, perhaps, saw each other before? And yet I must not be unjust to them either. They kill because they are under the impression that every death, or sickness, or other misfortune which occurs to themselves or friends, is the work of some distant enemy, who has bewitched or stolen away his kidney fat. But here comes Walters; I suppose he intends making a start.'

In a short time all were ready, our horses driven up to the stockyard and saddled. The troopers, under the guidance of Harris, mounted and started, while Walters and we then entered the hut once more, to look at the two blacks, to whom I had given a dose of something to make them sleep.

'I want to make sure of these fellows,' said the former. 'It would never do if, the moment our backs are turned, one of them jumped up and made off. He could easily reach the camp before daybreak, and all our trouble would be thrown away. Try them again, doctor, please.'

I did so. Little Toby could be roused only with difficulty. Pothook, however, was not so drowsy; and upon shaking him he opened his eyes and fixed them for a moment on Walters and a trooper, who, in their shining accoutrements, stood before him. His head almost instantly fell back, and apparently he was sound asleep again in a moment. Something, however, in the glance aroused my suspicions, and I quietly asked the lieutenant if the blacks here knew him.

'Oh yes! they all know me very well.'

'Then Pothook recognised you! I believe he is wide awake at this moment, and will continue so, as the shock of the discovery that you are here will rouse him thoroughly. He must be guarded. Shall we tie them together?'

'No need of that, if your hut-keeper will only mount guard over them for one hour. It is half-past four now, and day dawns at six. Call him in.'

Laidlaw came in, and, having received his orders not to lose sight of them for an instant until daylight, we mounted our horses and pushed on to overtake the troop.

'I am vexed that you should be dragged out on such a miserable expedition as this,' said Stevenson to me as we rode together; 'but you know my motives. I feel very sad when I think of the fate about to befall these unhappy wretches. I can venture to say this much to you. Were I to speak thus to nine out of ten squatters, they would stare at me in astonishment. It is enough for them that these blacks have killed white men. They must, therefore, be shot down if they run, or be hanged if they are taken alive. But I cannot help feeling that all those so-called murders were perpetrated by these ignorant savages in retaliation for innumerable atrocities practised by the overlanders and their men, who, until a year or two back, when this station was first formed, used to travel from the Sydney side with their sheep and cattle to take up this country. Had we white men only done our duty by these poor creatures, and used our superior power a little more mercifully when we seized and occupied their country, such atrocities as those we are now going to punish would never have occurred. It is enough to make one's blood run cold to hear some of my neighbours speak of these blacks. "How many did you shoot when you came over?" one will ask another. "Only eleven," he will reply. "How many did you?" "Fourteen altogether." And in town I have more than once met—gentlemen, I suppose I must call them—who openly asserted that they made it a point to shoot all they came across.'

'I have heard men say the same,' I replied, 'more than once, when in Melbourne. It is perfectly horrible.'

Walters riding up at this moment put a stop to the conversation, and presently we overtook the troop.

The blacks whom we were going to surprise were stationed six miles off, at the upper end of a long plain, and a hundred yards or so from the banks of a creek, which for some miles above their camp was closely bordered on one side by a swamp and on the other by mallee scrub. The miamis were pitched near the lower end of the swamp (which was on the right or station side of the watercourse), and in such a position that the blacks could see all over the plain the approach of danger, and, taking to the reeds, could escape across the creek into the mallee, which there ended, abruptly extending back in a solid wall at right angles with the bank for half a mile. After passing the camp, the creek wound through the centre of a perfectly level open plain, which plain was bounded on one side by a dense wall of scrub, and on the other by a line of open timber; both the mallee and the timber running parallel to the general course of the creek, at a distance of ten or twelve hundred yards, except at a spot one mile down, where a point or promontory of scrub approached the bank much more closely. At that part of the creek there was an out-station hut.

It happened, however, that the lower portion of the swamp, which protected the rear of the blacks from the approach of horsemen, was almost entirely detached from the upper by a bay or indentation of the plain; and guided by young Harris, who also knew the ground well, and favoured by the hour, the darkness, and a high cold wind which had sprung up, accompanied with a drizzling rain, the troops succeeded in passing the blacks and reaching this spot unobserved. Descending into the bed of the stream, which was nearly dry, and ten feet below the surrounding plain, nine of the twelve, with Walters and myself, then silently crept down it, until we came opposite to the fires. A scout sent forward to reconnoitre reported that, entirely unsuspicious that their dreaded enemies were near them, the blacks and their dogs were all lying close, and sheltered from the cold wind and rain beneath their miamis, and apparently all asleep. Walters had planted three sentries in the interval between the two swamps, and across the creek at the edge of the scrub, which terminated just opposite that spot; the lower part of the swamp continuing some two hundred yards farther down the watercourse. If any of the blacks, therefore, escaped into this lower patch of reeds, they would be prevented from passing higher up the creek, or across the intervening two hundred yards of plain, into the mallee scrub.

My feelings were not very pleasant as I stood by my horse's head shivering, and watching over the edge of the bank the showers of sparks which the wind, now increased to a gale, caught up and scattered over the plain. I felt sorry for the miserable destiny of the poor creatures for whom we had prepared so unpleasant an awakening. But I cannot say my sentiments were at all shared by my companions. The rascals were all alive with energy, and waited impatiently for the moment when they were to be let loose on their unfortunate countrymen. Not that they had the slightest desire to avenge the deaths of the white men; they were not so weak; but because, under the guise of duty, they hoped to wreak their vengeance upon those whom they regarded as their hereditary enemies. I had heard their commander tell them to capture, not kill; and very much disgusted they were with the order. I fully appreciated Stevenson's reluctance to let loose such a set on his blacks.

The different colonial governments, well aware of the savage and bloodthirsty character of these same native border police, had often meditated suppressing the force altogether. But they had hitherto found themselves unable to do so. White constables are useless on the borders. It is only the aboriginal, with his keen senses and power of tracking his enemy, who can be depended upon to protect the settlers in those districts where native outrages prevail, or to inflict chastisement upon the perpetrators of them.

With the first faint streak of dawn the cry of the mopoke rang through the foliage above our heads. It was the signal agreed upon, and emerging from the bed of the creek the troopers silently placed themselves in a semicircle between the reeds and the eight or ten miamis which constituted the camp; and, removing the pads which had deadened the sound of their advance, waited until the blacks should become aware of their presence. Like most savages who are given to surprise their enemies, the Australian aboriginal is yet careless in guarding against surprise. It was broad daylight before a shrill cry announced that they were at last aware of their danger. Springing up from their sleep, and taking in the whole situation at a glance, they fled in a body over the plain, the only way left open for them. Guided by Harris and Stevenson, who had remained behind the reeds, but who now rode out and across the course of the fugitives, the troopers galloped after, and soon succeeded in securing the murderers, of whom one only offered any resistance.

CHAPTER VI.
ON THE TRAIL.

When the troopers passed through the camp, each man gave a sharp look at the miamis, to see that no blacks remained. These were merely sheets of bark, or boughs set up on end, so as to form a sloping wall between the fires and the wind, so that they could not conceal anybody. Owing to the haste, apparently, with which the blacks had sprung up, one of these miamis had got knocked down, and the boughs had fallen on the fire in front, where the leaves, damp with the rain which had fallen, were smouldering. Beneath these fallen boughs, and running the risk of being burned to death, lay hidden the black Walters so much wished to capture. He had had the presence of mind, on the alarm being given, to roll himself close to the fire, and, lying flat under his blanket, to knock away the prop which supported the bark and boughs of his miami; and as I rode up to the camp from the creek, for I had remained behind the troop, having no desire to be other than a mere spectator, Bobby Peel, dressed once more in cotton shirt, jacket, and trousers, was just rolling himself from beneath them.

My first impulse was to detain him, but he gave me such an appealing, eloquent look, that I hesitated. I remembered what Stevenson had told me as to the infamous treatment endured by this man's tribe; how Peel's first experience of white men was being fired on when awaiting the approach of a party of overlanders who came near, making signs of friendship until within range, when they delivered a volley which killed his father and two brothers. Old Toby had often shown me the patch of reeds he and Peel, then a lad, took shelter in on that occasion. I had warned Stevenson I would not in any way aid in the capture, even if I saw them escaping. In the short time I had been on the run, I had mingled much with them, had taken long shooting and botanical excursions with two of these very murderers, and been of service to them professionally; for European disease was rife amongst their miamis, and that they were grateful to me I could easily see by the gleam of pleasure which lightened up their visages when 'doc, doc,' as they called me, appeared amongst them. Moreover, as I looked round, there seemed no possibility of escape for Peel. The mallee and swamp were guarded, and across the plain he could not move unseen. Was it for me to hasten the miserable creature's doom by a few minutes? I could not do it; and when the black, raising himself on his elbow, after a keen look at the troop, at that moment in full career after his countrymen, pushed the wet boughs farther on to the fire, so as to raise a dense smoke, which the high wind blowing carried along the ground, and ran unobserved under its shelter to the reeds, I did not interfere to prevent him.

A very short time, however, elapsed before Walters was on his track. Not finding him with the rest, and suspecting what had actually occurred, he galloped down to the camp, and his men soon found the foot-marks of the fugitive in the wet grass. But upon following these through the swamp, the bird was flown. Peel had crept to the margin of the creek, and there seeing the sentry by the mallee, instantly suspected that the upper swamp also was guarded, for he knew well the number of the troop. His only resource, then, was to enter the bed of the creek and run down it until near enough to the point where the scrub approached its banks, to afford him a chance of reaching it before being overtaken. This was, as I said above, only a thousand yards or so away in a straight line, but by the creek bed, owing to its great winding, the distance was nearly doubled. To succeed, he required a far longer start than Walters' vigilance had left him, for not many minutes had elapsed from the time he had disappeared in the reeds, before the lieutenant had sent troopers down to guard the bed of the watercourse and the plain on both sides; after which he put three expert trackers on the trail. Then, riding to where Stevenson and I were patching up two or three wounded blacks,—for, in spite of all his injunctions and efforts, some of his men would use their weapons,—and hastily ordering the prisoners to be taken to the head station, whither Harris also went, to bring the spring cart for one of the wounded men who had bled very much, he invited me to join him in the hunt; for I had in the course of conversation the previous night expressed a wish to witness a specimen of the tracking powers of his men. I eagerly consented, not only because I was desirous of seeing exercised some of those keen faculties which the savage possesses in such perfection, but because I somehow felt a great interest in the fate of the miserable fugitive, and wished to be present to witness the result of the chase, whatever it might be, whether escape or capture. I could not help secretly hoping, as I noted the eager and ardent way in which his own countrymen set to work to hunt him down, that the poor wretch might escape. But there was, to all appearance, but small hope of that.

The creek down the bed of which the fugitive had fled was not an ana branch of the Murray, but one of the ordinary watercourses called by that name in Australia, which is, however, only properly applicable to an inlet of the sea. A raging torrent in winter, it was in summer a succession of 'water-holes' or pools, with spaces of dry ground between them. Some of these water-holes were from fifty to a hundred yards in length,—a few much larger, but in general they resembled small ponds,—the breadth being some forty or fifty feet. In depth many greatly exceeded this. The banks were fringed with the 'yarra' trees, which almost invariably, even when they are passing through plains otherwise treeless, margin the smaller watercourses of Australia, and which in this particular creek grew more closely than usual together at that level of the bank reached by the floods in winter-time. Unlike the generality of Australian timber, which shoots up to a considerable height before giving off any branches, these yarra trees in form more often resemble those of English growth (such as the oak); the trunk, gnarled and stunted, dividing at a few feet into large branches, the inner ones growing with an inclination downwards towards the water, into which at flood-time their ends often dip. From the blacks' camp to the out-station hut, a mile off, the course of the creek somewhat resembled the letter S.

We soon overtook the trackers, who had not much difficulty in following, as the fugitive had not had time to resort to any elaborate artifices. At one spot he had taken to the water, and some time passed before the place where he left it could be ascertained. The margin of that particular water-hole was rocky in some places. A slight drizzling rain had continued to fall, but beneath the trees the ground as yet was comparatively dry. The drippings from the fugitive's clothes would quickly betray his passage, but none such could be seen. It was concluded that he lay hidden in a patch of reeds which grew in a shallow part of the water at one end, and search was being made there by two of the blacks as we rode up. The third, however, more cunning than the rest, instead of joining them, ascended on to the plain, and commenced making casts round about in the neighbourhood. At first he also was unsuccessful, but in working his way round the water-hole he caught sight of a tuft of pretty thick bushes some thirty feet or so out. Instantly he ran up to them, as if pretty certain of there finding what he was looking for, and, stooping, he drew out a couple of dead, flattened, bushy boughs. Beneath these were the footmarks of the hunted man.

The bush in Australia is everywhere littered with dead trees and branches, the beds of the creeks in particular, where they are torn from the banks and deposited in heaps by floods. The leaves of one small bushy species adhere most tenaciously for months after death, and are not easily broken. Picking up two of these as he fled, and keeping them dry as he entered the water and swam, Peel had placed them on the dry, rocky part of the bank. Hastily pressing and squeezing as much moisture as possible out of his clothes, he had lifted himself out upon them, and allowed them to receive the droppings from his person. Shifting one before the other, and always keeping upon them, he had ascended the bank, and in this manner reached the tuft of bushes without leaving any moisture or footprint to betray him. We found that the bend of the creek at this spot would hide him from view.

After leaving the tuft of bushes, he had run for some distance at full speed, and again descended into the bed. Upon coming to that part where it approached the mallee sufficiently close to enable the fugitive, had he left the creek, to reach the scrub before the horseman on watch could overtake him, the trackers found that the traces still continued to keep within the banks. By this they were sure that he had not had time to try it, and that Walters had been too quick for him. His resorting to these artifices was another proof, and the trackers now proceeded cautiously, for fear he should double on them and take the back track.

We at length came to a water-hole of great size, being nearly three hundred yards in length, and in parts very broad. Along the side of this the tracks led for a good distance, and then suddenly disappeared. The mallee came closer here than in any other part; and the trooper on sentry there was riding up and down in its front. He examined the ground where he was; and the blacks with us, thinking that by chance he might have dodged in unobserved by the sentry, examined the plain in their own vicinity; but no marks could be seen. The fugitive had evidently taken to the water. But had he left it, and how? was the question; for, search as they would, not a mark to indicate the whereabouts of his exit could be seen. The long, dry summer had sunk the water so much, that on both sides a broad margin of damp clay bank extended, which would have quickly betrayed his passage; and the blacks had soon ascertained that Peel had not repeated his former ruse. They decided, therefore, that he was still in the water, concealed; and that, moreover, there was another black concealed there with him.

The farther end of the larger lagoon was connected by a narrow, shallow strait, a few feet wide, with a smaller one; and on walking round this, one of the troopers had come upon some other tracks, which also led to the margin of the pool, and there disappeared. An examination of these soon led to the decision that they had very recently been made, that they were the footmarks of a black, and that it was not Peel. And upon examining the narrow strait of shallow water, they furthermore asserted that the individual, whoever he was, had passed through it hurriedly on his way to the larger lagoon.

When Walters conveyed this information to the superintendent and myself, who were present, I was much surprised. I could not imagine how it could be possible for the men to be concealed in such a place.

'How can they tell that anybody has passed through this water?' I said to their commander. 'It is only two or three feet deep, but the bottom is invisible, owing to the dark colour of the clay, and the shade cast by the trees.'

'They examined the edge of it,' he replied, 'and found that a ripple or wave had recently washed over the pebbles, grass, and clay of the bank for several inches. If he had walked gently through, the mark left would have been much slighter than if he had passed through in a hurry. This fellow rushed through in a hurry, evidently. Probably just then he caught sight of the troopers coming over the plain to station themselves by the scrub here, close by, and made for the larger water directly.'

'Perhaps,' I suggested, 'the tracks are Peel's, made by walking backwards out of the water, to deceive you.'

'He knew well he could not deceive the blacks that way,' said Walters. 'No! this is the track of a man running, and running fast. Doubtless it was one of the head-station blacks, from the public-house, who had heard or suspected something, and was coming to give the others warning, but was too late. Whoever he is, he is hidden somewhere in the water still, and Peel too, most likely.'

'In the water?' I said, astonished.

'Yes; amongst the reeds.'

'But,' said I, 'there are no reeds, or scarcely any; only those narrow strips, barely a yard or two in width, round the margin; and you can see right down into them from the banks, and detect any man's head above the surface, even if it were in the thickest patch I see hereabouts; for they are not more than ten or twelve inches above the water, at most.'

'Yes; if they were such fools as to keep their heads above water,' replied the lieutenant. 'But these chaps are stowed away underneath.'

'With their heads under water? What do you mean?'

'I mean that you might pass this lagoon, walk round its banks, and look as closely as you will down upon those scanty reeds fringing the margin,—you will see nothing, and hear nothing but the rustling of the wind in the leaves. And yet a hundred blacks might be lying hidden there all the time! And so closely will they be concealed that a flock of wild ducks might alight and see nothing to startle them, so solitary and quiet will be the aspect of the place.'

'How can they manage it?'

'Simply enough. Almost every one of them keeps about him, concealed in his thick, bushy hair, a piece of hollow reed tube. When closely pressed, they take to the water, and, diving beneath, thrust their heads into a patch of reeds. Turning on their backs first, they allow their faces to come near enough to the surface for the tube to project, and they breathe through it. The sharpest eye could not detect this, hidden as it is amongst the thick growth; and even without it, it would be impossible to detect their nostrils, which, in that case, they only allow to project above water. See!' he added; 'they are groping for them.'

Some spears had been brought from the deserted camp for this very purpose; and, walking round the margin, two of the troopers thrust these in all directions into the water, but for some time without any result; the other black continuing his search round the banks for the trail, in case they had after all left it. All at once, however, I noticed one of them, as he was bending forward, and probing with his weapon, slip and partly fall in. His spear had been jerked out of his hand, and a movement in the reeds betrayed the cause. Running up, I caught sight, for an instant, of the twinkling soles of the feet (which are much lighter-coloured than the skin of the rest of the body) of the diver, as he proceeded to swim under water to some other part of the lagoon. But his pursuers had also seen them, and had been able to follow, with their keener gaze, the passage of the dark body itself, which, after the first glimpse, was invisible to me, to its new hiding-place. There was not the slightest disturbance of the surface, or any greater movement amongst the wind-tossed reeds than was observable elsewhere on the water-hole, to betray its whereabouts, yet the blacks unerringly selected the spot, and with poised spears were about to thrust the unfortunate through, whoever he was, when Stevenson interposed.

'No, we must have none of that kind of work, Walters,' he said. 'Get him out alive;' and after poking and following the fugitive to two or three different parts of the lagoon, finding it useless to persist, he at length popped his head above water, revealing to our gaze the features, not of Bobby Peel, but of the boy Pothook, whom we had left at home. Finding a brandy bottle on the shelf of our hut, his custodian had gone to get some water to mix himself a glass, thinking that as the boy was snoring he must be asleep; and the lad had seized the opportunity, slipped out, and made off, and was out of range before the hut-keeper had missed him. But Pothook was too late to warn his friends.

He was in mortal terror at finding himself in the hands of the dreaded troopers, and would not come out of the water until he had made Stevenson and me promise they should not kill him.

'Where Bobby Peel?' asked the superintendent of the lad.

'Him pull away over yonder,' he replied, pointing to the out-station hut, which was invisible, being hidden by some bushes out in the plain.

'Likely story that!' said the lieutenant contemptuously. 'It's no use asking him anything; he wants to get us away from here; and he'll lie till he's white in the face to do it. No! Peel is in this water-hole, I am positive. We shall have him presently, never fear. I must have that rascal this time; he has dodged me so often. But I think he won't slip through my fingers now.'

But 'the rascal' seemed destined not to be caught. The blacks stripped and swam about the lagoon, groping amongst the remaining reeds, and now and then diving to take a look below, but in vain. Half an hour had altogether been spent in the search, and still there were no signs of the fugitive.

'I begin to think the boy may be speaking the truth after all,' said the superintendent to me; 'though why Peel should make for the hut, where the men hate him so much, is a puzzle to me. Surely he would not dare. I will ride across and see.'

Just at that moment, however, we observed one of the blacks, who was coursing round the water-hole like a baffled bloodhound, suddenly stop, and look up at the branches of the trees which everywhere surrounded it. These had been examined by them upon first coming, in order to make sure that no boughs hung near enough to the surface for any swimmer to lift himself out by their aid. But the water was so low at this time that every branch was at first sight apparently too far out of reach. Finding no trace, however, on the broad clay margin on either side, the idea again suggested itself, and a more minute examination of the different trees was made; but the bough which approached the water most nearly was five or six feet from the surface, and belonged to a tree which was situated on the side nearest to the hut. Jumping into the creek, however, the black above mentioned swam out until he came beneath it, and, although the water-hole was at least fifty feet deep, to our surprise the man's body presently emerged until he stood up, and, reaching out his hands, grasped the bough and swung himself up on to it. The manner in which Peel had left the water was now made manifest. A large tree was there sunk,[1] a bough of it coming to within a few inches of the surface. From the banks this was invisible, owing to the dark shade cast by the branches above; but the fugitive, who was familiar with every foot of the water-hole from infancy, had availed himself of it, and had landed on the side nearest to the hut, and away from the scrub.

[1] The Australian woods, with a few exceptions, sink in water.

The black scrambled along until he reached the trunk, and, slipping down, looked at the ground at its foot. The grass along the edge of the plain above, for the breadth of a few feet back from the bank, had already been examined up and down the water-hole on his side, but without effect, and no tracks could now be seen at the foot of this particular tree. The black, however, again looking up, observed that a long bough projected out over the plain, and walking out to the end of this he again examined the ground. One glance was sufficient for him, although I could see nothing, and giving a cooey to the rest, who were still hunting in the bed of the creek, Walters and his companions joined him.

'Got it—track belongin' to Bobby,' said the trooper, pointing to the ground, and trotting farther out on the plain towards the hut.

CHAPTER VII.
THE END OF THE CHASE.

'Now what dodge has the fellow been up to?' said Walters. 'If he is skulking in this myrtle patch, hoping to double back to the creek, he is mistaken. Unless he has passed my men on the plain, which isn't likely, we'll soon have him.'

I observed Stevenson looking round for Pothook, but that youth had prudently slipped off. We afterwards questioned him as to what took place when he and Peel met each other. It seems that, cut off from his only chance, the scrub on one side of the creek, and informed, by the way, that the bed of it lower down was guarded, the black had for a few moments given up all hope of escape. He looked in despair between the trunks of the yarra trees towards the out-station hut, which lay a quarter of a mile off, hidden in a belt of myrtle and quandong bushes, some three or four hundred yards long, and extending across the bend so as to shut out the view of the great plain beyond. That plain, he knew, was carefully guarded, and, moreover, it led to the home station. But as he looked he saw an object which excited a gleam of hope, and inspired him with a desperate resolve. The sunken tree was some distance back from where he stood, and to avoid showing his return traces he jumped into the water and swam to it, emerging in the manner described, while the boy took to the creek, intending to remain concealed under the surface until the danger which he fancied menaced himself passed by. In going towards the hut, Peel ran no danger of being seen by the black stationed by the mallee, for on such a level plain the yarra trees which fringed the water-hole completely screened from those at a distance on one side whatever passed on the other side of the creek.

The open space between the part of the banks where we now stood and the belt of small timber above mentioned, was less than a quarter of a mile, and while the blacks who had been swimming in the water-hole were dressing themselves, Walters galloped across it, and through the bushes and on to the large plain beyond, to see whereabouts his sentries were. He could see two, who were riding up and down just within sight of each other, while between and beyond them, far out, was the shepherd with his flock. There was not a bush to conceal the view, and far away, by the edge of the distant timber, the blacks and their guard were still in sight, on their way to the home station. The timber opened opposite to him, and through this opening he could see miles away on to another plain beyond. The road from the punt to the upper part of the river passed that way, and came up to near where he stood, crossing the creek near the out-station hut, and going through a narrow portion of the mallee, which had been cleared for the purpose. On this road, at a considerable distance off, was a solitary horseman, apparently riding to the home station.

Meanwhile the blacks had again taken up the trail, which led straight to the brush in which the hut was concealed. Just before we reached the edge of this, Walters joined us again.

'I can't make the fellow out,' he said; 'he can't have crossed the plain; and if he is skulking here, we shall soon have him.'

The sentry across at the mallee had been called over, and, with another man, now watched in the open, to give notice if Peel doubled out and made back tracks for the creek again; and we proceeded to enter the bushes of quandong and myrtle. All at once there was a commotion amongst the trackers, who sprang to their horses, shouting something to Walters, who thereupon raged and stormed; and no wonder. The distant horseman he had a few minutes before seen was the very man he was after.

'Has either of your men here got a horse?' he asked the superintendent hastily.

'Yes,' replied Stevenson (who, I suspected, had been for some time aware of the trick Peel had played), 'the shepherd has one. He bought it to shepherd his flock with on these level plains, as he was always losing his sheep. He is a very little man, and consequently could only see a short distance.'

'But he hadn't it to-day, had he?'

'No. The fact is, he was taken in, knowing nothing about horses, and bought a thorough buck-jumper, who pitched him off as fast as he got on. And the brute won't let you catch him in hobbles; so, as he expects to sell it again, he keeps it tethered about the hut handy. I am afraid,' added Stevenson to me, as Walters, too impatient to listen further, spurred on after his men,—'I am afraid that vagabond has been up to some mischief. I hope Watkins, the hut-keeper here, is all right. Peel would be desperate, and not stick at a trifle in the fix he was in. I suspected what he had been up to.'

'So I thought,' I replied, as we rushed on after the trackers.

Just as they reached the hut door, a man was crawling out on his hands and knees. This turned out to be the hut-keeper, who was covered with blood, which had flowed from a wound on his head.

'Why, Bill! what's the matter?' said the superintendent. 'Did Peel do that?'

'Oh, is that you, Mr. Stevenson?' said the man, looking up at our party, and raising himself with difficulty. 'Yes, it was; are you after him?'

'Yes, we are; but how came you to let him do that?'

'You had best put your men on his track at once, Mr. Walters. He's got King's horse.'

'We know he has, the villain!' said Walters, as he directed the three trackers to follow instantly (Peel was still in sight, but soon disappeared in the timber), while he and the rest waited behind a few moments to hear the hut-keeper's account of the attack made on him, which he gave as I bound up his wound.

It appeared that, while engaged in his usual morning work of shifting the hurdles, after the flock had gone out at daylight, he saw some one riding (as he thought) through the bushes towards his hut, and left his work to see who it was. To his surprise, he found the shepherd's horse, which he himself had tethered out that morning at the edge of the myrtle, tied to the door, but immediately concluded that the man himself had come for it, as he was daily expecting to sell it, and that perhaps the intending purchaser had joined him while with his flock. He therefore entered the hut quite unsuspiciously; but it was apparently empty. While turning round, he was felled by a blow with his own gun; and, staggering forwards, fell close to his bed. He was not entirely stunned, and instantly rolled himself underneath it. At first he thought that Peel (whom he had recognised) was going to drag him out and finish him, but the black was in too great a hurry. He stayed long enough, however, to saddle the horse, and load himself with the tea and sugar bags, as well as the flour and half a damper which was on the table. Moreover, the man found that he had taken down his looking-glass, which hung on a nail in the wall. His object in doing this was that he might whiten his face with the dirty outside of the flour bag. With a cabbage-tree hat and a shooting coat which he put on, at a distance he would not look like a black, and he could pass the sentries unsuspected. In fact, we heard afterwards from them that he went between them, walking, and leading his horse, and pretending to read an old newspaper he had picked up off the table in the hut. It was so natural that a passing horseman coming from higher up the river should call at the out-station, and he turned his whitened, or rather whitey-browned, face towards them both so coolly, that, disguised as he was in hat and coat, and having the horse as well, it was no wonder that, at several hundred yards distance, they should be deceived.

I felt rather queer when I saw the hut-keeper's condition, and reflected that, had he been killed, I should have been indirectly the cause of his death. And what if the black, driven to desperation, committed more murders? There was no chance now of their catching him. He was making straight for the large reed-bed, which extended miles down the river below the head station.

'I don't see the use of following him any longer. He has got off clear!' said Stevenson, after we had gone some miles. 'Upon my word, he deserves his liberty too.'

We at last reached the reeds, and followed the traces along their margin, thick timber with brush being on our right. In passing the head station all but two of the most expert of the troopers were sent away. With these, the superintendent, Walters, and I, continued the chase, although with very slight hopes of capturing the fugitive, now that he had succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of the reedy swamps, which communicated with the main body of the mallee, extending in the direction of South Australia for hundreds of miles down the river.

'Dodged me once more!' said Walters. 'Oh, if I had only thought of telling one of my men to call as he passed the hut where he stole the horse! We should have had him, for they would have been on the look-out. But now— What's the matter, Doolibut?'

The track had hitherto led for several miles in a straight line, parallel with the river; but now the leading black pulled up his horse and looked about him. The hoof-marks had changed their character, and swerved from their former course, zigzagging in different directions; these signs indicating that a severe struggle had here taken place between the horse and his rider.

'His horse has been playing up!' said the superintendent. 'These are the marks made by his hack jumping about. I wonder the beast went so far with the black on his back without doing so before, for he is a regular brute. No one on the station will ride him.'

It seemed, however, that Peel had conquered, for presently the tracks of the horse once more galloping were taken up, and we followed them on. But again we came to the marks of a struggle; and these increased in number at every mile or so, until we came to a place about half a mile from the scrub for which the black was making, and where the reeds and the timber, mingled with brush, approached each other closely. We were passing along a narrow, winding opening or path between these, having the reeds on our left, when once more the leading black pulled up, and after a brief glance at the ground, dismounted.

The sandy, loose soil on which the trees grew was margined by and intermingled with the soft boggy ground on which were the reeds, here five or six feet in height, and very dense. The spot was thickly overgrown with ferns and small bushes, which in several places were broken and trampled, while the ground was deeply imprinted with hoof-marks. Besides these, however, the blacks evidently saw other signs; for, pointing to one particular place, and speaking eagerly to each other, they stooped down to examine it more narrowly; and then, walking on a few steps, came to the foot of an immense tree, which, growing on the very margin of the swamp, had one portion of its roots bathed by its waters, there being hardly room for a man to pass between the reeds and the trunk on that side. On the other were some bushes, which concealed the view immediately beyond.

'Why, there is the horse!' said the superintendent suddenly, pointing to the right amongst the trees. 'He has left it, and taken to the swamp on foot. He's safe now.'

The two blacks paused and raised themselves up as he spoke; and, following the direction in which Stevenson pointed, one of them walked forward a few paces to look. He stood a single instant, and was in the act of turning to rejoin his companion, when a puff of smoke rose beyond the bushes, we heard a report, and saw him fall to the earth. He was shot right through the heart.

The other trooper, knowing that Peel's gun was a single barrel, and that he had now no charge left, ran round the bushes to fire; and Stevenson and I rode in the same direction. Beyond these bushes was a small open space, margined on one side by a pool of water. Half in this water and half out lay an immense prostrate tree; and sitting on the ground, leaning his back against this, was Bobby Peel. He knew that his last hour was come, for he had evidently made up his mind to die. He had delayed too long leaving his horse, for the animal had at length succeeded in throwing him; and in the fall he came on one of the roots of this large tree, and his leg was broken. He had dragged himself round to the edge of the pool, probably for the purpose of obtaining a drink of water, to assuage the thirst which is always the greatest torture in such calamities.

The dead tree against which he was leaning was that kind of Eucalyptus the bark of which is cellular, and very thick. This bark had peeled off the trunk, and lay in great hard dry flakes by its side; and the black had employed himself in breaking up this heavy, brittle material into pieces about the size of a cheese-plate. Several heaps thus prepared lay ready to his hand on both sides of him. He was busy in reloading his gun; and for a few moments, from my horse's back, I had an opportunity of noticing these particulars, for, owing to the dense brush which surrounded the place in which he was, it was some little time before the troopers could fairly approach him.

'Take him alive, Mr. Walters,' I urged. 'Don't let your fellow shoot him. Tell him to surrender, and lay down his gun, Stevenson.'

But Walters was naturally much incensed at the loss of his man, and felt very little inclination to do anything of the kind; and to the superintendent's summons the black replied by a volley of curses and imprecations against all white men,—in the midst of which the trooper fired, and the ball passed through Peel's chest.

The gun, which was nearly reloaded, fell from his hands, and Walters dismounted and walked forward to take possession of it. But the moment he appeared within the little open space the black, seizing a handful of the pieces of heavy bark, hurled them edgeways at his head and face with a rapidity and certainty of aim perfectly wonderful. The first piece he flung struck Walters across the forehead; and piece followed piece in such quick succession that the lieutenant was compelled to turn his back while he drew and cocked his pistol. For some time he found it impossible to aim, so unerringly did the missiles come rapping at him; but when at length he fired the black fell dead.

Years have passed, but all the incidents of that exciting and tragic chase are still fresh in my memory. The fierce strength of that last terrible effort almost appalled us, and we were loud in our regrets that so much skill and endurance should come to such an end. Times have changed since then, but it remains a reproach to our civilisation that the aboriginal races are fast vanishing before it. At the same time, there is cause for thankfulness that the efforts of Christian benevolence have not been in vain on behalf of the natives. There are still occasional outrages, but reckless treatment of the blacks is now held in check by a healthier public opinion.