After he left the store with Billing Mr. Rainsfield gave particular instructions that the flocks should be well watched; and he anxiously waited for the approach of night. When the family retired to rest he found some excuse to detain him in the sitting-room; and, wondering at the protracted stay of his brother, he paced the room with a disordered step and agitated mind. He desired to see Tom back, to hear his report, and see him retire to his bed; but he waited in vain; while the idea never occurred to him of the probability of his going over to the Fergusons. He, however, as the night grew on, extinguished the light in the room; and, the night being pitch dark, sat with the French light open, with his eyes and ears strained to their fullest distention to catch the appearance of any moving object, or any sound in the direction of the store.

He had remained thus until past midnight when he thought he detected the sound of voices uttered in a low cadence; and he strained his auricular organs so as to endeavour to catch some convincing proof of the proximity of his victims. Again the same sound struck him. It must be the voices of the blacks, thought he. "It is, by heaven! they are here," he mentally exclaimed, as their subdued conversation (which could plainly be distinguished in the still night air) was again heard. He was not long either before he had ocular demonstration of their approach; for round the corner of the store, he could discern, through the obscurity, the dusky form of a black stealthily and cautiously creeping.

The vision, however, was only transitory, for in a moment Rainsfield lost sight of the figure, and believing that the fellow's mission might have been to steal up to the house, and reconnoitre while his confederates were effecting an entrance to the store, he all but closed the window; though he still kept his eyes and ears on the alert through the aperture. Again his ears caught a sound: "ah! the fellow's trying the door," he muttered; "perhaps you would like the key, my friends? However, I suppose you won't allow yourselves to be disappointed by a trifle of a lock; burst it open," he continued, "no one will hear you. Ah! there you are again! back to your companions, practised burglar! I suppose your confederates keep in the background, while you try the premises. You are quite safe; I'll guarantee you shan't be disturbed this time. Get in any way you like, but don't burn the place."

Such were the mental ejaculations of the proprietor of Strawberry Hill, as he continued at the window of his sitting-room, holding open a leaf in each hand, and gazing with breathless attention at the quarter where the late apparition momentarily disappeared; and with intense anxiety did he continue to pierce the darkness, in the hope of witnessing a reappearance of the nocturnal visitant. Nor had he to wait long to be gratified; for presently a similar object showed itself at the point which was the focus of Rainsfield's gaze; and almost immediately after another, and another; and then the obscurely luminous passage was perfectly darkened with human forms.

This incident was not lost on Rainsfield; he saw at once that the blacks were determined to effect their purpose; and he secretly indulged in a fiendish gratulation at the pertinacity with which they were throwing themselves into his trap. "Ah!" said he, continuing his meditations, "you are in force are you? why, you must have your whole tribe with you. Well now, how are you going to manage your business? hark! surely that must be the door unlocked; yes! there the hinges creak! Well, you beauties, you have done that cleverly." So he continued to cogitate, and watch the progress of his scheme's effect, till the dark forms of the sable thieves could be discerned evidently treading on each other's heels, while they bore off their purloined prize. Desirous as he was to satisfy himself whether or not they had decamped with the poisoned meat and flour, he dared not venture out for fear that some of their number lurked about the station to cover the retreat of their friends; and not until he heard from the distance the call of the blacks vibrating in the bush did he consider himself safe to examine his own premises.

He crept from his ambush with as much stealth as the thieves had approached his own property; his heart beating almost audibly, and his eyes glancing furtively around him, attempting to pierce the darkness; while he started at the sighing of the faintest breath; shrinking at the sound of his own footsteps, and conjuring the wildest phantasies in the midnight air. Conscience was at its work, and he felt already the hot blast of guilt searing his very soul.

He approached the store; the door was open; he entered; the darkness seemed doubly dark, and nothing could be distinguished in the internal gloom. He mechanically went to the spot where he had left the bag of flour; groped with his hands about the wall and on the floor, and found it gone. He walked across the room, with his arms extended in such a manner as to come in contact with the suspended carcass if it had been there; but he found it gone also; and when he had satisfied himself upon that point, his arms dropt to his side, while he stood musing in the middle of the building.

"So they have robbed me again, have they?" he muttered; "well, they will have to answer for their own deaths; it is their own voluntary action." Conscience, however, refused to be silenced by such sophistry, and, as the homicide wrapt himself in his self-justification, startled him from his quietude by uttering in the still small voice, "Thou shalt not kill." The effect of the rebuke was but momentary, for the man argues: "I do not kill them, they kill themselves. Surely I may poison meat for the extermination of vermin; and how more securely can I keep it than under lock and key? Then if they steal it and eat it, and meet their death in consequence, surely no blame can be attached to me."

"Thou shalt not kill," still urged the silent monitor; "thou knewest well the poisoned food would be stolen by the ignorant savages, and thou didst poison it for that purpose."

"But if the villains persisted in stealing what was poisoned," urged the guilty man, "they commit the crime of theft; and thereby evoke the punishment in the death which follows. The fact of its being poisoned involves no criminality on the part of the owner, because the property is surreptitiously acquired; thereby relieving him of any participation in their death by the fact of its means being obtained, not only without his sanction, but in violation of his precautions to preserve it. If," continued the mental disputant, "I had given them the meat intentionally to destroy them, then would I have been guilty; but having placed it in what I believed a perfect security, the blacks having voluntarily rushed upon their doom, am I to be blamed? Did not Achan, when he appropriated of the spoils of Jericho, meet with the just reward of his disobedience in his death?"

"Thou shalt not kill," repeated conscience; "and God hateth false lips, 'he that speaketh lies shall perish.' Thou knewest the blacks would steal the meat, notwithstanding your boasted security of it; and, moreover, thou didst desire that they should. Their death will not be upon their own heads, notwithstanding that they meet it through the committal of a sin. Their sin they commit in ignorance, and God only shall judge them of it; thou takest their life knowingly, meanly, and cowardly, and God shall judge you for it. Achan met his death by the command of the omnipotent Judge, for the disobedience of the divine command; while your victims have no conception of their infringement of any law. Dost thou remember the judgments that fell upon David for the murder of Uriah? Your act is far more atrocious than his; for with him, the victim was one, and might have been said to have been through the fortunes of war; while your victims are many, and are murdered in a cold-blooded way, to screen you from the laws of your country, and the opinions of men. Heavy is the curse on him who sheddeth man's blood, and verily the curse of the Lord will smite thee, thou worker of iniquity. If thou desirest not their death hasten now after them, and prevent them from eating of the food."

"They would not believe me if I told them it was poisoned," argued conscience's opponent, "but would simply imagine that I was endeavouring to recover my property."

"Offer them other for it, or tell them to try it first on their dogs," suggested conscience.

"I dare not show myself to them at all," replied the man; "I believe they would kill me if I did; besides, if they choose to poison themselves let them. It is no business of mine to prevent them; they have long been a source of annoyance to me, and no one can blame me for their death. No jury in the world would convict me of murder; then why should I fear? Is not self-preservation the first law of nature? and is not a man perfectly justified in adopting any measure to preserve his life and his property. If I am to be taxed with the death of these wretches, whose riddance from the earth will be an inestimable blessing to the district and civilisation, no one would be justified in killing an attempted assassin or a burglar; and a landowner, who sets spring-guns for the protection of his preserves, becomes a murderer if his instruments of destruction take effect. In fact the law itself has no right to exercise its jurisdiction in the disposal of life; and the execution of a condemned criminal is nothing more than a forensic murder. But why need I allow my morbid fancies or sympathetic feelings to overcome justice and my own judgment, or frighten me into a belief that I am committing a sin? No! if it be necessary, I will blazon the matter to the world, and let my fellow-men judge me; and I am convinced I will be exonerated from all criminality."

Conscience was stifled for the time; and Rainsfield left the store, taking care to leave the place precisely as it was vacated by the blacks; and as the first gray streaks rose above the horizon, heralding Aurora's approach, he returned to the house as cautiously as he left it; entering by the open window of the sitting-room, and seeking his bed to sleep the troubled sleep of a disquieted mind.

At an early hour of the morning, as Mr. Billing resumed his daily vocations, the robbery on the store was discovered; and the intelligence was speedily communicated by that individual to his master, who affected the utmost surprise at the theft, and the deepest concern at the inevitable fate of the wretched aborigines. "Poor creatures," he exclaimed, "I would not have cared for the loss of the rations; but to think that the poor deluded beings are unconsciously the instruments of their own deaths, through the gratification of their own cupidity, is truly melancholy. I am vexed at myself for leaving the meat in the store, for now I see it was the most likely place where it would be molested. I would give anything to save them; what can be done, Mr. Billing? can they be warned of their danger before it is too late? I would not for worlds that the poor wretches should be poisoned, even though it were through the consumption of stolen food, and, notwithstanding the thorn they have been in my side; I wish Tom were here. Speak, Mr. Billing, what can be done?"

Shall we say that this philanthropic consideration for the poor ignorant blacks was the spontaneous ebullition of a genuine contrition; or a mere verbose eruption of assumed sympathy, studied and expressed with the view of disarming suspicion of the sheep being intentionally poisoned and placed in the store as a trap? Without wishing to be harsh or uncharitable, we must conscientiously express our fears that the latter was the case; and that Rainsfield's apparent sorrow for the fate of his victims was a predetermined link of his scheme.

"I fear nothing can be done, sir," replied Mr. Billing to the query of his master; "they have evidently been possessed of their booty, sir, some hours; and, doubtless, by this time it is consumed. I cannot venture, sir, to suggest any remedy; and would merely recommend that until we are aware, sir, of the extent of the evil, you would not allow, sir, the circumstance to prey too much on your mind."

"Do you not think, my dear sir," said Rainsfield, "some good might be done by sending some one over to warn them of their danger?"

Instant visions of his late journey occurred to the mind of Mr. Billing; and when he hastily replied, "no, sir, I really think it can be of no service," he might have been under the impression that it was the intention of his master to send him as the warning messenger he alluded to. "I assure you, sir," he repeated, "it can be of no use; for as I have already stated, sir, I believe that ere this the whole of the provisions have been consumed."

"But tell me, Billing," enquired the suddenly created philanthropist, "how was the store entered? because I imagined, that having locked it, it was perfectly secure."

"It appeared, sir," replied Mr. Billing, "that the cunning scoundrels, when they discovered the door to be secure, managed, sir, to wrench one of the slabs out of the back; and from the inside, after effecting an entrance by that means, they opened the door, sir, for their greater convenience, and decamped; performing the whole so noiselessly, sir, that even I who was in their vicinity was not disturbed. And, sir, both Mrs. Billing and myself are extremely uneasy in our rest. I can assure you, sir, the slightest noise is likely to arouse either of us. I remember on one occasion, sir (if you will permit me to make an observation on my private experience?), before my evil genius prompted me to break up, sir, my pleasant and comfortable little home in the mother country, to seek my fortunes, sir, in this inhospitable land, I resided, as I believe I have already informed you, sir, in the genteel suburban neighbourhood of Brixton. My means then, sir, enabled me to possess some of the luxuries of life, of which a cheerful and comfortable home, sir, I believe to be not the least. However, upon one occasion, sir, when Mrs. Billing and I had retired to rest; for we were early people, Mr. Rainsfield, very early people and had a strong objection to late hours; believing, sir, that they destroy the constitution, without imparting any satisfaction commensurate to the loss. Well, sir, as I observed, we had retired early to rest one evening; and the reigning stillness of the house, sir, was hardly broken by the musical voice of my wife. I will do her the justice to remark, sir, that she is a sensible woman, a very sensible woman, sir; notwithstanding that she was treating me on that occasion, to a little dissertation on her system of housekeeping; though I would have you distinctly to understand, sir, not in a style of eloquence peculiar to that good lady, Mrs. Caudle. That, Mr. Rainsfield, is not one of my wife's idiosyncrasies; but she prided herself upon her domestic economy, and she was making a voluntary explanation of her expenditure; while I was dozing under the influence of her soporific lullaby. My spirit would have speedily fled to the land of dreams had not my sense of hearing, sir, detected a sound that was inimical to our peace, and I started erect in my bed, sir, with my forefinger raised to Mrs. B. to enjoin silence; while I listened with an ardent attention.

"'What on earth is the matter, James?' exclaimed my wife, sir, 'you quite frightened me; what made you start in such an extraordinary manner.'

"'Don't you hear anything, my love?' replied I; 'can't your quick ear detect sounds that portend to an unpleasant visitation?'

"'No,' she replied, sir, 'what do you mean, James? what sounds?'

"'The sounds of the housebreaker,' I replied, 'attempting to violate the sanctity of our dwelling. Are you so deaf, my love,' I said, 'that you cannot hear the regular grating of a saw at work on some of our doors or shutters?'

"'I can certainly hear some sound,' she replied, 'but it is only the gnawing of a rat, or a mouse in the wainscot of the room; rest your mind easy, James,' she continued, 'no thieves would think it worth their while to molest us.'

"'I am not so sure of that, my dear,' I replied; 'but, even if I were, do you imagine that I would lie dormantly in my bed (while I was convinced some nocturnal villain was attempting to enter my premises), perhaps to see the wife of my bosom murdered in cold blood before my very eyes, and possibly have my own throat cut afterwards to complete the tragedy?'

"My apprehensions were not entertained by my wife, sir, for she urged me to lie down. 'Do not frighten yourself at nothing,' she exclaimed, 'and alarm me so at your dreadful imageries; allow me to convince you it is all fancy; besides if thieves tried to get in, all the places are too well secured for them to gain an entrance.'

"'Ah, my wife!' said I, 'there you show your inexperience; a practised housebreaker would not be deterred by the presence of bars, bolts, or locks; the greater the supposed security, the greater are the chances of his success; besides while my suspicions are aroused, I could not rest until I had satisfied myself that they are groundless, and that is speedily done. So I am determined to see;' with which I got out of bed, and with many cautions from my wife, in the event of my discovering any thieves, not to venture into danger or to allow myself, sir, in my indignation, or courage, to be exposed to either the ruffians or the night air, I hastily threw some clothes over me to guard against the risk of catching cold; for I was always susceptible to cold, sir. I quietly crept down stairs, sir, and the sound that greeted my ears distinctly proclaimed the fact that the thieves, sir, were at their nefarious work. When I reached the passage I perceived, sir, they were not at the front door; so, hastily entering the parlour and convincing myself, sir, that they were not there, I seized a poker for my personal protection, and descended, sir, towards the basement of the house. As I turned for this purpose, sir, the sound which had momentarily ceased, now recommenced, and I could detect it, sir, almost in my very presence. It was at a door leading into our garden and back premises, and in the indistinct light of the spot, I had almost said total darkness, sir, I perceived a saw at work cutting through the panel of the door. It was being industriously plied, sir, by some one on the outside, and at the time of my arrival, sir, had almost completed its work of extracting a piece sufficiently large to allow a man's arm to be thrust through, by which means I imagine, sir, the operator intended to unfasten the door. However, sir, the instrument, which I discovered was of a tender description, I snapped asunder with one blow, sir, of the weapon I held in my hand; and, with as truculent a voice as I could assume, informed my visitors, sir, that unless they instantly decamped, I would fire on them. My interruption to their proceedings, sir, was hailed with a volley of combined expletives; after the utterance of which, sir, I had the satisfaction of distinctly hearing the sounds of their retreating footsteps, and could see from one of my back windows, to which I had removed to prospect, two ill-favoured looking rascals clambering over the garden wall. So, sir, if it had not been for my quickness of hearing on that occasion, I should of a certainty have been robbed, and most probably murdered."

"You certainly made a happy escape, Mr. Billing," said Rainsfield, after listening, or appearing to listen, to this episode in the history of his storekeeper; "but I regret your hearing did not render you much service on this occasion, and surely the blacks, to have taken out one of the slabs in the store, must have made some considerable noise."

"No, Mr. Rainsfield," replied the bland employÉ, "I assure you, sir, there could have been no noise; otherwise, sir, with my keen hearing, I would of a certainty have been disturbed; but their movements, sir, are like cats, and I defy any one, I say, sir, any one, to hear them, even were an individual awake, and as close to them as I was when sleeping."

Rainsfield smiled, possibly at the conceit of the little man, but at the same time, probably, at his knowledge to the contrary; however, it was not his object, either to quarrel with Billing, or to enlighten him, so he remarked:

"I think you had better go over to the Fergusons, Mr. Billing, and see if Tom is there; I imagine he is; and explain the circumstances to him, and tell him I would like him to see what effect the unhappy event has had at the camp. I think it is better that you should go in preference to any of the men, as the circumstances are better known to you. You can either ride over, or if you prefer it, which possibly you may, you can take the ration cart; and I have only to entreat you to use as much speed as possible. I am desirous of disabusing the minds of the blacks (if any, indeed, survive) of any intentional harm to them being meditated by me; and I am aware no one could better undertake such a mission than my brother."

Mr. Billing readily agreed to visit Fern Vale, the more so, perhaps, as he imagined by offering any objection he might be required to perform a less agreeable journey. So as he was not to undergo another edition of the punishment of the Alma trip, he readily agreed, and was, therefore, speedily on his way to Fern Vale, to look for Tom Rainsfield.

After Billing's departure, Mr. Rainsfield again visited the store, to witness in daylight the success of his trap; and he contemplated the gap in the wall, and the absence of the flour and meat with a degree of complacency and satisfaction that would almost have impressed a beholder with a belief that he was inwardly comforting himself with the meditation of a recently performed charitable action.

"Well, I begin to think," said he to himself, "that my plans have been executed pretty cleverly. Everybody will believe that the blackguards have been poisoned by mistake; and their own mistake too. So that no blame can be attached to me; and I shall have the immense advantage of having effectually stopped their depredations. I wonder what my friend John Ferguson will do for his protegÉs? will he pine for them? Perhaps he may recriminate me for my treatment of him, and try to accuse me of their murder; but he can't, and he dare not. The law will protect me; and if he dares to breathe one word against my name he shall rue the day he uttered it. I hate that young viper as intensely as formerly I liked him. He has thwarted me in more ways than one; he dares to oppose Smithers in his suit with Eleanor, and to show his contempt for me by carrying on his intrigue under my very eyes, and in my own house too. But he shall not have her; so long as there is breath in my body I will not permit it, in fact I cannot; she must be Smithers', and, by heaven! she shall. He has dared to show fight after I cautioned him; the villain! and then to inflame those infernal blacks against me; the vile dog! he shall smart for it. His lively blacks have already got their deserts; and, I have no doubt, by this time are rotting on their own ground."

"Thou shalt not kill," suggested conscience.

"Oh, bah!" exclaimed the culprit, "what a fool I am, to be continually chiding myself for the fate of these wretches. They die by their own act, so let their death be answered for by themselves;" saying, or rather thinking which, the conscience-stricken man turned on his heel and left the store.

In the meantime let us retrospect for a few hours, and trace the movements and proceedings at the camp. When Jemmy Davis left Tom Rainsfield at the crossing-place, he returned to the camp, where the discussion, interrupted by Tom's arrival, was renewed with increased force. The excitement of the disputants ran so high that any one unacquainted with the verbose inanition of such argumentary proceedings, and the natural antipathy of the blacks to bellicosity, would have imagined that the termination of the meeting would have been of a tragical character. However, it ended, as all such meetings usually do with them, viz., in words; and, towards midnight, the animated disputants sank under the fatigue of their disquisition, and in a short time all was hushed.

As the embers of the fires gave a fitful glare on the now silenced camp a head might have been seen protruding from the aperture of one of the gunyahs; and, after surveying the scene for some time, and putting its ear to the ground to catch, if possible, any sound that would denote watchfulness on the part of the tribe, it, or rather the body to which it belonged, crept from the habitation in that posture designated in nursery parlance "all fours." With spear in hand it passed round to the back; where the individual assumed a more upright position, though he still crept under the shade of the gunyahs. Then lightly striking in succession the bark structures with his spear as he went along he was joined by about twenty men; whose appearance was so sudden that they almost appeared to have been called into instantaneous existence by the potent wand of the conjurer.

This was Dugingi and a select band of confederates, his supporters in the late discussion; and they moved away from the camp, to carry out their predetermined plot of robbing the store of the Strawberry Hill station. The opposition to the scheme had been strenuous; and the disapproving blacks, headed by Jemmy Davies, being the most numerous and loud in their condemnation of the project, had retired, fully convinced that the idea had been abandoned by Dugingi and his party. But they had been deceived, for Dugingi was only quieted, not dissuaded; and the present secret expedition was the result of the defeat on his motion for a general movement. He was determined, in his own mind, to rob the premises of Mr. Rainsfield; and, if he could not obtain the concurrence of his tribe, he was resolved to perform it simply with the assistance of some of his own party.

We have already seen how he affected an entrance to the store; so we need not trouble our readers by tracing his movements while perpetrating the theft. Suffice it to say, that at an early hour in the morning, the party returned to the camp with all the rations they could lay their hands upon in the store; and which, we have already noticed, consisted of the carcass of a sheep and a bag of flour.

Their first proceeding, then, was to heap up their fires; on which they threw their meat to roast, and then set the gins to work with the flour to make "damper." These preparations soon aroused the entire camp, who were in a moment alive and stirring. At the first glance Jemmy Davies detected the state of affairs; and saw that he had been outwitted by Dugingi; who, while he (Jemmy) and his party slept, had committed the theft, and were now preparing to feast on the spoil. He was grieved at the sight; because he had given his word to Tom Rainsfield that he would prevent any outrage if possible, and he had a sincere desire to pacify his countrymen in their animosity towards Mr. Rainsfield. He therefore cautioned his partizans against tasting the food; and, in the language of his tribe, addressed them in the following words:

"My brothers—our brother Dugingi has behaved bad to us; and bad to the white fellow. Bad to us, because he went away to the white fellows' 'humpey,' when we wanted him not to go, and when, if we had known him going, we would have prevented him; and bad to the white fellows because he steals his 'rations.' The white fellow is very strong, and very brave; and has plenty of horses and guns; and he will take revenge on the black fellow. Dugingi steals the white fellow's rations, and the white fellow thinks all the Nungar tribe steals it, and he will hate all the Nungar tribe. I have been to the great country where the white fellows 'sit down.' Our fathers thought once that when the black fellow dies he afterwards 'jump up white fellow;' but white fellows come a 'long way more farther' than big waters, and have gunyahs higher than the tall bunya tree; and with very many humpies in them. Some of them would hold all the Nungar tribe. Now, my brothers, do you think we can fight against the white fellows? The white fellows will fight us, if we steal their rations; and we cannot fight them, for they must kill us if we do. Now, the white fellow will fight us, for Dugingi has stolen his rations; he has brought upon us this trouble; for he did it when we wished him not to; and the white fellow will think all the Nungar black fellows did it.

"Now this is what I say. I have been telling the white fellow Tom Rainsfield, that we would not steal from his brother; and I've been telling him that we want to live, and we want to be friends with him and his brother, as we are friends with the white fellow Ferguson and his brother. And the white fellow Tom Rainsfield says he is friends with us. Now what do you think he will say when he finds the black fellow has been stealing his rations? He will say all black fellows are rogues, and all black fellows liars; and he will no longer be our friend. But, my brothers, you take not the food from Dugingi that he has stolen from the white fellow. Touch it not; but let him and his friends eat it if they will, and let them give it to their gins if they will; and may it choke them, and may they die. But I will go to the white fellows, and will tell them myself, that Dugingi and his friends did steal the rations, and not the Nungar tribe; so we, my brothers, will be friends with the white fellows."

At the conclusion of this address Jemmy Davies left the thieves in possession of their prize, and was followed by the majority of his supporters; notwithstanding that the savoury smell of the roasting meat was particularly grateful to their olfactory nerves, and they were sadly tempted to remain and partake.

Dugingi little heeded the harangue of his opponent, which was greeted with a shout of derision from the whole of the foraging party; who continued with their culinary operations in the highest possible state of hilarious loquacity; rending the air with their shouts, and making the bush reverberate with their laughter.

The sheep was speedily so far cooked as to serve their purposes, and tearing it to pieces amongst them they were soon busily engaged in the process of mastication. The "damper" was devoured with equal avidity; and when they had all eaten to satiety, as the sun rose resplendent to walk his diurnal course, they stretched themselves to sleep with the complacency of satisfied gormands.

No such comfort, however, was allowed them. First one, and then another, became restless; a gnawing pain devoured their stomachs; an insatiable thirst consumed them; and then the first painful wail was heard that proclaimed the poison at its work. The wail increased; the agonies of the victims became insufferable; and, in their anguish and suffering, many rushed to the river to drink their last draught; while others threw themselves into the fires or on the ground, gnashing their teeth and biting the earth in the intensity of their torments. All now bemoaned their fate, and cursed their participation in what they plainly saw was their funeral feast.

Jemmy Davies calmly, though sorrowfully, gazed upon the scene. He imagined the cause of his countrymen's sufferings, for he had, in the days of his civilisation, seen his master poison meat for the native dogs, and he had seen them die from the effects of the poison. He therefore understood its mysterious workings, and at once detected its operations in the suffering beings before him. Not so his countrymen; they imagined their fate was produced by his curse; believing that he possessed the secret power of working their death by some spells or occult influence he had acquired from the whites; and they therefore crouched before him and implored his relief. But he, poor semi-savage, could do nothing for them, and he knew they must die. The melancholy scene before him overcame his fortitude, and he burst into tears as he exclaimed:

"I can't help you, my brothers; I do not kill you, it is the white fellow that kills you for stealing his rations. He has made his meat to kill you because you eat it; if you had not eaten it you would have lived."