Tom Gerrard

eek about thirty miles from the head station. They had started out at daylight to muster some of the outlying cattle camps, and now after

exertions. The camp had been made in a grove of mimosa trees, within a hundred yards of the clear waters of the creek, which rippled musically over its rocky bed as it sped swiftly to the sea. It wanted an hour to suns

uttering their harsh, rude notes; then came a whir and whistle of wings and a quick passing shadow over

elf on one elbow, and watched them disappear; th

hands clasped under his head, he gazed upwards to the sky. "There's t

ia. And move yourself, you useless animal, and get one of your turkeys and pluck it while Toby is getting a duck or two. Wonderfully intelligent nigger is Toby. I've neve

g one by the legs, he took aim at the broad back of his friend, and the fat, heavy bird struck him fairly in the middle

y, "d'ye know how to make

nny," replied Gerrard, as he sat do

ou'll go and see your father?' I asked. 'Well, I don't think so, you know, Mr Westonley,' drawled the elder cub, 'it's a beastly long way, and takes such a devil of a time to get there-fourteen hundred miles by steamer is no joke, and we have to be back in England in five months. So the governor is coming down here to have a palaver with us.' It hurt me, Tom, to hear these two youngsters talking like that, for Arlin

d my father say that old Arlington, who was one of the best of the old time squatters, made a mistake

owns when he dies, and be a credit to the colony. I wouldn't have 'em on Marumbah as jackeroos, at a pound a week. But yet there is good stuff

ots rang out in

y; "how do you cook black duck, freshly

ll '

hole c

es

in Queensland. Why, the only part-but there, I'l

es

sn't it?" and the big man waved his

his companion was to Marumbah. "In fact it is all good country on Marumbah. I wish my run was half as good. Still I've

tly as well." Plucking the thick coating of feathers off the underneath half of a bird from the lower part of the neck down, he made a deep, sweeping curve with his sheath knife, removed the entire breast denuded of plumage, and then threw the

a cook in a well-regulated household." Then cutting off a large piece of the

the grass. Spreading their blankets under the mimosas, they lit their pipes, and with their saddles for pillows, began to discuss various matters-the pas

and troubles with the wild blacks on Cape York Penins

should come across that youngster Jimmy, just throug

masters, and only mentioned the Cassowary in the most casual manner to me as we were passing the place where she went ashore. 'I was in

could not find any trace of you except your name in the shipping office where you had been on the Cassowary as an A.B. And

reds of people wanted to take him, but I was too fond of the kid to give him up to anyone. I suppose it was wrong of me, seeing as I have a

eaving Sydney on the following morning for Wellington, New Zealand. The skipper of the vessel consented to take Jimmy away with him, and then bring him to Newcastle on the return voyage-the collier belonged to, and always loaded at Newcastle-and hand him over to

well, as also your mother and poor Rayner. We had quite a long talk, and in the end I succeeded in wrest

uite decently dressed, and got into my heart right away... And I thought that Lizzi

r two children who had been rendered orphans by the same dreadful calamity to be separated. The poor creature's face was streaming with tears when she at last consented. 'It's no for the sake o' the money I pair

old

, old man-I gave 'em a cheque fo

r Lizzie! She thinks you ga

now that I am as well in as I am, so I told her a fifth of the truth. I said

ing b

decently on seven pounds a month-seaman's wages.-I got him a berth as wharfinger to a steamship company at twelve pounds, and he was made

. He could not help it. Then he

want little Mary most, but know you won't part with her, and even if you would, a cattle sta

Then he said slowly, "I'll tell y