AN AUSTRALIAN IDYLL.

Mataura Ensign, 19 July 1906, Page 2

AN AUSTRALIAN IDYLL.

(I'y ''. T. C.j In the early duys of shepherdm- o, •New .-mull Wales ihero iisihl to b- a well-known Scotch ehuructcr nam-. I Sundy Callelly on the Cttstlercigb I ho tiarrunibiingles suggested his u.it ive liriimpaiiis, and li.lp.il t,, |,,on cile him lo (he . ( iii> I <ii pastoral bf« along their have. lb- in,, u n politician, uml, when ho got the chniioo, us keen a theologian. ll> h.id been brought up a. hand-loom \\oio-t, and the weaver toni|>erumeiii mid fondness for an argument never hit him. lie brought into the sl.r.i'.ii ■ amp Ihe air of tho village green mil, Us mighty guthorinp of wyihieuroiind tho "knocking-stono," ,\|, ; ;, was as Niici-cd un tho "»tono of do-, ft..ii,." inself. It is Haiti thai ICI tiny" it-oil. It is suid thut Id oi tin- old wives of Scone mood i. iimi abotil it with their Ijoetling pin m lh.il- huiuls, otherwise it would I ,r..bein in Westminster Abbey 100 '. It Sandy ipiotcd an opinion during lb-ir discussions it would be of weaver- who were better known in the old -,,,r1d under the name of their political hoi '"'•. as "Lord liroiighuili." and "lord I'alinerston." and oven |:,,n aparto," than by their own i nines When Sandy rose t () his best, every mother's son of them paid him tho compliment of telling him next iluy what fine dreams they" hud had of homo and friends they might never k.magain, and to .Sundy that was like sharing the "boardios" und brown trout eauuht in the burn, or shouting with lln-iii as liny ran through Lord Manslield's w Is at tho shooting lime.

Hut what made Sandy Cnllctly fainoiis among the shepherd folks was an ancient bine swallow-tuiled coat with large pearl-shell buttons. It was like (lie garments of the Israelite* in tho wilderness-subject, to u continuous miracle of preservation. There was no other like it in Aiislrabu.

One day Sandy sol out from camp to ut some timber Tor shingles. The pr.ivnis swallow-tail iwus thrown over a log while he was at woek, ,So üb.■l'll.ed was she that for a time he was

." -aware i.( \\\>\ presence of a stranger. V. hat noises In- heard wi'ir only cumri'i.n In (111- liusli. Its ifrout ' silence touched tin' iniaL'iimliiui and cngriulci'i'il u brooding- thouehtfiilucss .if (lisposiiion. Tin' camp lire at night gave dclinitcncss to these ihoug-lits us the argument iiiinril iipnii the experience of daily lifi'. Tin- uncanny, the weird ami tlir fantastic have their peculiar lu.iiic in tlic depths of these great Stretches of limber Pntllllt'V. Il.'spile tin. recognised belief of the blacks in (In "llcliildehil." Sandy wan gciierally nreuniontutive in Ids scepticism. II" would like (~ thinl; i| ml | w | lu ,l (jot beyond the oonlhics of his satanic majesty's dominions, and that nounhow | he shadow ot the Murrumbunghs li. 1.1 a little hit ~f that primeval garden in which he had never shown Ids face. The only thine; that cast a doiilit in his heart was the appearance of the scarred and battered old "King Terrible" of (he local blacks, who now lies buried at Midden. With one or two conventional touches (lie same

"King.. Terrible" would have ligured as a masterpiece in any picture of the kinir of the nether world. White men who knew him, (o this day, do not care to go too near his grave, any more ihan the blacks.

The day wore on, and as Sandy wii* swinging his axe he fancied that lie heard a "(1111(1 ! thud !'' ((uite near, but thought little of it for a while un- I fii it dawned upon him that its per- <mJ sistci bordered upon fainiliaritv. Hn was a little short-sighted. Wl'i.ii he did look up yreat was his astonishmen I to see someone a short distance oil dress.d in a coat and buttons like his own. As he fried to muke out the personality of his visitor he was dumb, founded to sec n pair of long ears 'i»itched forward and ut the sutue time a movement anions; the grass thut Mig--eested soniethine- more caudal than tin in. re cut of the coat. The effect wus fcaixmic and instantaneous ! S/andv littered a yell and lied \ It was a terrified face that burst in u| on the camp that afternoon. Such a break-up in the sedate and inatter-oi'-fu'-t old Scot was hard to explain. Sonic elialVid him of having a touch of ihe blue devils, but Suntlv had never lasted whisky since his last HandselMonday in Scotland. Another hit much harder by asserting i( wus a special relink.! io him for' the light way he spoke of sutanie iippeui'ttliccs ! While McClinchie said. '•.Sure. Sandv, you are cleverer than I'ather OTla'nni.an ! You can raise the devil without the h. 1,, ~f bell, book un.l candle !" Sandy was ever after wonderfully silent when stories were being I told of (In- "Debildebil" in the AusIndian bush. Next day the si p wue shifted nearer the head station, and Sandy bribed u fellow-shephenl to bring home hi* n\i- and coal. While Davy, the wag of the station was looking for them, with a quick" eve oil his surroundings, the "hon, hop" of a kangaroo was heard, ami turning he trot a glimpse ~t the pet "old man" of Hidden, with the vertiable bin,, cut J and pearl buttons neatly udjust.il ™ across his shoulders !

'l'lius .Sandy tmildly, hid awav in the Australian Titish, rose to the ranli* of that special class who "I'nys, spunkics, Uelpifx, a' tlicy can explain thein, And e'en the vera deiU ilicv brawly k.-n them." ' •*