IN NO MAN'S LAND.

New Zealand Mail, 18 January 1900, Page 11

IN NO MAN'S LAND.

AN AUSTRALIAN STORY.

by A, B. PATERSON, ."BANJO." Author of "The Man From Snowy RivSn" , ' - • . Z. 4.. - :

CHAPTER ■'III. .*■ *

EN VXJYAGE.

Behold now ou.r two heroes fairly embarked on their journey to No Man's Land. Day after day their ship ploughed along through the smoothes!; of blue water up a sort of nea lane, with the white line of breakers of the Great Barrier Reef for one fence, and the Australian Continent for the other. Between the two, where the Eteamer held her course, was a long stretch of sea-, calm as any harbour, with no swell nor rolling waves, but just little tiny ripples made by the wind. It was like a scene in a picture book. Round the ship shoals of porpoises sported and played, while Hying fish in. dozens fluttered above tho surface for a few seconds and then disappeared, and now and.again the black fin of a shark cut knife wise through the oinooth water.

Over all was tho cloudless blue Australian sky and the vivid sunlight. The ship and her surroundings brought to mind the Island hymn; every prospect pleased, and cniy man was vile. Not tliat the passengers wore a particularly bad lot by any means, but the steamer charged sixpence for every drink of spirits served by the stewards, while a. bottle of whisky! containing about twelve large drinks/ co-uld ba bought for about three and sixpence. Consequently everyone had a bottle -of whisky in his cabin, and in place of afternoon teas, a regular round of visits from cabin to cabin had to be paid every day with a, drink of whisky at each cabin. The Englishman did not take kindly to this sort of thing at all, and therefore was not in much favour with the passengers.

The lady passengers were few and not much to look at, A few fat old dowagers ' the wives of the squatters on board; an actress, all scent and face powder, goir.r north to join a travelling company; and a hard-faced damsel, on her way ut> to a station to be married. These constituted the principal items. •.The first night at dinner Carew found himself next the actress—a much-coveted post, that he did not nesm to value- vary highly; and next morning a. young squattei asked him if he would minci ci'o^gin rr Places, enabling with great frankness, Id like to get your seat, -That's an all ngnt bit of muslm next jura, ain’t oh©? Toe girl next me’s pretty enough, but nhe-’o too stand-off for me, and I’ve got no time to waste on her, I’d like to hook on to that actress. She’s given me a wink or B » 5,011 do:i t want that seat parThe Englishman, with the instincts of a true- sportsman, consented to the alteration, and next night found himself sitting beside a. brown-faced girl of about twentytwo, w.io was obviously a lady, and a, ft] 15 ;.'* self-possessed, well bred young lady at -that, isne was tall and slight, with a well rounded, supple figure, and a dear olive complexion, Her eyes were brown/, and very trank, and honesty.,When talk* mg to him she always looked him full in me race, with a .serious sort of gaze that prevented- him from talking the usual/ inanities of board ship- conversation, and made it clear to him why the squatter hadn°t appreciated her society, . Tne caief officer, who was better as a navigator than as a lady's man, introduced them in a hurried manner, blushing furithe while, Neither caught the others name, but before long they were chatting away quite merrily, Care-vz had little conversation except the topics of the. Warsitisa arid the English To km surprise this girl met liV/A T / 87 '' aud ' tniksd of Hurlingham, I Ox&ird veek, Henly-all the old pass woida that he thought he had left far ben /IM - , Rl3 aan l e wb3t slow brain was /I 0 / 1 Q fal puzzled. What could she be lv B-av/ir 113 co , rapaily? She was apparent ™eluug alone, as ehs made no reicience to any friends, and indeed seemed fcff 1 , to . talk aboufc herealf. With wh L fon ' l6ara , fc a!1 affairs ' //'l telling him :u.st as much or as little SlH'f t>2sru*s? ■ss tsars? lions ia ques1S l/f/FU'-t A// 1 til3 ca -ptain that her fill? A 1153 , E j lea Harriott, and that f r I v " 3 ] Y st ouc fr,o!:a England, and was I// U? to »• squatters family as gover/Mi that he did not know. "Ali m/i,A ng « a h t°°‘ “id Gordon. ferelfY 1 a ; real Iad .V> isn't, she ? Difadderl Y or / that: Pitted hussy there." he seen kis cigar at the dimly aw-av A f/I the ac.ress, who was hidden Ws /L® fltasow of oa '3 of the ship’s ffi£S?sg&» O'rt-iion with an interest in the girl as bean S hf S’, a ? d - of own people, and of the/ir/n 6^ 0 '/ 011 ! ltl , fcbe ociaking set frr./YF’ wlu! / Bhs kept herself aloof deal//; women, they were thrown a good 10A T, °T an °tEer’s company, to io fnriL -f aidc&d her if she would like of In-pwf, d H ea , fcll9 crew—the fco’sle Comnanv’f AT AT- Au ,A raliarL Steamship a smanAAnf / m o. Tower of Babel on i 3* bsfore- long they wero fiomo Bundies lucerne liay to £ itlTrr t,lat Yore, bound for the the° Cardafn in , TTo / B ', Eon 8'- Gordon and the chart'mn™ ¥ d< ?7 a on tllo m frOIU a «d told uAT/oFt 1 ? 1 ’ 6 F ey sm - oka d all day the histor? s i ori ° 3 ’ and discussed on board, 5 * Caieo1 * aud morals'of everyone Inin ' your , nevr chum/’ said the Canroom whidmvs d nt W « throUgll tlie uclous at the square-shouldered

fcmre below:'. "Making great running with that governess, eh? \vhat is he like? Got K? beems a quiet young fellow. T l in& big lump ot a enap too." ) he W“4.ow beside the plativelyl d looked dowa 011 them content--1 ' H’ s good sort," he said. "I -°? fe X0 r i ' r aether he J s go£ any money or' not. He-came out to my uncle, and I happened to meet him, and I never asked him who sent hint out, or how much money your uno^;> a t>w3V" said the —Just as likely he doesn’t. He might meet a ma.n at dinner, and the man might say, Gordon, you've got some stations I ve got a young fellow that’s no use at Home—nor anywhere else for that matter —can t you oblige me, and take him and keep, him out of mischief for a while P" Auu u the oid man had had about a bottle of champagne he’d say ' Yes, I’ll take him for a premium ; and if he’d had two bottles „e d say. Send along your new chum i 1L maxe a man of him or break his neck ; and perhaps in -the next steamer ou “ the ledow would come, fresh as paint and no one would know much about him.’ I ehouldn t wonder_if the old man don’t taw a T' VT enum's name. . I’ m tolu this 13 a, red-not all round athlete," he contmneu, "nut he don’t look like it. 1/f a /’/. / certain whether h&'s tho man I taink he is. We got into a bit of a. row- together at a dancing hall in Sydr.°v and ho got that swipe in. the eye. You n Um ed msn.ya was black, didn’t you?" -,, T ‘V e „ Ca P t . air ’% P-° dtled ' "Didn't ha hie tue- fellow oack r ke said, Z Dh, he_was plucky enough, you under- ? Laad ,’ F’, far , a l ti ; a /-,S' oE ' s ; but.-as soon as L f sol hit,-a lot of pushed him cut rQ f n ‘ ' Y$ u - know Die way these mrrjting. do,. and- J. went out after him to see fair, play, and they shut the door on the two of u3—never gave ua a chance to get bade. ' "TTiat was a pity," said the Captain, lou d uke to, have .got a swipe at some qt era, I expect. Would this chap have rought, tto you think?" r r l‘ o A‘. haV ? fou sht all right. He —m t_like comm away at.all—he’ll be a caxs-m for some of these chads on the snip n tney play any tricks on him. ,-;\3y generally ao humbug .a hew chum a ll —e. Any fellow that interferes with him Cc,n v atch out for trouble, believe mo ’’ E expect so," said, the Captain, "but _ .non t want any nonsense on board, you know. Come down and see the refrigerator work • and off they went smoking tneir eternal cigars, leaving the Englishman and- the girl, still feeding the cows AY? luc,e P e wa6r ® Diey attracted the atj ‘ x .*on soine the ptter . passengers, Wlio ware making their usual pilgrimages from cabin to caoin. in quest of strong drmx. As already, explained, Carew was not popular with the passengers, who mietoox hie ahynesa for "etandoSishness," and tion P ° mil9d maa “ er for b-ideous affecta-,-S® L ad brought or. board enough gear to- start-a.colony. Gun cases, Ahiug-rods-portable baths % air pillows, helmet hats’ II ding boots, knaicee suits, indiarufcbar .boo 1.3, every kind of invention for rankin'rbftL W? a ia i a fo«ign' laud was im li/Ar m ' k/ Ixa was obviously a m.'. nluiih ct the new chums, and his nice, i/ 13 ?w anc A n kiS rig -.out, dnJYH l “ qsfersntiH and polite manner in--w/® 9 f . fhe•- smarties on . beard to D/ to lairs, a ns© out.of biin/’ . . to ■which, he listened \wi|hd/‘Y"AImlM<r/ with everything- that everybody” 1 w.Zf oeverak times he seemed about to start some seery on nis own. account, and/asdie floor m always accorded to a stranger /// °. cca3ma3 -. several men paused in tneir fabrications to let him tell his story. Gordon sucked away at hia awful black pipe, and wondered what the Englishman was going to-tais about. When at last he did join in tne conversation, he said- "Dio any ot you ever come across a. man named er—Constants—Patrick Henry Considine ?" Liie men iooxed at each other, thinking it was a ca.ch cf some gort. None of them carau to ramemcer ever having met auv one named Considine. At last a young felinl'Mthe bredch 3tsp " ed F this Considine, anyhow ? vVnat ao you want him for?" rhe Englishman lit his pipe, and sucked ut n vigorously, and then, began to talk, staring m front of him like a maa-aboul- - repeat a. lesson.

" Tt ./ rather a long story," he said, "bet n, noils down to this ,■ I’m looking for this Patrick Henry Considine, but I don’t know what he’s like. I don’t k-iow whether there is such a chappie, m fact, but if there is, I’ve- got to find him. A great unc-la.of mine died out here, .1.11 vrfu] long while agio, and we believe that lie leic a. son.; and if there is such a. son it turns out now that he would be entitled to an awful heap of money. The monpv has beenHeapin' up for years in Chancery and au tnat sort of thing, you know,’-’ lie added vaguely, "My people thought I meeu imn. out rLer#, cior/f: you k'lcw —and he could go- Hone and get al/the cash, you see. They’ve been advertisin’ for him.

And. what good will it do you?"- said the opal miner, with practical directness supposing you do find him.,. Where do you. come in?" "Oh, it doesn’t do me much good, don’t you knew, unless of course there is auch a .Jon tiny, and lie dies without making a, will—then the money would ell .conie to my people. But if there 1.3 no such Johnny, it all goes to another lot of the family.” The opal miner thought the matter over for a. while. "What you want,” he said, "is to find this man, and find him dead. If you come across* him away out in the back country, they will soon, arrange his death for you if you make it worth t’noir while. Nasty gun accident, or something like that, you know. Soon arrange a will and all, I believe." ••

The Englishman laughed. "Well,” he said, "there’s another thing,” and here he sank his voice to a troubled whisper. "You know, I believe this Patrick Henry Considine, if there is such a. man, is a black man, or at any rate, a half-caste.” "Why?” "Well, our old uncle was a rummy old

cnap, you_ know; he was a bit cracked, I think ana Be wrote home years ago, and so.iti he had maried a* native. Do people ever many the black women here?" ■ I never heard of anyone doing it/' said the opal miner. "No law againet it, I suppose. But you know they cail all Australian - born people ‘natives.’ Most likely your uncle married a colonial girl, and wrqte_ home that he had married an Australian native." v ' v "Do yod think that was.it, eh? I hope so. Be awtully unpleasant, you know, taking a hait-casts chtlT?pi!> home.as your cousin. -Make, people 'think all sorts of things, aor. t you know." "Be awfully dreadful, wouldn’t it?" said tne opal miner, with a-wink at the company; ' but come on, you fellows, let's us go ana see how that man from Rockhampton is getting on. He hasn't left his cabin these two days—fairly lives on whisky, I beueyc. Remaps his name is Considine. Weal go and a3k him." And off thev trooped, leaving the Englishman rather sorry that he had brought up-the subject/

CHAPTER I7V A NEW CHUM IN SEARCH OF 4 RELATIVE. The result of Carew’s story was that everyone on board made it bis life’s work to find Patrick Henry Considine, and by degrees the matter became the standing ship jo,re. Every pilot that came on beard was called Considine, much to his mystification. One of the passengers, a big iat men, one of those animals whose only idea ot humour is to harrass other people, constituted himself chief humourist, and tooiriqtt .himself to be fniiny at the Angusciman’a expense over this Considine business. The Englishman was apparently quite unconscious,, and waa frightfully polite, and questioned each new Considine in turn, to the great delight of the humorists m general, and of the fat passenger in particular. All sorts of stories were current about Patrick Henry Considine. One man had known him in gaol, another as cook at a shearing shed, another as a Di.iiard marker, another a 3 a- canvasser. One passenger remembered a. man of that name being tarred and feathered in a far northern township, and another had seen him fall down a forty-foot shaft in Ccol-gar-dte. - It took cue young - Englishman a locs' tune .-to see that he was being laughed at'. He was always polite aud dignified, and apparently saw nothing amiss. „ Tfis girl gave', him the first hint of it. Sue had pretty well gathered the state of things from, casual conversation that she duel heard, on board, and she at once ranged herself on the sida of her new acquaintance-. 'She; was .110 half-measure partisan either; She earnestly wanted to see the young Englishman put his enemies to contusion. The first thing was to put him cn m 3 guard as to what was going on. She started'very diplomatically, /What , is the joke about some lost rel&non.or yours, Mr Carew?" she said. 'The Englishman looked blankly at her. I aon t know of any joke. What joke- did you. hear?" "Oh, nothing much—only that a lot or tne passengers are always talking about epme.Conaidias you are looking for, and they pretend that-the pilots are all called OoMiciine. I heard the passenger that sits next; the doctor saying that he had heard ot- a-new .Considine for you ir. the*etoueiiqte > ~g,o:; £ ..thought that you must have , -fe^i-ata^digri»4^. ! sjoke about it." •- -yitianks awfully fort telling me," he ./ a A a p,. dldut. know that they were takmy affairs. I am rtyingno find a rfian named Considine, but -t expect to fin-d him in- the stokehole, don t you know. If they are getting 'uo 0 joke about if, they may find that the iok» isrrt all on one side.- Let us go for’ard,” he added, abruptly changing the subject, "and see how the old cows are erettin-z on. 0 . They went for’ard, and. lie started nulling lucerne out of the bales for the" old cows; and meanwhile he thought deeply. It takes some time for a slow-witted man to get thoroughly angry, aud the longer he. thought it over the* more angry lie gotBy the time they went aft again he v/ thoroughly aroused, aud only awaiting a chance to set- about putting a. new complexion; on. things. Nothing further haoneusd that night, but at daybreak next day they arrived at a little coastal port, ar.l tne- firth consecutive- pilot named Coneiiine came on board a a i'waa warmly welcomed. by the fat passenger. Carew" took u-o notice of him, but went for’ard and held solitary commune with the c-Id cows. Tne Considine joke fell flat for that day, but trouble ariose in another manner. . .While waiting for hi. 3 bath that morning Carew produced from one of hie boxes a large, heavy pair of Indian clubs, and began steadily going* through a lot of evolutior.e with them cm deck, to the great delight of some 0? the passengers, who garnered round, and looked on with hypocritical admiration. .Gordon, who had a. horror of publicity remonstrated with him. “I wouldn't go through that exercise of yours before the .passengers," he said. "They’re all laughing at you.’’ "h don’t sag." said tne Englishman stiffly, "that it matters a, bit what such howlers think. Why shouldn’t I do it? I must do something to- keep in form, don t you know. It doesn’t hurt them "Oh, ali right, please yourself/’ said Gordon. "I expect you will find they!! put .up- eom-e joke on you." "Oh. I don’t think they will, don’t you know," said the other with his most vacant air. "I don’t see what it has to do with them anyhow—eh, what? I hear they’re getting up some joke about this Considine I’m. looking for. I’ll be readv for ’em." "AIL right, go ahead. Don’t let ’em bluff you. If there gets to be any funnv business, ■ hit the first man. you come acro-93 a crack on the nose. if he’s the wrong man, you can apoligise afterwards. They are tryin’ to take a rise out of you over that Corisidine business, and they’ll have a go at you over this, I expect.” He proved a time prophet. Next morning when the Englishman came out to do his club exercise he noticed that a”great number of men. kerned to- be up, waiting for their bath 3. He stepped on. to the hatch where there was clear room, and ba-

- ■ ■ gan to swing his clubs. He had hardly none more man a couple of swings when he heard roars of laughter from .ali parts ot the snip. Looking round hastily, ha saw that tne fat Chinese head steward, or Number One Boy," as he was called on board had taken up a position immediately behind him, and wa3 solemnly and jerkily brandishing two empty beer bottles in very fair imitation of his movements. Carew stood it for a while, but the laughter of the-onlookera and the solemn bland expression of the Celestial drove him to madness. Leaning forward, he seized Lin Tiy by his loose jacket and the uack of his voluminous pants, and shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Lin Tiy aimed a blow at him with the bottle, that, if it had got home, would have settled his account at once. The Englishman dodged cleverly, and gave Lin Tiy another shake that made his eyes start -out of nis head. "Now then, you damn ruffian," he said, "who put you up to this and I’ll give you haif-a-crown.’’ , Din Tiy struggled savagely to get away. V\ha tor you catches me? Wini’ for," h ZZ cI / ai:l9d - rf T uo b’R-ng your pidgin." V\ hat's the row now ?” said Charley Gordon, appearing on deck with the captain. 'this damned Chinaman," said Carew, ablaze with anger. "I’Ll kill him." "Here, here, this won’t do," said the skipper. "I can't have you knocking my Number One Boy about, Mister Carew. It s no good talking to the boy. He doesn’t understand any English scarcely. What’s the trouble?" ~r rW Dat was fie swinging bottles for, tnenr said carew, glaring round on the audience. "If I could find'the man who put hun up to it I'd-—l’d know what to "Swinging bottles,” said the mystified cap.am. 'ft I catch him swinging bot-f-C-j. 111 bottle him. W ho put him up to- " No one cared to take the responsibility. leu go about your work, Lin Tiy," said the captain. Carew looked round the deck with a face black with anger, and stalked off to his bath. Late that evening, a knot of passengers, having a. final drink before going to bed, heard, with, strained ears, the following dialogue which issued from the stewards’ pantry. r Carew (slowly and with great emphasis): 'Vino was it told you to get up'on the hatch to-day and swing these bottles?’’ Cnin&3e Voice (obviously Lin Tiv) • "No savvy." Carew: "Oa, yes, you do saw. You've got to savvy. Who was ir?. Was it one 01 the passengers? Lin Tiy (vaguely, and without any interest- in tne subject): "No savvy passelger. Carew: "Was it one of the officer:- ?’’ A’-u Tiy (vaguely, as before): "No savvy offilcer." Carew: "Well, how much did he give you? li’il swear you savvy that. See here, ■ here s five shillings I 11. give to know'who it was.” Lin. Tiy (rapidly and with animation)"Passelger b’long tops:’, all same b’ling if bottles." Carew: "Passenger b’long topside. Upper aeok you mean, eh?" Lin Tiy (with a pleased laugh.-: "Teh, b long topsi." Carew: "A. passenger from the unper deck brought the bottles, did he? What was hi 3 name?" Lin'Tiv: "No savvy."' out Jfejsk firsß -t.ifiie br’iong me—and rou-how' me;-the 'passenger. Dm. Tiy (light-heartedly, having evidently pocketed the five shillings): "Yeh, I savvy. 1 ou want catch.ee bath now. All 11 ; cun do." „ - ... Oar aw: "No, no no! I don’t want the bam now, you ass. I want you to show me the passenger to-morrow. You savvy?" Lm Tiy (m o tired voice): "No more." Now in pidgin’ Enurlish, "no more" means "I* can’t tell you—l don’t- understand—l haven’t got it—l never had it— I gave it back—l wasn’t there—l didn’t see it—l am Herd of the subject;" in fact, any and every possible form of denial, r/ fused) or.contra-diction. It apparently nonplussed Carew, as he at once strode wrat’nfully out of the stewards’ pantry into the saloon, under the gaze of'the half dozen or so passengers drinking there. He looked hard at therm They had intended to laugh, but they changed their minds suddenly, and became absorbed in contemplationl of their as he stalked through trie saloon, and upstairs to hia camp on the upper deck. He told Gordon of the affair, and they were thinking over .various schemes of carrying the war into the enemy’s camp, when the old "casus belli” once more presented itself in the moat unexpected manner. The fat passenger who had been prominent in the Considir.e joke had met a friend who cams aboard at one of the ports, and who waa also humorous; and before long they put it about the ship that they had found another Considine, and v/ere going to have 11.0 end of .fun with the new chum. This news, of course, came to Gordon’s ears, and he told Carew what to expect. "Whatever thev do," he said, "hit one of ’em first, ana ask for explanations afterwards,” and the Englishman promised faithfully that he would. They hadn’t long to wait. One dav the fat passenger and his mate came aft to Carey, and told him that a man was onboard named Considine, and that he had better come and have a look at him; he might see a family likeness. The Englishman said he should like it awf’ily. He assumed his most fatuous mechanical smile as he went for'ard with the two humorists, Gordon slouching along after them with his fixed stony glare. As he marched along the alley way Lin Tiy stepped for a second out of the gloom of the stewards’ pantry, He touched Carew on the shoulder, pointed at the fat passenger, swung his arms once round his head as if brandishing a pair of beer bottles, and disappeared into his pantry again like a rabbit into a burrow. Carew and Gordon exchanged glances, and solemnly marched on after the fat passenger. This individual, unconscious of his impending doom, stepped briskly along, and, with a great flourish, threw open the door of a deck cabin. "Mister Patrick ’Enry Considine,” h$

said, "ccm© out, and let me introduce you to Mr Carer.', of England. 1 believe he's a relation, .of yours." The supposed Cousidine stepped slowly . out, blandly smiling. He was one of the black Zanzibari stofcers, who happened tc • be off -watch—a lmge nigger, as black at '-■•jet.-. - - • • : ■ - ...... •' ; A mud guffaw burst.from Jthe assemble* .. : passengers, but.it didn’t last long. Ever ; while tji.ey .had been talking, Carey.- liat been measuring his distance. He pause* only lor one brief instant, aud in that in stallt caught sight of Miss Harriott lean ing over the railings above, and watehinj the proceedings with breathless attention She had seen the whole thing. • The thought, flashed through his brain “It won't do .to hit the fellow before s laily, 1 ' but just as he thought it, he caugh her eye, and he saw a kind of fightuu gleam in it that said, as plain as print "Hit him."’ Coolly and methodically, am without the least fluster, as became ;i pupil of Bat Mulins, he hit the fat pas eenger one awful punch in the ribs tliai doubled him up like the kiek of a horse In a second Cordon had thrown his arm: round the Englishman and dragged hin away with great violence, whispering ii his ear, "Good. That'll do now. hVI give him ail lie wants later on, if lie want: any move." He n ude a great parade of forcing tht Englishman away to his cabin, aud Caret* found himself engaged in a kind of stage struggle on the deck. He looked up at the rails; Miss Harriott had disappeared. There was no more fight. The fat passenger and.his friends had a meeting anti talked ra.tlier trig about giving the new chum a Lidding: but Gordon, who had a mania for match-making, dropped in on their meeting and said that his man was perfectly willing to fight any two of them, either singly or both at once, just as they pleased; and tried hard to get some wagers on about it. Then they complained to the captain, whs told them that they had brought it 0:1 themselves, and among a lot . of; Jalk. and rumour the matter fizzled our wit bent any further result, except that no one seemed to have heard of any more Cbnsidines after this, and the new chum found himself quite a popular man. Everyone asked him to. have a drink, and -so he made his first acquaintance with the great Australian thirst*—that consuming desire to drink, ardent spirits at all hours of the day and night, that is one of the main characteristics of the great Australian nation. Even Gordon, who was no teetotaller, was looked upon as a haughty ' individual, who set up to be better than other people, because he wouldn't drink ofteuer than every half hour or so. Everyone else swilled away merrily all day long, and in the constant trips from cabin to cabin, and discourses on various subjects, they passed the time till they arrived at their destination, a small coast town by a muddy inkind river. It was dark when they made fast to the pier. The other passengers bustled off in a great hurry to get up and have a drink at the nearest hotel, regardless of the number oi board ship drinks they had disposed of. Carew and Gordon, after arguing ami quarrelling over the former’s mountains of luggage, at last came amicably down into the saloon together to give the fat ■’■Number One Boy a tip. Here, in the lonely saloon, they found Miss Harriott sitting at the table with an open telegram before her. Her face was buried in her hands, and she was crying softly. He had . she heard them come in, she rose and hurified towards her cabin, but Charley Gordon placed himself in her way. He had _ hardly spoken to the girl on the voyage. : but had the absolute naive self-confidence that-comes to a man far away in the bush, where the "boss,” or man in authority, is like a general in command of an army, and has to see into everyone’s trouble's and . make all arangemenfs for everything. To him it was a most manifest and obvious duty to inquire into this girl’s affairs. "'Vhat is it, Miss Harriott f’’ lie said. "Can we do anything for your” Something in the simple kindness of his tone touched the girl. She turned and looked at them with eyes in which the tears still shone; she tried hard *to choke the sohs down and to speak calmly. “you are very good,” site said, "but I don't kuow what you can do. This telegram—l’ve just got it. I came up to he —governess”—she half hesitated over the word—“at this station, and now. it seems, they don't want me. There has been some mistake, and I—” Gordon looked at the telegram. "And you’ve come all the way from Sydney up here-, only to find that they’ve changed - their minds.-- Of course, you can make them pay latter on, but 1 suppose ‘you don’t know- what to do now, eh ? ’ "I reaily- don’t,” she said. “I’ve spent ail my money,” she went on, her face crimson, “aud I—l really don’t know what to do." Gordon’s mind'worked quic-kly. With the ntest ready smile in the world’ he turned to Abe Englishman. "Why,” lie said, ‘Tsu’k this an extraordinary thing.- Carew ? Wasn't I-just saying to you yesterday, that I've been looking everywhere for someone to. teach my nephews and nieces down at the old station in New Sonfh Wales? My mother asked me to look out for some one. Now Miss Harriott, if you are willing to go straight back in the ship, and go up to my melner at the old station, it would be a real godsend to her. Will you go? It will save you a lot of trouble. 5 ’ She looked at him for a while keenly, but the deep set. eyes and motionless features told her nothing. Gordon had the face of a horn poker player. ‘‘.Do you really mean this?” she said at last. _ “Of course I mean it. Ask Carew here if I ha veu’t been hunting all over Sydney to seud someone up. Why, it’s the' best luck 1 ever heard of. Suits all of ns splendidly 1” . She looked at the two men again. Women always know instinc-tivelv a man that they can trust,'and after * a moment’s hesitation she made up her mind. “It’s very good of you.’’ she said, 3[leaking in a low voice. “But I am quite a stranger to you. I came out here to get my living by teaching, and I’d like von to see some letters I’ve got, so that von’ll know who I am.” “I am quite satisfied about that. Miss Harriott,” said. Gordon. "You go down and give the work a trial. Yon’ll find my mother very hard to please, and the youngsters you’ll have to teach are born imps of Satan, every one of ’em. You're iu for a

i real hard time. My sister has been teaehi ing ’em aud she’s struck work—got worn out at it. Now say you’ll go, ana I’ll see - to all the arrangements, Eon’ll have to > go, in fact—l’ll take no denial.” * And so it came about that in the space i of ten minutes Ellen Harriott became engaged as governess to a. family she had 1 never seen by a man who knew nothing of . i her. Gordon arranged.all about her stea--1 mer passage, and handed her an envelope 1 which he said contained a cheque for rail- - way and other expenses. He gave her full . directions for the journey and said goodr bye with quite an ail* of proprietorship, and left her to face the long journey back to Sydney. Then onr two heroes went about their i trip inland. They walked along in silence, t meditating on their late experience. , Carew broached the subject first, “Are. there any nephews and nieces of yours to 'l teach, eh?” he said. ‘‘All humbug. 1 ! suppose. Wanted to pay her passage back. . eli ? ’ t “Not at all,” said Gordon, very earnestly. "I’ve got a lot of nephews and nieces 3 at the old station, and my sister teaches , ’em. and a band of demons they are. Now i that gill can have a try at it. anyhow, and 1 see how she gets ou. I’ll write to the old s lady to tell her she’s coming, and I’ll put Pinock on to these people that turned her > away, aud IT! make ’em sorry, I promise .-•you. It's no way to treat a girl like that , to be sending her trapesing up and down ? this coast after a lot of hoodlums not fit to black her boots. Conie bn, now, aa»! . see about getting that mountain of luggage [ of yours into thq hotel. We’ll have to get ’em to dump it down in the yard aud erect a buildiiv’ around it, I expect. Then we'll go back to the ship and see that gill oft.” (To be Continued).