before my feet the rays fell full upon a bright
yellow streak in the midst of a block of quartz,
half embedded in the soft moist soil. In the
midst of all the solemn thoughts and the intense
sorrows which weighed upon heart and mind, that
yellow gleam startled the mind into a direction
remote from philosophy, quickened the heart to
a beat that chimed with no household affections.
Involuntarily I stooped; impulsively I struck the
block with the hatchet, or tomahawk, I carried
habitually about me, for the purpose of marking
the trees that I wished to clear from the waste
of my broad domain. The quartz was shattered
by the stroke, and left disburied its glittering
treasure. My first glance had not deceived me.
I, vain seeker after knowledge, had, at least,
discovered gold. I took up the bright metal;—gold!
I paused; I looked round; the land that just
before had seemed to me so worthless, took the value
of Ophir. Its features had before been as
unknown to me as the Mountains of the Moon, and
now my memory became wonderfully quickened.
I recalled the rough map of my possessions, the
first careless ride round their boundaries. Yes,
the land on which I stood—for miles, to the spur
of those farther mountains—the land was mine,
and, beneath its surface, there was gold! I
closed my eyes; for some moments, visions of
boundless wealth, and of the royal power which
such wealth could command, swept athwart my
brain. But my heart rapidly settled back to its
real treasure. " What matters," I sighed, " all
this dross? Could Ophir itself buy back to my
Lilian's smile one ray of the light which gave
'glory to the grass and splendour to the
flower?'"

So muttering, I flung the gold into the torrent
that raged below, and went on through the
moonlight, sorrowing silently; only thankful for
the discovery that had quickened my
reminiscence of the landmarks by which to steer
my way through the wilderness.

The night was half gone, for even when I had
gained the familiar track through the pastures,
the swell of the many winding creeks, that now
intersected the way, obliged me often to retrace
my steps; to find, sometimes, the bridge of a felled
tree which had been providently left unremoved
over the now foaming torrent, and, more than
once, to swim across the current, in which
swimmers less strong or less practised would
have been dashed down the falls, where loose
logs and torn trees went clattering arid whirled:
for I was in danger of life. A band of the savage
natives were stealthily creeping on my track—the
natives in those parts were not then so much
awed by the white man as now. A boomerang*
had whirred by me, burying itself
amongst the herbage close before my feet,
had turned, sought to find and to face these
dastardly foes; they contrived to elude me. But
when I moved on, my ear, sharpened by danger,
heard ihem moving, too, in my rear. Once only
three hideous forms suddenly faced me, springing
up from a thicket, all tangled with honeysuckles
and creepers of blue and vermilion.  I walked
steadily up to them; they halted a moment or
so in suspense, but perhaps they were scared by
my stature or awed by my aspect; and the
Unfamiliar, though Human, had terror for them, as
the Unfamiliar, although but a Shadow, had had
terror for me.  They vanished, and as quickly as
if they had crept into the earth.
* A missile weapon peculiar to the Australian
savages

At length the air brought me the soft perfume
of my well-known acacias, and my house
rose before me, amidst English flowers and
English fruit-trees, under the effulgent Australian
moon. Just as I was opening the little gate
which gave access from the pasture-land into the
garden, a figure in white rose up from under
ight feathery boughs, and a hand was laid on
my arm. I started; but my surprise was changed
into fear when I saw the pale face and sweet
eyes of Lilian.

"Heavens! you here! you! at this hour!
Lilian, what is this?"

"Hush!" she whispered, clinging to me;
"hush! do not tell; no one knows. I missed
you when the storm came on; I have missed
you ever since. Others went in search of you
and came back. I could not sleep, but the rest
are sleeping, so I stole down to watch for you.
Brother, brother, if any harm chanced to you,
even the angels could not comfort me; all would
be dark, dark. But you are safe, safe, safe!"
And she clung to me yet closer.

"Ah, Lilian, Lilian, your vision in the hour I
first beheld you was, indeed, prophetic—' Each
has need of the other.' Do you remember?"

"Softly, softly," she said, " let me think!"
She stood quietly by my side, looking up into
the sky, with all its numberless stars, and its
solitary moon now sinking slow behind the
verge of the forest. " It comes back to me,"
she murmured, softly—"the Long ago—the
sweet Long ago!"

I held my breath to listen.

"There—there!"  she resumed, pointing to
the heavens; " do you see? You are there, and
my father, and—and—Oh, that terrible face
—those serpent eyes—the dead man's skull!
Save me—save me!"

She bowed her head upon my bosom, and I
led her gently back towards the house. As we
gained the door, which she had left open, the
starlight shining across the shadowy gloom
within, she lifted her face from my breast, and
cast a hurried fearful look round the shining
garden, then into the dim recess beyond the
threshold.

"It is there—there!—the Shadow that lured
me on, whispering that if I followed it I should
join my beloved. False, dreadful Shadow! it
will fade soon, fade into the grinning horrible
skull. Brother, brother, where is my Allen?
Is he dead—dead—or is it I who am dead to
him?"

I could but clasp her again to my breast, and
seek to mantle her shivering form with my
dripping garments, all the while my eyes, following
the direction which hers had taken—dwelt
on the walls of the nook within the threshold,