"You seem to be on very friendly terms
with your neighbours, if I may judge from
the gentleman with or without the trousers,"
observed I.

"Yes, now: it was not always so," said
Harrington, musingly.

"Tell me about it," said I, as I stirred the
fire into a blaze.

"I will tell you beforehand," he replied,
"that I shall relate some things which will
sound strangely to your English ears. Recollect,
that I make no excuse for them: whether
circumstances excused them, or not, you
may judge. I merely tell my story as it
happened."

And I will tell it as Harrington did; but
avoiding real dates and places, for the
incidents of this narrative are for the most part
true.

"It was twenty years ago, less or more,"
my friend commenced, "that I left England,
simply because when my father died, I found
a difficulty in making a livelihood. It was
then a serious matter to come to Australia.
There was no law, and no magistrates in the
country. I came to the spot where I now
live, and pitched my tent in uncertainty from
day to day how long I might be left alive to
dwell in it. I knew nothing of the native
Australians, and naturally looked upon them
as enemies. I never moved or slept without
my gun; and to that fact I believe I
chiefly owe my life. The natives of this
district were terrified and astonished at
firearms. From time to time, as I advanced in
prosperity, I increased my stock of cattle, for
the pasturage was perfect. I built a log-
house. I hired servants, until my establishment
became important: but during all this
time I remained ignorant of my neighbours,
and they did not often come near me. At
length, after I had been settled here for two
years, and had begun to feel secure, one night
several of my cattle were stolen. It was the
first theft I had ever heard of; and it so
completely threw me at fault, exposed as I
was on all sides, that I was determined to
act decisively. The man who had been in
charge of the cattle had seen an Australian
lurking about the place on the day before
the theft, and was prepared to identify him.
We, therefore, together, set off upon the trail
of the cattle and the thief. After two days we
came up with him, and notwithstanding his
utmost endeavours to escape, seized him— for
I was on horseback, and I literally hunted
him down. As soon as I had taken him I
hanged him up on the most prominent tree I
could find, according to Lynch law. It was
mere justice, for he had the cattle in his
possession at the time I caught him. We then
re-possessed ourselves of the beasts and
returned home. I was aware that after the
line of conduct I had adopted, I could not
expect to remain unmolested. My more
peaceful companions were in a dreadful state
of anxiety for our safety, and would scarcely
go a mile from home. Their anxiety was before
long verified. Not a week had passed since
rny enacting the part of hangman, when one
day the shepherd rushed breathless to inform
me that the whole neighbouring tribe was
corning down the valley towards our house.
I knew that the only course would be
decision.

I had no fancy for remaining quietly to
be murdered or hanged, after the example
I had given them in their friend; so I
loaded my rifle, mounted my horse, and rode
out to meet them. There they were, sure
enough, pouring onward in a dark mass,
yelling and screaming and flourishing their
weapons over their heads. I had some
difficulty in spurring my horse onward towards
them— the poor brute was so startled at the
horrid din they made. At length I rode
within spear-shot of them, and as I did so
they stopped, and every man amongst them
discharged his boomerang at my devoted
head. I shall never forget the hissing of the
weapons as they cut the air close to my ears.
There were hundreds of them, which poured
like a hail round me; for each man carried
several, which he flung as fast, one after the
other, as we should fire the barrels of a
revolver. Strange to say they none of them
hit me, which fact, I believe, somewhat
startled my enemies, for they stood staring
at me after they had finished their discharge
without advancing further. It was now my
turn. I could easily distinguish who was the
leader of the expedition, for he was rather
more clothed than the others, and was otherwise
prominent; so, levelling my rifle, I shot
him through the heart, and he fell dead,
with a requiem of silence and awe from his
followers. I really believe they were too
much astonished to howl in the usual manner.
I then dismounted, and laying my gun
down upon the grass, I drew near to them
and held out my hand. This is a language
understood all over the universe. They
hesitated, looked at each other, at their dead
chief, spoke a few hasty sentences together,
and then one of them, more open to reason
or more noble than the rest, stepped forward
and stretched out his hand in return. I
could not speak a word of their language,
but knowing they understood my actions
best, I offered the chief my watch, but he
started back in terror, lest, I suppose, it
should explode and kill him. I therefore
presented to him my neck-handkerchief as a
token of peace, and he immediately tied it
round his throat.

Thenceforth the whole tribe and I were
the best of friends. I was no longer in fear
of losing my property, for any one of them
would have assisted me in pursuing and
punishing the thief. My newly-made friend
at once became chief of the tribe, for he was
brother to the man I had shot. That is he
whom we met on our travels, and who
recovered for us the horses. He is really, as