Part 58 (1/2)

Tell us so you like Tell us all about that camp on the Lachlan, and what passed between you and your friend, Morris”

Upon this hint I spake I recounted consecutively the incidents which form the subject of an earlier chapter, whilst an occasional inquiry, or an appreciative nod, proved my eccentric auditor in touch with me from first to last

”Three or four weeks afterward,” I continued, ”I eil He had a bit of a head on hih five notes--three froot a bob's worth of brandy to straighten hiether, while h a small feed of bad chaff at sixpence a pound

”His account was, that Stewart, after parting froht to Alf's cas Stewart himself only stayed a few minutes, and then drove to Avondale, to see Mr Wentworth St John Ffrench, Terrible Toonette came from Avondale, with a few parcels of eatables, and a few bottles of drinkables, and other sinful lusts of the flesh Four days after that, again, Stewart drove round on his way back to Kooltopa

By this ti his best to be civil to Bob, and succeeding fairly well for a non-sot into a yarn with Alf, and had a drink of tea while Bob held the horses Presently, according to Bob's account, the conversation grew closer; and, after an hour or so, Stewart told Bob to unharness the horses, and hobble theether, Stewart stayed about half a day In a few days more, Alf was able to yoke and unyoke a few quiet bullocks; then he and Bob started for Kooltopa together Arrived at their destination, Stewart and Alf each paid Bob, as already hinted; and Bob, having urgent business in Mossgeil, hurried away to transact it He had just coht my pipe

”And what ood?” asked the boundaryRiverina He knows he has a good character as a quiet, decent, innoffensive sundowner--nobody's eneht him that any kind of tolerable reputation is better than no reputation at all”

”I don't mean him,” said the boundaryyour pardon Well, I heard it froo--that would be about three weeks afterHe's fairly in love hat he saw of Queensland, before last shearing; and, between bad seasons and selectors--not to ue--he's full-up of Riverina

But that reht Alf Morris's story to a proper conclusion I heard the rest of it froht his plant, and engaged him permanently His first business is to take Stewart's teams to their destination--no easy matter at this time of the year, and such a year as this; but if any o, a little shaky after his sickness, but recovering fast Entirely changed in disposition, Stewart tells e would n't be out of place

But Stewart speaks of him as one of the noblest-minded men he ever knew

He says he just wants a man like Alf, and he does n't intend to part with him

I fancy our love of paradox makes us prone to associate noble-mindedness with cantankerousness--at all events, nobody ever called me noble-minded

But such is life”

”Then this new situation is a perested the boundary man

”For Alf? No; I'm sorry to say, it's not”

”Why?”

”Because Stewart's about sixty, and Alf's sohbourhood of thirty-seven The Carlisle-tables would give Stewart an actuarial expectation of ten or fifteen years, and Alf one of twenty-five or thirty

And there will be old-rand old Christian sleeps with his fathers, and his dirty-flash son reigns in his stead Such, again, is life But this won't affect Alf's interests to any ruinous extent He has a stockingful of his own

It's a well-known fact that few carriers of Riverina cleared as much ave him 200 for his plant, and he never broke the cheque; posted it whole; Stewart hi way Let Alf alone

He kno to co point Such, for the third and last time, is life”

Whilst I spoke, ht his e

The Maroo fly was at hiain I tried to divert his attention

”By the way,” said I; ”did n't you bla in your horse-paddock, ten or twelveabout it,” replied the boundary rider half-resentfully

”Of course not Still you owe they--which I shall be happy to convey, if you wish it Alf Morris was the depredator He was hovering about your hut that night like a guardian angel, while his twenty bullocks had their knife-bars going double-speed on your grass, and you slept the sleep of the unsuspecting Ask old Jack; he'll give you chapter and verse, withoutHe told me about it this afternoon”

But the fit came on, after all The boundarylook, and the sa of the lips I had noticed before; then he drank the re from his seat, walked slowly to his bed, and lay doith his face toward the wall

Far gone, i' faith, thought I Presently I went to the door, and, shoring up one of the posts with ht, flooding the level landscape

Strange pheno been observed that avalanches and landslips occur ht, and especially on hts, when the sun and moon are in conjunction at the nadir This is the time when mines cave in; when loose bark falls from trees; when limbs crash down from old, dead timber; when snow-laden branches break; when all ponderable bodies, of relatively slight restraint, are most apt to lose their hold This may be definitely and satisfactorily accounted for by the mere operation of Newton's Law

At the time, and under the conditions, specified, the conjoined attraction of sun and moon--an attraction sufficient to swaytides--is superadded to the centric gravity of the earth, the triple force, at thetoward the nadir, or doard So that, when these lobe, they will be least likely to make mid-day h changes of the ical statistics--have no relation whatever to rainfall, the illu, will rarely fail to clear a clouded sky This singular influence is exercised solely by the cold light of that dead satellite producing an effect which the sunlight, though two hundred tiether powerless to rival in kind When we can explain the nature of this force adherent to ht, we es and in all lands, the verdict of experience points to ravation of lunacy An empirical hypothesis, of course; but in the better sense, as well as in the worse