Part 53 (1/2)

”What is your name?” asked Lady Helena.

”Toline,” replied the little native.

”Toline!” exclaimed Paganel. ”Ah! I think that means 'bark of a tree' in Australian.”

Toline nodded, and looked again at the travelers.

”Where do you come from?” inquired Lady Helena.

”From Melbourne, by the railway from Sandhurst.”

”Were you in the accident at Camden Bridge?” said Glenarvan.

”Yes, sir,” was Toline's reply; ”but the G.o.d of the Bible protected me.”

”Are you traveling alone?”

”Yes, alone; the Reverend Paxton put me in charge of Jeffries Smith; but unfortunately the poor man was killed.”

”And you did not know any one else on the train?”

”No one, madam; but G.o.d watches over children and never forsakes them.”

Toline said this in soft, quiet tones, which went to the heart. When he mentioned the name of G.o.d his voice was grave and his eyes beamed with all the fervor that animated his young soul.

This religious enthusiasm at so tender an age was easily explained. The child was one of the aborigines baptized by the English missionaries, and trained by them in all the rigid principles of the Methodist Church.

His calm replies, proper behavior, and even his somber garb made him look like a little reverend already.

But where was he going all alone in these solitudes and why had he left Camden Bridge? Lady Helena asked him about this.

”I was returning to my tribe in the Lachlan,” he replied. ”I wished to see my family again.”

”Are they Australians?” inquired John Mangles.

”Yes, Australians of the Lachlan,” replied Toline.

”Have you a father and mother?” said Robert Grant.

”Yes, my brother,” replied Toline, holding out his hand to little Grant.

Robert was so touched by the word brother that he kissed the black child, and they were friends forthwith.

The whole party were so interested in these replies of the little Australian savage that they all sat round him in a listening group.

But the sun had meantime sunk behind the tall trees, and as a few miles would not greatly r.e.t.a.r.d their progress, and the spot they were in would be suitable for a halt, Glenarvan gave orders to prepare their camp for the night at once. Ayrton unfastened the bullocks and turned them out to feed at will. The tent was pitched, and Olbinett got the supper ready.

Toline consented, after some difficulty, to share it, though he was hungry enough. He took his seat beside Robert, who chose out all the t.i.tbits for his new friend. Toline accepted them with a shy grace that was very charming.

The conversation with him, however, was still kept up, for everyone felt an interest in the child, and wanted to talk to him and hear his history. It was simple enough. He was one of the poor native children confided to the care of charitable societies by the neighboring tribes.

The Australian aborigines are gentle and inoffensive, never exhibiting the fierce hatred toward their conquerors which characterizes the New Zealanders, and possibly a few of the races of Northern Australia. They often go to the large towns, such as Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, and walk about in very primitive costume. They go to barter their few articles of industry, hunting and fis.h.i.+ng implements, weapons, etc., and some of the chiefs, from pecuniary motives, no doubt, willingly leave their children to profit by the advantages of a gratuitous education in English.

This was how Toline's parents had acted. They were true Australian savages living in the Lachlan, a vast region lying beyond the Murray.