The Crooked Stick

od-red sun sinking all too slowly, yet angrily, into a crimson ocean; suddenly disappearing, as if in despotic defiance of all future rainfall. A fiery portent

ent pine-ridge. The earth adust. A hopeless, steel-blue sky. The atmosphere stagnated, breezeless. The forest

assenger on the box-seat, a tall, handsome man, with 'formerly in the army' legibly impressed

'but'-and here he double-thonged the off-wheeler, as if in accentuation of his statement-'heat, and

ire, with pardonable acerbity. 'Surely no ruffians ha

I won't say, had laid it out to stick us up to-day. They'd heard that Mr. Tracknell was g

pect to do next? The country won't be fit for decent peop

more than I could help. It ain't your business, as one might say, if they've a down on Tracknell. He nearly got the Doctor shopped over them Banda

he coach that I travel in, I am to sit still because I'm no

-no, not from here to Baringun. The place has got such a name for being liberal-like to gentle and simple. If we meet those ch

of his features had changed, and there was a hard set look, altogether different from his usua

which for many miles they had been strangers, as they left the heavy

ng their own way. Yes, by God! I was afeared they'd block us there. They're a-waiting

t trot, and approached the three men, who sat quietly on their horses near a rough timber fence

trangers, then at the driver, as he dre

they call on you to stop, draw up the team quietly but keep them in hand. Di

rd, but remember there's others on the coach. Once them chaps sees Tracknell ain't a pa

e another personage from the good-natured, easy-going gentleman with whom he had been chattin

n stage-coach drivers, as he steadily approached the spot where the men sat, statue-like, on their horses. As the coach

is side the instant after he had discharged his pistol. The second man staggered in his seat, and the horse of the third robber reared and fell over on his rider, who narrowly escaped being crushed. At t

unded, while the third man was reduced to the grade of a foot-soldier. There was,

late twilight, 'you can shoot straight and no mistake. Dashed if I could hit a haystack without a rest. The Doctor and one of the other chaps fired the very minu

ng his hand to his side. 'It's only a graze; but we'll

don't say so, Captain? There's blood on your coat t

ow whether a gunshot wound is serious or not. It's not my first knock, and I certainly shoul

reat events of bush life was noticeably swelled. A confused murmur of voices arose, in tones more earnes

ut the Captain's hit too. You send a boy to Dr. Chalmers at Hastings township, and that darkie of yo

, that within five minutes two eager youngsters, one black and one white, were riding for their lives towards the points indicated, brimful of excitement not altogether of an unp

ke the Doctor's shoulder, and dropped the third chap's horse nearly atop of him. If there'd only been another revolver in the coach they'd have took the lot easy. All the same, they'd just as well have let them have what they'd a mind too. The

aid a pot-valorous bar loafer, 'el

But we should have been all safe here now if we'd taken 'em easy-a few notes poorer, but what's that? The police are paid for shooting these chaps, not us. And if the Captain

ah, when the question of identity, as two figures emerged from a cloud of dust, was quickly settled by

that?' queried a w

's betwixt and between like he takes the old bay mare. She stops for him if he tumbles off, and

ous of the critical ordeal he had undergone, and throwing down the reins of

room? No. 3? All right! I'll call for you as soon as

This occupation he relinquished, leaving the unfinished sheet and greeting the medico cordially. 'Glad to see you, doctor. Wish it was a pleasanter occasion. We shall soon

lders. Excuse me.' Here he introduced a flexible shining piece of steel, with which he cautiously followed the track of the bullet. His brow became contracted and his face betrayed disappointm

pain here, for instance?' The Captain nodded

es

t on your shirt again; and if

ter settle this question first. Is the matter

founded lead pill, small as it is, has not taken the line I hoped it had towards the shoulder or lumbar muscles. It ha

, and lit another cigar, offeri

erwise. Poor Mary! It might have been avoided, as the driver said; but then I should have had to have changed natures with some one else. It i

ht late; certai

I want to write a letter be

ass of brandy if you feel faint. No, thanks! none for me at present. See you ear

self. Forty-eight hours, at the utmost, to prepare! How the stars glitter in the still water! To think that I shall know so much more about them before Saturday, most probably at any rate. What a strange idea! Poor Mary! what will she do when she hears? Poor darling! expecting me home on Saturday evening, and now never to

moranda until long after midnight. Then he lit one last cigar, which he smoked slowly and calmly to the end. 'They are very good. I may never get another. Who knows what the morrow may bring forth? Good-night, my darlings!' he said, waving his hand in the direction of Corindah. 'Good-night, swe

ise. At daylight he was delirious, while the frequent passage of blood and froth from his unconscious lips confirmed the correctness of the medical diagnosis. Before the evening of the following day the proud, loyal, gallant spirit of Brian Devereux was at rest. He lies beneath the waving desert aca

e Memory of B

n of H.M. 8

lly wounded b

gallant and suc

to the

tuated him through life. There was deep, if not ostentatious, sorrow in his old regiment, and more than one comrade emptied his glass a

e of restraint which at critical periods of his career had hindered his chance of promotion. A good-natured superior, on more than one occasion, had reported favourably on differences of opinion scarcely in accordance with the canons of the Horse Guards. At length a breach of d

at that time to purchase Corindah at a low price, on favourable terms. Adopting, with all the enthusiasm of his nature, the free, adventurous career of an Australian squatter, he married the fair and trusting daughter of a high Government official-he

fond wife a widow, and the baby daughter fatherless, whose in

twardly calm but intensely impassioned Mary Cavendish-pleased himself in a congenial occupation, with visions of prosperity and distinction yet to come. She would never leave Corindah. It should be her home and that of his child after her. Her resolution formed, she proceeded to put in practice her ideas. She retained the overseer-a stead

he loved and improved so much-as long as there is sufficient for me and my baby to live on. I shall trust to you, Mr. Gateward, to do

and if the seasons hold middling fair, it will keep double the stock it has on now in a few years. You leave it to

too fell above Corindah; also strayed waterspouts, while all around was dry as Gideon's fleece. In the two decades which were coming to an end when Pollie Devereux had reached womanhood, the rigid economy and unwavering prudence with which the property had been managed had borne fruit. The credit balance at the bank had swelled noticeably during the later and more fortunate years. And Mrs. Devereux was known to be one of the wealthiest pastoral proprietors in a district where the extensive

ereux to that lady, as they sat at breakfast at Corindah on one clear, br

disturbing thoughts. 'We are all going to be ruined, or nearly so, if the winter proves dry. Mr. Gatew

no imagination. Why didn't he send the sheep away to the mountains before they got so weak, as Mr. Charteris

should find it difficult to replace him. Besides, travelling sheep is most

ge broke the monotony of the plain. 'It seems to me that none of the men we know have energy or enterprise enough to go beyond the dull round of routine in which they have been reared. Sheep and cattle, cattle and sheep, with a little tur

of your father when you look like that. But you must never forget that the world's exciting work is rarely allotted to women. The laws of society are harsh, but those of our s

'not when she has an angel for a mother, like me; but I am so tired and wearied out with the terrible sameness of the life we lead. Though I have been here a

estless, unfamiliar spirit newly arisen from the hitherto unruffled depths of the maiden's nature. 'You know

? Poor old mother! while you're fretting about those troublesome sheep, poor things, that always seem to be wanting water, or grass, or rock-salt, which doesn't happen to be procurable-here's your ungrateful, rebellious child crying for the moon, to make matters worse. I'm as

outwardly in the form of horizontal slabs, lined more carefully as to the inner side; the whole finished with gay, fresh wall-papers and appropriate mouldings. A broad, low verandah ran around the house. A wide hall, of which both back and front doors seemed to be permanently open, completely bisected the building. Wire stands, upon which stood delicate pot-plants of every shade of leaf and flower, gave a greenhouse air to this division. At a short distance, and situated within the enclosed garden, was a smaller, older building of much the same form and proportion. This was known as 'the barrack,' and was delivered over to Mr. Gateward and such bachelor

roperty. It was managed after a liberal, hospitable, and kindly fashion. Mrs. Devereux, though most unobtrusive in all her ways, permitted it to be known that she did not approve of her friends passing the door without calling; and they were, certainly, treated so well that there was no great inducement to neglect that form of respect. There was yet another reason why few of the travellers alon

all, lithe, and vigorous, yet completed as to hand and foot with an exquisite delicacy that contrasted finely with the full moulding of her tapering arms, her stately poise, her rounded form, blue-eyed, tawny-ha