Connecticut western news., 1871-11-24
THE SETTLERS TALE.

THE SETTLERS. TALE.
 ".You don't believe it, then ?n said the old settler, stroklng his beard, and spread ing the long crisp curls over his waistcoat, where they lay like tangle of oocoa-fbre. He licked away, too, now and then, the powdery cigar-ash that had fallen as he smoked, as though he petted his manly adornment, or aimed strongly at wearing a patriarchal guise. " You don't believe 1t, then 2'' he said.
 Travellers see strange things" said a thin man sitting opposite to him; and he indulged in a low, sneering snigger, de- spic&ble kind of exclamation that it would be insulting the hearty, mirthful, 1oy-be- gotten shake of sides and shoulders, and extending of aial muscles, to call laugh. :" What. is it?' I said for I had at that moment entered the room.
 "Why," sniggered the thin man, Ee wants to make me believe"
 No, no, no p chorussed several voices. "Let him tell it himself; secondhand stories are poor. Tell it out for the com pany, sir.n
 But the owner of the beard looked very dignified, and kept on smoking, till he sat like a very Jupiter amongst his clouds. Then he referred to the ambrosia brought to him by the white-neckclothed Gany- mede of the hotel, set down his brandy andwater, and looked very rcticent.
 "It's all true enough" said an Austra- lian captain who sat near the thin man, and had evidently heard what bad pre- viously been said. "I've often seen them take flying leaps that looked tremendous, and such as 1 should have doubted if had not seen while, as to the tale our friend here has just told about kangaroos carry ing their young in pouch, and also about their being able to destroy dog with a kick, why, they are facts that almost any national schoolboy will endorse. mean no insult to our sceptical friend here, but Pm afraid he studied politics more than natu- ral history"
 "Good things, too," said the thin man viciously and then he looked round him for the applause he did not get.
 You see," said the old captain, not taking any notice of the interruption, there are some people like the sailors mother-more ready to believe in Pha- raoh's chariot wheel on the anchor-fue than in hying-fsh. Australy's a. curious place, I can tell you j; and if you saw some of the bones Of the great Moa, they would make you scratch your head, and think of the ostriches seven feet high as so many chickens"
 "Ha, ha, ha, IA, HA!' laughed the thin man, in perfect crescendo. "Go on, sir don't be afraid. We'll listen, and then believe as much as we like"
 "And we've got little animals there gentlemen" said the old captain, |" that swim about in the water with their flat webbed feet, and they've got bill like 8 duck, and lay eggs"
 "Go on, sir; go on, sir" laughed, the thin man; and he bestowed the wink oi wisdom upon all the company present.
 Yes, yes; I see! Wink away" said the captain "but Pm no sromancer, gen. tlemen. only said what did to support my friend here. There are some people who will not believe the truth when it's told them.'
 "Why don't you tell it 2" said the thin man.
 "I always do, sir,n said the captain simply, and with some dignity. As said before, Australia's place that would startle Some people here with it's ways What would our friend over the way there say to five thousand sheep being boiled, ol rather steamed down, in one day, just fol the sake of their tallow ?''
 "Ha, ha, hap laughed the thin mar again "Better still p and then seeing that no one else laughed, he snorted, anc looked defiant at every one in turn, from out pair of twinkling dark eyes, the more striking from being unsbaded by lashes while his eyebrows had evidently disap peared at the same seasonaWhen his coun tenance had been scanned and pitted witt the smallpox.
 But few people noticed him, for it wa. evident that, after retiring in displeasuI. within himself for a few minutes, tho owner oe- the beard was once more coming out. He smoked furiously for few min utes longer in utter silence, till his cigar end was so short that it singed the great beard, when he threw it away, drew out : case, carefully selected another, rolled fl upon his tongue, and then sat balancing il upon his finger.
 "Our friend here is right, gentlemen, he said, that there are some people wht doubt almost every thing you say :; but for my part, think that the traveller who plays upon the credulity of the untravelee friends is a creature beneath contempt. can vouch for the truth of all my seafariue friend here has said, for I have seen tht things, and many more too, quite as won derful; and I think that you, gentlemen who sit from years end to years end ir your shops, might acknowledge that mer who make journeys four and-twenty thou sand miles long must, in the foreign part. they pass through, see some strange things l. don't want to infict my stories upo1 anybody" -
 !" Go on, sir; gs on!' from two or three but the thin man was totally uuabashed and snorted before telling his neighbors, il an undertone, that you couldn't 6 do'' him
 wasn't talking about wallabies gen tlemen, which are only a small kind o kangaroo, but. of what we call out there up the country, told men Lthe great kan garoos that the settlers hunt-the curiou leaping animals that Sir Joseph Bank brought home from his voyage with Cap tain Cook, and used to keep in his park a Revesby, in Lincolnshire; beasts that dare say you might see for yourselves il the Regents Park Gardens in Londor though can't say Pm sure. Atall events 1've seen them often enough, and hunte them often tooo
 The thin man snorted and winked agai