The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1871-12-01
THE SETTLERS TALE.

You don't believe IL, then I" said the
old settler, stroking his beard, and spread
ing the long crisp enrls over his waistooat,
where they lay like tangle Of eoooa-fbpe.
He flicked 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 az wearing
a patriarchal guise. "a You don't believe
il, then ln he said.
+" Travellers see strange things said a
thin man sitting opposite to him; and he
INDUCED in a low, sneering Singer, de
sPicable kind of cachinnStion that il would
be insulting the hearty, mirthful, joy-be-
gotten shake Of sides and shoulders, and
extending Of facial muscles, to cali laugh.
What is it p | said for had at that
moment entered the room.
why sniggered the thin man, he
wants 10 make me believe"
No, no, no ~ choFussed several voices.
Let him tell j; himself; secondhand
stories are poor. Tell it out for the com
pany, SIR
But the owner Of the beard looked very
dignited, and kept on smoking, till he sat
like a very Jupiter amongst mis- clouds.
Then he referred to the ambrosia brought
TO him by the white-neckclothed Gany-
Hnede OF the hotel, set down his brandy
and-water. and looked very reticent.
ATS all true enough said an Austria
lian captain who sat near the thin man,
and had evidently heard what had pre-
viously been said. ave often seen them
take flying leaps that looked tremendous,
and such as should have dolbted il had
not seen; while, as TO the tale our friend
here has Just told about kangsrooe carry
ing their young in pouch, and also about
their being able to destroy dog with a
kick, why, they Sre facts that almost any
national schoolboy win endorse. l mean no
insult 10 our sceptical friend here. bat I'm
afraid he studied politics more than natu-
raj history
"Good things, too, said the thin man
viciously; and then he looked round him
for the applause he did not get.
Yoa see,n said the old captain, not
taking any notice Of the interruption,
there are some people like the sailors
mother-more ready 10 believe in Pha-
raohis chariot wheel on the anchor-ilue
than in flying-fsh. Australy's a curious
place, 4 ran tell you; and il You saw some
Of the bones OF the great Moa, they would
make you scratch your head, and think OF
the ostrichcs seven feet high as so many
chickens
aha, Ia, ha, IA, HAP laughed the thin
man, in a perfect crescendo. "Go on, sir !;
don. be afraid. Wen listen, and then
belieTe MS much as we ike
"And we've got little animals there,
gentlemen said the old captain, that
swim about in the water with their fat
webbed feet, and they've got bill like a
duck, and lay eggs"
go on, sir; go on, SIR" laughed the
thin man and be bestowed the wink Of
wisdom upon all the company present
hYes, yes; see! Wink away" said
the captain but I'm no romancer, 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"
awby don't you tell it ~ said the thin
man.
al always do, sir" said the captain
simply, and with some dignity. As ]
said before, Australia's place that would
Etartle some people here with its ways.
What would our friend over the way there
say to five thousand sheep being boiled, or
rather steamed down. in one day, just for
the sake of their talIow ~
g Ha, ha, hap laughed the thin man
again "Better still % and then seeing
that no one else laughed, he snorted, and
looked defiant at every one in turn, from
out n pair of twinkling dark eyes, the more
striking from being uDsbaded by lashes,
while his eyebrows had evidently disap-
peared at the same season when his cOun-
tenance had been scanned and pitted with
the smallpox.
But few people noticed him, for it was
evident that, after retiring in displeasuTe
within himself for a few minutes, the
owner o. 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 a
case, carefully selected another, rolled il
upon his tongue, and then sat balancing il
upon his finger.
"Our friend here is right, gentlemen"
he said, " that there are some people who
QOuDb alHiOSb Cfci tntbS 3Ou say Out.
for my part, / think that the traveller who
plays upon the credulity of the untraveled
friends is creature beneath contempt. l.
can vouch for the truth of all my seafaring
friend here has said, for | have seen the
things, and many more too, quite as won
derful; and / think that You, gentlemen,
who slt from years end to years end in
your shops, might acknowledge that men
who make journeys four-and-twenty thou
sand miles long must in the foreign parts
they pass through, see some strange things.
I. don't want to infiict my stories upon
anybody"
AGO on, sir; 60 onl" fromtwo or three
but the thin man was totally unabashed.
and snorted before telling his neighbors, in
an undertone, that you couldn't 6 do him.
81 wasn't talking about wallabies gen.
tlemen, which are only small kind of
kangaroo, but of what we call out there,
up the country, old men'-the great kan
garoos that the settlers hunt-the curious
leapiug animals that Sir Joseph Banks
brought home from his voyage with Cap
tain Cook, and used to keep in his park at
Revesby, in Lincolnshire beasts that I
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