The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1873-11-19
LOVE UP A GUM TREE.

ers generally take their rise 10 the
lofty mountain ranges, and in the
early part Of their course are Joined
by numberless tributary streams.
When the rainy season has set in
which generally commences about
the middle of May--the down-pour
sometimes continues for six weeks
at time, and then these rivers
overflow their banks and flood the
surrounding country far and near,
forming, in many places, miniature
seas Upon these occasions hun
dred of farmers are ruined, thou
sands Of sheep and cattle generally
destroyed, and not untrequently
many valuable human lives sacri-
feed.
Perhaps the district most liable
70 disastrous floods in the colony is
the broad vale of the Hunter,
where, every few years, thousands
ofacres are submerged with a sud-
denness that is truly appalling.
Houses are frequently buried to the
chimney-tops beneath the waters,
which rapidly form an inland sea Of
at least a hundred miles in length
by q core in width.
In the year 1866 | was quartered
at Windsor, a little townshipabout
twenty-five miles distant from Sgd
ney, the metropolis of the colony,
and for some months ] had been
chiefly engaged i'll the arduous and
by no means romantic duty ofhunt-
ing for illicit stills of which it was
supposed there were several in the
neighborhood.
| certainly did my best to discov-
er their whereabouts, but was COM
pletely unsuccessful, and after tray
ersing the country day after day,
in every kind Of disguise, until !
must have Travelled, on foot and on
horseback, many hundreds OF miles,
I at last gave the matter up as a
bad job.
I'll had not found a still, how
ever, | had in the course of my
wanderings discovered what gave
me far greater delight, for | had
fallen across one of the prettiest and
most loveable little girls that an
Australian Or any other sun ever
had the honor of shining upon, and,
what was better, | had SO ingrati-
ated myselfin her good graces as
to win her promise that she would
never marry any one but me.
Our acquaintance had commenc.
ed ilr "a romantic manner enough.
! had rescued her from a wild COW
ana who would certainly have gored
her had l not interposed and shot
the brute
She was too frightened to walk
home alone, and SO | accompanied
her, was introduced to the parents,
as a matter of course, and they
were profuse in their thanks, and
begged me hencetorth to look upon
their house as my home and 50
forth.
promptly took them at their
word, and every other evening, and
sometimes even ottener, my charger
would be comfortably stalled for
hours in farmer Martins stable;
and, meanwhile the pretty Gertrude
and myself would be either wander
ing by the rivers bank, studying
poetry together in the old Summer
house, Or, ss the cold weather drSwv
on, playing chess in :he snug little
back parlor.
These things continued until the
rainy season set in, but instead Of
being deferred by the steady down
p0urs, my visits became, ifpossiblle,
more frequent, and through the
slushy lowlands, where the water
was often above my horses knees, !
nightly logged, like marine cent
aar, 10 visit my inamOrata.
tal3y and bNt fathers suspicious
were aroused.
Could it be possible that .
mounted trooper, wearing Her
Nsiesty's uniform, would ride
Nightly through mud and rain,