The herald., 1894-01-05
been if fortune had only smiled upon

me.
AT the end of my 10 years soiourn
in Australia had sum of e6O0 in the
bank and was looking forward to pur-
chasing section and settling down as
a farmer after another year of wander
ing.
AT this time | was making bigger
journey than l had attempted before
and found myself hundreds Of miles
from civilization, in the very heart of
hot and arid district of upper Queens
land.
was 35 now, but looked with my
sunbalSed face and grizzled beard fully
10 years older and had been tramping
half starved and thirsty over desert
without sign of water or life of any
kind for the last two days, when l came
about sundown to one of those strange
ant cities which are sometimes found
in the dry portions of this country.
For miles in front of me stretched
long streets and countless huts, reach
ing from feet to s in height, all de-,
serted and silent clay huts looking in
the distance like dry cornstacks and
close at hand like human habitations.
A weird effect they had upon me, tired
out and exhausted as l was from want
of food. Fortunately | had plentiful
supply of tobacco, and with my flint
and steel | comforted myself with
prolonged smoke before l lay down to
sleep under the shelter of one of these
huts. There, with the moon rising over
the horizon and casting long shadows
about me from these cone buildings,
gradually lost consciousness and had
the dream which altered all my plans
Of life.
| dreamed that saw five men strug-
Cling along the moonlit street in which
lay, each with heavy load on his
back-diggers they appeared to be,
bringing ON their finds. They came on
until they reached the mound against
which l leaned, into which one of them
began to dig while the others, pitching
the bundles down beside the digger,
formed themselves into guard, with
their rifles out and facing the north.
soon discovered why they were guard
ing the digger, for looking past them l
saw large tribe of aborigines lodging
among the other huts and preparing to
leattack the white men. who stood there
in close ring until their mate had hid
den the gold they had brought.
A few vigorous digs with the pickax
and spade and a portion of the clay hut
was laid bare, while the five heavy bags
were hastily crammed inside and the
outer clay replaced, as the rifles played
on tho ferocious but timid natives, who
seemed afraid to advance, after which
the white men began to retreat into the
open plain, leaving their swags behind
them, while the savages glided past me
with their spears in their hands.
saw tho fight begin and end in the
open and saw my five countrymen fall,
pierced with tho shafts, while [ still
lay unable to move and help them.
What happened afterward was too hor-
rible to relate in detail, but can be con-
jectured by any anthropologist who
knows the revolving customs of those
ferocious and untamable cannibals of
northern Queensland. 1t is sufficient
to tell you that even the bones were
utilized, after which the demons re-
turned the way they had come, to the
north, taking with them the five swags,
but paying no heed to the ant hill which
held the treasure.
The morning sun was warming the
country when | awolc. and with my
dream still vivid in my mind / began
with an eager heart to demolish my
shelter of the night, and there, as l had
seen them laid, discovered the five
bags laden with gold dust and nuggets,
enough to make me a wealthy man at
last.
| took what ] could carry with me
and after reaching tine nearest town
ship came back with a couple of horses
for the remainder, and then, after 10
years of absence, | returned home to
my native village a wealthy man, and
of course paid visit to my old sweet
heart, Maud Davis, now the wife of the
baker.
Fifteen years make wonderful diff
rence in young lovers. Maud, always
of slender build had grown shrewish
and skinny, without single trace left
of what | had been carrying so long in
my memory with tender regret. had
altered from slim lad with, comely
face into grizzled and heavy old man.
We both looked at each other for a mo-
Eent. and then laughed as Maud said:
Lor, what an ugly man you have
crown, Frank! IN glad didn't wait
for you after all, in spite of your mon
ey."
So was l. as l carefully wiped that
long kept picture from the slate of my
memory. Hume Nisbet in London Sun.