The morning call., 1894-02-11

"H'shIdid Won hear a coo-ee ?"

erfo he had proved an eX TPmeiy poor
companion, and for five minutes, sup
pose, neither of US hsd said q word. My
eyes had fallen from the new well, with
its pump and W hite palings and SHINING
like ivory under the full moon, TO our two
shadows skewered. through and through
by those Of the iron hurdles against
which we were leaning. THESE hur-
dies incl0Sed and protected More
ton Bay fg. which had been planted
where the Id of the old we'll used TO lie,
so | had lust been told; and had
said wondered why one well should nave
been filled 10 and another sunk so very
near the same place. and getting no
answer [ had gone oD wandering for those
five minutes S. If there had been any
sornd beyond the croaking of the crickets
which You grow as used TO as the ticking
Of clock l felt certain that l must have
heord il too. On the other hand. l was a
very new chum, whereas WaTburton of
Dunbar was a ten-year bushman, whose
ear m ght well be quicker than mine to
catch all sounds of the wilderness: and
when l raised my eyes inQuisitively there
was a light in his that made me uncom-
Portable.
Hear it now?" he said quietly, aud
with a smile, as a seaman points out sails
invisible TO the landlubber. II do
plainly"
Il DON'T" candidly replied. "But if
it's some poor dsvil lost in the malice for
Gods sake let's set to work and find him !"
His homestead, you see, was in the heart
Of the malice, and on The edge Of a ten
mile block which was one taugle of malice
and porcurine scrub from fence to fence.
/ shuddered to think of any one being
pushed in the stuff, for away down IN
WarburtOn's eyes there was horror that
had gone like bullet IT, my nerves. was
therefore the more surprised al the dry
laugh with which he answered:
YOU'D better stop where you are.
| could not understand the man. He
was not only the manager OF Dunbar, but
oyerseer and stoTekeeper as well, an IN
married man and solitary. Ones first
impression of him was that his lonely life
and depreS Sing surroundings had sadly
affected bis whole nature. He mad looked
askance at me when | rode I'D to the
DaSe, making me fancy | had at last
found the station where an UniDvited
guest was an unwelcOme innovation.
After that preliminary scrutiny, how
ever, his manner mad warmed some
what. He asked me several questions
concerning the old country. from which
we both came; and | remember liking
him for putting on a black coat for SUP
per, which struck me as a charming con-
ceit in that benighted spot, and not
woman within twenty-five miles of US.
But his new eccentrcity pleased me less.
Either he was chatting me, aud he had
heard nothing (but his SOmbeT manner
made that INCREDIBLE, or he was prepared
TO let a feiow-creature perish fearfully
without an attempt at rescue. | was
thankful when be explained himself.
81 know who it is, you see, he said pre-
sently, striking match on the hurdle and
relighting h is pine; lit is all right"
but who is it?" said [ for that would
not do for me-.
IT'S Mad Trevor" be returned grayelv.
"Come nowP he added, looking me in the
face much as be had doLe before inviting
me to dismouut; do you mean to say you
have 90 as far as this and never heard the
yarn of Mad Trevor Of GunbaT?'
I made it clear that / knew nothing at all
about ii. and in the enc he told me me
story as we stood in the stati0n-yard and
Z Iouaged against the iron hurdles right un-
der he great round moon.
My boy, / was as young as you are
when | came to this place but that's very
near ten years ago. and ten years take
some time in the malice scrub. Yes. l
know / look older than that. but this
country would age anybody even j! moth
ing happened 10 start your white hairs be-
fore their time. I'm going to tell you
what did hapuen within my first two
months Oh this station. Mad Trevor was
manager then, and he and l were to run
the show between US as soon as l knew
my business. To learn it used TO run up
the horses at O'Clock in the morning and
run 'em out again last thing at night,
for the drought had jolly nearly dried
US up, and in the yard yonder we had
to give every horse his sp-bag Of
chaff before turning him out Well. be-
tween sparrow chiTp and bedtime, l was
either mastering or boundary riding, or
weighing out ratiOns in the store, or taking
them to the huts ins the spring cart, or
making up the books, or sweeping out nv
store. or cleaning up the harness; but l
never had ten minutes to myself, for old
Trevor believed in making me work all
the harder because [ was only to get ny
tucker for it TIL | knew the ropes. And
for nv part Pm bound to say / thoroughly
enjoyed the life in those days, as | daTesay
you do now. The TOugber the b the
reader was [ to tackle it. So / think the
boss was getting TO like me, and l know
liked him; but for all that be was mad, as
l soon found out from the men, Who had
christened him Mad Trevor.
at appeared til at he had come to Gun
bar some three or four years before me,
with his young wife and their baby girl,
Mona, who was years old when first |
saw her-riding across this very yard on
her fathers shoulders. Az, and | can see
her now. with her yellow head of hair and
her splendid little legs and arms! She
was 1Of6fSf On VI du lIbFBT DdCk. OF IN
his arms, or on his knee, or at his side in
tile buggy, Or even astride in front OF him
on the saddle-bOw; and her fathers face
beaming over her shoulder, and his great
beard tickling her cheeks, and be watch
ing her all the time with the tenderest love
that ever | saw in human eyes. For, you
see. the wife had died here on Dunbar. and
lay buried in the little cemetery we have
behind the stockyards, but she was going
10 live again in little Mona, and Trevor
knew that, and was just waiting.
But his trouble had driven him mad,
you know, for often | have been awakened
when I'd just dropped off by hearing him
come down The geTanda trailing his blanket
after bin; and away be would go to camp
all night on bis wife's grave; and the men
had heard him talking TO her up there !;
and it would have made your heart bleed
for him, he was such rough-and-ready
customer with all Of us but the child,
We'll, one day we were out on the run
together, he and |, in the buggy. 1t was
to tx a new rope round the drum of the
rwelve-mile whm-at the far side OF the
malice, that sand / rec0llect he showed
me how it was done that day, so that l
never needed showing again. and 1t was