Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1899-06-06
THE AUSTRALIAN NEvERNEvER

with deafening report struck ii on
the neck with force that no doubt
must have broken it, for the snake
writhed confused series Of coils upon
the ground. Two more steady cuts
from that firm, graceful. 1.-THE arm,
and il lay still She gathered mp the
coils Of cowhide in her hand and seized
the whip by the lash end. Then she
stepped forward till she stood nearly
over it, and with the butt end Of the
whip raised its head ] advanced to-
ward her.
''Did you ever watch n snakes eyes
when it was dyings" che asked If
not, just look at this one " These were
the first words this unconventional girl
ever spoke to me
Now. do not like 30 see anything
iie-not even snake. Still my sport
Ing instincts are keen. and no doubt re-
scmble that typical Britisher's whom
the Frenchman described thus HE
gets up and says, Its beautiful
morning; let us go ont and kill some
thing But. then. the case bears en-
tirely different aspect when ii comes
to watching anything in death agony.
Huch u condition Of mind must betray
great deal Of the old original Adam
in our nature--that savage instinct
which gloats over anything either dead
.r dying The principle and the exam
pie are equally bad For instance, allow
child thoughtlcssly to destroy animal
life. 10 be- cruel to cat or a dog. and
in nine cases out Of ten that child will
grow up man or woman. as the case
may be. with latent cruelty which
will assert itself sooner or later and
prove curse 10 its possessor. This Is
Wholesome and immutable law Of ma
ture. hingiug on the law Of order and
part Of the grand scheme.
She must have noticed something OF
that which was passing through my
mind. for. after one quick glance from
her large dark eyes she remarked; IL
see You don't understand why / ask you
10 look. Come here - She had strange
gift. truly, Of divining ones thoughts
obeyed and looked into the eyes Of
the dying snake. For moment con-
fess to having been startled II seemed
% me there was concentration OF such
devilish hate and impotent rage in them
that involuntarily turned away my
head
"It's not pleasant sight. was my
comment ~ don't know how you can
look at such thing" To me the very
idea Of those fawnlike eyes looking at
such a repulsive object was horrible,
and must have shown my disgust
my only brother was killed by the
bite OF one. she remarked simply, and
then struck il on the head with the bntt
end of her stock whip
II have put it out Of its misery any
how. but suppose you II sscribe some
other motive TO the action. She turned
to the blacks: "Yarry. here you take
'em. This one budgeirc fellow snake.
Then she walked of without 50 much
as looking at me before ] had time to
dissent from this uncalled for dispar-
agement I somehow felt annoyed at
her manner. but went over 10 the
squatter. who was just finishing some
writing. and took u seat with him in
the shade under the awning.
"Glad to see you. he said heartily
where's your friendr'
explained that Jack was finishing
the fence round the grave What had
occurred seemed 10 have upset him
Then we talked about various things
Soon he had gained from me such in
formation rs the names Of the schools
and colleges Jack and | had been at and
other matters Of like nature. did
not mind telling him such things. for
in the Australian back blocks. in the
most unlikely places. you meet all sorts
and conditions Of men, 40 that nothing
comes in the nature Of surprise. ]
also told him that Jack and ! were
travelling overland to the diggings new
ly broken out in Western Australia.
~ can't but think that you're max
ing a mistake" remarked the squatter
at this point "I'm led to understand
it's miserably dry country So !
should wait il were you until just be-
fore the wet season sets in and then
you II have chance Of prospecting the
ranges properly Hundreds will be
driven off the field before that time,
mark my words.
yes" rejoined. 'I've no doubt
that's sound advice, but what are we
| to do in the meantimer There are lots
of wild horses down near the salt pans
Il don't suppose the sea is more than
so miles off-but you know the class
of fellows who are down there. making
horse hunting an excuse for keeping out
of the way Of the police. and neither
Jack nor want to get mixed mp with
them
"Well, I'll tell you what, said the
suuatter, "though, Of course, We needn' I
come to any definite understanding just
at present, the land I've taken up Is
some 80 miles south Of the track on the
Robinson river. ] sent 1000 head OF
cattle on ahead some five months ago.
but am rather anxious about them. The
blacks in that particular locality are
undoubtedly bad. and fear that since
| this rush to Western Australia has set
in some Of the men that Gibson. the
drover, had looking after them may
have gone off to it. never saw 1t 9th
erwise yet The native born Australian
will maintain that two birds in the
bush are worth one in the hand any
day. especially where goldfeld is con-
cerned. II you care to follow my advice,
I'll give you both work at 2s- 10d a
week when you get to the station and
until you think ii time to start fol-
Kimberley; 80 il. as you may find out
before then. the rush has proved a
'duffer' you'll be money in pocket and
won't have wasted time. Then II you
want to remain and help to form the
station-Pn only stop for month or o
--you can do 90. )"
thanked him. promising to arrange
the matter with Jack. knew he held
out this offer to NJ with the best Of
| motives and not because he may have
| wished to secure labor. He informed ms
that in halt an hours time they would
strike camp and push on Anyhow VIZ
would zee him on Skeleton creek that