CHAPTER III.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1899, 6 September 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER 111.

Krsvs Bonbbaw, accompanied by a white man, was making his way towards the camp on the same afternoon that George left Pine Oreelc Station, as mentioned at the end •£ lftflt chapter. They were going dotrn the faca of ft steep ratine, when the crackling of dry and dead branehea and tha tread of a hofie'ihoof »ounding from th« talley beneath arrastsd their attention and progress. Tha poworfnl eye ot th» king toon detected hla brother, George, on horseback, and hd sped down the ravine to meet him. The king had claimed Gtiorge aa his brother when they first saw feaoh other, became the former saw a resemblanoe to his deceased brother, and concluded ho had come back to this world again. liter sinoe, they had been friends and brothers. The white man who accompanied the king hung back. Instead of meeting the new comer he kept on his course, and when he came to a favorable spot disappeared. He was living at the native camp. His name was Davjd Triggs, and ho was known in the district in connection with gome ngly deeda. The white people in the district hated him, and it was returned with interest. Triggs, when a convict at Bedcliffe, was \ sent out to a station, as was asnal, and had to report himself to the governor of the Convict Station at stated intervals. While ' allowed this liberty they wore still convicts, j and were liable to be punished by the governor for misconduct. This man was lazy, insolent, and drunken, and was reported and punished frequently •, but of no avail. He was about five feet high, large body and stumpy legs, bent but broad shoulders, a thick blaok bushy beard and moustache, which completely hid a pair of thin cruel lip«. He had lost an eyo and tha ona that remained (squinted. This prepossessing object was sent to Pine Creek Station, but after a series of crimes more or less wicked, he made his escape and went to live with the natives. Shortly before his disappearance a " new chum " cams to the station. The " new ohum " had been a respectable ploughman in one of the riohest agricultural parts of the liothians of Scotland: and, despairing of ever being the owner of his own plough and horses, he nad set sail for sunny Australia. He came, at his first start, to the Pine Creek, and had only been (herd a few days when Triggs ooncoived a great hatred for him, and was heard to utter some sinister threats about " the — »* new chum." His only fault was that he was " a — ~ flew chum." It was part of the new chum's duty to bring In all the lambs and sheep infca a fenced paddock every night, so as to afford some protection from the native dogs or dingo that prowled about in large numbers, and were very destructive. One dark, stormy evening when the rain was falling heavily, the bleating of a lamb was heard outside. The new chum at once started to hi* feet, and. although the others advised him not to go, he went saying— "I could not sleep while it is out there bleating." He followed the bleating down the creek and across the creek, and over the undulating country for miles; sometimes the bleating was co near he fancied he could pat out his hand and catch the lamb— then it ceased, and came from another quarter, just indistinctly heard above the roaring and ftighing of the wind among the giant eacalipti, and altogether drowned in the loud peals of thunder. He peered into the darkness, and as each flash of lightening light up the forest land or cast a dim light into the thick scrub ho tried to catch a glimpse of the straying lamb. Only once in the light of a very brilliant flash he saw a figure flit behind a tree. That figure was nnmistakeable. It was Trigg'3. The new chum was a good man, with a good conscience and a sboat heart ; a strong sense of duty was uppermost in his mind. He heeded the apparition little, but still followed the bleating of the lamb, and kept a firm grasp of his stout stick in ease of attack. The country now became rough. The bleating entirely ceased ; and, tired and exhausted with his fruitless search, the new chum lay down beneath a spreading bunyabunya. Next morning the new chum was still absent, and never came back; bat all the sheep and lambs were there ; not one absent. Suspicion fell upon Triggs. He had frequently been heard to imitate birds and beasts. The bleating of the lamb sounded peculiar to one of the men, and he remembered it. Triggs was the wolf that had used the lamb's bleat ; he ran away, but was doomed to come back again. Months afterwards the remains of the new chum was found bleaching on a hillside. He lost his reckoning and had wandered in a hilly, barren country, where there was neither water nor food, until he dropped exhausted — dead. (To be Continued.) ,